Gate Lodge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A 1½ storey two-bay Jacobethan gate lodge to Bangor Castle (HB23/07/001A); irregular plan form, built c.1850. Architect disputed with attribution made to both William Burn and Antony Salvin. Located on Abbey Street, east of Bangor town centre and adjacent to St Malachy’s Wall (DOW:002002).

Pitched artificial slate roof with clay ridge tiles; table-skew gabled ends terminated by moulded copings stones with poppy finials. Smooth rendered chimney stacks with moulded squared pots. Cast-iron rainwater goods; semi-circular gutters and circular down pipes. Ashlar sandstone walling with projected plinth and moulded corbel table. Replacement timber casement windows with lattice lead-work applied to the glazed face; single and bipartite square-headed moulded sandstone surrounds with cusped-arch inset; label moulds and stops. Timber Tudor-arched door; three rectangular lower panels with three tall lancet arched panels over; cast-iron ironmongery; set into Tudor-arched opening embraced by a moulded square-headed opening with indented spandrels and a stepped label mould framing signature stone (REW) over.

The principal elevation faces east and is asymmetrically arranged, essentially with slightly projecting gabled right bay, and narrower gabled entrance bay (further projecting) set into the re-entrant angle. Blank arrowloop located in the gable head with single ground-floor window to south face of porch. Right bay has canted bay with single window over; entrance bay has main entrance and blind decorative arrow loop to apex. Left bay has a single window.

The south gable has a paired window located centrally at ground floor with a single window located directly over.

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged comprising the west face of the north gabled bay to the left, with two small casement windows to ground and upper floor level, and the recessed west face of the south gabled bay to the right with a single-storey abutment comprising lean-to rear porch extension with modern timber door and single casement window.

The north elevation is asymmetrically arranged. The right hand gable bay matched the south facing gable. The left bay is slightly recessed with a matching paired window centrally located at ground floor. A small gargoyle is located at the junction between the corbel and the gable shoulder.

Setting
The gate lodge is located directly adjacent a dual-carriageway to the north side; across the thoroughfare is a long row of two-storey commercial premises. To the east of the site is a large public car park beyond which is the heavily wooded Castle Park. South of the site the remains of St Malachy’s Wall (DOW:002002) with the Bangor Abbey church hall immediately behind. Adjoining the west enclosing rubble masonry boundary wall is a small public park with landscaping and seating areas. The front of the gate lodge has a small garden enclosure bounded by a low level hedge and gated entrance.

Roofing: Artificial slate
Walling: Sandstone
Window: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The ‘Gate Lodge’ is shown, captioned, on the second edition OS map of 1858, a second gate lodge, now demolished, is also present on Castle Street to the east of Bangor Castle.

The gate-lodges are included in the valuation for ‘Bangor Castle’ which is listed in Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) as a ‘house, offices, steward’s-house, gate-lodges and land’ valued at £230 and owned in fee by Robert E Ward. There are few changes in Annual Revisions, but the castle and gate lodges passed to Baroness Clanmorris in 1908 on the death of Robert Ward, Lord Clanmorris having married Ward’s daughter in 1878. (Annual Revisions, Patton, p.36; Wilson, p.46)

There is some uncertainty surrounding the architect or architects responsible for Bangor Castle, several authorities concluding that, while William Burn may have designed much of the castle itself, completion of the work, including the stable and service block, is likely to have been carried out by Anthony Salvin. Salvin is credited in his obituary with a ‘new house or substantial alteration’ for Robert Edward Ward which is stated to have cost £9,000. Dean concludes that the main house is ‘essential Burn, whilst the two gate lodges are clearly by a different hand’ and states that, on stylistic grounds, ‘it would seem safe to credit Salvin’. (Dean, p.64; Patton, p.35-7)

Patton states that the lodge bears Robert E Ward’s monogram and the date 1852, indicating that it was completed at around the same time as the main house which also bears a datestone of 1852. (Patton, p.37) However, although the monogram is clearly visible on the front of the building, field inspection could not locate the datestone. The gate lodge is not separately listed in valuation records and the occupiers are therefore largely unknown. However, it is possible to identify the gate lodge in census records. The occupier at the time of the census in both 1901 and 1911 is Emily Trimble, spinster born in 1849, who describes herself variously as ‘lodge keeper’ and ‘gate keeper’. The lodge had seven rooms for her use and is categorised as second class due to its size and construction. (1901, 1911 census) Emily Trimble died in 1930 at the age of 80 and is buried in Bangor Abbey churchyard in a family grave. Her sister, Dorothea, also appears to have worked on the staff of a big house in Beaumaris, Anglesey. (http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com; Will of Dorothea Trimble)

In 1941, on the death of Baroness Clanmorris much of the castle grounds were sold to Bangor Council and the demesne wall, of which the gate lodge formed a part, was subsequently taken down. A yard wall to the rear of the property may be original. Following road widening the lodge now stands on the main road rather than back from it, behind the demesne wall, as it would have when first built. The chimney stack is a modern replacement. (Patton, p.36; Dean, p.64)

References:

Primary Sources

1.PRONI OS/6/3/2/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
2.PRONI OS/6/3/2/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901
3.PRONI OS/6/3/2/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-26
4.PRONI OS/6/3/2/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939
5.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/7A-K – Annual Revisions (1866-99)
6.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/9A-S – Annual Revisions (1900-1930)
7.PRONI VAL/12/E/129/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plans (c.1864-1899)
8.PRONI VAL/12/E/129/2 – Annual Revisions Town Plans (1898-c.1916)
9.PRONI Will of Dorothea Trimble, died 15 April 1910
10.Griffith’s Valuation online
11.1901 census online
12.1911 census online

Secondary Sources

1.Brett, C.E.B. “Buildings of North County Down” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2002
2.Dean, J. A. K. “The Gate Lodges of Ulster: A Gazetteer.” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
3.“The Town Hall Bangor Castle” Information leaflet (2006)
4.Patton, M, “Bangor, An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999
5.Wilson, I “Bangor, Historic Photographs of the County Down town” Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1992
6.http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

A 1½ storey two-bay Jacobethan gate lodge to Bangor Castle (HB23/07/001A) built c.1850. Architect disputed with attribution made to both William Burn and Antony Salvin. The building has undergone modernisation resulting in the loss of historic fabric, however the quality of materials and craftsmanship and style, matching the Bangor Castle, have survived. Following major changes to the road layout and alterations to the setting, the gate lodge is now isolated from the main house, however it is a good example of the type; its historical connections are still of interest; and it contributes positively to the group value of the Bangor Castle buildings as a whole.

General comments

This record has been renumbered as part of the Bangor Castle Estate. It was previously recorded as HB23/07/003