Abbey Gatehouse And Adjoining Wall To East

Abbey Gatehouse. Built in the early 16th century, it is part of the remaining fabric of the Cistercian Kingswood Abbey, which is scheduled as Ancient Monument No. 70. The building is constructed of ashlar with a Cotswold stone slate roof.

The gatehouse has a large, moulded pointed arch at its centre, with a slit window to the left and a smaller arch with a straight head to the south, containing a niche above. A pointed arch is also present at the rear, and a two-light mullion and transom window with four equal-sized lights is situated above the main arch. The niche is adorned with carved side colonnettes and an elaborate crocketed canopy that once held a statue, probably of the Virgin, with a carved dove above. The window’s main mullion is highly decorated with a carved lily, and the hood mould is carved in a pointed shape. Two buttresses flank the sides, featuring diagonally set small square piers at first-floor level with crockets, and pinnacles with crockets. Two string courses run along the building. The gable verge is ornamented with crockets, and a finial depicts a carved Crucifixion scene.

Inside the gateway, the passage is covered by a lierne vault with carved bosses. The rear of the gatehouse includes a relieving arch spanning both archways, with some original mouldings still visible. The upper storey is faced in boards, with a 20th-century window inserted. A room above the passage features two tiers of arched wind bracing and an additional unbraced upper tier. A blocked two-light trefoil-head stone mullion window is on the west side, and a stepped window seat is positioned at the large south window. A room is accessed from a moulded four-centre stone archway immediately to the right at the rear of the gateway, which has a narrow, chamfered Tudor arch adjoining it and remains of a pointed stone relieving arch with a corbel to the left, all appearing to be original features.

To the east of the gatehouse, on the south side, are former cottages now forming part of the curtain wall. These are two storeys high, with three window openings featuring square stopped hood moulds at each end on the first floor and over the ground-floor door opening on the left. A central buttress has a diagonally set pier similar to the gatehouse buttresses, but without a pinnacle.