Bishopsgate
Street was anciently divided into Bishopsgate Street Within
(i.e. within the walls of London) and Bishopsgate Street
Without, and derives its name from an ancient gate in
the city walls. The foundation of the original gate is
attributed to Erkenwald, elected Bishop of London in 675.
Henry III granted the gate (which would have contained
buildings above and beside it) to the Hanse merchants,
who substantially rebuilt the gate in 1479: the gate was
adorned with statues of bishops of London.
The
gate was declared an obstruction to traffic in the eighteenth
century and subsequently demolished.
Bishopsgate
Street Within contained three churches, St Martin Outreach,
St Ethelburga, and St Helen, and the famous Crosby
Hall as well the London Tavern, used for many public
meetings and dinners.
Bishopsgate
Street Without was wider and longer than Within, and during
medieval times many pleasure gardens and bowling alleys
ran off it.
Throughout
most of its history Bishopsgate Street has been one of
the City's main commercial streets, and has housed many
fine mansions of the nobility, of whom many must have
been entertained by the plays performed at the Bull Inn,
a famous playhouse of Elizabethan times.
