Tower behind, 14 Lower Woodlands, Ballycarry, Larne, Co Antrim, BT38 9JB

Tower behind 14 Lower Woodlands

This building is a late Victorian belvedere in castellated Tudor Revival style, constructed on top of a disused early 19th-century lime kiln. The lime kiln's simple plan form has determined the tower's design. The two-stage structure represents an unusual historical development that does not enhance its architectural merit. The building has undergone detrimental alterations over recent decades, and its original setting as a rural belvedere has been compromised by surrounding housing development.

The structure comprises a square garden tower of one storey built on a base storey, set into a steep hillside. It is constructed mainly of random rubble basalt with slightly battered walls. The main entrance faces west in the rear elevation.

The main east-facing front is two storeys: the lower storey is built of basalt and limestone rubble and contains the lime kiln opening. The upper storey is set back slightly and built of basalt rubble with roughly dressed corners. The lime kiln opening is segmental-arched with rough basalt voussoirs, splayed reveals, and two orders of recessed segmental arches in brick above basalt rubble spandrels. The charging hole features two recessed heads constructed of large roughly-squared basalt blocks. The upper storey contains one central rectangular timber window, crudely constructed with two top-hung toplights above six fixed lights, set in plain reveals with a rusted flat iron plate supporting shaped basalt blocks at the window head. Above is a roughly shaped rectangular Tudor-style drip moulding in basalt and a segmental relieving arch. A small weephole-like recess appears to the left of the window. The parapet has three crenellations, now partly blocked, with two weepholes below the outer crenellations. A projecting corbel course below the parapet is constructed of two courses of pink sandstone carried on basalt corbels.

The south elevation has the lower storey built into the hillside to the left, with blank basalt and limestone rubble walling topped with squared basalt to provide an offset base for the upper storey. The upper storey's south face is similar to the east face except the crenellations are completely blocked at the top. The window is narrower than the east-facing window, also crudely constructed in timber with 18 small fixed panes. Blind weephole-like recesses appear to each side of the window, and two weepholes near the parapet extremities. Extending to the left and slightly set back is a basalt rubble retaining wall supporting exterior steps to the west face, incorporating large roughly squared basalt quoins at the left extremity. This wall contains a brick segmental-arched opening abutting the west wall of the main block, providing a short brick vaulted recess.

The west elevation comprises one storey only (the upper storey of the building) with a projecting stone stairway to the roof. The main block has short returns of the projecting corbel courses on the north and south elevations at each extremity. A rectangular timber door, covered externally with painted tongued and grooved sheeting and fitted with a sliding door latch, is set in a rectangular recess in the wall to the left-hand side. Rusted iron lintels with a recessed wooden frame built up at the top with one course of concrete bricks frame the doorway, above which sits a segmental relieving arch. Exterior dog-leg steps to roof level have a retaining wall to the west face of partly basalt rubble and partly squared basalt. The steps themselves are of granite, some with smooth cement rendering. Rough cement render coping covers part of the retaining walls. The parapet of the main storey on the west side is cement rendered flush at the top, relatively recent work evidenced by black plastic damp course protruding to the right. At the top of the steps, a parapet opening onto the roof has reveals dressed with modern concrete brickwork, which is inappropriate.

The north elevation has the lower storey built into the steep hill to the right, with blank walling and an offset top similar to the south elevation. The upper storey is similar to the south side except the window is crudely constructed in timber to form two large fixed light panes at the top above 12 small panes. One weephole-like recess is visible to the right of the window, with creeper on the wall to the other side obscuring a presumed matching recess.

The roof is covered with concrete laid to falls with weepholes at each corner on the north and south sides. A central circular cast iron flag support, now blocked with the remains of a wooden flagpole, sits at the roof centre. The inner faces and top surface of the parapet are smooth cement rendered on three sides (north, west, and south), though the render on the east side is partly chipped away, revealing original stonework and two of the crenellations.

The building stands on an elevated site within the garden of a modern bungalow. The immediate area around the tower is gravelled to the west with a paved patio to the east and steep sloping rockery beds to each side. The bungalow site is surrounded by other bungalows of similar age. The tower originally provided panoramic views over countryside to the south and east and part of the Red Hall estate to the north; views now include suburban houses and gardens in the immediate vicinity.

The tower is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1902 marked as 'Tower'. A lime kiln occupied the same site on the 1858 map, with the area marked as 'Quarry' on the 1831 map. Although the precise year of the tower's construction is not recorded, it dates from the later 19th century (1860-1879) and was built directly on top of the lime kiln to form a gazebo or belvedere. It originally stood in the grounds of Red Hall but has occupied the garden of a modern bungalow since approximately 1988.