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Cripplegate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cripplegate was a gate in London Wall and a name for the region of the City of London outside the gate. It was almost destroyed by bombing in World War II and today is the site of the Barbican Estate and Barbican Centre. The name is preserved in the church of St Giles Cripplegate, and in the Cripplegate ward of the City. A street named Cripplegate lies slightly to the north of the sight of the wall.
During the World War II the Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population of the City stood at only 5,324 of whom 48 lived in Cripplegate.
Cripplegate stood at the northern end of what is now Wood Street at the junction of St Alphage Gardens. It was already in place when the City Wall was built, as it was the northern gate of a Roman fort which was built 120 AD. The northern and western walls formed part of the new wall, although these defences were completely rebuilt in early medieval times. Like a number of its sister gates, it was used as a prison for part of its life, being leased for accommodation at other times.
The gate gave access to a substantial medieval suburb and to the village of Islington. Extra defensive works on the northern site outside the gate gave rise to the name 'barbican' (or outer fortification of the City), which was then taken as the name for the post World War 2 rebuilding of the area. It originally only led into the fort and became a gate into the City when the fort was demolished.
In 1244 it was rebuilt by the Brewers Company, and then rebuilt again in 1491, had alterations in 1663 and when it was finally demolished in 1760 so that the street could be widened. The materials were sold to a local carpenter for the princely sum of £91.
The name of the gate has obscure origins. It could be that it is so-called because of the cripples who used to beg there, which is unsubstantiated. The body of St Edmund the Martyr was said to have been carried through it in 1010 on its way from Bury St Edmunds to St Gregory's church to save it from the Danes. Lydgate, a monk of Bury, claimed that the body cured many lame peasants as it passed through the gate. Alternatively 'Cripplegate' could be an Anglo-Saxon term - crepel - which means a covered way/underground passage.
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Aldersgate • Aldgate • Bassishaw • Billingsgate • Bishopsgate • Bread Street • Bridge • Broad Street • Candlewick • Castle Baynard • Cheap • Cordwainer • Cornhill • Cripplegate • Dowgate • Farringdon Within • Farringdon Without • Langbourn • Lime Street • Portsoken • Queenhithe • Tower • Vintry • Walbrook