More information : (SE 5476 7903). Gateway (NR) (Remains of) (NAT). (1)
Remains of Byland Abbey Gatehouse across approach road to abbey, plus return wall. Listed Grade II (previously listed together with Byland Abbey). Early C13th. Limestone ashlar and rubble. (2)
What remains of the gatehouse is one large round arch, hollow-chamfered, ie a type of moulding not used before the C13th. From the wall arches of the vault to the east as well as the west it is clear that this arch ran across inside the gatehouse, which indeed extends remarkably far to the west, and also that to the north of the arch there must have been another, much smaller (arch). This was of course the entry for pedestrians, and one shaft of it remaining has the familiar waterleaf in its capital. On the other hand, the long wall to the west has the doorway to the porter's lodge, and this has a pointed-trefoiled head, ie a motif we found only at the end of the activity on the church. (3)
One of the main arches of the great or inner gatehouse spans the Oldstead road. Though much ruined, enough remains to determine the gatehouse's layout. The arch divided the gatehouse into inner and outer porches, which were both stone vaulted. It was approached down a walled lane from a smaller outer gate sited in the precinct wall. (4)
SE 54749 79033. The gatehouse, of early 13th-century origin, is listed Grade II (LB UID 329582). (5)
The remains of the abbey's inner gatehouse survive as a mixture of earthworks and standing fabric either side of the Oldstead road, centred at SE 54767 79025 some 130m in from the line of the western precinct boundary. The form of the building is difficult to reconstruct with certainty, but its basic plan may be described as a gatehouse flanked by wings and/or ranges. The core of the building consists of a vaulted stone passage divided into covered inner and outer porches by a cross wall pierced by two round-headed arches of different size in which hung inward-opening doors providing for separate vehicle and pedestrian access. Only the cross wall, the southern wall of the outer porch and part of one wall of the south wing (continuing the line of the cross wall) are still upstanding. At the west end of the outer-porch wall, a doorway, now blocked, leads off the passage. Logically, as suggested by authority 3, this should be the door to the porter's lodge, but a mid-18th-century plan of the ruins (6a) shows the east end of a free-standing building partly intruding into the area of the presumed chamber and also suggests that the wings on both sides of the passage were set back from the front of the gatehouse rather than being in line with it. It is unclear how much reliance should be placed on the plan, however, since a rectangular earthwork platform which survives on two levels immediately north of the road indicates that the wing or range on this side probably extended further west than indicated.
Authority 5's suggestion that the gatehouse was approached from the west by a walled lane is difficult to support on the available evidence: the present walls are no more than post-medieval field boundaries, although on the southern side a leat may have formed an effective barrier preventing visitors from wandering off the road.
On the basis of architectural detail, the gatehouse is traditionally dated to the early 13th century although more recently a date of c 1180 has been proposed. It has been suggested that the gatehouse may belong to a group of triple-portal examples peculiar to Cistercian houses in the north of England (6b).
The abbey scheduling was extended in 1978 to include the gatehouse at the same time as the listing was altered to Grade II. Surveyed (in plan only) at 1:1000 scale as part of the EH: Byland Abbey Survey (gatehouse GH1). See plans and report (6c) in the NMR for further information. (6) |