Coleman Street is one of the 25 ancient wards 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 ...

and lies on the City's northern boundary with the

London Borough of Islington The London Borough of Islington ( ) is a London borough in Inner London. Whilst the majority of the district is located in north London, the borough also includes a significant area to the south which forms part of central London. Islington has ...

. The ward, which includes land lying on either side of the former

city wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

, takes its name from a road linking

Gresham Street Gresham Street in the City of London is named after the English merchant and financier Thomas Gresham. It runs from the junction of Lothbury and Moorgate at its eastern end, to St. Martin's Le Grand in the west. Gresham Street was created in ...

with 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 ...

road.

The ward

Modern ward boundary changes, particularly those of 2003, have much altered the extent of city wards, so that many no longer closely correlate to their historic areas. Coleman Street is a very busy ward, it has its own long established ward club and newsletter.

Etymology

The ward takes its name from Coleman Street, which took its name from the charcoal burners who occupied the area in medieval times.

Historic Ward

The first mention of the Ward appears to have been in 1130, but at that time it was common practice to use the name of the ward Alderman to refer to the ward. In the 1130 survey, Coleman Street Ward is thought to correspond to ''Warda Haconis''. The Ward contains areas both outside and inside the line of the City’s former defensive walls. There was no local gate through the wall until

Moorgate Moorgate was one of the City of London's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall. The gate was demolished in 1762, b ...

, previously a small postern, was built in 1511.

Abraham Cowley Abraham Cowley (; 161828 July 1667) was an English poet and essayist born in the City of London late in 1618. He was one of the leading English poets of the 17th century, with 14 printings of his ''Works'' published between 1668 and 1721. Early ...

's 1661 Restoration comedy ''

The Cutter of Coleman Street ''The Cutter of Coleman Street'' is a comedy play by the English writer Abraham Cowley. It premiered at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre on 16 December 1661, performed by the Duke's Company. Cowley had originally written it in 1658 during the Eng ...

'' refers to the area. Moorgate Hollar

It appears that the area outside, the once very marshy Lower and Little Moorfields (now mostly occupied by

Finsbury Circus Finsbury Circus is a park in the Coleman Street Ward of the City of London, England. The 2 acre park is the largest public open space within the City's boundaries. It is not to be confused with Finsbury Square, just north of the City, or Finsb ...

and the surrounding buildings), previously part of the Soke of Cripplegate and then the Manor of Finsbury, was added in the 17th century, though it was not developed until 1817. The

Walbrook Walbrook is a City ward and a minor street in its vicinity. The ward is named after a river of the same name. The ward of Walbrook contains two of the City's most notable landmarks: the Bank of England and the Mansion House. The street runs ...

, known at this point as ''Deepditch'' and running on the line of modern

Blomfield Street Blomfield Street is a road in the City of London, close to Liverpool Street railway station. It was known as Broker Row, until 1860. Setting The street extends in a SSW-NNE direction from its junction with the road ''London Wall'' in the south t ...

, formed the eastern boundary of Lower Moorfields and the line continues to form the eastern boundary of the part of the ward lying north of the former wall, with the extra-mural ward of Bishopsgate Without lying east of the brook, and the road which now covers it. This section of the Walbrook, around Blomfield Street, was the focus of the phenomena of the Walbrook Skulls, resulting from the ''immense quantities'' of Roman-era human heads that were deposited in the river. These are still regularly uncovered during building work.

Post 2003 Ward

Coleman Street borders six other wards and occupies an irregular shape of land bounded to the north by

Chiswell Street Chiswell Street is in Islington, London, England. Historic England have seven entries for listed buildings in Chiswell Street. Location The street, in St Luke's, Islington, runs east-west and forms part of the B100 road. At the west end it be ...

and Eldon Street; to the east by Blomfield Street, Copthall Avenue and a section of

; to the south by

Lothbury Lothbury is a short street in the City of London. It runs east–west with traffic flow in both directions, from Gresham Street's junction with Moorgate to the west, and Bartholomew Lane's junction with Throgmorton Street to the east. History ...

and Gresham Street; and to the west by

Basinghall Street Bassishaw is a ward in the City of London. Small, it is bounded by wards: Coleman Street, east; Cheap, south; Cripplegate, north; Aldersgate, west. It first consisted of Basinghall Street with the courts and short side streets off it,

, Coleman Street itself, Moor Lane and

Silk Street Silk Street (, Xiushui Street, literally meaning "beautiful water Street"), aka Silk Market or Silk Street Market, is a shopping center in Chaoyang District, Beijing, that accommodates over 1,700 retail vendors, notorious among international to ...

Politics

Coleman Street is one of 25

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

s in 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 The Court of Aldermen forms part of the senior governance of the City of London Corporation. It comprises twenty-five aldermen of the City of London, presided over by the Lord Mayor (becoming senior alderman during his year of office). The Cou ...

and commoners (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 The Court of Common Council is the primary decision-making body of the City of London Corporation. It meets nine times per year. Most of its work is carried out by committees. Elections are held at least every four years. It is largely composed o ...

of the

City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...

. Only electors who are Freemen of the City are eligible to stand. The Alderman is

Peter Estlin Sir Peter Kenneth Estlin, (born July 1961) was the 691st Lord Mayor of the City of London. He is an alderman of the City of London Corporation where he represents the ward of Coleman Street. Having served as a Sheriff of the City of London for ...

and the Common Councilmen are Michael Cassidy, Sophie Fernandes, Stuart Fraser and Andrew McMurtrie.

Warren Stormes Hale Warren Stormes Hale (1791–1872) was Lord Mayor of London and founder of the City of London School. Early life He was born on 2 February 1791, was orphaned and became an apprentice candlemaker or chandler; he was later twice Master of the Tal ...

, Lord Mayor of London in 1864, was the ward's most notable civic dignitary.

Features

Coleman Street is a one-way road that runs from

. The church of St Stephen Coleman Street used to stand at the southern end of the street, on the western side, until it was completely destroyed in

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

and was not rebuilt. In the 17th century, St. Stephen's became a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

stronghold. On the night of 5 January 1642, after the king's failed attempt to arrest them, five MPs, Pym, Hampden, Haselrig, Strode and Holles, hid on Coleman Street utilising the support for parliament that tended to be afforded by sympathisers in the City of London. At the northern end of the street stands the livery hall of the

Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers The Worshipful Company of Armourer Historically, an armourer is a person who makes personal armour, especially plate armour. In modern terms, an armourer is a member of a military or police force who works in an armoury and maintains and ...

, and the pineapple-shaped headquarters of

Legal & General Legal & General Group plc, commonly known as Legal & General, is a British multinational financial services and asset management company headquartered in London, England. Its products and services include investment management, lifetime mortg ...

. Despite the bustle of business, the ward also contains the City’s "finest oasis of calm",

, an elliptical square with its own bowling club, is located within the ward, as is Moorgate station.Description of Locale
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References

External links

City of London Corporation
Coleman Street ward boundaries (2003 —)
Map of Early Modern London: Coleman Street Ward
- Historical Map and Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's London (Scholarly)
Coleman Street Ward Club
- A Social Club based in the City of London {{City of London wards Wards of the City of London Streets in the City of London