Narrow gate

“ A narrow gateway thirty feet wide opens in the middle of each side, and at the northern and western angles, as represented in the plan.
The most singular features of this structure are its outworks, which consist of parallel walls leading to the north-east and south-west. They are exactly parallel to the sides of the main work, and are each two thousand one hundred feet long. Some measurements make them of unequal lengths; but after a careful calculation of the space occupied by the interrupting ravines, they are found to be very nearly, not exactly, of the same length. ”

“ The walls are castellated at top, and vary in height, according to the nature of the ground, from twenty to thirty feet. There are also, as in other places, four principal gates, having each an outwork or outer wall, with a court or open space between them, and a second gate leading from this, and placed at right angles to the inner one, so that the approach to it from the outside is commanded by the principal wall of the town. ”

“ Drawing nearer, we could hear the rattle and the clank of the heavy chains of the drawbridge as it was being lowered, and the creaking of the ponderous gate as it swung inwards on its heavy hinges. The flames of torches blazing from the wide doorway of the main tower flashed upon the steel jacks and the gauntlets of English soldiers, dim-flitting in the half-gloom of the opening mouth of the gate. ”

“ A passage, at the ground level, leads from the platform through the gatehouse tower, across the ditch or canal from the water gate, to the northern curtain, and was defended by gates, portcullis, and drawbridge.
From the gatehouse a dividing wall, 20 feet high and 6 feet thick, extends westward 80 feet to the edge of the inner moat, and thus cuts off the platform and the whole of the southern from the northern curtain. Each face has been embattled, so that should either curtain be taken, the other could still be defended. ”

“ The west wall is 1601 feet long; the east wall, 1530 feet. The northern boundary for 350 feet is formed by a scarp of rock 30 feet high, projecting at the north-west of the Haram.
The modern gateways giving entrance into the interior are eleven in number: three on the north and eight on the west. Of the ancient gateways there were two on the south, now called the Double and Triple Gates; while east of the latter is the mediæval entrance, known as the Single Gate, beneath which Colonel Warren discovered a passage. On the east wall is the Golden Gate, now closed ”

“ Each of these gates is defended by an additional work. A sort of hornwork is thrown out in advance, enclosed within a wall with towers, and with a second gate placed obliquely to the first, to allow the approach to be commanded. The north, called the King’s Gate, is tolerably perfect. The southern outwork is nearly destroyed. It had two gates, one to the south, connected with which was the tower containing a well, and one to the east, called King Arthur’s Gate, close to which was the Armourer’s Tower, and near this was Earl Godwin’s Postern. ”

“ We go up the hill, walk round the wall, and mark well her bulwarks, till we come to a great gate, but it refuses to turn. The walls are too high to scale, besides possible pickets on the other side. I have no doubt in the world that we could creep under, for the gate has shrunk since it was made, and needs to have a tuck let down ”

“ The Outer Ward.—The gatehouse has been much altered and mutilated. In front it presents the appearance of a gateway, with a low-pointed arch, in a curtain about 6 feet thick and 35 feet high, of which the merlons are pierced by plain loops. On each side the gate is a flanking wall, 3 feet thick, and projecting 8 feet, which, no doubt, covered the drawbridge. The arch looks Decorated, as is probably the curtain, though the battlements are probably modern. The ditch has been filled up, and large trees grow along its course. ”

“ But the outer wall goes all round the hill where it is steepest, sometimes right along a precipice, and everywhere offering an almost insurmountable obstacle to an ancient assailant. On the east side, facing the steep mountain, which is separated from it by a deep gorge, is a postern gate, consisting merely of three stones, but these so massive, and so beautifully hewn and fitted, as to be a structure hardly less striking than the lion gate. At about half the depth of these huge blocks there is a regular groove cut down both sides and along the top, in order to hold the door. ”

