Bishopsgate

Bishopsgate

One of the seven double gates of the City referred to by Fitz Stephen, leading out of the City on the north.

Earliest mention found in records: "Ad portam episcopi" (Domesday Book, Middlesex).

Mentioned in a charter of King Stephen to the monastery of St. Pancras, Lewes, confirming the grant of land at Bissopesgate which Goder the priest gave (Cal. of Doc. in France, 1135–54, Rolls, S., ed. Round, p. 509).

Stow says that it was built by one of the Bishops of London, but he does not know which (S. 31), and that this is the origin of the name.

Wheatley says it was erected by Bishop Erkenwald, died 685, but he gives no authority for the statement.

It is interesting to note that in a grant made by G. Bishop of London to the Canons of St. Paul's in 1181–8, the gate is referred to as "his gate called Bissupesgate" (H. MSS. Com. 9th Rep. 25).

"Bisshopesgate" is also mentioned in the account of the foundation of the Knightengild by Cnut or Edgar (959–1035) in the Liber Trinitatis, and although the account is somewhat legendary, the mention of Bishopsgate in those early times may be authentic enough.

It appears from early records that the Bishop of London was bound to make the hinges of Bishopsgate, and that he received one stick from every cart laden with wood, as it entered the gate. Also that the Hanse merchants were charged with the safe-keeping and repair of this gate, and that therefore they were free from paying toll on going in or out with their goods (Cal. L. Bk. C. p. 41).

The gate was rebuilt by the Hanse merchants in 1479 (S. 32). Repaired 1648. Taken down in 1731, and a less ornamental one erected in its place at the cost of the City (Maitland, I. 24). The two gates are shown in the 1st and 2nd editions of Strype's Stow, 1720, and 1755.

Taken down 1760, the site being indicated by two tablets fixed on the houses at the corners of Camomile Street and Wormwood Street respectively, Nos. 1 and 64 Bishopsgate Street Without.

It seems probable from the remains found at the junction of Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street that a gate existed on the site in Roman times, and it may possibly have been one of the four original gates of the City and been merely rebuilt by one of the Bishops.

See Old Watch House.

Bishopsgate, one of the City gates, so called after Erkenwald, Bishop of London (d. 685), son of Offa, King of Mercia, by whom it was erected. The maintenance of the gate was considered to devolve upon the Bishop of London, though the chief burden came, in course of time, to be laid upon the Hanse merchants. Thus from the Liber Albus we learn that "In the tenth year of King Edward (1282), Henry le Waleys being Mayor of London, by reason lately of the ruinous state of a certain gate of the City aforesaid, that is called Bisshoppesgate, there existed a prolonged dispute between the said mayor and the citizens aforesaid and the merchants of the Hanse of Almaine," dwelling in the city, as to the repair of the gate, which the said merchants were bound to execute "in return for certain liberties" which they enjoyed on that condition. An appeal being made to the King, he ordered his treasurer and the Barons of the Exchequer to call the parties before them and hear and decide the question at issue. This was done, and the merchants being held to be liable, they agreed "for the sake of peace," and in return for additional immunities granted to them, to pay at once "towards the repair of the aforesaid Gate, 240 marks sterling of ready money ... and that they and their successors, merchants of the Hanse aforesaid, would, so often as it should be necessary, at all times repair the said Gate, and for the defence of such Gate, so often as it should be necessary to set ward upon the same, at all times sustain one-third part of the defence aforesaid, at their own costs, and with their own men, in the upper parts of such Gate, the said mayor and citizens sustaining their two-third parts for such safe keeping in the part below."¹ Eighteen years later (28 Edw. I., 1300) it was ruled that the Bishop of London "is bound to make the hinges of Bysoppesgate; seeing that from every cart laden with wood he has one stick as it enters the said gate."² The liability, however, was limited to the hinges, for there is another entry, 33 Edw. I. (1305), wherein it is "awarded and agreed that Almaines belonging to the Hanse of the Merchants of Almaine shall be free from paying two shillings on going in or out of the Gate of Bisshopesgate with their goods, seeing that they are charged with the safe keeping and repair of the Gate aforesaid."¹ In 1318 the gateway, together "with a certain tourelle on the eastern side, and a garden lying between the gate and this bastion," were granted to John le Long the Easterling, for his life, on the condition that he should "maintain the said gate and tourelle at his own proper charges." In 1324 he was permitted to resign the grant and the charge. The gate was rebuilt by the Hanse Merchants in 1471, and lasted till 1731, when, being greatly out of repair, it was taken down, and a much less ornamental gate erected in its place at the cost of the City. In 1760 an Act was passed, empowering the City authorities to remove the gates and effect other improvements, and under its provisions Bishopsgate was finally removed a few years later. The site is marked by two tablets on the houses at the corners of Camomile and Wormwood Streets respectively (Nos. 1 and 64 Bishopsgate Street Without), inscribed with mitre and these words "Adjoining to this spot Bishopsgate formerly stood." The gate was repaired in 1648.—Notes on London Churches and Buildings, A.D. 1631–1658 (Harrison's England, vol. ii., New Shakspere Society).

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¹ Liber Albus, p. 417.
² Riley, Memorials, p. 43.

¹ Riley, Memorials, p. 57.