Database: York Watergate

Before the Thames Embankment was completed in 1870, the York Watergate was situated right on the river. It currently stands about 140 metres away from the Thames, like a driveway built too far from the road.

The Watergate was built in 1626 by George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham. The Duke had acquired the illustrious York House from the Archbishop of York two years earlier, and he wanted his snazzy new home to be accessible from the river. The Duke sold the house to developers in 1672 and over the next few years, York House and the neighbouring mansions were torn down, with roads built in their place. Why the Watergate wasn't demolished eludes me, but it remained without anyone to care for it, and slowly fell into disrepair.

In 1874, some years after Jacob and Evie took on the Templars in London, the Victoria Embankment Gardens were created around the York Watergate, and the gate itself was acquired by the London County Council in 1893 as an object of public interest.