Aldersgate is a
Ward of the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
, named after one of the northern
gates
Gates is the plural of gate, a point of entry to a space which is enclosed by walls. It may also refer to:
People
* Gates (surname), various people with the last name
* Gates Brown (1939-2013), American Major League Baseball player
* Gates McFadde ...
in the
London Wall
The London Wall was a defensive wall first built by the Romans around the strategically important port town of Londinium in AD 200, and is now the name of a modern street in the City of London. It has origins as an initial mound wall and di ...
which once enclosed the City.
The Ward of Aldersgate is traditionally divided into Aldersgate Within and Aldersgate Without, the suffix denoting whether the part was within the line of the wall or outside it. The ancient ward boundaries were redrawn in 2013; the names are preserved but their location only loosely approximates to their historic extent.
The gate also gave its name to Aldersgate Street, which runs north from the former gate towards
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England.
Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington.
The well after which it was named was redisco ...
. The street was wholly part of Aldersgate Without ward until a short section further north was renamed and so added to it.
The gate
The
Wall
A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including:
* Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...
was first built around the year 200, but Aldersgate was not one of the original Roman gates, being added later in the Roman period.
The name ''Aldersgate'' is first recorded around 1000 in the form ''Ealdredesgate'', i.e. "gate associated with a man named Ealdrād"; the gate probably acquired its name in the late Saxon period.
When
James VI of Scotland
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...
came to England to take the crowns of both England and Scotland, he entered the City at Aldersgate. Statues of the king were placed both outside (on horseback) and inside (seated on the throne) the gate to commemorate the occasion.
The old gate was taken down in 1617, and rebuilt in the same year from a design by Gerard Christmas. The gate was damaged in the
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the ...
in 1666 but was repaired and remained until 1761. Aldersgate Street contained the
Bishop of London
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
's chapel and his chambers at London House, which was used from the 18th century because it was closer to
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
than his official residence in
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
.
Ward of Aldersgate
The ward of Aldersgate straddles the (now former) line of London Wall and the old gate and historically was divided into "Within" and "Without" divisions, with a deputy (alderman) appointed for each division. There is now only one deputy alderman for the ward.
Geography
Aldersgate Within
The ''Within'' division was focussed on the buildings on each side of
St. Martin's Le Grand
St. Martin's Le Grand is a former liberty within the City of London, and is the name of a street north of Newgate Street and Cheapside and south of Aldersgate Street. It forms the southernmost section of the A1 road.
College of canons and col ...
(which extends northward as Aldersgate Street), Noble Street and Foster Lane.
The ward took in the
liberty
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
of
St. Martin's Le Grand
St. Martin's Le Grand is a former liberty within the City of London, and is the name of a street north of Newgate Street and Cheapside and south of Aldersgate Street. It forms the southernmost section of the A1 road.
College of canons and col ...
when that was disestablished in the 16th century.
Aldersgate Without
''Aldersgate Without'' was, at an early date, part of an area outside the northern wall called the
Soke of Cripplegate, held by the church of
St. Martin's Le Grand
St. Martin's Le Grand is a former liberty within the City of London, and is the name of a street north of Newgate Street and Cheapside and south of Aldersgate Street. It forms the southernmost section of the A1 road.
College of canons and col ...
. The ''Without'' division was coterminous with that part of the Ancient Parish of
St Botolph Without Aldersgate that was part of the City. The area included the parish church of
St Botolph's Aldersgate and the adjacent
Postman's Park, named after the former principal
sorting office
A sorting office or processing and distribution center (P&DC; name used by the United States Postal Service (USPS)) is any location where postal operators bring mail after collection for sorting into batches for delivery to the addressee, which ...
in King Edward Street, and the location of the
Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice.
The church outside Aldersgate was one of four London churches dedicated to
Saint Botolph, a 7th-century English saint. By the end of the 11th century Botolph was regarded as the
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
of boundaries, and by extension of trade and travel.
The division was mainly focussed on the buildings on each side of Aldersgate street and included the western part of the
Barbican Estate
The Barbican Estate, or Barbican, is a residential complex of around 2,000 flats, maisonettes, and houses in central London, England, within the City of London. It is in an area once devastated by World War II bombings and densely populated b ...
