Survey Data
Reg No
15004131
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Technical
Previous Name
Athlone Barracks
Original Use
Gates/railings/walls
In Use As
Gates/railings/walls
Date
1850 - 1855
Coordinates
203624, 241766
Date Recorded
08/09/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Entrance gates to Custume Barracks, built c.1852, comprising a central pedimented carriage arch flanked by lower pedestrian entrances to either side. Built of channelled rusticated limestone (hammer finished) with smooth dressed impost bands and oversailing capstones. Cast-iron double gates to central opening flanked by single cast-iron gates to pedestrian entrances, all with decorative motifs of interlinked circles. Cast-iron lantern holder above central arch. Bounded on either side by coursed limestone walls with barrel coping. Located to the north of Athlone Town centre on the west bank of the Shannon.
Appraisal
A superb example of a mid nineteenth-century neoclassical-style gate screen with excellent quality stonework and highly ornate metalwork. Drawings exist for this elaborate gateway, signed J. Constable 1850. It was originally paid for by the Midland Great Western Railway Company as part of the compensation for the line of the new railway interfering with barracks land. It is located adjacent to a jetty built at the same time (15004131) and it forms part of an important group of structures associated with Custume Barracks.