This pair of gate piers between 7 & 8 Holywell Street dates from the eighteenth century. They are a Grade II Listed Structure (1369393) and described simply as:
Gatepiers between Nos 7 & 8 SP 5106 NE 6/219B II GV 2.
C18. Ashlar piers with moulded caps.
In the nineteenth century this entrance led to the stables and outbuildings of the house immediately to the west at Nos. 6 and 7 called the Cardinal's Hat.
The stables here appear to have been let out for a period:
- In Robson's Commercial Directory or 1839 Henry Moore was listed as a livery stable keeper at 7 Holywell Street
- In Hunt's Directory for 1846 Charles Symonds (whose main stables were at 30 Holywell Street) is listed as having a livery stable between Nos. 7 & 8.
When the Cardinal's Hat was advertised for sale in 1883, It included “a Yard with carriage entrance from the street, and Buildings that have been and are easily re-convertable into a coach house and three-stalled stable”.
This is now the entrance to Merton College’s Holywell Buildings, where a hundred graduates are accommodated.