Gate sights in London
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St John’s Gate
This surprisingly out-of-place medieval gate cutting across St John’s Lane is no modern folly, but the real deal. It dates from the early 16th century and was heavily restored 300 years later. During the Crusades, the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, soldiers who took on a nursing role, established a priory in Clerkenwell that originally covered around 4 hectares. The gate was built in 1504 as a grand entrance to their church, St John’s Clerkenwell in St John’s Sq. Although most of the buildings were destroyed when Henry VIII dissolved every priory in the country between 1536 and 1540, the gate lived on. It had a varied afterlife, not least as a Latin-speaking coffee hous…
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Marble Arch
John Nash designed this huge arch in 1827. It was moved here, to the northeastern corner of Hyde Park, from its original spot in front of Buckingham Palace in 1851, when it was adjudged too small and unimposing to be the entrance to the royal manor. If you’re feeling anarchic, walk through the central portal, a privilege reserved by (unenforced) law for the royal family and the ceremonial King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery. A plaque on the traffic island at Marble Arch indicates the spot where the infamous Tyburn Tree, a three-legged gallows, once stood. An estimated 50, 000 people were executed here between 1571 and 1783, many having been dragged from the Tower of Lo…
reviewed
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C
Admiralty Arch
From Trafalgar Sq, The Mall passes under this grand Edwardian monument, a triple-arched stone entrance designed by Aston Webb in honour of Queen Victoria in 1910. The large central gate is opened only for royal processions and state visits.
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