The Abbey Gatehouse stands at the entrance to the abbey precinct on Church Street and is the most substantial surviving element of the monastic buildings that once surrounded the abbey church. It dates from the fourteenth century and was the main entrance through which monks, visitors, and tradesmen entered the monastic enclosure.
The gatehouse is a fine example of Perpendicular Gothic architecture and is now in the care of the National Trust. It can be entered and gives access to an exhibition about the abbey's monastic history — a useful complement to the church itself, which focuses more on the building's physical fabric than on the lives of the people who inhabited it.