“ In this there are two light gates, made upon the same hinge-post, spreading like the letter A, and braced with a cross-piece between the rails of each side, like the center partPage 168 of the A. This gate is set to swing on each side of the center-post, as shown. It is so much narrower than the V-stiles, that it is almost impossible for small animals to pass, but it is easily hung so that it will always remain closed, and so offer no temptation to animals on the outside. ”

“ The upper gates of each lock are double, as a precaution against accident, and have an ingenious arrangement of emergency dams and floating steel caissons, designed to stem the torrent, in case a gate should be smashed, and to allow the gate to be repaired. ”

“ Our only plan will be to keep close to the wall, when we are through the gate, get down into the bed of the stream again, and then crawl along among the rocks. The bottom will be in shadow, and we may get off without being noticed. The only fear is that we shall make a noise in opening the gate. ”

“ The approach leading through the North-west gate is extremely steep and difficult, causing to the men and baggage animals great fatigue. The remnant of an ancient wall affords no defence whatever; and the large and ruinous arched passages serve but to give some evidence of its former importance. The public buildings are numerous. ”

“ Over the bridge was a big gate, as white as ivory, which was fitted into a gap in the boundary hedge. The gate opened outwards, and I exclaimed in amazement, for from it ran a road—just such a road as I had left—dusty under foot, with brown crackling hedges on either side as far as the eye could reach.
"That's my road!" I cried.
He shut the gate and said: "But not your part of the road. It is through this gate that humanity went out countless ages ago, when it was first seized with the desire to walk." ”

“ It will be noticed in the plan that the central roadway is not the only entrance through the gate; on each side of the two central gate-houses a wing is thrown out, making four wings in all. These also are constructed of burnt-brick, and they serve to connect the gate with the two fortification-walls of unburnt brick. In each wing is a further door, giving access to the space between the walls. Thus, in all, the gate has three separate entrances, and no less than eight doorways, four ranged along the central roadway, and two in each double wing. ”

“ An Edwardian gatehouse is a very imposing structure. It was usually rectangular in plan, always flanked in front by two drum towers, and sometimes in the rear by two others containing well-staircases. In its centre was the portal arch opening into a long straight passage traversing the building. Three loops in each flanking tower commanded the bridge of approach, raked the lateral curtain, and covered a point immediately outside the gate. ”

“ From the interior of the ravelin it passed across the main ditch to a gate in the curtain of the enceinte. The road was in fact artificially made to wind in such a way that it was kept under fire from the defences throughout, while the part of it inside the works was bent so as to place a covering mass between the enemy’s fire and troops using the road for a sortie. Thus the gate itself was merely a barrier against a coup de main and to keep out unauthorized persons. ”

“ The great gate was a strong and imposing structure, and had four towers, two at the base and two at the top of the bridge, and was the only entrance to the upper ballium, which was guarded by eleven strong towers, and contained various halls and lodgings, beside the great keep, which is all that remains to us. ”

“ A little rush through a wide gate in a high wall, a sudden blindness in a road banked and roofed by foliage, a quick lowering to the ground at the foot of wide steps that led to an open door through which a welcoming light shed its soft, warm rays upon us and we had reached our journey's end. ”

“ She went up to them very closely, for she was curious to see the place through which she had come in her sleep, as a traveller goes back to see the city gate, with its bridge and portcullis, through which he has passed by night. The gate was very great, of a wonderful, curious architecture, and strange, delicate arches and canopies above. ”

“ When this gateway was opened out, a rough wall presented itself, which from the inferiority of its masonry, had evidently been the work of ruder hands than those employed upon the wall of the station, making it evident that the gateway had been built up long after the Roman occupation, and suggesting the idea that the camp may have been appropriated as a stronghold in the subsequent days of border warfare. This wall has been removed, and the gate, the opening of which between the pillars is eleven feet two inches, clearly exposed. ”

