Gate Lodge, Coolnafranky House, 3 Molesworth Road, Cookstown, BT80 9NR

Gate Lodge, Coolnafranky House

This is a detached one and a half-storey stone-faced former gate lodge to Coolnafranky House, built in 1878, possibly to designs by John Lanyon. The building is now in use as a private dwelling. Although much restored, it remains a well-preserved example of a small picturesque nineteenth-century gate lodge, designed in Victorian picturesque style in marked contrast to the classical character of the main house. The strong architectural character and good quality decorative stone detailing, combined with nearby railway-related structures and various houses in the area, contribute significantly to the overall Victorian character and appearance of the locality.

The building comprises a main structure with an original one and a half-storey return to the rear, a single-storey lean-to, and a later single-storey pitched roof extension. The front western elevation, facing onto the entrance to Coolnafranky House, is symmetrical and contains a central projecting entrance porch. Square-headed windows to either side of the front entrance bay feature chamfered cut-stone surrounds and sills, with 1/1 stained timber sliding sash windows. The central bay contains a round-headed door opening with panelled timber door and fanlight. The fanlight is framed with a carved surround with label stops. The carved stone verge to the gable features a stone ball finial at the apex.

The northern side elevation fronts onto Molesworth Street and comprises three sections: a gable end to the right, a lean-to to the centre, and a pitched roof return to the left. The stone gable end is shaped with projecting kneelers to the eaves supporting a skewed gable, and has a 1/1 timber sliding sash window with cut stone surrounds. The single-storey lean-to return to centre has paired square-headed windows with single lights. A cut stone gabled dormer window to the main return features a single-light window, with the dormer gable matching the main gables in style but smaller in scale. Ruled and lined render faces the walls of the left rear extension, which has two square-headed timber doors.

The southern side elevation comprises a gable end to the left, the side of the main return to the centre, and the later extension to the right. The gable and return have 1/1 timber sliding sash windows with stone dressings as described above. The later return has no windows. The eastern elevation features the gable of the main return with the later return attached to its east side. The gable of the return is stone-faced with a circular carved stone chimneystack at the apex, whilst the gable of the extension is rendered.

The roof is slated with projecting carved stone eaves. Two large circular chimneystacks are positioned at either end of the ridge. The roof to the extension has overhanging eaves with decorative carved timber barge boards, and ridges are formed with pierced clay ridge tiles. Walls to the rear extension are finished with lined render and rest on a stone plinth. The rock-faced snecked stone walls rest on a projecting chamfered plinth, with smooth stone quoins to most external corners.

The former gate lodge is slightly set back from the main Molesworth Road on the corner of the main driveway into Coolnafranky House. It is surrounded by a low-rise snecked stone wall, with a tarmac parking area to the north and a small garden to the south. The building occupies a prominent position at the north-eastern side of the town centre at the beginning of the mainly Victorian suburban Molesworth Road.

The gate lodge was built to serve Coolnafranky House. Valuation records confirm construction in 1878, though the identity of the architect remains uncertain, though John Lanyon has been suggested. Coolnafranky House itself was built in 1858 for James Gunning, who in partnership with James Moore had purchased a large part of the Stewart family's Cookstown estate in 1851. A James Harris is recorded as living in the lodge in 1885 and remained there until at least 1909. Michael John Quinn was noted as resident in 1936, remaining there until 1951, when Coolnafranky House and its grounds were acquired by the Tyrone Education Committee for the building of the present Cookstown High School and Cookstown Primary School complexes. The building shares group value with the nearby Coolnafranky House.