Cappagh House

Detached three-bay single-storey gate lodge, extant 1841, on a rectangular plan. Refenestrated, ----. Hipped slate roof with clay ridge tiles centred on paired octagonal central chimney stacks having paired stringcourses below capping supporting terracotta pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered stepped eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Rendered walls on rendered chamfered plinth. Square-headed central door opening in camber- or segmental-headed recess with cut-limestone step threshold, and concealed dressings framing timber panelled double doors. Square-headed flanking window openings in camber- or segmental-headed recesses with drag edged cut-limestone sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement uPVC casement windows. Set back from line of road at entrance to grounds of Cappagh House.

A gate lodge erected by Richard Keily Ussher (1778-1854) illustrating the continued development or "improvement" of the Cappagh House estate in the early nineteenth century with the architectural value of the composition suggested by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form centred on a restrained doorcase; and the high pitched roof showing a slab-like slate finish. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric: however, the replacement of 'bipartite windows with an unusual and intricately margined glazing pattern' (Dean 2018, 229) has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a gate lodge forming part of a self-contained group alongside an adjacent gateway (see 22903025) with the resulting ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan street scene.