CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html>    <html lang="en-US">  <head> <meta charset="UTF-8" /> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" /> <title>London Streets Archives - A London Inheritance</title> <link rel="profile" href="https://gmpg.org/xfn/11" /> <link rel="pingback" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/xmlrpc.php">  <meta name='robots' content='index, follow, max-image-preview:large, max-snippet:-1, max-video-preview:-1' />  <meta name="google-site-verification" content="HCG94zBXylttMBD8aYw_rsd7rUkixY0cJtYBEbfJeCk" />  <link rel="canonical" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/" /> <link rel="next" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/page/2/" /> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US" /> <meta property="og:type" content="article" /> <meta property="og:title" content="London Streets Archives - A London Inheritance" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="A London Inheritance" /> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary" /> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@VanishedLondon" /> <script type="application/ld+json" class="yoast-schema-graph">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://alondoninheritance.com/#website","url":"https://alondoninheritance.com/","name":"A London Inheritance","description":"A Private History of a Public City","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://alondoninheritance.com/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"CollectionPage","@id":"https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/#webpage","url":"https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/","name":"London Streets Archives - A London Inheritance","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://alondoninheritance.com/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://alondoninheritance.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"London Streets"}]}]}</script>  <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//secure.gravatar.com' /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//stats.wp.com' /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//fonts.googleapis.com' /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//v0.wordpress.com' /> <link href='https://fonts.gstatic.com' crossorigin rel='preconnect' /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="A London Inheritance » Feed" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/feed/" /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="A London Inheritance » Comments Feed" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/comments/feed/" /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="A London Inheritance » London Streets Category Feed" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/feed/" /> <script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ window._wpemojiSettings = {"baseUrl":"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.0.3\/72x72\/","ext":".png","svgUrl":"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.0.3\/svg\/","svgExt":".svg","source":{"concatemoji":"https:\/\/alondoninheritance.com\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-emoji-release.min.js?ver=6.5.5"}}; /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(i,n){var o,s,e;function c(e){try{var t={supportTests:e,timestamp:(new Date).valueOf()};sessionStorage.setItem(o,JSON.stringify(t))}catch(e){}}function p(e,t,n){e.clearRect(0,0,e.canvas.width,e.canvas.height),e.fillText(t,0,0);var t=new Uint32Array(e.getImageData(0,0,e.canvas.width,e.canvas.height).data),r=(e.clearRect(0,0,e.canvas.width,e.canvas.height),e.fillText(n,0,0),new Uint32Array(e.getImageData(0,0,e.canvas.width,e.canvas.height).data));return t.every(function(e,t){return e===r[t]})}function u(e,t,n){switch(t){case"flag":return n(e,"\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f","\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200b\u26a7\ufe0f")?!1:!n(e,"\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf3","\ud83c\uddfa\u200b\ud83c\uddf3")&&!n(e,"\ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc65\udb40\udc6e\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc7f","\ud83c\udff4\u200b\udb40\udc67\u200b\udb40\udc62\u200b\udb40\udc65\u200b\udb40\udc6e\u200b\udb40\udc67\u200b\udb40\udc7f");case"emoji":return!n(e,"\ud83d\udc26\u200d\u2b1b","\ud83d\udc26\u200b\u2b1b")}return!1}function f(e,t,n){var r="undefined"!=typeof WorkerGlobalScope&&self instanceof WorkerGlobalScope?new OffscreenCanvas(300,150):i.createElement("canvas"),a=r.getContext("2d",{willReadFrequently:!0}),o=(a.textBaseline="top",a.font="600 32px Arial",{});return e.forEach(function(e){o[e]=t(a,e,n)}),o}function t(e){var t=i.createElement("script");t.src=e,t.defer=!0,i.head.appendChild(t)}"undefined"!=typeof Promise&&(o="wpEmojiSettingsSupports",s=["flag","emoji"],n.supports={everything:!0,everythingExceptFlag:!0},e=new Promise(function(e){i.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",e,{once:!0})}),new Promise(function(t){var n=function(){try{var e=JSON.parse(sessionStorage.getItem(o));if("object"==typeof e&&"number"==typeof e.timestamp&&(new Date).valueOf()<e.timestamp+604800&&"object"==typeof e.supportTests)return e.supportTests}catch(e){}return null}();if(!n){if("undefined"!=typeof Worker&&"undefined"!=typeof OffscreenCanvas&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&URL.createObjectURL&&"undefined"!=typeof Blob)try{var e="postMessage("+f.toString()+"("+[JSON.stringify(s),u.toString(),p.toString()].join(",")+"));",r=new Blob([e],{type:"text/javascript"}),a=new Worker(URL.createObjectURL(r),{name:"wpTestEmojiSupports"});return void(a.onmessage=function(e){c(n=e.data),a.terminate(),t(n)})}catch(e){}c(n=f(s,u,p))}t(n)}).then(function(e){for(var t in e)n.supports[t]=e[t],n.supports.everything=n.supports.everything&&n.supports[t],"flag"!==t&&(n.supports.everythingExceptFlag=n.supports.everythingExceptFlag&&n.supports[t]);n.supports.everythingExceptFlag=n.supports.everythingExceptFlag&&!n.supports.flag,n.DOMReady=!1,n.readyCallback=function(){n.DOMReady=!0}}).then(function(){return e}).then(function(){var e;n.supports.everything||(n.readyCallback(),(e=n.source||{}).concatemoji?t(e.concatemoji):e.wpemoji&&e.twemoji&&(t(e.twemoji),t(e.wpemoji)))}))}((window,document),window._wpemojiSettings); /* ]]> */ </script> <style id='wp-emoji-styles-inline-css' type='text/css'> img.wp-smiley, img.emoji { display: inline !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; height: 1em !important; width: 1em !important; margin: 0 0.07em !important; vertical-align: -0.1em !important; background: none !important; padding: 0 !important; } </style> <link rel='stylesheet' id='wp-block-library-css' href='https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-includes/css/dist/block-library/style.min.css?ver=6.5.5' type='text/css' media='all' /> <style id='wp-block-library-inline-css' type='text/css'> .has-text-align-justify{text-align:justify;} </style> <style id='wp-block-library-theme-inline-css' type='text/css'> .wp-block-audio figcaption{color:#555;font-size:13px;text-align:center}.is-dark-theme .wp-block-audio figcaption{color:#ffffffa6}.wp-block-audio{margin:0 0 1em}.wp-block-code{border:1px solid #ccc;border-radius:4px;font-family:Menlo,Consolas,monaco,monospace;padding:.8em 1em}.wp-block-embed figcaption{color:#555;font-size:13px;text-align:center}.is-dark-theme .wp-block-embed figcaption{color:#ffffffa6}.wp-block-embed{margin:0 0 1em}.blocks-gallery-caption{color:#555;font-size:13px;text-align:center}.is-dark-theme .blocks-gallery-caption{color:#ffffffa6}.wp-block-image figcaption{color:#555;font-size:13px;text-align:center}.is-dark-theme .wp-block-image figcaption{color:#ffffffa6}.wp-block-image{margin:0 0 1em}.wp-block-pullquote{border-bottom:4px solid;border-top:4px solid;color:currentColor;margin-bottom:1.75em}.wp-block-pullquote cite,.wp-block-pullquote footer,.wp-block-pullquote__citation{color:currentColor;font-size:.8125em;font-style:normal;text-transform:uppercase}.wp-block-quote{border-left:.25em solid;margin:0 0 1.75em;padding-left:1em}.wp-block-quote cite,.wp-block-quote footer{color:currentColor;font-size:.8125em;font-style:normal;position:relative}.wp-block-quote.has-text-align-right{border-left:none;border-right:.25em solid;padding-left:0;padding-right:1em}.wp-block-quote.has-text-align-center{border:none;padding-left:0}.wp-block-quote.is-large,.wp-block-quote.is-style-large,.wp-block-quote.is-style-plain{border:none}.wp-block-search .wp-block-search__label{font-weight:700}.wp-block-search__button{border:1px solid #ccc;padding:.375em .625em}:where(.wp-block-group.has-background){padding:1.25em 2.375em}.wp-block-separator.has-css-opacity{opacity:.4}.wp-block-separator{border:none;border-bottom:2px solid;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto}.wp-block-separator.has-alpha-channel-opacity{opacity:1}.wp-block-separator:not(.is-style-wide):not(.is-style-dots){width:100px}.wp-block-separator.has-background:not(.is-style-dots){border-bottom:none;height:1px}.wp-block-separator.has-background:not(.is-style-wide):not(.is-style-dots){height:2px}.wp-block-table{margin:0 0 1em}.wp-block-table td,.wp-block-table th{word-break:normal}.wp-block-table figcaption{color:#555;font-size:13px;text-align:center}.is-dark-theme .wp-block-table figcaption{color:#ffffffa6}.wp-block-video figcaption{color:#555;font-size:13px;text-align:center}.is-dark-theme .wp-block-video figcaption{color:#ffffffa6}.wp-block-video{margin:0 0 1em}.wp-block-template-part.has-background{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding:1.25em 2.375em} </style> <link rel='stylesheet' id='mediaelement-css' href='https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-includes/js/mediaelement/mediaelementplayer-legacy.min.css?ver=4.2.17' type='text/css' media='all' /> <link rel='stylesheet' id='wp-mediaelement-css' href='https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-includes/js/mediaelement/wp-mediaelement.min.css?ver=6.5.5' type='text/css' media='all' /> <style id='jetpack-sharing-buttons-style-inline-css' type='text/css'> .jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list{display:flex;flex-direction:row;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:0;list-style-type:none;margin:5px;padding:0}.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-small-icon-size{font-size:12px}.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-normal-icon-size{font-size:16px}.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-large-icon-size{font-size:24px}.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-huge-icon-size{font-size:36px}@media print{.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list{display:none!important}}.editor-styles-wrapper .wp-block-jetpack-sharing-buttons{gap:0;padding-inline-start:0}ul.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-background{padding:1.25em 2.375em} </style> <style id='classic-theme-styles-inline-css' type='text/css'> /*! This file is auto-generated */ .wp-block-button__link{color:#fff;background-color:#32373c;border-radius:9999px;box-shadow:none;text-decoration:none;padding:calc(.667em + 2px) calc(1.333em + 2px);font-size:1.125em}.wp-block-file__button{background:#32373c;color:#fff;text-decoration:none} </style> <style id='global-styles-inline-css' type='text/css'> body{--wp--preset--color--black: #000000;--wp--preset--color--cyan-bluish-gray: #abb8c3;--wp--preset--color--white: #fff;--wp--preset--color--pale-pink: #f78da7;--wp--preset--color--vivid-red: #cf2e2e;--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-orange: #ff6900;--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber: #fcb900;--wp--preset--color--light-green-cyan: #7bdcb5;--wp--preset--color--vivid-green-cyan: #00d084;--wp--preset--color--pale-cyan-blue: #8ed1fc;--wp--preset--color--vivid-cyan-blue: #0693e3;--wp--preset--color--vivid-purple: #9b51e0;--wp--preset--color--blue: #21759b;--wp--preset--color--dark-gray: #444;--wp--preset--color--medium-gray: #9f9f9f;--wp--preset--color--light-gray: #e6e6e6;--wp--preset--gradient--vivid-cyan-blue-to-vivid-purple: linear-gradient(135deg,rgba(6,147,227,1) 0%,rgb(155,81,224) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--light-green-cyan-to-vivid-green-cyan: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(122,220,180) 0%,rgb(0,208,130) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-vivid-amber-to-luminous-vivid-orange: linear-gradient(135deg,rgba(252,185,0,1) 0%,rgba(255,105,0,1) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-vivid-orange-to-vivid-red: linear-gradient(135deg,rgba(255,105,0,1) 0%,rgb(207,46,46) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--very-light-gray-to-cyan-bluish-gray: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(238,238,238) 0%,rgb(169,184,195) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--cool-to-warm-spectrum: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(74,234,220) 0%,rgb(151,120,209) 20%,rgb(207,42,186) 40%,rgb(238,44,130) 60%,rgb(251,105,98) 80%,rgb(254,248,76) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--blush-light-purple: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(255,206,236) 0%,rgb(152,150,240) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--blush-bordeaux: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(254,205,165) 0%,rgb(254,45,45) 50%,rgb(107,0,62) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-dusk: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(255,203,112) 0%,rgb(199,81,192) 50%,rgb(65,88,208) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--pale-ocean: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(255,245,203) 0%,rgb(182,227,212) 50%,rgb(51,167,181) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--electric-grass: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(202,248,128) 0%,rgb(113,206,126) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--midnight: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(2,3,129) 0%,rgb(40,116,252) 100%);--wp--preset--font-size--small: 13px;--wp--preset--font-size--medium: 20px;--wp--preset--font-size--large: 36px;--wp--preset--font-size--x-large: 42px;--wp--preset--spacing--20: 0.44rem;--wp--preset--spacing--30: 0.67rem;--wp--preset--spacing--40: 1rem;--wp--preset--spacing--50: 1.5rem;--wp--preset--spacing--60: 2.25rem;--wp--preset--spacing--70: 3.38rem;--wp--preset--spacing--80: 5.06rem;--wp--preset--shadow--natural: 6px 6px 9px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);--wp--preset--shadow--deep: 12px 12px 50px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4);--wp--preset--shadow--sharp: 6px 6px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);--wp--preset--shadow--outlined: 6px 6px 0px -3px rgba(255, 255, 255, 1), 6px 6px rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);--wp--preset--shadow--crisp: 6px 6px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);}:where(.is-layout-flex){gap: 0.5em;}:where(.is-layout-grid){gap: 0.5em;}body .is-layout-flex{display: flex;}body .is-layout-flex{flex-wrap: wrap;align-items: center;}body .is-layout-flex > *{margin: 0;}body .is-layout-grid{display: grid;}body .is-layout-grid > *{margin: 0;}:where(.wp-block-columns.is-layout-flex){gap: 2em;}:where(.wp-block-columns.is-layout-grid){gap: 2em;}:where(.wp-block-post-template.is-layout-flex){gap: 1.25em;}:where(.wp-block-post-template.is-layout-grid){gap: 1.25em;}.has-black-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--black) !important;}.has-cyan-bluish-gray-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--cyan-bluish-gray) !important;}.has-white-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--white) !important;}.has-pale-pink-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-pink) !important;}.has-vivid-red-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-red) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-orange-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-orange) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-amber-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber) !important;}.has-light-green-cyan-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--light-green-cyan) !important;}.has-vivid-green-cyan-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-green-cyan) !important;}.has-pale-cyan-blue-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-cyan-blue-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-purple-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-purple) !important;}.has-black-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--black) !important;}.has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--cyan-bluish-gray) !important;}.has-white-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--white) !important;}.has-pale-pink-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-pink) !important;}.has-vivid-red-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-red) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-orange-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-orange) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-amber-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber) !important;}.has-light-green-cyan-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--light-green-cyan) !important;}.has-vivid-green-cyan-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-green-cyan) !important;}.has-pale-cyan-blue-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-cyan-blue-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-purple-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-purple) !important;}.has-black-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--black) !important;}.has-cyan-bluish-gray-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--cyan-bluish-gray) !important;}.has-white-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--white) !important;}.has-pale-pink-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-pink) !important;}.has-vivid-red-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-red) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-orange-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-orange) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-amber-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber) !important;}.has-light-green-cyan-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--light-green-cyan) !important;}.has-vivid-green-cyan-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-green-cyan) !important;}.has-pale-cyan-blue-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-cyan-blue-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-purple-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-purple) !important;}.has-vivid-cyan-blue-to-vivid-purple-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--vivid-cyan-blue-to-vivid-purple) !important;}.has-light-green-cyan-to-vivid-green-cyan-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--light-green-cyan-to-vivid-green-cyan) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-amber-to-luminous-vivid-orange-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-vivid-amber-to-luminous-vivid-orange) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-orange-to-vivid-red-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-vivid-orange-to-vivid-red) !important;}.has-very-light-gray-to-cyan-bluish-gray-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--very-light-gray-to-cyan-bluish-gray) !important;}.has-cool-to-warm-spectrum-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--cool-to-warm-spectrum) !important;}.has-blush-light-purple-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--blush-light-purple) !important;}.has-blush-bordeaux-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--blush-bordeaux) !important;}.has-luminous-dusk-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-dusk) !important;}.has-pale-ocean-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--pale-ocean) !important;}.has-electric-grass-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--electric-grass) !important;}.has-midnight-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--midnight) !important;}.has-small-font-size{font-size: var(--wp--preset--font-size--small) !important;}.has-medium-font-size{font-size: var(--wp--preset--font-size--medium) !important;}.has-large-font-size{font-size: var(--wp--preset--font-size--large) !important;}.has-x-large-font-size{font-size: var(--wp--preset--font-size--x-large) !important;} .wp-block-navigation a:where(:not(.wp-element-button)){color: inherit;} :where(.wp-block-post-template.is-layout-flex){gap: 1.25em;}:where(.wp-block-post-template.is-layout-grid){gap: 1.25em;} :where(.wp-block-columns.is-layout-flex){gap: 2em;}:where(.wp-block-columns.is-layout-grid){gap: 2em;} .wp-block-pullquote{font-size: 1.5em;line-height: 