Lodges, Gate-Piers And Gates To The Exe Vale Hospital

The lodges, gate piers, and gates to the Exe Vale Hospital were built between 1842 and 1845 by Charles Fowler. The lodges are constructed from breccia ashlar with granite and freestone dressings, featuring slate pyramid roofs with lead rolls at the hips and rendered stacks. Each lodge consists of two adjoining blocks, with one block set slightly forward and the original stack located at the junction of the two blocks. The north lodge has an additional single-storey block at the rear, while the south lodge has undergone some 20th-century modifications.

The lodges flank the entrance drive, with two gate piers for the carriageway positioned between them, linked to each lodge by a screen that includes a pair of pedestrian gates. The lodges are two storeys high, each with one window on the ground floor and one on the first floor, featuring rusticated granite quoins and freestone bracketed eaves cornices. The ground floor has 12-pane sash windows in granite architraves, and the south lodge includes an extra ground floor window. Each lodge also has two first-floor 12-pane sashes set in pedimented dormers. The square-headed doorways on the inner returns of each lodge have moulded granite architraves with cornices and panelled aprons.

Between the lodges, a vehicle gateway is flanked by rusticated chamfered granite gate piers with bracketed cornices and pyramidal caps, as well as granite pilasters. On either side of the main entrance, paired pedestrian gateways are separated by smaller granite piers with rounded caps. The gates are made of good cast iron, with the main vehicular gates featuring diagonal braces above the middle rail and bold cresting above the top rail. An iron overthrow is positioned above the main gates, and iron lampholders are mounted on the smaller piers. The lodges and gates lead into a long straight avenue in front of Centre House, the administrative block of the former Devon County Pauper Lunatic Asylum, contributing significantly to the impressive setting of Centre House.