Wells House

Detached three-bay single-storey gate lodge with half-dormer attic, extant 1840, on a T-shaped plan centred on single-bay single-storey gabled projecting porch. Now disused. Pitched slate roofs on a T-shaped plan centred on pitched (gabled) slate roof (porch) with clay ridge tiles, red brick Running bond off-central chimney stack on red brick Running bond base having stepped capping supporting terracotta pot, perforated decorative timber bargeboards to gables on timber purlins, and cast-iron rainwater goods on slate flagged eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Part repointed coursed rubble stone walls originally roughcast with rough hewn rubble stone flush quoins to corners; roughcast surface finish to side (east) elevation bellcast over rendered plinth. Square-headed central door opening with timber lintel framing glazed timber boarded door. Square-headed flanking window openings in camber-headed recesses with cut-granite sills, and red brick voussoirs framing pivot fittings having square glazing bars. Set back from line of road at entrance to grounds of Wells House.

A cottage-like gate lodge contributing positively to the group and setting values of the Wells House estate with the architectural value of the composition suggested by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form centred on an expressed porch; and the decorative timber work embellishing a high pitched roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric: the partial removal of the surface finish, however, has not had a beneficial impact on the external expression or integrity of a gate lodge forming part of a neat self-contained group alongside the adjacent Saint John's Church (Kilnamanagh) (see 15702134) with the resulting ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan street scene.