(including the
Museum of London
The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall, London, Gui ...
), two
livery company halls (the
Ironmongers' Hall
The Worshipful Company of Ironmongers is one of the Great Twelve livery companies of the City of London, incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1463.
History
The Ironmongers, who were originally known as the Ferroners, were incorporated unde ...
and the
Plaisterers' Hall) as well as
200 Aldersgate
200 Aldersgate is a 434,005 sq ft office building in the City of London.
Proposed in 1983, designed by the architects Fitzroy Robinson & Partners, and built in 1991–92, the building was the headquarters of legal firm Clifford Chance before it ...
, a large office complex at the southern end of the street.
Post-2013 ward
Since ward boundary changes in 2013, almost all of the ward is Without and the former liberty and street of St. Martin's is no longer within the ward's boundaries.
The much-altered new
ward of Aldersgate is bounded by Aldersgate Street,
Beech Street, Noble Street,
Angel Street, King Edward Street and Montague Street.
Aldersgate Street
Aldersgate Street forms a short section of the
A1 route towards
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. It is located on the west side of the
Barbican Estate
The Barbican Estate, or Barbican, is a residential complex of around 2,000 flats, maisonettes, and houses in central London, England, within the City of London. It is in an area once devastated by World War II bombings and densely populated b ...
and
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...
, near
St Bartholomew's Hospital and the
Museum of London
The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall, London, Gui ...
(which falls within the ward).
Northbound it continues into Goswell Road at the junction with
Fann Street
Fann Street is a street in the City of London.
It runs west–east, from its junction with Aldersgate Street and Goswell Road in the west, to the junction with Golden Lane in the east.
In its original form of Fann's Alley the street was almost ...
; southbound it continues into
St. Martin's Le Grand
St. Martin's Le Grand is a former liberty within the City of London, and is the name of a street north of Newgate Street and Cheapside and south of Aldersgate Street. It forms the southernmost section of the A1 road.
College of canons and col ...
.
Barbican Underground station is located on Aldersgate Street and when it was opened in 1865 was named Aldersgate Street tube station. In 1910 it was renamed Aldersgate, then Aldersgate & Barbican in 1924, before finally being renamed Barbican in 1968.
Originally Aldersgate Street only corresponded to the section starting from the church of St Botolph without Aldersgate towards Long Lane. The portion of the road from Long Lane till Goswell Street (after 1864
Goswell Road
Goswell Road, in Central London, is an end part of the A1. The southern part ends with one block, on the east side, in City of London; the rest is in the London Borough of Islington, the north end being Angel. It crosses Old Street/Clerkenwell ...
) was formerly named Pickax Street, where today is located the Barbican tube station. This name may derive from Pickt Hatch, an area of brothels said to be in this part of London during the
Elizabethan era. Pick Hatch is mentioned in ''
The Merry Wives of Windsor
''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...
'' ("Goe ... to your Mannor of Pickt-hatch") and in ''
The Alchemist
An alchemist is a person who practices alchemy.
Alchemist or Alchemyst may also refer to:
Books and stories
* ''The Alchemist'' (novel), the translated title of a 1988 allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho
* ''The Alchemist'' (play), a play by Ben ...
'' ("The decay'd Vestalls of Pickt-hatch"). By the late eighteenth century the name Pickax was no more in use, and the road was fully incorporated into Aldersgate Street.
Politics
Aldersgate is one of 25 wards of the City of London, each electing an
alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
to the
Court of Aldermen and
commoner
A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...
s (the City equivalent of a
councillor
A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries.
Canada
Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...
) to the
Court of Common Council of the
City of London Corporation. Only electors who are
Freemen of the City of London are eligible to stand.
In the 2017 City-wide Common Council elections, the
Labour Party won one seat in Aldersgate ward with local resident Richard Crossan standing for Labour and being elected unopposed. The Labour Party won a record total of five seats on the Common Council in March 2017 winning two seats in
Portsoken
Portsoken, traditionally referred to with the definite article as the Portsoken, is one of the City of London's 25 ancient wards, which are still used for local elections. Historically an extra-mural Ward, lying east of Aldgate and the City wal ...
