Coleman Street Ward

Last updated

Ward of Coleman Street
Ward Coleman Street plaque London.jpg
A ward plaque, with a cock, the emblem of Coleman Street Ward.
City of London, Ward of Coleman Street.svg
Location within the City, using post 2003 boundaries
Greater London UK location map 2.svg
Red pog.svg
Ward of Coleman Street
Location within Greater London
OS grid reference TQ328815
Sui generis
Administrative area Greater London
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town London
Postcode district EC4
Dialling code 020
Police City of London
Fire London
Ambulance London
UK Parliament
London Assembly
List of places
UK
England
London
51°31′01″N0°05′20″W / 51.517°N 0.0889°W / 51.517; -0.0889

Coleman Street is one of the 25 ancient wards of the City of London, England, and lies on the City's northern boundary with the London Borough of Islington.

Contents

The ward, which includes land lying on either side of the former city wall, takes its name from a road linking Gresham Street with the London Wall road.

The ward

Modern ward boundary changes, particularly those of 2003, have much altered the extent of city wards, so that many no longer closely correlate to their historic areas.

Coleman Street is a very busy ward, [1] it has its own long established ward club [2] and newsletter. [3]

Etymology

The ward takes its name from Coleman Street, which took its name from the charcoal burners who occupied the area in medieval times. [4]

Historic ward

Traditional extent of the City of London Wards. City of London Ward Map, 1870.svg
Traditional extent of the City of London Wards.

The first mention of the ward appears to have been in 1130, but at that time it was common practice to use the name of the ward Alderman to refer to the ward. In the 1130 survey, Coleman Street Ward is thought to correspond to Warda Haconis. [5]

The ward contains areas both outside and inside the line of the City's former defensive walls. There was no local gate through the wall until Moorgate, previously a small postern, was built in 1511. Abraham Cowley's 1661 Restoration comedy The Cutter of Coleman Street refers to the area.

Moorgate in 1650 Moorgate Hollar.PNG
Moorgate in 1650

It appears that the area outside, the once very marshy Lower and Little Moorfields (now mostly occupied by Finsbury Circus and the surrounding buildings), previously part of the Soke of Cripplegate and then the Manor of Finsbury, was added in the 17th century, [6] though it was not developed until 1817.

The Walbrook, known at this point as Deepditch and running on the line of modern Blomfield Street, formed the eastern boundary of Lower Moorfields and the line continues to form the eastern boundary of the part of the ward lying north of the former wall, [7] with the extra-mural ward of Bishopsgate Without lying east of the brook, and the road which now covers it. This section of the Walbrook, around Blomfield Street, was the focus of the phenomena of the Walbrook Skulls, resulting from the immense quantities of Roman-era human heads that were deposited in the river. [8] These are still regularly uncovered during building work.

Post 2003 ward

Coleman Street borders six other wards [9] and occupies an irregular shape of land bounded to the north by Chiswell Street and Eldon Street; to the east by Blomfield Street, Copthall Avenue and a section of Moorgate; to the south by Lothbury and Gresham Street; and to the west by Basinghall Street, Coleman Street itself, Moor Lane and Silk Street.

Politics

Coleman Street is one of 25 wards in the City of London, each electing an alderman to the Court of Aldermen and commoners (the City equivalent of a councillor) to the Court of Common Council of the City of London Corporation. Only electors who are Freemen of the City are eligible to stand. The Alderman is Peter Estlin and the Common Councilmen are Michael Cassidy, Sophie Fernandes, Stuart Fraser and Andrew McMurtrie. [10]

Warren Stormes Hale, Lord Mayor of London in 1864, was the ward's most notable civic dignitary.

Features

Finsbury Circus, in the north of the ward, is the largest public park in the City. FinsburyCircus081.JPG
Finsbury Circus, in the north of the ward, is the largest public park in the City.
Coleman Street, from which the Ward takes its name Coleman Street - geograph.org.uk - 767143.jpg
Coleman Street, from which the Ward takes its name
St Margaret Lothbury church. St Margarets Lothbury Church.jpg
St Margaret Lothbury church.

Coleman Street is a one-way road that runs from Gresham Street to London Wall. The church of St Stephen Coleman Street used to stand at the southern end of the street, on the western side, until it was completely destroyed in the Blitz and was not rebuilt. In the 17th century, St. Stephen's became a Puritan stronghold. [11] [12] [13] On the night of 5 January 1642, after the king's failed attempt to arrest them, five MPs, Pym, Hampden, Haselrig, Strode and Holles, hid on Coleman Street utilising the support for parliament that tended to be afforded by sympathisers in the City of London.

At the northern end of the street stands the livery hall of the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers, [14] and the pineapple-shaped headquarters of Legal & General.

