Information panel | Purmer-Poort | Looiersplein
When Purmerend received city status in 1410, ramparts were built around the city and four gates were built on the access roads. These gates were closed at night, making living within the city a lot safer.
Anyone wishing to enter the city had to report to the city gate. In this way it was possible to keep evil types, vagabonds and exiles (criminals who were banished as punishment) out of the city.
The eastern entrance gate was built in 1594 and stood at the end of the Koemarkt near the Looiersplein. This gate was called the Purmerpoort (Purmer Gate) because the road behind it, the Purmersteenweg, led to the Purmermeer (Purmer Lake). This gate was built in 1594 and was the last gate to be demolished in 1859. The gate was replaced by two gatehouses, between which an iron gate stood so that the city could still be closed off. The gatehouses disappeared from the townscape around 1900.
The Looiersplein (Tanner Square) owes its name to the fact that a tannery stood here until 1878.
