THORNTON ABBEY GATEHOUSE

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The best preserved standing remains of Thornton Abbey are of its gatehouse. This is a three storey structure built largely of brick with limestone ashlar dressings and decorative details. It was built in the 1360s and enlarged and defended after licence to fortify was granted to the abbey in 1382 and appears to have had an administrative function since it contained the Abbot's exchequer and courthouse. Three floors were built above a central gate-passage. The first housed a great hall. The second and third contained a complex of pasages and rooms. The gatehouse underneath is vaulted at the rear to two original oak gates which date to the 14th century. The front of the gatehouse is richly ornamented but has lost most of its battlements on which originally stood statues of men-at-arms and artisans. Approaching the gatehouse from the front is a barbican consisting of two parallel brick walls 38 metres long and ending in round turrets. This was built circa 1382 and is believed to have ended in a drawbridge which led over a now filled-in extension of the moat. Wing-walls flank the gatehouse to the north and south and turn at right-angles to enclose the inner precinct. Scheduled.

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(TA 11611896) Gatehouse (NAT) (1)

I Thornton Abbey Gatehouse
Ancient Monument. Gatehouse of Augustinian Abbey (founded 1139),
built 1382. Raised from priory to abbey 1148. Dissolved 1539 but
refounded as a college, 1539-46. See C.L., 1935. N.B.R. (2)

TA 116189 - Thornton Abbey - scheduled. (3)

TA 1172 1899. Thornton Abbey Augustinian monastery: gatehouse,
precinct, medieval road and bridge, moat, fishponds, post-Dissolution
college and school, and house. Scheduled RSM No 13377.
The best preserved standing remains are of the abbey gatehouse. This
is a three storey structure built largely of brick and originally
rendered with white mortar. It was built in the 1360s and enlarged
and defended after licence to fortify was granted to the abbey in
1382. It appears to hae had an administrative function as it
contained the Abbot's exchequer and courthouse. Three floors were
built above a central gate-passage. The first housed a great hall
witha fireplace and oriel window. The second and third contained a
complex of passages and rooms and included a large room on the second
floor originally divided with wooden partitions. In addition there
were 8 privies and a latrine. The gate passage below is vaulted and
leads at the rear to two original oak gates which date to the 14th
century. The frontof the gatehouse is richly ornamented but has lost
most of its battlements on which originallly stood statues of men-at-
arms and artisans. Other statues stood in niches on the front wall
and a number of these survive. Approaching the gatehouse from the
front is a arbican consisting of two parallel brick walls 38m long
and ending in round turrets. This was built in c.1382 and is
believed to have ended in a drawbridge which led over a now in-filled
extension of the moat. Wing-walls flank the gatehouse to N and S and
turn at right-angles to enclose the inner precinct of the abbey.
The gatehouse, barbican and precinct walls are Listed Grade I. (4)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 1:10,000 1972

( 2) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

Glanford Brigg Rural District, SEP-1963 Page(s)63

( 3) by Department of the Environment, Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings London 1978 List of ancient monuments in England: Volume 1, Northern England; Volume 2, Southern England; Volume 3, East Anglia and the Midlands

1 Page(s)28

(4) Scheduled Monument Notification

23-OCT-1992

(5) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

North Lincolnshire, 17-OCT-1985

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THORNTON ABBEY
THORNTON CURTIS

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Augustinian Monastery founded as a priory in 1139 by William Le Gros, and raised to the status of abbey in 1148. After its suppression in 1539, Henry...

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