Continue to the junction with Prince's Street.

Opposite is Blundells, 2 houses and part of 43 Princes Street, built in 1796.

It has bow windows extending through three floors, an ornate doorway with urns and a balustrade above.

Notice the stonewalling below the ground floor windows, and the small shell-like moldings below the second-floor windows and the lead rainwater hoppers.

The building is one of several survivors of the policy adopted by the Doncaster Corporation to create Rounded Corner buildings in the town in the late 1700s.

The Corporation would encourage property owners to convert their property to a rounded corner with financial incentives.

The building was the home of William Lindley, a noted architect in the town, before he moved to the Pillared Houses.

Click on the link to find out more about Doncaster's Rounded Corner buildings.

More about Hall Gate.

Hall Gate was once Doncaster's fashionable residential street with many fine Georgian houses. In the second half of the 19th century the street was much favoured by members of the medical profession.

However the growth of the town brought increasing commercial prosperity. This spilled over into Hall Gate and houses at the lower end of the street were converted into shops and offices. This process gathered pace in the 1920s when large colliery villages were built in the neighbourhood. By 1939 nearly all the houses had been converted to shops and offices and many residents had moved to the suburbs.

The growing importance of Doncaster as a coaching and market town resulted in an increasing population. New houses for well-to-do tradespeople, professional men and persons of independent means were needed. The fashionable district began to expand from the High Street into Hall Gate. The rustic cottages fronting the wide street were replaced by well proportioned, three storied Georgian houses.

The building at 39 Hall Gate is listed in The Land Tax return for 1775.

Prior to its removal to Hob Cross Hill, the Hall Cross stood at the top of Hall Gate. In May 1793 the Corporation resolved that the committee for lowering the hill at the Hall Cross had power to take down the cross and re-erect it at Hob Cross Hill. The hill was lowered by about five feet -the steps to the houses on the west side of the street show how much the road was lowered.

Choose Your Media to Continue on the Trail

The next building on the tour is the Pillar House.

Cross the end of Waterdale & Hall Gate to South Parade. On the left is the Regent Hotel, a fine building.

On the other side is the Conservative Club, a fine late Georgian House with a cast led fanlight above the door and Ionic pilasters on the facade.

Next to it is the Pillar House, click on the Next button at the foot of the page to read more about this building.