Coleman Street is one of the 25 ancient wards of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, England, and lies on the City's northern boundary with the

London Borough of Islington The London Borough of Islington ( ) is a London borough, borough in North London, England. Forming part of Inner London, Islington has an estimated population of 215,667. It was formed in 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, by the amalg ...

. The ward, which includes land lying on either side of the former

city wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or Earthworks (military), earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as ...

, takes its name from a road linking

Gresham Street Gresham Street in the City of London is named after the English merchant and financier Thomas Gresham. It runs from the junction of Lothbury, Old Jewry and Coleman Street at its eastern end, to St. Martin's Le Grand in the west. Gresham St ...

with the

London Wall The London Wall is a defensive wall first built by the Ancient Rome, Romans around the strategically important port town of Londinium in AD 200, as well as the name of a #modern, modern street in the City of London, England. Roman London was ...

road.

The ward

Modern ward boundary changes, particularly those of 2003, have much altered the extent of city wards, so that many no longer closely correlate to their historic areas. Coleman Street is a very busy ward, it has its own long established ward club and newsletter.

Etymology

The ward takes its name from Coleman Street, which took its name from the charcoal burners who occupied the area in medieval times.

Historic ward

The first mention of the ward appears to have been in 1130, but at that time it was common practice to use the name of the ward Alderman to refer to the ward. In the 1130 survey, Coleman Street Ward is thought to correspond to ''Warda Haconis''. The ward contains areas both outside and inside the line of the City's former defensive walls. There was no local gate through the wall until

Moorgate Moorgate was one of the City of London's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall. The gate was demolished in 1762, but ...

, previously a small postern, was built in 1511.

Abraham Cowley Abraham Cowley (; 161828 July 1667) was an English poet and essayist born in the City of London late in 1618. He was one of the leading English poets of the 17th century, with 14 printings of his ''Works'' published between 1668 and 1721. Early ...

's 1661 Restoration comedy '' The Cutter of Coleman Street'' refers to the area. Moorgate Hollar

It appears that the area outside, the once very marshy Lower and Little Moorfields (now mostly occupied by

Finsbury Circus Finsbury Circus is a park in the Coleman Street Ward of the City of London, England. The 2 acre park is the largest public open space within the City's boundaries. It is not to be confused with Finsbury Square, just north of the City, or Fins ...

and the surrounding buildings), previously part of the Soke of Cripplegate and then the Manor of Finsbury, was added in the 17th century, though it was not developed until 1817. The

Walbrook Walbrook is a Ward of the City of London and a minor street in its vicinity. The ward is named after a River Walbrook, river of the same name. The ward of Walbrook contains two of the City's most notable landmarks: the Bank of England and the ...

, known at this point as ''Deepditch'' and running on the line of modern Blomfield Street, formed the eastern boundary of Lower Moorfields and the line continues to form the eastern boundary of the part of the ward lying north of the former wall, with the extra-mural ward of Bishopsgate Without lying east of the brook, and the road which now covers it. This section of the Walbrook, around Blomfield Street, was the focus of the phenomena of the Walbrook Skulls, resulting from the ''immense quantities'' of Roman-era human heads that were deposited in the river. These are still regularly uncovered during building work.

Post 2003 ward

Coleman Street borders six other wards and occupies an irregular shape of land bounded to the north by

Chiswell Street Chiswell Street is in the London Borough of Islington. It includes several buildings listed by Historic England. Location The street, in St Luke's, Islington, runs east-west and forms part of the B100 road. At the west end it becomes Beech St ...

and Eldon Street; to the east by Blomfield Street, Copthall Avenue and a section of

; to the south by Lothbury and Gresham Street; and to the west by

Basinghall Street Basinghall Street (sometimes written as "Bassinghall") is a street in the City of London, England. It lies chiefly in the ward of Bassishaw (originally the street and the courts and passages leading off from it) with the southern end in Cheap ( ...

, Coleman Street itself, Moor Lane and Silk Street.

Politics

Coleman Street is one of 25

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

s in the City of London, each electing an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

to the

Court of Aldermen The Court of Aldermen forms part of the senior governance of the City of London Corporation. It comprises twenty-five Aldermen of the City of London, presided over by the Lord Mayor (becoming senior Alderman during his or her year of office). ...

and commoners (the City equivalent of a

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

) to the

Court of Common Council The Court of Common Council is the primary decision-making body of the City of London Corporation. It meets nine times per year. Most of its work is carried out by committees. City of London Corporation elections , Elections are held at least eve ...

of the

City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the local authority of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United Kingdom's f ...

. Only electors who are Freemen of the City are eligible to stand. The Alderman is Peter Estlin and the Common Councilmen are Michael Cassidy, Sophie Fernandes, Stuart Fraser and Andrew McMurtrie. Warren Stormes Hale, Lord Mayor of London in 1864, was the ward's most notable civic dignitary.

Features

Coleman Street is a one-way road that runs from

. The church of St Stephen Coleman Street used to stand at the southern end of the street, on the western side, until it was completely destroyed in

the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

and was not rebuilt. In the 17th century, St. Stephen's became a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

stronghold. On the night of 5 January 1642, after the king's failed attempt to arrest them, five MPs, Pym, Hampden, Haselrig, Strode and Holles, hid on Coleman Street utilising the support for parliament that tended to be afforded by sympathisers in the City of London. At the northern end of the street stands the livery hall of the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers, and the pineapple-shaped headquarters of

Legal & General Legal & General Group plc, commonly known as Legal & General, is a British multinational financial services and asset management company headquartered in London, England. Its products and services include investment management, lifetime mortg ...

. Despite the bustle of business, the ward also contains the City’s "finest oasis of calm",

, an elliptical square with its own bowling club, is located within the ward, as is

Moorgate station Moorgate () is a London station group, central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station on Moorgate in the City of London. Main line railway services for Hertford North railway station, Hertford, Welwyn Garden City rai ...

.Description of Locale
/ref>

References

External links

City of London Corporation
Coleman Street ward boundaries (2003 —)
Map of Early Modern London: Coleman Street Ward
- Historical Map and Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's London (Scholarly)
Coleman Street Ward Club
- A Social Club based in the City of London {{City of London wards Wards of the City of London Streets in the City of London