Westbury College Gatehouse () is a 15th-century

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 ...

to the 13th-century College of Priests located in

Westbury-on-Trym Westbury on Trym is a suburb and council ward in the north of the City of Bristol, near the suburbs of Stoke Bishop, Westbury Park, Henleaze, Southmead and Henbury, in the southwest of England. With a village atmosphere, the place is partly ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and now a

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

property.

History

The Gatehouse originally formed part of Westbury College, a residence for the

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and canons of Holy Trinity Church. The college building was fortified with towers, turrets and battlements surrounding a quadrangle, onto which the gatehouse opened. The college itself had been founded earlier, but these buildings were erected between 1459 and 1469 by

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...

, Bishop of Worcester and Westbury.Plaque on building.

William Canynge William II Canynges (c. 1399–1474) was an English merchant and shipper from Bristol, one of the wealthiest private citizens of his day and an occasional royal financier. He served as Mayor of Bristol five times and as MP for Bristol thr ...

, the notable Bristol merchant and politician, may have contributed to their construction. He trained for the priesthood in Westbury from 1467 and was made dean in 1469. In 1544, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the college became a private dwelling. In 1643 during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

it was burnt by Prince Rupert's forces, to prevent its use by Parliamentarian troops. By 1771, a Georgian house had been built alongside the gatehouse. Now, the only other surviving parts of the original college are two round towers and the retaining wall alongside the River Trym. These can be seen from College Road and Trym Road.

Current use

Westbury College Gatehouse is 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 ...

.{{cite web, title=Westbury College and College House , work=historicengland.org.uk , url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1187175 , accessdate=2007-03-16 , df= The College Gatehouse was acquired in 1907 by the

, and is currently on a 100 year lease to Holy Trinity Church. It is managed by the church as a local meeting place, and is regularly used by the church youth groups, as well as the local Air Cadets 2442 Squadron and the local school Westbury Primary's After School Club. Tours of the building can be arranged via the

office at

Leigh Woods Leigh Woods is a area of woodland on the south-west side of the Avon Gorge, close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, within North Somerset opposite the English city of Bristol and north of the Ashton Court estate, of which it formed a part. St ...

References

External links

Westbury College Gatehouse information at the National Trust
Buildings and structures completed in 1469 Grade I listed buildings in Bristol Grade I listed gates Gates in England National Trust properties in Bristol Westbury-on-Trym Gatehouses (architecture)