Garden Tower at Quintin Castle, 3 Kearney Road, Ballymarter, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1QE

Garden Tower at Quintin Castle

A tall octagonal folly tower of circa 1855, constructed in rubble stone with crenellations. The tower stands within the grounds of Quintin Castle on the south-eastern coast of the Ards, to the east of Kearney Road, approximately three miles south-east of Portaferry, County Down. It is sited at the end of a long garden pathway and approaches a base with low crenellated wall, positioned south of the castle on the boundary of the castle garden itself.

The tower measures roughly 3.5 by 8.5 metres and is constructed in flat rubble. Two lancet arch openings, each approximately 1.5 metres high, are positioned at opposite sides at the lower end of the tower, slightly above ground level. These are now largely blocked, with only the arches at the top of both remaining fully open. Two small slit openings are located halfway up the tower on the same sides as the arches. Steps lead to the base of the tower. The tower was built at the time of the remodelling and extending of Quintin Castle itself by Mrs Elizabeth Calvert and her husband, Reverend Nicholas Calvert, in the 1850s.

The tower possesses group value with Quintin Castle and its entrance gates. It has architectural interest in its style, proportion, ornamentation, plan form and setting, and holds local historical interest through its authorship and connection to the castle estate.