Rockport Lodge, Gates And Railings, Cushendun, Co.Antrim

Rockport Lodge is a late-Georgian house constructed around 1813 for General Edmund McNeill, a local landowner. The architect is unknown. The house stands on the very edge of the bay in a salt-swept garden, situated to the northeast of the village of Cushendun and just southeast of the ruins of Castle Carra. At the time of survey, the building appeared to be occupied primarily as a summer residence.

The main house is two storeys with a rectangular plan and four bays to the principal elevation. It is finished in white painted rough-cast render set on a rendered plinth painted in a contrasting colour. The slated hipped roof has deep overhanging eaves with timber panelled soffits, a lead ridge, and four tall white painted rendered chimney stacks with stepped cornices and octagonal buff clay pots. The house features wide painted Georgian casement windows with glazing bars. Half-round cast-iron guttering, supported on out-and-up iron brackets, discharges to circular section downpipes throughout. The rainwater goods were installed during extensive renovations around 2010.

The principal northwest elevation is accessed via a tarmac avenue from Torr Road to the west. It is four bays wide with a chamfered corner to the west side. The ground floor bays align with those on the first floor above. The entrance doorway is recessed but not centred on the elevation. It contains a painted timber door with decorative glazed top panes, sidelights to either side, and a transom light over with decorative glazing bars. Wall-mounted lantern-style light fittings flank the entrance.

The northeast elevation has a single-storey extension to the ground floor with a slated hipped roof. This extension features a mixture of square-headed and semicircular arched openings leading to an enclosed rear yard and amenity area. The first floor above is three bays wide: the left bay has a square-headed opening, the central bay a semicircular arched window opening, and the right bay is blind. A small rectangular roof light sits on the northeast slope of the main roof. The principal elevation is abutted on the left by a white painted linear outbuilding extending back to the northeast side of the main house.

The southeast elevation directly overlooks the bay and is set back behind a low stone wall topped with high iron railings featuring anthemion decoration. A single entrance gate stands to the right side. The elevation is three bays wide with slightly irregular fenestration. The ground floor bays generally align with those on the first floor, but there is a larger three-over-three timber sliding sash window to the right on the ground floor. A white painted linear outbuilding abuts the right side of this elevation, extending away from the northeast side of the main house.

The southwest elevation features three two-storey canted bays set under the deep eaves, creating triangular recesses between them that form a distinctive pattern enhanced by the arrangement of windows: five on the ground floor, three on the first floor, and two oculi above—one either side of the central bay.

A white painted two-storey outbuilding extends to the northeast side, running parallel with the coastline. It is finished in rough-cast render with a slate hipped roof featuring two large modern roof lights on the southeast slope and three white painted rendered chimney stacks centred on the ridge, with stepped painted cornices and buff clay pots. The southeast side, immediately overlooking the bay, contains a series of rectangular door and window openings with timber windows and glazing bars. The southwest side has a pair of timber doors with large glazed panels opening onto the southeast side of the main house. The northwest elevation contains a series of square-headed window openings and a single wall dormer overlooking the enclosed rear yard. The northeast elevation is blank.

The property is situated on the edge of the bay in a salt-swept garden enclosed by anthemion cast-iron railings, accessed from the west just off Torr Road.