Gate Lodge, Glynn Park, 92 Taylors Avenue

Gate Lodge, Glynn Park, 92 Taylors Avenue

This is a modestly scaled detached former gate lodge to Glynn House, built around 1830. It is single-storey, three-bay, and arranged on an L-plan, facing north with its west elevation fronting onto Taylors Avenue. Despite some alterations, the building retains its ornate external character and has group value with both Glynn Park House to the north and its former outbuildings. The construction of Prince Andrew Way in around 1986 severed the physical relationship between the lodge and the main house it once served.

The roof is pitched natural slate with black clay ridge tiles, hipped to the east, with leaded ridges to the porch and bay window. A catslide roof covers the entrance verandah. There is a single rendered chimneystack with a terracotta pot, exposed carved rafter feet, and a decorative timber bargeboard to the front gable. Rainwater goods are cast iron.

The external walls are painted rendered in a ruled-and-lined finish, with a projecting rendered plinth bearing a bull-nosed moulding. Window openings are square-headed with painted sills and replacement timber casement windows.

The principal, north-facing elevation has a projecting gabled bay to the right and an entrance verandah to the left. The front gable contains an original spoked oculus window. The entrance verandah is formed by a timber frame of three arches, one arch deep, with turned timber posts and a fretwork panelled balustrade; the central arch opens onto the front bitumastic surface area. The square-headed door opening has a replacement timber glazed door leading into a tiled porch area.

The west elevation has two window openings set within a shallow recess. These are framed by hood mouldings and each contains a fixed-pane timber window of four pointed arched panes.

A lean-to addition is attached to the south. A bay window and entrance verandah project from the front elevation.

To the slightly north of the house stand a pair of tall basalt ashlar entrance piers with moulded sandstone capstones and a stepped cornice. These carry replacement timber gates. A short rendered wall connects the south pier to the house, with a steel railing completing the boundary.

Historical background

The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832 shows the gate lodge, though without a caption. The second edition of 1857 identifies it as 'Gate Lodge', suggesting it may have been completed or substantially modified around that time — somewhat later than the principal works carried out to the main house in around 1825. A building is visible on the 1832 map at this location, but the current form and detailing indicate the lodge was finished or altered at a later date.

The Townland Valuation of 1836 records the occupier of the Glynn Park estate as John Legg, with the total property valued at £25 12s 15d. Griffith's Valuation of 1859 lists a gate house included within a total building valuation of £31 10s.

The wider history of Glynn Park, to which this lodge belongs, is complex. The estate appears in a newspaper notice as early as January 1807, at which point the owner was James Craig (1759–1833), a local man who served as Member of Parliament for Carrickfergus from 1807 to 1812, and also as a burgess and deputy Lord Mayor of the town. He is attributed with constructing the main house in about 1792, though he was not continuously resident there. Craig occupied another property, Scout Bush, on the south-western side of Carrickfergus for much of the following two decades, and Glynn Park was occupied by others during this period — Stephen Trocke is recorded as occupant in 1814 and again in 1823, and Captain Rice in 1819. Craig advertised Scout Bush to let in 1822, finally leasing it to James Willis by 1825, and by 1826 was recorded as being of 'Glenpark', where he remained until his death in June 1833. Samuel McSkimin, writing in 1829, described Glynn Park as 'a highly improved villa'.

The 1839 Ordnance Survey Memoirs describe the house as 'a small but neat looking edifice, 3 storeys high, slated, with wings in front', in 'a pretty and retired situation', and note that it had been 'improved 14 years ago' — placing the main phase of remodelling at around 1825, shortly after Craig returned to reside there permanently. The gate lodge was built at a noticeably later date than the main house, which is itself suggestive of a rise in the status and ambition of the property over time.

In 1834 Glynn Park was acquired by John Legg, a prominent local merchant who was at that point High Sheriff for the County of Carrickfergus. In 1835 he let it to Cortlandt Macgregor Skinner (1766–1842), a native of New Jersey whose father had been a prominent commander of loyalist forces during the American War of Independence, and who had himself served in that conflict as a young man. Skinner resided there until at least late 1838, after which Legg himself occupied the property until his death in August 1861. During his tenure, Legg extended the main house, adding a single-storey bow-fronted projection to the east and creating the stable yard along with an additional block to its south. The gate lodge appears to have been completed around this same period.

Following Legg's death in 1861, although Glynn Park remained in the ownership of the Legg family well into the 20th century, it was leased to a succession of tenants. These included James Meehan and Henry Blackburne (around 1862–70), Robert McMurray (around 1870–85), John Shaw Exham (around 1885–94), John B. Pirrie, then manager of the nearby Barn Mills (around 1894–1902), Lord Burleigh Cecil (around 1902–04), Richard W. F. Cecil (around 1904–09), and William Frederick Coates (around 1909–30) — a prominent Belfast stockbroker, Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1920–23 and 1929–31, and first Baronet Coates from 1921. During this entire period the house does not appear to have undergone any major alterations, though increases in rateable value — rising from £31 to £35 in 1862, £49 in 1907, and then reducing to £43 in 1918 — suggest changes were made at these dates.

In October 1922, during the period of unrest immediately following Partition, and during one of W. F. Coates's tenures as Lord Mayor of Belfast, a bomb loaded with coarse black powder with a fuse attached, along with some flat-nosed bullets, was placed near the hall door of Glynn Park; fortunately it failed to explode. Following this incident the Coates family are believed to have spent less time at the property. Glynn Park was put up for sale in 1926, and by 1930 Major William Baird (1874–1956), the then owner of the Belfast Telegraph, and his family were living there. A Miss M. Blakely is noted as resident in 1932, and W. F. Coates's widow, Lady Margaret Coates, was back in residence by 1935. The Baird family appear to have settled there permanently shortly afterwards, retaining the property until the 1970s. Glynn Park was advertised for sale in February 1976 and again in November 1977.

In around 1986 a major new road, Prince Andrew Way, was created, cutting through the southern edge of the Glynn Park grounds. This severed the end of the main drive and isolated the gate lodge, necessitating the creation of a new main entrance off the new road. The lodge was probably sold off just prior to this, as lands were vested and the property divided to make way for the new road.

The present owner believes the main house may incorporate part of a medieval structure, and a recent estate agent's brochure referred to the house as dating back to the 1600s. Given the antiquity of sites in and around Carrickfergus, it is possible that earlier structures existed on or near this site; however, detailed documentary evidence for this is lacking, and whilst some physical evidence is considered intriguing, it had not at the time of listing been examined in detail. There is also said to be a tunnel to the south of the main building that may indicate previous activity on the site, though this too had not yet been assessed.