Westbury College Gatehouse () is a 15th-century

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most ...

to the 13th-century College of Priests located in

Westbury-on-Trym Westbury-on-Trym (sometimes written without hyphenation) is a suburb in the north of the City of Bristol, near the suburbs of Stoke Bishop, Westbury Park, Henleaze, Southmead and Henbury, in the southwest of England. The place is partly na ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and now a

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

property.

History

The Gatehouse originally formed part of Westbury College, a residence for the

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

and canons of

Holy Trinity Church Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

. The college building was fortified with towers, turrets and battlements surrounding a quadrangle, onto which the gatehouse opened. The college itself had been founded earlier, but these buildings were erected between 1459 and 1469 by

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror film, horror, action film, action, and science fiction film, science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is ...

, Bishop of Worcester and Westbury.Plaque on building. William Canynge, the notable Bristol merchant and politician, may have contributed to their construction. He trained for the priesthood in Westbury from 1467 and was made dean in 1469. In 1544, after the Dissolution of the monasteries, the college became a private dwelling. In 1643 during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

it was burnt by

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 ( O.S.) 7 December 1619 (N.S.)– 29 November 1682 (O.S.) December 1682 (N.S) was an English-German army officer, admiral, scientist, and colonial governor. He first rose to ...

's forces, to prevent its use by Parliamentarian troops. By 1771, a Georgian house had been built alongside the gatehouse. Now, the only other surviving parts of the original college are two round towers and the retaining wall alongside the

River Trym The River Trym is a short river, some in length, which rises in Filton, South Gloucestershire, England. The upper reaches are culverted, some underground, through mostly urban landscapes, but once it emerges into the open it flows through a n ...

. These can be seen from College Road and Trym Road.

Current use

Westbury College Gatehouse is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

.{{cite web, title=Westbury College and College House , work=historicengland.org.uk , url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1187175 , accessdate=2007-03-16 The College Gatehouse was acquired in 1907 by the

, and is currently on a 100-year lease to Holy Trinity Church. It is managed by the church as a local meeting place, and is regularly used by the church youth groups, as well as the local Air Cadets 2442 Squadron and the local school Westbury Primary's After School Club. Westbury College Gatehouse is let to tenants and is not currently open to the public as a visitor property, therefore, it does not feature on the

web pages.

References

External links

Westbury College Gatehouse information at the National Trust
Buildings and structures completed in 1469 Grade I listed buildings in Bristol Grade I listed gates Gates in England National Trust properties in Bristol Westbury-on-Trym Gatehouses (architecture)