The Norman Gate, or Great Gate, or Outer Gate or Minster Foregate is the main entrance to the Galiliee Court of the cathedral (the large space in front of the W facade) from the Cathedral Square. To the S is the former Abbot's Gaol and to the N the Chapel of St Thomas Becket. The gate has facades with round arched openings to E and W, and a single-bay ribbed vault on the ground floor. The internal side walls have blind arcading, and in the S wall is a doorway leading to a stair to the Chapel of St Nicholas above the gateway. The upper storeys, including a pointed arch on the W face, were remodelled in 1302-07c, and there was another storey above the chapel that was removed before 1800. All the upper levels were remodelled in 1952.

According to Robert of Swaffham’s continuation of the Chronicle of Hugh Candidus, Abbot Benedict (1177-93) built the great outer gate and above it, the chapel of St Nicholas.

The structure is heavy and the sculpture relatively simple as befits a gateway, but the scallop capitals contain a few features, such as keeled and convex cones, that give away the late date.