Summary : Originally the south gateway to the Priory of Clerkenwell, the headquarters of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem; now the headquarters of the Most Venerable Order of St John. It was built in 1504 by Prior Thomas Docwra and was probably refaced in 1846 through the efforts of the local architect and antiquarian WP Griffith. The gateway was further restored between 1873-4 by Richard Norman Shaw, and again in 1893 and 1903 by John Oldrid Scott, all through the efforts of Sir Edmund Lechmere; the east wing, including the Chapter Hall, was added in 1903 to the designs of Scott. The gateway is constructed from brick with dressed ragstone facings and stone dressings with a roof of clay tiles. The building consists of an arch over the street with a room over it, flanked by slightly higher tower like wings differently arranged on the north and south sides. The arch is four-centred with a star-shaped square tierceron vault, and brickwork of English bond to the interior walls in which are set Tudor-arched windows and a doorway. |