Abbey Gate and Gatehouse

Abbey Gate and Gatehouse, dating from the 16th century, served as the entrance to St Mary’s Priory and is now a gate into the Cathedral grounds. Built for Prior Slee and inscribed and dated 1528, the structure is constructed of weathered red sandstone ashlar, with some dressings of calciferous sandstone. It sits on a chamfered plinth, incorporates string courses, and features eaves cornices, with clasping buttresses rising on each angle as stone chimney stacks. The roofs are of graduated greenslate with coped gables.

The building comprises a single-bay gate tower and an attached, low, two-bay gatehouse. The Abbey Street facade has a large central, rounded archway with a triple chamfer, the vaulted arch featuring a recessed round archway fitted with double gates and a left, rounded-arch pedestrian gate. Above the arch is a three-light Tudor window with a hoodmould, gabled and decorated above. The rear elevation is similar, but the arch features a Latin inscription and the window above lacks a hood.

The gatehouse projects with a gable and a half gable and is contemporary with the tower, although sash windows have been inserted, some possibly within original surrounds. The roofline suggests a corresponding gatehouse was once symmetrically positioned on the left side, but was demolished in 1699 (or during the Civil War) to make way for the Bishop’s Library nearby.

The interior of the buildings has not been inspected. Included within the listing is a fragment of wall extending over Dean Tait’s Lane to join with number 48 Abbey Street, now cut by a 19th-century archway. This fragment may represent the remains of an earlier gate tower or an adjoining Priory building.