East Gateway To Hillington Hall With Attached Wall And Bridge Over The Babingley River

The East Gateway to Hillington Hall, built around 1824 by W.J. Donthorne, is a notable structure featuring carstone with Sandringham sandstone dressings in the Gothick style. It has an irregular plan that includes a central archway, a single-storey bay to the south, and a three-storeyed octagonal turret to the north.

The east facade facing the road showcases a four-centred limestone arch with the Ffolkes arms carved in stone above it. There is an embattled stepped gable parapet with a string course over the arch, and the arch is fitted with open work gates made of wood and iron. The south bay contains a blocked two-light mullioned Gothick window, an embattled parapet, and a string course, along with clasping octagonal buttresses with embattled parapets at the south angles made of Sandringham sandstone.

To the right of the arch, the three-storeyed octagonal tower features an embattled parapet with a string course adorned with grotesques. It has two-light Gothick windows on the ground floor facing southeast and northeast, as well as on the east face of the first and second floors. The rear of the structure mirrors the archway of the east facade but lacks the shield, with a plain parapet on the south bay and the projection in front of the north tower. It also has double lights to the south and north.

Inside, the structure was in a ruinous state at the time of survey, with the north tower being floorless. There is a fireplace on the east wall of the ground floor and doors featuring Gothick panels, along with a copper fireplace in the south room.

Attached to the north is a wall made of small carstone with brick coping. There is also a road bridge over the Babingley River constructed from carstone with brick coping, featuring canted splays, stepped embattled parapets, and a central limestone plaque on the east parapet indicating the boundary between Flitcham Parish and Hillington Parish. The west parapet displays a limestone shield with the Ffolkes fleur de lys, and the bridge has low arches made of brick.