Butley Abbey and Priory Gate House

Butley Abbey and Priory Gate House is a mansion, originally the gatehouse to Butley Abbey. Construction began in the early 14th century. It was converted to residential use around 1734 and restored in 1926 by W.D. Caröe. The building is primarily stone with knapped flint, featuring stone quoins and dressings. The roof was raised in red brick and is slated.

The main gabled carriageway runs north-south. The north front is flanked by two sections of original buttressed towers that project outwards. The south gabled front extends beyond the rear rooms of the towers. The north front features two sham windows with Decorated tracery, alongside a central glazed window in a similar style. These sham windows incorporate flushwork decoration. Below the windows is an armorial panel displaying thirty-five shields arranged in five rows. The north towers include a sham Decorated window above a straight-headed window with three ogee-headed lights. The original carriageway entrance has a depressed moulded pointed arch set within stone ashlar jambs. To the left is a pedestrian entrance with a pointed arch; both entrances are filled with timber studs, mullion windows, and red herringbone brick infill. The south front replicates the sham windows of the north side and features a carriageway doorway of a similar style, with a modern entrance door. Eighteenth-century sash windows, with glazing bars, are found in the rooms behind the towers, set within flush frames and featuring gauged brick arches and red brick jambs.

Inside the main carriageway, the ceiling is vaulted with stone ribs and stone infill. Smaller rooms on either side are vaulted with domed brick infill. A fine Georgian staircase and some Elizabethan panelling are also present.

Butley Abbey was founded in 1171 by Ranulph de Glanville, and the gatehouse is recognized as "one of the most ambitious and interesting buildings of the 14th century in Suffolk." Comprehensive documentation of the entire Abbey and Priory complex can be found in the Journal of the Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1934, by J.L.N. Meyers and J.B. Ward Perkins.