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London City Wall

In the civil parish of City Of London.
In the historic county of London and Middlesex.
Modern Authority of City and County of the City of London.
1974 county of Greater London.
Medieval County of City of London.

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ33618075
Latitude 51.50988° Longitude -0.07605°

London City Wall has been described as a certain Urban Defence.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

London Wall, as it is known, comprises remains of a stretch of the Roman wall which once formed part of the eastern defences of Roman Londinium. The wall defined the shape and size of London for over a millennium. Built in around AD 200, this is the best preserved stretch of the wall, although the upper part is medieval rebuilding. It is located on the east side of Trinity Place. The clearance of modern ruins, down to basement level, uncovered the Roman wall with its courses of bonding tiles. At one point a considerable amount of the internal Roman face has survived, consisting of six courses of squared ragstone above a triple bonding-course of tiles; then comes a double bonding-course, above which are five more courses of squared ragstone. An engraving of 1852 shows the external face, with plinth, several courses of squared ragstone and the bonding-course of brick. The overall length of wall displayed (including the medieval rebuilding) is about 38 metres, up to a height of nearly 11 metres.
The lower, Roman, part of the wall had an inner rampart and external ditch. The foundations of a Roman turret have been identified in this section, although these are no longer visible. The turret probably contained a staircase providing access to a sentry walk. The height of the Roman wall was approximately 6.4 metres. During the medieval period the wall was repaired and raised further in height. From the 17th century it fell into disuse and parts were demolished. However this section was preserved by being incorporated into later buildings. This accounts for the lack of facing on the south of the outer wall face. An interpretation panel marks the findspot of the famous inscription to Classicianus, Procurator after the Boudiccan revolt, circa 65 AD. The wall is in the care of English Heritage. (PastScape)
Comments

Roman wall strengthened by Alfred the Great and given major overhaul around 1200, had at least 22 semi-circular flanking bastion and six main gates. A few short sections remain at Tower Hill and the Barbican (which includes a bastion). Murage, first received in 1233 continued until early C14, it was preceded by gifts of money. Murage charged on goods sold in market at rates specified for various goods and 1d for the value of 20s for unnamed merchandise (0.417% - although this was a surtax and other taxes were also payable)
Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

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Sources of information, references and further reading
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The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.
The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.
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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
This record last updated 26/07/2017 09:21:01

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