styled “Can’lwick Street,” from the candlemakers who congregated
in it. =Budge Row= received its name from the sellers of budge, or
lambskin-fur, which at one time was greatly used as an ornamentation to
their attire by scholars and civic dignitaries. =London Stone= marked
the centre of the City during its occupation by the Romans in the year
15 B.C. =Watling Street= is a mispronunciation of “Vitellina strata,”
meaning the street of Vitellius, who at the time it was constructed
occupied the Imperial throne. This was the great highway of the Romans,
running from Dover, through Canterbury and London, direct to Cardigan
in Wales. =Walbrook=, formerly written “Wall-brook,” reminds us of
the pleasant stream of clear water that once ran along the west side
of this street and emptied itself into the Thames. =Crooked Lane= was
so called from its winding character. =Swan Alley=, in Upper Thames
Street, derived its title from an ancient mansion of the Beauchamps
whose crest was a swan. =Boss Alley= calls attention to the fact that
the executors of Sir Richard Whittington erected a _boss_, or conduit,
hereabouts in the long, long ago. =College Hill= is all that remains
to remind us of the College of St. Spirit and St. Mary founded on its
site by the same generous Lord Mayor and benefactor of the public.
=Fye Foot Lane= is properly “five-foot lane,” the actual width of this
thoroughfare at one end; while =Duck’s Foot Lane= is a corruption
of “Duke’s Foot Lane,” signifying the private path leading from the
manor-house of the Dukes of Suffolk in what is now =Suffolk Lane=
down to the water-side. =Queenhithe= was so called because the tolls
collected at this _hithe_, or wharf, were claimed as pin-money by
Eleanor, queen of Henry II. =Dowgate= is a modern spelling of “Dwrgate”
(_dwr_ being Celtic for water), where, in the absence of bridges, the
Romans had a ferry across the river to the continuation of Watling
Street towards Dover. The =Steelyard= was the place where the King’s
beam, or _Steel yard_, for weighing merchandise was set up. Foreigners
who landed goods here were, between the thirteenth and fifteenth
centuries, known as THE STEELYARD MERCHANTS.
=Gracechurch Street=, formerly corrupted into “Gracious Street,”
received its name from an old church standing in a grass market
hereabouts. =Fenchurch Street= recalls the church in the fens, or
marshy land, on the north bank of the Thames. =Eastcheap= was the
eastern _cheap_ or market, as distinguished from Chepe or Cheapside.
=Mincing Lane= is a corruption of “Mynchen Lane,” denoting the
tenements held by the _minichery_, a Saxon name for a nunnery, of St.
Helen’s, Bishopsgate Street. =Mark Lane= was originally styled “Mart
Lane,” from a fair held here from the earliest times. =Blind Chapel
Court=, situated at the north-east corner of Mark Lane, carries the
imagination back to “Blanch Appleton,” the documentary description
of a white stone manor belonging to a knight named Appleton, in the
reign of Richard II. In =Rood Lane= stood an ancient _rood_, or cross,
representing the dying Saviour. =Seething Lane= is a corruption of
Sidon Lane; and =Billiter Street= of Belzetti Street, commemorating
the names of the original owners of, and builders upon, the land.
The =Minories= marks the site of the Priory of the MINORESSES, or
NUNS OF ST. CLARE (the Order founded in Italy, by St. Clare in 1212);
corresponding to the =Minims=, or Lesser Friars, founded by St. Francis
de Paula in 1453. =Crutched Friars= was the Priory of the Crutched, or
Crossed, Friars of the Holy Trinity [_see_ RELIGIOUS ORDERS]. =Aldgate=
received its name from the _Ald Gate_, the oldest of the City gates,
taken down in 1760. Aldgate Pump, which stood beside the gate, still
remains. =George Yard= was formerly the inn yard of “The George.”
=Duke’s Place= preserves the memory of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk,
beheaded in 1572, who had inherited the property of the Crutched Friars
by marriage.
=Leadenhall Street= derived its title from the =Leadenhall Market=,
a corruption of “Leather Hall,” the leather-sellers’ market of olden
times. =St. Mary-Axe= owes its name to the Church of St. Mary-Axe
which stood in it [_see_ the article “LONDON CHURCHES AND BUILDINGS”].
=Throgmorton Street= and =Nicholas Lane= were both named after Sir
Nicholas Throgmorton, a wealthy London banker, and the head of an
ancient Warwickshire family, said to have been poisoned by Robert
Dudley, Earl of Leicester, in 1571. =Threadneedle Street= is a
corruption of “Three-Needle-Street,” so called from the arms of the
Needle Makers’ Company. =Bartholomew Lane= was designated after
the Church of St. Bartholomew, at the back of the Royal Exchange.
