Rocklands House, 2 Wesley Court, Belfast Road, Carrickfergus, BT38 8HS

Rocklands House is a detached, symmetrical three-bay two-storey house built around 1820 and located on the east side of Belfast Road in Carrickfergus. It was renovated around 1995. The house is well detailed and proportioned with many original features intact, including a largely intact plan layout and internal detailing. Despite some alterations, it remains a significant building of special architectural interest in the locality.

The main structure is arranged in an L-plan with a single-storey hipped-roof return to the east gable and a two-storey return to the south, further extended by a single-storey lean-to glazed conservatory to the rear. The roofs are hipped and slated with blue and black clay ridge tiles leaded to the hips. Deep overhanging eaves are supported on paired moulded timber brackets, which appear on the front and gable elevations only. Two smooth rendered corbelled chimney-stacks rise from the party walls without pots. Cast-iron rainwater goods feature ogee profile gutters and round downpipes. The walls are ruled-and-lined rendered with a smooth rendered string course and plinth.

The principal elevation faces north and features full-height pilaster detail to the corners. The central entrance is recessed within a segmental-headed opening with a keyblock and deep moulded architrave. A ten-panelled door with original ironmongery is flanked by leaded sidelights over fixed timber panels, framed by timber pilasters and central colonnettes. A dentilled cornice and decorative sunburst fanlight top the entrance, which is accessed by three masonry steps now faced with concrete.

Windows throughout are square-headed 1/1 timber sliding sashes with horns, all with deep moulded architraves and painted masonry cills. Windows on the ground floor of the principal facade are surmounted by segmental hoodmoulds. The principal facade has two windows to each side of the central entrance and five windows at first floor level.

The left gable is abutted by a single-storey return with hipped roof; the exposed section is blank with a chimneystack to the gable wall at the left side. The rear elevation is abutted on the left by the two-storey return, with a single window to each floor in the exposed section. The right gable is blank, though two windows at first floor are now blocked. The south elevation of the two-storey return is abutted by a fully glazed lean-to conservatory at ground floor level, with a central door and flanking windows; three windows remain at first floor. The west gable is blank, and the east gable is abutted by the single-storey return.

The single-storey return is smooth rendered but otherwise detailed as the main block. Its east elevation contains a central timber entrance door with one stained glass pane over two fixed panels, flanked by two windows on each side. This entrance is accessed by three masonry steps. A wall to the left contains a round-headed arch providing access to the gable entrance and offices in an adjacent building, previously an outbuilding associated with Rocklands House. The timber conservatory has casement windows throughout, supported on a plinth wall with painted masonry cills, and original timber panelled doors to each gable, each with a central glazed pane with margins over two fixed panels.

The house now stands within an extensive urban housing development with open space between the Belfast Road and the house frontage. The adjacent office, formerly an outbuilding, is located to the north and accessed through the round-headed arch in the boundary wall.

Historically, the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832 shows a small rectangular building of similar orientation captioned "Rachinboy" with projections to the south-east and an adjacent building to the right. The second edition map of 1857 captions the house as "Rocklands". The Townland Valuation of 1836 records a house and offices occupied by J. Bowie, valued at £18 10s. The 1839 Ordnance Survey memoirs describe "Rocklands" as "the residence of John Bowie Esquire, Lieutenant Royal Navy and Inspecting Commander of the Coastguards" and note that "the house was built 12 years ago by Alexander Wilton, architect, who resided in it, but only occupied by Lieutenant Bowie since 1836, who purchased it. 2 acres of ornamental ground attached". Griffith's Valuation of 1859 lists a house, office and land, occupied by Jane and Penelope (Kidley?), then held from Captain J. Bowie. The building was initially valued at £30, then revised to £38 10s, suggesting additions were made in the mid-nineteenth century. Valuation Revisions from the early 1860s list the occupiers as Jane and Penelope (Kittly?), with the valuation reduced to £21 and later revised to £24. The building does not appear in its current form until the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902. The Valuation Revision of 1914-1918 records the occupier as Reverend Alex Cuthbert, with the building valued at £38 10s. According to the current owner, Rocklands was purchased by North Street Presbyterian Church in 1906 as a manse and was the dwelling of Reverend Alexander Cuthbert from 1909 until 1940. The house was obtained by Methodist Housing Association in 1982.