179 Coast Road, Carnfunnock, Ballygalley, Larne, Co Antrim, BT40 2LF

A more than usually vigorous example of an early Victorian gate lodge designed in Tudor Revival style, presenting a largely unspoiled appearance to the main road.

The building is a one and a half storey gate lodge of asymmetrical plan, constructed of squared random rubble blackstone with ashlar quoins and moulded dressings in sandstone. It was built for James Agnew as a gate lodge to Carncastle Lodge, which stood on the opposite side of Coast Road. The lodge appears on the second Ordnance Survey map of 1857 and dates to approximately 1850. It stands in a rural area on the seaward side of Coast Road, which skirts the shoreline, set within its own small garden bounded by hedges. A small white painted wooden pedestrian gate marks the front boundary, with a large wooden vehicular gate providing access to a driveway at the rear.

The main entrance faces south. The south elevation comprises a single storey gabled block with a projecting gabled porch to the left and a cross-gabled two-storey block to the right, followed by a recent single storey hipped extension at the extreme right-hand end. The roofs of the original blocks are laid with Bangor blue slates in regular courses between gable copings of sandstone. A prominent central chimney stack with smooth cement rendering rises between the single and two-storey blocks, topped with three tall ornate lozenge-patterned pots. The gables are shouldered with stepped kneelers and finished with ornate octagonal stone finials featuring coved corbels and lozenge-patterned shafts. Cast iron gutters and downpipes complete the external service elements.

The main entrance doorway comprises a panelled wooden door set in a Tudor arched surround surmounted by a projecting drip moulding carried on moulded corbels. A small Gothic lancet window occupies the side wall of the porch. To the right of the porch is a small rectangular two-light casement window with small panes. The two-storey gable to the right features a three-light rectangular white painted wooden window at ground floor level, divided by transom and mullions with Tudor arched heads and small panes, set within a rectangular opening with Tudor style projecting drip moulding overhead. Above, on the first floor, is a narrow Gothic arched lancet with small panes and Gothic arched heads, set within a projecting Gothic drip moulding and surmounted by a burglar alarm immediately below the gable finial.

The north or rear elevation is similar in style and treatment to the entrance elevation. The single storey block has a three-light timber window with Tudor arched heads and plate glass, all set within a Tudor style projecting drip moulding. The west or end gable of the single storey block features a canted single storey bay entirely of dressed sandstone, including its roof, containing three white painted timber casement windows with Tudor arched heads set in rectangular openings.

The modern extension to the east has a hipped roof of slates and smooth cement rendered walls with raised cement quoins. It includes a rectangular sheeted door on the entrance front and small-paned rectangular windows with top-hung vents. The extension is enclosed to the rear and partly to the east by a modern smooth cement rendered wall with crenellated parapet.

Carncastle Lodge was demolished in 1937 and replaced by Carnfunnock House, which became a Lions Holiday Home for older people in 1974. The gate lodge is no longer connected to this residence. A modern extension to the rear was approved in 1994. The lodge is associated with a secondary gate lodge nearby at 184 Coast Road.