Ludgate Circus

Ludgate Circus stands at a busy crossing in the City of London where New Bridge Street and Farringdon Street meet Fleet Street and Ludgate Hill. The gentle slope of Ludgate Hill leads up to St Paul’s Cathedral. Beneath the traffic flows the River Fleet, London’s largest hidden river. The curved façades around the junction were built between 1864 and 1875 using Haytor granite brought from Dartmoor by the Haytor Granite Tramway. Charles Dickens listed the spot as “Farringdon-circus” in his 1879 guide. The name Ludgate recalls King Lud, a pre-Roman ruler once said to have built the city gate. A statue of Lud and Queen Elizabeth I once stood on the gate until it was replaced. The area’s history is tied to the old road between London and Westminster before the Thames Embankment opened in 1870. Plans for a Fleet line Underground station never reached fruition, though City Thameslink now serves the site. A 1988 episode of Rumpole of the Bailey shows the circus before the station was built. Visitors find a wide junction framed by tall granite buildings with concave arcs. St Bride’s Church rises nearby, its spire visible in old photographs. The crossing marks the boundary between the City of London and the former route to Westminster. The hidden river below adds a layer of London’s buried past. The mix of traffic and history makes it a quiet spot to watch the city move.