Survey Data
Reg No
31906018
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Technical
Original Use
Gate lodge
In Use As
House
Date
1805 - 1815
Coordinates
184003, 302313
Date Recorded
22/08/2003
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay single-storey gate lodge, built in 1810, with pedimented portico to east. Now in use as a private dwelling. Hipped slate roof, pitched to portico with ashlar chimneystack and cast-iron and lead rainwater goods. Ashlar limestone to portico, random coursed limestone to other elevations. Square-headed window openings with limestone surrounds and sills. Timber sash windows to front elevation and timber casement windows to rear elevation. Timber sash windows to portico with limestone architrave surrounds. Round-headed door opening to front elevation with timber battened door and spoked fanlight. Glazed double doors to portico. Doric colonnade to portico supporting bowed entablature and pediment. Paired ashlar limestone gates with pedestrian round-headed opening to west. Piers with plinth, frieze and cornice and decorative wrought-iron gates.
Appraisal
This highly classical colonnaded gate lodge, officially known as "Rathdiveen Lodge" but colloquially known as "The Diadem" or "The Tiara", was designed by John Nash or possibly by Nash's draftsman, Humphrey Repton, during the building of Rockingham House for the King family. The bowed façade is complimented by the classical gates which give access into the former Rockingham Demesne, these gates were recently moved to accommodate the widening of the N4 roadway. The detail of the frieze on the gate piers is echoed in the frieze of the lodge and much early fabric remains such as the timber six-over-six sash windows and the decorative lead hopper, which is becoming increasingly rare throughout Ireland.