The Gatehouse, Tewkesbury Abbey - geograph

Abbey Gatehouse is a

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mo ...

building to

Tewkesbury Abbey The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury–commonly known as Tewkesbury Abbey–is located in the English county of Gloucestershire. A former Benedictine monastery, it is now a parish church. Considered one of the finest examples of No ...

, in

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a medieval market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town has significant history in the Wars of the Roses and grew since the building of Tewkesbury Abbey. It stands at the confluence of the Ri ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England. It is a Grade I listed building. The building was constructed in stone ashlar around 1500 A.D, and has a single large room at first-floor level accessed by a narrow spiral stair. It survived the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540, but by the early 19th century the building had fallen into disrepair and was derelict. In 1849 the then owner, John Martin, M.P. for Tewkesbury, employed the services of local architect James Medland to undertake its repair and it was fully restored. In the 20th century the building was used for various parish uses, but the difficult access restricted its useful purpose. In 1986 a lease was negotiated with the

Landmark Trust The Landmark Trust is a British architectural conservation, building conservation charitable organization, charity, founded in 1965 by John Smith (Conservative politician), Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or ...

, who set about refurbishing and conserving it, and providing facilities to suit its current use as holiday accommodation.

References

External links

Landmark Trust WebsiteLandmark Trust history sheet for the Abbey Gatehouse
{{coord, 51.991137, -2.161110, display=title Landmark Trust properties in England History of Gloucestershire Buildings and structures in Gloucestershire Tewkesbury Gates in England Gatehouses (architecture) Grade I listed buildings in Gloucestershire