St Michael's Gate

College Green, Gloucester

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

Overview

A gateway in the former precinct wall of the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter, dating to the C14 and altered in the early C16. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: I
List Entry Number:: 1245905
Date first listed:: 23-Jan-1952
List Entry Name:: St Michael's Gate
Statutory Address:: College Green, Gloucester

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Date:: 2001-02-06
Reference:: IOE01/02967/21
Rights:: © Mr Jack Farley. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: I
List Entry Number:: 1245905
Date first listed:: 23-Jan-1952
Date of most recent amendment:: 13-Apr-2023
List Entry Name:: St Michael's Gate
Statutory Address 1:: College Green, Gloucester

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

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

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:: College Green, Gloucester

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

County:: Gloucestershire
District:: Gloucester (District Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: SO 83093 18698

Summary

A gateway in the former precinct wall of the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter, dating to the C14 and altered in the early C16.

Reasons for Designation

St Michael's Gate is listed at Grade I for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a surviving C14 pedestrian gateway within the former precinct wall of the abbey; * despite the weathering to the masonry, the early C16 re-carving is a distinctive Gothic design of strong architectural character.

Historic interest:

* as the entrance to the abbey's former lay cemetery, and for its historic use by pilgrims visiting the shrine of Edward II; * for featuring in an illustration from Beatrix Potter’s Tailor of Gloucester which gives added interest.

Group value:

* for its relationship with the Grade I-listed cathedral church, and as part of the historical ensemble of the former monastic complex.

History

College Court, with St Michael's Gate at its north end, originally led to the lay cemetery within the abbey precinct. The gateway was one of only three entrances through the precinct walls during the medieval period and, until the late C18, they were maintained and manned by porters. St Michael's Gate is also considered to have also been used by pilgrims visiting the tomb of Edward II who in 1327 was buried in the abbey church (refounded as the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided (also referred to as Indivisible) Trinity after the Dissolution). The gateway was refaced in the Perpendicular Gothic style in the early C16 for Abbot Parker.

The walls of the adjacent lay cemetery were demolished in 1768 when College Green was landscaped, and the gateway has since opened onto College Green. St Michael's Gate features in an illustration from Beatrix Potter's 'Tailor of Gloucester' which was published in 1903.

Details

Also known as Gate to College Court, Upper College Gate and Cemetery Gate; a pedestrian gateway in the former precinct wall of the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter (listed at Grade I). It dates from the C14 and was altered in the C16.

MATERIALS: It is constructed of ashlar and brick. The masonry on the south face is badly weathered in places and is capped with lead.

EXTERIOR: the gateway continues to serve as an entrance into the south-east corner of College Green from College Court. Although weathered, its south front is richly decorated, with moulded jambs and a shallow basket arch to the archway. Above the arch are the remains of a shallow gablet with finial and the lower parts of blank panels, while on each side of the arch are the remains of canopied niches. Above, at the first-floor level, is a small C18 wing that projects over the gateway and forms part of 1 College Green (separately listed at Grade II).

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: 472179
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Brooks, A, Verey, D, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire II: The Vale And Forest of Dean, (2002), 437
Websites
British History Online, A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 4, the City of Gloucester, published 1988, accessed 26 October 2022 from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol4/pp275-288
Gloucester City Council, CAthedral Precincts Conservation Area (Conservation Area No. &). Appraisal & Management Proposals, accessed 26 October 2022 from https://www.gloucester.gov.uk/media/1164/cathedralpreccasep07.pdf

Legal

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