GATEWAY, the opening in a castle or other wall which may be closed by a door or gate hung at its edge. The gateway being a most important point in all fortified places, is usually protected by various devices. It is flanked by towers with loopholes, from which assailants may be attacked, and is frequently overhung by a machicolated battlement, from which missiles of every description may be poured upon the besiegers. In the Middle Ages gates were also fortified with one portcul lis or more, and had frequently an outer work or barbican in front of the gate defended with drawbridges. City gates and gates of large castles have in all ages been the subjects of great care in construction; and when from some cause, such as the cessation from con stant fighting, or a change in the mode of warfare, gateways have lost their importance in a military point of view they have main tained their position as important architectural works, and although no longer fortified have become ornamental. In very ancient times we read of the "gate" as the most prominent part of a city, where proclamations were made, and where kings administered justice. The
Greek and Roman gates were frequently of great magnificence. The propylaea at Athens is a beautiful example, and the triumphal arches of the Romans are the ornamental offspring of their city gates. At Anhui in France two Roman gateways, and at Treves in Germany one, still exist, and formed the models on which early mediaeval gateways were designed. Most of the English towns have lost their walls and city gates; but a few, such as York and Chester, still retain them, and give us an idea of the buildings which formerly existed, but which now remain only in the name of the streets where they once stood. English castles retain more of their ancient gateways, and from these we may imagine the frowning aspect these large buildings presented during the Middle Ages. Abbeys, colleges and every class of buildings were shut in and defended by similar barriers; many of these still exist at Cambridge and Oxford.