Cripplegate

For those of you who were intrigued by the "Cripplegate" bit of St Giles-without-Cripplegate last week, here is what remains of the Cripplegate. Today it's the small gap in the wall in the foreground. Once upon a time it was quite a grand gate on the road to the village of Islington! The most interesting thing about it is the wall itself. The bottom half is Roman and the top half is Norman (with a few modern bits of infilling). It was originally the most northerly gate in the Roman fort built in 120AD. It was about the only structure that survived the bombing during the Blitz when this area was flattened, which only goes to show that the Romans and the Normans knew something about building!