Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB22/15/004 B

Address :
Gate Lodge Glynn Park 92 Taylors Avenue Carrickfergus BT38 7HN

Townland:
North East Division

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
08/09/1978 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House

Former Use
Gates/ Screens/ Lodges

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
99-9 NW

IG Ref:
J4163 8886

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Detached three-bay single-storey former gate lodge and entrance piers to Glynn House, built c.1830. L-plan, facing north with its west elevation fronting onto Taylor’s Avenue; lean-to to south; bay window and entrance verandah to front elevation. Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles (leaded ridges to porch and bay window), hipped to the east, catslide roof over the entrance verandah. Single rendered chimneystack with terracotta pot, exposed carved rafter feet; decorative timber bargeboard to front gable. Cast-iron rainwater goods.Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling with projecting rendered plinth having a bull-nosed moulding. Square-headed window openings with painted sills and replacement timber casement windows. Principal (north) elevation has projecting gabled right bay and entrance verandah to left. An oculus opening to the front gable contains an original spoked window. Square-headed door opening with replacement timber glazed door, opening into the tiled porch area. Porch comprises a timber frame forming three arches to the front one arch deep with turned timber posts, fretwork panelled balustrade with the central arch opening onto the front bitmac area. West elevation has two window openings set within a shallow recess with hood mouldings and a fixed pane timber window of four pointed arched panes each. Pair of tall basalt ashlar piers are positioned slightly to the north of the house with moulded sandstone capstones and stepped cornice with replacement timber gates. A short rendered wall connects the south pier to the house with a steel railing.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The first edition OS map of 1832 shows the gate lodge, uncaptioned. The second edition of 1857 captions the building 'Gate Lodge'. The Townland Valuation of 1836 records the occupier of the Glynn Park estate as John Legg, with the total property valued at £25 12s 15d. Griffith’s Valuation of 1859 lists a gate house, included in the total valuation of the buildings, which is £31 10s. References: The recorded history of the building refers mainly to Glynn Park (HB22.15.004A), with reference inserted below to the date of construction of the gate lodge. *** NOTE: The valuer’s office notebooks at PRONI are to be reviewed after COVID-19 lockdown) Variously known in the early 1800s as ‘Glyn Park’, ’Glen Park’ and ‘Glenpark’, the early history of Glynn Park is difficult to trace. It is mentioned by name in a newspaper notice of January 1807, but nothing is shown on the site on Williamson’s County Antrim map of the following year, suggesting that whatever was present at this stage was relatively modest and quite likely considerably smaller than the building we see today.[Refs 3-4, 7] This idea is supported by the quirky organic nature of the design, which suggests a house that has evolved over the years, an assertion supported by the fact that its setting - right next to what (until relatively recently) had been a minor public road - is rather odd one for a relatively grand residence. The gate lodge was also built at a much later date than the main house, suggesting a rise in syatus of the property. The present owner believes the house may incorporate part of a ‘medieval’ structure, whilst a recent estate agent’s brochure refers to it as ‘dating back to the 1600s.’[55] Given the antiquity of many sites in and around Carrickfergus, it is possible that there was a structure or structures here prior to the early 19th century; however, the documentary evidence for the presence of something considerably older in this particular vicinity is lacking, and whilst elements of the physical evidence are intriguing and may point to something earlier than 1807, these have not yet been examined in detail. There is also said to be a ‘tunnel’ to the south of the building which may indicate previous activity on the site, but this too has yet to be assessed.[60] The newspaper notice of 1807 indicates that the main house's owner at that point was James Craig, and he is attributed with its construction (dated at ‘about 40 years since’) in the OS Memoirs of 1839. [24] Craig (1759-1833) was a local man who served as MP for Carrickfergus from 1807-12, as well as a burgess and deputy Lord Mayor for the town, and who was described at the time of his death as a man of ‘unsullied political integrity, and unflinching patriotism’, who ‘never hesitated to give his most zealous support to the cause of civil and religious freedom.’[17, 57] In 1792 he purchased ‘Scout Bush’, on the southwestern side of Carrickfergus, and subsequently built a house there on or close to the site of a late 16th / early 17th century artillery fort, part of the ruins of which, incidentally, may in part have been incorporated into the new building itself.[59] Although he appears to have been occupying Glynn Park in 1807, Scout Bush seems to have been his home for most (if not all) of the next two decades, with the former noted as occupied by Stephen Trocke in Ambrose Lett’s 1814 ‘Directory of Noted Places’, whilst in 1819 a Captain Rice was living there, with Trocke listed as the occupant once again in Alexander Atkinson’s 1823 ‘Ireland Exhibited to England…’.