=Lothbury= was originally “Lattenbury,” inhabited by the workers in
_latten_, a fine kind of brass or bronze, which formed an important
industry in the Middle Ages. =Cornhill= was the ancient corn market.
=St. Michael’s Alley=, where the first English coffee-house was opened,
took its name from the neighbouring church. =Finch Lane= is properly
“Finke Lane,” in honour of Sir Robert Finke, who built the Church of
St. Bennet Finke, pulled down to enlarge Gresham’s Royal Exchange.
=Change Alley=, a contraction of “Exchange Alley,” was in the year
1720 the busy centre of the South Sea Bubble. =Birchin Lane= is a
corruption of “Birchover Lane,” named after the builder.
=Lombard Street= constituted the colony of the Jews of Lombardy sent
over to England by Pope Gregory IX. for the purpose of advancing money
to those who were unable to pay the taxes so rigorously demanded
throughout the country in 1229. =Austin Friars= contained the Priory
of the Austin, or Augustin Friars. =Bishopsgate Street= was designated
after the strong gate built by the good Bishop Erkenwald, son of Offa,
King of the Saxons; and repaired by Bishop William in the reign of
William I. =Great St. Helen’s= comprises the ground anciently held
by the Nuns of the Order of St. Helen. =Devonshire Square=, in this
neighbourhood, marks the situation of the mansion of William Cavendish,
second Earl of Devonshire, who died under its roof in 1628. =Artillery
Lane= stands upon the old practising ground of the Tower Gunners prior
to the seventeenth century. =Houndsditch= was the old ditch beyond the
city wall, anciently considered by the inhabitants to be the proper
depository for dead dogs. =Bevis Marks= is a corruption of “Bury’s
Marks,” where stood the mansion and grounds of the Abbots of Bury.
=Petticoat Lane=, also known as =Rag Fair=, is the central old clothes
mart of the Jewish inhabitants of the metropolis. =Wormwood Street=
and =Camomile Street= were so called on account of the herbs found
growing among the Roman stones. =London Wall= defines the ancient
boundary of Roman London. =Barbican=, a continuation of the old Roman
Wall, is an English form of the Saxon _burgh kennin_, or postern tower.
Here it was that the Romans placed sentinels by night and day to
give notice of conflagrations in the City or of dangers from outside
quarters. In =Great Winchester Street= stood the original =Winchester
House=, built by the first Marquis of Winchester. =Old Broad Street=
was in Elizabeth’s reign the most fashionable thoroughfare in London,
containing the mansions of the wealthiest city merchants. =Moorgate
Street= was so called from the gate that divided the City from the
moor, comprising the borough of Finsbury. =Beech Lane= was designated
after Nicholas de la Beech, Lieutenant of the Tower during the reign
of Edward III. =Cripplegate= is the narrow thoroughfare anciently
graced (or disgraced) by a stone gate which received its name from
the beggars and cripples who congregated around it. This affection
for the old gate on the part of the cripples may be explained by the
circumstance that the neighbouring church was dedicated to St. Giles,
the patron of cripples. =Whitecross Street= and =Red Cross Street=
were respectively denominated from a white and a red cross of stone,
which defined the boundaries of the land belonging to the Knights
Templars and the Knights Hospitallers. =Playhouse Yard= reminds us
that the old “Fortune Theatre” stood here. =Jewin Street= was for
centuries the only burying-ground permitted to the Jews of London.
