PIN York Gate

Part of the River's Hidden Past

Nestled in the corner of Victoria Embankment Gardens is the York Gate upon the steps which the waters of the River Thames gently lapped for centuries. The steps themselves used to be where river traffic would stop allowing passengers to disembark for York House. Today it is over 100 yards from the Thames and marks the point where the ‘old’ river used to flow past before Victorian engineers reclaimed the land in order reconstruct the embankment from 1860-72 and to build, among other things, a ‘modern’ sewage system.

The Thames Embankment saw plenty of redevelopment in the 1860s and 1870s as London reclaimed land back from the ancient river. Roads, pavements and gardens were built on the reclaimed land – the main one, Victoria Embankment Gardens, being where the Water Gate stands today. Many of the grand old mansions were destroyed during the reclamation and the Water Gate is one of the few legacies of a different riverside landscape of a few hundred years ago.

History

The solitary gateway in the corner of the gardens marks the position of the north bank of the River Thames before the reconstruction of the Victoria Embankment in 1862. Nicholas Stone, a master mason, originally built York Gate in 1626 for George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. It served as the Watergate or drop-off point to York House which the Duke procured from the Archbishop of York in 1624. The arms on the front of the gate and the motto "Fidei cotucula crux" are those of the Villiers family. York House was demolished in 1675 and streets were laid out on the site. In 1893 the gate fell into disrepair and the London County Council obtained compulsory purchase powers to acquire and preserve it as an object for the public interest.

Owner

Lucy TripTide

Lucy is a TripTide stalwart and has been with the company since inception. She is a font of knowledge of all things in our metropolis but she has a special penchant for London's historical past. She says:"London is a multi-layered confection of hi...