Despite the bustle of business, the ward also contains the City’s "finest oasis of calm", [15] Finsbury Circus, an elliptical square with its own bowling club, is located within the ward, as is Moorgate station. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City of London</span> Central business district of London, England

The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, but the modern area named London has since grown far beyond the City of London boundary. The City is now only a small part of the metropolis of Greater London, though it remains a notable part of central London. Administratively, the City of London is not one of the London boroughs, a status reserved for the other 32 districts. It is also a separate ceremonial county, being an enclave surrounded by Greater London, and is the smallest ceremonial county in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finsbury</span> District of Central London

Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City Road</span> Street in London

City Road or The City Road is a road that runs through central London. The northwestern extremity of the road is at Angel where it forms a continuation of Pentonville Road. Pentonville Road itself is the modern name for the eastern part of London's first bypass, the New Road from Paddington to Islington, which was constructed in 1756. The City Road was built in 1761 as a continuation of that route to the City of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bishopsgate</span> Ward of the City of London

Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate's name is traditionally attributed to Earconwald, who was Bishop of London in the 7th century. It was first built in Roman times and marked the beginning of Ermine Street, the ancient road running from London to York (Eboracum). The gate was rebuilt twice in the 15th and 18th centuries, but was permanently demolished in 1760.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Wall</span> Defensive wall built around London

The London Wall was a defensive wall first built by the Romans around the strategically important port town of Londinium in c. AD 200, and is now the name of a modern street in the City of London, England.

Cripplegate was a gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London, England.

Moorgate was one of the City of London, England's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moorfields</span> Former London open space

The EC postcode area, also known as the London EC postal area, is a group of postcode districts in central London, England. It includes almost all of the City of London and parts of the London boroughs of Islington, Camden, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Westminster. The area covered is of very high density development. Deliveries for the EC postcode area are made from Mount Pleasant Mail Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Walbrook</span> Subterranean river in the City of London, England

The Walbrook is a subterranean river in London. It gives its name to the Walbrook City ward and to a nearby street. It played an important role in the Roman settlement of Londinium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finsbury Pavement</span>

Finsbury Pavement is a short length of street in England connecting Moorgate with City Road in the London Borough of Islington. It forms a part of the London Inner Ring Road, and before the introduction of the ring of steel around the City of London it formed a major through-route towards London Bridge and south London.

A tenterground, tenter ground or teneter-field was an area used for drying newly manufactured cloth after fulling. The wet cloth was hooked onto frames called "tenters" and stretched taut using "tenter hooks", so that the cloth would dry flat and square.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finsbury Circus</span>

Finsbury Circus is a park in the Coleman Street Ward of the City of London, England. The 2 acre park is the largest public open space within the City's boundaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bassishaw</span> Ward of the City of London

Bassishaw is a ward in the City of London. Small, it is bounded by wards: Coleman Street, east; Cheap, south; Cripplegate, north; Aldersgate, west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broad Street (ward)</span> Ward of the City of London

Broad Street is one of the 25 ancient wards of the City of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheap (ward)</span> Ward of the City of London

Cheap is a small ward in the City of London, England. It stretches west to east from King Edward Street, the border with Farringdon Within ward, to Old Jewry, which adjoins Walbrook; and north to south from Gresham Street, the border with Aldersgate and Bassishaw wards, to Cheapside, the boundary with Cordwainer and Bread Street wards. The name Cheap derives from the Old English word "chep" for "market".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle Baynard</span> Ward of the City of London

Castle Baynard is one of the 25 wards of the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wards of the City of London</span> Special form of ward in the City of London

The City of London is divided into 25 wards. The city is the historic core of the much wider metropolis of Greater London, with an ancient and sui generis form of local government, which avoided the many local government reforms elsewhere in the country in the 19th and 20th centuries. Unlike other modern English local authorities, the City of London Corporation has two council bodies: the now largely ceremonial Court of Aldermen, and the Court of Common Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blomfield Street</span> Street in the City of London

Blomfield Street is a road in the City of London, close to Liverpool Street railway station. It was known as Broker Row, until 1860.

References

  1. ↑ City of London Police Overview Archived 13 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ Details of Organisation
  3. ↑ Ward Newsletter [ permanent dead link ]
  4. ↑ Book 2, Ch. 16: Coleman Street Ward in A New History of London: Including Westminster and Southwark, Noorthouck, J.: London, R. Baldwin & Co., 1773
  5. ↑ Referring to an 1130 survey of the lands of St Paul's, from "London, its origins and early development" by William Page, 1923
  6. ↑ The Ward did not extend beyond the wall at the time of John Stows survey of 1603 – but it did by the time of Ogilby and Morgans map of 1676
  7. ↑ BHO source on the Moorfields area https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol8/pp88-90
  8. ↑ London's Hadrianic War? Dominic Perring
  9. ↑ Bishopsgate, Broad Street, Walbrook, Cheap, Bassishaw and Cripplegate
  10. ↑ Sheriff Peter Estlin (Alderman). City of London. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  11. ↑ D.A. Kirby, The Radicals of St. Stephen's, Coleman Street, London, 1624-1642 (Corporation of London, 1970).
  12. ↑ D.A. Williams, 'London Puritanism: the parish of St Stephen's, Coleman Street', The Church Quarterly Review vol 160 (1959), pp. 464-82.
  13. ↑ A. Johns, 'Coleman Street', Huntington Library Quarterly, 71 part 1 (2008), pp. 33-54 (University of Chicago pdf).
  14. ↑ Al Smith (1970) Dictionary of City of London Street Names: 47
  15. ↑ Betjeman's Britain Betjeman,J : London, Folio Society, 1999 ISBN   1-85848-170-8
  16. ↑ Description of Locale
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.