At the end of the street is the gate, named after King Lud, who Saussure claimed to “have been the founder of London”. Saussure described the gate as “Ornamented on one side with statues of this legendary king and his two sons, and on the other side, facing St. Paul’s, with a statue of Queen Elizabeth.” On this gate you see the heads of persons who have been executed for high treason stuck on stakes. There is said to be the head of Oliver Cromwell on the Gate.
Rebuilt by the City in 1586, a statue of King Lud and his two sons was placed on the east side, and one of Queen Elizabeth I on the west. These statues are now outside the church of St Dunstan-in-the-West, in Fleet Street. It was rebuilt again after being destroyed in the Great Fire. Like most of the other City gates it was demolished in 1760. The prisoners were moved to a section of the workhouse in Bishopsgate Street.
De Saussure, Cesar (1902). A foreign view of England in the reigns of Charles I and Charles II. London: J. Murray.
An old illustration of the gate circa 1650