Abbey Gatehouse

ABBEY GATEHOUSE, ABBEY PRECINCTS

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Explore this list entry

Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
I
List Entry Number:
1201161
Date first listed:
04-Mar-1952
List Entry Name:
Abbey Gatehouse
Statutory Address:
ABBEY GATEHOUSE, ABBEY PRECINCTS
User submitted image
Contributed by Paul Adams This photo may not represent the current condition of the site. Over 400,000 images and stories have been added to the Missing Pieces Project so far. Share your story.
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places. 

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

Icon Buildings
Icon Scheduled monuments
Icon Parks and gardens
Icon Battlefields
Icon Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Local Heritage Hub

Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.

Discover more

Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
I
List Entry Number:
1201161
Date first listed:
04-Mar-1952
Date of most recent amendment:
25-Apr-1994
List Entry Name:
Abbey Gatehouse
Statutory Address 1:
ABBEY GATEHOUSE, ABBEY PRECINCTS

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
ABBEY GATEHOUSE, ABBEY PRECINCTS

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:
Gloucestershire
District:
Tewkesbury (District Authority)
Parish:
Tewkesbury
National Grid Reference:
SO 88972 32381

Details

TEWKESBURY

SO83SE ABBEY PRECINCTS 859-1/2/352 Abbey Gatehouse 04/03/52 (Formerly Listed as: ABBEY PRECINCTS Gatehouse to Abbey House)

GV I

Gatehouse to Benedictine Abbey precincts, modified for holiday use by Landmark Trust (1991). Late C15 or early C16. Guiting stone ashlar and lias, lead roof. PLAN: large square 2-storey gatehouse linked left to Abbey House (qv), and right to Abbey Barn (qv). EXTERIOR: wide pointed arch in 2 moulded orders with moulded drip beneath two 2-light cusped hollow-chamfered stone casements flanking central statue niche with decorative canopy. Boldly crenellated top above hollow-mould cornice with central angel and end gargoyles and 3 leaf decorations each side. Mid offset moulded string, diagonal buttresses to 2 offsets, plinth. Set back from outer opening approx 2.5m is doorway to 4-centred head in double-chamfer surround with heavy C19 doors, with small 4-centred opening and door in moulded surround, to left. Above is central ribbed vault with half-vault each side. Internal side walls in large coursed lias blocks. The inner, SE front is as outer, but without central statue niche, and with series of putlog holes each side of opening, which has no doors. Internally is vaulted roof in 1+2 half bays as outer vestibule. Side walls, in lias, contain small 4-centred doorways with plank doors in heavy flush quoin surrounds; that to right (SW) side gives to spiral stone stair contained in projecting ashlar turret on that side, the turret finishing below main parapet level. INTERIOR: one large room at first floor, with heavy beamed compartmental roof structure of 1950s reconstruction carried on series of carved corbels, mainly C19, but some C16. On NE wall a large dressed Guiting stone fireplace with moulded 4-centred arch, all brought forward from main wall plane. At time of survey being fitted with new oak partitions for Landmark Trust. VCH records that by 1849 the Gatehouse was badly dilapidated, and was then restored by John Medland, architect, with masonry by Thomas Collins; the carved oak doors are from 1855. (VCH: Gloucestershire: London: 1968-: 125).

Listing NGR: SO8897032378

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:
376556
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Gloucester, (1968), 125

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Ordnance survey map of Abbey Gatehouse

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 04-Jun-2026 at 00:40:20.

Download a full scale map (PDF)

© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2026. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.

End of official list entry

Previous Overview
Next Comments and Photos