East Gate and St Peter’s Chapel, and the attached section of town wall

East Gate and St Peter's Chapel, and the remains of the town wall

This building originated in the 14th century, with substantial rebuilding in the 15th century, and alterations made in the 18th and 19th centuries. It stands at the junction of The Butts, Smith Street, Castle Hill and Jury Street, and formerly provided the western entrance to the walled town.

The structure is constructed primarily from sandstone ashlar with contrasting limestone details, brick and tile, and has a slate roof. It is approximately 1.5m thick and incorporates two arched passageways running roughly east-west: one wide passage for vehicles and one lower, narrower passage for pedestrians. To the north-west, the remains of the town wall, which stand approximately 3.2m tall and extend for 13m, are embedded within later building and support a seating terrace on top. The wall to the south is no longer extant.

The building abuts school buildings to the north and comprises a wide gateway surmounted by a chapel set back behind the gate's crenellated parapet. The chapel consists of a tower to the west, a nave to the east, and a lower north wing above the pedestrian arch, with a walkway created around the chapel's perimeter by its recession from the gateway parapet.

On the west elevation, the wide arched carriageway opening has chamfered voussoirs and is flanked by wide, almost buttress-like jambs with a tall offset plinth and quatrefoil mouldings in the parapet. Above runs a course of machicolations and a cornice beneath the crenellated parapet. The crenellations continue around the southern side of the building, with decorative cruciform arrow loops. The east side of the arch is similar but lacks machicolations and features a blank shield at the apex. Breaks in the masonry beneath the arch indicate multiple phases of construction. The pedestrian passage lies to the north with chamfered openings on both sides, and contains a blocked doorway presumably providing access to a stair.

The chapel tower is square with slight offset angle buttresses and intermittent cornicing forming three stages. The lowest stage contains a window with Y-tracery and a lancet; above is a clock, and the upper stage terminates in a crenellated parapet with crocketted corner pinnacles. A square turret features paired louvred cusped lancets, pinnacles and an ogee roof with a spike finial. The clock face is a square set on the diagonal, with gold numerals and detailing. The nave comprises three bays, the wide central one of which projects slightly from the building line. The outer bays have pairs of trefoil lights, and the central window contains four lights. A dressed stone string course rises around the points of arched openings, with a cornice and crenellated parapet above. The west gable of the nave is crow-stepped with angle pinnacles, a cross finial and a clock. The four-light east window has transoms of ironstone. Glazing is largely leaded, and the roof is pitched and covered in slate. The lower north wing, dating from approximately 1800, is also crenellated and has multiple lancets with chamfered stone mullions and transoms within rectangular frames with hood-moulds.

On the west side of the building adjacent to the pedestrian passage, the wall steps out and continues to the north, enclosing an external stair to the chapel. The wall is in roughly-coursed, dressed stone, much heavily weathered. A doorway into the stair compartment has an arched head, chamfered architrave and timber plank door. The stair has brick risers and worn stone treads, rising between the external wall and the old town wall. The old town wall is constructed from large blocks of coursed stone with a paved concrete terrace along the top.

Interior access from the base of the tower leads into a narrow lobby with exposed masonry, various brick and tile insertions and repairs, and chamfered openings. Most joinery is modern, though a historic ceiling panel survives. The lobby leads to a hall with access to the north wing, a stair, a kitchen and the nave.

The nave, originally a single double-height space, is now two-storeyed. The lower floor is open-plan with a small partitioned kitchen area. The floor is flagged with an inserted fireplace in the north-east corner; wearing of adjacent flags suggests the former presence of a copper. Window openings have been built up and reduced in size, with the original windows extant and recessed behind later walling. The ceiling is supported on deep beams with chamfers and stops. The small kitchen contains a now-blocked chimneybreast concealing a range, with cupboards on either side.

An enclosed dogleg stair ascends to the upper storey lobby and a doorway into the tower. The door is ledge and plank with historic ironmongery, closing neatly when opened. Ladders and hatches within the tower rise to the clock mechanism. A wall with roughly-hewn studs encloses the top of the stair, and opposite sits a small inserted bathroom. Most doors and joinery were installed during early 21st-century renovation.

The principal space of the upper storey is open to the roof, supported on collar trusses with raking struts, arched braces and two tiers of purlins. The roof-space beyond the easternmost truss is ceiled and contains the mechanism for the east-gable clock. The floor is boarded.

To the left of the western carriageway opening is a polished pink granite water fountain built into the plinth, inscribed "1859 / PRESENTED BY / RICHARD GREAVES".