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This
interesting archway is the Southern gateway to the Castle yard.
It was part of the original fortified gate which had a
turreted house above it. The
complete gate and gate-house were probably erected in the latter
part of the fourteenth century, and in the ancient portcullis groove
can still be seen.
Today
the old archway forms one of the more pictorial remnants of
Leicester�s past and as such has been much photographed and drawn.
I was conscious of this as my own pencils defined the
outlines of the scene during the summer of 1982.
This bit of Leicester I thought, as my eye roved over the
ingredients of the view, cannot have changed one jot for a
centuries.
On
returning to the studio, I did some careful checking as I wanted the
painting I was about to produce from the sketch to depict the scene
as it was in the 1940�s. But
from old photographs, I discovered that so little had altered during
the last hundred years or so, that even today, apart from some
commendable renovation and the addition in recent years of an ornate
Victorian lamp-post just in front of the Archway, nothing appeared
very different.
My
rendition of the scene as it was during my school days emphasises
the quietness of this little lane, quieter still then! With the
parked car being the chief clue as to the period depicted.
For a quieter walk through the city�s centre one�s steps
could and still can take those interested enough to enjoy the
relative calm of the little backwater that contains the two other
subjects that compose my quartet.
Here at Castle yard and its immediate surroundings below the
spire of St. Mary de Castro�s church is a feeling of antiquity
reflected in the walls of Rupert�s Gateway and the ancient
half-timbered house that forms the gateway to the castle forecourt.
It
was whilst sketching here that I thought how little these two spots
had changed within living memory, whereas West Bridge and Northgates
had altered out of all recognition since the nineteen forties or
fifties. I decided as a result to go back to each subject with a
camera so that I could record the same view as it is now in contrast
to the view as painted [original photos unavailable].
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