Rock Gate, (Or Chinese Gateway) With Retaining Wall
ROCK GATE, (OR CHINESE GATEWAY) WITH RETAINING WALL, RALPH ALLEN DRIVE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1394609
- Date first listed:
- 13-Jul-1981
- List Entry Name:
- Rock Gate, (Or Chinese Gateway) With Retaining Wall
- Statutory Address:
- ROCK GATE, (OR CHINESE GATEWAY) WITH RETAINING WALL, RALPH ALLEN DRIVE
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1394609
- Date first listed:
- 13-Jul-1981
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 15-Oct-2010
- List Entry Name:
- Rock Gate, (Or Chinese Gateway) With Retaining Wall
- Statutory Address 1:
- ROCK GATE, (OR CHINESE GATEWAY) WITH RETAINING WALL, RALPH ALLEN DRIVE
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.
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.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- ROCK GATE, (OR CHINESE GATEWAY) WITH RETAINING WALL, RALPH ALLEN DRIVE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Bath and North East Somerset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- ST 76024 63469
Details
656-1/57/1365
RALPH ALLEN DRIVE (East side)
Rock Gate, (or Chinese Gateway) with Retaining Wall
(Formerly Listed as: RALPH ALLEN'S DRIVE Middle Gateway, Gate and Retaining wall to east)
13/07/81
GV
II
Retaining wall with gateway and gate. c1750, restored C19 and C20.
MATERIALS: Limestone ashlar and rubble, sponge stone, softwood gate.
Tall retaining wall contains driveway entrance off Ralph Allen Drive, to west of lower fish-pond, nearly opposite Rock Lodge (qv), with return wall at higher level containing opening with remains of gate. Retaining wall, joined at northern end to main boundary wall to estate, shows rough straight joint in masonry to right of gateway, running full height, and with masonry of higher quality added, possibly to stabilise earlier work. High level, across driveway, wall continues, partly in sponge stone, including stopped ends for gate, upper part, overthrow only remains from gate, with 'Chinese' swept up arch over plain vertical rails.
Restoration undertaken by National Trust renovating gate to original design. Wall, without coping, continues across to main boundary wall.
HISTORY: A picturesque lesser entrance, possibly formed to provide access for stonework in the building of the Palladian Bridge (qv) which lies nearby below. This gate is shown in one of the Thomas Robins drawings of the area, c1758.
The gate, formerly semi-collapsed, has been restored in recent years by the National Trust with the Widcombe Association.
SOURCE: Gillian Clarke, `Prior Park. A Compleat Landscape' (Bath 1987), 57.
Listing NGR: ST7602463469
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 510009
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
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 05:47:19.
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