Milford House

Remains of Milford (Millfort) House estate, c.1850, comprising farmyard complex including:(i) Gateway to courtyard in Triumphal Arch arrangement comprising round-headed carriageway with unpainted rendered piers over squared rubble stone construction having round-headed recessed flanking niches with moulded surrounds, moulded archivolt over on rendered spring course, and unpainted rendered parapet with moulded projecting cornice on elongated consoles having blocking course over.(ii) Detached six-bay single-storey mono-pitched outbuilding to north-west with series of shallow six segmental-headed carriageways. Part reroofed, c.1950. Now in ruins. Mono-pitched roof with sections of replacement corrugated-iron, c.1940 (now mostly missing), and traces of iron rainwater goods. Random rubble stone walls with traces of render over, and squared rubble stone quoins. Series of six shallow segmental-headed carriageways with cut-stone surrounds, and fittings now missing.(iii) Section of random rubble stone boundary wall with lime mortar, and traces of lime render over. Now partly collapsed.Site set back from road in grounds originally shared with Milford (Millfort) House with fragments of further buildings to site, and no traces of Milford (Millfort) House (demolished, post-1950) now apparent. Overgrown grounds to site.

This group of structures, remaining in fragmented form, is of considerable significance as a reminder of the extent of the Milford (Millfort) House estate, designed by John Skipton Mulvaney (1813 - 1871) as one of a group of estates developed by the industrialist family, the Malcomsons, in the locality of Portlaw. The gateway, the best preserved of the remaining structures, is an attractive composition of formal, Classical appearance that presently forms an elegant, picturesque landmark in the overgrown grounds.