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Database: The Map of Early Modern London
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TY - ELEC
A1 - Linsley, Maya
ED - Jenstad, Janelle
T1 - Moorgate
T2 - The Map of Early Modern London
ET - 6.6
PY - 2021
DA - 2021/06/30
CY - Victoria
PB - University of Victoria
LA - English
UR - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/MOOR2.htm
UR - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/xml/standalone/MOOR2.xml
ER -
Moorgate was one of the major gates in the Wall of London (Sugden). It was situated in the northern part of the Wall, flanked by Cripplegate and Bishopsgate. Clearly labelled as More Gate
on the Agas map, it stood near the intersection of London Wall street and Coleman Street (Sugden; Stow 1598, sig. C6v). It adjoined Bethlehem Hospital, and the road through it led into Finsbury Field (Rocque) and Mallow Field.
Project Manager, 2020-2021. Assistant Project Manager, 2019-2020. Research Assistant, 2018-2020. Kate LeBere completed her BA (Hons.) in History and English at the University of Victoria in 2020. She published papers in
Programmer, 2018-present. Junior Programmer, 2015-2017. Research Assistant, 2014-2017. Joey Takeda was a graduate student at the University of British Columbia in the Department of English (Science and Technology research stream). He completed his BA honours in English (with a minor in Women’s Studies) at the University of Victoria in 2016. His primary research interests included diasporic and indigenous Canadian and American literature, critical theory, cultural studies, and the digital humanities.
Data Manager, 2015-2016. Research Assistant, 2013-2015. Tye completed his undergraduate honours degree in English at the University of Victoria in 2015.
Director of Pedagogy and Outreach, 2015–present. Associate Project Director, 2015–present. Assistant Project Director, 2013-2014. MoEML Research Fellow, 2013. Kim McLean-Fiander comes to
Janelle Jenstad is Associate Professor of English at the University of Victoria, Director of
Programmer at the University of Victoria Humanities Computing and Media Centre (HCMC). Martin ported the MOL project from its original PHP incarnation to a pure eXist database implementation in the fall of 2011. Since then, he has been lead programmer on the project and has also been responsible for maintaining the project schemas. He was a co-applicant on MoEML’s 2012 SSHRC Insight Grant.
Research Assitant, 2020-present. Student contributor enrolled in
Sheriff of London
Sheriff of London
Historian and author of
Sheriff of London
The
Originally built as a Roman fortification for the provincial city of Londinium in the second century C.E., the London Wall remained a material and spatial boundary for the city throughout the early modern period. Described by high and great
(Stow 1:8), the London Wall dominated the cityscape and spatial imaginations of Londoners for centuries. Increasingly, the eighteen-foot high wall created a pressurized constraint on the growing city; the various gates functioned as relief valves where development spilled out to occupy spaces
Cripplegate was one of the original gates in the city wall (Weinreb, Hibbert, Keay, and Keay 221; Harben). It was the northern gate of a large fortress that occupied the northwestern corner of the Roman city.
London Wall was a long street running along the inside of the northern part of the City Wall. It ran east-west from the north end of Broad Street to Cripplegate (Prockter and Taylor 43). The modern London Wall street is a major traffic thoroughfare now. It follows roughly the route of the former wall, from Old Broad Street to the Museum of London (whose address is 150 London Wall).
Although its name evokes the pandemonium of the archetypal madhouse, Bethlehem (Bethlem, Bedlam) Hospital was not always an asylum. As Priorie of Cannons with brethren and
sisters
, founded in one of the Sheriffes of London
(Stow 1:164). We know from
Finsbury Field is located in northen London outside the London Wall. Note that MoEML correctly locates Finsbury Field, which the label on the Agas map confuses with Mallow Field (Prockter 40). Located nearby is Finsbury Court. Finsbury Field is outside of the city wards within the borough of Islington (Mills 81).
A low-lying marshy area just northeast of Moorgate and on the way to the Curtain, Moorfields was home to a surprising range of activities and accompanying cultural associations in early modern London. Beggars and the mentally ill patients of neighbouring Bethlehem Hospital often frequented the area. Some used the public space to bleach and dry linen, and the full of noysome waters
(Stow 2:77) until
The city of London, not to be confused with the allegorical character (
Coleman Street Ward is west of Broad Street Ward. It is named after its main street, Coleman Street (Stow 1633, sig. 2B6r).
Bassinghall Ward is west of Coleman Street Ward. The ward and its main street Basinghall Street are named after Basing Hall (Stow 1633, sig. 2C5r).
Broad Street Ward is west of Bishopsgate Ward. It is named after its principle street, Broad Street.
Bear Inn (Basinghall Street) was on Basinghall Street. It is not marked on the
Agas map but is next to the Girdler’s Hall on the
As the only bridge in London crossing the Thames until
Our editorial and encoding practices are documented in detail in the Praxis section of our website.
Location:
Moorgate was one of the major gates in the Wall of London (Sugden). It was situated in the northern part of the Wall, flanked by Cripplegate and Bishopsgate. Clearly labelled as More Gate
on the Agas map, it stood near the intersection of London Wall street and Coleman Street (Sugden; Stow 1598, sig. C6v). It adjoined Bethlehem Hospital, and the road through it led into Finsbury Field (Rocque) and Mallow Field.
Moorgate also provided entrance into the Moorfields, a marshy area beyond the wall that hosted a variety of activities for citizens of London, all of which carried sociopolitical weight as London developed. Coleman Street Ward was situated on the city side of the wall, and surrounding areas were covered by Bassinghall Ward and Broad Street Ward. Nearby landmarks within the wall include Founders’ Hall, Masons’ Hall, Girdlers’ Hall, Weavers’ Hall, Armourers’ Hall, Bear Inn, and St. Stephen.
The gate has been variously spelled as Moore-gate
, Mooregate
, Moorgate
, More Gate
and Moregate
over the course of its history. The earliest spellings, as indicated by More Gate
and Moregate
; Moregate
. It later came to be known as Mooregate
, and is spelled this way in the
Moorgate, and a major street in modern London has taken this name in memory of the gate (Harben). Moorgate was named for the Moorfields it led into, because it was constructed specifically to provide access to them (Sugden).
Moorgate’s primary purpose was to admit citizens to the Moorfields, and as a result, much of its legacy is characterized by what went on there. Its proximity to Bethlehem Hospital meant that patients often took their air in the Moorfields, alongside the beggars who frequented the area (Schmidt). In the winter it was a popular destination for ice-skating, and the
As the connecting entity between the city and the Moorfields, Moorgate’s significance changed with the times. In the
Entering the
Taking these to be the two definable social landscapes overseen by Moorgate, it is easy to envision the gate as both a metaphysical concept and a physical structure, one reflective of the complex and ever-changing atmospheres of early modern London.
Moorgate was built in
So much that the Ditches and Bridges are couered, and if it bee made leuill with the Battlementes of the Citie wall: yet will it bee little the drier, such is the Moorish nature of the grounde.
In
In in noble style
(Sugden). This was the final alteration to the gate, and in