Shean Lodge

Detached five-bay single-storey fishing lodge, built 1871, on an L-shaped plan with three-bay single-storey side elevations; single-bay (three-bay deep) single-storey double-pile return (north). Sold, 1907. Occupied, 1911. "Repaired", 1926. "Disposed", 1928. Renovated, ----, to accommodate continued occasional use. Hipped slate roof on an L-shaped plan; hipped double-pile (M-profile) slate roof (north), clay ridge tiles, paired rendered chimney stacks (west) on rendered chamfered bases on axis with ridge with rendered chimney stack (east), and cast-iron rainwater goods on timber eaves boards on exposed timber rafters retaining cast-iron downpipes. Roughcast walls. Square-headed window openings to front (south) elevation with cut-limestone sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement uPVC casement windows replacing two-over-two timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings (remainder) with cut-limestone sills, and concealed dressings framing two-over-two timber sash windows. Set in landscaped grounds.

A fishing lodge erected by Sir Alan Edward Bellingham DL (1800-89) on a site obtained (1869) through the Encumbered Estates Court (NUIG) representing an integral component of the later nineteenth-century built heritage of County Mayo: meanwhile, aspects of the composition potentially stem from a programme of "repair" completed (1926) by the Office of Public Works (established 1831) on behalf of the Irish Land Commission (reconstituted 1923; cf. 31303501; 31306713). Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior: however, the gradual introduction of replacement fittings to the openings has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a fishing lodge having historic connections with a succession of tenants including General Sir John Davis KCB (1832-1901), '[one-time] Governor of Portsmouth [fl. 1893-8] late of Sheon [sic] Lodge Ballycroy County Mayo' (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1901, 107); Patrick McManamon (----), 'Gamekeeper' (NA 1911); and Paul Henry (1877-1958), artist and part-time paymaster for the Congested Districts Board for Ireland (appointed 1917; Bowe 2004, 139).