The Gatehouse website record for Bridlington Priory

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; The Bayle Gate; Bridlyngton

In the civil parish of Bridlington. In the historic county of Yorkshire East Riding (Modern Authority of East Riding of Yorkshire, 1974 county of Humberside).

The Priory of Augustinian Canons, at Bridlington, was founded before 1113-4, and dissolved in 1537. This was one of the largest houses of the order. The priory was fortified or provided with a strongpoint in 1143 but this was seized by William le Gros, Count of Aumale. No remains of these fortifications. The priory was granted a licence to crenellate in 1388, by King Richard II. The actual licence, a very rare survival, is on display in the Bayle gate. The large vehicular archway of The Bayle was the priory's main entrance and the interior passage gives access to small wings, both with a garderobe, one being the porter's lodge and the other a prison. Accessed by spiral stairs, is a large first floor chamber, used as the Court of the Priors and although altered and repaired in brick during C17, the gate, still retains its original form and arrangement. The gate dates to the C12 and some speculation is given to it being associated with William le Gros. It was altered to the latest fashion in the early C14 and the large upper chamber was added about the time of the licence to crenellate. In it's current form it is not crenellated and no old illustrations show it with crenellations. The nave of the Priory church survives as the parish church. The shire of St John of Bridlington, the last English saint created before the reformation, is long lost. I believe the licence to crenellate was probably associated with the prolonged canonisation process for St John and the creation of a pilgrimage shrine at Bridlington.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TA17696796

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 81023
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website, or elsewhere.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.