Bar Gate (Chapel Bar)

Chapel Bar

The Paul Nix Collection

Nottingham Street Tales

By Joseph Earp

In Nottingham any thoroughfare with "Bar" in it's name denotes one that would bar or block your passage at some point or time; as in a Toll Bar, a point where you would have to pay to continue along that route. Any thoroughfare with "Gate" in it's name denotes "Place" or "Place of" from: C13: Old Norse, gata, path.

Originally Bar Gate, the place of the bar, and the site one of the town gates. When this gate went out of use, one of the drum towers was converted into a small chapel for passing travellers. This was the catalyst for the name change to "Chapel Bar" at a later time.

Incidentally, the other drum tower of the gateway was lived in by an individual with horticultural leanings and he grew all manner of plants and flowers on the top of it - to a point where, due to a proliferation of plants, it was locally known as "The Hanging Gardens Of Babylon".

Article by The New Nottingham Hidden History Team.