This fortified entrance, with its vaulted passage measuring 2.95 metres wide internally, represents a fascinating piece of medieval defensive architecture. The main entrance, at 2.34 metres wide, still bears the hinge stones that once supported a drawbridge on its southern side, though it lacks the more elaborate defensive features you might expect from such a structure. Interestingly, the gatehouse and castle were built as separate structures; the gatehouse walls display a subtle inward slope, or batter, which the castle’s eastern wing walls simply butt up against rather than bond with.

The gatehouse’s interior reveals multiple phases of modification across its three floors. The ground floor passage now connects to the castle’s eastern wing through a later breach in the northern end, cut through what was originally a cupboard space in the castle’s north wall. Ascending via remnants of a staircase in the western wall, the first floor contains window embrasures in the north, east (two openings), and south walls, though these have been variously destroyed, blocked, or widened over time. The second floor shows similar alterations with embrasures that appear to have been inserted or enlarged at various points, along with a chimney built into the northeast corner and an intriguing cavity at the southern end of the west wall, possibly designed as a hidden safe or to accommodate wooden structural elements.

What makes this gatehouse particularly interesting is how it became integrated with the later castle complex whilst maintaining its structural independence. A secondary staircase from the hall in the castle’s eastern wing provides access to the gatehouse’s second floor, creating an internal connection between the two buildings. Though only the string course marking the position of the wall walk survives above the second floor, with the parapet completely lost, the structure remains an excellent example of how medieval fortifications evolved and adapted over centuries of use.