London Wall isn't just a street name. It's two miles of history rising from Roman foundations built in 200 AD, with medieval additions climbing to 35 feet above the original structure. The Romans transported Kentish ragstone up the Thames by barge to build their defensive perimeter around Londinium, adding those distinctive horizontal bands of red terracotta tiles you can still see today for structural stability.

The wall once stood eleven metres high and ran for 3.2 kilometres, punctuated by seven gates whose names still echo through the City: Aldgate, Bishopsgate, and Moorgate survive as place names, though all seven gates were demolished 250 years ago.

Samuel Pepys recorded seeing traitors' limbs displayed on these gates, while their heads decorated London Bridge. Medieval builders doubled the wall's height, adding arrow loops for archers and crenellations for sentries. They even built posterns, those cunning sally ports that let defenders slip out for surprise attacks, giving us the phrase "to sally forth."

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours trace this ancient boundary. They reveal how a drunk woman named Alice Quernebetere abused builders near Cripplegate in 1301, explain why churches dedicated to St Botolph cluster near the old gates (he was the patron saint of travellers), and show where the wall determined London's growth for 1,600 years.