Magazine Gateway

Now a solitary landmark alongside Leicester ringroad, it was originally the main gateway of a walled enclosure built around 1400, giving access to the religious precinct of The Newarke.

The gatehouse rooms were variously used as a porter's lodge, guest accommodation, prison, militia building, and regimental museum.

While the 'South Gates' now only exist as a street name, the Magazine Gateway stands as a prominent landmark where the carriageways of Leicester's inner ring-road diverge.

The original purpose of the gateway was to provide a grand imposing entrance into the religious collegiate precinct of The Newarke.

[2] The gatehouse itself has two archways, used to give pedestrian and carriage access from just outside the south gates of the town, into the walled precinct.

The area again saw military action when the Parliamentarians re-took the Town on 18 June 1645 after their own short siege of Leicester following their victory at the Battle of Naseby.

[6] The 1960s inner ring road scheme resulted in the Magazine being stranded with busy carriageways running both sides of it, with the only access being via pedestrian underpasses.

[7] The unsatisfactory treatment of a grade I listed medieval building, set below the road level with traffic pounding past both sides, was finally addressed in 2007 with the filling in of the underpass.