Porchway, Steeple Gate, High Street, Ely (undated)

16 & 18 High Street, Steeple Gate, Ely

History of Steeple Gate Ely

Listed Building

No. 16 is an early-C16 timber-framed building which incorporates Steeple Gate, a pedestrian gateway to Ely Cathedral, while No. 18 is an C18 shop, both with later alterations. Beneath the two buildings, which are now (2017) occupied by a cafe, is C14 lierne vaulted cellar.

Then and Now (David Gent) – Steeple Gate, High Street, Ely.

The view from the Cathedral through the gate towards the High Street. The description from the Heritage Gateway website is “Steeple Gate is a medieval gateway that originally led into area of the lay peoples’ cemetery. It was a tower gateway with two tenements on each side that belonged to the prior and convent. The current wooden gate dates from the medieval period. Vaulted cellars beneath it date from c.1330, but the current structure dates from the 16th century. The timber-framed gateway at Steeple Gate was built during the Tudor period, but has retained its name from at least 1417, when it is mentioned in the survey of Ely. It is one of four tenements which are recorded as abutting on the gateway itself, two on the east and two on the west. It was one of the properties of the Sacrist of the monastery, and formed the gateway to the burial ground of the parish church of the Holy Cross, which abutted on the N side of the nave of the cathedral.
Steeple Gate was the entrance for parishioners of Holy Cross church, and later of Holy Trinity when it was established in the Lady Chapel in 1566. Steeple Gate also housed the parish bell.”

First picture is an undated postcard, second was taken a couple of weeks ago. I wonder why all the gravestones in the first picture have since been removed?

Then and Now