Lodge and gate screen to Drumnasole House, 70 Garron Road, Carnlough, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT44 0JN

Lodge and Gate Screen to Drumnasole House

This is a mid-Victorian gate lodge in an unusual style, dating to approximately 1860, built for the Turnly family as the entrance to Drumnasole House. Together with its associated cast iron gate screen, it occupies an unspoiled rural setting on a scenic stretch of the Antrim Coast Road and forms an attractive architectural grouping.

The lodge is a single-storey structure of roughly coursed basalt rubble with rusticated sandstone quoins and a projecting sandstone plinth. The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates in regular courses with dark-toned ridge tiles and shaped timber finials to the gables. Overhanging eaves are embellished with decorative timber barge boards. Moulded cast iron gutters carry water to PVC downpipes. Two chimneys of black and white polychrome brickwork with stop-chamfered corners stand on a shared stack of black brickwork, stone-dressed and joined at the top by a semi-circular arch. Moulded sandstone string courses and a sandstone blocking course articulate the masonry. A plain sandstone shield is set within the apex of the front porch gable.

The main entrance front faces south and is arranged as a 3-bay composition with one window to each side of a central projecting entrance porch. Windows throughout the main block are segmental-arched timber sliding sashes, 2 over 2 with horns, set in sandstone block surrounds with keystones and painted projecting sandstone cills. The window to the left of the porch has a later replacement lower sash of single pane only. The front wall of the porch contains a semi-circular arched opening with a semi-circular arched timber sashed window. The east side of the porch incorporates a semi-circular headed niche with a concave recess lined with smooth cement render, now lined and blocked with traces of paint remaining. The west side contains the main entrance: a shouldered ledged timber door with diagonal tongued and grooved sheeting, set in a chamfered and shouldered arched sandstone surround.

The west gable displays roof and walling consistent with the front elevation, including a plain sandstone shield in the apex, but lacks a plinth at the base. A single segmental-arched window punctuates this elevation. To the left extends a basalt rubble wall formerly enclosing a rear yard, now given a lean-to roof of corrugated asbestos; its metal guttering is in poor condition.

The rear elevation shows piecemeal development. The portion of roof to the right of the central chimney stack is of Bangor blue slates in regular courses, whilst the portion to the left is of asbestos slates. A PVC gutter runs along this face, partly missing. Much of the rear wall is obscured by a projecting rear return to the left and the former yard to the right. The north elevation of this rear return is of basalt rubble with later smooth cement render to the gable apex; further smooth render has been trowelled to simulate stonework and used to raise the yard wall. This elevation contains one modern flush timber door with contemporary handle and two modern rectangular timber fixed lights with top-hung vents, set beneath projecting painted concrete cills. The west wall of this rear extension is similarly detailed with steel guttering in poor condition and a roof of corrugated asbestos.

The east gable of the lodge is comparable to the west gable but is augmented by a canted bay of basalt rubble. This bay has a segmental-arched window in each face and a timber eaves board with PVC gutter and downpipe. Extending to the right is a single-storey rear return: basalt rubble with a plain projecting plinth of white limestone blocks. This element rises to three plain pilaster strips with the end portions of a plain projecting frieze remaining. One window, a later modern timber three-light fixed light with one side-hung casement, has been set within widened openings with cement dressings. A timber eaves board supports PVC gutter and downpipe returning to the end wall. The roof of this return is of asbestos slates to the east side and corrugated asbestos to the north.

The gate screen comprises a set of four square cast iron piers with a central gateway containing a pair of gates, flanked by double-curved screen railings to each side. The piers consist of stop-chamfered square hollow cast iron shafts with Gothic-headed panels on each face, standing on cast iron bases. The cast iron caps are of ogee form surmounted by ornamented finials and feature panels of anthemion ornament, with scrolling motifs incorporated into the pier design. The gates have vertical railings with foliated finials and floriated lower panels. The screen railings are of similar design to the gates, though some finials are missing from both railings and gates. Extending to each side of the end piers are front boundary walls of basalt rubble with basalt rock copings.

The group stands in a rural location adjacent to the main road, with the lodge set back slightly within its own small grassed plot. The driveway is surfaced with beach pebbles and crushed limestone. The garden is closed off from the driveway by a new wire and wooden post fence containing a new wooden post pedestrian gate of rustic design. Ground to the inland side of the lodge and to the rear rises steeply, contained by a low dry stone retaining wall.

The lodge first appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1903, though the year of construction is not recorded. Stylistically it may be dated to circa 1860.