Survey Data
Reg No
13401435
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Artistic, Technical
Original Use
Gates/railings/walls
In Use As
Gates/railings/walls
Date
1880 - 1920
Coordinates
222047, 275093
Date Recorded
18/07/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Vernacular gateway/field gate, erected c. 1900, comprising a pair of cut limestone gate posts (on square-plan) having pyramidal heads and with double wrought-iron flat bar gates. Road-fronted in the rural countryside to the south of Ballinalee.
Appraisal
A simple yet appealing vernacular gateway, displaying good quality traditional craft workmanship, which is a subtle and unassuming element of the built heritage of rural County Longford. It is well constructed using nicely carved limestone gate posts and retains a good set of traditional wrought-iron flat bar gates with some decorative flourishes. The carved limestone post are unusual for vernacular gates in that they are sculpted rather than hewn. Simple but robust gateways of this nature were, until recently, very common in the rural landscape but are particularly vulnerable to modernisation and loss, and are regularly replaced with mass produced examples. The gates make a pleasing contribution to the landscape and forms an attractive roadside feature in the rural countryside to the south of Ballinalee.