Ludgate Circus is a road junction in the City of London where Farringdon Street and New Bridge Street (together forming part of the A201 road) cross Ludgate Hill and Fleet Street.
Historically the main connection between the City of London and the City of Westminster, Ludgate Circus is situated on the course of the River Fleet, London's largest subterranean river. The circle of Ludgate Circus was constructed between 1864 and 1875. Haytor granite from Dartmoor in Devon was used in the construction of Ludgate Circus, transported via the unique Haytor Granite Tramway.
Had the Fleet line of the London Underground been built, it would have had a station at Ludgate Circus. However, the Fleet line's proposed route evolved in to the Jubilee line which went south of the River Thames before reaching Ludgate Circus. In 1990 however, City Thameslink station was opened on the site of the proposed Ludgate Circus station.
The name Ludgate derives from the Old English term "hlid-geat" a common Old English compound meaning "postern" or "swing gate".
Famous quotes containing the word circus:
“One key, one solution to the mysteries of the human condition, one solution to the old knots of fate, freedom, and foreknowledge, exists, the propounding, namely, of the double consciousness. A man must ride alternately on the horses of his private and public nature, as the equestrians in the circus throw themselves nimbly from horse to horse, or plant one foot on the back of one, and the other foot on the back of the other.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)