Old London Bridge crossed the river just east of the existing bridge. Stow thought that the original bridge was still farther east, because St. Botolph's Port is mentioned in connection with the bridge in a charter of the Conqueror. Notwithstanding that this conjecture was disproved so fully when the old bridge was destroyed, the theory still appears in standard books and on maps which profess to represent Old London. CHAPTER IV THE WALLS, GATES, AND QUAYS On board his bark he goes straight to London, beneath the bridge; his merchandise he there shows, his cloths of silk smoothes and opens out.--_Roman de Tristan._ _Walls._--The walls and gates of London are frequently mentioned incidentally by the chroniclers of the Saxon period. In the charter given by William the Conqueror to St. Martin's le Grand, the city guarded by them is called the Burh, and the defences themselves are called Burhwealles. Their complete circuit can be accurately traced from existing remnants, old plans and records. Some years ago a fragment of the east wall of Roman date was found, which still exists a few yards east of the south-east angle of the Keep of the Tower, at a point which must be very near to the original junction with the south or river wall, which probably ran in the line of the present south wall of the inner ward of the Tower. The city wall passed north by Aldgate to the N.E. angle; then on the north by Bishopsgate and Cripplegate to the N.W. angle, and, after making an inset by Aldersgate, it formed another N.W. angle; thence it passed straight south by Ludgate to the river. It was only at the end of the thirteenth century that the south-west angle of the city was extended to take in Blackfriars. Ample evidence of Roman workmanship has been found for the whole extent of the north and east sides, but until recently some have doubted whether any remains of Roman date had been found on the west; a portion, however, was discovered between Warwick Square and Old Bailey some twenty years ago, and in 1900 other portions were found at Newgate Prison. Still earlier in 1843, as Roach Smith pointed out in _Collectanea Antiqua_ (vol. i.), a portion of the city wall was found near Apothecaries' Hall in Playhouse Yard. It was 10 feet thick, and the stones were bedded in mortar mixed with powdered brick. In the walls of some part of the old Blackfriars buildings found in 1900, I noticed that a considerable quantity of the small cubical Roman stones had been re-used in the Friary after the destruction of the south portion of the western wall of the city. Roach Smith pointed out that the steep fall in the ground just south of the _Times_ office and St. Andrew's Church showed that the river wall passed along here. There is no doubt that Alfred's London included the whole of the Roman city with the exception of the Blackfriars extension. [Illustration: FIG. 18.--ROMAN WALL OF LONDON.] [Illustration: FIG. 19.--DETAIL OF ROMAN WALL OF LONDON.]