Be open gate

When I started the project of looking at all the listed buildings in Appleby I should have started with the buildings before the Kings Head. Although they are not in themselves listed, they are really part of the bridge and the bridge is certainly listed. Appleby Bridge, also known as St Lawrence’s Bridge, is very well known, but the main attraction is the side of the bridge overlooking the section of the river where the horse washing takes place during Appleby Fair. This photo is the other side of the bridge, a view far less well known. My focus is on the buildings to the left of the picture, right by the bridge. These buildings have been used over the years for accommodation, shops, cafes etc. It would seem that there is now a Tattoo Parlour there, or has been one anyway. The history of the buildings is very different.

The current bridge was built in 1888 but there is evidence of several different bridges over the years, some of which got washed away in floods. The original wooden bridge appeared in 1110, but by the 14th century there was a stone bridge. This one had a gateway which incorporated a chantry chapel and a porter’s lodge where guards could monitor the passage over the river and collect tolls. This later became the town gaol. It was a very tiny cramped space for prisoners and there were lot of complaints! Most of this was demolished when a new bridge was built and was made wider to cope with extra traffic. The buildings in the photo incorporate some of the walls of the original building and there is apparently (I can’t find it) high on the wall a fragment from a Latin inscription referring to the gateway - Be open gate. May you be closed to no honest man.