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Saint Laurence Gate

Field	Value
name	Saint Laurence Gate
native_name	Geata Labhráis
former_names	Great East Gate
image	File:Drogheda - St. Laurences Gate (5638818100).jpg
building_type	Barbican
owner	Office of Public Works
address	St. Laurence Street
location_town	Drogheda
location_country	Ireland
coordinates
completion_date	c1280
website

The Saint Laurence Gate is a barbican which was built in the 13th century as part of the walled fortifications of the medieval town of Drogheda in Ireland. It is a barbican or defended fore-work which stood directly outside the original gate of which no surface trace survives. It has been described as one of the finest of its kind, and is designated as a national monument. The original names for Laurence Street and Saint Laurence Gate were Great East Street and Great East Gate, respectively. In the 14th century, the street and gate were renamed because they led to the hospital of Saint Laurence, which stood close to the Cord church.

Structure

The Gate in 1834, [[Dublin Penny Journal

The structure 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 originally could be raised and lowered.

Historians have wondered why such a large barbican was built in the east of the town, when the main artery through the town has always been north/south. For comparison, a similar barbican in Canterbury is less than half the height of Saint Laurence Gate. However, from the top of the Gate, the estuary of the Boyne and a four-mile stretch of river from there to Drogheda can be observed. This is therefore the only point in the town with a clear view of a potential sea invasion. The earliest pictures of Laurence's Gate show that there was a raised lookout platform at the top of the south tower to provide an even higher vantage point.

Events

Music at the Gate is held during the warmer months of the year. A variety of performances are hosted by the nonprofit Music at the Gate organisers.

Gallery

File:St Laurences gate (close up).jpg|Close up of the gate. File:Town walls at St Laurence Gate.jpg|Drogheda's town wall running beside St. Laurence Gate at Featherbed Lane. File:Drogheda - St. Laurences Gate (5638287063).jpg|The gate viewed from the top of Constitution Hill. File:Drogheda - St. Laurences Gate (5638867258).jpg|View point in the centre of the gate.

References

[http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/environment-geography/physical-landscape/louth-louthiana/louthiana-archaeological-/drogheda-st-lawrences-gat/ St. Laurence Gate on askaboutireland.ie]
Wakeman, William F. (1995). "Archaeologica Hibernica - A Hand-book of Irish Antiquities". Reprint by Bracken Books.
[http://www.discoverireland.ie/Arts-Culture-Heritage/st-laurence-s-gate-drogheda-walls/74684 St. Laurence Gate on www.discoverireland.ie]
[http://archiseek.com/2010/st-laurence-gate-drogheda-co-louth/ Archiseek.com Laurence Gate entry] (with pictures and notes). Retrieved at 27 March 2008
[http://laurencesgate.xtreemhost.com St Laurence's Gate]
- [http://www.iarc.ie/a-small-but-charming-place/ Irish Architectural Archive, 'A small but charming place'] Ref Francis Place, 1698
Willem Van Der Hagen, 1720 (Beaulieu House), Ricardelli, 1782 (Highlanes Gallery)

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

barbicans buildings-and-structures-in-drogheda national-monuments-in-county-louth

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