Stoneleigh Abbey Gatehouse 83 Yards To North West Of Stoneleigh Abbey

The Stoneleigh Abbey Gatehouse, dating to 1346 and completed by Robert de Hockele, the 16th Abbot of Stoneleigh Abbey, stands 83 yards to the northwest of Stoneleigh Abbey. Constructed of red sandstone ashlar, it features a steeply pitched plain tile roof with gabled ends. The building combines a gatehouse with an adjoining hospice to the east, which was later converted and extended in the 17th century to become a dwelling house.

The gatehouse itself has two projecting gabled wings on its south side. The western wing contains the main entrance, with moulded, low-centred depressed arches on both faces. Above the entrance arch is a two-light window with transoms and tracery. Within the entrance way, approximately 5 feet in, are 17th-century wooden doors. The ceiling is of 16th-century heavy timber construction.

Adjacent to the gateway, the dwelling house’s western portion forms part of the original structure. Its south side includes a projecting gabled porch, with the inner door now blocked. Above the porchway is a chamber with a two-light window featuring tracery. A square-headed two-light window is set within the gable above. An external staircase, of post-monastic date, provides access to the first floor, leading to a narrow entry over a medieval bridge – a half arch abutting the gateway and providing access to a room on the inner side. An early 19th-century embattled parapet sits between the two gabled bays of the original gatehouse.

The remainder of the dwelling house to the east dates to the 17th century. A doorway with a depressed arch is fitted with a studded plank door. There are three square-headed, stone mullioned, two-light casements on both the ground and first floors. Two flush gabled dormers are topped with square-headed two-light casements. A brick chimney stack is located at the east gable.