Ludgate Hill
Names
- Ludgate Hill
- Flete Strete
- Ludgate Street
- Flete hyll
Street/Area/District
- Ludgate Hill
Maps & Views
- 1553-9 London ("Agas Map" ca. 1633): Flete hyll
- 1560 London (Jansson, 1657): Ludgate Hill
- 1593 London (Norden, 1653 - British Library): Ludgate Hill
- 1593 London (Norden, 1653 - Folger): Ludgate Hill
- 1666 London after the fire (Bowen, 1772): Ludgate Hill
- 1666 London after the fire (Hollar & Leake, 1669?): Ludgate Street
- 1677 A Large and Accurate Map of the City of London (Ogilby & Morgan): Ludgate Hill
- 1720 London (Strype): Ludgate Hill
- 1736 London (Moll & Bowles): Ludgate Hill
- 1761 London (Dodsley): Ludgate Hill
- 1799 London (Horwood): Ludgate Hill
Descriptions
from A Dictionary of London, by Henry Harben (1918)
Ludgate Hill
West from St. Paul's Churchyard to Ludgate Circus (P.O. Directory). In Castle Baynard Ward, Farringdon Ward Within and Farringdon Ward Without.
First mention: Temp. Eliz. (Proc. in Chancery II. 232, and S. 393).
Former names: "Flete strete"—from Ludgate to Flete bridge, 1274 (Ct. H.W. I. 19). "Ludgate Street" (q.v.)—from Old Bailey to St. Paul's (Leake, 1666, Weller's map, 1861).
Widened in 1864 at the time of the formation of Ludgate Circus, and again in 1893, from 47 to 60 ft., at a cost of about £200,000.
See Bowyer Row.
from Lockie's Topography of London, by John Lockie (1810)
Ludgate-Hill,—at the S. end of Fleet-market, or the E. continuation of Fleet-st. it extends to St. Martin's church.
from A Topographical Dictionary of London and Its Environs, by James Elmes (1831)
Ludgate-Hill, Blackfriars, is at the south end of Farringdon-street, in a line with Fleet-street. It extends eastward to St. Martin's church.
from London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions, by Henry Benjamin Wheatley and Peter Cunningham (1891)
Ludgate Hill and Ludgate Street, portions of the main artery of London leading from Fleet Street to St Paul's: the latter term is now abolished, and it is named Ludgate Hill throughout. The hill extended from Fleet Street to the site of old Ludgate, and the street thence to St Paul's churchyard. The old name for the street was Bowyer Row. [See Ludgate.] The hill was often called Paul's. On March 24, 1603, the day of Elizabeth's death, Manningham the Diarist says, "The Lord Hunsdon was in Paule's Hill beyond Ludgate to attend the Proclamation."
Betwixt the south end of Ave Mary Lane and the north end of Creed Lane is Bowyer Row, of bowyers dwelling there, now worn out by mercers and others.—Stow, p. 127.
Observe.—Church of St. Martin's, Ludgate, on the north side; and on the south side, in St. Martin's Court, one of the few remaining fragments of London Wall. On the south side was Everington and Graham's magnificent shawl shop; and on the north side, at the sign of the Golden Fish, was Rundle and Bridge's, the great jewellers, gold- smiths, and silversmiths, two of the most distinctive of the London shops of the past half century. Both are gone, and in losing them Ludgate Hill lost something of its dignity of character, which has not been altogether supplied by the costly new shops and offices on both sides of the way. On the north side also was the Bell Savage Inn (see that title), and, by No. 28, is Stationers' Hall Court, leading to Stationers' Hall. The Dog Tavern, and the St. John's Head, in the olden times a tavern of very great note, have quite disappeared.
June 1620.—Certificate that Edm. Jeakell's shop, next the west gate of St. Paul's was not pulled down when the King visited the Church, but that, not having time to decorate it, he was compelled to drive in the fore part of it.—Cal. State Pap., 1619–1623, p. 158.
Evelyn writing to Sir Thomas Browne, January 28, 1658, says:
"Your letters will infallibly find me by this addresse, 'For Mr. John Evelyn at the Hauk and Feasant on Ludgate Hill, London,'"1 and in April 1659 we find him, in writing to Robert Boyle, still asking for letters to be addressed to him at "the Hauk and Feasant upon Ludgate Hill, at one Mr. Saunders, a woollen draper."2
In the 17th century Ludgate Hill was a fashionable place for ladies shopping. In 1657 the Lady Ann Hambleton (Mrs. Carnegy) and Mrs. Barbara Villiers write to the second Earl of Chesterfield:—
My Lord—My freind and I are just now abed together, contriving how to have your company this afternoon. If you deserve this favour, you will come and seek us at Ludgate Hill, about three a clock, at Butler's shop, where we will expect you.—Chesterfield Letters, p. 88.
At the top of Ludgate Hill, and in front of the Bishop of London's palace [see London House], Digby, R. Winter, Grant, and Bates were executed, January 30, 1606, for their participation in the Gunpowder Plot. The views from Ludgate Hill, looking down the busy thoroughfare of Fleet Street, and from the lower part upwards with the tower of St. Martin's and the west front and dome of St. Paul's were exceedingly interesting and picturesque, but have been greatly destroyed by the erection of the bridge which carries the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway across the hill foot.