Newgate was one of the historic seven gates of 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 ...
around 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 f ...
and one of the six which date back to Roman times. Newgate lay on the west side of the wall and the road issuing from it headed over the
River Fleet
The River Fleet is the largest of London's subterranean rivers, all of which today contain foul water for treatment. Its headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath, each of which was dammed into a series of ponds—the Hampstead Ponds an ...
to
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...
and western England. Beginning in the 12th century, parts of the gate buildings were used as a gaol, which later developed into
Newgate Prison.
Name
It was once thought that Newgate was "New" since it was built after the Roman period but archaeological evidence has shown that it was of Roman origin; it is therefore possible that the gate was so named when the
Ludgate became less used due to the building of the fourth St Paul's Cathedral in the early medieval period. It was previously known as Chamberlains Gate, there was a landholding referred to as the
Chamberlain's Soke lying just outside Newgate, forming part of the ward of
Farringdon Without
__NOTOC__
Farringdon Without is the most westerly Ward of the City of London, its suffix ''Without'' reflects its origin as lying beyond the City's former defensive walls. It was first established in 1394 to administer the suburbs west of Ludg ...
.
Structure and history
Excavations in 1875, 1903 and 1909 revealed the Roman structure and showed that it consisted of a double roadway between two square flanking guardroom towers.
From the 12th century, at least, the gate was used as a prison for debtors and felons.
Jack Cade was beheaded publicly in Newgate after the conclusion of his
failed rebellion.
The notorious
Newgate Prison, was later extended to the south on the site of the modern
Central Criminal Court A Central Criminal Court refers to major legal court responsible for trying crimes within a given jurisdiction. Such courts include:
*The name by which the Crown Court is known when it sits in the City of London
*Central Criminal Court of England a ...
on Old Bailey. The gate was demolished in 1767.
Communications and surrounding area
Newgate Street, today part of the
A40 London to Fishguard route, is mostly located within the city wall, leading west from
Cheapside
Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, which forms part of the A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St. Martin's Le Grand with Poultry. Near its eastern end at Bank junction, whe ...
to the site of the old gate, and then continuing onto
Holborn Viaduct
Holborn Viaduct is a road bridge in London and the name of the street which crosses it (which forms part of the A40 route). It links Holborn, via Holborn Circus, with Newgate Street, in the City of London financial district, passing ov ...
at the point where the Old Bailey thoroughfare joins to the south and
Giltspur Street to the north. A notable discovery here was a Roman tile inscribed with a disgruntled comment that "Austalis has been going off on his own for 13 days".
The
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
continued along
High Holborn
High Holborn ( ) is a street in Holborn and Farringdon Without, Central London, which forms a part of the A40 route from London to Fishguard. It starts in the west at the eastern end of St Giles High Street and runs past the Kingsway and S ...
and
Oxford Street, via the
Devil's Highway to
Silchester
Silchester is a village and civil parish about north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about south-west of Reading.
Silchester is most notable for the archaeological site and Roman town of ...
and
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
To the north of the street are the public gardens around the ruins of
Christ Church Greyfriars
Christ Church Greyfriars, also known as Christ Church Newgate Street, was a church in Newgate Street, opposite St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. Established as a monastic church in the thirteenth century, it became a parish church ...
(bombed during World War II) on the site of a medieval Franciscan monastery. To the south is
Paternoster Square
Paternoster Square is an urban development, owned by the Mitsubishi Estate, next to St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. The area, which takes its name from Paternoster Row, once centre of the London publishing trade, was devastated b ...
leading towards
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, 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 ...
.
See also
*
Fortifications of London
*
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, go ...
*
Defensive 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 ...
*
Explanatory notes
References
External links
An 18th-century map showing the location of the gate (bottom right corner of map)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newgate
Buildings and structures demolished in 1767
London Wall and its gates
Town Gates in England