Gate Screen & Gate opposite, Stuart Hall Demesne, Castlefarm Road, Stewartstown, Co Tyrone, BT71 5AE

Gate Screen and Gate opposite Stuart Hall Demesne

This pair of structures forms the original main entrance to the Stuart Hall demesne, accessed from Castlefarm Road to the west of the house. They represent a striking contrast between refined grandeur and utilitarian simplicity, and together constitute an important surviving portion of a significant house and estate complex.

The principal gatescreen is a refined and imposing structure comprising a central double gateway with fine wrought iron gates supported on ashlar sandstone pillars. The gates are flanked by single pedestrian gates and curving dwarf walls that terminate in columns and are surmounted by matching railings.

The pillars are square and set on chamfered plinths. The shaft consists of chamfered blocks divided from a short upper section by a moulded string course. The cap has a moulded cornice and curves up to a point. The main gates are framed in two stages. The lower section features uprights that alternate with crossed braces, each with a central boss, running into a transom section where quatrefoils alternate with the uprights. The uprights continue through the upper section, where they carry ring decorations and run into another transom of similar design. The uprights then finish in ornate foliate and fleur de lys tips alternating with spikes. The pedestrian gates are narrower versions of the main gates. The railings match the gates, extending upwards from the lower transom section.

Directly opposite stands a modest farm gate, a more utilitarian structure nevertheless executed in the style of the principal entrances to the demesne. It comprises two plain square ashlar sandstone pillars with chamfered plinths, the stones picked in the centre. The caps match those of the main gates. The gates themselves are of simple wrought iron, formed of plain round horizontal bars strengthened with a curved brace to each leaf. The lock is a simple drop latch within an oval escutcheon.

The entrance lies off Castlefarm Road to the west of Stuart Hall and leads via a drive to a long circular drive that sweeps around the west of the walled garden. From its scale it appears to have been the grand entrance to the demesne, though it is now kept locked. The demesne is well-wooded and retains some of its original landscape features.

Stuart Hall itself was built around 1760 by Andrew Thomas Stewart, who became Viscount Castle Stewart in 1793 and Earl Castle Stewart after 1800. The house began as a typical uncomplicated rectangular Georgian block but was extended in 1860 by the addition of a somewhat incongruous Baronial tower to the south-east, with a castellated parapet applied to the original section in an effort to lend the whole unity. The house was badly damaged by bombing in 1974 and was demolished in the 1980s, replaced by a modern bungalow. The outbuildings appear to be largely contemporary with the house. A distinctive quarter circle plan form is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1833-34, and the first valuation of 1835 grades most of the complex as 'old' at that date. The walled garden is recorded on the Ordnance Survey map of 1833-34 and includes a date stone of 1832. The decorative folly towers are shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1853 and are consistent with the later baronial additions and embellishments to the house made by the 4th Earl of Castle Stewart in 1860.