Rupert's Gateway - Leicester

Artist's Notes by David Weston:

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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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