St Marys Lodge And Attached Railings, Gates And Gate Piers

St Mary's Lodge and attached railings, gates and gate piers form part of a complex of abbey buildings, now incorporated into The Yorkshire Museum, situated in Museum Gardens, York.

The gatehouse dates to the late 12th century, with lodges added around 1470. St Mary's Lodge, located to the south west, was substantially altered and restored around 1840 when it was prepared for occupation by John Phillips, Museum Keeper of The Yorkshire Philosophical Society. The carriage gates, gate piers and railings date to approximately 1840.

The buildings are constructed of magnesian limestone, with octagonal stone stacks serving St Mary's Lodge. The roof of St Mary's Lodge is obscured by an added plain parapet with sloped coping. The gates and railings are of cast iron, while the gate piers are of ashlar stone.

The front elevation facing Marygate comprises a single-storey, one-bay gatehouse with a semicircular arch of three chamfered orders on responds with moulded imposts. The inner face of the arch contains two similar orders, with imposts extending to form a moulded string across the gatehouse side walls. The side walls feature arcading arranged symmetrically in three bays of paired blind round arches on paired shafts with moulded capitals and bases, rising from wallbenches. Both sides incorporate blocked doorways with surviving springers and vaulting shafts for three transverse vaults.

To the right of the gatehouse stands St Mary's Lodge, a two-storey structure with a basement, two bays wide. To the left are the one-storey ruins of the north-east lodge. Both lodges stand on moulded and chamfered plinths. The bays of St Mary's Lodge are separated by narrow three-stage buttresses with moulded offsets and gablets. The entrance is accessed through a doorway with a glazed and panelled door inserted into the gatehouse arcade. Windows generally feature mullioned designs of paired cinquefoiled lights in square-headed splayed openings of varying sizes. On the Museum Gardens front, three round-headed slits light the staircase. A moulded string extends around the three outer sides of the building.

The north-east lodge contains a tunnel-vaulted staircase set within the wall thickness, lit by a chamfered opening with a round head. Within St Mary's Lodge, a short flight of steps inside the entrance door features bulbous balusters. A tunnel-vaulted staircase rises to the first floor within the wall thickness. Fittings from the 1840 restoration include several fireplaces and coffered ceilings with bosses in the ground floor rooms.

The gate piers stand approximately 1.5 metres high and are square on plan with chamfered bar-stopped angles, moulded bases and cornices, and truncated pyramidal caps. Railings are raised on a low chamfered wall, stepped down in places. Both the railings and gate bars feature barbed finials and a top rail of pierced quatrefoils; the gates are strengthened with crossed curved braces.

The complex is designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.