My ‘culture’ gig this week was all about ‘Gates’….not Bill or Gareth, but London’s historical ‘gates’ to the City.
My challenge was to find and photograph the actual locations of these ‘gates’ which date all the way back to Roman times, when a wall encircled the entire City.
The main gates of London were:-……
* Aldgate – where the road led out to Colchester and Essex
* Bishopsgate – where the road led out to Cambridge
* Cripplegate – where to road led out to the north
* Aldersgate – where the road led out to the market at Smithfield, and more importantly, St. Bartholomew Abbey
* Newgate – where the road led out to Oxford and the west.
* Ludgate – where the road led out to Bath and the south west
These gates helped control:- trade – access – the collection of taxes – and even crime prevention, as the heads of executed ‘villains’ were displayed on spikes as a deterrent to anyone who fancied their chances 
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These gates lasted right up until 1760, at which time most had been destroyed to facilitate the rapidly increasing population and necessary road widening.
Throughout my ‘quest’ I also sought out various sections of the old Roman ‘wall’ still in existence 
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As is customary, I finished off this gig with a cheeky beer at the Magpie pub, a little boozer tucked away in the back streets of Bishopsgate
The actual spot where Newgate stood – on the corner of Newgate St and Old Bailey
The corner of Newgate St and Old Bailey, where the actual Newgate stood. It’s interesting to note the complete change of ‘postcode’ from one edge of the corner to the other
A plaque depicting the original location of Cripplegate
The actual site where ‘Aldersgate’ was situated – an extremely busy gate, as it led ‘traffic’ towards the main Smithfield market and more importantly, in the direction of St.Bartholomew Abbey
Where “Ludgate” stood – where the road led out towards the River Fleet, which was the site of an important Roman burial ground
St Botolphs-without-Bishopsgate – the site of Bishopsgate
A statue of a bishops mitre positioned high up on a wall of a building, depicting exactly where the original Bishopsgate stood
St.Botolphs-without-Aldgate church – on the corner of where “Aldgate” stood
Dukes Place – roughly the location of where the “Aldgate” stood
Another old plaque embedded into a relic from the old city walls
A turret from the original Roman wall – can be found at the Barbican
Another well preserved section of the Wall – tucked away in the back streets of the Barbican
An old plaque embedded into more recent wall construction – evidencing where one of the boundaries stood
Another well preserved section of the Wall – tucked away in the back streets of the Barbican
Another well preserved section of the Wall – tucked away in the back streets of the Barbican
Another section of the Wall – opposite the Tower of London
A well preserved section of the Wall – tucked away at the back of Tower Hill
An ageing ‘centurion’ leaning up against the wall
The ‘Magpie’ pub – tucked away in a small back street in Bishopsgate……
A weary explorer necking a cheeky lager in The Magpie pub, before heading off back home
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