Marlagh Lodge, 71-73 Moorefields Road, Ballymarlagh, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT42 3BU

This is a small gentleman's country house dating from around 1850, displaying a slightly eclectic early Victorian mixture of picturesque and late Georgian architectural elements. The building combines gabled bays, rendered walls, roof overhangs with finials, neo-classical window surrounds, and half-dormers. To the front is a square porch with a lean-to roof which was probably originally flat-roofed. At the rear extends a long single-storey return which may originally have contained servants' rooms but served as a separate dwelling for much of the 20th century. Behind the house lies a relatively large yard with contemporary two-storey and single-storey outbuildings.

The property stands on the south side of Moorefields Road, relatively close to the road itself, roughly three miles south-east of Ballymena. The house actually faces north-west but for descriptive purposes is treated as facing west.

Front Elevation

The front elevation is symmetrical. At the centre of the ground floor stands the square lean-to porch, which probably began as flat-roofed. The north face of the porch contains a panelled timber door with three-pane rectangular fanlight. The door is encased with plain pilasters with decorative scroll brackets supporting a plain blocking course. The line of the roof has cut off the top right corner of the blocking course. The west face of the porch has a large sash window with typical early Victorian broad margin panes. The window has plain surrounds to the sides, but the roof has cut off the top of the surround (it was undoubtedly similar to the surrounds of the windows to left and right of the porch). The south face of the porch contains a window as before with surround as the doorway (again with part of the blocking course cut off by the roof). Plain pilasters mark the corners of the porch. The lean-to roof of the porch is slated and has a slight overhang with plain bargeboards and eaves.

The porch spans between two large identical shallow full-height gabled bays. Each bay has a window, as the porch, to the centre of the ground floor, with simple surround comprising plain pilasters, entablature and cornice. At first-floor level each bay contains a slightly smaller Georgian-paned window (six-over-six) encased with pilasters with simple scroll brackets supporting a tympanum. In the gable apex of each bay sits a very small loft window with semicircular head, plain sash frame and label moulding. Each gable has a roof overhang with exposed rafter ends and finials, and plain pilasters as the porch mark each gable edge.

Between the bays, directly above the porch, a slightly recessed bay contains a relatively large double sash window with Georgian panes (six-over-six by two). The window is encased with plain pilasters. The whole of the front elevation (minus pilasters) is finished in painted lined render.

North Elevation

The north elevation has a complex appearance. To the left extends a long single-storey return which probably once contained quarters for servants as well perhaps as utility rooms, but which later became a dwelling. To the right stands the main two-storey section of the house.

The single-storey return is itself in two sections. At the far left is a small slightly lower portion with a hipped roof, whilst at centre and right is a marginally taller gabled portion, both portions connected by a short flat-roofed link. The north face of the hipped-roof portion has a Georgian-paned sash window (six-over-six) with plain surround; the gabled portion has two plain sash windows and a central 1950s partly glazed door, all with plain surrounds as before. The whole north face of this single-storey return is finished in unpainted lined cement render.

The main two-storey section to the right-hand (west) side of the north elevation is itself in two portions, that to the left slightly lower and set back. The lower portion has a double sash window to the ground floor with Georgian panes (six-over-six by two) and plain surround. At first-floor level is a window as the first floor of the bays to the front, but partly set within an unusual tall gabled half-dormer. This half-dormer has a roof overhang with plain bargeboards. At the ground floor of the taller portion to the right there is a small canted bay in timber with rendered aprons and felted hipped roof. The broad (north) side of the bay contains a sash window as the porch with much narrower sash windows to the outer sides (horizontal glazing bars, three-over-three). At first-floor level is a window and half-dormer as the first floor of the lower portion. The two-storey section of the north elevation is finished as the front.

South Elevation

The south elevation of the main two-storey section matches the far right-hand portion of the north elevation except that to the right (east) it merges with the south face of a rear single-storey lean-to (with a rendered wall abutting the elevation just to the left of the side of the lean-to). The south face of the lean-to has two small Georgian-paned sash windows (both six-over-six). This whole section of the south elevation is finished in plain painted render.

The south elevation of the single-storey return has three sash windows, that to the left with Georgian panes (six-over-six), those to the right plain. The window to the far right (which sits within the flat-roofed linking portion) is smaller than the other two. At the far left there is a gabled half-dormer with plain sash window. The exposed east-facing gable of the return (which overlooks the linking portion) contains a small window with modern frame.

At the far right (east) of the single-storey return the hipped portion projects to the south. The south face of this portion is blank, whilst the east face has a plain sash window, then a timber-sheeted door, then another plain sash window, then another door. These faces (and the blank west face) of the hipped-roof portion are finished in rough harling (which has been painted at some stage). The south elevation of the main (gabled) portion of the return (and the linking portion) are finished in plain render (also painted some time ago).

Rear (East) Elevation

The rear (east) elevation of the main two-storey portion of the house has a complex appearance. At the far left on the ground floor is a smallish single-storey lean-to. The east face of this is blank. This leans to a full-height gable whose first-floor level is blank. To the right the lean-to is attached to a larger lean-to whose ground-floor level projects further to the east and is in fact a lean-to in its own right. The east face of the ground-floor portion of this lean-to has a timber-sheeted door and small Georgian-paned sash window (six-over-six). The south face of the lean-to contains another similar sash window. The set-back first-floor or half-landing level portion of the lean-to merges, to the right, with a small gabled bay. At this level the lean-to has a sash window, as previous only larger, whilst the bay has a semicircular-headed sash window with Georgian panes (eight-over-six). To the right of this whole lean-to ensemble there projects a full-height gabled bay which merges with the single-storey return. The rear elevation of the two-storey portion is finished in a mixture of plain and lined render (all painted).

Roof and Chimneys

The roof of the whole property is slated and has a slight overhang to the main two-storey section with exposed rafter ends in many places. There is a cast-iron skylight to the south side of the return roof. The main two-storey section has five relatively small rendered chimney stacks with bases, string courses and (largely) matching octagonal pots. There is a cruder rendered stack to the return. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

Yard and Outbuildings

To the immediate rear of the property is a yard surrounded by a rubble wall. On the south side of the yard there is a single whitewashed hipped-roof row of sheds, with three timber-sheeted doors and three windows (of various size and with various frames). Outside the yard to the east stands a large two-storey hipped outbuilding, constructed in basalt rubble with brick-dressed openings and slated roof. To the rear of the outbuilding is a long single-storey mid-20th-century lean-to in brick with a corrugated-asbestos roof.

A tall rubble wall extends from the north and south ends of the outbuilding. The north wall contains a vehicle gateway with square basalt pillars with stone pyramidal caps. There are timber gates. The south wall incorporates a tall bellcote structure whose uppermost portion is in brick (and may not be original). To the west of the bellcote is another gateway with pillars as before only lower, and there is also a timber gate.

To the east of the large outbuilding is a large walled garden (now simply a field) with remains of relatively low walls, partly patched in breeze block. To the front (west) of the house there is a garden (with short drive) bordered by low rubble wall with mid-20th-century-looking vehicle gateway to the far west.