London’s Gates

The gates into the city of London have long since disappeared (all demolished 1760-1767) but their names linger on in the names of streets and districts of the modern city.

The Romans built a fort around 120 AD. Between 190 and 220 AD a defensive wall went up, made of Kentish ragstone. This structure, 6 metres high and 3 metres thick, incorporated one of the fort’s gates (Cripplegate) and created four new ones: Aldgate, Bishopsgate, Ludgate and Newgate. Their function, unsurprisingly, was to control traffic in and out of the city and allow for the collection of any tax due on goods being transported. Aldersgate was added by the Romans around 200 years later. Moorgate came along much later, in 1415.

 

Roman Londinium showing position of gates

Engraving for Harrison's History of London 1775

Bishopsgate,

which probably takes its name from the 7^th century Bishop of the city, Erkenwald, led to Ermine Street, the Roman road to York. The original Roman structure was rebuilt in 1471 by merchants of the Hanseatic League who undertook to maintain the gate in exchange for  Henry III granting them trade privileges. 

It was repaired in 1648 and then in 1731 it was completely rebuilt to a simpler design, without battlements. A wall in nearby Wormwood Street bears a bronze bishop’s mitre to mark the spot where the gate stood.

Aldersgate in the north-west of the city was probably built by the Romans in the late 4^th century. By Saxon times, it had come to be known as Ealdredesgate, after a Saxon landowner Ealdred. From the 12^th century the church of St. Botolph stood immediately outside the gate, where it remains today. (Three of the former city gates are next to churches dedicated to the 7^th century Saxon Abott Botolph, patron saint of travellers. In medieval times, when a journey outside the city could be highly perilous, it was common for travellers to pray for their safe passage at one of the St. Botolph churches as they arrived or departed.) Aldersgate was rebuilt in 1617, renovated following the Great Fire, and finally demolished in 1761, the materials being sold off for £91.   

St Botolph's without Aldersgate

Known in Saxon times as the Ealdgate (old gate), Aldgate is thought to pre-date the building of the Roman wall and spanned the road to Colchester, England's former capital. It was rebuilt in the early 12th century. The writer Geoffrey Chaucer lived in rooms above the gate from 1374 to 1385 when he worked as a customs official for the Port of London.

Aldgate

Cripplegate

The name Cripplegate is thought to derive from the old Saxon word crepel, meaning a narrow covered gate or passage. The body of Edmund the Martyr passing through in 1010 led to the belief that the gate had miraculous powers of healing. The gate was rebuilt in 1244 and 1491, and renovated in 1663.

Newgate, which led to the Oxford road and then on to the West, was rebuilt several times: in 1555, 1628 and 1672. The gate was used as a prison from as early as the 12^th century right up until it was demolished in 1767 In 1770, the now notorious ‘new’ Newgate prison was built. This was only demolished in 1904.

 

Ludgate’s name is often attributed to the early British King Lud, but is more likely to derive from ‘flood’ or ‘fleet’, due to its closeness to the Fleet river. It was the gate which led to one of the main Roman burial mounds. Ludgate was rebuilt in 1215, 1586 and then repaired post-1666. When it was finally demolished, its statues of Lud and Queen Elisabeth I (the only public statue ever made of her in London) were removed and now stand outside St Dunstan’s Church in Fleet Street.

 

 

Moorgate takes its name from Moor Fields, a large piece of open land in the city. The gate allowed access to recreational activities there. The last of London’s gates to be constructed, it was originally a narrow postern gate unsuitable for heavy traffic. It was renovated in 1472, and then rebuilt in 1672 when the gate entrances were made higher to enable the elite regiments of the London Trained Bands to march through with pikes held aloft. On its demolition in 1762, stone from the Moorgate was used to strengthen London Bridge.

References:

https://barryoneoff.co.uk/the_gates.htm

https://www.thehistoryoflondon.co.uk/london-wall-and-gates/

https://livinglondonhistory.com/londons-ancient-roman-and-medieval-walls-a-self-guided-walk/