Saint Mary's Abbey

Detached four-bay single-storey red brick gate lodge with dormer attic, c.1915, with two-bay single-storey canted bay to centre under canopy, and single-bay single-storey side elevations having single-bay single-storey porch to west. In use as post office, 1923. Refenestrated, c.2000. Now in private residential use. Pitched slate roof (lean-to to dormer attic window; hipped to porch) with red clay ridge tiles, red brick Running bond chimney stack, and cast-iron rainwater goods on overhanging timber eaves forming canopy to ground floor on cast-iron Corinthian colonette posts having decorative pedestals. Red brick Flemish bond walls with cut-stone stringcourse, and unpainted roughcast to gables having timber panelling over. Square-headed window openings with cut-stone sills (forming sill course), and replacement uPVC casement windows, c.2000. Square-headed door openings with replacement glazed uPVC panelled doors, c.2000, having sidelights to porch. Set back from line of road in grounds shared with Saint Mary's Abbey having section of decorative iron railings to front on squared rubble stone plinth with decorative iron gate.

A well-composed picturesque small-scale gate lodge incorporating distinctive features, including a split canted bay and overhanging eaves forming a canopy, which augment the architectural value of the site. The construction in a variety of building materials produces an attractive polychromatic and textured visual effect, which enhances the visual appeal in the streetscape. However, the replacement of the original fittings to the openings with inappropriate modern articles has not benefited the external expression of the gate lodge. The gate lodge is of additional interest for its use as a post office in the early twentieth century, as indicated on the Ordnance Survey.