Survey of English Place-Names

Etymology

Watergate Ho is first found in 1279Ass . The topographical application of the name is not clear, but Mr Peckham points out that while the valley here is normally waterless, in really wet winters when, in the local phrase, “the lavants are out,” the road just above Watergate is flooded. As the valley here is very narrow and steep-sided it may have been thought of as a gate through which the flood-waters had to pass.