Gatepiers And Gates, Choille Bheag Including Boundary Walls

Choille Bheag is a roughly rectangular Italianate villa, built around 1850. It occupies a prominent position above the Shore Road and is considered one of the finest villas along the Kilmun/Strone shore. The house is a well-preserved example of the style and retains numerous original features, along with its stable and coach block.

The 1½-storey house has a principal, south-facing elevation with a shallow-pitched gable projecting to the east. The entrance is within a separate gabled porch, located in the re-entrant angle to the east. A parallel, gabled block sits to the rear. Decorative details include corbelled eaves, a pierced balcony above the canted bay in the front gable, varied window surrounds, raised quoins, and a band course. A two-storey stable/service block is situated to the rear of the main house.

The main (south) elevation features an east-facing gable with a single-storey canted bay, which incorporates a pierced balcony to the pedimented window above. To the west is a single-storey block. The gabled entrance porch to the east is approached by steps with a pierced stone parapet. Behind the main block lies a parallel two-storey block, with an east-facing gable and a further north-facing gable. These elevations have a heavy, channelled base course and wide margins and eaves courses. The shallow-pitched gables feature heavy stone corbels. The windows have either heavy, corbelled overwindows or moulded surrounds.

Inside, the house retains original features such as a stone staircase with cast iron balusters and good plaster cornices.

The building is constructed from squared whin rubble with sandstone ashlar dressings. It has timber sash and case windows, with predominantly plate glass lower sashes and six-pane upper sashes. The roof is slate, with stone skews, stone stacks, and clay cans.

Behind the house, across a narrow lane, is a two-storey service block with external access to the upper floors via the gables.

The house is enclosed by a rubble boundary wall, with an entrance defined by a cast iron gate and square-plan gatepiers. The original garden extended further towards the sea, but its size has been reduced by the straightening of the road. The gate has also been relocated from a position further west.