Ward of Tower | |
---|---|
Location within the City | |
Location within Greater London | |
Population | 227 (2011 Census. Ward) [1] |
OS grid reference | TQ319812 |
Sui generis | |
Administrative area | Greater London |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | LONDON |
Postcode district | EC3 |
Postcode district | E1 |
Dialling code | 020 |
Police | City of London |
Fire | London |
Ambulance | London |
UK Parliament | |
London Assembly | |
Tower is one of the 25 wards of the City of London and takes its name from its proximity to the Tower of London. [2] The ward covers the area of the City that is closest to the Tower. [3]
Prior to boundary changes in 2003, Tower contained all of Great Tower Street and historically was known as "Tower Street" ward. John Leake's 1667 map of the City refers to it as "Tower Street Ward", as does a 1755 map of the ward. [4] However, it lost much ground to neighbouring Billingsgate ward in a 2003 review of ward boundaries, including nearly all of Great Tower Street. It did though gain land to the north of the Tower of London, including Minories. [5] The resident population of the ward is 227 (2011). [6]
Despite its name, the Tower of London has never formed part of the ward or, for that matter, of the wider City of London; it is actually located within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Furthermore, Tower Bridge does not fall within the City or Tower ward's boundaries, [7] although the bridge does use the City's logo as it was built by the Bridge House Estates.
Two notable churches are located within Tower ward. All Hallows-by-the-Tower on Byward Street was the church from which Samuel Pepys famously watched the Great Fire of London unfold in September 1666. [8] [9] St Olave Hart Street was remarked by John Betjeman as a country church in the middle of the busiest city on earth. [10] St Dunstan-in-the-East, on St Dunstan's Hill, was largely destroyed during the Blitz of World War II; its ruins and grounds are now a public garden. [11]
Other buildings of note include the old London Corn Exchange (now offices) on Mark Lane, the former Port of London Authority headquarters on Trinity Square (the PLA maintains an office nearby on Harp Lane), and the livery hall of the Worshipful Company of Bakers on Harp Lane.
Fenchurch Street railway station and Tower Gateway DLR station are situated within the ward.
It also contains some notable streets such as Minories; Pepys Street, where the diarist once lived; Savage Gardens, named after Sir Thomas Savage Bt who lived there during the 17th century; Crutched Friars, named after the religious order of the same name whose Italian branch settled there in the 13th century; and America Square, which dates to the 18th century and was dedicated to the American colonies.
Tower 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 of London are eligible to stand.
The City of London, widely referred to simply as the City, is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the ancient centre, and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London and one of the leading financial centres of the world. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, but the modern area referred to as 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 England.
Billingsgate is one of the 25 Wards of the City of London. This small City Ward is situated on the north bank of the River Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge in the south-east of the Square Mile.
Minories is the name of a small former administrative unit, and also of a street in central London. Both the street and the former administrative area take their name from the Abbey of the Minoresses of St. Clare without Aldgate.
St Olave's Church, Hart Street, is a Church of England church in the City of London, located on the corner of Hart Street and Seething Lane near Fenchurch Street railway station.
All Hallows Staining was a Church of England church located at the junction of Mark Lane and Dunster Court in the north-eastern corner of Langbourn ward in the City of London, England, close to Fenchurch Street railway station. All that remains of the church is the tower, built around AD 1320 as part of the second church on the site. Use of the grounds around the church is the subject of the Allhallows Staining Church Act 2010.
St Dunstan-in-the-East was a Church of England parish church on St Dunstan's Hill, halfway between London Bridge and the Tower of London in the City of London. The church was largely destroyed in the Second World War and the ruins are now a public garden.
The Guild Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West is in Fleet Street in the City of London. It is dedicated to Dunstan, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is of medieval origin, although the present building, with an octagonal nave, was constructed in the 1830s to the designs of John Shaw.
The Liberties of the Tower, or the Tower Liberty was a liberty in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Central London, which includes both Tower Hill and the Tower of London. The area was defined sometime after 1200 to provide an open area around the Tower to ensure its defensibility. The liberty was an independent administrative unit from then until it was formally abolished on 25 June 1894. The district maintains a ceremonial existence, with its custom of beating the bounds being a particularly well known example of the tradition.
All-Hallows-the-Great was a church in the City of London, located on what is now Upper Thames Street, first mentioned in 1235. Destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666, the church was rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. All-Hallows-the-Great was demolished in 1894 when many bodies were disinterred from the churchyard and reburied at Brookwood Cemetery.
St Mary-at-Hill is a Church of England parish church in the Ward of Billingsgate, City of London. It is situated on Lovat Lane, a cobbled street off Eastcheap.
St Martin, Ludgate, also known as St Martin within Ludgate, is an Anglican church on Ludgate Hill in the ward of Farringdon, in the City of London. The church is of medieval origin, but the present building dates from 1677 to 1684 and was designed by Sir Christopher Wren.
Bread Street is one of the 26 wards of the City of London, the name deriving from its principal street, which was anciently the city's bread market; already named Bredstrate for by the records it appears as that in 1302, Edward I announced that "the bakers of Bromley and Stratford-le-Bow [London], and ones already living on the street, were forbidden from selling bread from their own homes or bakeries, and could only do so from Bread Street." The street itself is just under 500 ft in length and now forms the eastern boundary of the ward after the 2003 boundary changes.
The Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks is one of the Guilds of the City of London. It has no livery, because "in the 16th century, the Parish Clerks declined to take the Livery on the grounds that the surplice was older than the Livery and was the proper garb of members of the Company." It is not, therefore, technically a livery company although to all intents and purposes it acts as such. It is one of two such historic companies without livery, the other being the Company of Watermen and Lightermen.
Langbourn is one of the 25 ancient wards of the City of London. It reputedly is named after a buried stream in the vicinity.
All Hallows, Honey Lane was a parish church in the City of London, England. Of medieval origin, it was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and not rebuilt; the site became part of Honey Lane Market, which was in turn partially cleared to make way for the City of London School in the 19th century. Much of the area was destroyed during the bombing in World War II and has been redeveloped. The name Honey Lane is retained in a nearby walkway.
Castle Baynard is one of the 25 wards of the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London, England.
Queenhithe is a small and ancient ward of the City of London, situated by the River Thames and to the south of St. Paul's Cathedral. The Millennium Bridge crosses into the City at Queenhithe.
St Michael's Wood Street was a church and parish of medieval origin in Cripplegate Ward in the City of London, and is first mentioned in 1225 as St. Michael de Wudestrate. It stood on the west side of Wood Street, initially with a frontage on Huggin Lane but later on Wood Street itself.
Byward Street is a road in the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London. It forms part of the A3211 route and, if travelling eastward, is a short continuation of Lower Thames Street from a junction with Great Tower Street, to Tower Hill. It is located within the City ward of Tower.
St Pancras, Soper Lane, was a parish church in the City of London, in England. Of medieval origin, it was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and not rebuilt.