Category Archives: Gate Lodge

Inexplicable



Extraordinary to see that this gate lodge at Clonleigh, County Donegal has been left to fall into dereliction. Set at an oblique angle to the road, it formerly marked the entrance to an estate and since-demolished house owned by a branch of the Knox family. Single storey with an attic storey lit by shamrock motif windows, the building is faced in uncoursed rubble with dressed stone employed around the doors and windows. Thought to date from the mid-19th century, the lodge may have been designed by Welland and Gillespie, architects for the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who in 1863 were carrying out extensive works at the Church of Ireland church and parish hall in nearby Lifford: this would explain its decidedly church-like appearance. Harder to explain is why such a fine little house should stand unoccupied and threatened with ruin.



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What a Waste


The history of Knockanally, County Kildare is rather opaque, although it is known that the Coates family, the first of whom appears to have arrived in Ireland in the early 1700s, acquired the land on which it stands from the Aylmers who lived not far away at the now-derelict Donadea Castle (see Another Blot on the Landscape « The Irish Aesthete). Some kind of residence was built at Knockanally and in the mid-18th century this was occupied by one William Coates, known to have died in 1766 when the property was inherited by his eldest son, Matthew. When his grandson William Lancake Coates died in the following century, Knockanally was inherited by William Coristine Coates, the son of his cousin. His descendants appear to have continued living on the estate until it was taken over by the Irish Land Commission in 1942 and subsequently divided among various farmers. The immediate demesne and main house were then sold to a Captain Sheppard, who in turn sold it to the Maharani of Baroda. In 1959, ownership passed to the Rehabilitation Institute, which used the house as a convalescent home for the victims of polio.Further changes of ownership seem to have followed before Knockanally was bought in 1983 by Noel Lyons, who turned the land into an 18-hole golf course. 





As it appears today, Knockanally dates from c.1843 when commissioned by William Lancake Coates on a site east of the original house. The architect responsible was Dublin-born William Deane Butler, much of whose work involved designing institutional buildings such as court and market houses, although he did receive commissions for a number of country houses also. As noted by the late Jeremy Williams, Knockanally is almost a cube, ‘if its height is assessed on the three-storied central bay.’ Of two storeys over basement and faced with wonderfully crisp limestone ashlar, the building is entered via an Ionic portico flanked by Venetian windows with a third directly above it. On this level, windows within shallow recesses open onto balconies: these can also be found on each of the four-bay side elevations. Seemingly the interior featured a central, double-height and top-lit hall. Williams has noted that this is a reduced version of the hall in Dublin’s Broadstone station, designed by John Skipton Mulvany who, he suggests, may therefore have had a hand in Knockanally. As for the very substantial and elaborate gatelodge at the entrance to the former estate, J.A.K. Dean dates this to c.1870, too late to have been designed by either Butler (who died in 1857) but may have come from Mulvany as he lived until that date. 




In September 2010 it was reported that one of the country’s banks had appointed a receiver over Knockanally Golf Club, set in 125 acres; this move came a few days after creditors of Ferndale Leisure, the holding company behind the club, had met to appoint a liquidator; at the time, with an economic recession at this height, quite a number of Ireland’s golf clubs were going into receivership. Three years later, the club, the main house, gate lodge and a number of golf ‘lodges’ in the grounds, was sold to a Warwickshire-based company, St Francis Group for  €1.1 million: some years earlier, this portfolio had been valued at €3.5 to €4 million. Quite what has happened since then seems to be unclear. Refurbishment work was carried out on the house and other buildings on the site, but in September 2018 the local Leinster Leader reported that the golf club had again closed down and was to be offered for sale. Since then, both the house and gate lodge have remained closed and boarded up, with inevitable deterioration in the fabric of both buildings. A dreadful waste.

Awaiting Attention



Lucan House, County Dublin was discussed here a few weeks ago (see Addio del Passato « The Irish Aesthete). As noted then, the property, having been under the care of the Italian government for almost 80 years, has now been taken over by the local council. Included in the demesne is not only the house but a number of other significant buildings, including the remains of a mediaeval church. This is located to the immediate east and within sight of the former Italian ambassador’s residence. The church is recorded as being in existence since 1219, some 15 years after the manor of Lucan had been granted to the Norman Waris de Peche. He was probably also responsible for developing the original castle, thought to have stood in the vicinity of the present house, and close to the banks of the river Liffey.






