Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• goosgates 1692 GrimsChamb

• ye Goosegates 1737 GrimsCBxi

• Goosegates 1754 1782 1832 ib

Etymology

Goosegates (lost), goosgates 1692GrimsChamb , ye Goosegates 1737GrimsCB xi , Goosegates 1754ib xii , 1782ib xiii et passim to 1832ib xvi , cf. Goosegates Bridge 1782ib xiii , Freemen 's Gosegates 1710Td 'E , Fat pasture commonly called Twelveman 's Goose gates 1710Td 'E , Twelvemans Goose gates 1716ib ; from the pl. of goose-gate 'the right of pasture, pasturage for a goose', v. NED s.v., comparable to the common L shep-gate. It is recorded here some forty years earlier than in NED. Cf. also Swangates in f.ns. (b) infra . The twelvemen were the members of the mayor's council, v. Rigby 106–8.