Cripplegate
Cripplegate was a gate in London Wall and a name for the region of the City of London outside the gate. It was almost totally destroyed by bombing in World War II and today is the site of the Barbican Estate and Barbican Centre. The name is preserved in the church of St Giles Cripplegate, and in the Cripplegate ward of the City.
The origin of Cripplegate could be from the Anglo-Saxon 'crepel', a burrow, denoting the long, narrow underground or covered way leading to the gate. Alternatively it could be that more cripples gathered at this particular gate begging alms than at other gates of the city.
The first known church of St Giles Cripplegate was built during the 14th century on ground outside the gate close to where the Walbrook ran under the London Wall. It was rebuilt in the 17th century and much altered in Victorian times. Oliver Cromwell was married here, and in 1674 the poet John Milton was buried. In 1790 during repairs to the chancel, a search was made for Milton's coffin. A coffin was exhumed, no definite evidence of it being Milton was found, and it was buried again. During the night after much excitable speculation, the corpse was dug up again. Teeth, bones and bits of hair were wrenched from it, and many were later sold as souvenirs.