1.6;} </style> <link rel='stylesheet' id='twentytwelve-fonts-css' href='https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans%3A400italic%2C700italic%2C400%2C700&subset=latin%2Clatin-ext&display=fallback' type='text/css' media='all' /> <link rel='stylesheet' id='twentytwelve-style-css' href='https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/themes/twentytwelve/style.css?ver=20190507' type='text/css' media='all' /> <link rel='stylesheet' id='twentytwelve-block-style-css' href='https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/themes/twentytwelve/css/blocks.css?ver=20190406' type='text/css' media='all' />  <link rel='stylesheet' id='social-logos-css' href='https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/_inc/social-logos/social-logos.min.css?ver=13.4.4' type='text/css' media='all' /> <link rel='stylesheet' id='jetpack_css-css' href='https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/css/jetpack.css?ver=13.4.4' type='text/css' media='all' /> <script type="text/javascript" id="wpgmza_data-js-extra"> /* <![CDATA[ */ var wpgmza_google_api_status = {"message":"Engine is not google-maps","code":"ENGINE_NOT_GOOGLE_MAPS"}; /* ]]> */ </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-google-maps/wpgmza_data.js?ver=6.5.5" id="wpgmza_data-js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.min.js?ver=3.7.1" id="jquery-core-js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery-migrate.min.js?ver=3.4.1" id="jquery-migrate-js"></script> <link rel="https://api.w.org/" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-json/" /><link rel="alternate" type="application/json" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories/13" /><link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/xmlrpc.php?rsd" /> <meta name="generator" content="WordPress 6.5.5" /> <style>img#wpstats{display:none}</style> <style type="text/css">.recentcomments a{display:inline !important;padding:0 !important;margin:0 !important;}</style></head> <body class="archive category category-london-streets category-13 wp-embed-responsive custom-font-enabled single-author"> <div id="page" class="hfeed site"> <header id="masthead" class="site-header" role="banner"> <hgroup> <h1 class="site-title"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/" title="A London Inheritance" rel="home">A London Inheritance</a></h1> <h2 class="site-description">A Private History of a Public City</h2> </hgroup> <nav id="site-navigation" class="main-navigation" role="navigation"> <button class="menu-toggle">Menu</button> <a class="assistive-text" href="#content" title="Skip to content">Skip to content</a> <div class="menu-menu-1-container"><ul id="menu-menu-1" class="nav-menu"><li id="menu-item-18829" class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-home menu-item-18829"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/">Home</a></li> <li id="menu-item-18830" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-18830"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-guided-walks/">A London Inheritance Guided Walks</a></li> <li id="menu-item-18831" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-18831"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/about/">About</a></li> <li id="menu-item-18857" class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children menu-item-18857"><a href="#">Mapping London through Blog Posts</a> <ul class="sub-menu"> <li id="menu-item-18852" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-18852"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/a-map-of-all-my-blog-posts/">A Map of all my Blog Posts</a></li> <li id="menu-item-18838" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-18838"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/thames-stairs-steps-and-landing-places/">Thames Stairs, Steps and Landing Places</a></li> <li id="menu-item-18849" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-18849"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/city-of-london-plaques/">City of London Plaques</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul></div> </nav> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/"><img src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Header-1.jpg" class="header-image" width="945" height="234" alt="A London Inheritance" /></a> </header> <div id="main" class="wrapper"> <section id="primary" class="site-content"> <div id="content" role="main"> <header class="archive-header"> <h1 class="archive-title"> Category Archives: London Streets </h1> </header> <article id="post-21694" class="post-21694 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-london-history category-london-streets category-under-london tag-adelphi"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/lower-robert-street-jennys-hole-and-the-tragic-death-of-a-child/" rel="bookmark">Lower Robert Street, Jenny’s Hole and the Tragic Death of a Child.</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/lower-robert-street-jennys-hole-and-the-tragic-death-of-a-child/#comments">16 Replies</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> The area between the Strand and the Embankment is a fascinating place to explore. There are plenty of small streets and alleys, many running between the Strand and Embankment, others linking between many of these streets. Those that run down to the Embankment can be (for central London) relatively steep, with a number having steps up to the Strand – a reminder of how this area was once the steep bank between the foreshore of the Thames, and the high ground along which the Strand became part of a well travelled route linking the City of London and Westminster. The area was also once the home of the great London homes of the rich and titled, estates such as Arundel House, York House, Essex House and Northumberland House. As with most of London, continuous redevelopment has transformed the streets and buildings, perhaps the most significant being the construction of the Embankment and Embankment Gardens which now provide an expanse of flat land between what was the boundary between land and river, and the Thames of today. The descent from the Strand down to the river needed some creative construction techniques for many of the large estates and buildings, and one of these was the late 18th century Adelphi development by Robert Adam. Located where the 1930s Adelphi now stands, Roberts Adam’s original Adelphi was a development of streets and houses on a level platform to bring the estate up to, as close as possible, a level with the Strand. To level up the Adelphi development, it was built on a complex of arches that created an area below the houses that was intended to be rented out for storage, stabling, warehouses for the wharf between the Adelphi and the river, etc. There is almost nothing left of this dark and damp subterranean area following the development of the existing Adelphi building, however the following mid 19th century print by John Wykeham Archer gives an impression of what these vaults were like: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-20.jpg"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="1024" height="654" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-20-1024x654.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21696" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-20-1024x654.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-20-300x192.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-20-768x491.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-20-1536x981.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-20-2048x1308.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-20-624x399.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence</a>. One place we can get feel for what it was like to walk down into the vaults under the Adelphi, is in the street York Buildings, where towards the upper part of the street, there is an entrance under a 20th century building, into Lower Robert Street: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-1-scaled.jpg"><img decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-1-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21685" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-1-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Much has been written about Lower Robert Street, about its eerie atmosphere, and the story that it apparently even has a ghost, but in today’s post I will be concentrating on the history and architecture of the place, what it was like when the Adelphi was built, and the difficulty of showing Lower Robert Street on a map, although there is also a very tragic story that could have been the source of the ghost story. When we walk into Lower Robert Street via the entrance shown in the above photo, we are walking under a 20th century building, and when the Adelphi was built, this was through an open gap at the end of a terrace of houses. After passing under the later building, we get to the original, late 18th century stretch of the street, where it passes under the rear of one of the terrace buildings that line Robert Street above: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-2-scaled.jpg"><img decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-2-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21686" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-2-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-2-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> In the above photo, you can see the cheap approach to building this side of the buildings. The rear of the terrace was not meant to be on public display. It was not facing onto a street, and if you had business in the house (apart from those who were servants or workers), you would access the house from the front, on Robert Street. The photo below shows the terrace of houses in Robert Street that the tunnel passes under, and shows the fine front of these buildings, Good brick work and decoration, compare with the cheap finish of the rear of the buildings: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-16.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="680" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-16-1024x680.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21691" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-16-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-16-300x199.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-16-768x510.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-16-624x414.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-16.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Horwood’s 1799 map of London shows the area soon after the completion of the Adelphi. In the following extract, the Adelphi is the rectangular block of terrace houses between Royal Adelphi Terrace and John Street (now John Adam Street), and to the left of the Adelphi, we can see Robert Street, and continuing to the left is George Street (now York Buildings): <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-18-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="604" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-18-1024x604.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21693" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-18-1024x604.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-18-300x177.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-18-768x453.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-18-1536x906.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-18-2048x1208.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-18-624x368.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> In the above extract, the arrow points to the entrance in George Street / York Buildings to what is now Lower Robert Street, and as can be seen, this was an open entrance at the northern end of a terrace of houses, and that led into what appears to be a narrow, open space between the buildings in George Street and Robert Street – probably for service access to the buildings – a space that is open at its southern end. Although not marked on the map, I assume that the length of tunnel underneath the house on Robert Street was there at the time, as the house is of the time of the Adelphi, and it would not have made much sense to build the tunnel at a later date. I have marked the route of the tunnel and current route down to the south of the Adelphi with the red line in the above map. This routing shows the source of the name as Lower Robert Street as part of the route runs below Robert Street. A possible error in a map leads to an intriguing possibility. I use OpenStreetMap as a source of maps for the blog, as they can be reproduced on non-commercial sites, and when checking OpenStreetMap for the area around the Adelphi, I found that it shows the route of Lower Robert Street mirroring the open space in the 1799 Horwood map, all the way down to the gap between rows of buildings at the southern end. This can be seen in the following extract, and I have added the route of what is assumed to be Lower Robert Street today, and is shown in red (<a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright">© OpenStreetMap contributors)</a>: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-19-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="615" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-19-1024x615.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21695" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-19-1024x615.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-19-300x180.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-19-768x461.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-19-1536x923.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-19-2048x1230.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-19-624x375.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> There was once very limited access between the two rows of buildings along the line of what is shown as Lower Robert Street in the above map, however it was not a street as implied by the map, and today is closed off at both ends. If we follow the old part of the tunnel under the buildings on Robert Street, we can see the bright lights of the loading bay for the Adelphi at the end: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-4-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-4-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21688" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-4-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-4-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> I assume that instead of the loading bay, the tunnel of Lower Robert Street provided access to the vaults underneath the Adelphi, and the view would have been of a series of arches, vaults and dark space running off into the distance. We can get an impression of the area around Little Robert Street by looking at mentions in old newspapers, and the following dates from 1774, listing the prizes of the lottery held to raise finance for the construction of the Adelphi, where winners received houses or vaults: A double vault for coach-house and stable with hay loft and servants rooms, over, on the north side of the Mews Street, situate between Lower Adam Street, and Lower Robert Street, being the first west from Lower Adam Street, which is let on and in occupation by Mr William Adam, Mr Capel, and Mess. Hodgson & Co. tenants at will at £34, 13s per annum. A vault on the north side of Lower John Street westward of the vault facing Lower Robert Street. Ground rent 7s 6d per annum. Note that as well as Lower Robert Street, the list mentions Lower Adam Street and Lower John Street, so there must have been a network of subterranean streets, with names mirroring the streets above. We can get an idea of the size of the vaults and the uses to which they were put, from the following advert of leaseholds for sale in the Morning Herald on the 22nd of March, 1819: “Numerous spacious Warehouses and Vaults, seven coach houses, stables for 50 horses, and other extensive and improvable premises, situate in Robert-street, Lower Adam-street, Lower Robert-street, Mews-street, Durham Street and under the Arcade, all in the Adelphi” The rent obtainable from the above premises, which were already let, amounted to £448 8s per annum. There is not much further mention of Lower Robert Street, or the vaults under the Adelphi. The build of the Embankment would later cut off the Adelphi from the Thames, so there was no opportunity to use the space for storing goods transported by river, and when there was an attempt to sell the vaults, warehouses, and houses around and under the Adelphi, they would not sell, perhaps indicative of the condition of the estate, certainly of the vaults below. The record of the auction, from the London Daily Chronicle on the 22nd of June, 1927, includes Lower Robert Street within Lot 1, which compriosed: “The freehold island block, Adelphi Terrace, including Nos. 1 to 10, John Street, 5 and 6 Robert Street, 19 Adam Street, the Adelphi foreground, with the lofty vaults and arches, embracing buildings in Adelphi Arches, Adelphi Cottages, Lower Robert Street, Lower Adam Street, part of Durham Hill, and ‘Jenny’s Hole’, together with soil of the subterranean private roads” The contents of Lot 1 include some interesti8ng references. Firstly the “subterranean private roads” confirms that there was a network of streets below the Adelphi, which must have provided access to the vaults and warehouses below ground. Secondly the reference to “Jenny’s Hole”. There are a number of references to “Jenny’s Hole” the first is from Thackers Overland News on the 25th of March 1858, where: “The notorious Adelphi arches will, it is expected, shortly cease to afford shelter to the helpless outcasts of London. They are in gradual process of letting. The most fearful den among them, one upon which had been bestowed the title of ‘Jenny’s Hole’ was taken a short time since by a publican for a wine-cellar” The above article hints at the state of the area underneath the Adelphi, and the following report from Lloyds Weekly Newspaper on the 19th of September, 1852, paints an even darker picture, both of the area below the Adelphi, and of the tragic conditions that children could get into in 19th century London. It is a long and harrowing read: “YOUTHFUL PROSTITUION AND DEATH – On Friday, Mr Langham, the deputy coroner for Westminster, held a lengthy inquiry at the St. Martin’s Workhouse, touching the death of Mary Ann Palmer, aged fifteen years, which occurred on Tuesday last at the workhouse, having been brought there by the police, who found here on the previous Sunday in a frightful state of disease and destitution, under the dark arches of the Adelphi in the Strand. The case was one of these harrowing details exhibiting the horrible extent of juvenile prostitution in the metropolis, the bare recital of which appals the mind. Sarah Cunningham, a girl only eighteen years of age, but whose appearance indicated the rapid course to an early grave, said that she had been fatherless and motherless since she was nine years old, having from that period got her livelihood on the streets, with the exception of about three months when she had a place shortly after her parents’ death (the jury shuddered as they looked upon the girl). She formed an acquaintance with the deceased about eighteen months ago, since which time they had been companions up to her death. The deceased and witness used to frequent an unoccupied stable, under the dark arches of the Adelphi, and a place also known as Jenny’s Hole down there from about half-past eight in the morning until nine at night, as they were too dirty and ragged to walk the streets, and they used to be visited by the young men working about the place, as also those passing to and fro by the halfpenny steamboats. The police used to visit the place frequently, both day and night, but they were eluded, as the various girls went and hid, or left the place by another opening, returning again as soon as the constables had gone by. The deceased was following her late course of life when the witness first met her, which was one evening at the Victoria theatre. The young men at the stables used to give them something to eat, and help to screen them from the police. They got no other money, but what they obtained under the arches in the way stated. Deceased was very bad and had been in hospital twice. Witness had heard her say that she had a good home to go to – In answer to the coroner, witness stated that she would be glad to do anything that would take her off the streets. Policeman Joseph Kelly, 137 F, said he found the deceased in ‘Jenny’s Hole’ on Sunday week last. She was lying down in a very bad state, being exceedingly filthy and loathsome in the