Rosmead House — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Gateway, dated 179-, on a symmetrical plan centred on round-headed carriageway with Coade stone-detailed drag edged dragged cut-limestone panelled Corinthian pilasters supporting dentilated ogee-detailed cornice on blind frieze on entablature below "die"-topped blocking course. Road fronted at entrance to grounds of Rosmead House.

A gateway erected to designs attributed to Samuel Woolley (b. c.1773) of London representing an important component of the late eighteenth-century built heritage of County Westmeath with creamy Coade stone dressings created and produced by Mrs. Eleanor Coade (1733-1821) including a defaced keystone which has earned the soubriquet "Smiling Bess". NOTE: The gateway was originally commissioned by Ralph Smyth (1720-1797) for the entrance to the Ralphsdale House estate outside Drumcree (see 15305001). The gateway was mentioned by Samuel Lewis (1837) when he described 'Ralphsdale...the residence of Ralph Symth [1786-1839], Esquire, the demesne of which is entered by a beautiful gate' (Lewis 1837 II, 78). Legend has it that this Ralph Smyth, or a descendant, grew tired of being known as "Smyth with the Gates" but, having sold the gateway, was thereafter nicknamed "Smyth without the Gates".

This does not grant access. Most recorded buildings are privately owned; view them only from public ground unless the owner allows entry.