Leitrim Lodge, 121 Leitrim Rd, Hilltown, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5XS

Leitrim Lodge is a complex of buildings located on the west side of Leitrim Road, Hilltown, comprising four distinct components: a vernacular farmhouse, a hunting lodge, outbuildings, and dog kennels. The houses have been modernised, and although the complex retains some original character, it is not of special architectural or historic interest.

The vernacular farmhouse occupies the northern position and is a single-storey three-bay structure with a pitched natural slate roof aligned north-south. The front elevation faces east and is cement dashed and painted with a smooth rendered base course. A painted cement rendered chimney sits between the left and central bays. The central bay features a large porch return with a pitched roof, slightly lower ridge than the main block, and a terracotta finial to its gable end. The porch has a modern painted timber door on its left cheek and a modern window with top hung transom and thin concrete cill on its gable, above which is a small fixed oculus. Modern painted timber eaves support semicircular plastic rainwater goods. The remaining bays have similar modern windows. The rear (west) elevation is pebble dashed with a smooth cement rendered base course and a single modern top hung window to the central bay. The right gable forms a party wall with the outbuildings, and the left gable forms a party wall with the hunting lodge.

The hunting lodge adjoins the farmhouse to the south, with a distinct level change between the two dwellings. It comprises three distinct roof sections: the left bay has a pitched natural slate roof; the central bay has a natural slate roof aligned west-east and canted to the east gable; and the narrow right bay, containing the hallway, has a low hipped roof with a knob finial on its east gable. Both main roofs have decorative terracotta ridge tiles and a cement rendered and coped chimney between the two bays, along with decorated rafter tails. The south (left) gable displays a fretted painted timber bargeboard with quatrefoil repeat. Aluminium rainwater goods are fitted throughout. The front elevation is painted lined render with a projecting base course. The front door is contained within the right bay, formed of painted timber with a Gothic head, set within a Gothic headed opening with stop-end chamfered reveal. The central bay features a large canted bay window with large 1/1 sliding sash windows (with horns) on each of its three cants, each with chamfered stop-end reveals and painted granite cills. The left bay has a similar but smaller window. The left gable contains a single sash window detailed as the others. The rear elevation is in two distinct parts: the right bay is blank, while the left advances as a gable with a plain A-frame bargeboard and a single window below without chamfered reveal. A low gabled return advances at the left with its roof forming a continuation of the porch roof. It is detailed as the main block with a blank end gable bearing an A-framed bargeboard and a cement-rendered chimney on the west gable. The right cheek has two small modern top hung windows in older openings. The left elevation features a flush four-panelled door to the left, a modern paired casement window to the centre, and a lean-to shed to the right with a monopitched natural slate roof, rendered walls, a modern door on its left cheek, and a rectangular top-hung window on its north-facing wall. A narrow gable with A-framed bargeboard and single fixed window stands at the left end of this elevation where it joins the farmhouse.

The outbuildings consist of a single-bay structure abutting the north gable of the farmhouse and a two-bay range advancing east from it, formerly used as stables and enclosing the north end of the front yard. The single-storey block abutting the north gable has a pitched natural slate roof and whitewashed dashed walls, with a pair of sheeted doors filling a coach arch on the left. The two-bay range has the left bay at one and a half storeys high with a pitched artificial slate roof, and the right bay at single storey with a natural slate roof. Both have dashed and painted walls. The left bay contains sheeted doors to left and right with a granite stair to centre serving a sheeted first-floor door. The right bay has two sheeted half doors. The east gable, facing the road, has a small gable window. The rear (north-facing) elevation has a later lean-to shed abutting the left bay, and the higher bay to the right has a four-paned fixed metal window at ground floor. The west-facing elevation is blank save for a single flat-iron gate with tin sheet over at the right, providing access within. The dog kennels are located to the west of the outbuildings at the north-west side of the complex.

The front of the complex is enclosed to the road by a lined cement-rendered wall with embattled roughly dressed granite coping. The front (east) of the farmhouse contains a small concrete-floored yard, while a small garden lies to the front, left and rear of the lodge. A small domestic yard is located to the rear of the farmhouse.

Historical records indicate that the farmhouse does not appear on the 1834 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map but first appears on the 1859 edition, where it is described in c.1861 valuation as belonging to Owen Fitzpatrick. The hunting lodge first appears on the 1901 Ordnance Survey map and is described in the 1901 valuation as a shooting lodge belonging to the Trustees of Robert Batt, noted as "improved", suggesting the addition was made around that date. The dog kennels undoubtedly date from circa 1900 as well.