The route first proposed ran south from to , but this was soon amended to the present alignment to allow connection with three additional termini: Liverpool Street, , and . However, this change also forced an awkward doubling-back at Aldgate, reducing the desirability of the line for local traffic and greatly increasing the cost of construction due to high prices in the City of London. Construction was also complicated because the station was on the site of a plague pit behind St Botolph's Aldgate which contains an estimated 1,000 bodies.