London Wall

About London Wall

Ancient defensive wall built by the Romans around Londinium

The London Wall is a defensive wall first built by the Romans around AD 200 around the strategically important port town of Londinium on the Thames, and also the name of a modern street in the City of London that follows part of the old wall's line. Roman London was protected from around 120–150 by a large fort on its north-western side, now known as the Cripplegate Fort, which was later incorporated into a comprehensive city-wide defence, its strengthened northern and western sides becoming part of the wall built around 200 and giving the walled area its distinctive shape in the north-west. After the end of Roman rule in Britain around 410 the wall fell into disrepair; it was restored in the late Anglo-Saxon period under Alfred the Great after 886, and repairs and enhancements continued throughout the medieval period, so that the wall largely defined the boundaries of the City until the later Middle Ages, when population growth and the development of surrounding settlements blurred the perimeter. From the 18th century large parts of the wall and its gates were demolished to improve traffic flow, and since the Second World War conservation efforts have preserved the surviving sections as scheduled monuments. The most striking remains stand near the Tower of London in Tower Hill gardens, a tall Roman section with a statue of the Emperor Trajan, with further stretches around the Barbican estate and the old Museum of London, mostly Tudor because of later maintenance, the remains of the Cripplegate Fort in Noble Street and the ruined church of St Alphage. The long presence of the wall has had a profound and continuing effect on the character of the City and its surroundings.

Where:

London, United Kingdom