The Gatehouse To Lullingstone Castle

The Gatehouse to Lullingstone Castle is a Grade I listed building from the 16th century, specifically constructed between 1543 and 1580 by Sir Percyvall Hart. This outer gatehouse was built after the middle of the century, while the inner gatehouse was demolished in the mid-18th century.

The structure is made of red brick laid in English Bond, featuring traces of a diaper pattern. It has a rectangular plan with polygonal turrets on the outer face and polygonal projections on the inner side. The elevation includes a carriage archway with a room above, flanked by three-storey turrets. The gatehouse is topped with machicolation and a castellated parapet.

On the outer side, which faces west, there is a four-centred brick carriage archway that retains its original ribbed double doors with 20 panels. Above this archway is a cartouche and a single window with two tiers of four lights. Hexagonal staircase turrets, which rise higher than the rest of the gatehouse, flank the archway and feature quatrefoil loop lights and terracotta panels. The outer side is otherwise blind.

The inner side has a similar moulded archway with a brick dripstone and cartouche, along with a similar window above. This side is flanked by canted bays of three storeys that contain four-centre pedestrian doorways with dripstones on the ground floor, small rectangular single light windows, and windows with two tiers of three lights on the first and second floors.