Summary

The remains of the medieval town gate which was barred to Charles I on 23rd April 1642, an event leading up to the outbreak of the English Civil War. The monument also includes sample sections of the adjacent town wall, rampart and ditch.

Source: Historic England

Details

PRINCIPAL FEATURES The buried and excavated remains of Beverley Gate and an adjacent section of town wall, rampart and defensive ditch, along with related archaeological features and deposits. DETAILS In the 1986-89 excavations, archaeological levels were found to be covered by 0.8m-1.2m of overburden beneath the modern street surface. The uppermost archaeological levels included a gravel path set on the top of the rampart along with footings interpreted as a sentry box built against the battlements forming the top of the town wall. Similar in situ remains of the upper surface of the rampart are expected to survive within the unexcavated parts of the area of the monument. Although the town wall and Beverley Gate were levelled in 1776, substantial remains survive in situ because of the build-up in the ground surface since the C14. The town wall survives to 22 courses, built up from chalk rubble foundations to stand about 2m tall, the base being around 3m below the modern ground surface. This wall is carefully built in brick, laid in English bond, being 1m thick but widening to about 1.6m thick at the base with a neatly built batter. It was truncated in 1776 to a level slightly below the base of the battlemented parapet. Although a proportion of the brick walling exposed by the excavations was subsequently replaced with modern reproductions as part of the consolidation, a similar level of survival is expected within the unexcavated areas of the monument. Undisturbed archaeological remains also extend below and behind the areas of rebuilt brickwork. The top of the sill beams of the timber framed gateway, the approximate early C14 ground level, were also found about 3m below the modern ground surface. These timbers uncovered in the excavation are believed to remain in situ, along with similar timbers within the unexcavated portion of the site. Excavation of a succession of road surfaces through the gateway showed how the street level rose by about 1.5m during the course of the C18 up until the construction of the C18 dock. The town ditch was also investigated, but because of the great depth, only the upper 1.6m of fills in the town ditch were excavated (down to about 5m below the ground surface) only reaching the upper fills containing post-medieval finds. The unexcavated parts of the town ditch within the area of the monument are expected to be waterlogged and are likely to retain well preserved organic material. Finds recovered during the excavation included a wide range of pottery demonstrating Hull’s extensive trading links, and a wide selection of other items, including preserved organic remains including leatherwork. Similar remains are expected to survive within the unexcavated parts of the monument. EXTENT OF SCHEDULING This is focused on Beverley Gate, but extends to include sample lengths of the town wall and rampart to both north and south, as well as that portion of the town ditch to the west that was not removed by the excavation of the lock linking Prince’s Dock to Queen’s Dock. The two docks have been used to define the north and south extent of the scheduling, providing suitable samples of the defences to the north and south of the gate. The line of the rear of the medieval rampart, its eastern extent, is unknown and so for ease of depiction, the eastern boundary has been drawn to follow the wall of modern buildings, cutting across Whitefriargate as a straight line. EXCLUSIONS All modern street furniture such as railings, bollards, street lamps, signage and bins are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included. The early C20 building, Bridge Chambers, partially overlies the southern side of Beverley Gate, the ground under this building is thus also included within the scheduling, although the building itself is excluded. Also excluded from the scheduling are all modern paving, steps, pavements and road surfaces. For the area outside the sunken ampitheatre constructed to display the remains after the 1986-89 excavations, the top 0.5m of deposits immediately below the modern ground surface are also excluded from the scheduling. Services such as gas and water pipes, electricity and telecommunication cabling and ducting are also excluded from the scheduling, however any service trenches deeper than 0.5m are included for the support and protection of the archaeological deposits through which they may be cut. Although the late 1980s excavations found the uppermost archaeological levels to be covered by 0.8-1.2m of overburden, there is potential for undisturbed archaeological deposits to survive elsewhere within the scheduled monument at shallower depths.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Beverley Gate and the adjacent archaeological remains forming part of Hull’s medieval and post-medieval defences is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Period, documentation: being a firmly located and well understood section of Hull’s nationally important medieval defences;
* Potential: partial excavation has left most of the monument undisturbed but has demonstrated that the unexcavated portions will retain significant, well preserved archaeological remains, particularly waterlogged deposits within the infilled town ditch;
* Historical: being one of the four principal medieval gateways into the town, the one that was closed to King Charles I on 23rd April 1642 in the lead-up to the outbreak of the First English Civil War;
* Architecture, rarity: forming a major component of Hull’s medieval defences, of interest because by European standards, relatively few English towns possessed effective defensive circuits, Hull’s thought to have been the single largest use of medieval brickwork in the country.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Hull City Council, , Beverley Gate, the birthplace of the English Civil War, (1990)
Oliver Creighton, , Robert Higham, , Medieval Town Walls, (2005)
Other
D.H.Evans "Excavations at the Beverley Gate, and other parts of the town defences of Kingston-upon-Hull" 2015

Source: Historic England