This site preserves a section of the Roman city wall of Londinium with later medieval refacing and added bastions, lying on the northern circuit just west and north of Monkwell Square in the Cripplegate area. The Roman wall was built c. AD 200, incorporating the earlier Cripplegate fort (c. AD 120) whose west and north walls were thickened to form part of the city defences, enclosing roughly 134 hectares.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As part of Londinium's landward defensive circuit, this stretch is particularly important because it shows the unusual junction where the pre-existing auxiliary fort was absorbed into the later city wall, creating the distinctive north-western salient still visible in the City's street plan.
Excavations by W. F. Grimes after WWII bomb damage (1947–1962) exposed the doubled wall thickness marking the fort's incorporation, with internal turrets and a sandstone plinth, while the visible bastions (e.g. Bastion 14 area) are largely medieval additions on Roman foundations, often reusing monumental masonry. The upstanding fabric combines Roman ragstone courses with bonding tile and later medieval rebuilds in chalk and rubble.
This site preserves a section of the Roman city wall of Londinium with later medieval refacing and added bastions, lying on the northern circuit just west and north of Monkwell Square in the Cripplegate area. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a site site from the Roman period in Britain.
London Wall: section of Roman and medieval wall and bastions, west and north of Monkwell Square is classified as a Roman site — a civilian 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 London Wall: site of the Roman and medieval gateway of Cripple Gate (0.1 km), London Wall: the west gate of Cripplegate fort and a section of Roman wall in London Wall underground car park, adjacent to Noble Street (0.1 km), London Wall: section of Roman and medieval wall at St Alphage Garden, incorporating remains of St Alphage's Church (0.1 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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Research the area around London Wall: section of Roman and medieval wall and bastions, west and north of Monkwell Square