The North Gate was located roughly in the middle of the pedestrianised street across from the plaque. To the north was the town ditch with a bridge across, which joined onto the moat of Bridgwater Castle to the east. This gate led towards the village of Chilton Trinity, via the small settlement of Crowpill. The name of the village is intriguing, Trinity referring to the Holy Trinity, but Chilton literally means ‘the farming settlement of the children’. This probably refers to it belonging to a youth of noble birth, although the exact meaning is lost to time. The ruins of the North Gate were recorded by merchant, artist and sometime Mayor of Bridgwater, John Chubb at the close of the eighteenth century. These remains were removed not long after this because they had become quite unsafe.
The plaque is attached to the Angel Crescent, a neatly refined early nineteenth century terrace, dated to about 1810. The crescent was named after an inn called the Angel which stood on High Street and backed onto the top of the lane here.
In the nineteenth century, on the other side of Mount Street, was the brewery of Starkey Knight and Ford, whose logo was the prancing horse which can be seen on many buildings in the area.