[1] View of the gate from outside the city, taken from a drawing by John Ninham that was engraved by Walter Hagreen and published in 1861 in Views of the Gates of Norwich by Robert Fitch.

[2] View of the inside of the gateway in 1791 by John Ninham published by Fitch.

Introduction

Magdalen Gate was the main entrance into the city from the north and, along with the gateways at St Stephens and Ber Street, it was one of the three principal gates. [1 & 2] It takes its name from the Magdalen Hospital that was outside the gate to the north but it was also known in the Middle Ages as Fibrigge Gate, and as the Leper Gate (a leper hospital was situated outside the gate in the Middle Ages)

Magdalen Gate was built during the last phase of the construction of the Norwich city walls and towers by Richard Spynk, citizen of Norwich, in the middle of the fourteenth century [Extract from The Old Free Book, cited in Hudson & Tingey, vol. II, pp. 216-22]. The gates were mentioned as being built during 1339 [Fitch, page 27, citing Comp. Cam.]

The gateway was demolished in 1808.