Cartmel Priory Gatehouse

The gatehouse is all that remains of an Augustinian priory, founded in 1188 by William Marshall, lord of Cartmel (later Earl of Pembroke). None of the abbey's domestic buildings survive except for the striking gatehouse, which stands in solitary splendour in the square.

The priory church was one of the few to survive the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a distinction it owed to Marshall, who stipulated that an altar should be provided within the church for the people of Cartmel.

When the rest of the priory was dismantled in 1537, the south aisle of the church was preserved to act as the new parish church. The rest of the church was left to moulder until the 17th century, when George Preston of Holker Hall re-roofed the church and gave it a new screen and canopies for the superb 15th century choir stalls.