Survey Data
Reg No
31303022
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Previous Name
Belleek Abbey
Original Use
Gate lodge
Date
1870 - 1875
Coordinates
125086, 319520
Date Recorded
16/12/2010
Date Updated
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Description
Detached three-bay single- and two-storey gate house, designed 1872, on a shallow cruciform plan centred on single-bay two-storey breakfront abutting single-bay three-stage turret (south) on a square plan. Vacated, 1959. Now in ruins. Pyramidal roofs behind parapets now missing. Part creeper- or ivy-covered tuck pointed snecked rock faced limestone walls on dragged cut-limestone chamfered cushion course on plinth with drag edged dragged cut-limestone flush quoins to corners supporting crow stepped parapets including drag edged dragged cut-limestone flush quoins to corners (breakfront) supporting "Balistraria"-detailed crow stepped parapet on thumbnail beaded stringcourse having dragged cut-limestone roll moulded coping. Pointed segmental-headed central carriageway below cut-limestone shield panel in drag edged dragged cut-limestone chamfered frame, drag edged dragged cut-limestone block-and-start surround having chamfered reveals with hood mouldings on monolithic label stops. Shouldered square-headed opposing door openings with drag edged dragged cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing rendered infill. Square-headed "arrow loop" window openings (first floor) with drag edged dragged cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals. Lancet window openings including some paired lancet window openings with drag edged dragged cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing concrete block infill. Interior in ruins. Set back from line of road at entrance to grounds of Belleek Manor.
Appraisal
A gate house erected to designs (1872) attributed to James Franklin Fuller (1835-1924) of Great Brunswick Street [Pearse Street], Dublin (Craig and Garner 1976, 33), illustrating the continued development or "improvement" of the Belleek Manor estate in the later nineteenth century with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the Fuller-designed gate screen (1881) at Ashford Castle (see 31216015), confirmed by such attributes as the near-symmetrical footprint offset by a slender turret; the robust rock faced surface finish offset by sheer limestone dressings providing an interplay of light and shade in an otherwise monochrome palette; the slender profile of the openings underpinning a "medieval" Hard Gothic theme; and the crow stepped gabled roofline.