Aldersgate Street, EC1A
Barbican
Credit: User unknown/public domain
Aldersgate Street is located on the west side of the Barbican Estate.

The original gate here was made by the Romans some time after the City wall was built in the second century. It was a double gateway strengthened by towers projecting on the outside; part of the western tower was discovered beneath Aldersgate Street in 1939.

The name is Saxon - the gate of Aldred, somebody who perhaps lived above the gate to guard the approach road. Further fortifications and guard rooms were added through the middle ages. Aldersgate was finally demolished in 1761, and now only a plaque marks its site.

Originally Aldersgate Street was only the section starting from the church of St Botolph without Aldersgate running towards Long Lane and the portion from Long Lane to Goswell Road was formerly named Pickax Street.

Barbican station is located on Aldersgate Street and when it was opened in 1865 was named Aldersgate Street station. It was renamed Barbican in 1968.

134 Aldersgate Street for many years had a sign claiming: "This was Shakespeare’s House". There is no evidence surviving to indicate that Shakespeare resided here. Barbican station now occupies the site. The nearby Shakespeare Tower is named for this tenuous connection.

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