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Monument Types

• TOWN GATE (MEDIEVAL - 1066 AD to 1539 AD (between))
• TOWN GATE (POST MEDIEVAL - 1540 AD to 1900 AD (between))

Associated Events

• Sidbury Gate (Ref: WCM100042)
• Sidbury City Wall (Ref: WCM100204)
• Borings, Canal Bridge, Sidbury (Ref: WCM100456)
• Watching brief, City Centre CCTV 2000 (Ref: WCM100752)
• City Centre CCTV - Sidbury ducting trench (Ref: WCM100878)

Full description

Medieval city gate.

First documentary reference is in a land grant made some time before 1197; it was described as the ‘South Gate’ in 1229.

In 1577-81 it was rented out as two or more houses. The gate was the focus of fighting in 1651, and over the period 1652-55 the bridge over the ditch was repaired, and in 1661 the gatehouse was repaired with stone and a new gate made. Four surveys were made between 1677 and 1683, the gate then being in poor condition {1}.

The structure was largely demolished in 1768 (8 George III) by the turnpike commissioners {2}. In 1784 ‘part of the building known as Sidbury Gate where the gateway lately was’ was let for 45 years. Beardsmore interprets this to mean that part of the structure survived in use {3}, though this may not have been the case.

Pat Hughes notes that (?at the Reformation) the city was leasing the rooms over Sidbury Gate to Roger Folliott, steward to the Cathedral. He also leased the Bell (now the King’s Head), just inside the gate, from the Dean & Chapter, and there seems to have been access from that property to the gate towers {4}.

The gate is represented on the Worcester ‘as it stood fortified’ 1651 map editions as a conventional medieval gate form with circular towers flanking the gateway, a cruciform loop window at first-floor level over the gateway, crenellated parapets, and an additional house like structure (gabled roof, central doorway), on top.

A painting of Worcester, showing the Sidbury Gate, city walls and church and Cathedral towers, was discovered in 1852 on the tomb of Bishop Carpenter of Worcester (d. 1476) in Westbury-on-Trym church, Glos. The illustration is very schematic, but shows a gate with a single passageway and two circular towers. {10}

In May 1907 during excavations for the rebuilding of the property on the site of the gate, the base of the north gate tower was exposed by the contractors and opened to view (WCM 100042). The remains were extensively photographed and visited, and the architect, Percy Smith of Worcester, preserved the masonry (except for most of the adjoining portion of the city wall) in the new cellar. The tower had a diameter of 18 feet with a splayed base (see also St Martin’s Gate bastion WCM 96110) 7ft 2ins below 1907 ground level {5}. According to Lewis Sheppard, the adjoining section of the city wall (WCM 96102) was later than the fabric of the tower and not as well built {6}. This supports the suggestion that the gate was probably built contemporaneously with the alleged pre-city wall rampart (WCM 96140) excavated in the Sidbury Union Street area, and that the masonry wall was a secondary feature of the later 13th or 14th century.

A piece of architectural stonework (part of a window head or niche?) shown on photographs of the discovery could have been part of a decorative feature on the gate, but may equally have come from another building, perhaps the Commandery or St Peter's church, both of which are close {9}.

The gate tower foundation was rediscovered in 1998 after having been forgotten for many years {11}.

A 19 foot (5.8m) stretch of wall was exposed during the rebuilding of Sidbury Bridge in 1957 (WCM 100204), located 'on the City side of the canal and the north side of the bridge'. The southern end of the stretch was cut off vertically by the concrete of the earlier bridge. The five lowest courses remained, two stepped foundation courses (red, some green) under three chamfered plinth courses (all red). At the northern edge of the excavated area was a probable buttress with foundations much deeper than those of the wall itself. Immediately south of the buttress, the wall masonry was seen to be built off a horizontal timber 'beam' nearly nine feet long (2.7m) supported at each end on upright posts. More upright posts were seen in the alluvial material under the horizontal beam. Interpretation: probable timber underpinning of wall where crossing a soft spot or an infilled channel of the Frog Brook {7}. The location of this sighting needs definition: if this is (as it seems) in front of the Sidbury Gate it could possibly represent part of a barbican.

In 2001 a watching brief on the excavation of a narrow CCTV cable trench across the site of the gate found a sandstone wall, at a depth of 0.4 metres below current road surface, apparently running parallel to the frontage of 71-75 Sidbury (WCM 100878). It consisted of ‘roughly shaped’ blocks in light brown/yellow sandy mortar {8}. It seems likely to represent part of the internal structure of the gatehouse, presumably the north wall of the carriageway.

City wall continues to S of gate as WCM 96132, and to N as WCM 96102. Ditch sections are WCM 96135 (from gate northwards) and WCM 96134 (from gate southwards).

This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 9th April 2019 licensed under the Open Government Licence: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3

Sources and further reading

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