Ford Castle East Gateway, East Forecourt Wall And Handyman'S Cottage

Ford Castle East Gateway, East Forecourt Wall, and Handyman's Cottage were built in 1791 by J. Nisbet for Sir John Hussey Deleval, with the cottage added around 1862, likely by David Bryce. The structures are made of ashlar and designed in the Gothick style.

The east wall features seven bays, with a central pointed carriage arch that has wooden double gates and an imitation portcullis. It is surrounded by a roll-moulded arch with square imposts and a cornice that includes two rows of alternating dentils, resembling a billet moulding.

Flanking the gateway are large semi-circular towers, each with three arched niches on the ground floor and strings adorned with intersecting pointed arches. The first floors of the towers have three roundels, two of which feature quatrefoils; the left tower contains a dovecote in the center roundel, while the right tower has a clock. The towers also have friezes of hanging pointed arches and three pierced quatrefoils in each parapet.

Sections of castellated wall flank the towers, each with two cruciform slits, and there are square end towers with arched niches.

At the rear, and occupying the left end tower, is the handyman's cottage, which is two storeys high and has three bays. It has an irregular and picturesque appearance. The right bay features a large combined porch and chimney stack, while the center bay has eight steps leading up to the door, a 16-pane sash window on the ground floor, and a two-light mullioned window above. The left bay includes a two-light window on the ground floor and a small four-pane sash in a gabled half-dormer above.

There is a stable block attached to the rear, now used as garages, but it is not of special interest.