The Ludgate Monthly

The Ludgate Monthly was a London-based monthly magazine, which published short fiction and articles of general interest. There were 118 issues from May 1891 to February 1901; the magazine then merged with The Universal Magazine.

The magazine was published from May 1891 to October 1893 under the title The Ludgate Monthly for 30 issues, from November 1893 to October 1895 under the title The Ludgate Illustrated Magazine for 24 issues, from November 1895 to February 1901 under the title The Ludgate for 64 issues, and was then merged into The Universal Magazine.The Ludgate Weekly was a spinoff magazine which lasted less than a year (from 5 March to 1 October 1892); the first issue of this weekly had a Conan Doyle story The Great Brown-Pericord Motor.

Philip May (the novelist, not the caricaturist Phil May), was the editor of The Ludgate Monthly from its 1891 inception (selling for three pence per copy) to 1894. The first issue contained stories by Rudyard Kipling, John Augustus O'Shea, and Florence Marryat.The Ludgate is known for publishing the Red Mask by Rafael Sabatini and some of the earliest stories by C. Ranger Gull.

Ludgate

Ludgate was the westernmost gate in London Wall. The name survives in Ludgate Hill, an eastward continuation of Fleet Street, and Ludgate Circus.

Etymology

Despite the claim by the Norman-Welsh Geoffry of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae that Ludgate was so-called having been built by the ancient British king called Lud—a manifestation of the god Nodens—the name is believed by later writers to be derived from "flood gate" or "Fleet gate", from "ludgeat", meaning "back gate" or "postern", or from the Old English term "hlid-geat" a common Old English compound meaning "postern" or "swing gate".)

History

The Romans built a road along the north bank of the River Thames westwards through the gate later called Lud Gate as part of the fortifications of London. Guarding the road from the west, it led to the Romans' main burial mound in what is now Fleet Street. The gate stood just above a crossing of the Fleet River (this now runs underground). It stood almost opposite what is now St Martin's Church on what is now called Ludgate Hill. The site of the gate is marked by a plaque on the north side of Ludgate Hill, halfway between Ludgate Circus and St Paul's Cathedral.

Ludgate (surname)

Ludgate is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: