Bryansford gate and gate lodge, Tollymore Park, 2 Hilltown Road, Tollymore Park, Newcastle, Co Down, BT33 0PX

Bryansford Gate Screen and Gate Lodge, Tollymore Park

This is a distinctive Gothic Revival gate screen of 1786 and an adjacent single-storey, hipped-roof Gothic Revival gate lodge of 1802, together forming the Bryansford village entrance to Tollymore Park on the south side of the Hilltown Road. Both structures are likely to have been designed by Thomas Wright of Durham, an English architect and friend of the 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil, who was responsible for most of the Gothic embellishments added to the Tollymore Park demesne during this period.

The Gate Screen

The gate screen is constructed in ashlar granite and comprises a tall, narrow central carriage arch flanked by short, square, castellated turrets with pedestrian entrances to either side. The tall central gateway has a pointed arch head with unusual trefoil motifs to the spandrels and a castellated parapet with square spirelet end pinnacles adorned with small ball crockets. To either side of the central arch are flying buttresses with scalloped undersides and similar ball crockets, which rest on the roofs of the flanking turrets. The parapet carries a carved date panel inscribed 1786. The turrets to the east and west are identical to one another, each with pointed arch gate openings and parapets with pinnacles matching those of the central gateway. Both pedestrian gateways retain simple wrought iron gates, likely dating from the early 19th century, with spearhead railings and concave tops. The carriage gates are more ornate and may date from the later 19th century. A high rendered wall runs to either side of the gate screen.

The Gate Lodge

The gate lodge stands to the west side of the gate screen. It is single storey with a hipped roof and was built in 1802. The front, south-facing façade was originally symmetrical but is now asymmetrical as a result of later alterations. To the left of centre is a pointed arch entrance doorway fitted with a timber-sheeted stable door and plain fanlight, with a plain surround and a small date panel above inscribed 1802. To the left of the doorway is a relatively small pointed arch window with a Georgian-paned sash frame. To the right of the doorway are two similar windows.

To the short west façade, a lean-to extension has been attached, which has a timber-sheeted door to the south, a squat modern window to the west, and a Velux window in the roof. The east façade has a central double lancet window with Georgian-paned sash windows matching those on the front. The rear of the building is now dominated by a modern lean-to-style extension added in the later 1970s, which rises slightly above the original roof line. A modern window is visible in the exposed section of the original façade to the right of the return. The exterior is finished in lined render with bevelled quoins and is painted. The roof is covered in natural slate. There are two central rendered chimney stacks, with cast iron and PVC rainwater goods.

The lodge was skilfully extended to the east end at some point after 1859 with the addition of another room. The more incongruous additions to the west and rear date from the mid to later 20th century, the rear extension having been added in the later 1970s.

Historical Background

The gate screen was built in 1786 by James, 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil (also known by his earlier title of Viscount Limerick), as part of a broader programme of Gothic embellishments to the Tollymore demesne. The development of Tollymore as a landscape demesne had begun around 1720 under his father, the 1st Earl, who enclosed land for a deer park, undertook large-scale tree planting, and built a hunting lodge and the Old Bridge. He also rebuilt the parish church at Bryansford, the small estate village to the north of the park, which took its name from the family's ancestor Brian Magennis. Around 1750 the 1st Earl began construction of a larger house, likely taking advice from Thomas Wright, who had visited Ireland in 1746–47 and stayed at Tollymore Park in September 1746. By 1752, Dr Pococke noted in his Tour of Ireland that two rooms of the new lodge had been completed, and that a thatched open dining structure had been built on the south side of the Shimna River. The Clanbrassil Barn was added in 1757, with the Horn Bridge built around the same time.

The 2nd Earl, who succeeded in 1758, extended the house, continued the tree planting, and in the 1780s erected the Barbican Gate at the eastern entrance to the park, the Gothic gate at the Bryansford entrance, a hermitage, Gothic follies, a steward's lodge on the Hilltown Road, and several bridges within the park including Ivy Bridge, Parnell's Bridge, and Foley's Bridge (the last named after his wife, Grace Foley). Bernard Scalé's 1777 map of Tollymore records the picturesque character of the park, and an advertisement in the Belfast News-Letter of 26 April 1785 praised the demesne's beauty and its healthy air, noting that the herbage on which the goats fed made it much frequented by ladies and gentlemen seeking recovery of health.

James, 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil, died without issue in 1798, and the estate passed to his sister Anne, wife of Robert Jocelyn, 1st Earl of Roden. Their son Robert, 2nd Earl of Roden, inherited in 1802 and built both the Bryansford gate lodge and the Barbican gate lodge (the latter now demolished). He also erected an obelisk monument to the east of the house in memory of his second son James, who died prematurely in 1812. The 2nd and 3rd Earls of Roden further developed Bryansford village, adding a Roman Catholic church in 1820, school houses in 1823 and 1826, labourers' dwellings, and the large dower house known as The Nest. The 3rd Earl constructed a water-powered sawmill within the demesne and in 1865 added another small lodge to the east. He also enlarged Tollymore House by adding an extra storey to the wings and a tall French château-style roof to the original central block.

Tollymore Park remained in the Roden family until 1930, when the 8th Earl sold two thirds of the land to the Ministry of Agriculture for afforestation. The remaining third was purchased by the Ministry in 1940, and during the Second World War Tollymore House and part of the grounds were used by the Army. The house fell into disrepair after the war and was demolished by Lord Roden in 1952. In 1955 Tollymore became the first state forest in Ireland to be designated a Forest Park and was opened to the public. Despite the loss of the house, most of the park's 18th and early 19th century gates, bridges, and lodges have survived.