, two seats in
Cripplegate ward and one seat in Aldersgate ward.
Current elected representatives in Aldersgate, following the 2022 Common Council election and Aldermanic election are Christopher Makin (Alderman), Randall Anderson (Deputy), Naresh Sonpar, Steve Goodman, Helen Fentiman, Deborah Oliver and Anett Ridegg.
History
The wards of London appear to have taken shape in the 11th century, before the Norman Conquest. Their administrative, judicial and military purpose made them equivalent to
Hundreds in the countryside. The primary purpose of wards like Aldersgate, which included a gate, appears to be the defence of the gate, as gates were the weakest points in any fortification.
The ward initially only included land within the walls, but a degree of growth beyond the gate meant some of the land beyond came under the sway of the City. Boundary markers – bars – were established here and elsewhere with the suburb eventually becoming part of the City. Aldersgate Bars are recorded as early as 1197.
A mansion above Aldersgate, referred to as Aldrichgate, was gifted to
John Blytone
John Blytone was the first known sword-bearer of the City of London, a position he resigned in 1395. In 1384 he was arrested and King Richard II wrote to the Lord Mayor of London Nicholas Brembre and the Sheriffs of the City of London on 14 June, ...
, the earliest known
sword-bearer of the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
when he resigned from the service of the
Lord Mayor of London
The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
in 1395.
Religion
In 1554 Aldersgate Street was the scene of a fraud where
Elizabeth Crofts
Elizabeth Crofts was an English imposter known for her involvement in one event in 1554 known as "the bird in the wall". Reports indicate that Crofts, a serving maid, was paid or volunteered to pretend to be a heavenly messenger against the marriag ...
was smuggled into a wall to pretend to be a heavenly voice. Reputedly 17,000 people came to listen to her give out anti-Catholic propaganda.
[Daniel Hahn, 'Crofts, Elizabeth (b. c. 1535)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200]
accessed 7 Dec 2014
/ref>
The house of Sarah Sawyer, in Rose and Rainbow Court (approximately the site of the present Museum of London
The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall, London, Gui ...
), formed one of the earliest Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
meetings in London (before 1655). In 1675, it became a dedicated meeting house, the Box Meeting, used mainly by Quaker women for poor relief, on her marriage.
28 Aldersgate Street is the approximate former location of a Moravian Church
The Moravian Church ( cs, Moravská církev), or the Moravian Brethren, formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination, denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohem ...
. On 24 May 1738, attending a meeting at the church, the clergyman John Wesley
John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...
underwent a profound religious experience. The following year, he broke with the Moravians and founded the Methodist Society of England. The yearly anniversary of his experience is celebrated by Methodists as Aldersgate Day
Aldersgate Day, or Wesley Day, is an anniversary observed by Methodist Christians on 24 May. It recalls the day in 1738 when Church of England priest John Wesley attended a group meeting in Aldersgate, London, where he received an experience of ...
. Wesley's Chapel, in nearby City Road, remains a major focal point of the worldwide Methodist movement.
The arts
The poet Thomas Flatman
Thomas Flatman (21 February 1635 – 8 December 1688) was an English poet and miniature painter. There were several editions of his ''Poems and Songs'' (1674). One of his self-portraits is in the Victoria and Albert Museum. A portrait of Char ...
was born in a house in Aldersgate Street in 1633. As with most historic buildings on this stretch of road, the building no longer stands. At Nos. 35-38 stood Shaftesbury House, built around 1644 by Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings.
As the most notable archit ...
. It was demolished in 1882. Lauderdale House was demolished in 1708, the London home of the Duke of Lauderdale
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked ...
and earlier the house of his mother-in-law, the Countess of Home.
No. 134 for many years had a sign claiming: "This was Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's House". Although the building was very close to the nearby Fortune Playhouse
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
, there is no documentary evidence surviving to indicate that Shakespeare resided here; a subsidy roll from 1598 shows a "William Shakespeare" as owner of the property, but there is nothing to indicate that it is the playwright. The building no longer exists, and Barbican station now occupies the site. The nearby Shakespeare Tower is named for this (tenuous) connection. At the point where Aldersgate Street changes its name to Goswell Road there is also a public house "The Shakespeare".