extreme, labouring under a complication of diseases, and being covered in sores and vermin. Everything that could be done was done for her at the workhouse, but she died about four o’clock on Tuesday morning, the immediate cause being dropsy. The father of the deceased said that she had been enticed from home nearly two years ago. He had spared no money on her education, and the last time he saw her alive was in November, when he had her home from the hospital and cleansed, but she soon went away again. She was his only child. A verdict of ‘Natural Death’ was taken, and the coroner and jury sent the girl Cunningham to St. Mary’s workhouse, Lambeth, that being her father’s parish, and if she was not taken in, Mr. Testall, the master of St. Martin’s would receive her until her proper settlement was ascertained.” A dreadful story, and one that tells much about being poor and at risk in London in the mid 19th century. The comment about whether the workhouse in Lambeth would accept Sarah Cunningham, was probably down to the common problem of lack of money, and a parish workhouse not wanting to take people from outside the parish, or seek more funds from those in the parish. In many of the stories and accounts of Lower Robert Street on the Internet, there are references to Poor Jenny being a prostitute murdered by a client, and it is her screams that still haunt Lower Robert Street, and presumably where the name Jenny’s Hole came from. <a href="https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/london/lonpages/londdata.php?pageNum_paradata=29" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The list of hauntings in London at this link</a>, claims that Jenny was a prostitute murdered in 1875, and presumably is the source of the name Jenny’s Hole, however as can be seen in the above articles from 1852 and 1858, Jenny’s Hole was in use almost 25 years before the supposed murdered prostitute of the same name. I cannot find the source of the name “Jenny’s Hole”, however I do find the tales of the haunting of Lower Robert Street a rather glib dismissal of the appalling and tragic conditions that young girls such as Mary Ann Palmer and Sarah Cunningham could find themselves in. and the way they were treated and abused. At the bottom of the old tunnel of Lower Robert Street, looking back up in the direction of the entrance at York Buildings: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-3-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-3-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21687" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-3-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-3-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> In the above photo, the Adelphi loading bay was behind me, and when I turned to the left, I could now look along the route of what may have been Lower Robert Street, and which is now part of the underground car park of the redeveloped Adelphi: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-5-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-5-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21689" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-5-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-5-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Which then leads to the exit onto Savoy Place – the street that runs between the Adelphi and Embankment Gardens. The exit / entrance can be seen to the left of the following photo: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-6-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1675" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-6-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21690" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-6-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-6-300x196.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> In the following print of the original Adam’s development of the Adelphi, the entrance can be seen to the far left of the run of arches that faced from the vaults onto the foreshore of the Thames: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-17.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="623" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-17-1024x623.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21692" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-17-1024x623.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-17-300x183.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-17-768x468.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-17-624x380.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lower-Robert-Street-17.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence</a>. I am still unsure of the full route of Lower Robert Street. There is only a very small part of the original structure remaining, where it passes under the terrace house on Robert Street. Did it then turn right and head to the river side of the Adelphi? Was it an actual street, or more probably just an access route from the street to the west of the Adelphi that ran alongside the western edge of the vaults under the Adelphi to exist to the south. The fact that there was also a Lower Adam Street (mirroring Adam Street on the east of the Adelphi) and Lower John Street (mirroring John Street to the north of the Adelphi, implies that there were three subterranean streets running along each of the western, northern and eastern sides of the vaults, with the southern side looking straight through the arches on to the Thames foreshore. Whatever the source of the name Jenny’s Hole (it probably refers to a previous occupant of this small place, possibly an alcove within the vaults), it was where fifteen year old Mary Ann Palmer was found, and soon after died, and her death tells an important story of the tragic circumstances that children could find themselves in, in 19th century London. And the small stretch of Lower Robert Street is the only surviving part of the subterranean environment beneath the Adelphi that she would recognise today. <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-buildings/embankment-gardens-art-exhibition-adelphi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">You may also be interested in my post on the Embankment Gardens Art Exhibition and the Adelphi, which goes into more detail about the Adelphi.</a> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/">alondoninheritance.com</a> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/lower-robert-street-jennys-hole-and-the-tragic-death-of-a-child/" data-text="Lower Robert Street, Jenny's Hole and the Tragic Death of a Child." >Tweet</a></li><li class="share-facebook"><div class="fb-share-button" data-href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/lower-robert-street-jennys-hole-and-the-tragic-death-of-a-child/" data-layout="button_count"></div></li><li><a href="#" class="sharing-anchor sd-button share-more">More</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul><div class="sharing-hidden"><div class="inner" style="display: none;width:150px;"><ul style="background-image:none;"><li class="share-bluesky"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="sharing-bluesky-21694" class="share-bluesky sd-button" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/lower-robert-street-jennys-hole-and-the-tragic-death-of-a-child/?share=bluesky" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Bluesky" >Bluesky</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-history/" rel="category tag">London History</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/" rel="category tag">London Streets</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/under-london/" rel="category tag">Under London</a> and tagged <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/adelphi/" rel="tag">Adelphi</a> on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/lower-robert-street-jennys-hole-and-the-tragic-death-of-a-child/" title="7:30 am" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2025-02-09T07:30:00+00:00">February 9, 2025</time></a> by <a class="url fn n" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/author/admin/" title="View all posts by admin" rel="author">admin</a>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-21577" class="post-21577 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-london-buildings category-london-history category-london-monuments category-london-streets tag-bank-of-england tag-mansion-house tag-royal-exchange"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/the-bank-junction-the-historic-centre-of-london/" rel="bookmark">The Bank Junction – The Historic Centre of London?</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/the-bank-junction-the-historic-centre-of-london/#comments">17 Replies</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> There are a number of options for the centre of London, almost all dependent on how you define the centre of a city such as London. For today’s post, I am going to go for the Bank Junction as the historic centre of London – that point where several key roads meet in the City, in front of the Bank of England, Royal Exchange and Mansion House, which until recently, has been a place busy with traffic and people, as this image from the late 19th century illustrates, looking across from outside the Mansion House to the Royal Exchange, when it was described as “The open space bounded by the Exchange, the Bank, and the Mansion House is perhaps the busiest in all the City: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-25-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1877" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-25-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21604" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-25-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-25-300x220.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> And it was much the same in the 1920s, although there are some subtle differences, including the war memorial that now stands in front of the Royal Exchange as the photo below was taken not that long after the First World War: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-32-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1755" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-32-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21611" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-32-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-32-300x206.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> This is a very old part of the City, once at the heart of the Roman City, with very many Roman remains having been found deep below the current surface level. The 16th century “Agas” map shows the key streets of Cornhill, what is now Threadneedle Street, and Poultry, and by the 1682 map of William Morgan, we can see the area around the Bank junction (which is slightly left of centre in the following extract), with the second iteration of the Royal Exchange (after the first was lost during the Great Fire of 1666), and where Poultry and Cornhill meet, we can see the Wool Church Market, at the site of the future Mansion House (<a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-history/an-accountant-hall-church-and-shakespeare-city-of-london-blue-plaques/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">see this post on St Mary Woolchurch, and the wool market</a>): <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-29-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="733" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-29-1024x733.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21608" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-29-1024x733.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-29-300x215.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-29-768x550.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-29-1536x1100.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-29-2048x1467.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-29-624x447.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> By the time of Rocque’s 1746 map, we can see that the Wool Market has now been replaced by the Mansion House, and the first building of the Bank of England is shown in Threadneedle Street, simply labelled as “The Bank”: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-28-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="623" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-28-1024x623.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21607" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-28-1024x623.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-28-300x182.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-28-768x467.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-28-1536x934.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-28-2048x1245.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-28-624x379.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> By Horwood’s map of 1799, we can see how the rapid expansion of the Bank of England has taken up so much space between Threadneedle Street and Throgmorton Street: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-40-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1920" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-40-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21621" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-40-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-40-300x225.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> In all the above maps, there are only four streets converging on the Bank junction – Cornhill, Lombard Street, Poultry and Threadneedle Street. The junction would get far more complex with the “improvements” to the City implemented by the Victorians during the 19th century, which would leave us with the junction we see today in the centre of the following map: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-41.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="651" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-41-1024x651.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21622" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-41-1024x651.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-41-300x191.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-41-768x488.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-41-1536x976.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-41-2048x1301.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-41-624x396.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Where we can now see that Queen Victoria Street joins the junction via Poultry, King William Street has been built, with Lombard Street now joining the junction via this new street, and finally Princes Street, which was widened and straightened along the western side of the enlarged Bank of England. And this was why the Bank junction was so busy. Cornhill to Poultry and Cheapside was for long a significant east – west route. The new Princes Street and King William Street added a north – south route to London Bridge, and Queen Victoria Street provided a direct route down to Blackfriars Bridge along with the Embankment route to Westminster. To these through routes was added all the local traffic to the offices, shops and businesses across the City of London. The geology of the area is one of the reasons why the City was established where it is. In the following extract from the brilliant <a href="https://en-gb.topographic-map.com/">topographic-map.com</a>, the height of the land across the City is colour coded so that the blue / greens represent decreasing height and yellow to red indicates increasing height: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-27.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="617" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-27-1024x617.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21606" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-27-1024x617.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-27-300x181.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-27-768x463.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-27-624x376.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-27.jpg 1251w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> We can see the Bank junction just to the lower right of the centre of the map, and Cornhill is a hill that runs up to the highest land just to the right of Leadenhall Market. The higher land around and to the right of the Bank junction is not as pronounced today as it was many centuries ago. Building and street levelling over the centuries has resulted in higher ground being much less pronounced, and originally, the land at and to the right of the Bank was one of the two main hills of the City, with the other being around St. Paul’s Cathedral, before the drop down to the Fleet River. One of the City’s lost rivers, the River Walbrook once flowed slightly to the west of the Bank junction, cutting across where Queen Victoria Street, Poultry and Princes Street now run, at a much lower level to the current street surface. Bank junction today, looking across to the Royal Exchange, with the Bank of England on the left: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-1.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21580"/></a></figure> There are two main differences between the view across the junction of today, and that of the recent past. Firstly, and most obviously, are the tower blocks in the background. Secondly it is the lack of road traffic. Over recent few years, the City of London Corporation have been restricting vehicle access across the City, and the impact of this can be plainly seen at the Bank. The part of Threadneedle Street to the left of the Royal Exchange has been pedestrianised, and the complex restrictions are summarised in the<a href="https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/streets/all-change-at-bank-project" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> following extract from the City of London’s website</a>: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-42.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="886" height="997" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-42.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21624" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-42.jpg 886w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-42-267x300.jpg 267w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-42-768x864.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-42-624x702.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 886px) 100vw, 886px" /></a></figure> I have mentioned this before, but whilst these restrictions have resulted in a much more pleasant place to walk, better air quality, and providing an environment where it is much easier to see the buildings surrounding the junction – it does leave this central part of the City lacking a sense or urgency and activity, of a vibrant and thriving place. It is probably though just the change from the City that I knew for many decades. Apart from the new Victorian streets, the layout of the Bank junction has not changed that much, just the buildings that line the streets. This was the view from outside Mansion House, looking across to the Royal Exchange in 1804, where the open space we see today in front of the Royal Exchange, was then occupied by Bank Buildings. The Bank of England is on the left and the tower of the version of the Royal Exchange rebuilt after the Great Fire is on the right: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-38.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-38-1024x768.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21618" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-38-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-38-300x225.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-38-768x576.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-38-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-38-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-38-624x468.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence</a>. So there has been major rebuilding of the buildings that surround the junction, but the layout of the junction has remained much the same for centuries, with the addition of new streets in the 19th century. The times when the actual junction has needed a rebuild is when the Bank underground station arrived, and when the junction, and the station below, was seriously damaged by a bomb on the night of the 11th January, 1941, when the bomb went through the road surface and exploded in the booking hall of the station, as illustrated in the following photo: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-26.