Editing Ludgate (section)

==History==
[[File:Ludgate.jpg|right|thumb|Lud Gate and surrounding area in the sixteenth century (as imagined in 1895)]]
Ludgate is believed to have been one of four original gates in the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[London Wall]], work on which started in 190 AD.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ross |first1=Cathy |last2=Clark |first2=John |title=London: the illustrated history |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/607246513 |publisher=Penguin Books / [[Museum of London]] |location=London |date=2008 |pages=47 |oclc=607246513 |isbn=978-0-14-101159-2}}</ref>

[[File:The Great Fire of London, with Ludgate and Old St. Paul's.JPG|right|thumb|Ludgate in flames in [[1666]]. Oil painting by anonymous artist, circa 1670.]]

Anti-royalist forces rebuilt the gate during the [[First Barons' War]] (1215{{ndash}}17) using materials recovered from the destroyed houses of [[History of the Jews in England|Jews]].<ref name="Timbs">{{cite book|first=John|last=Timbs|author-link=John Timbs|title=Curiosities of London: Exhibiting the Most Rare and Remarkable Objects of Interest in the Metropolis|url=https://archive.org/stream/curiositiesoflon00timbrich#page/538/mode/1up|year=1855|publisher=D. Bogue|page=538}}</ref> The gate was rebuilt about 1450 by a man called Foster who at one time was lodged in the [[debtor's prison]] over the gate. He eventually became [[Stephen Foster (Lord Mayor of London)|Sir Stephen Foster]], [[Lord Mayor of London]]. His widow, [[Agnes Forster|Agnes]], renovated and extended Ludgate and the debtor's prison; the practice of making the debtors pay for their own food and lodging was also abolished. Her gift was commemorated by a brass wall plaque,<ref name="agnes">Caroline M. Barron, 'Forster, Agnes (d. 1484)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/54439, accessed 22 May 2017]</ref> which read:

<blockquote>''Devout souls that pass this way,''<br />
''For Stephen Foster, late mayor, heartily pray;''<br />
''And [[Agnes Forster|Dame Agnes]], his spouse, to God consecrate,''<br />
''That of pity this house made, for Londoners in Ludgate;''<br />
''So that for lodging and water prisoners here nought pay,''<br />
''As their keepers shall answer at dreadful doomsday!''<ref>{{cite book|author=William Harvey|title=London Scenes and London People: Anecdotes, Reminiscences, and Sketches of Places, Personages, Events, Customs, and Curiosities of London City, Past and Present|url=https://archive.org/details/londonscenesand00harvgoog|year=1863|publisher=W.H. Collingridge|page=[https://archive.org/details/londonscenesand00harvgoog/page/n294 256]}}</ref>
</blockquote>

In February 1554, Ludgate was the final setting of [[Wyatt's rebellion]], when Sir [[Thomas Wyatt the Younger]] arrived at the gate with part of his army numbering three or four hundred men. The gate was defended by [[William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham|Lord William Howard]] with the local [[militia]], who refused entry to the rebels, causing them to retreat and later surrender.<ref name ="Thornbury1878">{{cite book |last=Thornbury |first=Walter |author-link=George Walter Thornbury |date=1878 |title=Old and New London: Volume I |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol1/pp220-233 |location=London |publisher=Cassell, Petter & Galpin |pages=220–233}}</ref>

Ludgate was rebuilt in 1586 to the design of William Kerwin; niches in the facade were furnished with statues of Queen [[Elizabeth I]] and King Lud with his two sons;<ref name ="Matthews2018">{{cite book |last=Matthews |first=Peter |date=2018 |title=London's Statues and Monuments 
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zl5RDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 |location=Oxford |publisher=Shire Publications |page=70 |isbn=978-1784422561}}</ref> these statues replaced medieval ones that had been defaced by Protestant [[iconoclast]]s during the reign of King [[Edward VI]]. The gateway was finally demolished in 1760 at the request of the local citizens.<ref name ="Thornbury1878"/> It was still in use as a debtor's prison, so the inmates were transferred to the City [[workhouse]] in [[Bishopsgate]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Burwick |first=Frederick |date=2015 |title=British Drama of the Industrial Revolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wNMmCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA166 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=166 |isbn=978-1107111653}}</ref> The statues from the facade were preserved at the Church of [[St Dunstan-in-the-West]] in [[Fleet Street]]. When the church was rebuilt in 1831, they were sold and taken to [[Winfield House#Hertford Villa|Hertford Villa]] in [[Regent's Park]], but were returned to the church in 1935. Elizabeth's statue now stands in a niche over the vestry door, while the others are inside the porch.<ref name ="Matthews2018"/>
[[File:Ludgate plaque London.jpg|thumb|Plaque marking the location of Ludgate]]