Brown's Gatehouse

Brown's Gatehouse is a 15th-century gateway, built in 1451 by Bishop Beckynton as part of his “New Works” for the churchyard. It is constructed of local stone rubble with dressings of Doulting stone, and has a Welsh slate roof with coped gables behind parapets, along with a stone chimney stack on the south gable.

The building is two storeys high. The main, west-facing elevation features a wide four-centred arch without side columns or capitals; carved tablet decoration is on the west face of the arch. Above the arch is a central three-light mullioned window, now blocked, and recessed square panels on either side. To the right is a statue niche with a semicircular arched head, the base of which is corbelled and linked to the ground floor by an attached shaft. A string course runs under the parapet, of which parts are missing, suggesting former corner pinnacles.

The east elevation, facing Cathedral Green, has a simpler design with a battlemented parapet and a central three-light chamfer-mullioned window with a square label above.

The north elevation includes a plain gable and a low abutment, approximately two-thirds the height of the tower, constructed in bands of Doulting ashlar and local stone. The abutment appears to have a flat roof. On the west face to Sadler Street, a four-centred pedestrian archway has an almost square panel above, with two putlog holes to the left, and a small, cusped-arched window beneath the parapet string course. The north elevation of the abutment is plain and approximately 2 metres wide. The soffit of the archway is an eight-panel vault with hollow-chamfered ribs and a foliated boss. The north wall of the undercroft contains a central shaft and two openings into the pedestrian way. The pedestrian passage is under a rough pointed barrel vault, with an access doorway which likely leads to a staircase within the abutment. The interior was not inspected.

The gatehouse is named after Richard Brown, who was the tenant of No.20 in 1553, and was occasionally referred to as “The Dean’s Eye” in the 19th century. The gatehouse, along with three attached buildings to the south, cost 200 marks to build. It is also a Scheduled Ancient Monument (Somerset No.233).