Wrought iron gates and stone gate piers to Temple Grounds, Richmond, North Yorkshire

Summary

Early-C18 grand pedestrian gateway to the grounds of York House, this house was demolished in the 1820s being replaced by the enlarged, former garden building Temple Lodge.

Description

Ornamented pedestrian gateway, early C18, perhaps 1732, for John and Anne Yorke of Richmond, gate piers possibly by Daniel Garrett.

MATERIALS: wrought iron gates and overthrow formed from forged bar iron including both fire-welded and mechanical joints, the latter including riveting, collars and mortise and tenon joints fixed with lead. The ironwork retains some repoussé-work (embossed sheet iron). Gate piers are stone ashlar.

IRONWORK: consists of a pair of gates, each of two large panels separated by a horizontal lock rail panel. The gates are hung from ironwork pilasters fitted to the stone piers. Spanning between the piers above the gates is an overthrow which incorporates a rectangular stretcher frame with further detail extending above, this including the coat of arms of John and Anne Yorke (1732-1757) set centrally to each face.

Gates: the upper panels are tall rectangles each divided into two sections. The sections adjacent to the meeting rail are infilled with scroll-work with evidence that this was originally further embellished with waterleaf repoussé-work. The hinge-side sections are infilled with vertical rails interspaced with ball-tipped finials and twisted, flame-tipped pendant fringing. The lock rail is infilled with simpler scrollwork which appears to be later repair work as it is fitted in place with bolted clamps. The lower panels are square, infilled with plain, square section vertical bars.

Pilasters: these are infilled with repetitive scrollwork, still retaining some fragments of repoussé waterleafs, the design being very similar to panels within the pilasters of Jean Tijou’s gateway to the Great Fountain Garden at Hampton Court Palace.

Overthrow: the stretcher frame has a central bulls-eye with projecting rays embellished with further scrollwork and evidence of waterleafs. The scroll work that extends above includes some completely intact waterleafs. At the centre of the overthrow there is the embossed coat of arms of John and Anne Yorke.

GATE PIERS: each pier has four engaged columns rising from a square base to support a square entablature topped by a pineapple finial. The columns have plain shafts and are Roman Corinthian in form, but with simplified capitals having just one band of laurel leaves rather than the more typical two or more bands of acanthus leaves, this leaf band being set above two string courses: a bead-and-reel, and egg-and-dart. The entablature has an architrave, pulvinated frieze and dentilated cornice. The pineapple finial is raised on a stepped pedestal.

History

The ironwork gates include the coat of arms of John Yorke (1685-1757) and his wife Anne (1696-1768) who married in 1732, clearly indicating that the gates predate the construction of Temple Lodge, which is thought to have originally been built in 1769. Instead the gates were associated with Yorke House and its grounds, the grand house that was sited on the banks of the River Swale to the south, but demolished in the early C19. This designed landscape is included on the Register of Parks and Gardens at Grade II. The style of the ironwork of the gates is consistent with a 1730s date, although they could also be earlier C18, perhaps being modified to include the coat of arms in 1732. John Yorke, who was one of the two Members of Parliament for Richmond, had inherited the estate from his father in 1716. The stone gate piers have been attributed stylistically to the architect Daniel Garrett who designed the Culloden Tower, built 1746. This raises the possibility that the gates were moved to their current location in the mid-1740s, to be hung on new piers as part of a redesign of the grounds to Yorke House. It is known that Anne took a great interest in developing the gardens which were one of the notable sights in Richmond for visiting Georgian gentry. Although the gates are very grand in design and detailing, their scale indicates that they were only intended for pedestrian use, not for carriages or horse riders. The gates are sited on the boundary of the estate, at the end of a path that links Newbiggin, a main thoroughfare through to Richmond’s market place, to Green Walk, the north-south walk through the grounds that incorporates a terrace providing views westwards, this terrace is known to have medieval origins. The design and positioning of the gates in relation to the lay of the land and Newbiggin suggest that their design deliberately exploited forced perspective to heighten the impression of grandeur. This route, but with no gateway depicted, is hinted at in an illustration published 1724, and also on a map dated 1729. An illustration published 1749 of the south west prospect of Richmond also indicates the route, but the gateway itself is obscured by trees and is not shown. A plan of the borough dated 1773, the first time that Temple Lodge is depicted, clearly marks the path to the gateway and the boundary upon which it was sited.

The gateway with its piers appears to have originally been designed to be freestanding, perhaps set into a fence line. The current roughly-built stone boundary walls appear to be later than the piers. The curving wing-walls incorporating the stumps of iron railings that extend eastwards from the gateway appear to be later additions to the boundary wall and are not thought to have been part of the original design of the gateway. The ironwork of the gates has had some repairs, mainly in the form of the addition of supporting strapwork held by bolts, but has not undergone the sort of C20 restoration that with other C18 ironwork has led to the loss of details.

Reasons for Listing

The wrought iron gates and stone gate piers to Temple Grounds are listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* Dating to the first half of the C18, the gates form a very good example from the golden age of English decorative wrought iron work;
* they retain much information about craftsmanship often lost elsewhere to overzealous, poorly documented restoration, the gates retaining some original repoussé-work which is typically lost or replaced;
* the ornate stone gate piers, perhaps by Daniel Garrett, are of special interest in their own right;
* the whole gateway is a very clever example of the use of forced perspective for architectural effect.

Historic interest:
* along with the Grade II*-listed Culloden Tower, the gateway illustrates the former grandeur of York House which was demolished in the 1820s.

Group value:
* with the Grade II-registered Temple Grounds and the Grade II*-listed Culloden Tower.

External Links

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