Garden grotto and bridge, Rubane House, 62 Gransha Road, Echlinville, Portavogie, Newtownards, Co Down, BT22 1AJ

Garden Grotto and Bridge at Rubane House

Situated approximately 185 metres to the south-west of Rubane House are two small garden features of late eighteenth-century origin: a rubble-built bridge and a folly-like garden grotto.

The bridge spans a small stream within wooded and somewhat overgrown surroundings. It is rubble built with a single span and segmental brick arch. The parapets are ramped, topped with relatively recently added cement-rendered brick coping. The arch is embellished with Coade stones bearing decorative heads to the keystones. The walkway across the bridge is now partly overgrown and requires attention.

About 15 metres west of the bridge stands a small rectangular rubble-built grotto, measuring approximately 3.3 metres by 3 metres. On the south-west and north-west sides, the grotto is partly covered in ivy, and an ogee-shaped cupola is now almost completely obscured by ivy growth. The building features a plain cornice and remnants of battlements to the north-east side. The front elevation facing south-east has a central narrow arched doorway with a semicircular arch head, flanked by two small semicircular arch-headed niches. Above these are five similar niches rising from a plain string course positioned just below the parapet. This elevation is faced with beach stones, many of which are noticeably pitted. The grotto formerly had pedestalled pinnacles at each corner, but these have been removed.

Both structures appear on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 and are likely to have been constructed in the later eighteenth century. The bridge and grotto form an important group value within the garden setting of the estate.