The church of St Mary in Lucan was granted by Waris de Peche to the Augustinian Priory of St Catherine, located on the other side of the Liffey. By 1332, St. Catherine’s had passed to St Thomas’s Abbey on the outskirts of Dublin and remained under its control until the suppression of religious houses in the second quarter of the 16th century. St Mary’s church was then acquired, along with the castle, by William Sarsfield and appears to have remained in a good state of repair until at least the late 1500s. However, in 1630 the chancel was described as ruinous and has remained so ever since. Constructed of rubble limestone, the building consists of a nave and chancel, the former having lost its north wall. Inside the chancel are a number of tombs erected by later occupants of Lucan House, a particularly poignant one commemorating Nicholas Peter Conway Colthurst who died in November 1820 aged six weeks, the tomb noting ‘It pleased Almighty God to take him from his afflicted parents after four days illness.’ On the north-east corner of the building is a three-storey tower, sometimes mistakenly called Lucan Castle. Most likely this was erected in the 15th century as a residence for the clergy serving St Mary’s, during a period when civil disturbances meant some protection from attack – even for priests – was considered necessary. 






On the opposite side of the parkland around Lucan House and quite different in character can be found another building in need of attention: an eighteenth century Gothick bathhouse. Thought to date from the mid-1780s, and therefore perhaps constructed while Agmondisham Vesey was still alive, it was constructed during the period in which the local sulphurous waters made Lucan popular as a spa. However, the limestone rubble bathhouse, complete with whimsically irregular form and bellcote, was for private rather than public use. It sits at the end of a long tree-lined avenue on a site above the river, views of which were offered by a tall arched opening on the north side. This opening gives access to a vaulted antechamber, warmed by a central fireplace on the south wall, the pointed arch stone surround looking as though it may have been taken from an older building, perhaps St Mary’s church? There are arched openings on both the western (external) and eastern (internal) walls of the chamber, the latter leading to the bathhouse itself, a sunken pool with a series of shallow steps. Like other buildings in the grounds of the property, the bathhouse is now in need of restoration, along with the stableyard and a pair of charming Gothick lodges which lie immediately inside the gates. All of this now awaits the local council. One must hope that the authority appreciates the importance of the site’s architectural legacy, and affords it due respect. 


The Start of a Convoy




Herewith the former entrance to Convoy, County Donegal, a plain classical house built for a branch of the Montgomery family. This whimsical gateway is described by Alistair Rowan as ‘a nice piece of castle-style nonsense in the manner of Francis Johnston.’ The architect responsible is unknown (J.A.K. Dean suggests it might be attributed to the amateur architect Sir Thomas Forster), nor is the date of its construction clear, although most likely around the same time as the present main house was built, c.1806. Of rubble stone, the composition involves a carriage gate under castellated parapet and flanked by a pair of round turrets. From these run concave quadrants, with one of them concluding in a square tower with pedestrian entrance on the ground floor. Beyond this is a single-storey cottage, now derelict, with arched windows, thought to be somewhat later than the adjacent entrance. A keystone over the main gateway carries a coat of arms with the the date 1693 and the monogram RM; the former presumably signifies when the Montgomerys first settled here and the latter are the initials of Robert Montgomery who lived at Convoy in the early 19th century and therefore commissioned this structure. Incidentally, a genealogical history of the family published in the United States in 1863 claims that General Richard Montgomery, killed during the American War of Independence while leading the unsuccessful attack on Quebec in December 1775, had been born in the house at Convoy.



Requiring Restoration



The former north gate lodge at Barraghcore, County Kilkenny. J.A.K Dean dates this building to c.1835, while http://www.buildingsofireland propose it was constructed a decade earlier. A singularly stocky example of the genre, of T-form with the stem projecting forward. While the rear is a blank wall, the other three sides have large tripartite windows, giving more light to the interior than was often the case. The window surrounds, although now painted, are of granite, as is the tall doorcase and the corbels supporting the hipped roof. An unusually well-designed lodge, this could easily be restored and made into an attractive residence.


