The Abbey Gateway; Chester - England circa 1902

The great Abbey Gateway that now links Abbey Square with Northgate Street and the Market Square dates from the fifty-first year of the reign of Edward III, 1377 (the last of his long reign), in which year he granted a licence for the monks to crenellate their abbey, in other words, to enclose it within high walls with fortified entrances. Some authorities say the gateway actually predates this event, being erected around 1300. The style of the gateway is Decorated, though late in that style. Walking beneath it will reveal its groined vault with ribs, in the centre of which still survives a sculptured statuette in bas-relief, probably a depiction of the patron saint of the abbey, St. Werburgh. Look out for the iron hinges where the great wood and iron-reinforced doors once hung. On the right hand side of the interior of the gateway, as viewed facing out to the Market Square, is an area of sandstone bearing deep grooves. This is where the armed monks guarding the portal would have sharpened their weapons..

The upper part of the structure, with its 16-pane window in a Gothic arch, was rebuilt in 1800. The Abbot's fair was held in front of the Abbey Gate for 3 days from the Feast of the Translation of St, Werburgh, the 21st of June. At Whitsun the Mystery Plays were performed by the members of the city's 25 companies of guildsmen. The earliest recorded performance of the plays was in 1566 or 1567 but they are said to be much older than this. The anonymous author of the early 19th century work, A Walk Round the Walls and City of Chester, wrote that the Abbey Gateway "is a noble entrance of two Gothic arches, included within a round one of great diameter... over the arch of the gate-way is the Register's Office, consisting of large convenient rooms, surrounded with neat oak cases where the wills are kept, and two smaller rooms for the Register and his clerks. On the front of the gate are two niches; in one of which the image of Hugh Lupus (the first Norman Earl of Chester) was used to placed during the fairs." Listed Building – Grade I