Beauvale Priory Gatehouse Range

Gatehouse to Beauvale Priory

This gatehouse was built in 1343 and stands at the south of the priory site, forming the frontage range to a small courtyard of farm outbuildings. The building has been extensively altered and added to in the late 19th and 20th centuries. It is now partially used as a visitor café, with the remainder currently unused.

The structure is constructed from coursed rubble sandstone and red brick, with 20th-century plain clay tile and corrugated sheeting roof coverings. It is L-shaped on plan, with a rear wing extending northwards that aligns with the surviving east section of the precinct wall.

The building is single-storied, with the slightly taller western part built in red brick. The south elevation contains a 20th-century doorway in the eastern section, set within an area of masonry infill with straight joints on either side. Within an area of calcareous sandstone walling is a small lancet light with a weathered head and sill. The disused western section has a plain doorway with a vertically-planked 20th-century door without a lintel, to the left of which is a blocked opening without dressings.

The east gable has the remains of a buttress at the south-east corner and a narrow lancet to the left-hand side with a weathered head and cill. An inserted window opening without dressings appears at high level on the right-hand side. The gable is built entirely from calcareous sandstone. Extending northwards is a long single-storey range that has been heavily rebuilt or repaired but follows the alignment of a detached section of the precinct wall further to the north, with a doorway at its junction with the frontage range.

The north elevation is much altered, featuring a wide inserted doorway to the disused west section, a blocked narrow opening to the upper walling to the right of the doorway, a narrow breather in the upper walling to the left of the doorway, and a further inserted window opening to the left of the doorway. The eastern part has a wide area of masonry infill aligning with the infilled section of the south front elevation, incorporating a modern doorway with a segmental-arched head. Further to the left is a single-light window opening with a weathered ashlar surround. The west elevation of the rear range has been entirely rebuilt, and the west gable has been heavily repaired at different stages.

Interior

The eastern part of the building has been re-roofed with strutted roof trusses and a new chimney built against the west end wall. On each side of the areas of infilled masonry that now house modern doorways are chamfered ashlar piers, which appear to have defined the original entry within the gatehouse. At the top of the former opening on the south side is a horizontal timber beam now embedded in the masonry of the wall head.

The western part contains a substantial chamfered bridging beam supported at its south end by a short wall shaft rising from a stone corbel. The beam chamfer returns onto the wall shaft and carries an arched brace. The north end of the beam is carried in the masonry walling, but there is a deep empty mortice in the position of an arched brace in the beam soffit. The beam supports wide ceiling joists, a number of which are 20th-century replacements.