High-Petergate
High-Petergate is the location in York of Mr Honeyfoot's residence. John Segundus was often a guest there[1].
Although the word 'gate' suggests to most of us a moveable barrier allowing entry to a field, garden or thoroughfare, it is rather a peculiarity of York that the word "gate" generally denotes a road; while what the rest of England calls a "gate", the inhabitants of York refer to as a "bar".
Thus Petergate is not what we would call a "gate" at all, it is simply a thoroughfare. It is in fact the main route into the city from Scotland and the north, and antiquarians believe it was the old via principalis in the times when York was a Roman fortress. It now takes its name from the cathedral, which is dedicated to St. Peter.
Petergate is divided into High-Petergate and Low-Petergate, with High-Petergate being that part which runs from the Bootham Bar (gateway) to the end of Stonegate.
The scene illustrated looks towards Bootham Bar, an ancient but somewhat unsavoury edifice, while the imposing towers of the minster rise up behind.