York Watergate at 400!

The historic "watergate" at the back of Embankment Gardens is 400 years old this year! Why is this gate for boats so far from the banks of the River Thames and what was it built here for?

The elaborately chiselled York Watergate was built around 1626 in the grounds of York House, as a mooring spot and access point to,the Duke of Buckingham's boat. This Grade-I listed building has been eroded by the weather but bears the Villiers family arms and motto "Fidei coticula crux" ("the cross is the touchstone of faith"). The Duke of Buckingham was closely associated with King James I and was killed in a Portsmouth bar by a disgruntled army officer who served under him in 1628. York House was demolished in 1675 and the street names around bear witness to it's presence.

It was later used by public and private wherries which called here to collect passengers. Picture diarist Sam Pepys who lived nearby, shivering in the watergate on a winter's evening waiting for his wherry to take him to a coffee house in the city.

Before the embankments were built by Victorian engineers, this gate was on the river bank with water lapping against it at high tide.