The Gateway

The Gateway is an eyecatcher folly that has been converted into a house. It was built in the late 18th century for Sir George Onesiphorus Paul. The structure is made of random thin-bedded rubble limestone and features two round, two-storey towers with a gateway between them. Each tower has three stone Y-traceried pointed arched Gothick windows on the upper floor, and there are two additional windows below on either side of a pointed doorway that has a lattice-patterned door. The towers have high parapets with cross slits and quatrefoils at a higher level, and they are topped with flat roofs. A linking wall with a crenellated parapet includes a large 4-centred archway, which now has a recessed 20th-century infill. At the rear, there is a 20th-century lean-to addition made of concrete blocks, which is not of special interest. The Gateway was designed to be viewed against a wooded backdrop from Sir George's Rodborough Manor, located on the opposite side of a small valley.