Mr. W. D. Saull, F.S.A., and G.S., at the recent meeting of the Antiquarian Society, communicated an account of his observations upon the foundations of the Roman wall of London, recently developed at several points, and especially on the site of the French church, in Bull and Mouth-street, Aldersgate. It is ascertained that there was a gate in the Roman period in the same spot, which was afterwards called Aldersgate. The wall may thence be traced at intervals to Cripplegate churchyard, where a bastion still remains. A minute description was given by Mr. Saull of the materials of this celebrated and very ancient wall, which remains little altered by time under the surface of the soil. It is composed of layers of small rough flints, rough Kentish ragstone (the green sandstone of the geologists), pieces of ferruginous sandstone irregularly interspersed, two courses of bricks, another layer of ragstone, a double course of tiles, and another of ragstone. It is nine feet six inches in width at the base, and two feet wide at the top; and the total existing height is ten feet seveninches.
The Illustrated London News, London, England, May 14, 1842