Where the Gate was

This strange building, that stands alone at the end of Scotch Street, Carlisle, I find fascinating. It dates from the early 19th century and was originally a house. I think the decorative brickwork and the arched window are evidence of this. It’s a narrow building that is double depth. I know that because the craft shop that I visit regularly is only a couple of doors up from here and the inside goes back so far it becomes like an Aladdin’s Cave.
 
This is the end of Scotch Street and where Debenhams is now, and the kids are lurking, is where Scotch Gate would have been. Scotch Gate was the northern entrance through the wall that encircled Carlisle in medieval times. The alleyway to the left of our building is called East Tower Street and, not surprisingly, this is where there was a tower in the wall, probably for the gatekeeper and as a lookout. I do wonder whether the tower shape of the store entrance was deliberate because of this! Apparently, when excavations took place for the building of Debenhams, traces of the wall and the gate and the tower were found on this exact spot.
 
   
Some of you may vaguely remember when I was tracing the Droving route from Scotland, it came through Carlisle and it was just a little south of this picture, on the other side of the Debenham building, where Drovers Lane still is. If the drover had taken his cattle through the Gate and into the city, he would have had to pay taxes. So of course he went outside the city walls, bypassing the Gate.