Site of town gate dating from the early C14; demolished in 1782.
Beneath a round-headed niche in the wall between shops on the south side of Church Street, is a plaque inscribed "Site of New Gate (Removed 1782) in 13th Century Town Wall. Oswestry District Civic Society, 1972". Above the niche is a coat of arms surmounted by a tablet inscribed "Toll-Thorough". There is no pillar as such on the site. See ground photograph. <1a>
Site of New Gate <2>
The gate was demolished in 1782 <3>
The illustration shows a single arched entrance passage with a possible smaller passage on the right hand side. Above the main arch is a carved stone showing a running animal with a branch in its mouth, and above that a pointed arched window with mullions and a transom. The left hand side is obscured by buildings but a plan and drawing of c 1771 seems to imply that there was a projecting apsidal drum tower here, but this may be part of the proposal for restoration <4>
The gateway is supposed to have been constructed temp Edward II (early C14), the crest showing the crest of the Fitzalans. It was demolished in 1782 and its position marked by a pillar built into a house in Church Street. <5>
One of the rooms above New Gate was converted into a gaol, and documented in 1689. The structure was in poor repair in the mid C18th and demolished in 1782 . Tolls were paid at New Gate, documented in C16th and C17th. The gate was headed by a carving of a white horse with a branch of an oak tree in its mouth dated 1570. There were two rooms above the gate, one for soldiers and one for toll collection: one of these was later used as a gaol. There was a wooden drawbridge across the town ditch at New Gate, repaired in 1687 for 6s11d. Print showing the gate.<7>
The position of the gate was marked by a pier in the wall of a house in Church Street <8>
CMHTS Record Sheet <9>
CMHTS Report <10>
New Gate remained standing for many years after adjoining stretches of the town wall were demolished. It was retained to serve as a convenient toll barrier. In Feburary 1781 permission was given to demolish New Gate and two commemorative pillars were erected on the site. They have since been removed and one of them still stands in Church Street. <11>
| [00] | SSA20722 - Card index: Shropshire County Council SMR. Site and Monuments Record (SMR) cards. SMR record cards. SMR Card for PRN SA 00494. |
| [01] | SSA2125 - Card index: Ordnance Survey. 1977. Ordnance Survey Record Card SJ22NE25.3. Ordnance Survey record cards. SJ22NE25.3. |
| [01a] | SSA31554 - Site visit report: Ordnance Survey Field Investigator. Various. NRHE: Ordnance Survey Field Investigators Comments. F1 ASP 05-OCT-79. |
| [02.1] | SSA9635 - Map: Ordnance Survey. 1926. OS County Series 12.14, 1926. OS County Series. 12.14. 1:2500. |
| [02.2] | SSA9636 - Map: Ordnance Survey. Unknown. OS County Series 19.02, 18--. OS County Series. 19.02. 1:2500. |
| [03] | SSA2113 - Article in serial: Day W. 1969/ 1974. Oswestry Town Walls. Trans Shropshire Archaeol Hist Soc. Vol 59. p278-279. |
| [04] | SSA2117 - Volume: Anon. 1882. Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society. Transactions Shropshire Archaeol Hist Soc. Ser 1, Vol V (=Vol 5). opp p163. |
| [05] | SSA2124 - Volume: Anon. 1885. Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society. Transactions Shropshire Archaeol Hist Soc. Ser 1, Vol VIII (=Vol 8). p146-147. |
| [06] | SSA2126 - Photograph: Watson Michael D. 1985. New Gate, Oswestry. Colour. |
| [07] | SSA1554 - Monograph: Watkin I. 1920. Oswestry with an Account of its Old Houses, Shops, etc, and Some of their Occupants. p111-115. |
| [08] | SSA2128 - Article in serial: Roberts A. 1885. The Four Gateways of Oswestry. Trans Shropshire Archaeol Hist Soc. Ser 1, Vol VIII (=Vol 8). p145-186. p111. |
| [09] | SSA19971 - Record form: Dalwood Hal. 1993/ 1996. CMHTS SMR Records Shropshire: Oswestry. Central Marches Historic Towns Survey record form. Vol 8. Oswestry 494. |
| [10] | SSA12079 - Historic landscape survey report: Dalwood Hal et al. 1996. Archaeological Assessment of Oswestry, Shropshire (CMHTS). Hereford & Worcester CAS Rep. Rep 333. |
| [11] | SSA2115 - Archaeological fieldwork report: Pratt D. 1980. Oswestry Town Wall. Border Counties Archaeol Gp Rep. pp.4-7; pp.22-24. |