LONDON - AN OVERVIEW

- Richard of Devizes, late 12th century

Introduction

London is the largest and most important city in England. It contains at least 25,000 souls - some estimates put the figure as high as 30.000.

In general, the east end is more commercial, while the west end is more fashionable, and contains the residences of senior churchmen and nobility.

Walls and Gates

The city is enclosed by a stone wall, originally constructed by the Romans. No fewer than three castles protect the city; Montfitchet and Baynard's Castle to the west, and the Tower of London to the east. The Tower of London is by far the largest and most impressive of the three, and is used as a headquarters by Eleanor's court.

The city wall is pierced by seven double gates - the postern gate of the Tower of London, Aldgate, Bishopsgate, Aldersgate, Newgate, Ludgate, and the Bridgegate.

Aldgate is a free gate, open without a toll, built by the Canons of the Priory of the Holy Trinity.

No-one (at least, no-one mortal), can remember for certain which Bishop the Bishopsgate is named after, but it may have been the Saxon Bishop Erkenwald; it was repaired in the reign of William the Bastard (aka the Conqueror), by the Norman Bishop, William.

The origin of the name "Cripplegate" is uncertain - some believe that cripples used to stand there to beg, and there is a story of how several were miraculously healed when the body of King Edmund the Martyr was carried through the gate. A more likely explanation is that it was the "crepel" gate - meaning, roughly, "covered way" - into the Roman fortress.

Aldersgate was built around the time of the Conquest.

As the name implies, Newgate is more recent, only a few decades old, in fact. It was opened during the rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral after a fire in 1086. The streets surrounding the Cathedral became so blocked with building materials that pedestrians couldn't easily reach Ludgate, so the wall was breached at Newgate to allow an alternative way out of the western part of the city. Newgate also houses a debtors prison, and represents a valuable resource for vampires looking for easy feeding opportunities, or perhaps to recruit henchmen with few scruples. Olaf Sigurdsson of Clan Lasombra polices the prison, but does not claim personal control over it.

Churches of London

London is a city of spires. More than 120 parish churches exist within it, plus several large and powerful monastic foundations. Most of the parish churches are very small, serving only local congregations. The majority of England's bishops also maintain town houses in or near London. The combined sound of the church bells is enough to wake the dead, as especially light-sleeping Cainites can personally attest.