Newton Lodge, 86 Beechill Road, Belfast, County Down, BT8 7QN

Newton Lodge, 86 Beechill Road, Belfast

Newton Lodge is a detached, symmetrical, three-bay, single-storey-with-attic rendered house, built around 1750, with a pair of single-storey returns that give it a U-shaped plan facing north. It sits at the end of a gravel lane to the west of Beechill Road, on an elevated, landscaped and wooded site in the townland of Ballylenaghan Upper. It is a very rare surviving example of a mid-18th-century Irish villa that retains a wealth of original fabric, later embellished in the 19th century, while preserving its overall Georgian appearance. Although the surrounding context has been increasingly compromised by nearby residential and industrial development, the secluded, landscaped setting makes this a remarkable historic survivor in suburban south Belfast — described by architectural historian C.E.B. Brett as "an astonishing survival, secretly tucked away in a two-acre wooded garden in the midst of the outer suburbs of South Belfast," and "one of the most delightful small Irish Georgian houses known to him, by reason of the quite exceptional elegance of its interior... all the details are of the utmost delicacy and excellence."

Exterior

The roof is a half-hipped natural slate construction with black clay and terracotta ridge tiles, lead valleys, and a pair of large rendered chimneystacks with octagonal clay pots. Cast-iron guttering is carried on iron drive-through brackets to a slightly projecting rendered eaves course. Timber bargeboards run to either gable end with sheeted eaves, and cast-iron downpipes complete the rainwater goods. The walling is painted rough-cast render throughout.

Window openings are square-headed with painted masonry sills and 6/6 timber sash windows fitted with replacement plate glass.

The symmetrical north front elevation is four windows wide, with a central elliptical-headed door opening containing a tripartite timber doorcase of considerable quality. The door itself is an original six-panelled timber door with pronounced raised and fielded panels to the upper four panels and flush beaded panels below, fitted with brass door furniture. It is flanked by a pair of geometric side-lights with timber sills, which are in turn flanked by engaged reeded Ionic columns on plinth blocks rising to a reeded lintel cornice, with a spoked fanlight above. The entire doorcase is set within a scalloped alcove surround defined by a triple bull-nose surround and opens onto flagstones.

The east gable is two windows wide, with a pair of round-headed window openings at attic level containing 3/3 timber sash windows. This elevation extends by a further three windows to the east return, which has three 6/3 timber sash windows and three blind panels indicating former door openings. The rear elevation has blank end elevations to both returns, with a screen wall spanning the space between. This screen wall contains a Gothic-arched door opening into what is now a glazed internal courtyard. The rear elevation of the main body of the house, visible within the courtyard, has a tall round-headed window opening with a 6/6 timber sash window. The west gable mirrors the east gable with two windows wide at attic level, and extends by a further three windows as the west return. The return has a central 6/6 timber sash window flanked by a pair of Wyatt timber sash windows.

It is also possible that the house once had a lower eaves level, as suggested by a visible line on the gables.

Setting

The house is accessed via a long gravel lane shared with modern detached dwellings to the west of Beechill Road. The front gravel area opens onto the lane through a pair of modern rendered piers surmounted by cast concrete eagles and supporting a pair of good-quality wrought-iron gates. A single-and-a-half-storey rendered garage structure, dated 2002, is located to the east of the site.

History

Newton Lodge is said to date from around 1740 and may have been built as a dower house on land that formed part of the Belvoir Park estates. This land was acquired by Arthur Hill — later Viscount Dungannon and grandfather of the Duke of Wellington — in the early 18th century. The house was later known as "Newtown" and then "Newton" Lodge, but appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834 as "Fair View" — a name Brett suggests may be a translation of "Belvoir." The building is rectangular on plan, situated in a wooded plot surrounded by farmland that remained relatively undeveloped until the 1950s and 1960s, when housing development began to encroach from all sides.

It appears likely that the house was built by the Hill family and later passed to subsequent owners of the Belvoir Park estate, who let it out to tenants. The internal detailing suggests that some work may have been carried out around the time the Bateson family acquired the Belvoir Park estate around 1810.

The Townland Valuation of 1828–40 lists "Newtown Lodge" as a house and offices occupied by a Mr Gar and valued at £19 18s. The record describes a one-and-a-half-storey house with a return and a dairy or kitchen, together with a potato house, stable, and cowsheds, all single-storey. The house was subsequently the residence of Alexander Martin. By the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1861, the occupier is recorded as the landlord, Sir Thomas Bateson. The buildings were then valued at £23 with 35 acres of land attached. The valuer noted that the house and land were to be let, with the land expected to fetch £5 per acre including the buildings; the house had been lately repaired, though the outbuildings were old and in poor condition. Dimensions recorded at this date describe a one-storey-with-attic house and a single-storey return.

From the 1860s onward, the house was regularly advertised to let in the Belfast Newsletter. In January 1862 it was offered as a "desirable residence and farm" of around 40 statute acres, noted as being only three miles from Belfast on land of "excellent quality." In later decades it was no longer described as a farm, though an option on an additional field for grazing was sometimes offered. By 1898 the house was advertised to let furnished or unfurnished, with proximity to the Ormeau Road tram cited as an attraction. It was described as having three reception rooms, six bedrooms, a bathroom with hot and cold water, and a large well-stocked garden.

The house passed through a swift succession of tenants: Henry Joy (1864), John Ferguson (1869), James Meneely (1877), Robert Ritchie Best (1879), Samuel Moore (1881), William McComb (1883), and Henry C. Montgomery (1890). In 1890 a field of five acres was added to the plot, though it was split off again in 1897, and the rent at that time was £36 plus taxes. Subsequent tenants included Dr Kohler (1897) and James Houston, who was recorded as living in the house at the time of the 1901 census. Houston was a building contractor who lived with his wife and nine children ranging in age from 12 to 26; the adult sons were employed as a clerk, a carpenter, and a medical student, while one of the daughters taught at a National School. By 1911 the residents were the West sisters — Elma, Zelda, Sylvia, and Ethel — three of whom had been born in India. They lived with their Dublin-born uncle and employed a servant, Rose, from County Down. In the 1970s the occupants were the Westhead family, followed by Dr Oliver Hunter. The house was damaged when a bomb devastated the nearby Forensic Science Laboratory in 1992. It remains in use as a private dwelling.