“ However, I was proud enough of the success of my invention to be content to see the obtrusive request "PLEASE CLOSE THIS GATE" swing uselessly in the wintry winds, while the gate itself stood open, half buried in the snowdrift that formed around it after every storm. If the gate were closed, the request retreated into obscurity behind a post, but when it was opened the board swung across the roadway, so that a person driving in or out would have to duck his head to avoid it. ”

“ All the large houses of the early eighteenth century, and many of [329] the small ones, had noteworthy gates and gate-piers. There are hundreds of examples up and down the country, and that at Burley-on-the-Hill, near Oakham (Fig. 245) , is typical of the larger kind. This treatment, with lofty stone piers and iron gates of more or less elaborate design, is more frequent than that adopted at Ince Blundell Hall, in Lancashire, where an archway forms the main entrance, and is flanked on each side by a length of wall containing gates for foot traffic (Fig. 246) . ”

“ Driving along a flat and monotonous country road, one comes on the old gate almost suddenly, and experiences a feeling, not of disappointment but of surprise. The gate does not span the road, but is set back a little in a hedge on one side of it, and seems large for its setting. One is prepared for a dark, grimy portal, whereas the soot and smoke of London have been erased from it, and, instead, one sees an antique, creamy-white structure tinted and toned with the green of the great trees which overhang it. ”

“ In more modern times city gateways have often followed the type of the Roman triumphal arch, with a single wide opening and purely ornamental superstructure. On the other hand, the defensive gate formed by an archway entering as it were through a tower has been constantly followed as a type of entrance to buildings of an entirely peaceful character. A fine example of such a gateway, originally built for defence, is at Battle Abbey ”

“ Hardly had darkness fallen, when the iron drawbridge was raised from over the moat, all the gates were closed, and the little town was cut off from the rest of the world till early next morning. At every gate stood a watchman, fully armed. ”

“ These are not “turnpike,” and are not continuous, but begin anew at each floor. The gateway, concealed, save from the front, by the unusually bold projection of the flanking towers, has a passage 10 feet wide and 8 feet deep. The barrel-vault remains, but the ashlar of the internal gate is gone, and its former existence is only shown by a bar-hole. Of the outer gateway two bar-holes remain, and a fragment of the portcullis groove, which is 4 inches square, and placed outside the gate, so that the grate was wholly visible even when raised, unless, indeed, concealed by a timber brattice. ”

“ GATE, an opening into any enclosure for entrance or exit, capable of being closed by a barrier at will. The word is of wide application, embracing not only the defensive entrance ways into a fortified place, with which this article mainly deals, or the imposing architectural features which form the main entrances to palaces, colleges, monastic buildings, &c., but also the common five-barred barrier which closes an opening into a field. ”

“ The sides of the hexagon have sufficient play to enable the gate to adjust itself, when shut, to the masonry sill, so as to be water-tight. The top of the heel-post works in a brass bush, 18 inches diameter and 15 inches broad, enclosed in a massive wrought-iron collar, which is strongly fastened by anchor chains to the masonry. After the gate was completed the strength of the hinge was tested by moving the gate before the water was admitted into the dock. The only resistance to the motion of the gate is the slight friction at the hinge. ”

“ Proceeding to the details of the Print, we may observe that in our eleventh volume we gave three engravings illustrative of the Castle improvements; one of which represented the gateway named after the late Sovereign, and seen from the Long Walk. The present Engraving is the other side of the gateway, as seen from the interior of the square or quadrangle. This new gate was externally completed in 1826. The natural application of the fine avenue, called the Long Walk, was thus realized. The gateway consists of two towers the York and Lancaster. ”

“ There is no heel-post such as is usual in dock gates, but the gate is hinged to the masonry by wrought-iron collars and a wrought-iron pin about 8 inches diameter, which is passed through them. Any portion of the weight of the gate which is not supported by the flotation of the air-chamber is borne entirely by the wheels, the arrangement at the hinge being merely for the purpose of retaining the gate in its position and guiding it in opening or shutting. The gate is moved by chains, which are attached to the barrels of powerful crabs, and conveyed through passages formed in the masonry ”