Lodge, 179 Ballynahinch Road, Ballylintagh, Hillsborough, County Down, BT26 6BG

A symmetrical single-storey two-bay gate lodge in the neoclassical style, located north of the Ballynahinch Road at the entrance to Ballylintagh Park. The building is possibly original to around 1800 but was substantially rebuilt around 1850.

The lodge is rectangular in plan with a rear extension and an L-shaped extension to the north. It is constructed of painted rubble stone, with painted roughcast render applied to the extensions. The hipped roof is finished in natural slate with blue and black angled ridge tiles, and features a yellow brick chimneystack to the centre with plastic rainwater goods.

The principal elevation faces west and is symmetrically arranged. It features paired segmental-headed timber windows without glass, set in painted brick surrounds with projecting masonry sills and surmounted by label moulds, with windows positioned either side of a timber-sheeted door in a painted brick surround. The north elevation has a paired window at centre, abutted to the left by the L-shaped extension with a corrugated metal roof sloping to the rear, which itself abuts the rear extension. The west elevation contains two doorways. The east elevation is fully abutted by the extension beneath a corrugated metal sloping roof, which has three metal-framed windows. The south elevation features a paired window at centre.

The setting is particularly significant. The lodge is positioned at a lower level than the road and is accessed via curved painted masonry entrance walls with rubble coping stones terminating in square piers capped with oval ball finials. The inner gate piers are channelled on a chamfered plinth with pointed caps surmounted by cast-iron lion heads, supporting early decorative cast-iron gates. To the right is a modern latch gate. The lodge itself is set back from the lane behind painted masonry square piers and caps divided by three steel shafts; to the centre are vestiges of a modern latch gate, while to the left are early decorative wrought-iron gates.

Historical research indicates that a lodge occupying the same footprint appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map for Ballylintagh townland dated 1833. At that time it was the gate lodge to Ballylintagh House, an extensive gentleman's seat occupied by members of the Cowan family from as early as 1774. The occupant in the early nineteenth century was Andrew Cowan, a Magistrate of County Down and owner of mills and businesses throughout northern Ireland. Cowan was last recorded as occupant of Ballylintagh in 1843, and by 1862 the estate had passed to James Smith. Griffith's Valuation of 1862 records that the Ballylintagh estate, including the gate lodge, was valued at £30, though no separate valuation is provided for the lodge itself.

The Victorian features of the current lodge suggest that the earlier building recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map was either extensively remodelled or entirely rebuilt around 1850. The gate pillars received decorative 'layered pyramidal caps which carried coronets with unicorn crests (lacking their horns)' added in 1874. No discernible alterations to the layout of the gate lodge are visible on later editions of the Ordnance Survey maps from 1903 to 1920, despite visible extensions to Ballylintagh House during this period.

The lodge and its demesne have fallen into disrepair and the building has been unoccupied since at least 1944. Twentieth-century alterations and the loss of historic fabric have resulted in a loss of character; while of local interest as the gate lodge to Ballylintagh Park and retaining some original detailing, the building does not meet the criteria for listing.