The Terrible Tale Of The Deadly Aldgate Pump

At the corner of Fenchurch Street and Leadenhall Street you will find a brilliant historical survivor from London’s more grisly past.

This is the story of the deadly Aldgate Pump.

Origins

There has been a well here since, at least, the 1200s, drawing water from one of London’s underground streams.

The well was mentioned by John Stow in his survey of London in 1598. He recalls the execution of the Bailliff of Romford at the gibbet, “near the well within Aldgate”. You can see Aldgate on the map below; one of the original 6 gates into the city.

Geoffrey Chaucer leased a property above the gatehouse in the 1370s and 80s, making it very likely he would have obtained his water from the Aldgate well in this period.

A pump structure is known to have been installed slightly East of the current spot from the 16th century. The current incarnation is later, likely dating from the late 1700s. It was moved slightly Westwards to its current spot in 1876.

The pump became a well-known local landmark and was known locally as marking the point at which the East End started. It also featured in Cockney rhyming slang as ‘Aldgate pump’ or just ‘Aldgate’ to mean to ‘get the hump’ i.e. to be annoyed! It was also used to measure distances into Essex and Middlesex in the 1700s.

Dickens mentioned the pump in his work, The Uncommercial Traveller, published 1860: ‘My day’s no-business beckoning me to the East End of London. I had turned my face to that point of the metropolitan compass…and had got past Aldgate Pump.”

The Aldgate Pump Epidemic

In 1860 the water was noted as tasting ‘bright, sparkling and cool, with an agreeable taste’.

What people did not realise was that the ‘agreeable’ taste was due to calcium from the bones of dead fellow Londoners! The underground stream, winding its way from Hampstead, had passed through, or near to, many graveyards…

Lots of new graveyards were created in the mid 19th century to accommodate London’s rapidly growing population. The issue therefore got worse and ‘organic matter’ from corpses began seeping into the water.

People drinking from the pump started dying. In fact hundreds died in what became known as the ‘Aldgate Pump epidemic’. Reports were published about how dangerous the water was and experiments carried out showing five times the usual quantity of ‘unusual… solids’. Despite this, some locals resolutely carried on drinking it, leading to more deaths.

Thankfully in 1876 the pump was moved to its new, current location and transferred onto the New River Company’s mains water supply, finally putting a stop to the problem.

Today And What To Spot

Today it is looks rather forlorn and forgotten at the intersection of two busy roads.

The pump is made from Portland stone and has the City of London coat of arms at the top.

It also has a large gas lamp on top that was restored in 2019.

It wouldn’t be London without a generous helping of urban myth. The spout is this brilliant brass wolf’s head added in the late 1800s. Legend has it that the last wolf to be slain in London was killed on this spot and that this is what the wolf’s head represents.

You will see a pumping handle, stuck in place, and a tempting brass button. Feel free to press it, but don’t expect anything to happen!

The Aldgate Pump is surrounded by London’s modern landmarks, skyscrapers such as the Gherkin and the Walkie Talkie, but this steadfast little piece of history is a London landmark in and of itself.

It is a reminder that you are never far from London’s dark past when walking the city’s streets.

For more little details to spot around London, there are over 100 covered in my bestselling book, London: A Guide for Curious Wanderers! You can buy your copy here.