Survey Data
Reg No
12402401
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
Gate lodge
Date
1850 - 1860
Coordinates
262521, 151643
Date Recorded
11/11/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay single-storey gate lodge with half-dormer attic, built 1856, on an L-shaped plan centred on single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch abutting single-bay full-height gabled projecting end bay; single-bay (west) or two-bay (east) full-height side elevations. Extended, ----, producing present composition. Hipped gabled and pitched slate roof on an L-shaped plan with roll moulded clay ridge tiles, paired octagonal chimney stacks on lichen-spotted chamfered base having stringcourses below capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta tapered pots, decorative timber bargeboards to gables on timber purlins, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on exposed timber rafters. Part creeper- or ivy-covered tuck pointed coursed or snecked limestone walls on battered base with margined cut- or hammered limestone flush quoins to corners. Tudor-headed central door opening with step threshold, and margined cut-limestone block-and-start surround having chamfered reveals with hood moulding framing timber boarded door. Square-headed window openings in bipartite arrangement (ground floor) with cut-limestone cruciform mullions, and cut-limestone surrounds having chamfered reveals with hood mouldings framing timber casement windows. Square-headed window openings in tripartite arrangement (half-dormer attic) with cut-limestone cruciform mullions, and cut-limestone surrounds having chamfered reveals with hood mouldings framing timber casement windows. Set back from line of road at entrance to grounds of Gowran Castle. Additional photography by Don Allen
Appraisal
A gate lodge erected to a design by William George Murray (1822-71) of Gardiner Street Lower, Dublin (DIA), illustrating the continued development or "improvement" of the Gowran Castle estate by Henry Agar-Ellis (1825-66), third Viscount Clifden, with the architectural value of the composition confirmed by such attributes as the compact plan form centred on an expressed porch; the construction in a deep grey limestone offset by sheer dressings demonstrating good quality workmanship; the "stepping up" of the multipartite openings on each floor producing a tiered visual effect; and the decorative timber work embellishing the roofline. 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, thus upholding the character or integrity of a gate lodge forming part of a self-contained group alongside an adjacent gateway (see 12402407) with the resulting ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan street scene.