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="604" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-26.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21605" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-26.jpg 800w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-26-300x227.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-26-768x580.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-26-624x471.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">AIR RAID DAMAGE (HU 640) The Bank of England and Royal Exchange after the raid during the night of 11 January 1941. The bomb exploded in the booking-hall of the Bank Underground Station. The crater, 1,800 sq ft in area, was the largest in London. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205068679</figcaption></figure> Many of those in the station at the time where sheltering, and the bomb caused the death of 56 people, with many more being injured, and today there is a plaque in the station recording the event: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-43-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2065" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-43-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21625" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-43-scaled.jpg 2065w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-43-242x300.jpg 242w" sizes="(max-width: 2065px) 100vw, 2065px" /></a></figure> Time for a walk around, to look at the streets and the buildings that surround the junction, starting with the streets. In the following photo is the Royal Exchange, and Cornhill is the street leading of to the right of the photo: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-2.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-2.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21581"/></a></figure> Cornhill is an old street, and one of the principal streets of the City. The earliest written record of the street dates from around 1125 when it was recorded as Cornhilla. The “hill” element of the name is due to the street running up the western slope of the hill that peaks north-east of Leadenhall Market and “Corn” comes from the association with a corn market that was “held here time out of mind”, as recorded by Stow. In the following photo is Princes Street, running along the western edge of the Bank of England: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-4.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-4.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21583"/></a></figure> An earlier Princes Street can be seen in the 18th century maps shown earlier in the post, however the Princes Street we see today has been straightened with the loss of a northern section, by the 19th century extension of the Bank of England. In the following photo, the red bus is in Poultry, which is the street leading west out of the junction: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-5.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-5.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21584"/></a></figure> Poultry is another old street, with first mentions being in the 12th and 13th centuries. The name comes from the markets that were held here where poulters sold their produce. In the above photo, the River Walbrook once ran across the street, in front of the new building in the centre of the view, the Grade II* listed No 1 Poultry, designed by James Stirling in the 1980s, although the building was not completed until 1997. The photo shows how much land levels have changed over the centuries, as today there is no sign of the small valley in which the Walbrook ran, which was well below the current level of the street surface, which can be seen by a <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-history/the-temple-of-mithras-and-vine-street-roman-wall/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">visit to the Temple of Mithras, now on display at the London Mithraeum</a>, built as part of the construction of Bloomberg’s new European headquarters, a short distance to the south. A slightly different view, with Queen Victoria Street running to the left of the new building: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-24.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-24.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21603"/></a></figure> Queen Victoria Street was built to help with the growing levels of traffic in the City, and to provide a direct route from the Bank junction, down to Blackfriars Bridge, and the new Embankment. Construction was recommended in 1861 and included in the Metropolitan Improvement Act of 1863. The new street opened in 1871. The new street resulted in the loss of numerous courts and alleys, as well as streets of a larger extent, which were swept away for its formation. Amongst those which had occupied the site of the new street were Five Foot Lane, Dove Court, Old Fish Street Hill, Lambeth Hill (part), Bennet’s Hill (part), St Peter’s Hill (part), Earl Street, Bristol Street, White Bear Alley and White Horse Court. To the left of the above photos is Mansion House: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-22.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-22.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21601"/></a></figure> A permanent building for the official residence of the Lord Mayor of the City of London was one of the considerations for rebuilding the City after the Great Fire, however these plans were not realised until the 18th century. The site of the old market was appropriate as it was located at a junction of important streets, which did not have any significant monuments. The architect was George Dance the Elder, who at the time was the City of London’s Clerk of Works. and who took on the challenge of designing a building fit for the Lord Mayor of a growing City and which was able to accommodate both ceremonial functions as well as providing rooms for a private residence. Work started in 1739, with completion in 1758, and the first Lord Mayor to take up residence was Sir Crispin Gascoigne. The main reception room was (and still is) the Great Egyptian Hall. Not strictly speaking an Egyptian Hall, rather one based on an account by the Roman writer Vitruvius of what such a room may have looked like. The room today has a barrel roof which was the later work of George Dance the Younger in 1795. as the elder Dance had built a large upper storey, which must have looked out of place, and is shown in the following print of the Mansion House after completion: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-39.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="769" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-39-1024x769.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21619" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-39-1024x769.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-39-300x225.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-39-768x577.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-39-1536x1153.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-39-624x468.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-39.jpg 1817w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence</a>. The large blocks on the roof were intended to give the impression of a complete upper floor as a backdrop to the Corinthian portico at the front of the building, but they look more of a distraction than an improvement. There have been minor changes to the building since the end of the 18th century, but essentially, when viewed from the Bank junction, the building looks much the same today as it did when it was the first major City building at this important junction. Moving around the junction, and this is the view looking down King William Street, built after approval was given in an 1829 Act of Parliament as part of improvements to the approach to London Bridge. The street was later widened between 1881 and 1884. In the following photo, the church is St Mary Woolnoth, (<a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-churches/st-mary-woolnoth-church-underground-crypt/">see this post for the story of the Church with the Underground in the Crypt</a>). King William Street is to the right of the church, with Lombard Street to the left. Before King William Street was built, Lombard Street ran up to the Bank junction. Lombard Street is an old City street, with a first mention back in 1319, and dependent on spelling, there may have been an earlier record of the street in 1108. <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-6.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-6.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21585"/></a></figure> This is the view along Cornhill: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-7.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-7.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21586"/></a></figure> There is a statue in the middle of the road in the above photo, and it is rather appropriate given that much of the Bank junction sits on top of Bank underground station. The statue is to the inventor of the Greathead tunnelling shield – James Henry Greathead: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-10.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-10.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21589"/></a></figure> Greathead was a South African, who came to London at the age of 15 and in 1864 he was apprenticed to the civil engineer Peter Barlow. Five years later at the age of 24, in 1869, Greathead took on the construction of the Tower subway, the pedestrian tunnel under the river from outside the Tower of London. Tunneling under the river was a challenge, given the soft, waterlogged nature of the ground, not that far below the bed of the Thames. To address this challenge, Greathead devised what became known as the Greathead Shield, although it was based on a shield design originally used by Brunel, but with a number of improvements. Greathead went on to work on other tunnelling projects, a number of which route through the Bank, including the City & South London line, which at the time terminated at King William Street (now part of the Northern Line), and the Waterloo and City Line, which now has its City termination at the Bank underground station. The statue of Greathead is relatively recent, dating from 1994, when it was placed there for a specific reason. If you look below the statue of Greathead, at the area between the feet of the statue and the stone plinth, there is a grill that runs the full circumference of the statue, revealing its true purpose, as it is an air vent for the station beneath, and rather than just have a plain air vent, the statue of a person who was one of those responsible for the continuous improvement in tunnelling under London was a suitable addition to sit on top of Bank underground station. We now come to the Royal Exchange: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-8.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-8.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21587"/></a></figure> The history of the Royal Exchange goes back to the City of London’s position as a major trading centre. Long before the days of electronic communications, trading was a person to person business, with traders meeting and agreeing on prices, terms etc. All these embryonic activities led to institutions such as Lloyds of London, the London Stock Exchange, and all the other various exchanges for metals, coal etc. In the 16th century, much trading was carried out on the street, or in the small houses and shops that lined streets such as Cornhill and Lombard Street, and there had been calls for a dedicated place where people could meet to trade, agree prices, and generally conduct business of all types. Enter Sir Richard Gresham who became aware of the opening of a Bourse, or trading centre in Antwerp, one of the major trading centres of Europe. Gresham pushed for such a building to be constructed in the City of London, however despite the project receiving royal support, there was no suitable space available. The proposal was taken up by his son, Sir Thomas Gresham, who also knew of the Antwerp Bourse, as he was based in the city for a number of years as a trader, working on behalf of the Crown, and trading on his own behalf. Gresham put his own money into the project, along with significant funding generated through public subscriptions, which supported the purchase of a block of land in Cornhill Street, a short distance from what is now the Bank junction, and occupying the same site as the current Royal Exchange. The building was opened by Queen Elizabeth I in January 1570, and it was the first, large, Renaissance style building in the City. This first Royal Exchange was destroyed during the 1666 Great Fire, and was soon rebuilt following a design by Edward Jarman, but, as shown in the maps at the top of the post, it still faced onto Cornhill, and in the area in front of today’s Royal Exchange, there was a triangular cluster of buildings. The following print shows the Royal Exchange as rebuilt following the Great Fire, with the main entrance facing onto Cornhill: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-35.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="726" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-35-1024x726.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21615" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-35-1024x726.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-35-300x213.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-35-768x545.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-35-1536x1089.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-35-2048x1452.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-35-624x443.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence</a>. The Royal Exchange consisted of a large central courtyard, surrounded by four wings which held offices for meetings, shops, cellars below for the storage of goods etc, as shown in the following print: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-44.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="773" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-44-1024x773.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21629" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-44-1024x773.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-44-300x226.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-44-768x580.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-44-1536x1160.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-44-2048x1546.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-44-624x471.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence</a>. This second iteration of the Royal Exchange lasted until 1838, when, as with the first, it was also burnt down, with the following print showing the still smouldering remains of the building: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-37.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="761" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-37-1024x761.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21617" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-37-1024x761.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-37-300x223.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-37-768x570.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-37-1536x1141.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-37-2048x1521.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-37-624x464.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence</a>. The Royal Exchange was soon rebuilt, following a competition to find a design. The competition was won by the architect William Tite, who seems to have also been one of the judges of the competition. Tite’s design follows the layout of the original two Exchanges, with a central courtyard surrounded by four wings of offices and shops, however Tite’s design changed the main entrance from facing onto Cornhill, now to face onto the Bank junction. The buildings that had once occupied the triangular space in front of the building were demolished, and it was opened up so that the full Corinthian portico of the new building faced directly onto the Bank junction, and seems almost to mirror the Mansion House across the junction. The new Royal Exchange was opened in 1844 by Queen Victoria, with the following print showing the opening ceremony, and also how the new building had opened up the space around this important meeting place of City streets: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-45.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="892" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-45-1024x892.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21630" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-45-1024x892.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-45-300x261.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-45-768x669.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-45-1536x1338.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-45-2048x1783.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-45-624x543.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence</a>. Within the pediment above the columns in the front of the building, there is a sculpture with the words “The Earth is the Lord’s, and the Fulness Thereof”, which was carved by Richard Westmacott the younger (his father of the same name was also a sculptor), and shows traders, historic, from across the world and from London. There are also small details such as a ships anchor to the left and pots to the right: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-9.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-9.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21588"/></a></figure> The Latin inscription, picked out in gold just below the pediment can be translated as “founded in the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth, and restored in the eighth of Queen Victoria”, to recall the founding of the first exchange, and the build of the third exchange to occupy the site. There are numerous small details around the building, for example, the following has the date of the opening of the building as 1844 in Roman numerals: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-11.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-11.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21590"/></a></figure> And the cipher of Queen Victoria, the monarch who opened the latest version of the Royal Exchange: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-12.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-12.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21591"/></a></figure> It is interesting that the Royal Exchange is the only building that I am aware of in London where both the first version, and the latest, were both opened by Queens. Elizabeth I in 1570 and 274 years later, Victoria. The steps in front of the Royal Exchange are also where the City of London proclaims a new monarch. The current Royal Exchange has a glittering gold grasshopper from the arms of the Gresham family: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-15-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-15-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21594" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-15-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-15-225x300.jpg 225w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></a></figure> The Royal Exchange was not the only institution founded by Sir Thomas Gresham. His time travelling and working in Europe had also fostered an interest in learning, in trade, and in the benefits that the arts, technical and scientific achievements could bring to trade. After his death, the executors of his Will founded Gresham College, to provide education across the arts and sciences, and which opened in 1597. A key aspect of the new college was that teaching was in English rather than Latin, which opened the college up to a much wider cohort of potential students. The college originally operated from Sir Thomas Gresham’s old mansion in Bishopsgate, and then, rather appropriately for a period at the end of the 18th through the early 19th century, the college was based in the Royal Exchange. A number of moves later, and today the college is based at Barnard’s Inn Hall, and offers a range of free lectures, both on site and online. There is a lecture on <a href="https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/sir-thomas-gresham-and-new-learning" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“Sir Thomas Gresham and the New Learning”, on the college’s website, along with many others, which can be found by clicking here</a>. <a href="https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/browse-all?type=567" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">There is also a whole series of lectures on London, which can be found by clicking here</a> – perfect for winter evenings. There are very many fascinating lectures and Gresham’s college continues to provide a wonderful resource for learning. Thomas Gresham was perhaps the first person who truly understood international money markets and international trade. He served three monarchs, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth, helping to keep them financially solvent, and during Elizabeth’s reign, his methods and contacts helped to stabilise the national currency. He apparently could be rather unscrupulous in his dealings, including with his own family, and despite using his own money for the Royal Exchange, and leaving money for Gresham College, he appears to not have been particularly charitable during his life. His name can also be found in the City with the naming of Gresham Street. Returning to the Royal Exchange, the use of a building as a place for general trading faded later in the 19th century as specialist trading exchanges were set up to provide a place where trades could be made, meetings held, and news received in a specific and related set of commodities or services. In 1939, the building became the offices of the Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance Company, and in the late 1980s, the company made substantial changes to the interior of the building, which included replacing the original roof, and an additional upper floor. In 2001, the building was again refurbished, and reopened as a centre for luxury shops, restaurants and bars, and the Royal Exchange retains this function today. Entering the Royal Exchange from the open space in front of the Bank junction: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-19.