The Great Gatehouse
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The Great Gatehouse (), also known as the Abbey Gatehouse, is a historic building on the south side of
College Green College Green or The College Green may refer to: * College Green, Adelaide outdoor venue at the University of Adelaide * College Green, Bristol, England * College Green (Dartmouth College), New Hampshire, primarily known as "the Green" * College ...
in Bristol, England. Its earliest parts date back to around 1170. It was the
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 ...
for St Augustine's Abbey, which was the precursor of
Bristol Cathedral Bristol Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is the Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England. Founded in 1140 and consecrated in 1148, it was originally St Augustine's Abbey but after the Dissolu ...
. The gatehouse stands to the cathedral's west, and to its own west it is abutted by the
Bristol Central Library Bristol Central Library is a historic building on the south side of College Green, Bristol, England. It contains the main collections of Bristol's public library. Built in 1906 by Charles Holden, its design was influential in the development ...
building. The library's architectural design incorporated many of the gatehouse's features. The sculptural decorations on the archways of the gatehouse contain early examples of the use of pointed arches in England. The gatehouse has been designated by
Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...
as a Grade I
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.


History

St Augustine's Abbey was founded in 1140. The earliest parts of the gatehouse were built by around 1170, as the main entrance of the
monastic Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...
precinct, giving access to its courtyard. The gatehouse was one of a number of the abbey's monastic buildings which survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries, after which in 1542 the abbey became Bristol Cathedral. A deanery was later built adjoining the west side of the gatehouse. The deanery was demolished and its place abutting the gatehouse was taken by the new Bristol Central Library building in 1906.


Architecture

The building consists of two late
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...
archways, a carriage gateway and a smaller
postern gate A postern is a secondary door or gate in a fortification such as a city wall or castle curtain wall. Posterns were often located in a concealed location which allowed the occupants to come and go inconspicuously. In the event of a siege, a postern ...
for pedestrians, surmounted by a late
Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...
gatehouse, with an adjoining tower. The unweathered appearance of the archways led to a public debate between 19th century commentators as to whether the archways had been rebuilt since the 12th century, but the prevailing view, as argued in the 19th century by
George Edmund Street George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Victorian Gothic Revival. Though mainly an eccl ...
, is that they are probably the original ones. Both the north and south arches of the carriage gateway are densely decorated with carved mouldings. Inside is a
ribbed vault A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic a ...
and walls with carved interlaced arcading. The arcading contains pointed arches, which arise from the intersections of interlaced round arches, just as in the cathedral's chapter house. The similarities in the arcading, and in the two buildings' decorative patterns using a variety of motifs like chevron and nailhead, support the dating of the archways to about the same time as the chapter house, in the 12th century. The southern side of the carriage gateway is the most elaborate, with the archway having four courses of moulding. The postern gate has carved mouldings around the northern arch but is unvaulted and otherwise plain. The gatehouse and tower were additions by abbot John Newland around 1500. The gatehouse is embellished with two-storey oriels with
mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...
and transom windows, two-storey statuary niches and panelled
parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...
s. These structures were restored by
John Loughborough Pearson John Loughborough Pearson (5 July 1817 – 11 December 1897) was a British Gothic Revival architect renowned for his work on churches and cathedrals. Pearson revived and practised largely the art of vaulting, and acquired in it a proficiency ...
in 1888, who succeeded in retaining many of the features of their original design. He restored the oriels, which at some point had been replaced by sash windows. The single-storey eastern extension is also 19th century.


Influence

Charles Holden Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
's design in 1906 for the adjoining Central Bristol Library building echoed many features of the gatehouse. The library has tall oriels with mullions and transoms, a round entrance arch and other decorations in the
Tudor revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...
style. The shape of the gatehouse itself is imitated by the two tower-like projections at either end of the library's front. Charles Pibworth, the Bristolian sculptor who created the
relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
figures on the north front of the library, also carved the statues of four
abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...
s on the south side of the gatehouse, placed there in 1914.


See also

*
Grade I listed buildings in Bristol There are 100 Grade I listed buildings in Bristol, England according to Bristol City Council. The register includes many structures which for convenience are grouped together in the list below. In the United Kingdom, the term listed building ...
* List of non-ecclesiastical works by J. L. Pearson


References


External links


Bristol Cathedral websiteBristol Past: The Abbey Gatehouse
{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Gatehouse Bristol Buildings and structures completed in 1170 Gates in England Grade I listed gates Grade I listed buildings in Bristol Bristol, Great Gatehouse Gatehouses (architecture) Bristol Cathedral