City walls survey
12 St Martin's Gate
 [1] The outside of the gate from the north. The illustration was produced by H Ninham in 1864, based on a sketch of 1720 by John Kirkpatrick. [Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery 1954.138, Todd 5, Norwich, 112a]
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General DescriptionJohn Kirkpatrick's drawings of the inside and outside of the gate in 1720 [NCM Todd Collection, vol. II, box 5, page 112c] were engraved by Henry Ninham in 1864. [1 & 2] These show corner buttresses on both sides, running out parallel to the wall on the front and angled buttresses on the inside. The upper chamber was lit by a two-light window with Y-shaped tracery towards the street and this was probably original. On the outside was a central square coat of arms over the archway and a small two-light window set high up and off set to the west. This probably indicates the position of an internal vice at the north-west corner of the gateway to give access to the roof from the upper chamber. A rainwater spout, set well below the top of the battlement, implies that at that time, the roof of the upper chamber was set down behind tall parapets. The outer archway was tightly flanked by the high parapet walls of the bridge over the ditch. On the west side of the gate is shown a steeply raked parapet protecting the steps down from the upper chamber on to the wall walk to the west. The walk to the east is shown at a higher level. Kirkpatrick's undated pen and ink sketch of the upper part of the gateway from the east [Norwich Castle Museum 1894.76.1686: F] shows that there was a single merlon at the centre of each of the sides. [3] He drew a round-headed doorway onto the wall walk on the east side with a square window above it. An inscription on the sketch is as follows: 'NB there is a Tower appears on the walls just before St. Martin's Gates seems circular.' Seventy years later, John Ninham's drawing of the outside [NCM Fitch Collection 1769.76.94] shows the gate apparently complete, faced entirely (or repaired?) with brick. [4] A small flint section of the wall without battlements is visible immediately to the right of the gate, while two buildings abutting the wall and gates to the left, obscure the wall on that side. A public house with the sign of a cow appears to be built against or very close to the wall at the right or west side. The public house here was called the Dun Cow in the 19th century and the present house on this site is called the Old Dun Cow. Ninham's view of the gate from inside the city [NCM Fitch Collection 1770.76.94] shows complete battlements made from brick, and the gate itself is shown as apparently complete with no eroded flint work. [5] Presumably this reflects the repairs ten years previously. (see below) There are buildings against both sides of the gateway so the wall is not visible to the left or right. Abutting the gate on the left, or west and parallel to the line of the wall is a small dwelling. The long outshut roof of this building against the west side of the tower could cover the steps up from the wall walk and may suggest that the cottage incorporated the upper chamber of the tower. On the right side of the gate more dwelling houses appear parallel to the wall line, adjoining the building (public house?) at right angles to the gate. Documentary evidenceThe account of the works on the walls completed at the expense of Richard Spynk in the five years up to 1343 were transcribed and published by Hudson and Tingey. [Extract from The Old Free Book, Hudson & Tingey, Vol. II, pages 216-22] The short description in that document gives a clear picture of the gate and the work required to improve and strengthen the defences in this part of the city.
The last leaf of the Book of Customs states that in 1377 'From the river to Coslany or St. Martin at the oak gate, are 112 battlements, and 10 upon that gate, and from thence in the walls and towers to St. Austin's gate are 69 battlements.' [cited by Blomefield, page 98] Given that elsewhere on the walls the individual merlons are up to 2 metres wide and the distance from the tower to the gate was only about 26 metres the number of crenellations given must either be a mistake or a mis transcription. The Agistment for the Walls for repairs from 1451 and 1481 shows that Coslany ward was responsible for repairs to 'the tower on the north side of the river, with the walls, to Coslany or St. Martin's gate, the walls and towers to St. Augustine's gates, and both those gates.' [Liber Albus f. 177; Hudson & Tingey Vol. II, pages 313-15] In 1460 three soldiers were kept on guard at the gate, and in 1643, along with other precautions during the Civil War, the gates were rampired up with earth. About 1711, Kirkpatrick recorded that there were two inscriptions on the gate relating to repairs in 1680 and 1699. [Collins 1910, page 47 not quoting the source] The Tonnage Book for 1757 ordered that the gate was to be plastered, and this coloured, while in 1760 the gate was rebuilt under the direction of Robert Rogers and John Black. [Tonnage Books, N.R.O. NCR Case 19 shelf C; cited by Fitch, page24] Map evidenceKirkpatrick's map of the early 18th century shows the gateway and the flanking walls still free of buildings. The wall to the west is shown as relatively short, running down to a single round tower where the defences terminated. [See Report 13] At that time the tower was on the bank of a narrow channel with a long narrow island between this channel and the main river. Hochstetter's map of 1789 seems to indicate that the gate was set back with the front of the gate almost level with the line of the wall. Elsewhere the gates tend to project forward towards or even over the bridge before the gate. In 1789 there were still few buildings around the gate and the line of the lane inside the wall was still open. A sketch map of the site of the gate, published in the report of 1910, shows the houses built in the 19th century on either side of Oak Street tightly around the site of the gateway. [6] Present settingThe site of the gateway is under Oak Street and there is nothing here to indicate its position although the line of the wall east of the gate is marked in cobbles. An information panel could be erected here with a discrete sign marking the steps down to Oak Street tower west of the gate. [7 & 8]BIBLIOGRAPHY:Blomefield, Francis, An Essay Towards the Topographical History of
the DOCUMENTARY REFERENCES:N.R.O. Book of Customs (last leaf) See also: HISTORIC ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE DATABASE: |
