Gatehouse To Cathanger

The gatehouse to Cathanger is a late 16th-century structure located on Cathanger Lane. It is built from banded lias and Ham stone, topped with a thatched roof and features wooden coving at the eaves. The building has a square plan and includes a central throughway with semi-circular openings at each end, framed in stone with moulded dropped keystones, moulded imposts, and labels. There is some early and interesting graffiti on the outer jambs. Above each opening, there are four-light hollow-moulded stone-mullioned windows, with the outer lights blocked with rubble. The returns also feature similar windows with two and three lights. The east elevation has two shell-headed niches at ground floor level.

Inside the throughway, the floor is paved with lias setts. The inner doorway has elaborately moulded stone jambs and a moulded wooden lintel, with a staple of a hinge remaining on one jamb. A stone staircase rises to the first floor on the north side, accessed through a doorway with a massive chamfered wood architrave and a four-centred arch head, leading to a plank door with original strap hinges. There is a similar doorway to the south in a timber-framed partition with cob nogging, also featuring a plank door and strap hinges. The first floor retains the remains of a timber-framed partition, and the roof is a collar-beam type with a cambered collar, although later timber supports have been inserted.