The Inner Gatehouse

The Inner Gatehouse is a late 15th-century structure located on Buckden High Street. It is built of red brick featuring burnt brick diapering and patterning, with limestone dressings. The gatehouse has been restored with plain tiled roofs and stands three storeys high, complete with diagonal buttresses and a stair turret at the northeast corner. Architectural details include a chamfered plinth, an embattled parapet, and a carved string course adorned with paterae and grotesque heads. The outer and inner arches are three-centred and moulded, and above the outer arch is the shield of arms of Bishop John Russell, who served from 1480 to 1494.

The windows are designed with three and two cinquefoil lights set in square heads, featuring moulded reveals and labels. The stair turret includes square-headed windows that have been cut through the buttresses. There is a two-storey range to the south, which has a crow-stepped gable and a notable first-floor window with a moulded brick ogee arch, crockets, a finial, and a shield of arms. The windows in this range consist of one, two, and three square-headed lights, all with moulded brick mullions and transoms. Access to the first floor is provided from the curtain wall, featuring a 15th-century oak door with feather-edged planking.

Inside, the gatehouse retains original moulded cross-beams on all floors and timber-framed partitions. An original oak staircase and newel post are located in the stair turret. In the archway, there is an original almoner's door and hatchway, which includes a recessed seat in the north wall. A wing to the north was built around 1920 by Dr. R. H. Edleston, using materials from two 15th-century stone houses. A dedication plaque to Napoleon III is positioned above the doorway.