Jump to content

File:Drogheda - St. Laurences Gate (5638818100).jpg

Page contents not supported in other languages.
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Original file (3,056 × 4,592 pixels, file size: 9.57 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Summary

Description

Laurence's Gate is a barbican which was built in the 13th century as part of the walled fortifications of the medieval town of Drogheda, County Louth, in Ireland. The original names for Laurence St and Laurence's Gate were East St and East Gate, respectively. In the 14th century, the street and Gate were renamed because they led to the hospital of St. Laurence, which stood close to the Cord church.

It consists of two towers, each with four floors, joined by a bridge at the top and an entrance arch at street level. Entry is gained up a flight of stairs in the south tower. There is a slot underneath the arch from where a portcullis could be raised and lowered. Historians have wondered why such an enormous barbican was built here in the east of the town, when the main artery through the town has always been north/south. For example, a similar barbican in Canterbury is less than half the height of Laurence's Gate. However, from the top of the Gate, the estuary of the Boyne and the four mile stretch of river from there to Drogheda can be clearly observed. This is the only point in the town with a clear view of any potential sea invasion. This is proposed as a reason why Lawrence's Gate was built to such a height.

A portion of the town wall remains to the south of Laurence's Gate. North of Laurence's Gate, the wall ran up Palace St/King St where the footpath is today. The depth of the basements of the houses and school suggest the presence of a steep trench outside the wall. Over the centuries, as the walls and gates fell into disrepair, the rubble stones were reused in later buildings. For example, the house and walls at the corner of Laurence and Palace St and stone walls in Constitution Hill. Old pictures show that a toll booth and gate house remained until the early 19th century. The shop beside Laurence's Gate was a bicycle shop 100 years ago. The green letter box dates from a time when there was a post office there.
Date Taken on 18 April 2011, 13:09
Source

Drogheda - St. Laurence's Gate

Author William Murphy from Dublin, Ireland

Licensing

w:en:Creative Commons
attribution share alike
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
You are free:
  • to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
  • to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
  • attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  • share alike – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same or compatible license as the original.
This image, originally posted to Flickr, was reviewed on 18 February 2013 by the administrator or reviewer File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske), who confirmed that it was available on Flickr under the stated license on that date.

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Items portrayed in this file

depicts

18 April 2011

0.008 second

18 millimetre

image/jpeg

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current06:45, 18 February 2013Thumbnail for version as of 06:45, 18 February 20133,056 × 4,592 (9.57 MB)File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske)Transferred from Flickr by User:Rybec using flickr2commons

Global file usage

The following other wikis use this file:

Metadata