[10-11, 13-14] In 1822 James Craig he advertised Scout Bush for let, (finally leasing it to James Willis by 1825), and in 1826 is recorded as being of ‘Glenpark’, remaining there until his death in June 1833.[13, 15, 17] Samuel McSkimin, writing in 1829, refers to the house as ‘a highly improved villa’.[8] The main house is shown roughly similar to today on the first edition OS map of 1832, but the lower two-storey west wing is depicted as narrower, the bow-fronted single-storey projection to the east end is not present; it also appears that some of the return components to to the rear had not yet been built. There was no stable yard to the immediate east of the house and this time, merely the coach house, with the main arcing drive from the south leading directly to the space now occupied by the yard. [16, 21.] The 1839 OS Memoirs describe Glynn Park house as a ‘small but neat looking edifice…3-storeys high, slated, with wings in front’, occupying ‘a pretty and retired situation.’ The Memoirs further state that the building had been ‘improved 14 years ago’, indicating that Craig probably extended and remodelled the building shortly after he moved back there in 1825.[24] This date equates with its overall appearance, and the odd elements of gothick detailing in particular. It is difficult to say what the property amounted to prior to this date, but fenestration on the front of the main three-storey block has an irregular arrangement (the upper floor openings do not align with those on the ground level for instance) suggesting that this section could well have been radically altered, possibly raised in height. A building can be seen at this location on the first edition OS map of 1832, however its current from and detail suggest the gate lodge was modified or completed later tha the works carried out to the house around the same date. Glynn Park was acquired in 1834 by John Legg, a prominent local merchant who was at that point High-Sheriff for the ‘County of Carrickfergus’, and who in 1835 let it to Cortlandt Macgregor Skinner. Skinner (1766-1842) was a native of New Jersey, whose father of the same name was a prominent commander of loyalist forces during the American War of Independence, and who himself served in that conflict as a young man. He resided there until at least late 1838, but by the middle of the following year John Legg himself was occupying the property, retaining it up until his death in August 1861.[17, 19, 21, 26, 29]. The 1857 OS map shows that during his tenure, Legg extended the building, adding the single-storey bow-fronted projection to the east and creating the stable yard together with an additional block on the south of this; some of the rear portions may also date from this period. The map shows the main drive had been redirected slightly, terminating directly in front of the house, indicating that the terrace was formed during this time also, and explaining why the basement openings to this side are now all below ground.[27-28 NOTE Second valuation to be consulted when PRONI reopens.] The gate lodge appears to have been completed around this time; the second edition of 1857 captions the building 'Gate Lodge'. After 1861 although the Glynn Park remained in the ownership of the Legg family well into the 20th century, it was leased to various tenants. The valuation books tell us that James Meehan [or Mehan] and Henry Blackburne were tenants from c.1862-70; Robert McMurray from c.1870-85; John Shaw Exham, c.1885-94; John B. Pirrie (then Manager of the nearby Barn Mills), c.1894-1902; Lord Burleigh Cecil, c.1902-04; Richard W.F. Cecil, c.1904-09 and William Frederick Coates (the prominent Belfast stockbroker and Lord Mayor of Belfast, 1920-23, 29-31, 1st Baronet Coates from 1921, c.1909-30.)[31-35, 37]. During this whole period the house does not appear to have undergone any major alterations, although increases in the rateable value (rising from £31 to £35 in 1862, £49 in 1907, reducing to £43 in 1918) suggest changes were made at these dates. The 1902 OS map shows a large conservatory to the front of the west wing had been added by this time, as well as a narrow freestanding structure to the rear of the same wing, whilst an additional range add been added to the east side of the yard. By 1921 a small block (abutting the house) to the west side of the yard had been built, and the conservatory had been removed, the loss of the latter possibly explaining the reduction in the rateable value by £6 in 1918. At some point between 1921 and 1945 the west wing was extended, with the end section west of the chimneystack either raised a storey or totally rebuilt in two-storey form. [37, 39, 44 NOTE: The valuer’s office notebooks at PRONI should supply more details as to the dating and extent of the additions.] In October 1922, during the period of the troubles immediately following Partition, (and during one of W.F. Coates’s tenures as Belfast’s Lord Mayor), a bomb ‘loaded with coarse black powder, and with a fuse attached, and some flat-nosed bullets’ was placed ‘near the hall door’ of Glynn Park, but fortunately, failed to explode.[41] Following this the Coates family are believed to spent less time there. Glynn Park put up for sale in 1926 and by 1930 by Major William Baird (1874-1956), the then owner of the ‘Belfast Telegraph’, and his family was living there.[42-43] A Miss M. Blakely is noted as resident in 1932 and W.F. Coates’s’ widow, Lady Margaret Coates, was back again by 1935 [45-46]. The Bairds seem to have settled there permanently shortly after this, retaining it until the 1970s.[49] Glynn Park was advertised for sale in February 1976 and again in November 1977.