Brown's Gatehouse in Wells

Wells

Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, England is an entrance gateway into a walled precinct, the Liberty

Liberty (division)

Originating in the Middle Ages, a liberty was traditionally defined as an area in which regalian rights were revoked and where land was held by a mesne lord...

 of St Andrew, which encloses the twelfth century Cathedral

Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives at the adjacent Bishop's Palace....

, the Bishop's Palace

Bishop's Palace, Wells

The Bishop's Palace, Wells, Somerset, England, is adjacent to Wells Cathedral and has been the home of the Bishops of the Diocese of Bath and Wells for 800 years....

, Vicar's Close

Vicars' Close, Wells

Vicars' Close, in Wells, Somerset, England is claimed to be the oldest purely residential street with its original buildings all surviving intact in Europe.John Julius Norwich calls it "that rarest of survivals, a planned street of the mid-14th century"....

 and the residences of the clergy who serve the cathedral.

The Brown's Gatehouse was built around 1451, by Bishop Thomas Beckington

Thomas Beckington

Thomas Beckington was the Bishop of Bath and Wells and King's Secretary in medieval England.-Life:...

 (also spelt Beckyngton), and provides the entrance to the Bishop's Place from Sadler Street. It is named after the shoemaker Richard Brown, who was the next door tenant in 1553

It is a two storey building of Doulting

Doulting Stone Quarry

Doulting Stone Quarry is a limestone quarry at Doulting, on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.At Present there are only three quarries in the country quarrying Doulting stone. The Largest has been producing stone since Roman times....

 ashlar stone, with a Welsh slate roof with coped gables behind parapets and has been designated as a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument

Scheduled Ancient Monument

In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a 'nationally important' archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorized change. The various pieces of legislation used for legally protecting heritage assets from damage and destruction are grouped under the term...

.