Access to the abbey precinct was controlled. Visitors
were first admitted through an outer gate, that stood to the west of the
abbey [the West Gate], and thereafter proceeded to an inner gatehouse, the
great gatehouse, which was also known as Kirk Garth Gate. Here, the porter officiated each day from Lauds until Compline, receiving visitors and administering
alms.
[Read
more about the administration of charity at Fountains ]
Nothing
at all remains of the West Gate, which was completely destroyed
following the suppression of the monastery; the stone from here
may have been taken for the construction of Fountains Hall.(123) Although
little is known about the structure of the West Gate, surviving
documents reveal
that by
the sixteenth century it was leased to lay keepers who, on both
occasions, were married couples. They rented a dwelling house at
the West Gate and
managed some kind of hospice with stables here for visitors. Both
husband and wife had various duties to perform in return for their
allowances of
food, drink and fuel. While the husband acted as porter of the
West Gate, and was to ensure that the gate was closed at night,
his wife was to launder
and repair linen belonging to the abbot’s chamber, the hospice and
buttery.(124)
The inner gatehouse dates from the 1170s, and was therefore
constructed about the same time as the aisled guesthall. Although
it is heavily
ruined, enough survives to indicate that it was vaulted and was
fairly similar to
other twelfth-century Cistercian gatehouses, for example, at
Roche and Kirkstall.(125) A
porch would have led to two gatehalls; the larger one, to the east
of the porch provided access to the inner court, the other to the
outer court, via a walled passageway. The porter,
who manned the
gate from early morning
until Compline, had a room
here from which he could access both the porch and gate hall.
Whilst the gatehouse served as a point
of entry to the monastery,
where visitors were welcomed and access controlled, it was also
used for administrative purposes. Corrodians might
receive their allowances here.
Thomas Wel, who received a corrody from
the abbey in the sixteenth century, was entitled to six loads
of wood each year, which would
be delivered to
him at the inner gate (KirkGarth Gate).(126) The
abbey tenants and keepers attended an annual audit at the gate,
but it is not clear
whether this was the outer
(West) or inner (Kirk Garth) gate.