Cheap is a small ward in 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 ...

. It stretches west to east from King Edward Street, the border with Farringdon Within ward, to Old Jewry, which adjoins

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 ...

; and north to south from Gresham Street, the border with

Aldersgate Aldersgate is a Ward of the City of London, named after one of the northern gates in the London Wall which once enclosed the City. The Ward of Aldersgate is traditionally divided into Aldersgate Within and Aldersgate Without, the suffix den ...

and Bassishaw wards, to

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 ...

, the boundary with

Cordwainer A cordwainer () is a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather. The cordwainer's trade can be contrasted with the cobbler's trade, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes. This usage distinction is ...

and Bread Street wards. The name Cheap derives from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

word "chep" for " market". The following roads run north to south across the ward: St. Martin's Le Grand,

Foster Lane Foster Lane is a short street within Cheap ward, in the City of London. It is situated northeast of St Paul's Cathedral and runs southbound Gresham Street to Cheapside. "Foster" is a corruption of 'St Vedast' to whom a church on the east si ...

, Gutter Lane, Wood Street, Milk Street, King Street, and

Ironmonger Lane Ironmonger Lane is a narrow one-way street in the City of London running southbound between Gresham Street and Cheapside. Ironmonger Lane has maintained the same name since at least the 12th century when it was recorded as Ismongerelane; "isen ...

. Within its boundaries are two Anglican churches:

St Vedast Foster Lane Saint Vedast Foster Lane or Saint Vedast-alias-Foster, a church in Foster Lane, in the City of London, is dedicated to St. Vedast (Foster is an Anglicisation of the name "Vaast", as the saint is known in continental Europe), a French saint who ...

and St Lawrence Jewry; a third church, St Mildred, Poultry, was demolished in 1872. Several Livery Halls are located in Cheap, including those of the Mercers', Goldsmiths', Wax Chanders' and Saddlers' Companies.

A small part of the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in some ...

lies within the ward's boundaries: the main entrance and main hall itself; the remainder is in Bassishaw. Also within Cheap are the Lord Mayor's and City of London Court and the southern end of Basinghall Street.

Politics

Cheap is one of 25 wards in the City of London, each electing an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members ...

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 Co ...

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 those who are Freemen of the City of London are eligible to stand for election. The ward is currently represented by

Robert Hughes-Penney as well as three Common Councilmen.www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

References

External links

- Historical Map and Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's London (Scholarly)
Corporation of London
Cheap ward boundaries
Ward Club
Wards of the City of London {{london-geo-stub