ALDERSGATE (WARD OF). One of the 26 wards of London, and so called from the old City gate of the same name, which stood across the high road between Bull-and-Mouth-street and Little Britain. This ward is divided into two distinct portions - Aldersgate Within and Aldersgate Without. Thus, St. Martin's-le-Grand lies within the gate, and Aldersgate-street without the gate. General Boundaries - Aldersgate Bars, in Goswell-street ("a a pair of posts" in Stow's time) : the General Post Office. Stow enumerates six churches in this ward:- St. John Zachary; St. Mary Staning; St. Olave, in Silver-street; St. Leonard, in Foster-lane; St. Anne within Aldersgate; St. Botolph without Aldersgate. The first four were destroyed in the Great Fire, and not rebuilt: the last two alone remain. Little Britain and Goldsmith's Hall are in this ward.

Peter Cunningham, Hand-Book of London, 1850