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-19.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21598"/></a></figure> The courtyard interior and roof today: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-20-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-20-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21599" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-20-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-20-225x300.jpg 225w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></a></figure> Next to the Royal Exchange, across Threadneedle Street is the Bank of England: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-13.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-13.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21592"/></a></figure> The Bank of England occupies a significant area of land of some three and a half acres. It has reached this size through a series of rebuilds and extensions over the years since the founding of the institution in 1694 as the Government’s banker, and arrival in Threadneedle Street in 1734, into a Palladian building designed by George Sampson, as the first, purpose built building for the Bank of England. You can see the first Bank building marked in Rocque’s map of 1746, so much smaller than the complex of today. The Bank of England has a number of key functions: <ul> <li>As the Government’s banker, the Bank of England is the only institution authorised to issue bank notes</li> <li>Although they have shrunk over the past few decades, the Bank of England is responsible for looking after the country’s gold reserves</li> <li>And although the Bank of England is owned by the Government, since 1997 the Bank has been responsible for independently setting monetary policy, for example, by setting interest rates</li> </ul> Rapid expansion of the Bank of England commenced after 1788 when Sir John Soane was appointed as architect to the Bank of England, continuing work on consolidating and expanding the Bank of England and working on the large curtain wall that was finished after Soane stopped working for the Bank in 1833, and which completed the security of the Bank’s complex. The Bank of England buildings that we see today are the result of a rebuilding programme carried out between 1923 and 1939 by the architect Sir Herbert Baker, and which resulted in the demolition of most of Sir John Soane’s work, and resulted in a rebuild described by Nikolaus Pevsner as “the greatest architectural crime, in the City of London of the twentieth century”. The Bank of England, facing on to Threadneedle Street, as it was before the rebuild that started in 1923: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-31-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1741" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-31-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21610" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-31-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-31-300x204.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> A photo showing the extent of the rebuilding between 1923 and 1939, from the 1920s books “Wonderful London” (as is the above photo): <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-30-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1499" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-30-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21609" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-30-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-30-300x176.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> The photo above shows just how the curtain wall surrounding the bank forms an almost castle like structure. Also in the foreground, there appears to be a deep excavation, presumably part of the extensive below ground areas of the Bank. The castle like curtain wall was supplemented by a Brigade of Guards detachment, who had barracks at the Bank to provide over night security, continuing this service until 1973. The Bank of England partly faces on to the open space in front of the Royal Exchange, and as mentioned earlier, this was covered in buildings up to the construction of the 1844 building we see today. <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-18-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1920" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-18-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21597" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-18-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-18-300x225.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> There are two large monuments in this open space. The first is a memorial to the “officers, non-commissioned officers and men of London who served King and Empire in the Great War 1914 – 1919”: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-16.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-16.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21595"/></a></figure> The memorial was erected after the First World War, and an additional inscription was added at the bottom of the memorial for the Second World War. The memorial records the names of all the London Battalions that fought in the Great War, and it is a reminder of how battalions were formed from local areas and of people with specific interests, so you have the 11th Battalion Finsbury Rifles, the 17th Battalion Poplar & Stepney Rifles, the 28th Battalion Artists Rifles etc.: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-17.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-17.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21596"/></a></figure> The second monument is to the Duke of Wellington, which was unveiled on June the 18th, 1844: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-23.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-23.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21602"/></a></figure> The monument is here, in front of the Bank of England and Royal Exchange as a thank you from the City of London for the Duke’s help in getting the London Bridge Approaches Act of 1827 through Parliament. There is a full explanation on a plaque on the monument: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-34.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-34.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21612"/></a></figure> The Duke of Wellington also now sits on an air vent to the station below, as can be seen by the grill in the above photo. The plaque mentions that a piece of granite from London Bridge was set into the pavement by the statue prior to the removal of the bridge to Arizona: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-33-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1606" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-33-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21613" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-33-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-33-300x188.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Each of the buildings and institutions covered in this post deserve a dedicated and much more comprehensive post, such is the history at this key City of London road junction. The other aspect that deserves a much fuller write up is the underground station that sits beneath the road junction. Bank Station was one of very few London Underground Stations that had no above ground buildings, however Bank can no longer claim this distinctive feature following additional entrances to the station across an ever expanding area, including the entrance to Bank Underground Station that is now on Cannon Street. But as you walk around the Bank junction, there are a number of access points, where stairs lead you down to the station below: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-21.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bank-Junction-21.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21600"/></a></figure> Whether or not you agree that the Bank junction is the historic centre of London, it is a place where major routes across and out of the city all join, and it is a place where three key and early City of London Institutions have and are based. The Royal Exchange, although no longer supporting its original purpose, once represented the trading heart of the City, Mansion House continues to be the public face of the City’s independent governance, and the Bank of England represents the City’s role in the financial management of the country. If you are interested in a bit of a deep dive into two of the places covered, I can recommend: <ul> <li>Till Time’s Last Sand – A History of the Bank of England, 1694 – 2013 by David Kynaston</li> <li>Gresham’s Law: The Life and World of Queen Elizabeth I’s Banker by John Guy</li> <li>Sir Thomas Gresham and Gresham College: Studies in the Intellectual History of London in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, edited by Francis Ames-Lewis</li> </ul> In addition to the Gresham lectures, you may also be interested in the following film that I found whilst researching today’s post at the Imperial War Museum collection. Titled Britain at War, it is a film which unusually is mainly in colour, and has a lengthy section on London starting at 8 minutes, 30 seconds (it will probably not appear in the emailed versions of this post. <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Click here to go to the website where the film will appear in the post</a>.) <iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.iwm.org.uk/embed/?id=1060038940&media_id=513541" height="430" width="480" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/">alondoninheritance.com</a> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/the-bank-junction-the-historic-centre-of-london/" data-text="The Bank Junction - The Historic Centre of London?" >Tweet</a></li><li class="share-facebook"><div class="fb-share-button" data-href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/the-bank-junction-the-historic-centre-of-london/" data-layout="button_count"></div></li><li><a href="#" class="sharing-anchor sd-button share-more">More</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul><div class="sharing-hidden"><div class="inner" style="display: none;width:150px;"><ul style="background-image:none;"><li class="share-bluesky"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="sharing-bluesky-21577" class="share-bluesky sd-button" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/the-bank-junction-the-historic-centre-of-london/?share=bluesky" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Bluesky" >Bluesky</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-buildings/" rel="category tag">London Buildings</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-history/" rel="category tag">London History</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-monuments/" rel="category tag">London Monuments</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/" rel="category tag">London Streets</a> and tagged <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/bank-of-england/" rel="tag">Bank of England</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/mansion-house/" rel="tag">Mansion House</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/royal-exchange/" rel="tag">Royal Exchange</a> on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/the-bank-junction-the-historic-centre-of-london/" title="7:30 am" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2025-01-19T07:30:00+00:00">January 19, 2025</time></a> by <a class="url fn n" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/author/admin/" title="View all posts by admin" rel="author">admin</a>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-21491" class="post-21491 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-london-monuments category-london-streets category-the-thames tag-river-thames tag-thames-stairs"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/york-buildings-stairs-and-the-watergate/" rel="bookmark">York Buildings Stairs and the Watergate</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/york-buildings-stairs-and-the-watergate/#comments">8 Replies</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> The following photo is from the 1890s book, “The Queen’s London”, and shows the Water Gate between Buckingham Street and the Embankment Gardens: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-1-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1835" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-1-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21467" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-1-300x215.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> The caption underneath the photo reads: “In a corner of the public gardens on the Victoria Embankment, at the foot of Buckingham Street, is the ancient Water Gate to York House, a mansion begun by Inigo Jones for the first Duke of Buckingham. It is a beautiful monument of the famous architect’s skill, and can challenge comparison with similar work by any of the Italian masters. The old Water Gate is the earliest ornamental archway in London. It is interesting, moreover, as showing the former level of the Thames. This part of town was a very different place once, when the nobles fancied it for their mansions, or even prior to the making of the Embankment, when it was regularly lapped by the tide.” The above description, written around 130 years ago applies equally today, and the Water Gate has been a regular feature in books that covered the key features of the city at the time of publication, and the Water Gate made another appearance in the 1920s volumes of “Wonderful London”: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-2-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1941" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-2-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21468" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-2-300x227.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Apart from the architecture, the really fascinating thing about the Water Gate is that it shows how much of the Thames was taken up by the construction of the Embankment, and with a walk up Buckingham Street, it demonstrates the topography of the area, and how we can still see the relatively steep descent from the Strand down to the foreshore of the river. Rocque’s 1746 map shows the Water Gate and surrounding streets as they were in the middle of the 18th century. They are shown in the following extract, in the middle of the map, where the Water Gate is part of York Buildings Stairs: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-24.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-24.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21490"/></a></figure> The map shows that the Water Gate faced directly onto the Thames foreshore, and whilst the Water Gate was an unusual feature for Thames Stairs, York Buildings Stairs were just another of the Thames Stairs that lined the river, and looking along the river in 1746, we can see other stairs. Salisbury Stairs, Ivy Bridge, Black Lyon Stairs and Hungerford Stairs, all lost with the construction of the Embankment. The Embankment was built between the mid 1860s and the early 1870s (there are various dates either side of these dates, dependent on exactly what start and completion meant), and around 15 years before the start of construction, John Wykeham Archer created the following water colour of the Water Gate: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-23.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="691" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-23-1024x691.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21489" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-23-1024x691.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-23-300x202.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-23-768x518.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-23-1536x1036.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-23-2048x1382.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-23-624x421.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence</a>. The Thames was much wider before the construction of the Embankment, and the foreshore would have been a much shallower slope down to the centre of the river. The above image shows grass growing across part of the foreshore, and a sunken boat to the right. The sunken boat must have been just one of thousands of old wooden boats that were abandoned on the river and gradually decayed, sank, and became part of the river’s story. This has been happening from at least the Roman period, and on the southern side of the river, a Roman boat was discovered when excavating the ground ready for the build of County Hall. <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-buildings/county-hall-and-a-roman-boat/">I wrote about the County Hall Roman boat in this post</a>, and it again illustrates how much wider the river once was, on both northern and southern sides of the Thames. Also in the above image, there is a brick wall along the back of the Water Gate. Whilst this may have been to keep back very high tides on the river, its primary purpose seems to have been to create a terrace along the side of the river, as the street was called Terrace Walk. In the 1746 map, the stairs are called York Buildings Stairs, and this name tells of the building that the Water Gate was once part of, and that once occupied the streets behind the Water Gate in the 1746 map. The building was York House, shown in the following print, with the Water Gate shown with steps down to the river: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-21.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="685" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-21-1024x685.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21487" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-21-1024x685.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-21-300x201.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-21-768x514.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-21-1536x1028.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-21-2048x1371.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-21-624x418.