St Osyth's Priory, Gatehouse and East and West flanking Ranges

This late 15th-century gatehouse formed the principal entrance to the medieval monastic complex at St Osyth's Priory. The east and west ranges flanking the gatehouse also date from the late 15th century, though the eastern range incorporates the arched entrance of an earlier 13th-century gatehouse.

Materials and Construction

The buildings are constructed of knapped flint and septaria with stone dressings and decorative flint galleting. The east and west ranges have tiled roofs.

Layout

The gatehouse has a central arched entrance at ground level with a great hall above. Single-bay rooms flanked by turrets lie to the east and west of the gateway. The flanking ranges extend linearly from the gatehouse with multiple rooms on each level.

The Gatehouse

South Front

The gatehouse rises two to three storeys with a double moulded plinth at its base and a crenellated parapet featuring elaborate chequerwork, mostly set diagonally. Two moulded chimney shafts stand to the east of the structure.

The principal south front, facing toward the Bury, displays extraordinarily elaborate flint flushwork arranged in trefoiled, cusped and crocketed panels. The facade has angled projections to east and west – the western projection has two angles, the eastern three. Moulded stone string courses run beneath the parapet and upper windows.

Windows appear at each storey in the projections and two sit above the arched gateway. All windows have two cinquefoiled lights set in square heads with moulded labels, though those on the ground floor are smaller. A small single-light spy window is positioned in the west projection, which housed the porter's room.

The main outer archway features stop-moulded jambs and a four-centred arch set within a square head with a double label and carved stops. The spandrels contain figures carved in high relief depicting St Michael and the dragon. Two smaller footway arches flanking the main entrance are of similar character, with head-stops to their labels and carved foliage and a rose in the spandrels.

Flanking the main arch are a pair of niches with ogee cusped and crocketed canopies decorated with flint inlay and ribbed vaults. The moulded brackets beneath feature angels holding scrolls. Above the central arch stands a similar but taller niche with traceried panels instead of inlay and an angel on the bracket holding a shield.

North Front

The north elevation has a parapet and window arrangement similar to the south front. Two semi-octagonal turrets rise above the parapet and have external doorways with four-centred heads and quatrefoiled lights. Buttresses at the north-west and north-east corners contain garderobes.

The inner archway has stop-moulded jambs and a two-centred arch set in a square head with moulded labels and traceried spandrels enclosing blank shields. Above the arch head runs a band of flint chequerwork.

Gateway Hall

The gate-hall is covered by a magnificent ribbed lierne vault of two bays, springing from grouped triple shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The rib intersections feature richly carved bosses. The three central bosses depict: the Annunciation; a crowned and veiled head of St Osyth; and a couched hart within a park paling, wearing a napkin powdered with crowns around its neck. Smaller bosses include foliage, flowers, various grotesque heads and faces, lions' faces, a bishop's head, kings' heads, a double face, a pelican, a half-angel with scroll, shields bearing the later arms of the Abbey and three crowns, and the head of St John on a charger.

18th-century wrought-iron gates now close the south archway.

Porter's Room and Ground Floor Chambers

The porter's room to the west of the gateway has a doorway with moulded jambs and a two-centred arch; a similar doorway appears in the east wall. A panel on the west wall features a carved hand holding an ornate lamp.

In the east wall of the porter's room is a recess containing a large square basin with drain and a niche for a lantern at the back. The west wall has a fireplace with moulded jambs and a four-centred arch, with a triangular-headed niche above it. Further south is a blocked doorway. The room above has a similar fireplace in the east wall. The main north-west buttress of the gatehouse contains a garderobe or cupboard.

At the south-east corner of the porter's lodge is the opening for a squint overlooking the gateway, with a lavabo to the right.

The room east of the gate-hall is entered through an arched doorway. It has axial bridging beams and a fireplace with a stone surround. An earlier stairway opening to the first floor is blocked; a 20th-century staircase has been inserted against the south wall. A corridor parallel to the south wall leads into the east range.

Upper Floors and Circulation

The upper floors are accessed by 17th-century stairs with barley-twist balusters, heraldic finials and a deeply moulded, wreathed handrail brought from Costessy Hall. This staircase is located between the turrets on the north elevation. Entrances at each floor into the north-west corner turret have pointed-arch openings.

