The Ornamental Gateway entrance and the Marine Drive opened in late July 1891 and is today on the Island's Protected Buildings register, although sadly with the original toll house.
Today the Ornamental Gateway is the only road arch on the Island.
The following is from the pamphlet produced in association with The Douglas Trail:
'35 The Marine Drive Gate
alongside an historic photograph of the Gateway showing a tramcar emerging from the right-hand arch is the following text:
'The Marine Drive Gate was opened in 1891 and the ornate gateway marked the entrance to Marine Drive which led along the cliffs to the resort of Port Soderick. A rail track was laid and in 1896 the Marine Drive Tramway opened and a hugely popular electric tram service for the public operated to the beach facilities at Port Soderick...' (
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The following is taken from the supporting documentation supporting the recommendation to add the Ornamental Gateway to the Island's Protected Buildings Register:
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The Ornamental Gateway, Marine Drive, Braddan
Introduction / History By the 1880’s Douglas Head was developing as a place of recreation for the growing visiting industry. Access to the Head was by steam ferry or by circuitous route via Douglas Bridge. Access to the Head was by steam ferry or by a circuitous route via Douglas Bridge. To cater for the crowds, bold plans were laid for the building of a Suspension Bridge and Tower. The intention was to improve access and further increase the attraction of the Head. Both Schemes were wildly ambitious and ran into early trouble, but the linked proposal for the creation of a Marine Drive running southwest from the top of the Head Road gathered momentum. At the end of 1890, the Drives was ‘set out’ and construction commenced. Work proceeded speedily and by late July 1891, the Drive was ready to be opened by Lieutenant Governor Walpole. The highlight of the ceremony was his unlocking of the ornamental gates built near to the commencement of the Marine Drive. Of all the buildings on the Head at the time the Gatehouse was the most spectacular, being an architectural statement in the romantic tradition.
In July 1896, after long gestation, the Douglas Southern Electric Tramway opened. It followed the course of the Marine Drive, and the double-deck cars passed under the landward archway of the Gatehouse. It operated until the Second War and was taken up in the early 1950’s. Further drastic change followed later with the removal of the gatekeeper’s cottage which used to be attached to the seaward side of the arches. A substantial house with outbuildings and a steep kitchen garden, it had a dramatic skyline with gables, finials, ornamental chimneys and a slate spirelet. Though the demolition removed an important element of the original composition, the main part survives, and the scars have been adequately disguised.
Architecture There is a long history of castellated buildings on the Isle of Man which goes back much further than the Gothic Revival of the mid-19th Century. The Castle Mona (1805) set the fashion for the Scottish castellated style, which to some extent inspired the Tower of Refuge (1832) and Falcon Cliff (1846) and many more. Wherever there was a prominent site, the first choice would be to create a romantic composition with castellations. The builders of the Marine Drive followed this tradition, employing a dramatic High Gothic style. The main elements were twin archways over the carriageways of the Drive flanked by rugged towers with corbels and machicolations. These latter rise to the centre like Scottish ‘corbie step’ further enhancing the complicated outline. Dressed sandstone is used for architectural elements and for the rustic lettering over the gateways, between which is the datestone, reading ‘Marine Drive 1891’. The orange brown freestone contrasts with the locally quarried slate flags which form the main building material.
The Gatehouse is quite an architectural tour de force and its design has been attributed to Maxwell and Tuke of King Street, Manchester who were associated with the later stages of the Marine Drive development. Their chief claim to fame is that they were at this time designing the Blackpool Tower Complex. With more mundane commissions they were noted for an eclectic use of many different styles, the Marine Drive Gatehouse is no exception, being an example of their facility with romantic architecture.
Recommendation The Ornamental Gateway is suggested for inclusion on the Protected Buildings Register for the following reasons:
Architectural Interest – One of the most prominent examples of the romantic castellated style adopted throughout the 19th Century as landmarks or as architectural statements. A lavish example of its kind, it is the best entrance feature to have survived on the Isle of Man and an important landmark in the history of the Island’s tourist development. A dramatic composition by the architects Maxwell and Tuke of Manchester.
Close Historic Association – With the development of Douglas Head, the Marine Drive and the Douglas Southern Electric Tramway. Apart from the recently restored Camera Obscura, the Gateway is now the only substantial building to have survived from the tourist heyday of Douglas Head.
As the work of Maxwell and Tuke, the gateway has links with their other ambitious ventures, notably the Blackpool Tower complex and the scheme to raise the Manchester Royal Infirmary on Eiffel Tower – type legs.
Group Value – Though separated by three miles, the Gateway has its counterpart in the prefabricated tollhouse at the other end of the Marine Drive at Port Soderick, which has survived virtually intact.
Rarity – With its southern counterpart, the pair are now unique as roadside toll buildings on the Isle of Man. In the Victorian period there were several castellated and romantic buildings on prominent sites and key points. This is one of the best to have survived, albeit without its attached tollhouse, and it is now the only road arch on the Island.'
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