Mount Saint Benedict

Detached two-bay single-storey gate lodge with dormer attic, occupied 1901, on a rectangular plan. Renovated, ----. Pitched slate with roll moulded terracotta ridge tiles centred on tuck pointed granite ashlar chimney stack having lichen-covered capping, perforated decorative timber bargeboards to gables on timber purlins with timber finials to apexes, and cast-iron rainwater goods on box eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Tuck pointed coursed or snecked rubble stone walls with margined cut-granite flush quoins to corners. Square-headed window openings in tripartite arrangement with cut-granite sills, and margined cut-granite block-and-start surrounds framing timber casement windows having lattice glazing bars. Set back from line of road at entrance to grounds of Mount Saint Benedict.

A gate lodge erected to a design attributed to Richard Francis Caulfield Orpen (1863-1938) of Dublin contributing positively to the group and setting values of the Mount Saint Benedict estate with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling contemporary gate lodges on the Solsborough House estate (see 15702019 - 15702021), confirmed by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form; the construction in unrefined fieldstone offset by silver-grey granite dressings demonstrating good quality workmanship; and the decorative timber work embellishing the roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, thus upholding the character or integrity of a gate lodge forming part of a self-contained group alongside an adjacent gateway (see 15700621) with the resulting ensemble making a picturesque visual statement in a rural street scene.