Shira Lodge, Main Road, Cardross

Dating from the mid-19th century, Shira Lodge is a single-storey, roughly T-shaped former gatelodge built in a Jacobethan style. It is constructed from squared and snecked red sandstone with ashlar margins and dressings, moulded gables, strapwork detailing, orb finials, a base course, eaves course, and chamfered reveals. The lodge was originally located at the western entrance to Bloomhill House, a Jacobethan country house built in 1838.

The southeast (entrance) elevation features an advanced gable on the right with a tripartite window at ground floor level. A porch in antis is located in the re-entrant angle to the left, supported by a waisted pier with panelled storm doors. A single window is positioned in the bay to the outer left.

The southwest elevation has an advanced, shaped curved gable on the right with a tripartite window featuring strapwork and cornice detail above. A screen wall flanks a lean-to to the left. Two windows are visible in the block to the left, alongside a bipartite dormer window in the outer left bay. A flat-roofed extension dating from the late 20th century is located at the rear, along with a conservatory added around 1999.

The lodge’s windows are primarily plate glass in timber frames, with some top-hopper and others in sash and case frames on the southwest elevation. Newer uPVC casement windows are incorporated in the rear addition, added around 2009. The roof is covered with grey slate, featuring lead flashings, ashlar coping to skewbacks, and ashlar coped stacks with circular cans.

A low plinth boundary wall runs to the left of a pair of painted ashlar gatepiers with stepped pyramidal caps, topped by later cast iron lamps. A further sandstone gatepier is attached to Moore’s Bridge, which is listed separately. A low plinth wall to the left, formerly railed, is now topped with a hedge. The boundary wall to the right is constructed of sandstone with pinnings and semicircular coping. A section of this wall was removed around 2021 to create a new entrance for a residential site, and a portion near the gatepiers was subsequently rebuilt around the same time.