Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB03/12/015 F

Address :
Bishops Gate 42 Mussenden Road Downhill Castlerock Co. Londonderry BT51 4RP

Townland:
Downhill

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Survey 2:
A

Date of Listing:
25/05/1976 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Gates/ Screens/ Lodges

Former Use
Gates/ Screens/ Lodges

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
12-5

IG Ref:
C7612 3543

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Owner Category

Central Govt

Exterior Description And Setting

Free-standing triumphal stone arch and attached two-bay single-storey stone gate lodge, built c.1785, to the designs of Michael Shanahan. Facing south with the lodge set at a right angle to the east and located on the north side of Mussenden Road as the easternmost entrance to the Downhill Estate (HB03/12/015A-I). Triumphal Doric arched entrance screen built in sandstone ashlar comprises; round-headed arch with fluted archivolt rising from dentiled and fluted impost mouldings supported on pair of flat-panelled squat pilasters having paterae to plain spandrels. Arch flanked by pair of engaged Doric columns with fluted necks supporting architrave and frieze embellished with bucrania and bishop’s mitre carvings with plain framed tablet to the centre. The arch is surmounted by a full pediment with mutules and a carved coat of arms to the tympanum. Flanking the pedimented arch are lower screen walls executed in channel-rusticated sandstone ashlar with a responding flat-panelled squat pilaster to the inner ends supporting a dentiled and fluted frieze embellished with paterae. Each screen wall is surmounted by a raised parapet embellished with bell-flower garlands, paterae and guilloche trim, while the wall to the west has a blind niche and that to the east has an arched pedestrian entrance. The north elevation to the pedimented arch is detailed as per the south elevation with a fluted frieze and further coat of arms to the tympanum while the screen walls are built in coursed rubble basalt with voussoired arch to the pedestrian entrance. The arch has a pair of replacement wrought-iron gates while the pedestrian entrance has an arched double-leaf timber door with raised-and-fielded panels. The gate lodge is rectangular on plan and set at a right angle to the triumphal arch with the east screen wall abutting the centre of the front west elevation. Hipped natural slate roof with rolled lead ridges and a central sandstone ashlar chimneystack with vermiculated quoins and a single octagonal clay pot. Roof set behind lead-lined sandstone ashlar parapet wall and cavetto moulded cornice below. Cast-iron guttering supported on drive-through brackets and timber fascia to north and east elevations with cast-iron downpipes. Sandstone ashlar walling with plain plinth course to west and south elevations, uncoursed rubble basalt walling to north and east elevations. Each corner is finished with a cluster of colonettes rising to the cornice and surmounted by sandstone pinnacles on diminutive pedestals. Round-headed window openings with vermiculated voussoirs and quoined surrounds, flush vermiculated sills and replacement multi-pane timber sash windows with ogee horns. The principal west elevation is four windows wide with two blind windows to the north end and three openings to the south end having a pointed-headed door opening set between the windows. The door opening is flanked by clustered colonettes on plinth blocks and matching arched surround having a replacement hardwood panelled door. Door opens onto stone platform and five stone steps. Single-bay north side elevation has a round-headed window opening with voussoired basalt head and replacement timber casement window. The rear elevation is abutted to the south end by a single-bay single-storey over basement rendered extension having hipped natural slate roof and timber casement windows with concrete sills, built c.1970. The south side elevation is two windows wide, detailed as per front elevation with a rendered wall abutting the east corner enclosing the rear garden. Setting Located on the north side of Mussenden Road at a lower level to the road and accessed via a short slip road. The arch and lodge form the easternmost entrance to the Downhill estate (HB03/12/015A). Sharing the slip road are the Downhill outbuildings to the east (HB03/12/011) and the kennel keeper’s house to the north (HB03/12/013). Bitmac drive descends from slip road enclosed by retaining wall to the west built in vermiculated sandstone ashlar, the drive continues to the north side of the arch through landscaped gardens providing public access to the Downhill estate. To the west of the arch is a bridge over an estate road that allowed access between the two sides of the park. The bridge is constructed from coursed rubble with rock faced vouissoirs and quoins. Soffit is lined with bricks. Parapets are a mixture of snadstone blocks and in-situ concrete. This bridge carried the former Coleraine Road before it was realigned. Roof Natural slate RWG Cast-iron Walling Sandstone ashlar Windows Replacement timber sash

