Information panel | Purmer-Poort | Looiersplein
When Purmerend was granted city rights in 1410, ramparts were built around the town and four gates were built on the access roads. These gates were closed at night, making living within the town a lot safer.
Anyone who wanted to enter the city had to report to the city gate. This was a way to keep unsavoury types, vagrants and exiles (criminals who had received exile as punishment) out of the city.
The eastern gate was built in 1594 and stood at the end of the Koemarkt near the Looiersplein. This gate was called the Purmerpoort because the road behind it, the Purmersteenweg, led to Lake Purmer. This gate was built in 1594 and, as the last gate, was demolished in 1859. The gate was replaced by two gatehouses, between which there was an iron gate so that the town could still be closed off. Around 1900, the gatehouses disappeared from the cityscape.
Tanners' Square owes its name to the fact that a tannery stood here until 1878. Check out the information panel for more information.