The Outer Gatehouse
(Grade II* listed in 1956)
(Grade II* listed in 1956)
Was this ever a gatehouse ? Despite the existence of 18th century views, such as this one on the right, reproduced in Alan Miller's "The Monasteries of Dorset" (Albemarle Books, 1999) showing a much more complete building than the fragments that remain, the 2003 Conservation Plan believes that it may be a 19th (or even 20th) century invention. The listing register says that it is a 14th/15th century fragment, with 12th century stonework inserted into the north wall extending to the west.
What is not shown in the Appreciation view (above) from the north, but is clearer in the view included in the Conservation Plan gazetteer, is that the arch bases fronting the road are merely the ends of two walls running back from the road towards the cemetery and the church on one side, and the Manor House on the other: and it is that latter wall which prompts the speculation about the age of the Gatehouse.
According to the Conservation Plan, "it correspnds with features recorded on the 1814 survey ... but the fabric appears largely rebulit", including bits and pieces of 12th century decorated stonework inserted in the outer wall on the Manor House side in a way which "suggests a date in the first half of the 20th century". Given that the Manor House was extensively restored in the late 19th century, and again at times between 1943 and 1982, could the whole gatehouse have been brought to its present shape as recently as that ?
One other thought ~ a casual glance at a lartge-scale map of the Abbey precinct, with a guess at where the west door of the Abbey might have stood, puts this gatehouse so nearly in front of that door that anyone entering the precinct from the village would almost have to double back on himself in order to enter the church. But that's no more than a guess.