This gate, called the 'Roper Gate', is all that is left of Place House, an old Tudor house owned by William Roper who was Lord of the Manor of St Dunstan's and an MP and lawyer at the time of Henry VIII; his father had been Attorney General. William Roper joined the household of Sir Thomas More and married More's eldest daughter Margaret. After More was executed for refusing to swear allegiance to Henry VIII as head of the Church of England (becoming a martyr for the Roman Catholic church), Margaret got his head back from its spike in London Bridge and buried it in the family tomb in St Dunstan's church, across the road. William Roper then wrote the (at the time) definitive biography of his father-in-law.
William is portrayed in Robert Bolt's A Man for all Seasons as someone who would always disagree with whatever point was being made. He is a minor character in Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.
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