View source for Ludgate Circus

{{Short description|Road junction in the City of London}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2017}}
{{Infobox road junction
|country=GBR
|road_type=Street
|name=Ludgate Circus
|image=Ludgate Circus.jpg
|image_caption=Ludgate Circus pictured in 2006, looking north-west
|other_names=
|location=London, United Kingdom
|coord={{coord|51|30|51.00|N|0|06|15.97|W|region:GB_type:landmark|display=title}}
|roads=[[Ludgate Hill]], [[Fleet Street]], Farringdon Street and New Bridge Street
|type=[[junction (road)|Intersection]]
|const=
|opened=Between 1864 and 1875
|height=
|maint= 
|tolls=
|map=
}}

'''Ludgate Circus''' is a [[junction (road)|road junction]] in the [[City of London]] where Farringdon Street/New Bridge Street (the [[A201 road|A201]]) crosses [[Fleet Street]]/[[Ludgate Hill]]. (Ludgate Hill is a gentle rise to [[St Paul's Cathedral]].)

Fleet Street was the only direct road between the cities of [[City of London|London]] and [[City of Westminster|Westminster]] till the [[Thames Embankment|Embankment]] was opened in 1870. The Circus crosses the [[River Fleet]], London's largest [[subterranean river]]. The concave-arced façades of the buildings facing the Circus were constructed between 1864 and 1875 using [[Haytor]] granite from [[Dartmoor]] in [[Devon]] transported via the prototype [[Haytor Granite Tramway]].

In [[Charles Dickens]]' ''Dictionary of London'' (1879) the area was described as "Farringdon-circus".<ref>{{cite web|title=Victorian London – Districts- Streets – Ludgate Hill|url=http://www.victorianlondon.org/districts/ludgatehill.htm/|publisher=The Dictionary of Victorian London|accessdate=4 Aug 2013|author=|date=}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The name [[Ludgate]], according to Stow in his 1598 Survey of London, was derived from the belief that the gate had been created by the pre-Roman British king of London, [[King Lud]], as many of his contemporaries believed. When a new gate was erected a statue on it depicted him, along with one of [[Queen Elizabeth I]].<ref>'The Farringdon Wards of the City of London a ... history' pp. 7–15, by Tony Sharp, London 2002</ref>

==Stations==
{{Annotated image
| image = Insurance_Plan_of_City_of_London_Vol._II;_Key_Plan_(BL_150166).tiff
| image-width = 1000
| image-left = -400
| image-top = -600
| width =  300
| height =  400
| float = right
| annotations = <!-- empty or not, this must be included -->
| caption = The site in 1886. Click for broader map and to enable varied magnification.
}}
Had the [[Fleet line]] of the London Underground been built, it would have had a station at {{stl|LUL|Ludgate Circus}}. However, the Fleet line's proposed route evolved into what is now the [[Jubilee line]], which went south of the [[River Thames]] before reaching Ludgate Circus. In 1990 however, [[City Thameslink railway station|St. Paul's Thameslink]] (later renamed City Thameslink) was opened on the proposed site, abolishing [[Ludgate Hill railway station|Ludgate Hill]] and [[Holborn Viaduct railway station|Holborn Viaduct station]]s. In an episode of [[Rumpole of the Bailey]] is a wide shot of [[St Bride's Church]] and Ludgate Circus filmed {{circa|1988}}, before City Thameslink station was built.<ref>Season 5, episode 6 ''Rumpole and the Quality of Life'': starting at 19m 37s</ref>

==Public telephone==
The [[Post Office]]'s first coin-operated public call box was installed in 1906 at its Ludgate Circus branch, by the British subsidiary of [[Western Electric]] (incorporated in Britain in 1910).<ref>[http://www.btplc.com/Thegroup/BTsHistory/1881to1911/1906.htm Events in telecommunications history: 1906]. BT. Retrieved 19 October 2017.</ref><ref>[https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Western-Electric_Co "Western-Electric Co."] ''Grace's Guide to British Industrial History''. Retrieved 19 October 2017.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Ludgate Circus tube station]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Streets in the City of London]]
[[Category:Road junctions in London]]