| Ward of Aldgate | |
1600 print of Aldgate |
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Ward of Aldgate
Ward of Aldgate shown within Greater London |
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| OS grid reference | TQ334813 |
|---|---|
| Sui generis | City of London |
| Administrative area | Greater London |
| Region | London |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | EC3 |
| Postcode district | E1 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | City of London |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| EU Parliament | London |
| UK Parliament | Cities of London and Westminster |
| London Assembly | City and East |
| List of places: UK • England • London | |
Aldgate was the eastern most gateway through London Wall leading from the City of London to Whitechapel and the east end of London. Aldgate gives its name to a ward of the City. This is bounded by White Kennet Street in the north and Crutched Friars in the south, taking in Leadenhall and Fenchurch Streets, which remain principal thoroughfares through the City of London, each splitting from the fifty-metre street named Aldgate that connects to Aldgate High Street.
There are only two buildings on the street. To the north is Sir John Cass's school, where a plaque records the former placement of London Wall. To the south is the UK head office of AXA, a French insurance company.
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The ward is bounded on the east by the line of the former City wall, which separates it from Portsoken ward; it is bounded on the south by Tower-street ward; and on the west and north by Langbourn, Limestreet, and Bishopsgate wards.[1]
It is thought that a gate at Aldgate was already spanning the road to Colchester in the Roman period, when the City Wall itself was constructed. The gateway stood at the corner of the modern Duke's Place; and was always an obstacle to traffic. It was rebuilt between 1108–47, again in 1215, and reconstructed completely between 1607 and 1609. The gate was finally removed in 1761; it was temporarily re-erected at Bethnal Green.
The etymology of the name "Aldgate" is disputed. Writing in the sixteenth century John Stow derived the name from "Old Gate" (Aeld Gate). However, Henry Harben, writing in 1918, contended that this was wrong and that documents show that the "d" is missing in documents written before 1486-7. Alternative meanings include "Ale Gate" in connection with a putative ale-house or "All Gate" meaning the gate was free to all. Other possibilities canvassed by Harben include reference to a Saxon named "Ealh," or reference to foreigners ("el") or oil ("ele") or "awl". Gillian Bebbington, writing in 1972, suggests Alegate, Aelgate ("public gate") or Aeldgate" (Old Gate") as equally viable alternatives whilst Weinreb and Hibbert, writing in 1983, revert to Stow's theory that the name means "Old Gate".[2][3][4]
While he was a customs official, from 1374 until 1386, Geoffrey Chaucer occupied apartments above the gate.[4] The Augustinian Priory of Holy Trinity Aldgate was founded by Queen Matilda, the wife of Henry I, in 1108, on ground just inside the gate.[5]
Within Aldgate ward, a short distance to the north of the gate, Jews settled, beginning in 1181, until their expulsion in 1290 by Edward I. The area became known as Old Jewry. Jews were welcomed back by Oliver Cromwell, and once again they settled in the area, founding London's oldest synagogue at Bevis Marks in 1698.[6]
In about 1420, the Whitechapel Bell Foundry was founded in Aldgate, but it later moved to nearby Whitechapel. The foundry continued to supply bells to churches in the city, including the rebuilt church of St Botolph Without Aldgate in 1744.[7]
At the junction of Aldgate, Leadenhall Street, and Fenchurch Street, stood Aldgate Pump. From 1700, it was from this point that distances were measured into the counties of Essex and Middlesex. The original pump was taken down in 1876, and a 'faux' pump and drinking fountain was erected several yards to the west of the original; it was supplied by water from the New River. In ancient deeds, Alegate Well is mentioned, adjoining the City Wall, and this may have been the source [of water] for the original pump. A section of the remains of Holy Trinity Priory can be seen through a window in a nearby office block, on the north side.
In 1773, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley, the first book by an African American was published in Aldgate after her owners could not find a publisher in Boston.[8]
Daniel Mendoza, was born in 1764 to a Jewish family in Aldgate. He was author of The Art of Boxing and became English Boxing Champion from 1792 to 1795.[9]
Aldgate is one of 25 wards in the City of London, each electing an Alderman, to the Court of Aldermen and Commoners (the City equivalent of a Councillor) 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.
The area around the large traffic roundabout to the East of where the gate stood, is also often referred to as Aldgate (although strictly, this is Aldgate High Street, and extends a short distance into Whitechapel, it is also known occasionally by the epithet 'Gardiners' Corner', in honour of a long disappeared department store).
The ward is dominated by the insurance industry, and prominent buildings include the Gherkin in St Mary Axe, the Willis Building and the London Metal Exchange. On 10 April 1992 the Provisional IRA detonated a bomb close to the Baltic Exchange, severely damaging the historic building and neighbouring structures.[10] The Gherkin now occupies this site.
Within the ward are three churches; St Botolph's Aldgate, St Katherine Cree (1631) and St Andrew Undershaft (1532) - both of which are administered from St Helen's in Lime Street ward. There is also the synagogue (1699) at Bevis Marks.
The nearest London Underground station is Aldgate on the Circle and Metropolitan Lines.
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