Gate Lodge, 88 Ballinderry Road, Ballyellough, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT28 2QX

Gate Lodge

A one-and-a-half storey, two-bay gate lodge in the Tudor-Gothic style, built around 1870 as part of William T. B. Lyons's improvements to the Brookhill Estate. The building now stands in an advanced state of decay, with the roof removed and most original features lost.

The structure has a rectangular plan form with a rear return. Its walls are constructed of squared rubble basalt with sandstone quoins, while smooth rendered redbrick faces the window surrounds, porch, plinth and chimney. A robust four-flued chimney rises through the roof line with smooth render and moulded cornice, though the pots are missing. Timber eaves brackets remain visible, though the eaves themselves have gone, and cast-iron ogee-moulded rainwater goods survive but are no longer fixed. The lattice timber-framed windows are now obscured behind corrugated tin sheeting and feature chamfered surrounds; the doors have been removed entirely.

The principal elevation faces north-east and is asymmetrically arranged. The left bay is abutted by a gabled porch with moulded weather coping and a door opening in the gable face. The south-west and north-east faces of the porch have been demolished, and the south corner is clasped by a gate pier. A single window opens to the right-hand bay. The left gable is symmetrically arranged with a single-storey canted bay (roof demolished) and a centrally located first-floor window above, with a visible brick relieving arch beneath. The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged, featuring a one-and-a-half storey gable return with single ground and first-floor windows to the gable face and a rear entrance on the south-west side. A single-storey lean-to extension abuts the north-east face of the return and the rear elevation. The right gable is symmetrically arranged with enlarged ground and first-floor windows.

The lodge stands adjacent to the gated entrance to the former Brookhill Estate, surrounded by mature woodlands that line the original driveway. The Marquis of Hertford's estate was leased to the Watson family around 1740, who developed it substantially over the following decades. By 1806, the estate had become so profitable that the Marquis considered reclaiming it for personal use, though this did not occur. The Watsons continued to occupy Brookhill until around 1870.

An earlier gate lodge stood on this site between 1832 and 1857, as recorded on Ordnance Survey maps from the second edition onwards. This first lodge, which was "not of long standing," was demolished around 1870 and replaced by the present building under the ownership of William T. B. Lyons, who undertook significant renovations to the estate and its pleasure gardens in the late 1860s. A third, even earlier lodge that stood over 200 metres to the west of the current building, where the original main entrance to the Brookhill Estate was located, predates 1832 and is now demolished. Between 1890 and 1904, the current gate lodge was recorded separately from the estate in the Annual Revisions, valued at £3.

The building has suffered considerable deterioration in recent years. The original slated roof has been removed, the windows are covered with corrugated iron sheets, and the original gate screen has been taken away. Although sufficient external fabric remains to discern the original style and proportions, almost all features and detailing of interest have been lost, and the building does not meet the criteria for listing. The Brookhill House itself, which the lodge once served, has been demolished. The gate lodge is bounded to the south-west by a moderately busy road, with two modern dwellings in close proximity to the north-west.