Lion Gate, Downhill Demesne, Seacoast Road, Castlerock

Image: © Jo and Steve Turner Taken: 10 Sep 2006

Built around 1780 the Lion Gate was the first to be built and then called the West Gate. The B+ listed gate was topped by two heraldic ounces, beasts similar to lynxes or leopards. By the 1970s only one ounce remained and this single remaining 18th century ounce had to be removed in 2005 for safety reasons and the gates are pictured here before the replicas by Corin Johnston were installed in October 2008. The original was taken to a specialist stone conservator in London, where it was restored and used as a model for the new ounces. Gate lodges originally stood on either side of the gateway which were probably erected in 1791. The 1831 OS map shows two lodges but by 1977 only one survived that, despite being listed in 1978, succumbed to road widening by the DoE in the early 1980s.

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