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence</a>. The building that would eventually become known as York House was built around 1237 for the Bishops of Norwich, and was then known as Norwich Place. This was the time when Bishops from around the country had a London town house as a London base, to be near the Royal Court, in which to entertain etc. (<a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-buildings/winchester-palace-great-hall-clink-street/">for another example, see my post on Winchester Palace</a>). The Bishops of Norwich maintained ownership of the house until Henry VIII gave the house to the Duke of Suffolk in 1536, granting the Bishop a smaller house in Cannon Row, Westminster. Mary I then took the house and gave it to the Arch Bishop of York, and this is when the house took the name of York House. From then on, the house went through a series of owners who seem to have gained or lost possession of the house at the whim of Royal favour. The Water Gate dates from George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham’s ownership of the house, when he carried out extensive repairs and had the Water Gate built in around 1626. The caption to the photo from the Queen’s London at the top of the post, attributes the repairs and the Water Gate to Inigo Jones, however there is doubt about this and the Historic England listing for the Water Gate (Grade I) states that it was “executed by Nicholas Stone but the design also attributed to Sir Balthazar Gerbier”, and that the alterations to York House carried out at the same time were also by Gerbier, rather than Jones. The Water Gate and stairs down to the river would have provided a private landing place, enabling the occupants of York House to take a boat along the river, or to return home, without having to use the streets, or a public landing place. The Water Gate would also have stood out along the north bank of the river, and would have been a statement, and an impressive place for visitors to arrive. York House was demolished in the 1670s, with only the Water Gate surviving. The land behind was developed by Nicholas Barbon into the network of streets we see today. George Villiers, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham imposed a rather unusual condition on the redevelopment, in that the streets that were to be built spelled out his full title, so if we go back to Rocque’s 1746 map, we can see his full title, including the “of” with Of Alley. I have numbered the street in the order in which they appear in his full title: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-25.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="795" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-25-1024x795.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21492" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-25-1024x795.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-25-300x233.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-25-768x597.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-25-1536x1193.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-25-2048x1591.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-25-624x485.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Only part of the Duke’s title remains today. Duke Street is now John Adam Street, George Street is now York Buildings, and part of Of Alley has been lost under the development of the land between John Adam Street and the Strand with only half remaining now as York Place. All as shown in the following map (<a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright">© OpenStreetMap contributors)</a>: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-26.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="964" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-26-1024x964.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21493" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-26-1024x964.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-26-300x282.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-26-768x723.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-26-1536x1446.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-26-624x587.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-26.jpg 1585w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> The Water Gate today: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-3.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-3.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21469"/></a></figure> The Water Gate lost its connection with the River Thames with the construction of the Embankment between the mid 1860s and the early 1870s. This created the roadway, the Victoria Embankment, walkway along the river, with large retaining walls along the river. Between the Victoria Embankment and the Water Gate are Embankment Gardens, and part of the gardens and Victoria Embankment are built over what is now the Circle and District Line, along with the sewage system designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette, which was much needed to avoid sewage being discharged directly into the Thames. The Water Gate is now a considerable distance from the river, and if the distance measure feature on Google maps is accurate, the Water Gate is now 129 metres from the river – a distance which shows the considerable size of the construction work that formed the gardens and Victoria Embankment. <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-4.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-4.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21470"/></a></figure> After the construction of the Victoria Embankment, and the gardens, there was concern about the future of the Water Gate, which by the end of the 1870s was in a very poor state, and in urgent need of restoration. There were also proposals that the Water Gate should also be moved to sit on the new Embankment wall, facing onto the river. Whilst this would have continued the gate’s original purpose, it would have been completely out of context, and there was no need for such a water gate onto the river as using a waterman to row you along the river was by the late 19th century a redundant mode of travel. Building News of November 1879 covered the issues with, and proposals for the Water Gate: “The Metropolitan Board of Works have at last turned their attention to the deplorable condition of York Stairs, or Buckingham Gate, as it is sometimes called, now half buried in the newly made slopes of the Embankment-gardens. Designed to face with its best aspect the fashionable highway of the day – the river, the building became almost forgotten when that time passed away, until the Embankment again brought the public to its proper front. It is undoubtably a relic worth preserving on account of its artistic merits, independent of the historic interest attached to it. We wait with interest to learn of the Metropolitan Board of Works with regard to its ‘restoration’. It is hoped that better judgement will be exercised by that practical body than has been in some similar instances. There can be little question that to allow it to retain its original site must be the best plan. Under some circumstances it might be desirable that such a structure should follow the retreated river margin; but the lines of the modern Embankment, however beautiful in themselves, would be utterly discordant with the old-style water gate. And again, the river is no longer the highway from which the majority of people view our public buildings. We are glad to see that something is to be done. As we pointed out in a former number, it is quite time the neglected ornament was reinstated to a position of the dignity it deserves.” One of the proposals for the water gate, to reunite it with the river whilst maintain it in its original position, was to run a pipe from the river, under the Embankment, over the rail tracks of the new cut and cover railway, and to a large pond around the water gate. This would bring river water to fill the pond, and the construction of the sewer under the new Embankment was expected to ensure that the river water would now be clean. This proposal did not get carried out. Rather the water gate was restored, and the surroundings of the water gate landscaped, to bring it to a similar state that we see today. The work was carried out by the London County Council (who took over the responsibilities of the Metropolitan Board of Works), and completed in the early 1890s. A look behind the water gate, and we can start to see the difference in land levels, with steps up to the southern end of Buckingham Street: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-5-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-5-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21471" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-5-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-5-225x300.jpg 225w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></a></figure> In the above photo the railings and steps are all Grade II listed, and are described as “Mid C.18. Cast iron and Portland stone”. What was Terrace Walk in 1746 is now Watergate Walk, here looking to the west, and steps up to Villiers Street: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-19.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-19.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21485"/></a></figure> And to the east towards York Buildings: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-20.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-20.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21486"/></a></figure> The rear of the Water Gate: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-6.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-6.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21472"/></a></figure> The rear of the Water Gate in 1862, as painted by John Wykeham Archer in 1862, just before the construction of the Victoria Embankment and gardens: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-22.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="710" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-22-1024x710.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21488" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-22-1024x710.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-22-300x208.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-22-768x532.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-22-1536x1065.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-22-2048x1420.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-22-624x433.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence</a>. Buckingham Street is one of those London streets where the majority of the buildings that line the street have listed status. In the photo below, the end of terrace building is a 1679-80 town house, built as part of Barbon’s development of the area. It was somewhat rebuilt later in the 17th, and again in the 18th centuries: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-8-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1962" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-8-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21474" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-8-scaled.jpg 1962w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-8-230x300.jpg 230w" sizes="(max-width: 1962px) 100vw, 1962px" /></a></figure> A plaque on the building states that Samuel Pepys lived in a house on the site, which must have been the original Barbon development: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-7-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1968" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-7-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21473" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-7-scaled.jpg 1968w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-7-231x300.jpg 231w" sizes="(max-width: 1968px) 100vw, 1968px" /></a></figure> Next to the houses in the photo above, is the house shown in the photo below, Grade I listed, with the listing dating it as “c.1676-77 with early C.19 and later alterations”, and as being again part of Barbon’s development of the land formerly occupied by York House: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-9.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-9.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21475"/></a></figure> This house also has a plaque claiming Samuel Pepys as a resident, and it appears he lived in the house between 1679 and 1688, when he stayed with William Hewer and that the house was partly in use as the Admiralty Office: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-10-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="946" height="1024" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-10-946x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21476" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-10-946x1024.jpg 946w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-10-277x300.jpg 277w" sizes="(max-width: 946px) 100vw, 946px" /></a></figure> Looking up the full length of Buckingham Street, we can see the way the land gradually rises in height, up to the rear of the building at the very far end, which has a frontage onto the Strand: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-15-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1920" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-15-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21481" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-15-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-15-300x225.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> One of the very few buildings on Buckingham Street which is not listed, is this building on the south east corner of the street: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-16-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1926" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-16-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21482" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-16-scaled.jpg 1926w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-16-226x300.jpg 226w" sizes="(max-width: 1926px) 100vw, 1926px" /></a></figure> The building that was originally on the site was once the home of William Smith – the father of English Geology: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-17-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2205" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-17-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21483" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-17-scaled.jpg 2205w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-17-258x300.jpg 258w" sizes="(max-width: 2205px) 100vw, 2205px" /></a></figure> The rear of the water gate from the southern end of Buckingham Street, which again shows the height difference between the street and the gate: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-14.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-14.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21480"/></a></figure> Another house from Barbon’s development of the area. Grade II* listed as a terraced town house, and dating from between 1675 and 1676: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-11-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1925" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-11-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21477" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-11-scaled.jpg 1925w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-11-226x300.jpg 226w" sizes="(max-width: 1925px) 100vw, 1925px" /></a></figure> As we approach the northern end of Buckingham Street, where John Adam Street crosses, we can better see the height difference with the rear of the building at the far end, which has a frontage on the Strand. Steps run up from John Adam Street, and the remaining section of the now renamed Of Alley is at the top of the stairs: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-13-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1910" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-13-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21479" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-13-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-13-300x224.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> One of the interesting aspects of walking the streets between the Strand and the Embankment is the wide variety of architectural styles we can find. The result of the redevelopment of small plots of land over the centuries. On the corner of Buckingham Street and John Adams Street is the following Grade II listed corner house and office, built around 1860 by R. P. Pullan: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-12.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-12.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21478"/></a></figure> Walking back to the Embankment Gardens, and this is the view towards the west. The Water Gate can be seen lurking low down on the right: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-18.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/York-Stairs-18.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-21484"/></a></figure> The above view shows just how much the area in front of the Water Gate has changed. For roughly the first 240 years of the water gate’s existence, it was looking out directly onto the River Thames, and was used as a placed where people could catch a boat to travel across or along the river. For the last 155 years, the Water Gate has lost contact with the river, now 129 metres to the south, and it looks out across a very different view. The York Buildings Stairs / Water Gate are also another example of how we have significantly reduced the width of the River Thames over the centuries, and how the river now runs in a channel, rather than a river with a gradually descending and wider foreshore. <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-buildings/embankment-gardens-art-exhibition-adelphi/">For more on this area, you may also be interested in my post on the Embankment Gardens Art Exhibition and the Adelphi.</a> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/">alondoninheritance.com</a> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/york-buildings-stairs-and-the-watergate/" data-text="York Buildings Stairs and the Watergate" >Tweet</a></li><li class="share-facebook"><div class="fb-share-button" data-href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/york-buildings-stairs-and-the-watergate/" data-layout="button_count"></div></li><li><a href="#" class="sharing-anchor sd-button share-more">More</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul><div class="sharing-hidden"><div class="inner" style="display: none;width:150px;"><ul style="background-image:none;"><li class="share-bluesky"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="sharing-bluesky-21491" class="share-bluesky sd-button" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/york-buildings-stairs-and-the-watergate/?share=bluesky" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Bluesky" >Bluesky</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-monuments/" rel="category tag">London Monuments</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/" rel="category tag">London Streets</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/the-thames/" rel="category tag">The Thames</a> and tagged <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/river-thames/" rel="tag">River Thames</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/thames-stairs/" rel="tag">Thames Stairs</a> on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/york-buildings-stairs-and-the-watergate/" title="7:30 am" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2024-12-22T07:30:00+00:00">December 22, 2024</time></a> by <a class="url fn n" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/author/admin/" title="View all posts by admin" rel="author">admin</a>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-20883" class="post-20883 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-london-history category-london-streets tag-strand"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/strand-lane-a-tragic-story-and-william-lilly/" rel="bookmark">Strand Lane, a Tragic Story and William Lilly</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/strand-lane-a-tragic-story-and-william-lilly/#comments">20 Replies</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-south-bank-marsh-industry-culture-and-the-festival-of-britain-tickets-1016866473997">Tickets for my final Southbank walk until next summer: The South Bank – Marsh, Industry, Culture and the Festival of Britain, on the 20th of October, are now available by clicking here.