Barbican gate, Tollymore Park, Newcastle, Co Down

Gothick barbican gate of 1780, with round flanking castellated towers and pointed arch gateway. The structure is located at the E entrance to Tollymore Park, roughly 1.5 miles W of Newcastle. The gate is rubble constructed and lightly harled. The flanking towers are two level but relatively squat. Both are largely identical having a bevelled base, pointed arch ground floor doorways (to both E and W), a mid level string course, upper level trefoil openings (to E and W) and a castellated parapet on a series of small stone brackets. The doorway to the N tower is open, however (and serves as a pedestrian entrance), whilst that to the S tower acts (on the W side) as a doorway to the tower itself and has a recessed timber door. To the E side of the S tower the ‘doorway’ is blind. The central gateway itself consists of a tall (two centred) pointed arch surmounted by a castellated parapet as towers. There is a string course at springing level and cross arrow loops to the spandrels. The arrow loops and the trefoils to the towers are granite dressed. The gates themselves are wrought iron, with spear heads and curved top but are otherwise relatively plain. To the N and S of the towers are short sections of boundary wall, of the same materials as the barbican but plain. To the N side there a matching gate lodge was added in c.1810, but this has been demolished.