Old entrance gate pillars at Finnebrogue House, next to 9 Finnebrogue Road, Finnabrogue, Downpatrick, Co Down

Old entrance gate pillars at Finnebrogue House

A much dilapidated pair of square stone gate pillars dating from the late 17th century, formerly belonging to the main entrance to the Finnebrogue House estate. They are now free standing and redundant, having been superseded by a later gateway of around 1880 to the east.

The pillars are set on the north side of Finnebrogue Road, roughly a mile north of Downpatrick, positioned to the rear of the gate lodge and behind the now repositioned estate wall. They are constructed in light greyish stone sandstone and are square in plan with a mild baroque character. To each of their faces, apart from the outer faces where the estate walls would have abutted, there are panelled pilasters with moulded string courses at pedestal and entablature level and a curved, ogee-like blocking course.

The original gateway to which these pillars belonged is shown on the Ordnance Survey maps of 1834 and 1858. It was replaced by the present gate screen, set a few metres to the east, around 1880. The pillars have lost their gates and flanking walls.

Dating these pillars is difficult, though their slight baroque character could suggest an early 18th-century or even mid to late 17th-century date. They are identical to a pair of pillars at Castle Garden at Newtownards, which itself was the site of two 17th-century houses, one completed in 1618 and the other in 1675. A local tradition holds that the pillars were built in the 17th century by an English mason named Hastings, who remained in Ireland and settled at Downpatrick. Although they have lost their architectural context, the pillars remain an integral part of the history of Finnebrogue House.