Tewkesbury Town Gates (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Tewkesbury.
In the historic county of Gloucestershire.
Modern Authority of Gloucestershire.
1974 county of Gloucestershire.
Medieval County of Gloucestershire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO892326
Latitude 51.99240° Longitude -2.15758°

Tewkesbury Town Gates has been described as a Urban Defence although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Gazebo. Late C18 with substantial late C20 additions. Flemish bond brick to front, English bond to returns, and all in large bricks, with plain tile roof. A small square building with pyramid roof set up from Red Lane on earlier retaining wall, perhaps part of medieval town wall. (Listed Building Report)

List H. New post-Conquest medieval defensive circuits and medieval extensions to earlier circuits, consisting only of gates and/or earthen defences. Tewkesbury; New post-Conquest medieval defences; Gates only; No remains visible, but position known or suspected; Occasional contemporary references only, but sufficient to confirm that defences existed or were planned; No archaeological excavations on defences known. (Bond no references given)

Comments

No mention of town walls, gates or other defences made in the Extensive Urban Survey or the VCH. The wall mentioned in the listed building report seems a fanciful interpretation of a medieval wall. Without knowing Bond's source it is difficult to dismiss the reference to 'gates' although these may be references to the Abbey precinct gates rather than town gates. It should be noted there are no 'gate' street names in Tewkesbury (although the south of the town is bounded by the River Swilgate). The medieval town was clearly defined by natural watercourses and marshy land on all sides. At least one of the bridges on the river Swilgate is suggested as being a 'drawbridge' although this was not necessarily a defensive feature (lifting bridges are needed to allow ships to sail along rivers).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1279671
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 157 (listed as gates only)
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 238, 266
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  Elrington, C.R. (ed), 1968, VCH Gloucestershire Vol. 8 p. 110-122 (borough history) online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Matthew Tilley, Tim Grubb, 2008, Extensive Urban Survey - Gloucestershire (no mention) Download copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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