By Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11327676
It’s always great when you can show people remnants from the past that conjure up an image of London from a previous age.
The York Watergate in Embankment Gardens is a perfect example.
Back in the days before 1858 when the Thames was embanked, the river was almost twice as wide and the main method of transport was still by boat.
Along the Strand – those days right by the river – was a string of large palatial houses. It goes without saying that the aristocratic owners of these great buildings wanted impressive river entrances and so grand ‘Watergates’ were built all along the shoreline.
With the coming of time and the gradual disappearance of these stately homes, the Watergates were torn down. Except one.
The river entrance to the Archbishop of York’s London house. Luckily the gate survived and although stands here alone and deprived of its original purpose, it treats us to a dignified glimpse of an age when majestic houses still stood and Watergates, the river lapping gently at their base, provided a fitting way of arrival or departure.