Building record 12000/24 - Chester City Walls - Old Newgate / Wolf Gate

The Old Newgate, or Wolf Gate (also known as the Pepper Gate and Wolfeld Gate), is a gateway through the city walls dating to the early thirteenth century. It is mentioned in the Murengers' Accounts of Edward VI (1552 - 1553), when considerable sums of money were spent on repairs. In the Treasurer's accounts of 1555, it is mentioned as Wolf's Gate or Wolfeld Gate (1). Ormerod suggests that it obtained its name from the badge of Hugh Lupus that was fixed over the arch (2). Later, it received the name of Pepper Gate, for the spice merchants working on Pepper St. In 1573 the daughter of Alderman Rauff Aldersey defied her father and eloped through the gate at night to marry a draper. Her father persuaded the city to lock the gate at night for many years, leading to the local expression ‘when the daughter is stolen, shut the Peppergate’ which is the local equivalent of ‘close the stable door after the horse has bolted’. In 1603, it was enlarged for the passage of carts at the expense of the inhabitants of St John's Lane (3). In 1608, the gate was entirely rebuilt and this occurred again in the 1760s (4). The modern Newgate was built next to this as part of the road widening scheme in 1938. Please see the linked listed building record for structural detail (8).

<1> Morris, Rupert H (Rev.), 1894, Chester in the Plantagenet & Tudor Reigns, /237 (Book). SCH946.

<2> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Ormerod G 1882 1/355-8 (Book). SCH1389.

<3> Simpson, F., 1910, The Walls of Chester, /68 (Book). SCH3255.

<4> Harris, B.E., 1979, Bartholomew City Guides - Chester, /141 (Book). SCH394.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ46NW26.9/1964 (Index). SCH2487.

<6> Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Revised List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, City of Chester Inter Mural 1998/ 137 (Unpublished Report). SCH4570.

<7> Donald Insall Associates, Chester City Walls Conservation Management Plan, R3251 (Client Report). SCH6603.

<8> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 470373 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.