Крипплигейт: История лондонского варда

Ward of the City of London

Cripplegate was a gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London, England. The Cripplegate gate lent its name to the Cripplegate ward of the City, which encompasses the area where the gate and the former city wall once stood. The ward is divided into two parts: Cripplegate Within and Cripplegate Without, a division that originated from the gate and wall. Each part has a designated beadle and a deputy (alderman). Following boundary changes in 1994 (City) and 2003 (ward), the majority of the ward now falls within Cripplegate Without, as the ward of Bassishaw has expanded significantly into the Cripplegate Within area. Until World War II, the area approximating to Cripplegate Without was commonly known as simply Cripplegate. The area was almost entirely destroyed in the Blitz of World War II, causing the term to fall out of colloquial speech. Cripplegate Without is the site of the Barbican Estate and Barbican Centre, with a small part of these lying in neighbouring Aldersgate Without.

The origins of the gate's name are unclear. One theory, bolstered by a mentioning of the gate in the fourth law code of Æthelred the Unready and a charter of William the Conqueror from 1068 under the name "Crepelgate", is that it takes its name from the Anglo Saxon word crepel, meaning a covered or underground passageway. Another unsubstantiated theory suggests it is named after the cripples who used to beg there. The name of the nearby medieval church of St Giles without Cripplegate lends credence to this suggestion as Saint Giles is the patron saint of cripples and lepers.

It was initially the northern gate to the Roman city walls, built around AD 120 or 150, eighty years before the rest of the wall was completed. It appeared to have been used as part of the Roman city walls until at least the 10th 11th centuries. Cripplegate was rebuilt during the 1490s and was unhinged and fortified with a portcullis after Charles II became king in 1660. It was eventually demolished in 1760; much of Cripplegate was gone by the 19th century and only small fragments of it survive today.

Cripplegate is one of the 25 ancient wards of 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. In the early 12th century, the area was originally referred to as Alwoldii which was probably the name of the current alderman. The early records are unreliable as regards who the Aldermen were, but from 1286 there is a more reliable list of Aldermen available.

The wards of London appear to have taken shape in the 11th century, before the Norman Conquest. Their administrative, judicial and military purpose made them equivalent to Hundreds in the countryside. The primary purpose of wards like Cripplegate, which included a gate, appears to have been the defence of the gate, as gates were the weakest points in any fortification. Cripplegate Without was, in the 11th, 12th and possibly later centuries, part of an area outside the northern wall called the Soke of Cripplegate, held by the church of St. Martin's Le Grand. In 1068, a burial site, where Jewin Street now stands, was the only place in England where Jews were permitted to be buried. Those living elsewhere in the country were forced, at great expense and inconvenience, to bring their dead there. The philosopher Thomas More, writer of Utopia, was born on Milk Street in 1478. In 1555, John Gresham endowed the new Gresham's School in Norfolk with three tenements in the parish of St. Giles Without Cripplegate, including 'The White Hind' and 'The Peacock'. During the Second World War, the Cripplegate area, a centre of the rag trade, was virtually destroyed and by 1951 the resident population of the City stood at only 5,324, of whom 48 lived in Cripplegate. Discussions began in 1952 about the future of the area, and the decision to build new residential properties was taken by the Court of Common Council on 19 September 1957. The area was reopened as the Barbican Estate in 1969. Tranter's Hotel was located at 6–9 Bridgewater Square, in a Georgian building with 60 rooms available, not far from today's Beech Street, before being destroyed by the World War II bombs. It was advertised in a number of periodicals and magazines between 1887 and 1919 as a very centrally located, family and commercial, temperance friendly hotel, convenient for St Paul's Cathedral and Aldersgate station, for business and pleasure.

Current elected representatives in Cripplegate are David Graves (Alderman), Mark Bostock, David Bradshaw, Mary Durcan, Vivienne Littlechild, Susan Pearson, William Pimlott, Stephen Quilter and John Tomlinson. In the 2017 City wide Common Council elections, the Labour Party won two seats in Cripplegate ward with local residents Mary Durcan and William Pimlott making Labour gains. The Labour Party won a record total of five seats on the Common Council in March 2017 winning two seats in Portsoken, two seats in Cripplegate ward and one seat in Aldersgate ward. Following a boundary change in 1994, the Golden Lane Estate was transferred from Islington to the City, and so Cripplegate is today the most populous of the four residential wards of the City, with a population of 2,782 (2011).

The Foundation dates its origins to the donation of £40 "to provide trousers for local people" on 2 April 1500. However it was only in 1891 that various local trusts were consolidated into the Cripplegate Foundation by the London Parochial Charities Act. From 1 April 2008 the area of benefit was expanded to include Islington. John Gilbert is the chair of the foundation, having been on the board of governors since 2005. In between 1876 1906 the Cripplegate Bank was located at 31 and then 1 Whitecross Street, before been incorporated into the Union Bank of London, and finally been liquidated.

The second wedding in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral takes place in the fictional church of St. Mary of the Fields, Cripplegate, EC2. It was filmed in the chapel of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Cripplegate makes an appearance in the 2020 video game, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla as one of the restricted areas in London.