=Aldersgate Street= took its name from the old City gate, distinguished
for several alder-trees that grew beside it. In =Bridgewater Square=
stood the mansion, destroyed by fire in 1687, of the Egertons, Earls of
Bridgewater. =Bartholomew Close= marks the situation of the cloisters
of St. Bartholomew’s Priory, of which the church still remains. =Cloth
Fair= comprised the ancient rendezvous of the Flemish and Italian
merchants for the annual sale of cloths. This was the real Fair,
to which “Bartholomew Fair” was merely an adjunct designed for the
amusement of the populace who came from all accessible parts of the
country. =Duke Street= and =Little Britain= were so called because
in olden times the Dukes of Brittany resided here. =Newgate Street=
received its name from the latest of the City gates, which also lent
its title to the gloomy prison hard by. =Bath Street= contained one
of the Turkish Bagnios, or Baths, introduced in London as early as
the year 1679. =King Edward Street= serves to remind us that the
neighbouring Grammar School known as Christ’s Hospital was established
by Edward VI. =Giltspur Street=, formerly styled =Knightrider Street=,
was so called from the Knights, distinguished by their gilt spurs, who
passed through it on their way to the tournaments in Smithfield. =Pie
Corner=, where the great Fire of London ceased its ravages in 1666,
derived its name from an eating-house that rejoiced in the sign of
“The Magpie.” =Farringdon Street= and =Farringdon Road= perpetuate
the memory of William Farrindon, citizen and goldsmith, who purchased
the Aldermanry of the Ward still known by his name for twenty marks
in 1279, and became Sheriff two years later. =Saffron Hill= owes its
designation to the rich crops of saffron that grew on its site at the
time when it formed the eastern portion of the grounds attached to Ely
House, the London residence of the Bishops of Ely, which stood on the
spot now marked by =Ely Place=, and bounded on the west by =Hatton
Garden=; so called because, when the property became demised to the
Crown, it was presented by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Christopher Hatton,
who literally danced himself into Her Majesty’s favour. =Snow Hill= was
formerly described as “Snore Hill,” from the fact that the stage-coach
passengers intended for “The Saracen’s Head” were generally fast asleep
when they arrived at their destination.
=Holborn= is a contraction of “The Hollow Bourne,” indicative of a
stream in a hollow. In Domesday Book the name appears as “Holebourne.”
=Holborn Bars= marks the City boundary on its western side. =Leather
Lane= was the recognized colony of the leather-sellers. =Fetter Lane=
is a perversion of “Fewtor’s Lane”--in other words, a lane infested by
vagabonds in the days when it led to some pleasure gardens. The term
was derived from the Norman-French _faitour_, signifying an evil-doer.
=Brooke Street= (in which Chatterton, the boy-poet, ended his life by
poison), and =Greville Street= preserve the name of Fulke Greville,
Lord Brooke, Councillor to James I., whose house stood in the latter
thoroughfare. =Gray’s Inn Road= forms the eastern boundary of Gray’s
Inn. =Verulam Buildings=, Gray’s Inn, facing Gray’s Inn Road, received
this title in honour of Lord Bacon, who was created Baron Verulam and
Viscount St. Albans. =Furnival Street=, on the east side of Holborn
Bars, owes its name to Furnival’s Inn, which it faces. Until quite
recently this street was designated =Castle Street=, from the old
“Castle Inn,” whose site it covers. The name of =Dyers’ Buildings=
memorializes the one-time existence of some almshouse erected
hereabouts by the Dyers’ Company. =Cursitor Street= received its title
from the Cursitors’ Office founded in this vicinity by the father of
the great Lord Bacon. The Cursitors were those who issued writs in the
name of the Court of Chancery. The word _cursitor_ is a corruption of
chorister. Anciently all the officers of the Court of Chancery were
divines; and the Lord High Chancellor himself was the Ecclesiastical
Keeper of the King’s Conscience. =Chancery Lane= is a corruption of
“Chancellor’s Lane,” originally containing the court and official
residence of the Lord High Chancellor. =Southampton Buildings= occupy
the site of Southampton House, which witnessed the death of Thomas, the
last Earl of Southampton, Lord Treasurer of Charles II. Those sorry
tenements, =Chichester Rents= supply the place of the old town mansion
of the Bishops of Chichester. =Lincoln’s Inn Fields= are situated on
the east side of the Inn, or mansion, of Henry de Lacey, Earl of
Lincoln, in the fourteenth century [_see_ INNS OF COURT]. =Sardinia
Street= takes its name from the =Sardinian Chapel=, the oldest Roman
Catholic chapel in London, dating back to the year 1648, and originally
the residence of the Sardinian ambassador. =Great Turnstile= and
=Little Turnstile= are pleasant-sounding names, eminently suggestive
of the rural character of this neighbourhood in bygone days. The
turnstiles were set up to prevent sheep and cattle from straying out
of Lincoln’s Inn Fields into the public highway. =Great Queen Street=
was so called in compliment to Queen Elizabeth, in whose reign it was
first formed into a footway for pedestrians plodding westwards from
Lincoln’s Inn towards the narrow path, anciently designated, as the
modern street still is, =Long Acre=. The word _Acre_, derived from the
Greek _agros_, Latin _ager_, and Anglo-Saxon _acer_, means a ploughed
or sown field. =Drury Lane= derived its name from Drury House, the town
residence of Sir William Drury, K.G., one of our most able commanders
in quelling the wars with Ireland. The house was situated where the
Olympic Theatre now stands. =Denzil Street= and =Holles Street= were
so designated by Gilbert, Earl of Clare, whose house occupied the site
of =Clare Market=, in memory of his uncle Denzil, Lord Holles, one
of the five members of the House of Commons whose persons Charles I.
