Gatehouse And Gatehouse Cottage Adjoining

This is a late 15th-century gatehouse, altered in the late 19th century, originally leading to a demolished house to the south. Adjoining it is a cottage dating from the 16th to 17th centuries, also altered in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The gatehouse is constructed of local stone, some random rubble, with a timber-framed upper storey hung with wooden shingles on the south front. It has renewed timber lintels, curved wooden jambs, and a slate roof with a louvred ventilation cap. The plan consists of a single cell, with stairs and the cottage abutting to the west, set over a gateway with double doors on the north front. A much-restored cinquefoil-headed two-light mullioned window is present on the south front, similar to the one on the north side. The double doors are large, ribbed, and studded, with a wicket. Inside, a chamfered arched stone doorway leads to the stair. A C19 cinqufoil-headed wooden window is located to the right. The upper room of the gatehouse contains three pairs of long tenon jointed cruck trusses, with two purlins on either side, renewed cambered collars, and a small fireplace with a chamfered stone lintel; no chimney survives. A peaked door frame provides access to the cottage.

The cottage has a rendered rubble base, a slate roof, and two external stone stacks – one circular and rising below the ridge to the right, and another square in a similar position to the rear. A left-gable end stack is also present. The north front has four bays with C19 casements, two below the eaves on the left and rising through the eaves on the right. The ground floor has two three-light casements, an entry end bay to the right, a half-glazed many-paned door, and a window to the right return ground floor. Inside, a room adjoining the gatehouse has cambered lateral beams, and blocked fireplaces on either side of the wall. The central room contains fine heavy ovolo moulded beams, and the kitchen beyond the cross passage features steeply chamfered beams with step and runout stops. A fireplace with a chamfered lintel incorporates a window inserted into what was probably oven space. Five pairs of heavy jointed cruck trusses are present, along with cambered collars and a steeply chamfered wall plate. The cottage was built after the gatehouse, and its exact evolution remains unclear.