Screen, Lodges And Gates At Oulton Park

The screen, lodges, and gates at Oulton Park, built around 1775 by Joseph Turner, are made of whitewashed red sandstone ashlar. The central screen wall features a gateway flanked by two-storey lodges, with single-storey wings on either side. The road-facing side has a moulded plinth and a central screen with a round arch, which is topped with a hood mould. Lower rectangular sunken panels are located on either side of the arch, and there is a moulded band at the level of the arch's springing, with arched niches above. An armigerous shield with a Rococo surround and swags is positioned above the arch. The flat coping of the screen includes a central ramped section adorned with fanned flutings, an extended acanthus leaf tongue, and six flattened balls at the top, which bear three crossed metal arrows.

The projecting lodges on either side of the screen have pedimental gables and central blind round-arched recesses, with a moulded band continuing from the screen. Swags are draped around paterae above this band, and the lodges feature shallow pedimental gables with a modillion cornice. The slightly recessed wings on either side have two blank rectangular sunken panels each and a modillion cornice at the eaves level. The central 18th-century gates have a round-arched top and a band of rounded decoration on the lower half. The rear side is similar, but the screen wall has rectangular sunken panels on the upper lateral walls. The pedimentally gabled lodges have 3 x 3 pane windows on both the ground and first floors, while the recessed wings contain three rectangular sunken panels each, with the central panels featuring 3 x 3 pane windows.