1441 King's College Old Court Gatehouse

Clare College Chapel, South side, with Old Schools

The Gatehouse to King's College Old Court now forms the West entrance to the Old Schools, opposite the East end of Clare Chapel. In the photograph, it can just be made out in the shadow to the right.

Old Court was begun in 1441 and building proceeded rapidly. According to Pevsner this gatehouse is the finest piece of design in the Old Court group, and it was the first in Cambridge to display the ornamental richness that was to continue in the West doorway of King's College Chapel, Christ's Gatehouse and St John's Gatehouse.

The West range of Old Court, including the gatehouse, was left unfinished. Although not executed, the interior of the gateway was designed to have two bays of tierceron vaults, similar to Queens' Gatehouse which was built a few years later. In the first floor of the gatehouse there is a clunch fireplace.

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