London Wall
London Wall is the strategic city wall that the Romans built around Londinium to protect the city that had the important port on the Thames . Until the late Middle Ages, these city walls formed the borders of London . Today London Wall is also the name of a street that runs along a section of the city wall that still exists.
Construction of the Roman wall
The wall was built at the end of the second or beginning of the third century, probably between 190 and 225, probably between 200 and 220. It was thus built around eighty years after the fortress was built in 120, the northern and western walls of which were reinforced and in the Height doubled to form part of the new city wall. The plant was expanded at least until the end of the fourth century. It is one of the last major building projects by the Romans before they withdrew from Britain in 410.
The exact reason for the construction of the wall is not known, but is likely to be related to the incursion of the Picts into northern Britain, who overran Hadrian's Wall in the 180s . However, some historians associate the building with a political crisis that emerged in the 190s when two men - Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus - both laid claim to the right of ruler. The wall could therefore have been built on the orders of Albinus, who may have seen the protection of his capital as a necessity because of the power struggle with his rival. Septimius defeated his rival in 197.
Along with Hadrian's Wall and the road network, the wall was one of the largest construction projects during the Roman presence in Britain. The wall was largely made of stones brought to Londinium by water from the area of what is now Maidstone . It has been calculated that it took more than 1,300 boat trips to bring about 85,000 tons of these stones from Kent . The length of the wall was a little less than five kilometers, it included an area of 130 hectares . They were two to three meters thick and about six meters high. On the outside ran a trench two meters deep and three to five meters wide. At least 22 bastions at a distance of around 65 meters were located in the eastern part of the wall. In the western part of the wall, like the well-preserved example at the Barbican Estate , next to the church of St Giles-without-Cripplegate , the bastions were not added until the 13th century.
The construction of the wall and Septimius' campaign to conquer Scotland at the beginning of the 3rd century brought an economic boost to Londinium. In the second half of the 3rd century Londinium was plundered several times by Saxons . Therefore, around 280 the construction of a city wall on the river side began.
City gates
The city wall had a series of city gates that provided access from within the city walls to the major Roman roads that linked Londinium to other cities in Britain. Clockwise from west to east followed Ludgate , Newgate , Cripplegate , Bishopsgate and Aldgate . Aldersgate between Newgate and Cripplegate was added around 350 and Moorgate between Cripplegate and Bishopsgate was added even later, in the Middle Ages. Thus, London later had seven city gates. Some of these city gates, which have not existed for a long time, are still present today through the naming of streets or city districts. Due to the rapid growth of the city, the number of city gates was increased in the Middle Ages to accommodate the increasing traffic. The walls were also reinforced and partly built on top of them.
The boundaries of the City of London ceased to align with the old city walls when the city expanded its jurisdiction in the Middle Ages, particularly westward beyond the River Fleet - along what is now Fleet Street to Temple Bar . The City also included the other settlement areas up to the local barriers outside the London Wall, such as Holborn, Aldersgate, Bishopsgate and Aldgate. These districts became important gateways into the city and their control was necessary to maintain the city's special privileges over certain commercial goods.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Ross, Clark: London. The Illustrated History. 2008, p. 47.
- ^ Chapman, Hall, Marsh: The London Wall Walk. 1986, pp. 15-17.
literature
- Hugh Chapman, Jenny Hall, Geoffrey Marsh: The London Wall Walk. Museum of London, London 1986, ISBN 0-904818-13-6 .
- Cathy Ross, John Clark: London. The Illustrated History. Allen Lane, London et al. 2008, ISBN 978-1-84614-125-6 .
- Al Smith: Dictionary of City of London Street Names. David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1970, ISBN 0-7153-4880-9 .