Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate. The area of Aldgate, the most common use of the term, is focused around the former gate and the High Street and includes part of the city and parts of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is 2.3 miles (3.7 km) east of Charing Cross. There is also an Aldgate Ward of the City of London. The Ward is of ancient origin, but intramural, so almost entirely distinct from the area around Aldgate High Street, which is mostly outside the line of the London Wall. Etymology The etymology of the name "Aldgate" is uncertain. It is first recorded in 1052 as Æst geat ("east gate") but had become Alegate by 1108. Writing in the 16th century, John Stow derived the name from "Old Gate" (Aeld Gate). However, Henry Harben, writing in 1918, contended that this was wrong and that documents show that the "d" is missing in documents written before 1486–87. Alternative meanings include "Ale Gate" in connection with a putative ale-house or "All Gate" meaning the gate was free to all. Other possibilities canvassed by Harben include reference to a Saxon named "Ealh," or reference to foreigners ("el") or oil ("ele") or "awl". Gillian Bebbington, writing in 1972, suggests Alegate, Aelgate ("public gate") or Aeldgate ("Old Gate") as equally viable alternatives, while Weinreb and Hibbert, writing in 1983, revert to Stow's theory that the name means "Old Gate". The gate and its locality The gate It is thought that a gate at Aldgate spanned the road to Colchester in the Roman period, when London Wall was constructed. The gateway – which probably had two circular towers – stood at the corner of the modern Duke's Place, on the east side of the city, with a busy thoroughfare passing through it. It was rebuilt between 1108 and 1147, again in 1215, and reconstructed completely between 1607 and 1609 "in a more classical and less functional style". Like London's other gates, Aldgate was "fortified with porticullises and chained" in 1377 due to concerns about potential attacks by the French. The gate was finally removed in 1761; it was temporarily re-erected at Bethnal Green. Aldgate did have defensive functions, and, between its early