Aldgate

Coordinates: 51°30′54″N 0°04′44″W / 51.51488°N 0.07890°W / 51.51488; -0.07890

Ward of Aldgate
1600 print of Aldgate
Ward of Aldgate  Ward of Aldgate shown within Greater London
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
Dialling code	020
Police	City of London
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Cities of London and Westminster
London Assembly
List of places: UK • England • London

Aldgate was the easternmost 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 AXA's UK head office, a French insurance company.

Boundaries

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]

History

An old illustration of the gate circa 1650

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 name is derived from Ale-gate, literally open to all, because, unlike at all other city entrances, no tolls were exacted at this gate. The form, Aldgate, does not occur until 1486 or 1487.^[2]

While he was a customs official, from 1374 until 1386, Geoffrey Chaucer occupied apartments above the gate.^[2] 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.^[3]

Aldgate Pump

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, building London's oldest synagogue at Bevis Marks in 1698.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[4]

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.

1755 Cole's Map of Aldgate Ward (note East is to top of page)

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.^[5]

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.^[6]

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).

Today

St Katherine Cree

The ward is dominated by the insurance industry, and prominent buildings include the Gherkin (2005) in St Mary Axe, Lloyds Register and the London Metal Exchange. Also within the ward are three churches; St Botolph's Aldgate also 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.

On 10 April 1992 the Provisional IRA detonated a bomb close to the Baltic Exchange, severely damaging the historic building and neighbouring structures.^[7] The Gherkin now occupies this site.

See also

The nearest London Underground station is Aldgate on the Circle and Metropolitan Lines.

• City gate
• City wall
• Battle of Cable Street (Fascist marchers were met by the people of the East End)
• Stepney Historical Trust

References

External links

• Map of Early Modern London: Aldgate Ward - Historical Map and Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's London (Scholarly)