Not Very Gay




In the mid-1780s, Ralph Smyth purchased the Gaybrook estate in County Westmeath from one John Gay (reputedly related to the earlier John Gay, whose 1728 ballad drama The Beggar’s Opera, produced by John Rich, was famously said to have made ‘Rich gay and Gay rich’). Advised by amateur architect, the Rev Daniel Beaufort, Smyth embarked on building a new residence for himself on the property, but the gates and lodges are of a later date, constructed by his younger son Robert who inherited the place in 1827. At the eastern end of the estate, the front elevation of this one, with a canted central bay, suggests the house was only on one level. However, examination of the rear indicates it was actually two storeys high. Dean, in his gazeteer of Leinster lodges, speaks of the octagonal entrance hall having ‘a delicately vaulted plaster ceiling’ but alas, no evidence of this now survives, in consequence of the lodge being long neglected. The house itself, having survived until the early 1970s, was subsequently demolished.



A Pocket Castle



The former gate lodge to Flesk Castle, County Kerry, both now in ruinous condition. Of two storeys over basement, the brick-and rubble rendered lodge takes the form of an octagonal tower with castellated roofline and Tudoresque hood mouldings over the door and windows, the former having quatrefoil-decorated spandrels. It would appear there was only one room per floor, and with no signs of an internal staircase, J.A.K Dean (in his gazeteer of Munster gate lodges) suggests access between different levels must have been via an external staircase. Flesk Castle was designed by and built for owner John Coltsman in the second decade of the 19th century, so presumably he was also responsible for this building.


Going Nowhere



The Glandore Gate, which once marked the main entrance to the Ardfert Abbey estate in County Kerry. Of limestone ashlar and flanked by battlemented walls, with a two-bay single-storey flat-roofed Gothic Revival style gate lodge to one side, the gate was constructed c.1815 for John Crosbie, second (and last) Earl of Glandore, whose coat of arms, topped with a peer’s coronet, can be seen above the arched entrance. Originally on a site further south, the gates were moved to their present position in 1880 by then-owner of the estate, William Talbot-Crosbie. The present gates evidently date from that period, since that on the left features the Talbot-Crosbie crest and motto  (Indignante invidia florebit Justus – Despising envy, the just shall flourish), while that on the right has the crest and motto of the Talbots, Earls of Shrewsbury (Prest d’Accomplir – Ready to accomplish). Ardfert Abbey was gutted by fire in August 1922 during the Civil War, and the ruins subsequently demolished, so that today the gates lead nowhere, while the adjacent lodge has been converted into a private dwelling. 


Next Tuesday, 7th February at 6pm, I shall be speaking about the destruction of Ardfert Abbey, among a number of other houses, during a talk Left without a Handkerchief: Stories of Country House Loss, which may be attended live or watched online. For further information about this event, please see: IGS Lecture: Left Without a Handkerchief: Stories of Country House Loss | Irish Georgian Society

God will Provide

In a rather sorry state, this is the front lodge to Bective, County Meath. In the mid-19th century, the estate was laid out by then-owner Richard Bolton who added two lodges, one of them – seen here – in Tudoresque style, the front looking onto the avenue having two arched projections, one accommodating a large mullioned window, the other an entrance porch. Above the latter is a plaque featuring a hawk from the Bolton crest and the family motto ‘Deus Providebit’ (God will Provide). Smothered in cement render and dating from 1852, the building’s design has been tentatively attributed by J.A.K. Dean to Dublin architect William Geoerge Murray. Towards the end of the last century, the whole estate went into decline but it was bought a few years ago and the land is now a stud farm. The other lodge, classical with a Doric loggia, has been restored and is now used as a tea room. One must hope a similar revival awaits this building.


Testament to the Fall




The ruins of Duckett’s Grove, County Carlow featured here some years ago (see Duckett’s Grove « The Irish Aesthete). Now lurking beneath a web of telegraph wires, here is one of the former entrances to the estate which, like the house is today a mere shadow of its former self. Dating from 1853-55, the architect responsible was John McDuff Derick, seemingly a friend of Augustus Welby Pugin and other members of the Gothic Revival movement. For his client, John Dawson Duckett, he produced this quite fantastical structure in local granite, replete with castellations, towers, turrets, bartizans and buttresses, together with a wealth of narrow arched windows. Some 240 feet long, the building is composed of two parts, that on the left (now a public road) intended to provide access to the tenants, that on the right being reserved for members of the Duckett family. The latter’s coats of arms, originally coloured and gilded, are elaborately carved over two of the entrances: one proclaims Spectemur Agendo (Let us be judged by our actions), the other Je Veux le Droit (I will have my Right). At one time, efforts were made to run the family entrance as a pub, but this venture failed and the entire structure now sits in decay, testament to the decline and fall of a landed family.