The gates lay at the ends of three of five avenues which radiated from the west front of the house and which were probably planted in the late C17 by the sixth Duke of Richmond (they do not appear on Norton's map of 1641 but are shown on Russell's map of Cobham of 1718). The avenues appear to have taken on a more ornamental role by 1758 which resulted in the felling of the ends furthest from the house of those to the north-west, north, and south. The drive from Brewer's Gate had become the principal carriage approach by 1789 (Peckham, 1798; Laurie 1984), this being re-routed by Repton in the early 1790s to follow a curve (now, 1997, grassed over) and in c 1800 given an entrance gateway designed by James Wyatt (demolished in the 1960s). The present south-west avenue to Cobham village, replanted in the late C20 and with its former drive now grassed, was the only one of the five avenues that Repton recommended to be retained in the 1790s. [1]