The River Gate:
detail from the blue-plaque
No details are known as to when this gate was built. It certainly did not feature in the original palisade defenses of the 12th and 13th centuries. There is also reason to believe that it was not added either when Cardiff’s timber palisade-defenses were replaced by stone walls towards the end of the 13th century. The river bend, which made Cardiff’s medieval Town Quay possible, was probably further upstream between the 13th and 16th centuries. Therefore, it seems more likely that this gate was added when the town defenses were rebuilt in the 15th century. It was first documented in 1542 as ‘Blounts Yate’. Prior to this date it was known as ‘Wales Gate’, a name possibly related to the ‘Welsh Back’, a quay in Bristol where ships from Cardiff docked. Later it was changed to ‘Blunch’ or ‘Blounts’ Gate, apparently after the name of its keeper. Nothing else is known about it. It is not shown on Speed’s plan of 1610, or on Place’s drawing of 1678. There is no hint as to its shape or size. The artist’s impression on the historical blue-plaque commemorating the gate suggests a simple opening in the town wall with a rounded arch; but that can hardly be regarded as factual. The only other record of it, as far as one can tell, is a mention at the Court of Bailiffs on 28th January 1785, when it was "Ordered that the gate near the Quay called the Blunch or Blount Gate be taken out" (56).