Abbey gate lodge & gates

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Small single storey rubble-built Georgian Gothick 'ink pot' gate lodge of c.1815-20 with matching pinnacled gate screen, situated at the north or 'Abbey' entrance to the Rosemount estate, Greyabbey.

The lodge is constructed in coursed basalt rubble and the roof is mainly hipped. The main hipped roof section is covered in Bangor blue slates with a central rubble built chimney and another (much later) red brick chimney to the rear.

The N facade is dominated by a canted bay with three pointed arch windows with Y-tracery frames and stone dressings. The front entrance is to the left of this bay and consists of a plain sheeted timber door, also with stone dressings. The door is set in a lean to extension with a corrugated iron roof.

The W facade is rendered and has a single sash window, with Georgian panes, to the right.

The S facade is blank and rendered but has a small lean to projection (probably the toilet) to the right which has a tiny two pane window to its W face.

The E facade is blank and merges with a high yard wall to the left.

The gate screen adjoins the NW corner of the lodge and consists of a rubble wall with four large square pillars each with tall pyramidal pinnacles. Between the two inner pillars are decorative cast iron gates with Gothick detailing. Between each of the inner and outer pillars are castellated walls each containing a pointed arch pedestrian entrance with gates to match those in the centre.

Historical information

This lodge and gate screen is said to have been built shortly after William Montgomery inherited the Rosemount estate from his father, Hugh, in 1815. The Gothick features of both structures reflect a style not only popular throughout the British Isles at this time, but also particularly popular in the Ards / Strangford area, as witnessed at Rosemount House itself, the ancillary buildings at Mount Stewart, and also at Castle Ward. This particular building may also have been inspired by the nearby ruins of the Greyabbey. It has been suggested that the masons who built this lodge also worked on those at Mount Stewart. The coursing of the stone work lean to section does not match the main building and may have been added at a later date. It is uncertain whether this was the original entrance to the estate or not.
On inspection on 24.02.2003 this building was completely burnt and is now a shell.
References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1B/33 1st valuation, Greyabbey, c.1834-38
2 'Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II', ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), pp.67-72
3 PRONI VAL/1D/3/17 Valuation plan, Greyabbey, c.1838
4 PRONI VAL/2B/3/4 Second valuation, Greyabbey, c.1859
5 PRONI VAL/2D/3/10 Second valuation plan, Greyabbey, 1859
6 PRONI OS/6/3/11/2 Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st Revision, c.1860 Co. Down 11
7 PRONI VAL/12B/23/16a-f Annual valuation revision books, Greyabbey, 1866-1930
8 PRONI VAL/12E/99/1 Valuation plan, Greyabbey, 1906-35

Secondary sources
1 'Archaeological survey of County Down' (1966), pp.405-408 (with plates)
2 J.A.K. Dean, 'The Gate lodges of Ulster- a gazetteer' (Belfast, 1994), p.78
3 Jeremy Musson "Grey Abbey Co. Down" in 'Country Life', 30 October 1997

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

Evaluation

Small, single storey, Georgian Gothick gate lodge with impressive matching pinnacled gate screen. The gate lodge appears to have been renovated on a number of occasions. The lean-to, (which may have been added in the later 1800s), and which appears to have upset the original proportions, now has a corrugated iron roof and there is a small projection to the rear.