Gate lodge in Fortland

Detached single-storey with dormer attic gate lodge, built c.1830, with principal gabled elevation facing to drive, windbreak to largely unfenestrated road elevation, late-nineteenth century addition forming L-plan with unfenestrated gable at roadside. Now disused. Pitched slate roofs with clay ridge tiles, oversailing verge with bargeboards, and timber brackets forming broken pediment facing drive. Concrete barge coping to addition and forming roof of windbreak. Central rendered brick chimneystacks to lodge and addition, steel rainwater goods. Ruled-and-lined rendered walls, random rubble to gable of addition. Square-headed window openings, widened to north gable, attic having bipartite six-pane casement window with timber mullion, all with limestone sills. Timber boarded doors with limestone thresholds. Corrugated-iron lean-to and outbuilding to rear of addition. Opens onto forecourt enclosed by convex quadrant wing of gate screen, comprising cast-iron railings with fleur-de-lys finials on ashlar plinth, double-leaf demesne gates in ashlar piers, symmetrical quadrant to north of gates, rubble stone wall between south pier and gable of addition. Wrought-iron gate encloses site of gate lodge inside demesne gates.

Formerly one of a pair, this gate lodge stands as a sole reminder of Fortland House which is now demolished. The simplicity of the lodge belies the former grandeur of the demesne. Its humble appearance is augmented by the modest windbreak entrance of vernacular form, minimal fenestration, and diminutive scale, embellished with ornamental timber brackets and sweeping boundary walls of high quality. Forming a harmonious balance between the vernacular and the consciously picturesque, this gate lodge is an eyecatching roadside addition and a reminder of the scale and grandeur of the estate in the past.