Gate lodge, 92 Urney Road, Strabane, Co. Tyrone, BT82 9RT

Gate Lodge, 92 Urney Road, Strabane, County Tyrone

This is a detached three-bay, one-and-a-half-storey Arts and Crafts gate lodge built around 1890, located on the south side of Urney Road, Strabane. It is attributed to the architect W. F. Unsworth and is associated with Carricklee House, built in 1891 for the linen manufacturer John Herdman (1841–1903). The lodge has group value with the nearby Carricklee Stableyard.

Architectural Overview

The building is rectangular in plan, facing west, with a central gabled bay projecting from the principal elevation. Its exterior is largely intact and well preserved, retaining its original Arts and Crafts character throughout. The interior has been substantially altered in its detailing, though the plan form remains largely intact. The presence of single-storey lean-to porches at both the south and north gables indicates that the lodge was originally divided into two separate dwellings — a arrangement confirmed by historical records, which show two occupiers each leasing a dwelling from John Herdman at a valuation of £1 15s. each.

Roofs and Walls

The roof over the west-facing main section is covered in rosemary tiles, with red terracotta ridge tiles. The east section has been re-covered in synthetic slate, and two dormer windows are visible on this side. There are two red brick corbelled chimneystacks with clay pots, positioned at the party walls. The eaves are deep and overhanging, with timber-sheeted soffits and timber bargeboards; rainwater goods have been replaced in uPVC. The walls are roughcast rendered over a projecting smooth rendered plinth, with red brick stepped quoins at the corners.

Windows and Openings

Windows throughout are timber casements with leaded stained glass in the top lights, set within square-headed openings with smooth rendered banding and painted projecting masonry cills.

Principal (West) Elevation

The central bay features a ground-floor oriel window supported on an ogee-profile corbel, surmounted at first-floor level by a jetty-bressummer carrying a tripartite window and mock half-timbering. There are further tripartite windows on each side of the central bay.

North Gable (Left)

The north gable is abutted on the left by the single-storey lean-to porch. At first floor there is a dipartite timber casement. At the apex, a terracotta monogram plaque bears the initials "J. H." (for John Herdman), surrounded by an egg and dart motif.

South Gable (Right)

The south gable is similarly abutted on the right by its lean-to porch, with a dipartite timber casement at first floor.

Rear (East) Elevation

The rear is largely obscured by the single-storey lean-to extension. The exposed section of the main block is blank. The rear extension is detailed to match the main block and has a lean-to roof; the right side is synthetic slate tiled and the left side has a replacement cement tiled roof. The east elevation contains a timber panelled entrance door positioned off-centre to the left, with two windows to the right and two to the left; the left and right cheeks are blank.

Lean-To Porches

Both lean-to porches have cement tiled roofs and red brick walls. Each has a timber-framed opening to the outer face (the north porch is glazed) and is supported at the corner by a timber archivolt. Both open to the west and are accessed by a single masonry step, leading to replacement timber-sheeted doors. Each porch contains a store accessed from the rear. The north lean-to is hipped to the rear.

Setting and Boundaries

The lodge sits within a mature wooded landscape at the junction of Urney Road and Carrick Avenue, with a particularly notable wooded backdrop to the south. It is bounded from the road by a red brick plinth wall with saddleback coping. Access is available from Carrick Avenue to the west and from Urney Road to the north, with car parking to the east.

Historical Context

The lodge first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1905, captioned "Lodge." Valuation Revision records (1860–1924) document its addition to the Carricklee House estate in 1887. The architect W. F. Unsworth was John Herdman's brother-in-law and had already remodelled Sion House (the home of John's brother Emerson Herdman) in 1884. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Unsworth designed most of the principal buildings in the model village of Sion Mills, which the Herdman family developed alongside their successful linen mill to house workers and village maintenance staff. The mill thrived particularly during the American Civil War (1861–1865), when the scarcity of cotton drove unprecedented demand for linen. After the death of the founding family member James Herdman in 1901, the company passed fully to his sons John and Emerson.