Gatehouse, New Abbey Parish Church, Dunfermline Abbey

Gatehouse, New Abbey Parish Church, Dunfermline Abbey

A collection of gateways and boundary features of varying dates, spanning from the early 19th century to the 1890s, surrounding Dunfermline Abbey and its associated churchyard.

The eastern gateway dates to the earlier 19th century and comprises a pair of octagonal-plan sandstone ashlar gatepiers with Gothic decoration. Each pier has a base course and two tiers of panels decorated with cusped arches above, topped by a cornice with quatrefoil motifs. A moulded band course runs below a pyramid coping with incised panels to the sides. The cast-iron gates feature a band course of X-shaped motifs surmounted by crockets with crocketed finials. A slightly plainer pedestrian gate stands to the north.

The northwestern gateway dates to the mid-19th century and consists of a pair of square-plan coursed sandstone gatepiers with ashlar dressings. A plain frieze runs below a deeply projecting moulded ashlar band course, topped by pyramid coping. The cast-iron gates have the same band course of X-shaped motifs surmounted by crockets and crocketed finials. A similar pedestrian gate is set within the boundary wall at right angles to the north of the eastern pier.

The western gateway was designed by R Rowand Anderson and constructed in 1891–92. It comprises a pair of rectangular-plan Gothic Revival gatepiers adjoining low stepped walls that flank a flight of stone steps in front of the western entrance to the abbey nave. All elements are constructed of coursed droved sandstone with sandstone ashlar dressings. The gatepiers are gableted with roll-moulded apexes; each has a two-tier base course surmounted by a recessed panel with flanking nook shafts and a carved pointed apex facing west. Engaged gate stanchions have gableted heads. There are three pairs of double cast-iron gates with wrought-iron decoration including Art Nouveau finials. The central pair of cast-iron gateposts is embossed with Gothic motifs, square in plan at the base and rising to an octagonal tier with a rounded octagonal head. The adjoining flanking walls to the steps step up in three stages, terminating at a pair of low octagonal piers with base courses and moulded coping. Roundels with carved trefoils ornament the inner faces of the upper two stages. The lower stage of the northern wall bears an inscription reading "this step(?) was erected by David Alexander in the year 1892". The flanking walls to the gateway are constructed of coursed dressed sandstone with ashlar coping, stepped down in two stages and surmounted by finialled railings on either side towards the gates. The flight of steps continues west of the gateway.

The boundary wall bounding the abbey nave and new church on most sides is constructed of coursed or rubble sandstone with ashlar or rubble coping at various heights. Cast-iron railings with crocketed finials run along the eastern side and a short section to the northeast adjoining the gatehouse. The churchyard contains a substantial number of gravestones, mostly dating from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The gatehouse itself, erected in 1897 by John Houston, is a two-bay rectangular-plan single-storey Gothic Revival building. It is constructed of coursed rockfaced sandstone with sandstone ashlar dressings, featuring a base course, eaves band, and crenellated parapet. The openings have droved long and short surrounds and hood-moulds. The bays are divided by buttresses, including angle buttresses at the corners, with gableted heads carved with a three-pointed cusped motif. The entrance lies to the right of the eastern elevation and consists of a two-leaf boarded timber door with ornamental cast-iron strap hinges. Windows are present in each bay on the southern elevation and a single window on the western elevation. The northern elevation is blank.