Survey Data
Reg No
13402613
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Gates/railings/walls
In Use As
Gates/railings/walls
Date
1860 - 1920
Coordinates
213226, 255895
Date Recorded
11/08/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Group of five field gateways, erected c. 1880, each comprising a pair of dressed ashlar limestone gate piers (on square-plan) having carved pyramidal capstones over, and a pair of wrought-iron flat-bar gates with curved wrought-iron support bars and wrought-iron latch. Piers set diagonally. Sections of rubble stone walling adjacent to a number of the gateways. Located to either side of small rural road to the southwest of Ballymahon, and a short distance to the west of Shrule Mills (13402612).
Appraisal
This unusual and distinctive group of field gateways is an interesting feature in the rural landscape to the southwest of Ballymahon. They were probably erected by the same big local landowner sometime towards the end of the nineteenth century. The gate piers are built of unusually good quality dressed ashlar limestone masonry and are testament to the skill of local craftsmen at the time of construction. The gate piers are set diagonally, which creates an interesting appearance. The wrought-iron gates are of an unusual design in that they open to the centre, differing from the more commonly encountered gates in the county. Simple entrance gateways and fieldgates of this nature were once very common features of the rural landscape of Longford but are now becoming increasingly rare on account of clearance to accommodate modern agricultural needs and road widening schemes etc. Although construction was primarily functional, they exhibit visual appeal in the rural countryside.