h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The City Wall of London, UK - A2172160
Author: Mina - BBC - U290

This has just come out of WW - where there was a lovely message, but not really any 'writing' type comments.

Hopefully I'll do better here. There will be a companion piece on the gates soon, which is why they don't feture very heavily in this one.

Hello

It seems well written to me (However you'd probably be best off waiting for more expert opinions)

Just a point that fits in with this. I remember seeing on a Time Team program a while ago that the name for an inner wall of a castle is a Bailey, so is this where the old bailey got its name from? (It sounds a bit lame written down, but it just occurred to me at the time)

Also is this the curtain wall we are looking at here? (The other castle wall name I learned from that program)

Researcher PSG

Actually I should stop being a smart alec. Is the city wall classed as a castle like fortification? Or was my old bailey mental link just confusing me?

Researcher PSG

And I quote from my Newgate entry:

It is more commonly know as 'the Old Bailey', after the street in which it stands. The name comes from the situation of the original building in the bailey** of the City Wall.

**5 The area inside the wall which provided the first line of defence.

See, I did it before Time Team.

As to curtains, erm, not sure. I haven't see it referred to as a castle like fortification, so I assume that it's not. Could be wrong. When Abi returns to the office I'll ask her to have a look. She's good at this sort of stuff.

Doh, I quoted from the unedited version.

This is the edited version! (with a link!) http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A987861#footnote1

The court is more commonly know as 'the Old Bailey', after the street in which it stands. The name comes from the situation of the original building in the bailey - the area inside the wall, which provided the first line of defence - of the City Wall.

Well thats cleared that up then.

Thanks for the newgate link, I must have missed that entry when it was on the front page.

Researcher PSG

Don't forget to read the Tyburn entry as well if you like this sort of thing.

What?

Who says I can't use a PR thread to plug old entries! They are related!

They are interesting certainly as historical entries. Although I find it hard to bring the word like to hanging places and prisons

Oh I'm sure someone will object about shameless plugging on a BBC site

Researcher PSG Brought to you care of the entry on Father Ted

Hello Mina

I loved this entry. I don't know London well, and know less about its history, so I enjoyed this.

My comments are pretty minimal (unusually ) -



The para starting doesn't quite work. Are you implying that it's hard to demolish the wall and that's why they would charge extra? It's not entirely obvious that this is what you mean - although I assume that it is

Is there a guide or map that visitors can buy/ download so that they can walk the line of the wall today?


F/b

There are maps, I've tried to find a decent one to link to online, but it's proving a bit difficult.

On a much happier note, on browsing the Museum of London's site to see if they have anything, I found that on Tuesday, yes, next week!, they are doing a visit to one of the gates of the fort mentioned in this entry! So you can be sure that I'm VERY glad that you asked that question! I'll be going along, I'm very excited about this.

As to the line about workmen, I think that I'll just take it out. I only saw it mentioned in one place, and I prefer not to rely on one source for my facts. And I'll fix the other thing that you mention,

Ooh, let us know how the trip goes Perhaps you'll learn new stuff to add to the entry?

Have a lovely time...


F/b

I hope that there will be some new stuff to add.

I'm toying with the idea of taking a print out of this article and the one about the gates (not on h2g2 yet) to see if they can spot any glaring mistakes. Don't want to take the proverbial though.

Nice one... all I can suggest are a few nitpicky points about terminology. Might 'railway station' sounds better for Blackfriars?

I've always thought of it as 'the Barbican' rather than 'Barbican'. I've no idea why this is, and it could be just down to my prejudice, but it looks a little funny to see it as just 'Barbican'. Very willing to be corrected on this one.

But I do know that 'Thameslink' (as in 'City Thames Link') is all one word. I'll get me anorak...

One sp - forth church should be fourth,in the last paragraph -

I think a wall round London is a great idea and should be resurected !

Hi Mina;

I have been considering how to comment on this, I have never been to London and only know a few bits from what I've read.

>It ran from the Tower of London to what is now Blackfriars train station,...<

This seems to indicate that the tower dates back to Roman times. I thought he tower was built by William I after 1066? ( BTW the history of the Tower of London would be entry I would like to read ) I am quite sure the Romans didn't have a railway station

You also mention several names with no description, are they roads, buildings neighborhoods parks or what.

If, one day, I do manage to get to your city I would like to find some of these places.

F S

Living in London i liked this entry. always nice to learn something new about your own city. Really well written and good length. I found what I would concider a typo. In Fascinating Facts you have written

"Travellers would pray either stop and pray for a good journey, or give thanks for a safe arrival"

should the first 'pray' be there? I know it doesn't take anything away i just feel it would read better without it.

Apart from that, top notch

Sorry that I've neglected this thread a bit, there are some good points raised here, and I will address them, particularly FloridaSailor's. It does seem to be a habit of mine to write this type of entry on the assumption that the people reading them will already have some knowledge.

I'll get stuck into this in a day or two, sorry that it's dragging on a bit, I had a busy weekend with the h2g2 meet, and tomorrow it's the boyfriend's birthday.

I have also bought some new books since I wrote this, *and* visited the Museum of London for a (short) tour of some of the remaining wall - we saw the remains of the west gate of the Roman fort. I've had the answers to some questions that I haven't been asked, but will answer in the entry anyway, and some other info that I'll be adding.

It was weird seeing this pile of old stones. It just looked like a piece of nothing, and then the curator pointed things out to us, like the holes where the doors were hinged, the groves that the portcullis tucked into, and the bit I liked best - the grove in the stones that had been worn where the bolt on the guardhouse door had dragged every time the door was opened. I walked through a Roman gate! Ok, so the stones didn't come up as tall as my head, but it was still a lot of fun walking through somewhere I'd written about, something that had been built nearly 2000 years ago.

I'm looking forward to updating this, and I'll do it asap.

Let us know when you have the time, Mina We're (okay, I am) anxious to get this into the EG...

This is fascinating stuff! Well done Mina.

I told you you'd like the Roman Gate. I went a couple of years ago on National archeology day but I must have passed by it loads of times over the years without knowing.

If we're into blatant plugging of our own entries, is there a way to squeeze in a reference to A863309 somewhere? You could also link to the Edited entry on the Tower of London, mentioned in your second paragraph.

I should be able to get to this at the weekend, if not one evening this week. I waited for months before I put it into PR because I wanted to wait until I had the time to do it, so I'm sorry that it's worked out that I haven't had time. It's very bad manners of me to put it in and then neglect it, but it wasn't intentional!