Editing Cripplegate (section)

==The ward==
[[File:City of London, Ward of Cripplegate.svg|thumb|Location within the City, after the 21st century boundary changes]]
[[File:City of London Ward Map, 1870.svg|thumb|Ancient boundaries of the City Wards, prior to 2003]]
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 [[Freedom of the City|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.<ref name=woc>{{Citation
|publisher = Cripplegate Ward Club
|location = London
|author = Caroline Fiona Gordon
|title = The Ward of Cripplegate in the City of London
|date = 1985
|ol = 14531369M
}}</ref> The early records are unreliable as regards who the Aldermen were, but from 1286 there is a more reliable list of Aldermen available.<ref name=woc />
	
The modern City of London spreads across a square mile of land and remains divided into 25 geographic areas, or 'wards'. Four of these wards (Aldersgate, Portsoken, Queenhithe and Cripplegate), are described as 'residential' as they contain the vast majority of all City residents.

===Geography===
The Ward of Cripplegate provides part of the Northern edge of the City and stretches from just below [[Old Street]], down to London Wall at its southern tip, where it meets the Ward of Bassishaw. To the west is the Ward of [[Aldersgate]] and on the Eastern edge is [[Coleman Street Ward|Coleman Street]].

The 2003 Ward Boundary Review recommended some significant changes for a number of wards and these were eventually implemented in 2013.<ref name=woc />

The Cripplegate Ward boundary used to extend a great deal further south, all the way down to [[Cheapside]] in fact. The ward was home to the halls of six livery companies and now only one remains (the Barber-Surgeons in Monkwell Square).<ref name=woc />

Each ward is represented by an assembly called the 'Court of Common Council'. This consists of 100 common councilmen and 25 alderman (one for each Ward). The number of councilmen allocated to each particular ward is based on the size of the electorate and where Cripplegate used to warrant twelve members of council it is now reduced to nine.<ref name=woc />

The ward is promoted by the [[Cripplegate Ward Club]]. Founded in 1878, The Cripplegate Ward Club is a social organisation, encouraging its members to take an interest in the civic affairs of the City, while also supporting appeals and charitable activities. Cripplegate is among the busiest of the 20-plus ward clubs in the City of London, with a varied programme of events throughout the year.
[[File:Jewin Crescent.jpg|thumb|Jewin Crescent painting at the [[Imperial War Museum]]]]

The gate's name is preserved in the church of [[St Giles-without-Cripplegate]] which is sited immediately outside the site of the former gate.
 
A small road named Cripplegate Street lies slightly to the north of the site of the gate between [[Viscount Street]] and [[Bridgewater Street]].<ref>{{cite book|title=A-Z London|year=2001|publisher=Geographer's A-Z Map Co Ltd|isbn=0-85039-753-7|page=162}}</ref>

===History of the ward===
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 [[Hundred (county division)|Hundreds]] in the countryside. The primary purpose of wards like Cripplegate, which included a gate, appears to have been the defence of the gate,<ref>London 800-1216: The Shaping of a City, Brook and Keir Ch 7</ref> 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 [[Finsbury#Soke of Cripplegate|Soke of Cripplegate]], held by the church of [[St. Martin's Le Grand]].<ref>Archaeological Excavations at Moor House, Jeremy Haslam p48</ref>

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.<ref>Light for the last days (1888), H. Grattan Guinness D.D., FRAS></ref>

The philosopher [[Thomas More]], writer of [[Utopia]], was born on [[Milk Street, London|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'.<ref>[[William Herbert (antiquarian)|Herbert, William]], ''The History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London'' (London, Wm Herbert, 1836) [{{GBurl|BgHAAAAQAAJ|page=80}} pp. 80-81] at books.google.co.uk</ref>

During the Second World War, the Cripplegate area, a centre of the rag trade,<ref name=Guardian62415>{{cite news|author1=Tom Bolton|title=From Cripplegate to Agar Town: inside London's vanished neighbourhoods |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jun/24/london-vanished-neighbourhoods-cripplegate-agar-town-limehouse-chinatown |access-date=24 June 2015|work=The Guardian|date=24 June 2015|quote=by the second world war, Cripplegate had become "Fire Island", the highest-insurance-risk area in London, occupied by rag trade warehouses packed with tinder-box stock.}}</ref> 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]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://alondoninheritance.com/|title=A London Inheritance|website=A London Inheritance}}</ref> in a Georgian building with 60 rooms available,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/blacksguidetoed00firgoog/blacksguidetoed00firgoog_djvu.txt|title = Black's Guide to Edinburgh|year = 1903|publisher = A. and C. Black}}</ref> not far from today's [[Beech Street (London)|Beech Street]], before being destroyed by the [[World War II]] bombs.

It was advertised in a number of [[periodical literature|periodicals]] and magazines between 1887 and 1919 as a very centrally located, family and commercial, [[Temperance movement in the United Kingdom|temperance]]-friendly hotel, convenient for [[St Paul's Cathedral]] and [[Barbican station|Aldersgate station]], for business and pleasure.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TUMsAAAAMAAJ&q=tranter%27s+hotel+an+almanack+for+the+year+of+our+lord&pg=PA779 | title=An Almanack for the Year of Our Lord| year=1848| last1=Whitaker| first1=Joseph}}</ref>

===Politics===
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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://democracy.cityoflondon.gov.uk/mgFindMember.aspx?XXR=0&AC=WARD&WID=12979&sPC=Enter+postcode|title=Find Member|date=6 March 2022|website=democracy.cityoflondon.gov.uk}}</ref>

In the 2017 City-wide Common Council elections, the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] won two seats in Cripplegate ward with local residents Mary Durcan and William Pimlott making Labour gains.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/about-the-city/voting-elections/Documents/notice-of-persons-elected-2017.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=7 January 2019 |archive-date=9 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109022948/https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/about-the-city/voting-elections/Documents/notice-of-persons-elected-2017.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-city-of-london-election-vote-independence-jeremy-corbyn-a7649221.html|title=Labour wins record five seats in historic City of London election victory|date=24 March 2017|website=The Independent}}</ref>

Following a boundary change in 1994, the [[Golden Lane Estate]] was transferred from [[London Borough of Islington|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).