Gate Lodge and Gatescreen, Ballyward Lodge, 16 Ballyward Road, Ballyward, Banbridge, Co Down, BT31 9PS

A single-storey gate lodge and gatescreen marking the entrance to Ballyward Lodge demesne, built in two phases. The gate lodge was constructed around 1825 in Gothic style, while the entrance gates and screen date from around 1810 in the classical tradition. Together they illustrate the phased development of the estate and the stylistic variety that characterises the main house.

The gate lodge is a rectangular two-bay structure on plan, with a canted entrance porch and early twentieth-century rear lean-to extensions. It is roofed with natural slate in a hipped form, with angled ridge and hip tiles. A single rendered chimneystack sits to the party wall between the bays. Cast iron rainwater goods project from the eaves. The walling is rendered with ruled and lined finish. Windows are timber diamond lattice with pointed arches and painted masonry cills; the main bay windows have timber transom and mullion with interlocking glazing bars to the head. The entrance comprises a semi-circular headed door with a plain fanlight above a replacement panelled timber door with glazed top panels, panelled frame and brass knob, set over a stone threshold. The front elevation, facing south-east, is symmetrical with the door centrally positioned within the canted porch and diminished windows to each cheek; a window sits to either side. The end elevations are blank. The rear elevation is abutted by two lean-to extensions with corrugated metal roofs and rendered walling; the left extension has a 2/2 sash window left of centre, the right extension is lit by a 2/2 window to its rear, and both extensions have doors and casements to their cheeks.

The gate screen consists of convex alcoved rendered entrance walls with flat masonry coping, terminating with oval finials to either side. Ashlar stone piers, linked to the entrance walls by cast iron railing over a moulded stone plinth wall, have a plinth and frieze carved with oval classical motif, moulded cornice and flat cap. A pair of cast-iron gates with spear-headed finials leads to the tree-lined entrance avenue. Wheel guards protect the base of the piers.

The lodge is positioned directly within the gates on the right side of entry, in a roadside setting within the rural settlement of Ballyward on the main Castlewellan to Banbridge Road. The demesne beyond is screened by mature plantation.

Historical Development

The gate lodge appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 as a rectangular building at the north-east of the house, though it was not captioned as a gate lodge until the second edition in 1859. By the 1830s Ballyward Lodge was occupied by Charles Beers Esquire, a Justice of the Peace and landed gentleman whose father had constructed the main house in 1811. The Townland Valuation of that period valued the gate lodge at £2 11s. 9d. By 1862, Francis Charles Leslie had taken possession of the estate; Griffith's Valuation did not separately value the gate lodge but included it within the valuation of Ballyward House and its offices at £45. The property remained with the Leslie family until 1869, after which the house was let to other occupants. In 1916, during the occupancy of Harriet Jane Barclay, the gate lodge was individually valued for the first time since the Annual Revisions, at £2, and was occupied by William R. Hamilton, who continued to reside there until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929. The square ashlar gate piers are likely contemporary with the construction of the main house around 1810, while the gate lodge itself was built circa 1825. The building retains a high proportion of original fabric and its original plan form, making it a good example of a gate lodge surviving in its original setting as part of the demesne. It was listed in 1977 and continues to be occupied.