Lych Gate and Dovecote, Rowntree Park

Lych Gate and Dovecote, Rowntree Park

A gatehouse with dovecote built in 1921, likely designed by Frederick Rowntree or W J Swain for Rowntree and Co Ltd. The building was presented to the City of York as part of the memorial Rowntree Park.

The structure is a small, square building constructed with an oak frame infilled with orange brick in English garden wall bond (3:1), set on a brick plinth, and roofed with small brown tiles in a double-pitched arrangement. A dovecote occupies the pitched roof-space.

The west elevation, facing Richardson Street, features a wide gateway spanning the full width between the corner posts and a high full-width rail forming the gateway lintel. The brick walls flanking the gateway have post jambs with shaped inner corner braces. Above the gateway, the open frame contains turned oak balusters. A post with a curved brace on its left-hand side rises from the right side of the gateway to the rail. Beneath this brace sits an open window between the jamb and post, with a shaped timber lintel and timber sill. A cast-iron gutter with down-pipe is positioned at the left-hand end.

The east elevation faces the formal garden area. Here the frame is raised on a deeper plinth with a chamfered timber sill plate and timber wall plate. The wide gateway has deeply-curved inner corner braces rising to a shaped lintel and forming open spandrels. Above the lintel, the open frame holds slender octagonal-shaped oak balusters with a heavier central post. On both sides of the gateway stands an intermediate full-height post, with diagonal braces rising from the corner posts to the jamb posts. A cast-iron gutter with down-pipe is positioned at the left-hand end.

The north side elevation has an oak wall plate above a brick wall, with two posts positioned on the right-hand side near the corner post. The gable apex features irregularly-spaced oak studs with an upper rail, whitewashed render between the timbers, and incorporates a small hinged dovecote door with six round-headed openings and two square openings for the doves to access the roof-space.

The south side elevation is similarly constructed with a brick wall beneath the wall plate and two posts on the left-hand side near the corner post. The gable apex is likewise timber-framed with whitewashed render, but without a dovecote door.

The interior has a stone-flagged floor and a plastered and whitewashed ceiling with two oak cross beams. The south wall displays a large rectangular bronze plaque with indented corners, a moulded frame, and three small relief rosettes flanking the lettering on both sides. The dedication reads: "THIS PARK AND THE ADJOINING PLAYING FIELDS / WERE GIVEN TO THE CITY BY ROWNTREE & CO LTD. / AT THE CLOSE OF THE GREAT WAR (1914-1918) AS A TRIBUTE / TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE MEMBERS OF THE COMPANY'S / STAFF WHO AT THE COST OF LIFE OR LIMB OR HEALTH / AND IN THE FACE OF INDESCRIBABLE SUFFERING & / HARDSHIP SERVED THEIR COUNTRY IN HER HOUR OF NEED. / MANY WERE INSPIRED BY THE FAITH THAT THIS WAR / MIGHT BE THE END OF WAR – THAT VICTORY WOULD / LEAD TO AN ENDURING PEACE & TO GREATER HAPPINESS / FOR THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD. THE CREATION OF / A LEAGUE OF NATIONS WILL BE A FITTING CROWN TO THE / FAITH AND HOPE OF THE MEN WHO HAVE FOUGHT / AND A TRUE MEMORIAL TO THEIR ENDURANCE / HEROISM COMRADESHIP AND SACRIFICE"

The north wall bears a similarly shaped large rectangular bronze plaque with indented corners, a moulded frame, and small relief rosettes. Its dedication reads: "THE GATES AT THE RIVERSIDE ENTRANCE TO / THIS PARK WERE GIVEN TO THE CITY OF YORK BY / ROWNTREE & CO. LTD. IN MEMORY OF ALL THOSE / FROM THE COCOA WORKS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES / IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR (1939-1945) AND IN / THANKSGIVING FOR THE COURAGE AND STEADFASTNESS / OF THE PEOPLE OF YORK THROUGHOUT THOSE YEARS. / EXCEPT THE LORD KEEP THE CITY: / THE WATCHMAN WAKETH BUT IN VAIN." The last two lines are from Psalm 127:1.