Abbey Gate and Gatehouse

ABBEY GATE AND GATEHOUSE, ABBEY PRECINCTS

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Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
I
List Entry Number:
1375545
Date first listed:
07-Aug-1952
List Entry Name:
Abbey Gate and Gatehouse
Statutory Address:
ABBEY GATE AND GATEHOUSE, ABBEY PRECINCTS
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Location

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Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.
Date:
2003-07-16
Reference:
IOE01/09244/16
Rights:
© Mr Luke Barber. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
I
List Entry Number:
1375545
Date first listed:
07-Aug-1952
Date of most recent amendment:
30-Oct-1997
List Entry Name:
Abbey Gate and Gatehouse
Statutory Address 1:
ABBEY GATE AND 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 GATE AND GATEHOUSE, ABBEY PRECINCTS

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

County:
Suffolk
District:
West Suffolk (District Authority)
Parish:
Bury St. Edmunds
National Grid Reference:
TL 85544 64220

Details

BURY ST EDMUNDS

TL8564SE ABBEY PRECINCTS 639-1/8/96 Abbey Gate and Gatehouse 07/08/52 (Formerly Listed as: ABBEY PRECINCTS Abbey Gateway and Gatehouse)

GV I

The great gate of the Abbey of St Edmund. Begun after the riots of 1327 but before 1346; completed after 1353. Barnack stone. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and battlements. The west facade is richly decorated: a broad segmental entrance arch has 3 niches over it and a large ogee gable above has foiled circles to left and right. Buttresses to each side with ogee-headed steeply gabled niches in 3 tiers, the top tier relating to the upper storey, which has 5 tall blank niches. The taller centre niche has a crocketed gable, flanked by 2 circles containing 6-pointed stars. The east facade has a shafted doorway: leaf capitals to the shafts and an arch with a double quadrant moulding. A large transomed 3-light window to the upper storey. The entrance arch leads from the Angel Hill into an outer chamber with a longer principal chamber beyond it; between them are C17 timber gates with heavy outsize dumb-bell balusters. INTERIOR: the inner side walls of both chambers have large blank arches with bold flowing tracery; both originally had vaulting with ribs and tiercerons, now fragmentary. The principal chamber on the upper storey has the remains of an original fireplace. Scheduled Ancient Monument. (BOE: Pevsner N: Radcliffe E: Suffolk: London: 1974-: 138; Official Guidebook: Whittingham AB: Bury St Edmunds Abbey: London, HMSO: 1971-: 29).

Listing NGR: TL8554464220

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:
466446
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Suffolk, (1974), 138
Whittingham, A B, Official Guidebook in Bury St Edmunds Abbey, (1971), 29

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 Gate and Gatehouse

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 09-Jun-2026 at 11:22:05.

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© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

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