Aldersgate was not thrown open as a highway. Bishopsgate received the traffic from the north; Aldgate from the east; Newgate from the west; and Bridge Gate from the south. Aldersgate simply opened upon the moor beyond which was the great forest. It became necessary to have this gate for access to Smithfield, when that place began to be used as a market for horses and cattle; as the City playground, and as the site of races, wrestling matches, and archery practice. It was also, later, used as a place of execution; and it was partly occupied by religious houses.
Stow’s derivation from the “Elder” or “Older” gate is too far-fetched. It is named probably from one Ealdered, its earliest name being “Aldredesgate.” It is mentioned in a deed witnessed by Henry of London Stone, Mayor of London. In 1274 John Blackthorn is alderman of this ward, but in 1115 there is found in the documents of St. Paul’s a Warda Brickmarii Montlarii, Ward of Brickman, the Moneyer, which is probably Aldersgate.
Stow says of it:
“This is the fourth principal gate and hath at sundry times been increased with buildings, namely, on the south, or inner side, a great frame of timber hath been added, and set up, containing divers large rooms and lodgings; also on the east side is the addition of one great building of timber, with one large floor, paved with stone or tile, and a well therein curbed with stone, of a great depth, and rising into the said room, two stories high from the ground; which well is the only peculiar note belonging to that gate, for I have not seen the like in all this City to be raised so high” (Stow).
“The gate described by Stow was taken down in 1617, and rebuilt the same year from a design by Gerard Christmas, the architect, as Vertue thought, of old Northumberland House. On the outer front was a figure in high relief of James I. on horseback, with the prophets Jeremiah and Samuel in niches on each side; on the inner or City front an effigy of the King in his chair of state. King James, on his way to take possession of his new dominions, entered London by the old gate; the new gate referred to this circumstance, with suitable quotations from Jeremiah and Samuel placed beneath the figures of the two prophets. The heads of several of the regicides were set on this gate, which suffered by the Great Fire, but was soon after repaired and ‘beautified.’ The whole fabric was sold on the 22nd of April, 1761, and immediately taken down. I may add that it is written Aldrichgate in the London Chronicle of Edward IV.’s time, printed by Sir Harris Nicholas; and that John Day, the printer of Queen Elizabeth’s time, dwelt ‘over Aldersgate,’ much in the same manner as Cave subsequently did at St. John’s” (Cunningham).
Milton took a “pretty garden-house” in Aldersgate Street on his return from his foreign tour.
ST. BOTOLPH, ALDERSGATE
This church is opposite the General Post Office, at the corner of Little Britain. The building was repaired in 1627, but was damaged by the Great Fire. It was pulled down in 1754, when the present church was erected. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1333.
The patronage of the church was in the hands of: The Dean of St. Martin-le-Grand, as a Rectory, 1333; the Dean and Canons of St. Martin-le-Grand, as a Donative or Curacy, united to St. Martin’s December 18, 1399; the Abbot and Convent of Westminster; the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, who are still the patrons.
Houseling people in 1548 were 1100.