Spital Gate

Listed Buildings - Spital Gate and Attached Cottage

The 12th century Norman Arch, on the north side of the Abbey Grounds, is the only surviving, building from the Augustinian Abbey (apart from a section of wall alongside Gosditch and Dollar Streets). Originally knows as Spital Gate, it was one of two gatehouses.  Immediately inside was one of  Abbey’s farms, Spital Gate Grange, which in 1771 was still a going concern with piggery and pool. A large tithe barn which stood nearby was demolished in 1829.

It is likely that the archway building originally stood on its own; with the room above entered by an external staircase or a ladder.  The present cottage dates from the late 17th century, though with much 19th-century alteration.  The Abbey wall on this side followed the line of the old  Roman town wall;  the cottage contains a very thick dividing wall which is almost certainly a fragment of the Medieval masonry; my leaflet from a few years ago comments: "It is all covered with paster and paint at present, so that it is impossible to tell for sure".

From K.J. Beecham.  History of Cirencester (1887):

The Arch is a Grade 1 listed building and much photographed.  Thanks to a sustained local campaign, it was saved from being sold off by the Town Council in 2006.  It was leased to the Vivat Trust which ran holiday cottages, but they went bust in 2014; I am not sure what the situation is now.