Defensive wall built around London
The London Wall is a defensive wall first built by the Romans around the strategically important port town of Londinium in c. AD 200, as well as the name of a modern street in the City of London, England.
Roman London was, from around 120–150, protected by a large fort, with a large garrison, that stood to its north-western side. The fort, now referred to as the "Cripplegate Fort", was later incorporated into a comprehensive city-wide defence, with its strengthened northern and western sides becoming part of the Wall which was built around 200. The incorporation of the fort's walls gave the walled area its distinctive shape in the north-west part of the city.
The end of Roman rule in Britain, around 410, led to the wall falling into disrepair. It was restored in the late Anglo-Saxon period, a process generally thought to have begun under Alfred the Great after 886. Repairs and enhancements continued throughout the medieval period. The wall largely defined the boundaries of the City of London until the later Middle Ages, when population rises and the development of towns around the city blurred the perimeter.
From the 18th century onward, the expansion of the City of London saw large parts of the wall demolished, including its city gates, to improve traffic flow. Since the Second World War, conservation efforts have helped to preserve surviving sections of the city wall as scheduled monuments.
The long presence of the walls has had a profound and continuing effect on the character of the City of London, and surrounding areas. The walls constrained the growth of the city, and the location of the limited number of gates and the route of the roads through them shaped development within the walls, and more fundamentally, beyond them. With few exceptions, the modern roads heading into the former walled area are the same as those which passed through the former medieval gates.
History.
Roman London Wall.
It has origins as an initial mound wall and ditch from c. AD 100 and a fort, now called Cripplegate fort after the city gate (Cripplegate) that was subsequently built on its northern wall later on, in 120–150
The fort was later incorporated into a city-wide defence in the late 2nd or early 3rd century AD, though the reason for such a large and expensive fortification is unknown. The fort's north and west walls were thickened and doubled in height to form part of the new city wall. The incorporation of the fort's walls gave the walled area its distinctive shape in the north-west part of the city.
It continued to be developed until at least the end of the 4th century, making it among the last major building projects undertaken by the Romans before the Roman departure from Britain in 410. Reasons for its construction may have been connected to the invasion of northern Britain by Picts who overran Hadrian's Wall in the 180s. This may be linked to the political crisis that emerged in the late 2nd century when the governor of Britain Clodius Albinus was consolidating his power after claiming the right of succession as Roman emperor. After a struggle with his rival Septimius Severus, Albinus was defeated in 197 at the Battle of Lugdunum (near Lyon, France). The economic stimulus provided by the wall and Septimius's subsequent campaigns in Scotland improved Londinium's financial prosperity in the early 3rd century.
Roman London wall characteristics.
The wall's gateways coincided with their alignment to the British network of Roman roads. The original gates, clockwise from Ludgate in the west to Aldgate in the east, were: Ludgate, Newgate, Cripplegate, Bishopsgate and Aldgate. Aldersgate, between Newgate and Cripplegate, was added around 350. Moorgate, initially just a postern i.e. a secondary gate, was built later still, in the medieval period.
The length and size of the wall made it one of the biggest construction projects in Roman Britain. It had gateways, towers and defensive ditches, and was built from Kentish ragstone, which was brought by barge from quarries near Maidstone. It was long, enclosing an area of about . It was wide and up to high. The ditch or "fossa" in front of the outer wall was deep and up to wide. There were at least 22 towers spaced about apart on the eastern section of the wall.
Roman Thamesside wall.
Excavation work has traced a significant development of of timber-framed waterfronts to the east and west of the modern site of London Bridge, with a piece of wooden bridge found at the end of Fish Street Hill. The constructions advancing around into the River Thames took place between the late 1st and mid-3rd centuries, highlighting that between these periods no wall stood against the river.
After Londinium was raided on several occasions by Saxon pirates in the late 3rd century, construction of an additional riverside wall, built in phases, began in 280 and was repaired c. 390. The existence of this riverside section was long doubted due to a lack of evidence, but excavations at the Tower of London in 1977 showed that the section of the inner curtain wall between the Lanthorne and Wakefield Towers, to the south of the White Tower, was originally the eastern part of the Roman riverside wall that was built or rebuilt in the late 4th century. The riverside wall may have limited access to the Thames, both commercial and otherwise, so it may have reflected a diminished level of activity within the city.
It is not clear how long the riverside wall survived, but there are references to a part of it near the dock of Queenhithe, in two charters of 889 and 898. There is currently no evidence of post-Roman restoration, so surviving sections are not likely to have been part, or an important part, of defences much after the Roman period.
Post-Roman disrepair.
The end of Roman rule in Britain in c. 410 resulted in the wall slowly falling into disrepair, though the survival of Romano-British culture in the area is indicated by the settlement in the nearby St Martin-in-the-Fields area of Westminster, which persisted until around 450.
The "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" notes that the Romano-British retreated back to London after their bloody defeat at the Battle of Crecganford (Crayford, Kent) at the hands of Hengist and Horsa, leaders of the Saxon invaders, in 457. This suggests that London's walls retained some military value, although the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" was written many centuries after the Battle of Crayford took place, if it took place at all.
