The Gatehouse

Thetford Priory gatehouse The gatehouse at Thetford Priory © English Heritage Photo Library’The great gatehouse is today the most perfectly preserved of the medieval priory buildings.

Built in the late 14th century, it was the principal entrance to the walled precinct of the priory. A fragment of this wall survives to the left of the building.

This is the inner facade of the gatehouse. The other side of the gatehouse formerly overlooked a road and served as the public face of the monastery. The building is constructed with flint and finely-cut stone dressings. At each corner there are large projecting buttresses, one of which contains a stair to the upper floors.

It was at the gatehouse that the monks would have handed out food to travellers and the poor. The upper chambers were comfortably appointed with large windows and fireplaces. They may have been used for holding manor courts and receiving rents.

The barn beside the gatehouse originally had two gates on its inside face and two outer porches overlooking the road. This arrangement of entrances allowed wagons to drive into the building, drop off their loads under cover and then pass through the barn without reversing.
The wind tunnel created between the doors could also be used to blow away chaff when corn was being threshed. The barn was demolished in the 19th century but the V-shaped outline of its roof is still visible on the gatehouse wall.

The Gatehouse

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