Stranica 62 [62]
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40 ORIGIN OF THE CITY
that to the bridge for certain, but both Billingsgate, under another
name, and Dowgate, at the outfall of the Wallbrook, may have been
in existence. Two fragments of the old wall may be easily seen.
One of them, with some strongly marked Roman features, is at the
new post-office buildings in St. Martin le Grand. The other is the
well-known bastion in the churchyard of St. Giles s, Cripplegate, which,
though built of Roman materials, and on a Roman foundation, dates
probably from an extensive ‘restoration’ of the city walls made in
the reign of Edward IV.
I have endeavoured so far in this chapter to put forward the
curious tales by which the Londoners of the twelfth century accounted
for their walls, their gates, and the names they bore. ‘They are more
entertaining than some of the modern theories with which we meet, but
they are scarcely more extravagant. Stow put his successors on the
right track, but they speedily left it. Of these modern theories, only one
is worth noticing here. Readers of the foregoing part of this chapter
will have noted that " Roman London,” of which some people talk so
glibly, is only, to speak
strictly, a geographical
term. There was no
Roman London, except a
strongly fortified barrack,
till after the middle of
the fourth century, or,
say, 360. The Romans
left Britain in 410, their
ATI influence meanwhile hav¬
ing steadily declined, the
country having been con¬
stantly disturbed by the