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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))

Full description

Medieval city gate and bridge, part of the medieval city defences (WCM 96100).

The earliest reference is in a land grant of the reign of Henry II (1154-89). A lease of 1698 suggests it was then a two-storey building, though from rents paid in the 1550s it could then have been either 2- or 3-storey. In 1623 it was divided between four tenements. It was repaired and given a new gate after the Civil War, in 1660-62 {1}.

The gate appears (side-on to the artist) in Speed’s map of 1610, which gives prominence to the arched bridge outside it over the ditch. It appears on the 1651 map (including the 1660 Vaughan edition) as a three-storey building (two storeys above the gateway) with two gables to the main section of the roof and one gable over each of the two (apparently octagonal) towers. Both editions show the contemporary bastion (WCM 96147) outside it. None of the 17th century maps show domestic tenements surrounding the gate: if this was not just a conventional representation it suggests that this side of the Cornmarket was not yet built up and the wall and gate were still free-standing.

The gate was the last to be demolished, in 1787 {2}, and appears on Doharty’s map of 1741 as a small square structure over a narrow carriageway through the east frontage (now built up) of the Cornmarket. George Young’s map of 1779 shows the same layout without the structure over the carriageway. The maps suggest that whatever remained of the medieval structure in the 18th century had (post Civil War) been subsumed into the tenements lining that side of the Cornmarket.

ref to possible bastion remains at BUFAU site, St Martins Gate

add CCTV WB ref

Cross-reference to: 96111, city wall section
Cross-reference to: 96113, city wall section
Cross-reference to: 96136, city ditch, Friars Gate – St Martin’s Gate
Cross-reference to: 96137, city ditch, St Martin’s Gate – Trinity Gate

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/ {6}

Sources and further reading

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