Gatehouse With First Floor Dovecot And Attached Open Fronted Store, The Tithe Barn, Lower Dowdeswell

This is a 16th-century detached gatehouse with a first-floor dovecot and an attached open-fronted store, known as The Tithe Barn, located in Lower Dowdeswell. The gatehouse is constructed of coursed squared and dressed limestone, with sections of close-studded timber framing and weather-boarding. It has a compact rectangular plan with a side wall open to the first floor, providing access to a yard, and an open-fronted store projecting forwards to the left. The first-floor dovecot has a close-studded side wall featuring a two-light wood-mullioned window that is now blocked, while the opposite wall is weather-boarded. Access to the dovecot is via a plank door in the right gable end, using a 20th-century wooden staircase. The open-fronted store to the left has a hipped roof and comprises three bays. The gatehouse features a slightly stepped gable-end coping with roll-cross saddles, as does a central square lantern.