Lost buildings
Adjacent to the modern roundabout on the site of the gate was the former headquarters of the General Post Office
The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...
(closed in 1910 and demolished shortly afterwards), and the adjoining Postman's Park. The southern part of the roundabout and the northern part of where the Post Office once stood are located on the site of a collegiate church and sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...
founded in 750 by Withu, King of Kent, hugely expanded in 1056 by Ingebrian, Earl of Essex, and issued with a royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...
in 1068 by William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
. The site of the church was cleared in 1818 in preparation for the construction of the Post Office.
Most of the buildings on Aldersgate Street were destroyed or badly damaged in the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The entire length of the eastern side of the street is now occupied by a part of the Barbican residential and arts complex.
At the corner in between Aldersgate Street and Long Lane, opposite to the now Barbican station and Beech Street, stood the "Manchester Hotel" with over 240 rooms. It used to be a Victorian landmark in the area, popular with business men, visitors and juries attending trials at the Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...
.
Opened in 1879, refurbished and modernised in 1921, suffered severe damages by the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
bombs and was consequently demolished.
After the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
it was temporary closed, and commanded by the government as a hostel for Jewish refugees escaping Poland and Belgium.
Advertisement of the hotel regularly featured on local magazines and periodicals
A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a Academic journal, journal ...
referring to its splendid rooms, wine cellar, luncheon for City workers, and as a venue for wedding receptions.
See also
*Aldgate
Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate.
The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...
* List of demolished buildings and structures in London
*Fortifications of London
The fortifications of London are extensive and mostly well maintained, though many of the City of London's fortifications and defences were dismantled in the 17th and 18th century. Many of those that remain are tourist attractions, most notably th ...
*London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
*City gate
A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway.
Uses
City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...
* City wall
Image gallery
Site of Aldersgate - Aldersgate Street London EC1A 4JA.jpg, Site of Aldersgate
ShaftesburyHouse.jpg, ShaftesburyHouse - demolished in 1882
Crescent House, Golden Lane Estate, Goswell Road, EC1 - geograph.org.uk - 1069837.jpg, Aldersgate Street
Aldersgate Street - geograph.org.uk - 723858.jpg, Aldersgate Street, north side from the Barbican highwalk
A1 Aldersgate Street - geograph.org.uk - 967304.jpg, Aldersgate Street, south side from the Barbican highwalk
P10250LtlBrtn.JPG, Little Britain Little Britain may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Little Britain'' (sketch show), a British radio and then TV show
** ''Little Britain USA'', an American spin-off
* "Little Britain", a song by Dreadzone from the 1995 album '' Second Light''
...
, a street in the ward
St Botolph-without-Aldersgate Church, Aldersgate Street.jpg, St Botolph-without-Aldersgate Church
St Botolph without Aldersgate, London EC1 - geograph.org.uk - 1209699.jpg, St Botolph-without-Aldersgate Church after redecoration
Postman's Park from Aldersgate Street.JPG, Postman's Park from Aldersgate Street
ALDERSGATE PLAQUE.jpg, Aldersgate plaque
ALDERSGATE HISTORY.jpg, Aldersgate history
Aldersgate view.jpg, Aldersgate street view
References
External links
City of London Corporation
Map of Aldersgate ward (2003 —)
showing its precinct
Precinct may refer to:
* An electoral precinct
* A police precinct
* A religious precinct
* A shopping precinct or shopping mall
** A Pedestrian zone
Places
* A neighborhood, in Australia
* A unit of public housing in Singapore
* A former elect ...
s
Historic map showing the ward of Aldersgate
its two divisions and the liberty of St Martins
18th century map showing the location of the gate
(towards the bottom right corner)
Map of Early Modern London: Aldersgate Ward
- Historical Map and Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's London (Scholarly)
Aldersgate Ward Club
- A Social Club based in the City of London
{{City of London gates
Barbican Estate
History of Methodism
London Wall and its gates
Wards of the City of London