[50, 51] In c.1986 a major new thoroughfare (‘Prince Andrew Way’) was created, slicing through the southern edge of the grounds of the property, cutting off the end of the main drive and the gate lodge and necessitating the creation of the present main entrance off the new road itself, thereby isolating the lodge and making it further redundant. It was probably just prior to this that the Lodge was sold off as lands were vested and properties divided up to create the new road. References: Primary Sources 1 PRONI D2489/4 Documents mainly relating to the Legg family of Glynn Park, 1608-1941 2 PRONI D971/42/A/4-41 Deeds, correspondence and papers about the debts of James Craig of Scoutbush, 1762-1828 3 ‘Taylor and Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland’, (Dublin, 1777) 4 ‘A Map of the County of Antrim…by J. Lendrick, 1780’ 5 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 31 January 1807 6 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 4 November 1807, p.1 7 ‘A Map of the County of Antrim…by J. Lendrick, 1780’ - revised version by James Williamson, 1808 8 McSkimin, Samuel, ‘The History and Antiquities of the County of the Town of Carrickfergus…’, (Belfast, 1811, with revised eds 1823, 1829, 1833, 1839) 9 Leet, Ambrose, ‘A Directory to the Market Towns…in Ireland’, Dublin 1814 10 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 25 January 1817 11 ‘Saunders’s News-Letter’, 30 December 1819 12 PRONI D652/829 Lease of land in Carrickfergus from the Marquis of Donegall to James Craig ‘of Scoutbush’, April 1822 13 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 19 October 1822, p.3 14 Atkinson, A., ‘Ireland exhibited to England…’, (, 1823), p.442 15 ‘Dublin Morning Register’, 19 September 1826 16 PRONI OS/6/1/52/1 First Edition OS Map (1832) 17 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 7 June 1833 [James Craig’s death notice] 18 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 3 June 1834, p.3 19 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 1 April 1835, p.3 20 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 6 June 1836 21 PRONI VAL/1/B/187 First valuation (1836) [‘Glynn Park’ is recorded in this valuation as consisting of a ‘house, [with a] projection in front, a north and south wing, return, passage, offices and a [barn]’, and valued at £25.12s.15d.] 22 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 5 September 1838, p.3 23 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 8 July 1839, p.3 24 OS Memoirs (1839-40) 25 ‘Northern Whig’ 17 March 1849, p.3 26 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 19 November 1851, p.3 27 PRONI OS/6/1/52/2 Revised Edition OS Map (1857) 28 PRONI VAL/2/B/22A Second valuation (1859) 29 ‘Belfast Morning News’, 30 August 1861, p.7 30 ‘Belfast News-Letter, 16 October 1861, p.2 31 PRONI VAL12B/7/5A Valuation revision book, 1861-64 32 PRONI VAL12B/7/5B Valuation revision book, 1865-73 33 PRONI VAL12B/7/5D Valuation revision book, 1874-84 34 PRONI VAL12B/7/5F Valuation revision book, 1884-94 35 PRONI VAL12B/7/6A Valuation revision book, 1894-1907 36 PRONI OS/6/1/52/3 Third Edition OS Map (1901-2) 37 PRONI VAL12A/ Valuer’s office notebook, 1907 38 PRONI VAL12B/7/8A Valuation revision book, 1908-20 39 PRONI VAL12A/ Valuer’s office notebook, 1918 40 OS map, 1921 41 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 16 October 1922, p.5 42 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 15 November 1926, p.12 43 ‘Belfast News-Letter’ 10 October 1930, p.11 44 Photo of Glynn Park, c.1930 45 ‘Derry Journal’, 29 January 1932 46 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 3 August 1935, p.5 47 OS map, 1945 48 OS map, 1968 49 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 18 December 1973, p.13 50 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 10 February 1976, p.17 51 ‘Belfast Telegraph’ 8 November 1977, p.19 52 OS map, 1981 53 ‘The Times’ online https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bargain-of-the-week-hm7snrfn8vq 54 Belfast Telegraph Digital https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/carrickfergus-mansion-priced-at-just-60000-fails-to-sell-29237111.html (accessed 23 April 2020) 55 BTW Cairns Estate agent’s brochure c.2013 Secondary sources 56 McSkimin, Samuel, ‘The History and Antiquities of the County of the Town of Carrickfergus…’, new edition, (Belfast, 1909), pp.318-19, 420, 503, 505 57 Thorne, R.G. ed., ‘The House of Commons, 1790-1820, volume 1’, (London, 1986) 58 HED SMR file ANT052:035 File on Scout Bush artillery fort 59 ‘Clan Forsyth Society Newsletter', no.28 October 2007, pp.6-8 60 Information from owner [March 2020]Primary Sources: 61. PRONI OS/6/1/52/1 -First Edition OS Map (1832) 62. PRONI OS/6/1/52/2 -Second Edition OS Map (1857) 63. PRONI OS/6/1/52/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1901-2) 64. PRONI VAL1/A/52 –Townland Valuation Map (1836) 65. PRONI VAL/1/A/187 –Townland Valuation Fieldbook (1836)

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building K. Group value

Historic Interest

R. Age X. Local Interest T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

This modestly scaled house was once a gate lodge to Glynn House (HB22/15/004A) to the north. The house retains its external ornate character despite some alterations and has group value with both Glynn Park House and its former outbuildings (HB22/15/004C). Unfortunately the construction of Prince Andrew Way in c.1986 has severed the physical relationship between this former gate lodge and the main house it served.

General Comments

This record has been renumbered as part of a group - previously HB22.15.003.

Date of Survey

06 December 2008