postern

By then they were more than halfway to the hospice, but it was nearly dark when they reached St. Mark’s and were admitted by the porter at the postern gate.

The postern was closed again, the iron door was barred and piled inside with stones.

It was a battered wooden postern under a slab of stone.

He saw three gates during his wanderings—the main entrance with its gatehouse, a postern by the kennels, and a garden gate hidden behind a tangle of pale ivy.

"Y'Grace," he said quietly, "the boys caught a groom and two maidservants trying to sneak out a postern with three of the king's horses."