Newgate Street

City (EC1) Said to have been originally Chamberlain's Gate. The Metropolitan Prison of Newgate stood on the site of one of the gates of the ancient city, known by the same name. Among famous literary denizens of Newgate Prison may be mentioned William Penn, Richard Savage, George Wither, and Defoe. Originally there was no other passage through the walls of London on the western side but Ludgate; but in consequence of the enclosure and enlargement of the cemetery of St. Paul's Cathedral by Maurice, first Norman Bishop of London, the avenue from Cheapside to Ludgate was rendered so inconvenient that it was deemed requisite to open another passage through the wall. At this new outlet, which was made either in the reign of Henry I or in that of King Stephen, a new gate was built in the castellated style, and every successive structure erected upon the same site has been distinguished by a similar appellation. Pennant is of opinion that the gate was of a much earlier period, and states that as a Roman way has been traced under it, there was, no doubt, a gate here in the time of the Romans. (Reference: Smith's Streets of London, p. 296)