Survey Data
Reg No
11903716
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Archaeological, Architectural, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Castleroe House
Original Use
Farm house
In Use As
Farm house
Date
1880 - 1920
Coordinates
273564, 185661
Date Recorded
29/10/2002
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey house, c.1900, retaining early aspect with single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch to centre, single-bay single-storey flanking canted bay windows, single-bay single-storey recessed end bays and single-bay two-storey return to rear to east having single-bay two-storey lean-to lower projecting bay to south-east. Extended, c.1990, comprising three-bay single-storey double-pile return to rear to east. Hipped roofs behind parapet walls with slate (lean-to to projecting bay to south-east; gable-ended double-pile roofs to additional return). Clay ridge tiles. Rendered chimney stacks. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Flat-roof to porch behind blocking course (materials not visible). Rendered walls (roughcast to rear to east). Unpainted. Channelled piers to corners. Rendered paired pilasters to porch. Moulded cornices (on consoles to main block). Rendered parapet walls with panels. Square-headed openings (including to canted bay windows to ground floor to main block; shallow segmental-headed to first floor; tripartite arrangement to end bays; round-headed to return). Stone sills. Rendered architraves to first floor. 1/1 timber sash windows (3/6 and 6/6 timber sash windows to side and to rear elevations; uPVC casement windows to additional return). Timber panelled door. Overlight. Interior with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set back from road in own landscaped grounds. Tarmacadam drive to front. Remains of detached three-bay three-storey rubble stone medieval tower house, c.1500, to east with single-bay full-height gabled advanced bay to south. Now in ruins and in use as eye-catcher. Roof now missing (probably originally gable-ended (gabled) to gabled advanced bays). Rubble stone walls. Square-headed openings. Cut-stone surrounds. No fittings. Gateway, c.1900, to east comprising rendered piers with moulded cornices having curved walls.
Appraisal
Castleroe Lodge is a fine and well-maintained middle size farm house of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century that retains much of its original character. The front (west) elevation of the house is of considerable architectural significance and comprises a symmetrical design of much ornamentation. Little surface area is left unadorned, whether it be furnished with a style of window opening (canted, tripartite, segmental-headed, and so on), a recess or projection, or rendered feature, including channelled piers and moulded cornices. Such ostentation suggests that the house was built by a wealthy landowner of local significance and importance. By contrast the rear (east) elevation is more austere and stark, and contains very little decoration. The house retains most of its original features and materials, including fenestration and a slate roof, while the interior retains items such as timber panelled shutters to the window openings. Set in mature, landscaped grounds on an elevated site the house is a prominent landmark in the locality and is accompanied by the remains of a medieval tower house (possibly Jacobean and of archaeological significance), and the estate is of considerable social and historic importance for having continued a residential presence on site over the centuries.