made an ineffectual attempt to seize. =Hart Street= and =White Hart
Street= both owe their titles to “The White Hart” Inn, demolished
in the time of George I. =Catherine Street=, Strand, and =Portugal
Street=, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, were designated in honour of Catherine
of Braganza, queen of Charles II. =Serle Street= received its name from
Henry Serle, a bencher of Lincoln’s Inn, who left considerable property
in the parish of St. Clement-Danes when he died in 1690. =Wych Street=
was known in early times as _Aldwyche_, denoting the road leading
directly from the Strand and the church just mentioned to the “Old
town,” now known as Broad Street, St. Giles’s parish. =Holywell Street=
took its title from the Holy Well discovered on the eastern side of St.
Clement-Danes.
The =Strand= literally means the strand of the Thames. At one time
Somerset House and a few other princely mansions only occupied its
southern side. =Thanet Place=, a secluded _cul de sac_ comprising ten
houses, opposite the Law Courts, was named after the Earl of Thanet, to
whom, previous to 1780, the property belonged. =Palsgrave Place= was
so called in compliment to the Palsgrave Frederick, King of Bohemia,
who married the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I., in 1612.
=Devereaux Court= received its title from Essex House, which also
gave its name to =Essex Street=, the residence of Robert Devereaux,
Earl of Essex, the Parliamentary General. =Milford Lane= was in olden
times characterized by a rustic mill; and the lane itself led down to
a ford across the river. =Arundel Street=, =Norfolk Street=, =Surrey
Street=, and =Howard Street=, stand upon the site of the town house
and grounds of the Howards, Dukes of Norfolk, and Earls of Arundel and
Surrey. =Savoy Street= leads to the Chapel Royal, the only remaining
portion of the ancient Savoy Palace [_see_ SAVOY CHAPEL]. =Wellington
Street=, constructed in 1829-30, was named to complete the compliment
partially bestowed upon the Duke of Wellington by the designation of
=Waterloo Bridge=, opened June 18, 1817, or two years after the famous
victory. =Bow Street= was so called on account of its bent shape when
it was first laid out to connect the Strand with Oxford Street in
1637. =Covent Garden= is a corruption of Convent Garden, or the garden
belonging to St. Paul’s Convent. =York Street= and =James Street= were
both named in honour of the Duke of York, afterwards James II. =King
Street=, constructed in his reign, was designated after Charles I.,
and =Henrietta Street= after his queen, Henrietta Maria. In =Tavistock
Street=, =Russell Street=, =Bedford Street=, and =Southampton Street=,
we trace some of the family titles of one of the ancestors of the
present ground landlord, viz., Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton,
Marquis of Tavistock, Duke of Bedford, whose daughter is known in
history as the celebrated Rachel, the wife of Lord William Russell, the
patriot, beheaded in 1683. Southampton House, in which Lady Russell
was born, stood in the street named after it. =Bedfordbury= originally
denoted the enclosed property of the Bedford family. =Maiden Lane=
was so styled on account of a statue of the Virgin that stood at the
corner of this thoroughfare at the time when it skirted the south wall
of the Convent Garden. =Chandos Street= received its name from James
Bridges, Lord Chandos, the ancestor of the “Princely Duke of Chandos.”
=Exeter Street= marks the situation of Exeter House and its grounds,
the property of a lineal descendant of the great Lord Burleigh, after
whom =Burleigh Street= was designated. =Cecil Street= and =Salisbury
Street=, on the opposite side of the Strand, remind us that here
stood Salisbury House, the residence of Robert Cecil, first Earl of
Salisbury, one of the sons of Lord Burleigh just alluded to.
=Adelphi= is the Greek word for brothers. This collective title was
chosen for the pleasantly situated little district which comprises
=Adelphi Terrace=, =Adam Street=, =John Street=, =Robert Street=, and
=James Street=, the work of the brothers Adam, after whose Christian
names three of the streets were designated. Similarly, =George Street=,
=Villiers Street=, =Duke Street=, and =Buckingham Street= preserve the
memory of George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham, of whose mansion
the old gate built by Inigo Jones may still be seen. =Charing Cross= is
a perversion of “Chère Reine Cross,” so named from the memorial cross
erected upon the spot where the body of Eleanor, the _dear queen_ of
Edward I., was last set down while on its way to Westminster Abbey.
