A building forming the gate of a castle, generally encompassing a narrow passageway with several gates. Often the gatehouses were fitted with arrow-slits, murder-holes, or other ingenious defensive devices designed to wreck havoc upon the besiegers as they attempted to storm the gates. Some gatehouses held lodgings for guards with rooms for officers above and prisoners below.
The most important part of a castle as far as its defense was concerned, the entry being the weakest point. Older ones were little more than a strong arch with heavy iron-bound wooden gates and drawbars and a guard chamber on top or to the side. Later on, flanking towers were added to the gateway, and Portcullises and Drawbridges. Whereas the Keep was a passive defense, the gatehouse was right up in front, and became the most elaborate building in the later castles.
a house built at a gateway; usually the gatekeeper's residence
a building constructed over a gateway
A structure at the gate where a clerk inspects and clears the entrance and exit of all containers and trailers.
A building at the main entrance to a cemetery that is controlled by a gate; a shelter or habitation for the gate keeper.
A tower defending an entrance
A permanent facility used to control pedestrian and vehicular access. Sometimes referred to as an Entry Control Point (ECP) when used at the entrance to controlled or restricted areas. Gatehouses used at base entrances are sometimes called Traffic Check Houses and cannot be considered related to explosives operations. See Access Control, Checkpoint (CP) or (CHP), Entry Control Point (ECP).
A building or tower connected to a castle or town wall and perhaps a bridge or draw-bridge on the other side to protect an entrance. A The photo is of the gatehouse at Rothesay Castle.
A gatehouse is a feature of European castles and mansions. Gatehouses were first constructed in the second half of the 16th century in England when the entrance gateway, which formed part of the principal front of the earlier feudal castles, became a detached feature attached to the mansions only by a wall enclosing the entrance court. The gatehouse then constituted a structure of some importance, and included sometimes many rooms.