Gatehouse And South Boundary Wall To The Old Deanery

The gatehouse and associated boundary wall date primarily from the 15th century, with later restoration work. They form part of the historic Old Deanery estate in Wells.

The gatehouse is constructed with an ashlar ground floor and dressings, contrasting with coursed rubble above, and has a gabled Welsh slate roof concealed behind battlemented parapets. The exterior features two bays. The lower bay has a moulded four-centred wagon arch, likely containing original medieval wooden doors, and a matching pedestrian arch to the side. Above these arches are two-light windows with chamfer-mullioned and transomed tracery, cinquefoil cusping, and square labels. A corbelled chimney stack rises between the bays. The inner elevation incorporates a wider segmental arch encompassing both bays. A 2-light window without a transom is placed above this, and a small stair turret is situated to the northwest corner. The soffit over the archway displays two heavy chamfered beams and plastered panels. A small rectangular light and a three-plank door within a four-centred flush opening are present on the ground floor wall to the right.

Internally, the ground floor includes a former stable with a wide braced plank and batten door, a 16-pane transom light, and a three-light stone casement with 17th-century ovolo-mould mullions and early leaded glazing. The entrance features a fine overlapping three-plank door, and a four-panel 17th-century door with raised fielded panels is located under the staircase. A deep beam with lamb's-tongue stop is positioned above the stair. The first-floor room has a stone fire surround with a chamfered square opening, surmounted by a floating mantelshelf with a brattished cornice supported on three conical brackets, believed to be former statue bases. A hinge-pin indicates a former privy entrance in the southwest corner, and a stone spiral staircase with a stone pinnacle rises from the northwest corner.

The boundary wall extends eastward, constructed of random rubble with ashlar crenellated coping, and incorporates a four-centred moulded arched doorway leading to Wells Museum. It terminates with a straight joint. The wall continues westward for approximately 12 metres to the Old Deanery, followed by another 20 metres of matching high wall, punctuated by a 20th-century gateway into the former herb garden of William Turner (1508-1568); this section also ends at a straight joint.