Survey Data
Reg No
15400904
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
Demesne walls/gates/railings
Date
1790 - 1800
Coordinates
261416, 264470
Date Recorded
13/10/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Gateway, dated 179-, on a symmetrical plan centred on round-headed carriageway with Coade stone-detailed drag edged dragged cut-limestone panelled Corinthian pilasters supporting dentilated ogee-detailed cornice on blind frieze on entablature below "die"-topped blocking course. Road fronted at entrance to grounds of Rosmead House.
Appraisal
A gateway erected to designs attributed to Samuel Woolley (b. c.1773) of London representing an important component of the late eighteenth-century built heritage of County Westmeath with creamy Coade stone dressings created and produced by Mrs. Eleanor Coade (1733-1821) including a defaced keystone which has earned the soubriquet "Smiling Bess". NOTE: The gateway was originally commissioned by Ralph Smyth (1720-1797) for the entrance to the Ralphsdale House estate outside Drumcree (see 15305001). The gateway was mentioned by Samuel Lewis (1837) when he described 'Ralphsdale...the residence of Ralph Symth [1786-1839], Esquire, the demesne of which is entered by a beautiful gate' (Lewis 1837 II, 78). Legend has it that this Ralph Smyth, or a descendant, grew tired of being known as "Smyth with the Gates" but, having sold the gateway, was thereafter nicknamed "Smyth without the Gates".