Gates 1-5, Sydenham Road, Queens Island, Belfast

Collection of five iron gate screens erected between approximately 1910 and 1935 to front entrances to various sections of the Harland & Wolff shipbuilding complex on Queens Island, Belfast. The gates are now disused and stand at uneven distances within a long brick wall on the north side of Sydenham Road, which now encloses an empty plot. The factory buildings the gates originally served were completely demolished in the early 2000s.

Gate 1, located furthest west close to the junction with Old Channel Road, comprises a wide vehicle gateway with wrought-iron gates flanked by tall cast-iron pillars, with a narrow pedestrian gate beyond the pillar on the west side and a short matching screen to the east. The gates are relatively tall with plain appearance, their only decoration consisting of a series of geometrical panels set between pointed railings, lending them an Art Deco appearance. This contrasts with the more classical and Victorian appearance of the pillars, which feature square panelled shafts, tall bevelled bases, and oversailing caps with ball finials. The vehicle gates have castors running along recessed tracks. A small projecting signboard has been attached to one pillar and barbed wire added to the gate tops.

Gate 2 consists of a large single vehicle gate to the right (east) enclosed by pillars, with a matching screen to the left incorporating a small pedestrian gate. The gate and screen are similar in design to Gate 1, but the gate itself has a full-width solid panel painted with 'Harland & Wolff Ltd' (although most lettering has worn away). The pillars are slimmer than those of Gate 1 but similar in style, with panelled shafts and oversailing caps without ball finials, which may have been present originally. A later signboard has been attached to the screen.

Gate 3 is similar in size and design to Gate 1, but with broader screens either side of the gate and the pedestrian gateway to the right (east) side. The vehicle gates have solid panels similar to that on Gate 2, with largely worn painted lettering. A small projecting signboard has been attached to one pillar and another to one of the gates.

Gate 4 is similar to Gate 3 but with a much narrower screen to the left. Both the gates and screens have been covered in corrugated metal sheeting, and barbed wire has been added to the gate tops.

Gate 5 is the largest of the five gateways and the most decorative, possibly the oldest. Like Gate 1, it consists of a large vehicle gateway enclosed with tall pillars. The screen to the right (west) has been removed and replaced with a makeshift modern example. The gates and the screen to the left feature much more elaborate late Victorian and Edwardian decoration than the other gateways, including scrolls, paterae, circles, undulating rails and rail heads, and ball finials. The pillars are similar to those of Gates 1, 3 and 4, but with panels filled with a moulded scroll pattern. The driveway immediately in front of Gate 1 has been filled in and is now part of the tarmac-covered pavement, but the other driveways survive, with those in front of Gates 2, 4 and 5 still cobbled.

Ordnance Survey maps from 1901-03 show the north side of what became Sydenham Road as undeveloped. The next large-scale plans date from 1935, by which time all of the drives to the gateways visible today are indicated, suggesting all gate screens were present by this stage. A small-scale map of 1921 shows some development but does not clarify whether the gateways existed at that point. The gates were built to serve various entrances to sections of the Harland & Wolff shipbuilding complex, which was extended to this site during the early twentieth century. Gate 5, at the east end, is the most elaborate and appears to be the oldest. Its design matches that of a gate which fronted Harland & Wolff's Clyde foundry in Scotland, a complex built after the First World War, suggesting this particular gate may have been erected after 1918. The remaining gates, with their curious mixture of classical pillars and geometric, almost Art Deco, gates and screens, appear to be later, possibly added in the late 1920s or early 1930s. The buildings the gateways served, collectively known as the Abercorn Works, were demolished in the early 2000s.