Entrance Gateway And Flanking Lodges To Former Britannia Iron Works

The entrance gateway and flanking lodges to the former Britannia Iron Works were built between 1857 and 1859 by Robert Palgrave. The structure is made of red brick with Portland stone dressings and is designed in the Italianate style. It features wooden gates with decorative ironwork, framed by rusticated stone jambs and a keyed stone semi-circular arch that includes raised lettering and circular spandrels. The dentilled imposts extend across raised brick piers, which have alternating stone quoining on the lower stages and keyed semi-circular arched Italianate lights on the upper stage. A bracketed cornice runs beneath the parapet, which is adorned with keyed stone round windows and topped with a stone dock cupola that has a domed roof covered in fish-scale slates. The flanking lodges, each consisting of one bay, have paired Italianate two-light windows and dentilled cornices that continue from the imposts of the gateway. The lodges also feature brick end stacks with stone cornices. Historically, the Britannia Iron Works were established by James and Frederick Howard to manufacture agricultural machinery, particularly ploughs.