demesne walls/gates/railings

Wrought- and cast-iron gate screen, erected c. 1850, moved c. 1980 to form entrance to recent garden. Single-leaf cast-iron gate flanked by square-profile openwork piers surmounted by cast-iron urns, having wrought-iron detailing, and set on carved granite plinths. Matching railings with decorative scrolled brackets, on carved granite plinth wall, terminating in square-plan rusticated granite piers with carved cornices.

This elaborate gate screen is well executed, attesting to the skill and artisanship in iron work during the nineteenth century. Decorative detailing, seen in the finials and bases, enriches the composition, as do the ornamental urns which surmount the openwork piers. Carved granite provides a textural contrast to the ironwork. Benjamin Lee Guinness and his brother, Arthur, purchased Thornhill estate in 1835, and renamed it St. Ann’s after an adjacent holy well. Benjamin embarked on extensive landscaping work while also expanding the estate through the land acquisitions in the vicinity in the following decades.