Gateway With Attached Plinth Wall And Ironwork Screen Forming South Side Of South Court At Wentworth Woodhouse

The gateway with an attached plinth wall and ironwork screen forms the south side of the south court at Wentworth Woodhouse. This structure dates back to around 1630, with the screen likely added in the mid-18th century. It was built for the Wentworth estate. The gateway is made of limestone, featuring a dressed sandstone plinth wall and ashlar piers, along with a wrought-iron screen. It is aligned in a straight line with the south-facing gateway, which is connected by the plinth wall and a single ironwork panel to the south-east corner of the south wing of the west front of Wentworth Woodhouse. To the east of the gateway, there are three ironwork panels linked by the plinth wall and intermediate piers, as well as an end pier.

The gateway is designed in the Artisan Mannerist style, inspired by a design by Dietterlin from around 1584. It features a square-headed opening flanked by fluted Doric pilasters with alternate blocking, a panel beneath, and scrollwork within the tympanum of an open pediment, which is topped with pedestals and additional scrolls. The deeply-coursed plinth wall connects the corniced ashlar piers. The ironwork panels are notable for their bars interspersed with upward-thrusting barbed spikes, and they have an elaborate frieze adorned with scrollwork leading to spiked and foliate finials.