Architects

Shanahan, M

Historical Information

Originally known as the ‘Coleraine Gate’ or the ‘Coleraine Battalion Arch’, the Bishop’s Gate was built between 1783 and 1784 to commemorate the Coleraine Battalion of the Volunteers, and is shown uncaptioned on the first edition OS map of 1831. It was constructed as a second entrance gate to Downhill demesne following the building of the Lion Gate c1780. The Bishop’s Gate is at the head of a long driveway which plays with views of the Castle as it is approached. At first the house is visible in the distance, then hidden and finally revealed again at a different angle, the driveway leading, as was the Georgian style, to the rear stable courtyard rather than the front elevation. (Eccles; Rankin) The gateway is thought to have been designed by Michael Shanahan, the architect of the Castle, who received payments in July 1874 for the work. (Eccles) Carving and stone cutting was carried out by James McBlain, father of David McBlain, the father and son team responsible for much of the carving work at Downhill. It is thought that a large dinner given by the Earl Bishop for the officers of the Coleraine Battalion in the same year took place after the completion of the gate. Eccles records that the officers received generous hospitality from the Earl Bishop, the final bill totalling £37.5s.1d and that Michael Shanahan’s wife went to much trouble in providing enough provisions, as well as mugs and extra blankets. (Eccles) Girvan judges the neo-classical style to be late Adam and possibly from the pen of James Wyatt, while the treatment of the arch is ultimately derived from Roman models such as the Colosseum. (Girvan) The gateway refers to both the Earl Bishop’s titles – a plaque on the front of the pediment bears an ‘ounce’ (the heraldic term for leopard/lynx) surmounted by an earl’s coronet, while the plaque on the back of the pediment is surmounted by a Bishop’s mitre. A figure of Diana the Huntress once stood in the rounded niche to the left of the entrance but at the end of the nineteenth century stood in a niche on a landing within the Castle. (Eccles) The gate lodge was probably built in 1784 shortly after the gateway itself was completed and is also thought to be the work of James McBlain, resembling work attributed to him at Hillsborough Castle. The lodge’s nod to the fashionable ‘gothick’ of the day is not repeated elsewhere on the estate and Girvan judges the juxtaposition of styles ‘most satisfying’. The gate lodge is listed in the Townland Valuation at a valuation of £2.10s and in subsequent valuations is included in the total for Downhill Castle and outbuildings. In the 1880s the gate lodges are once again recorded separately and the current building, valued at £2, was the residence of the McConaghy family for some years. After the death of the original gatekeeper Robert McConaghy, his widow remained in the house into her 70s, initially working as a seamstress but later retired. (1901, 1911 census) The Bishop’s Gate was listed in 1976 and in the mid-1990s the gate lodge was renovated. (HB file) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/5/2/1 First Edition OS Map 1831 2. PRONI OS/6/5/2/2 Second Edition OS map 1848 3. PRONI OS/6/5/2/3 Third Edition OS Map 1904 4. PRONI OS/6/5/2/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1923 5. PRONI VAL/1/B/55A Townland Valuation (1828-40) 6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/55B Griffiths Valuation (1861) 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/10AF Annual Revisions (1864-1929) 1. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/2 First General Revaluation 1933-57 2. PRONI VAL/3/D/6/3/H/4 First General Revaluation 1933-57 3. PRONI D1514 - Hervey/ Bruce papers 8. 1901 census online 9. 1911 census online 10. HB file – 03/12/012 Secondary Sources 1. Day, A., P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Londonderry III, 1831-5, Vol. 11.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1991. 2. Eccles, J “Downhill, A Scrapbook of People and Place” London: Bath Press, 1996 3. Rankin, P “Irish Building Ventures of the Earl Bishop of Derry” Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

W. Northern Ireland/International Interest Z. Rarity R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

Free-standing triumphal stone arch and attached two-bay single-storey stone gate lodge, built c.1785. Facing south with the lodge set at a right angle to the east and located on the north side of Mussenden Road as the easternmost entrance to the Downhill Estate. Designed by Michael Shanahan who also designed the Bishop’s Palace (HB03/12/015A), the Mussenden Temple (HB03/12/015B), the Lion Gate Lodge (HB03/12/015D). While the triumphal arch is of a standard late eighteenth-century pattern-book type the quality of the stonework on both the arch and the gate lodge attest to the ambitions of the Earl Bishop and form a further picturesque element as part of the wider group of structures on the Downhill estate, with which it has gorup value. The gate and lodge are further enhanced by the bridge carrying the former Coleraine road that allows access under to connect both parts of the Downhill estate .

General Comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity and T - Historic Importance also apply.

Date of Survey

12 July 2012