The present cross is merely a model of the original demolished by
the Puritans in 1647. =Craven Street= is the property of Lord Craven.
=Northumberland Street= and =Northumberland Avenue= owe their names to
Northumberland House, the town mansion of the Dukes of Northumberland,
taken down in 1874.
=Trafalgar Square= received its title from the Nelson Column, set up in
1843, two years before the Square itself was completed. =St. Martin’s
Lane= was named after the parish church of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields.
=King William Street= was built upon in the reign of William IV. The
name of =Seven Dials= arose from a column set up at the diverging point
of seven streets, and displaying as many clock faces. Its object was to
mark the limits of St. Giles’s and St. Martin’s parishes. =Cranbourne
Street= marks the course of a long, narrow bourne, or stream, that
formerly ran from Tyburn by way of Brook Street, Grosvenor Square,
and across Leicester Fields into Long Acre, and thence emptied itself
into the Thames at the bottom of Milford Lane. The first portion of
the name was in allusion to the long, slender neck and legs of the
crane. =Leicester Square= (formerly denominated =Leicester Fields=)
derived its name from Leicester House, the noble mansion built on its
east side by Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester, in 1636. On the site
of =Coventry Street= stood the mansion of Henry Coventry, Secretary
of State in the reign of Charles II. =Great Windmill Street= reminds
us of the old windmill that stood hereabouts a couple of centuries
ago. It was not until January, 1831, that the hay market, properly so
called, was removed from the spacious thoroughfare still known as the
=Haymarket=. =Jermyn Street= was named after Henry Jermyn, Earl of St.
Albans, whose residence, St. Alban’s House, stood on its north side.
In =Arundel Street= we have one of the family titles of the ground
landlord, Lord Arundel of Wardour. =Orange Street= was designated in
honour of the Prince of Orange, afterwards William III. =Panton Street=
perpetuates the memory of Colonel Thomas Panton, a notorious gamester,
whose daughter married into the Arundel family. =Suffolk Street= marks
the situation of the old town mansion of the Earl of Suffolk.
=Spring Gardens=, during the days of the Stuarts, contained an
ingenious contrivance by which any person stepping upon a hidden
spring was suddenly immersed in a shower of water. =Pall Mall= is
a modern spelling of _paille maille_, the title of a French game
at ball, somewhat similar to our croquet, first played in this
thoroughfare--then open to St. James’s Park--about the year 1621.
=Carlton House Terrace= stands on the site of Carlton House, the palace
of Frederick, Prince of Wales, the father of George III. =King Street=,
=St. James’s Street=, and =St. James’s Square= were designated in
honour of James I. =Bury Street= is properly “Berry Street,” after the
name of its builder.
The =Green Park= deserves its title on account of its verdure, so
refreshing to the eye. =Hyde Park= anciently comprised the manor of
Hyde held by the Abbots of St. Peter’s, Westminster, but claimed by
the Crown on the dissolution of the monasteries. =Hyde Park Corner=
defines the position of the old toll-gate at the western extremity of
London. =Rotten Row= is a corruption of _route du roi_, the French for
“route of the King,” to the historic royal residence at Kensington.
=Albert Gate=, =Queen’s Gate=, and =Prince’s Gate= are of modern date,
named in honour of the royal personages indicated. The =Marble Arch=
is an imposing structure of white marble originally erected in front
of Buckingham Palace in 1830, and removed to its present position in
1851. =Rutland Gate= was designated after the mansion of the Dukes of
Rutland hard by. =Cumberland Gate= and =Duke Street=, Grosvenor Square,
were both named after the Duke of Cumberland, brother to George III.
=Grosvenor Gate=, =Grosvenor Street=, and =Grosvenor Square= preserve
the memory of Sir Richard Grosvenor, Grand Cup-bearer to George II.,
who died in 1732. The ancestral line of the Grosvenors may be traced
back to _Le Gros Veneur_, “the chief hunter,” to the Dukes of Normandy
prior to the Conquest. =Stanhope Gate=, =Great Stanhope Street=, and
=Chesterfield Street= received their names from =Chesterfield House=,
the residence of Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, of epistolary
fame. =Park Lane= was formerly a narrow lane skirting the east side
of the Park. =Portugal Street= was named in honour of the queen of
Charles II. =Chapel Street= owes its designation to its proximity to
Grosvenor Chapel. =Hamilton Place= perpetuates the name of Colonel
James Hamilton, Ranger of Hyde Park, and boon companion of Charles II.