The South Gate, King's Lynn

The South Gate, King's Lynn

This is a gate tower constructed in 1437 by Robert Hertanger, with additional work carried out by Nicholas and Thomas Harmer in 1520. It is built of brick with limestone dressings and a lead roof.

The building follows a roughly rectangular plan with a central carriageway running north to south. The carriageway is flanked by a chamber on either side at ground and first-floor levels. The second floor consists of a single room spanning the entire width of the building above the carriageway. Access to the gate is provided by a door in the north wall of the west chamber.

The south façade is faced with Ancaster and Barnack limestone and features a central arch, slightly offset to the west, flanked by two octagonal turrets. On either side of the central arch are doorways topped with four-centred arches, each set within a crenelated porch. The jambs of the central arch are unmoulded. A hood mould runs over the arch and continues as a string course across the full width of the façade. Two higher string courses encircle the entire building. The second floor has two three-light round-headed windows under square hoods; the western window is narrower, being encroached upon by the corner turret. The dripstones are carved with heads, though now severely weathered. Round gun ports survive just below the string course and at second-floor level.

The north façade is similar in design but executed in brick with ashlar dressings. The turrets on this façade are square rather than octagonal, and two stone-dressed buttresses project perpendicular to the turrets. The side passage doorways have hood moulds rather than porches, and only one gun port is visible.

The western and eastern façades are of brick with stone dressings. Each elevation contains a single square window at ground-floor level. At first-floor level, the west façade has one two-light round-headed window under a square hood, whilst the east elevation has a single round-headed window. Both façades include a stone buttress concealing a latrine chute. The remains of the town wall are visible on the west façade, and the east façade contains a blocked doorway.

Internally, the central carriageway is constructed of brick with a stone vault over the central void. The vault is a simple barrel vault with five ribs. The corbels are decorated with carved details including a hare, a sleeping dog, and two roses. Springing for a two-bay stellar vault is visible, although only the south-west and south-east conoids survive.

The carriageway is flanked by chambers on either side at ground and first-floor levels. Access is through a door in the north wall of the west chamber; the eastern chamber is gated at both ends. Two spiral stairways connect the floors – the north-eastern stair is original, whilst the north-western stair, which has been reinstated between the ground and second floor only, is a modern replacement that is largely freestanding. Evidence of the original winder stair remains visible in the adjacent brickwork. Both stairways continue to the lead roof, where they emerge in square crenelated turrets matching the height of the octagonal towers.

The west ground-floor chamber is of brick and contains a large fireplace beneath a depressed four-centred stone arch with hollow mouldings and a pointed brick relieving arch above. A former bread oven is located to the left of the fireplace, and a lavabo with water outlets to the exterior sits to its right. A raised wooden floor has been inserted on the south side of the room. The first-floor room contains a latrine opening into the external buttress and three circular gun-ports in splayed recesses. The north jamb of the latrine doorway is carved with a small graffito or mason's mark.

The east ground-floor chamber contains the remains of a large fireplace on the eastern internal wall and is flagged. The first-floor chamber contains a fireplace in its eastern wall and, like the west first-floor chamber, has a latrine opening into the external buttress and three circular gun-ports in splayed recesses. The south jamb of the latrine doorway is carved with a small graffito or mason's mark.

The second-storey chamber is of brick and contains two brick fireplaces, one with a false three-centred arch under a pointed relieving arch and the other with a segmental arch. A large blind arch occupies the south wall, possibly once intended for a portcullis, though the arch is too low for such a mechanism to have functioned effectively. The chamber is unceiled, revealing the roof timbers and two iron ties.