Anglo-Saxon London Wall.
Anglo-Saxon city revival.
From c. 500, an Anglo-Saxon settlement known as Lundenwic developed in the same area slightly to the west of the abandoned Roman city, in the vicinity of the Strand.
In 886 the King of Wessex, Alfred the Great, formally agreed to the terms of the Danish warlord, Guthrum, concerning the area of political and geographical control that had been acquired by the incursion of the Vikings. Within the eastern and northern part of England, with its boundary roughly stretching from London to Chester, the Scandinavians would establish Danelaw.
Anglo-Saxon London Wall restoration.
In the same year, the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" recorded that London was "refounded" by Alfred. Archaeological research shows that this involved abandonment of Lundenwic and a revival of life and trade within the old Roman walls. This was part Alfred's policy of building an in-depth defence of the Kingdom of Wessex against the Vikings as well as creating an offensive strategy against the Vikings who controlled Mercia. The burh of Southwark was also created on the south bank of the River Thames during this time.
The city walls of London were repaired as the city slowly grew until about 950 when urban activity increased dramatically. A large Viking army that attacked the London burgh was defeated in 994.
Medieval London Wall.
By the 11th century, London was beyond all comparison the largest town in England. Old St Paul's Cathedral, rebuilt in the Romanesque style by King William the Conqueror and his successors, was on its completion one of the longest churches in Europe. Winchester had previously been the capital of Anglo-Saxon England, but from this time on, London was the main forum for foreign traders and the base for defence in time of war. In the view of Frank Stenton: "It had the resources, and it was rapidly developing the dignity and the political self-consciousness appropriate to a national capital."
Medieval London Wall restoration.
The size and importance of London led to the redevelopment of the city's defences. During the early medieval period – following the Norman Conquest of England – the walls underwent substantial work that included crenellations, additional gates and further towers and bastions. Aside from the seven City Wall gates and the four bars, there are the 13 water-gates on the Thames where goods were unloaded from ships. These include Billingsgate and Bridge Gate. Additionally there were pedestrian-only gates such as the Tower Hill Postern at Tower Hill.
A further medieval defensive feature was the restoration of the defensive ditch immediately adjacent to the outside of the wall. The street name Houndsditch recalls a part of this former feature. This seems to have been re-cut in 1213, with the restored ditch being V-cut to a depth of 6 feet and a width of between 9 and 15 feet.
The re-cut of the ditch may have diverted some of the waters of the Walbrook which would otherwise have flowed through the city, and the wall itself does appear to have acted like a dam, partially obstructing the Walbrook and leading to the marshy conditions at the open space of Moorfields, just north of the wall.
As London continued to grow throughout the medieval period, urban development grew beyond the city walls. This expansion led to the suffix words "Without" and "Within" which denote whether an area of the City – and usually applied to the wards – fell outside or within the London Wall, though only Farringdon and (formerly) Bridge were split into separate wards this way (Bridge Without falling beyond the gates on London Bridge). Some wards – Aldersgate, Bishopsgate and Cripplegate – cover an area that was both within and outside the wall; although not split into separate wards, often the part (or "division") within the Wall is denoted (on maps, in documents, etc.) as being "within" and the part outside the Wall as being "without". Archaically "infra" (within) and "extra" (without) were also used and the terms "intramural" and "extramural" are also used to describe being within or outside the walled part of the city.
The suffix is applied to some churches and parishes near the city gateways, such as St Audoen within Newgate and St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate.
Blackfriars extension.
Edward I gave the Dominican Friars (or Black Friars) permission to demolish and re-route the section of City wall between Ludgate and the Thames. They did this in stages between 1284 and 1320, extending the walled area as far as the River Fleet so that it enclosed their precinct. The westward extension is likely to have improved the defensibility of Ludgate.
The Wall and the developed area.
In the medieval period the developed area of the city was largely confined to the City Wall, but there was extramural development, especially in the large western ward of Farringdon Without. The wall provided security but was a constraint to accessibility and growth. The extent of the city's jurisdiction has changed little from 1000 to the modern day; but the extramural parts were long home to only a few people. A notable late change to the boundary appears to be that Stow's Survey of London suggests that the part of Moorfields next to the wall was still, in 1603, outside the city's jurisdiction.
The boundary of the city's jurisdiction was marked by "city bars", toll gates which were situated just beyond the old walled area; Holborn Bar, Temple Bar, West Smithfield Bar, and Whitechapel Bar. These were the important entrances to the city and their control was vital in maintaining the city's special privileges over certain trades.
Great Fire of London.
During the Great Fire of London in September 1666, almost all of the medieval City of London inside the wall was destroyed, but the wall and gates survived.
Demolition.
The seven gates to the City of London, with many repairs and rebuilding over the years, stood until they were all demolished between 1760 and 1767. Work to demolish the walls continued into the 19th century; however, large sections of the wall were incorporated into other structures.
20th century