Survey Data
Reg No
40809053
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
Gate lodge
Date
1830 - 1850
Coordinates
261587, 438524
Date Recorded
21/11/2008
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Symmetrical pair of detached three-bay single-storey with attic level former gate lodges associated with Ravenshill (see 40809054), built c. 1835, having gateway between. Modern single-storey flat-roofed addition to south of lodge to the west, single-storey additions to rear (east) of the lodge to the east. Now disused. Pitched natural slate roof to each lodge having with roof lights, blue-black clay ridge tiles, central rectangular broached chimneystack with decorative octagonal black clay pot over to each lodge; projecting painted timber eaves on exposed painted timber rafter feet, decorative pierced timber foiled bargeboards to gable ends (north and south), cast-iron rainwater goods, and with decorative carved timber pendant to north gable of each lodge. Roughcast rendered walls over recessed rendered plinth. Square-headed window openings having moulded rendered hoodmouldings over with label-stops, rendered reveals, rendered concrete sills, and replacement windows. Square-headed entrance door openings with replacement doors. Gateway to centre between lodges comprising a pair of rendered gate piers (on pentagonal-plan with canted corners to outer faces) having rendered ashlar coping and pineapple\pine cone finials over, and with a pair of wrought-iron gates. Roughcast rendered lined-and-ruled rendered rubble stone boundary wall to road-frontage to the north having projecting rendered saddle-backed coping over. Located to the north-west of associated house (see 40809054), and to the east of the centre of Moville.
Appraisal
This unusual arrangement of symmetrical twin gate lodges serves the entrance to Ravenscliff House (see 40809054). Despite alterations and window and door replacements, they have retained much of their original architectural character, and they form an interesting pair of related sites with the main house. The attractive pierced timber bargeboards and the hoodmouldings over the window openings add some decorative interest; these are also features found at Ravenscliff itself, which helps to stylistically-link these lodges to the main building to site. The compact plan of these houses is enriched by the striking and handsome broached chimneystacks to the centre of each lodge, while the retention of natural slate roofs helps to add a satisfying patina. This complex, and Ravenscliff itself, dates to the mid-to-late nineteenth century, a period when Moville became a fashionable seaside resort among the middle classes with daily steam boats arriving from Derry and Portrush during the summer months. This site forms part of a notable collection of middle class houses in the environs that dates to this period of Moville’s history. This distinctive complex forms part of a pair of related sites with Ravenscliff, and is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area in its own rights. The simple associated gateway to the centre of the two lodges also retains much of its original character and form, with interesting finials over, and is an interesting feature in the streetscape to the east of Moville in its own right.