Above the gate-hall is a large room with two 18th-century two-panel doors with HL hinges, an encased bridging beam, a moulded cornice, and two two-light cusped windows facing front and rear. A four-centred arch fireplace has a stone surround.

The rooms above the ground-floor porter's lodge have deeply moulded and chamfered transverse and axial bridging beams with stops and four-centred arch fireplaces. A four-centred arched opening with stone surrounds and deep reveals leads to the west range, where the easternmost room has deeply moulded and chamfered bridging beams.

On the first floor, the room adjacent to the gate-hall and the first room of the east range contain Georgian fireplaces and two-panelled doors with HL hinges set in 15th-century pointed-arch openings with stone surrounds. This part of the gatehouse and range appears to have been adapted as a dwelling during the Georgian period.

The room over the gate-hall, the porter's lodge to its west, and the rooms above have been incorporated into the west range residence. Other rooms on the ground and first floors and stairs have been remodelled in the 20th century with no historic fixtures and fittings remaining in these areas.

East Range

Exterior

The east range extends from the gatehouse with two storeys arranged over three bays, separated by buttresses. It has an embattled parapet and windows similar to those of the gatehouse. A chimney stack of stone and dressed flint projects forward from the south elevation, topped by a spiral moulded red-brick shaft.

The easternmost bay is an early 13th-century gatehouse that was re-fronted in the 15th century to match the rest of the range. Between the two pairs of windows on the south face are rectangular cusped panels enclosing shields displaying: the later arms of the Abbey; and three birds (possibly popinjays or pheasants).

At the east end of the range stands a heavy brick chimney-stack dating from the 17th century with grouped diagonal shafts.

The rear (north) elevation is not crenellated. The first-floor window range resembles the ground-floor windows of the gatehouse, with a larger window to the left and a large stone segmental arch visible in the wall above. To the right of this window is a moulded stone doorway with a keystone; a 20th-century door with part of a two-light window above lies further right.

Interior

The rooms of the east range are accessed from the eastern room of the gatehouse. On the ground floor are medieval plastered brick four-centred arch fireplaces and timber framing of substantial scantling. Exposed elements include a pegged mid-rail and studs probably dating from the 13th century, and 17th-century bridging beams supported on carved cornices and brackets.

A medieval four-centred arch doorway with plain spandrels and a timber decorative panelled door with applied fillets leads into the former bakehouse. Here the blocked early 13th-century wide arched entrances to the monastic complex are visible internally. The archway in the south wall is round-headed and of two moulded orders, while the archway in the north has a segmented pointed head. The difference in walling between this bay and the other bays of the range is visible on the north face. The east elevation is entirely of brick and dominated by a shallow-arched bakehouse fireplace.

On the first floor, the westernmost room was converted into a residence during the Georgian period. The two eastern rooms are accessed through four-centred arched door openings – the first with a plain surround and spandrels with an iron pintle. This room has deeply moulded and chamfered bridging beams.

A 16th-century door leads to the easternmost room. Its shallow arched head is flanked by painted murals, with painted Latin script flowing from the left-hand mural through the door jamb and head. The murals depict the Tudor coat of arms, three crowns, vines and grapes, and 14th-century figures. Blocked bread-oven openings appear in the east wall and a partly exposed post-medieval roof structure is visible.

West Range

Exterior

The west range dates from the late 15th century and stands two storeys high with an embattled parapet of knapped flint on the south side. The windows on this elevation have been much altered. There is a panelled door with a canopy over. (The south face had scaffolding attached in 2012.)

The projecting stone chimney-stack features two mid-16th-century brick octagonal shafts with spurred caps, moulded bases, and spiked and moulded capping.

The north (rear) elevation has a stone plinth. An off-centre doorway of moulded stone has a segmented pointed head. Another door further to the right has a chamfered stone square head with a label over and may date from the 16th century. There is a four-window range of moulded brick with two-light windows and labels over.

Interior

A four-centred arched opening with stone surrounds and deep reveals leads to the east range, where the easternmost room has deeply moulded and chamfered bridging beams. The other rooms on the ground and first floors and the stairs have all been remodelled in the 20th century with no historic fixtures and fittings remaining.