</a> As well as finding the locations of my father’s photos, it is fascinating to see how London has changed compared to any old photo, and the three volume set of Wonderful London from the 1920s is a fantastic source to compare how London has changed in the past 100 years, and the following photo of Strand Lane from the book took me to a very old place with a long story: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-1-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2038" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-1-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20857" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-1-scaled.jpg 2038w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-1-239x300.jpg 239w" sizes="(max-width: 2038px) 100vw, 2038px" /></a></figure> The text from Wonderful London with the above photo reads: “Strand Lane is thought to have once been the bed of a stream which ran down from Drury Lane to the Thames. A bridge called Strand Bridge crossed it, and the name was afterwards transferred to the landing stage at the bottom. The entrance to the Roman Bath is just to the right of the passage under the old watch house, and the property belongs to the parish of St. Mary’s. Just below the point where the camera stood for this photograph are some steps on the right leading up to Surrey Street”. There is some truth and also a big error in the above 1920s text, which I will come to later in the post. The same view today (although not exactly from the right place as there was a van and a car parked to the right and behind where I was standing): <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-3-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1640" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-3-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20859" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-3-scaled.jpg 1640w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-3-192x300.jpg 192w" sizes="(max-width: 1640px) 100vw, 1640px" /></a></figure> The photographer for Wonderful London walked through the passage under the house, and took another photo looking down Strand Lane: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-2-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1974" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-2-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20858" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-2-scaled.jpg 1974w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-2-231x300.jpg 231w" sizes="(max-width: 1974px) 100vw, 1974px" /></a></figure> So I did the same: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-4-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1680" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-4-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20860" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-4-scaled.jpg 1680w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-4-197x300.jpg 197w" sizes="(max-width: 1680px) 100vw, 1680px" /></a></figure> The Wonderful London text for the second photo reads: “A low entry opposite the church of St. Mary-le-Strand leads to this quant passage. In former times Strand Lane led down to Strand Bridge, a landing place for boats much used by the inmates of Strand Inn, which lay just to the west of the lane. In ‘The Spectator’ it is recorded that Addison landed with a ten sail of apricot boats at Strand bridge for somebody’s stall in Covent Garden. There used to be some tenements in the Lane called Golden Buildings, but at present the backs of high houses on the east and a brick wall on the west are all that keep it as a lane.” The description of the lane in the last sentence of the above 1920s text can equally apply to much of the lane today, but where is Strand Lane? I have marked the location of Strand Lane within the red oval in the following map  (<a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright">© OpenStreetMap contributors)</a>: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-27.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-27-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20884" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-27-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-27-300x200.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-27-768x512.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-27-624x416.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-27.jpg 1274w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> The entrance to Strand Lane is from the south, along Temple Place. The Strand Campus of King’s College London occupies the large area of land to the west, and also the buildings along the eastern side of the lane, so today, Strand Lane seems to be fully within the campus of King’s College London. Today, the lane comes to a dead end at the north. The Wonderful London description states that entry to the lane from the north was through a “low entry opposite the church of St. Mary-le-Strand leads to this quant passage“, however this has been closed off for the last fifty years due to the expansion of the college buildings. Rocque’s map of 1746 shows that Strand Lane was to be found in the mid 18th century, and also shows how the lane ran directly to the Strand, just opposite the eastern end of St. Mary-le-Strand. Strand Lane can be seen running down from the Strand, in the centre of the following extract from Rocque’s map: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-19-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1920" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-19-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20875" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-19-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-19-300x225.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> In the above map, you can see that Strand Lane runs down to a set of stairs into the river which went by the name of Strand Bridge. In an 18th century reproduction of an earlier map, we can see Strand Lane, with the name of Strand Bridge Lane on the left edge of the map, when it was along the western border of the old Arundel House, one of the large houses and grounds that once lined the area between the Strand and the river: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-24.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="978" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-24-1024x978.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20880" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-24-1024x978.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-24-300x286.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-24-768x733.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-24-1536x1467.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-24-2048x1955.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-24-624x596.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence</a>. The above map shows 4 small boats at the end of Strand Bridge Lane, illustrating that this was a place where you could take a boat along the river for a fee. The use of the word “Bridge”, either in the name of the lane, or for the landing place at the end of the lane can best be described by taking the following extract from “London Past and Present” by Henry B. Wheatley (1891) : “Strand Lane, in the Strand, east of Somerset House, and opposite the east end of St. Mary’s Church, was originally the channel of the rivulet which crossed the great thoroughfare under Strand Bridge. It must be remembered that the Strand at this part has been raised fully 20 feet above the ancient level. The lane led to the landing place, at one time known as Strand Bridge; but this was destroyed in forming the Thames Embankment and the lane is no longer a thoroughfare.” “London Past and Present” also includes a passage from the 1709 publication “History of the Quakers” to substantiate a claim that there were once 311 open channels of water crossing the roadway between Westminster Hall and the Royal Exchange: “The 18th December 1656, J. Naylor suffered part; and after having stood full two hours with his head in the Pillory, was stripped and whipped at a cart’s tail, from Palace Yard to the Old Exchange, and received three hundred and ten stripes; and the executioner would have given him one more (as he confessed to the Sheriff), ‘there being three hundred and eleven kennels’, but his foot slipping, the stroke fell upon his own hand, which hurt him much.” “Kennels” were streams of water that ran either along the middle or along the edges of a street. One place where Kennels can still be found is Wells in Somerset, where there are streams flowing in channels along the sides of the streets: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-29-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-29-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20888" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-29-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-29-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> Whether there were 311 streams or channels of water leading down to the river, crossing the road between Westminster and the Royal Exchange in the heart of the City is impossible to confirm and it does seem like a very large number, however there must have been a significant amount of small streams, and Strand Lane appears to be the route of one of these old streams. A reminder of how much we have changed the land surface of the city over the centuries, with so many of the original natural features erased or buried. The plan of Arundel House shows the street as Strand Bridge Street, and perhaps the stream of water also acted as the western border of the plot of land on which Arundel House was built. This is the entrance to Strand Lane from Temple Place. the buildings of King’s College London line the two sides of the land, and there is an enclosed overhead walking route between the two sides: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-5-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-5-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20861" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-5-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-5-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> Temple Place, and the Embankment which was behind me when I took the above photo, were built during the late 19th century, so originally, the Thames came up to the roadway in front of me, and this was where the stairs at the end of Strand Lane could be found. I use old newspapers for research into the places I write about. You need to be careful about journalistic spin, and as ever, newspapers always focus on the bad aspects of life, however they do give a good impression of day to day life in a city such as London. We also tend to romanticise the London of the past, however if you did not have money, London was often a dark and brutal place for the poor, and particularly for girls and women, and whilst researching Strand Lane, I came across one of the most appalling and sad stories that I have read. This was reported across several newspapers on the 16th of June, 1786: “Saturday morning the body of a fine young woman was taken out of the Thames at the end of Strand Lane, where she had drowned herself the preceding night. She appeared to be about eighteen years of age, and was known to have been turned out of doors the day before, by one of those inhuman monsters, in the shape of women, who keep brothels in the neighbourhood of Drury Lane. The poor young victim had been brought from her parents at the age of eleven years, by the mistress of the Bagnio, from which she was dismissed when her face grew common, and the charms of extreme youth and novelty were no longer a temptation to debauched constitutions, and debilitated age. Thus thrown upon the town, penniless, and heart-broken, she put an end to her existence. the body was taken to a house in Strand Lane.” The article states “charms of extreme youth and novelty” when she should have been described as a child, and although from the article some of her history was known, the article does not even give her the dignity of a name. One cannot begin to imagine how much she must have suffered by the time she ended her life at the end of Strand Lane, in the Thames at what is now Temple Place and the Embankment. Looking up Strand Lane today, the white house from the Wonderful London photo towards the end of the lane, buildings of King’s College on either side, a mix of very different architecture, and overhead crossings: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-6-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-6-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20862"/></a></figure> View to the west of Strand Lane, with a large, brick building with what looks like an apse, the curved section at the end of the building, almost over hanging the lane: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-7-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-7-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20863" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-7-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-7-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> There is an unusual feature on the very top of the building in the above photo, a dome to house an astronomical telescope: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-8-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-8-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20864" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-8-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-8-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> I wonder how much of the night sky can be seen given the level of light pollution in central London? Approaching the end of Strand Lane, the van, and a car behind it, was the reason that I could not get into the right position to take an identical photo to that in Wonderful London. Whilst I was there, the lane seemed to be used for deliveries to and from King’s College buildings: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-9-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-9-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20865" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-9-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-9-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> To the right of the van in the above photo, you can see some white tiling on the wall. This is the entrance to Surrey Steps: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-28-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-28-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20885" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-28-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-28-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> Surrey Steps connect Surrey Street with Strand Lane: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-10.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-10.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20866"/></a></figure> One of the buildings that runs between Surrey Street and Strand Lane forms an arch over Surrey Steps. The end is gated so there is no public access from Surrey Street through to Strand Lane: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-11-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1687" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-11-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20867" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-11-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-11-300x198.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Surrey Steps is shown, but not named, in Rocque’s 1746 map, and I have highlighted them within the orange oval in the following extract from the map (note that where the steps meet Strand Lane, there appears to be some shading which would be the steps leading down to the lane): <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-20.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="734" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-20-1024x734.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20876" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-20-1024x734.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-20-300x215.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-20-768x550.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-20-624x447.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-20.jpg 1185w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> I have also highlighted another feature in the above map, one that cannot be found today having been built over by Kings College buildings. This was Naked Boy Court, and the court featured in the earliest newspaper reference I could find to Strand Lane, from the 9th of January, 1733: “On Friday Night the House of Mrs. Smith, a noted Midwife in Naked-Boy-Court, near Strand-lane, was broke open and robbed of 19 Guineas, 24 Broad Pieces, and several suites of Wearing Apparel.” There were a number of Naked Boy Courts and Alleys in 18th century London, and the name seems to have come from a sign of a “youthful Bacchus astride a barrel”. Walking into Surrey Street and this is the opposite end of Surrey Steps and shows that they are closed and gated: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-12-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1664" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-12-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20868" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-12-scaled.jpg 1664w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-12-195x300.jpg 195w" sizes="(max-width: 1664px) 100vw, 1664px" /></a></figure> There is also a sign on the wall at top left stating: “The National Trust Roman Bath, Down Steps Turn Right”. Not only are the directions impossible to follow, but if you did get through the gate and down the steps, you would not find a Roman Bath, but the remains of a cistern dating from 1612 and built to feed a fountain in the gardens of Somerset House. Just to show that you cannot always believe what you read, even in old books that for the most part are authoritative and accurate, in the book “London Past and Present” which I have quoted earlier in the post, Henry B. Wheatley states that “on the east side of this lane is a genuine, ancient Roman bath which is well worth inspection”. Wonderful London also mentioned the Roman bath in the description to the photo. In researching my blog posts, I always try to use multiple sources, books, maps, academic journals etc. to ensure they are as accurate as possible. The Roman Baths / 17th century cistern are inside the building shown in the following photo, within Strand Lane. They are owned by the National Trust, but to gain access you need to contact Westminster Council at least a week in advance. <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-13-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-13-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20869" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-13-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-13-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> At the northern end of Strand Lane, there is no further access. This is where the old lane turned to the left / west in the 1746 map, and the turn is still here, but abruptly ends at a metal gate and the King’s College buildings that were built over the rest of where Strand Lane ran up to the Strand: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-14.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-14.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20870"/></a></figure> The northern end of Strand Lane was blocked up in 1971, using an order under section 153 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1962 entitled ‘The Stopping up of Highways (City of Westminster), No. 3 Order 1971, authorising the stopping up of a length of Strand Lane.” Looking back down Strand Lane with the brick building and apse on the right: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-15-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1697" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-15-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20871" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-15-scaled.jpg 1697w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-15-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1697px) 100vw, 1697px" /></a></figure> The building on the right appears from a plan of the college to be the King’s Building, and <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/visit/kings-building">this link appears to have a photo of a large ornate room at the header of the page</a>, which includes an apse at the far end, so perhaps this is the interior of the building with the apse almost hanging over Strand Lane. Another view of the building: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-16-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-16-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20872" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-16-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-16-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> Looking up at how the apse is supported: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-17-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-17-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20873" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-17-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-17-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> Another delivery van enters Strand Lane: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-18.