The London Wall was the landward defensive circuit of Roman Londinium, constructed in Kentish ragstone around AD 190–225, likely under the governorship of Clodius Albinus or shortly thereafter. Enclosing roughly 134 hectares, it ran some 3.2 km on the landward side (with an additional riverside wall added in the late 3rd or 4th century), stood approximately 6 m high with an earthen bank behind, and was pierced by the principal gates at Ludgate, Newgate, Aldersgate, Bishopsgate, and Aldgate, with the earlier Cripplegate fort gate incorporated at the northwest angle.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The wall made Londinium one of the largest walled circuits in the northwestern provinces and reflected the city's status as provincial capital and, after the Diocletianic reforms, capital of Britannia Superior and later Maxima Caesariensis. External polygonal bastions added in the later 4th century mark its continued strategic importance amid growing insecurity in late Roman Britain.
Substantial upstanding sections survive, notably at Tower Hill, Cooper's Row, and the Barbican (where it overlies the earlier Cripplegate fort, c. AD 120), and excavations have recovered the characteristic plinth, sandstone bonding courses, and tile bands. Finds from bastion fills include reused funerary sculpture such as the tombstone of the procurator
The London Wall was the landward defensive circuit of Roman Londinium, constructed in Kentish ragstone around AD 190–225, likely under the governorship of Clodius Albinus or shortly thereafter. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a city wall site from the Roman period in Britain.
London Wall is classified as a Roman city wall — a military site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Billingsgate Roman House and Baths (0.3 km), The Roman riverside wall and wharves at Sugar Quay (0.4 km), London Wall: remains of Roman wall and bastion (4a) at Crutched Friars (0.4 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
Aubrey Research generates detailed historical reports for any location in Britain, incorporating Roman heritage, Domesday Book records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and much more. Enter a nearby address to begin.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any address in Britain — drawing on Roman heritage, Domesday records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and medieval history to reveal the complete story of a landscape.
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