14 Facts About Bishopsgate

1.

Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall.

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2.

Bishopsgate Without gained a significant part of Shoreditch from the London Borough of Hackney, while nearly all of Bishopsgate Within was transferred to other wards.

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3.

Bishopsgate is the name of part of the originally Roman Ermine Street within the traditional extent of the Ward.

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4.

One of the ward's ancient churches, St Ethelburga-the-Virgin within Bishopsgate, is dedicated to Eorconwald's sister, St Ethelburga of Barking, the first Abbess of Barking Abbey.

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5.

Bishopsgate was set on fire and the attackers came close to capturing nearby Aldgate and with it the City.

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6.

Bishopsgate Without was, from 1247 to 1633, the first home of the Bethlem Royal Hospital.

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7.

At this time Bishopsgate Without lost a small block of buildings east Blomfield Street to the Broad Street ward.

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8.

Bishopsgate is one of 25 wards in the City of London, each electing an Alderman to the Court of Aldermen, and Commoners to the Court of Common Council of the City of London Corporation.

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9.

Bishopsgate is only the third non-white Alderman in the city's hundreds of years of history, the first British-Bangladeshi ever to hold the office, and the youngest ever elected to the Court of Alderman.

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10.

Street called Bishopsgate, which takes its name from the Gate, is the main thoroughfare of the Ward.

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11.

The primary purpose of Wards like Bishopsgate, which included a gate, appears to be the defence of the gate, as gates were the weakest points in any fortification.

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12.

Bishopsgate had many coaching inns which accommodated passengers setting out on the Old North Road.

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13.

The 17th century facade of Sir Paul Pindar's House on Bishopsgate, demolished to make way for Liverpool Street railway station in 1890, was preserved and can now be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

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14.

Southernmost portion of Bishopsgate pictured in 1955, looking north toward the National Provincial Bank.

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