Wetheral Priory Gatehouse

Wetheral Priory Gatehouse is a gatehouse tower built in the 14th century for the Benedictine Priory of Wetheral. It features dressed red sandstone walls with moulded dressings and a stone-slate replacement roof. The structure has three storeys and two bays, with a chamfered plinth course and a moulded string-course at each level, topped by a battlemented parapet. The large round-headed moulded entrance arch leads to a barrel-vaulted passage. There are mullioned windows with two lights and chamfered dressings, hood moulds, and trefoil cusped heads above the entrance; similar windows of one light are found on other elevations. Label moulds on the sides indicate the original roof line of adjoining buildings that have since been demolished. Inside, a spiral staircase provides access to the upper floors and roof. The priory was founded around 1100, but this gatehouse represents a later rebuilding, likely following the destruction of earlier structures due to border raids.