The Gate The sign of
The Gate is usually associated with a toll gate, church gate or town
gate. The road names around the sign on the left also reveal some clues
to the former locality - Two Gates and Colley Gate. Although the area is
properly called Cradley, many use the road name of Colley Gate to
describe the district. This short length of road has an entry in the
Halesowen Parish Register of 1695 as Coley Geat. It is thought that
Colley (or Coley) is the name of the man who supervised the gate here on
the turnpike road. The gate marked the boundary between two turnpike
roads which were sanctioned under Acts of Parliament in 1762 and 1781
respectively. The second sign is located in the Warwickshire village of
Nether Whitacre. The pub used to have two red gates hanging from each
side of the building. The old gate on the Tamworth Road side had to be
replaced in 2000 because it had deteriorated. It was good to see the
tenants maintaining the fine tradition of the pub's sign by replicating
the original. The third sign can be found in Osbaston.
