A Roman Wall in central London

I always enjoy chatting with our docents. They always manage to highlight a different aspect of the city we work in.
Whether the Drawing cabinet of the British Museum or the hidden culinary spots in central London, there is always a lot to learn. Recently I sat down with Michael Mulryan. Michael, PhD in Ancient History, specializes in late antique Rome but is interested in ancient and medieval urbanism in general, and the transition between the two.

Michael told me about remains of the Roman wall that can be found in a garage by the Museum of London! I asked him to put together a mini guide to find the Roman wall in London. Here it is:

Little remains of London’s Roman past, but the city’s Roman wall is one of the few visible reminders of London’s ancient origins. The wall was built in the late 2nd to early 3rd c. AD in response to Saxon raids on the east coast, which occasionally penetrated down the Thames. The wall also operated as a convenient way of controlling who went into and out of the city. It had 6 gates , all of which can still be detected in London today by their medieval place names, although all the gates have now disappeared.

The Roman wall began at Blackfriars railway station and working clockwise we encounter: 1) Ludgate, just west of St. Paul’s 2) Newgate at the end of Newgate street, the area giving its name to a medieval prison that was originally built within the Roman gate 3) the wall now runs north-east and comes to Aldersgate, which lay at the junction of Aldersgate Street and Gresham Street and was not far from the early Roman fort that was built here and later incorporated into the wall 4) the wall runs north again before turning east at Crippelgate which lay at the northern end of Wood Street, where the church of St. Giles-without- (or outside) Crippelgate lies just to the north 5) running east along the road London Wall we come to Bishopsgate, near to Liverpool Street railway station, the road on which it lies being named after the gate and finally 6) running south-east past The Gherkin tower the wall hits Aldgate, the road name and underground station here being reminders of its existence on this spot. The wall then continues south, going past Tower Hill underground station and alongside the later Norman White Tower in the Tower of London complex before it hits the river again. A seaward wall was built in the 4th c. and the wall continued to be added to and redeveloped well into the medieval period.

It is this continued usage that explains why the names of the gates are still seen in road and area names today and why large parts of it survive in certain parts of the city. Most of these remains are the medieval additions, but some of the original Roman wall can be seen in places.

The most well known bit of surviving wall lies outside Tower Hill station by a replica statue of the emperor Trajan. Most of these remains are medieval, but the neat coursing at the bottom, interspersed with narrow lines of thin red bricks, is Roman. More can be seen in the underpass that leads from the station to the Tower of London. The best preserved part of the wall, however, lies hidden just a few hundred yards up the road. Walk along Coopers Row for a minute or so and turning right into a hotel courtyard you will see a large part of the wall, almost at its full medieval height, where the remains of an interior staircase and windows can be seen. Right at the bottom there is the characteristic Roman coursing and thin red bricks, better seen in fact from the other side, or from outside the city! The other well preserved element of the wall is its north-western corner, between Crippelgate and Aldersgate, which included the earlier fort.

Much of the wall can be seen above ground in the area of the Museum of London, including a medieval bastion that lay at the walls north-western extremity. More of the original Roman wall can be seen in this area, however, within the incongruous surroundings of the underground car park that lies on London Wall and near to Noble Street. Here, now locked away but occasionally opened, you can also see the remains of a previously unknown gate, known as the Westgate, that was situated on this spot that led out of the fort into the surrounding countryside. It was demolished and a medieval inn was built where it lay so, unlike the other gates, the memory of its existence faded away. Such is the fickleness of history.

The Roman wall continued to be used as a defensive measure until the 17th c. when it still demarcated the boundaries of London. With the growth of London beyond the walls from that period and the increase in wheeled traffic, the wall and its gates became superfluous, the gates being demolished between 1760-2. Parts of the wall were used for new buildings or incorporated within them. Further parts of the wall were destroyed during the Blitz in 1940-1, but what remains is still a fitting testimony to London’s founders.

Our Portrait of a City walk covers some parts of this itinerary.

2 Comments »

1. Very cool. I will keep my eyes peeled in next time I am in London.

   Comment by Megan — January 12, 2010 @ 4:48 am

2. London is a multitude of layers, you’ve peaked my curiosity! You can see parts of the old Philippe Auguste wall in Paris, maybe I should write about that?

   Comment by Lily — January 14, 2010 @ 9:07 am

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