N Gatehouse at Ewenny Priory (house)

The North Gatehouse at Ewenny Priory is a Gothic structure that has been adapted from an earlier Romanesque building. It is constructed of coursed rubble with ashlar dressings and has a roughly rectangular shape. The northern corners are reinforced with semi-octagonal towers featuring deep spur buttresses. The entrance is pointed arched and consists of three chamfered orders, with a trefoil-headed window above it, set under a ruined corbel table. Behind the arch, there is a groove for a portcullis and a stone vault divided into three bays, supported by heavy chamfered ribs, with the center bay featuring pilaster responds. To the south, there are two additional slots in the vault that indicate earlier construction, with Romanesque colonettes leading to an ashlar pier, from which a later pointed arch springs. The northern bays contain putlogs, and there are rectangular openings in the second bay of the vault, along with a stable-tiled floor.

On the west side, there is a culvert opening below ground level, and at the battlement level, there is a small arrow loop, a small round-headed light, and a narrow pointed arched doorway that provides access to the corbelled wall walk. The east side features a single trefoil-headed light at the first-floor level, adjacent to the stair tower and a short stretch of the precinct wall that connects to the barn. The rear elevation, facing south, has a chamfered pointed arched entrance doorway leading to a rectangular staircase turret. The battlement wall walk is corbelled out, and there is a single round-headed staircase light and a slit where the tower connects to the gatehouse. The main southern front matches the northern entrance with a pointed archway, showing clear signs of the earlier construction in the surround and relieving arch. Above, there is a stepped-in gable with a single now-incomplete light and putlogs, and further to the left, there is the gateway to the wall walk and battlements.

Access to the winding stone stairs is provided by a ground floor side rear doorway. The first-floor northern chamber features wide window embrasures with chamfered surrounds and stone seats within. It also contains a former fireplace and flue, holes in the floor leading to the vault below, and the main portcullis slot. There are nesting holes for doves built against the former inner wall of the southern gable, along with two additional portcullis slots. A garderobe recess is located in the northwest corner, providing access to the wall walk, and stairs ascend to a former higher level.