This little street is named after a large gate that stood here for many centuries at the entrance into the Liberty of St Peter, an area around the Minster once controlled by the church authorities and so ‘free’ of the Council’s administration. Here the Minster clergy and distinguished visitors from afar watched the plays. During the difficult times of the Reformation, when many people’s religious beliefs were changing, the Mayor and Council came under pressure from the clergy, who were set against the plays. They gradually gave way, and so the last production took place in 1569, in the early years of Elizabeth I’s reign. For long afterwards, many of the guilds and no doubt much of the population regretted their passing.