Priory Gatehouse

TF 7815 10/45

WEST ACRE CHURCH GREEN (south side) Priory Gatehouse (formerly listed as Priory Gatehouse and remains of Abbey Farm buildings)

19.10.51

G.V. I

Gatehouse. C14. North entrance to outer court of Priory of St. Mary and All Saints, founded c.1100 by de Toni family. Later adopted Augustinian rule. Dissolved 1538, one of the first of the greater houses to surrender. Flint with stone dressings, roofless. 2 storeys. North side has 2 centred double hollow chamfered arch set on chamfered jambs. 3 shields with coats of arms above, legible in C18 as de Toni and Beauchamp, Earls of Warwick, further Beauchamp coat. First floor with single chamfered lancet. Springing of gable. South-east angle buttress with set offs. Interior of arch has angle shafts supporting quadripartite stone rib vaults with brick infilling. South face has 2 2-centred arches within one embrassure, a further outer former north springing of second inner vault. Clunch and brick courses above. Scheduled Ancient Monument, County Number 170. See F.H. Fairweather and H.L. Bradfer-Lawrence 'The Priory .. Westacre' Norfolk Archaeology XXIII, 1929, pp.359-394 (ref. p. 373).

Listing NGR: TF7804815231