Priory Gateway and attached walls, Dunstable, Central Bedfordshire

Summary

The upstanding remains of the ruined C15 outer gatehouse of Dunstable Priory.

Description

The upstanding remains of the ruined C15 outer gatehouse of Dunstable Priory.

MATERIALS: the gateway is principally constructed of Totternhoe limestone. The adjoining walls reuse elements of Totternhoe alongside brick and flint rubble.

PLAN: the external face of the gateway looks north with the former monastic precinct to its rear on the south side.

DESCRIPTION: the north face of the principal gateway comprises a large four-centred archway with chamfered jambs and moulded archivolts. To the right-hand side is a smaller pedestrian entrance. On each side of this pair of gates there is a chamfered plinth and short surviving sections of faced Totternhoe stone. On the left-hand side is a blocked window comprising a small pointed arch beneath an eroded rectangular hoodmould.

The south side of the arches shows the thickness of the walls, and the rebates within which the original gates were hung. The large gates now in the principal gateway are made of oak and were installed in 2016. On the left-hand side of the pedestrian entrance is an engaged shaft, illustrating something of the interior form of the gateways. On the right-hand side the interior form of the blocked window can still be seen.

The attached walls on the west side of the gateway are built of brick with elements of stone rubble on the outer (north) face. They are arranged in a rough L-shape forming a boundary with the Priory Gardens.

The wall between the gateway and the church may include elements of the original precinct boundary wall but it is likely to have been largely reconstructed. The course of the wall kinks slightly to the south. It is thicker at its base with around 5-10 courses of brickwork and a coping course set back behind a weather detail at the top.

History

Dunstable stands at the crossroads of Watling Street and the Icknield Way, ancient routes of communication that created the economic underpinnings of the town. By the 1100s a planned market town had been established, with (1123) a royal residence and (sometime before 1125) an Augustinian abbey founded by Henry I. Dunstable Priory, the new monastic foundation, would dominate the town for much of the Middle Ages, with a large priory complex and cathedral-sized church. The priory profited from and developed the local wool trade so that the market at Dunstable reached a point of considerable regional significance. In the Early Modern period Dunstable became an important staging post on coaching routes to and from London. Although the development of railway travel undermined its prosperity in the mid-C19, the town established itself as a specialist centre for straw hat and bonnet making in tandem with the growth of Luton’s hat-making industry.

The priory gateway and its associated walls are the last remnants of the boundary structures that defined the outer precinct of Dunstable Priory. The fabric that remains today is thought to date from the mid-C15 but is likely to have replaced an earlier structure. The Annals of the Priory record the construction of an inner gateway in 1250 and that the outer precinct was expanded with a new wall in 1294.

The outer precinct was the busy semi-secular courtyard or close that housed buildings, workshops and other facilities that could be used by the lay community working at the priory. It bordered the western ranges of the inner precinct, such as the cellarer's range and/or the abbot's lodgings. Large monasteries often fortified the routes into the outer precinct with the creation of defensive gatehouses, and sometimes embellished them with elaborate architectural detail as a projection of their wealth and status. The upheaval of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381 may have spurred this building activity as many monastic gatehouses date to the C15.

Although the gatehouse is likely to have been a substantial structure, all that remains today is a pair of archways (one for wheeled transport and horses, another for pedestrians), a blocked window and truncated sections of wall. Besides the nave of the priory church, which survived as the town's parish church, these ruins are the only remaining upstanding elements of Dunstable Priory since its suppression in January 1540. The site was often illustrated from the C18 onwards, but only ever in a state of ruination with the same elements in view.

The site's strong antiquarian interest led to various attempts at repair and remediation over the last two centuries, some of which (such as the use of hard cement mortar) ultimately failed to protect the structure. In 2015 an extensive programme of conservation work removed all traces of cement, repaired and replaced damaged stone, and introduced new weather protections around the top of the monument. New gates of solid oak were installed in 2016.

Reasons for Listing

The Priory Gateway and its attached walls, surviving as the upstanding remains of the ruined C15 outer gatehouse of Dunstable Priory, are listed at Grade I for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for the quality of its Gothic detailing, including the moulded archivolts of the archways and dressed stone quoins and jambs.

Historic interest:

* as the only secular element of Dunstable priory to survive as a standing ruin;
* for its continued function as a boundary structure and gateway, demarcating the entryway to the outer precinct;
* as a C15 gatehouse structure, constructed as a defensible gateway for a prestigious monastery.

Group value:
* for the historic functional and aesthetic relationship the gateway has with the Grade I listed Priory Church and the scheduled monument of Dunstable Priory.

External Links

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