Gatehouse Approximately 80 Metres South Of Ripley Castle

Gatehouse approximately 80 metres south of Ripley Castle

This is a medieval gatehouse with significant alterations made in the 16th century and again in 1788–90 by William Belwood for Sir John Ingilby. The building is constructed of ashlar with a lead roof to the central bay and grey slate roofs to the left and right sections. The wooden gates feature cast-iron furniture.

The gatehouse is arranged as a 3-storey central entrance bay flanked by lower 2-storey wings containing a guardroom and keeper's lodge. On the south front, a plinth runs beneath the structure. The central bay contains a tall pointed carriage arch with double cavetto moulding and barred stops. The double gates are decorated with ribs and trefoil arcading, fitted with a pair of boar's head handles. To the left of the main gates is a pedestrian entrance with a board door decorated to match the gates. Its surround consists of a double-chamfered 4-centred arch with quatrefoils overlying the chamfering at the door-head and shields in the spandrels. Above the main gate sits a limestone plaque bearing the Ingilby coat of arms. Above this is a cavetto-moulded flat-headed 3-light window with cinquefoiled lights. The left bay has a cavetto-moulded single-light window to the ground floor, centre, and a plain chamfered light above to the left, both barred. The right bay contains an inserted square 4-pane window to the ground floor left; a 4-pane frame in a plain chamfered light to the first-floor centre; and a narrow window to the far right.

A hollow-chamfered string course and crenellated parapets run across the centre bay, while the flanking bays feature slightly projecting crenellated parapets. A straight joint is visible between the side parapets and the central bay, extending down to first-floor window lintel level.

On the rear elevation, the central bay displays a wide chamfered 4-centred arch with a flat-headed window of 2 cinquefoil-headed lights above. The left bay contains a small plain-chamfered window on each floor and a board door in a 4-centred arch within a recessed bay. The right bay has a board door in a deeply-chamfered 4-centred arched doorway with 2-piece lintel, a narrow window to the left, a window on the first floor centre, and a double-chamfered first-floor doorway with iron grill to the left. An attached brick outbuilding of no special architectural interest stands nearby.

Interior: The central bay has a groined vault over the entrance. The right-hand bay contains a narrow door decorated with Gothick tracery within a 4-centred arched opening with deep chamfers and tall pyramidal stops. The words "Parlez au Suisse" are cut into the lintel. The left-hand bay has stone corbels at first-floor level on the east wall; the south wall thickness is reduced by half at this level, and the west (outer) wall is of roughly dressed stone with missing flooring. Two tiers of brick and stone shelves are built against the east wall, formerly serving as a wine store. A straight wooden stair against the north wall reaches the lower steps of a spiral stair housed within the long grilled opening. The spiral stair has been rebuilt at this point and may formerly have linked with an external stair or ladder through the grilled opening. The room above the gateway is accessed from the spiral stair and contains a blocked fireplace against the east wall. To its left is an altered, deeply-chamfered doorway with pyramidal stops and a flight of steps descending through the wall thickness to a door into the first floor of the right-hand bay. The ceiling comprises 3 cambered cross beams resting on cast-iron brackets, with a chamfered ridge beam and purlins. The floor, which sits above the vault, is mortared. A steep stone stair in the wall thickness of the north-west corner provides access to the roof. The central bay has a shallow-pitched roof; the outer bays have hipped roofs, but the outer end of the hips have been removed, indicating the gable walls have been rebuilt.

The shields above the pedestrian gate are believed to represent the arms of Sir John Ingilby (1433–57) and his wife, Margery Strangeways. A painting of the gatehouse dating to around 1780 shows steeply pitched gabled roofs to the flanking bays before Belwood's alterations. The inscription over the door to the keeper's lodge (right-hand bay) was carved around 1844 for Sir William Amcotts Ingilby, who is thought to have brought Swiss or French servants back with him from the continent.