The city wall and gates of London

For around 1,700 years the City of London was surrounded by a defensive wall. It contained gates at important points through which pedestrians and traffic could pass.

The Roman Empire was at its zenith at the time Londinium was established. By the 3^rd century AD the empire was experiencing difficulties, including coming under attack from kingdoms of Northern Europe. The east coast of Britain was suffering from raids and the Romans decided to build a three-kilometre-long defensive wall around the land-facing sides of Londinium, built of ragstone brought by barge from Kent. Along its length were towers, bastions, and a defensive ditch. It was then necessary to create main gates in the wall for each of the roads leading out of the city, at what were later named Ludgate, Newgate, Cripplegate, Bishopsgate and Aldgate. Another main entrance into the city was from the south across London Bridge. Later in the 3^rd century the city must have been under imminent threat and the wall was hastily extended along the river side of the city.

The Roman Empire went into a long, slow decline and Rome itself became vulnerable to attack. In the early 5^th century the army was recalled from Britain to defend the imperial capital. Londinium was left undefended and was abandoned. The Saxons, who arrived in Britain from the Continent in the century after the Roman army’s departure, seem to have left the old city to fall into decay. Instead, they gradually established market settlements along the Thames, perhaps the largest of which was Lundenwic just to the west of Londinium, roughly where Charing Cross station and Covent Garden are now located. That was also abandoned in the 9^th century when it came under attack from Vikings.

It was under the leadership of King Alfred the Great in the 880s that London was decisively and continuously re-occupied. He set about creating a defensive system across his kingdom whereby towns known as ‘burghs’ were fortified to defend the surrounding areas. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle describes London in 886 as “Lunden burg”. The old Roman walls on the land and river sides were repaired and London was thereafter well defended, enough to withstand Viking attacks in 994, 1009 and 1013. After a period of 400 years or more it is unlikely that much of the old Roman gates remained so they must have been rebuilt, probably incorporating the earlier structures and surviving material.

In 1066 the army of William of Normandy defeated that of King Harold of England in a battle close to Hastings on the south coast. Many survivors of Harold’s army retreated to London and by the time William arrived he found the walls too strong and the city too well defended to capture it. He negotiated with London’s leading citizens until it was agreed he could enter the city through Ludgate.

London developed into a major local and international port, with a busy riverside along the city’s north bank. William and his successors could be more confident in the city’s safety. The riverside wall was no longer required for defensive purposes and became a hinderance to the creation of new quays so was gradually removed. The walls and its gates around the land-facing sides remained for many centuries thereafter and were continually repaired and rebuilt. In time, some postern gates were created for pedestrians.

The gates were closed at night. They limited who could enter – preventing access to lepers, for example – but also allowed for the collection of taxes. A levy on goods arriving into the city, known as ‘murage’ helped pay for the maintenance. Medieval defensive gate towers had crenelated roofs and indentations to launch arrows. They normally had space to store weaponry, and contained prison cells. A portcullis could be lowered in each for defence.

An order of 1252 read: “All the gates of the city are to be open by day, and at each gate there are to be two sergeants to open the same, skilful men, and fluent of speech, who are to keep watch on persons coming and going so that no evil befall the City”.

Read about each individual gate.

As London expanded beyond the old city wall the boundary and jurisdiction of the City of London moved outwards to incorporate some of the new suburbs. Bars, posts and chains were placed on roadways to mark the extended boundaries of the City. It was at the Bars that tolls were taken for entry into the City. Guards ensured that lepers and vagabonds were prevented from passing.

There was quite a long distance between the old gates in the wall. With a conurbation that extended beyond the old city, the wall became an inconvenience for those wishing to pass to and from points between the gates. Postern gates were therefore created at several locations for pedestrians.