opposite the west front of the cathedral, was
built by Sir Thomas Erpingham, and as an architectural compilation "is
original and unique." In elevation it consists of one lofty
well-proportioned arch supported on either side by semi-hexagonal
buttresses taken up as high as the apex of arch; above comes a plain
gable, in which, centred over the arch below, is a canopied niche with
the kneeling figure of Sir Thomas Erpingham.

Built probably about 1420, and while yet some of the noble simplicity of
the thirteenth had not passed into the over-wrought richness of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it presents a type of the best
Perpendicular work we have in England.

The form of the arch is lofty, and may have been suggested by the wish
to preserve a view through of the cathedral.

The arch moulding is enriched on the outer part with figures of fourteen
female saints, and on the inner with twelve male saints; the
semi-hexagonal panelled buttresses are covered with the shields of the
families of Erpingham, Clopton, and Walton, and each has a seated figure
of an ecclesiastic on the top.

[Illustration: The Erpingham Gate.]

The richness of this lower arch stage tells against the plain gable
over, and is quite admirable in effect and defensible as a method of
design; it is ornament decorating construction pure and simple, and not
what later work generally was and is, constructed ornament, suggesting
over-elaborate construction thereby made necessary. It will be noticed
that labels with the word "Yenk" (think) sculptured thereon are placed
between the shafts on either side of the archway; this has been
construed "pend" by some writers, and from this the view was taken that
Sir Thomas Erpingham was made to build the gate as a penance for
favouring Lollardism, and that the figure of himself in the gable over
the archway represents him as praying pardon for the offence.

This interpretation, however, amusing as it is, is probably erroneous,
and the gate, with its shields of allied families, stands to the memory
of its founder. Sir Thomas Erpingham was at Agincourt in 1415, and
Shakespeare, in Act iv. of Henry V., remarks of him that he was "a
knight grown grey with age and honour." Sir Thomas Browne also (p. 9 of
his "Repertorium") says: "He was a Knight of the Garter in the time of
Henry IV. and some part of Henry V., and I find his name in the list of
the Lord Wardens of the Cinque Ports."

Sir Thomas Erpingham had t