Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

1951. Listed Grade I.
South Gate to town. Late C13, in dangerous condition by 1416 and repaired with stone (surplus to requirements of the Lady Chapel of St Nicholas). 1437 Robert Hertanger was contracted to rebuild the gate and in 1520 the gate was substantially restored and partly rebuilt by Nicholas and Thomas Harmer, finally altered by provision of pedestrian doorways C19 and restored 1982. English bond brick with ashlar dressings, the south front ashlar-skinned. 3 storeys with set-offs between each floor. North side. Tall central pointed arch unmoulded to jambs, wave moulded to arch. 4-centred C19 pedestrian passage arches right and left, that to left blocked with a late C20 glazed door. Second floor with two 3-light round-headed windows under square hoods. Crenellated parapet with corner turrets at each corner. East and west faces without entrances but punctuated with single or 2-light windows. South front mainly of 1416. Tall central wave-moulded arch flanked by C19 pedestrain passageways with crenellated parapets, now blocked. Second floor with two 3-light round-headed windows under square hoods. String courses between each floor are continued from earlier facades.
INTERIOR. In 1841 the west side was a through passage and the winder staircase in north-west corner removed, replaced 1984 with a steel winder. Original disposition restored in 1984: rectangular heated rooms to ground and first floors at east and west sides, large upper room over entire width. West ground floor room. Fireplace in west wall under depressed 4-centred stone arch with hollow mouldings. Pointed brick relieving arch above. Former bread oven right of this and right again a lavabo with water outlets to outside. C20 bridging beams and floor above. First floor rooms of similar disposition: a fireplace, privy hole and 3 circular gun-ports in splayed recesses. Second floor room with fireplaces to east and west walls, splayed window embrasures and rere arches and shallow pitched roof with 2 tiers butt purlins. Only one of the large tie beams is not of 1983-4.
Listing NGR: TF6219819157
Information from (S1).
A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 12 March 2020.

The Ordnance Survey records stated that the South Gate was built pre-1377 and perhaps as early as 1200. The gates were repaired in 1416 and rebuilt in either 1480 or 1520, the latter perhaps being a refacing in stone. (S1) notes earth banks either side of the gate which he believes were original fortifications but which the OS thought were modern features. A wooden tower, the South Bretaske, preceded the gates. It is thought to be pre-1370 and perhaps 13th century.
(S2) dates the building to 1437 with a stone refacing in 1520 and 19th century pedestrian arches. (S3) suggested that the changes in design which occurred during the construction of the present gate, in particular the abandonment of a projected rib vault over the carriageway, may in fact be linked with the bankruptcy of the 1437 builder Richard Hertanger, requiring a change to a simpler, cheaper design. He also refuted claims that work to the building in 1520 was anything more than a refacing in stone, stating that the timeline attested to in documentary sources would have been insufficient for rebuilding.
E. Rose (NLA), amended A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 12 March 2020.

1985. Excavation in western ground floor chamber.
This excavation challenged the arguments made in (S2) and (S3) that the gate was wholly rebuilt in 1437. (S5) notes that although the arguments put forward in (S3) were very convincing, discoveries made in 1985 during the cleaning and restoration indicated strongly that the stone facing had formed part of the design from the beginning. However, (S4) and (S5) based on observations made at the time of the gate's repair in 1985 assert that the gate is that of 1437 on older foundations; only some stone embellishment was carried out in 1520 with other alterations made in 1590 and in the 17th century. According to (S3) one side room was converted into a footpassage in the 1840s which involved removal of a staircase. However, Higgins (S6) says this in fact took place in 1857.
The excavations in 1985 produced medieval and post medieval pottery sherds including Grimston ware, glazed red earthenware and Cistercian ware, medieval floor tiles and animal bone.
See (S4) and (S5) for further information.
E. Rose (NAU), 22 November 1985, amended A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 12 March 2020.

In 1995 Mrs E.M. James noted that there is a brick floor with diagonal skintlings, apparently 17th century, within the gates.
E. Rose (NLA).

The remains of a Civil War outwork defending the South Gate are recorded separately (NHER 64067).
A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 12 March 2020.

August 2017 and January 2018. Site visits as part of Heritage Action Zone.
(S7) provides a summary of the history of the South Gate. It notes that the gates were taken away in 1795 and that the Borough Archives indicate that the General Committee for the Relief of the Poor offered to provide labour to form a way for foot passengers by the side of the main gateway if the Corporation provided materials. The Corporation chose to punch a footway through the east wing, which is recorded in the Committee reports for 1817. In 1836 a similar passage on the west side was proposed by Weathered, but this proposal did not go ahead until 1841. In 1844 the Paving Commissioners paved the road beneath the gate with granite, but in the 1850s it was tarmacadamed. In 1859 according to the Borough Archives the Paving Commissioners directed that the buttress angles on both sides of the gate be splayed so that they were not used as urinals, but there is no evidence that this actually took place. In 1861 work on the sluice resulted in the water under the bridge being temporarily cut off. In 1899-1900 a new road was finally built immediately to the east of the South Gate to carry southbound traffic, with northbound vehicles continuing to pass through the arch.
See (S7) for further information and historic photographs.
A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 19 March 2020.

(S8) provides a summary of the history of the South Gate and a timeline of key dates, including that a drawbridge was ordered to be built between 1642 and 1646, along with one for the East Gate (NHER 64056). It also notes that in 1723 tolls ceased to be taken at the gate. (S8) discusses the possibility that there was a portcullis on the south side which raised into a rebate in the second floor room, but considers that this was never in fact installed as the arch over the portcullis internally is not high enough for it to function effectively.
See (S8) for a summary of key dates.
A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 19 March 2020.

Monument Types

• TOLL GATE (Unknown to 18th Century)
• TOWER (Medieval - 1200 AD? to 1370 AD?)
• TOWN GATE (Medieval to 21st Century - 1260 AD? to 2050 AD)
• FLOOR (17th Century - 1601 AD to 1700 AD)
• DRAWBRIDGE (17th Century - 1642 AD? to 1646 AD?)

Associated Finds

• ANIMAL REMAINS (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• ANIMAL REMAINS (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• POT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• TILE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• TOKEN (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• ROOF TILE (Medieval to Unknown - 1250 AD)
• ANIMAL REMAINS (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• POT (17th Century to 19th Century - 1601 AD to 1900 AD)
• CLAY PIPE (SMOKING) (17th Century - 1630 AD to 1670 AD)

Protected Status

• Listed Building
• Scheduled Monument

Sources and further reading

Related records