Dowgate

The Dowgate (electoral ward) is one of the ancient wards of the City of London, occupying a compact stretch on the north bank of the River Thames in the south of the Square Mile. Its name recalls a small medieval dock and the tight network of lanes around Dowgate Hill and Cannon Street, and it sits close to the approaches to London Bridge and neighbouring wards such as Vintry.

Today Dowgate is overwhelmingly commercial, dominated by offices, banks and legal firms with a small residential presence; the weekday population swells with commuters using nearby Cannon Street station and the riverside. It still shows hints of its maritime past in riverside steps and medieval street patterns squeezed between modern glass-fronted developments, and like other City wards it elects an alderman and common councilmen to the City of London Corporation, preserving long-standing civic traditions.