05/09/2026
I have always thought it great shame that while three of the medieval City's main gates are still standing, and the South or Watergate at least has remains to be seen, there is no remnant of the East Gate. I thought it would be an interesting idea to install a large picture of the Gate somewhere in East Street.
My See Southampton colleague Godfrey Collier owned an excellent print, but there were lots of complications about keeping the image sharp when it was blown up to window size.
Meanwhile, my wife Jan spotted that there was a blank window in a great position, on the corner of East Street and Back-of-the -Walls, which Mike, the owner of ADS recruitment, has generously allowed us to use. The remnants of old walls which are to be seen to the right of the window identify the line of those walls, and the Gate was where these crossed East Street - the site could not be better positioned.
The picture was installed yesterday. The first picture shows the finished window with myself (Jack Wilson), Godfrey Collier and a member of the ADS Recruitment staff to the left, and the excellent installers from the printers ASAP (who with See Southampton also helped sponsor the work) to the right - the other pictures show stages of installation, and the window as it was originally,