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-18.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20874"/></a></figure> Walking up to the Strand, and there is no sign of where Strand Lane once entered the Strand. From aligning maps, it seems to have been in the section of the building between the first and second pillars from the right, in the bay to the left of the “Welcome to King’s” sign: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-21-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-21-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20877" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-21-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-21-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> At the far end of the King’s College building is the <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/under-london/aldwych-underground-station/">old Strand / Aldwych Underground Station,</a> and on the side is green plaque: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-22.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-22.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20878"/></a></figure> Telling that William Lilly, Master Astrologer lived in a house on the site: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-23.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-23.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20879"/></a></figure> William Lilly was born in the county of Leicester, and the Leicester Chronicle on the 25th of October 1930 provides a summary of his life under the perfect local paper headline of “Diseworth Man’s Lucky Prophecies”: “Leicestershire has given birth to some famous men. One of these, undoubtedly, is William Lilly, who was the first man in England to produce a prophetic almanac. He was born in Diseworth in 1602 and went to Ashby Grammar School. At the age of eighteen he journeyed to London and entered ‘service’. He was fortunate to find in the City, a prosperous Leicestershire man who wanted a servant. Lilly was engaged to do odd jobs, but as his master was illiterate, and found the Diseworth youth was good at figures he employed him to keep his accounts. It seems to have been the policy of William Lilly, all his life, to look specially after William Lilly. He so wormed his way into his master’s favour that he was awarded a legacy of £20 a year when the old man died in 1627. That was not enough for him, so he wooed the young widow and persuaded her to marry him. Six years later she died, leaving him property worth £1,000. That gave him a start. he was now a man of leisure, and devoted a good deal of time to the study of astrology – then a very popular science (!), for most people believed in the influence of the stars on public and private lives. At the age of 42 he brought out his almanac, signing himself Meilinus Anglicus, junr.” William Lilly: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-25.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="802" height="1024" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-25-802x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20881" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-25-802x1024.jpg 802w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-25-235x300.jpg 235w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-25-768x980.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-25-624x797.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-25.jpg 864w" sizes="(max-width: 802px) 100vw, 802px" /></a></figure> Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence</a>. The article continues: “His almanac succeeded so well, and served him as so good an advertisement, that he set up a sort of astrologer’s business, being prepared to read the future for all who were willing to pay him. It seems extraordinary to us of the twentieth century that the most distinguished people of Lilly’s time used to patronise him, anxious to hear what the stars had to say about coming events. Cromwell himself is said to have consulted the Diseworth astrologer. In 1648, when the Roundheads were besieging Colchester, and were not getting on very well, Lilly was sent for. He prophesied an early surrender, and the parliamentary troops were so encouraged that they forced the city to fulfil the prophecy. But while Lilly was taking money from the Parliamentarians he was also feathering his nest from Royalist sources. He was consulted as to how King Charles might escape from his captors, and actually prepared a scheme for enabling the unfortunate monarch to get free. It failed because Charles had not the courage to carry it through to the end. When the Stuarts were restored, Lilly’s fame began to decline, but he had several strokes of luck in his almanac. One of the prophecies, for instance, was taken to have been a clear indication that he knew the Great Fire of London was to happen; another helped him to acquire the favour of the king of Sweden, who sent him a gold chain worth £50. In his old age Lilly found it wise to retire and keep out of the public eye. He lived to pass his eightieth birthday. He was a shrewd old man, if often unscrupulous and once his shrewdness saved him. He had prophesized in his almanac for 1653 that the Parliament would not last long, and that the Commonwealth would soon come to an end. He was summonsed to appear before a Governmental committee to account for his publication, but, before he attended, he got his printers to let him have some copies from which the objectionable prophecies were omitted. He presented them and protested that the other copies were spurious, issued by his enemies – and thus saved his skin.” William Lilly and one of his annual almanacs: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-26.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="635" height="1024" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-26-635x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20882" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-26-635x1024.jpg 635w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-26-186x300.jpg 186w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-26-768x1238.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-26-953x1536.jpg 953w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-26-624x1006.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Strand-Lane-26.jpg 1042w" sizes="(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px" /></a></figure> Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence</a>. William Lilly, an example of one of the problems of walking around London, there is always so much to find in any small area, as Lilly lived just to the north east of Strand Lane. Strand Lane is a strange place. There are gates up against the wall at the entrance from Temple Place. I cannot remember if I have ever seen them closed. It is also not clear whether Strand Lane is really public space, or it is part of the King’s College campus, as buildings of the college line both sides of the lane. The entry into Surrey Steps from Surrey Street is closed and locked, implying that this entrance to the lane is not public space. In all the time I was looking around, and photographing the lane, there was no challenge, however the only other people in the lane were clearly those who had business with King’s College, and it is a dead end, so there is no destination to be reached by walking along the lane. It is though, a fascinating place. Possibly the route of a very old “kennel” or stream that ran from north of the Strand, under Strand Bridge, down to the river. It was cut off from the Thames in the late 19th century when the Embankment was built, but for long was a landing place, a boundary between the river and land, and was once also the western boundary to Arundel House. It was also the site of the tragic suicide of an eighteen year old girl, who must have suffered much in her short life in eighteenth century London. <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/">alondoninheritance.com</a> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/strand-lane-a-tragic-story-and-william-lilly/" data-text="Strand Lane, a Tragic Story and William Lilly" >Tweet</a></li><li class="share-facebook"><div class="fb-share-button" data-href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/strand-lane-a-tragic-story-and-william-lilly/" data-layout="button_count"></div></li><li><a href="#" class="sharing-anchor sd-button share-more">More</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul><div class="sharing-hidden"><div class="inner" style="display: none;width:150px;"><ul style="background-image:none;"><li class="share-bluesky"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="sharing-bluesky-20883" class="share-bluesky sd-button" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/strand-lane-a-tragic-story-and-william-lilly/?share=bluesky" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Bluesky" >Bluesky</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-history/" rel="category tag">London History</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/" rel="category tag">London Streets</a> and tagged <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/strand/" rel="tag">Strand</a> on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/strand-lane-a-tragic-story-and-william-lilly/" title="6:30 am" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2024-09-15T06:30:00+00:00">September 15, 2024</time></a> by <a class="url fn n" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/author/admin/" title="View all posts by admin" rel="author">admin</a>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-20564" class="post-20564 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-london-history category-london-monuments category-london-streets tag-cornhill"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/the-standard-cornhill/" rel="bookmark">The Standard, Cornhill</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/the-standard-cornhill/#comments">3 Replies</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> A few week’s ago, my post was about London Maps, and I included one of the strip maps by John Ogilby, who had the impressive title of His Majesties Cosmographer. John Ogilby was a fascinating character. Born in 1600 in Scotland, he had many professions including a dancer, teacher, translator, publisher and map maker. With William Morgan, John Ogilby created a very detailed map of London which was published 10 years after the Great Fire of London in 1666 (although it was probably surveyed before the fire). You can find the map on the <a href="https://www.layersoflondon.org/map/overlays/ogilby-and-morgan-1676">Layers of London website, here.</a> Ogilby is probably best known for his atlas of all the major routes in the country, which he published in 1675 under the name of Britannia. Routes were shown in a strip map format, where several strips were used to follow a route from source to destination. Along the route, towns and villages were listed, as were geographic features, roads leading off the main route, with their destinations listed, landmarks along the route, distances etc. The map featured in the previous post was from London to Portsmouth, a route which started at the Standard in Cornhill. The Standard in Cornhill was the starting point for many of the maps with routes that commenced in London, and after writing the previous post, I wanted to discover a bit more about the Standard, but before I head to Cornhill, here is another of Ogilby’s routes. This one a bit longer than the previous map to Portsmouth. Each of the routes had a header on each page, with the first map having the title of the overall route, total distances, major towns and cities along the route, with individual distances between them. So if you were planning to journey from the City of London, to Lands End in Cornwall, this was Ogilby’s route, which started with the summary header of the route of 303 miles and 3 furlongs, and started at the Standard in Cornhill: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-4-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="671" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-4-1024x671.jpg" alt="John Ogilby" class="wp-image-20558" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-4-1024x671.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-4-300x197.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-4-768x503.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-4-1536x1007.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> The first page of the journey to Cornwall, runs from London to just before Winchester, and just after leaving what was then the limits of London, we cross Knightsbridge, when it was still a bridge: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-5-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1907" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-5-scaled.jpg" alt="John Ogilby" class="wp-image-20559" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-5-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-5-300x223.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> We then cross Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire and Somersetshire. In the 17th century, counties still had “shire” at the end of the names such as Dorsetshire and Somersetshire, which would later be shortened, but as with current names such as Wilshire, the “shire” recalls the old origins of these counties and county boundaries: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-6-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1900" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-6-scaled.jpg" alt="John Ogilby" class="wp-image-20560" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-6-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-6-300x223.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> We then continue travelling through Devonshire, passing through Exeter: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-7-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1758" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-7-scaled.jpg" alt="John Ogilby" class="wp-image-20561" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-7-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-7-300x206.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Then head into Cornwall, before finally reaching Lands End, which faces onto “The Western Sea”: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-8-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1804" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-8-scaled.jpg" alt="John Ogilby" class="wp-image-20562" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-8-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-8-300x211.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> So where was The Standard, the start of the Lands End route, and of many other maps, and what was it? Helpfully there is a City of London plaque to mark the site: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-1-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-1-scaled.jpg" alt="Standard Cornhill" class="wp-image-20555" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-1-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> The Standard sounds as if it should have been the name of one of the many large coaching inns across London, and which would make sense as a place where journeys across the country commenced, however it was an ancient well / water pump / conduit, and it was located at a key crossroads in the City of London, where Cornhill, Leadenhall Street, Bishopsgate and Gracechurch Street all meet. The following photo shows the junction of these four roads: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-2-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-2-scaled.jpg" alt="Standard Cornhill" class="wp-image-20556" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-2-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> You can just see the blue plaque, on the first floor of the corner of the white building across the junction. To the right of the white building is Cornhill and to the left is Gracechurch Street. The white building also shows how every bit of available land has been built on in the City, as the building is right up against the <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-churches/two-cornhill-churches-st-peter-and-st-michael/">church of St. Peter, Cornhill</a>, which has an entrance on Cornhill, and the rear of the church can be seen on Gracechurch Street to the left of the white building. If we look at the four roads leading from this junction, we can see why this was an important location for travelling out of the City. Gracechurch Street heads south down to London Bridge, which for centuries was the only bridge across the Thames, and therefore the main route to the south. Leadenhall Street headed to the east, Bishopsgate headed to the north and Cornhill headed to the west, so from this junction, one could travel to the major routes that ran across the country, and was why maps such as Obilby’s used the Standard as their City of London starting point. London Past and Present (Henry Wheatley, 1891) provides some background detail about the Standard: “A water-standard with four spouts made (1582) by Peter Morris, a German, and supplied with water conveyed from the Thames by pipes of lead. it stood at the east end of Cornhill, at its junction with Gracechurch Street, Bishopsgate Street and Leadenhall Street, and with the waste water from its four spouts cleansed the channels of the four streets. The water ceased to run between 1598 and 1603; but the Standard itself remained for a long time after. It was long in use as a point of measurement for distances from the City, and several of our suburban milestones were, but a very few years ago, and some perhaps are still, inscribed with so many miles ‘from the Standard in Cornhill’. There was a Standard in Cornhill as early as Henry V.” A print, dated 1814 of the “Antient North East View of Cornhill” shows the pump at the crossroads. The print is dated over 100 years after the pump was removed, so whether it was an interpretation of what it may have looked like, or whether it was based on an earlier print is impossible to know: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornuill-9.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="807" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornuill-9-1024x807.jpg" alt="Standard Cornhill" class="wp-image-20554" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornuill-9-1024x807.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornuill-9-300x236.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornuill-9-768x605.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornuill-9-1536x1210.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornuill-9-2048x1614.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornuill-9-624x492.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">© The Trustees of the British Museum</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)</a> London Past and Present, and many other sources date the Standard to around 1582, however the site seems to have been used as a source of water for many centuries before. In 1921, as new pipes to carry telephone cables were being laid across the junction, a well which was believed to have been below the Standard was discovered. Four feet below the 1921 road surface an arched brick top to a brick well of 45 inches in diameter was found. Below this, at 18 feet below street level, a much older well was found, of 30 inches in diameter. It was believed that this much older well had been filled in, along with part of the upper well, when the water pipes of Morris were installed through an opening in the side of the well. Excavating the well below the old location of the Standard in 1921. <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-9.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="625" height="642" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-9.jpg" alt="Standard Cornhill" class="wp-image-20567" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-9.jpg 625w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornull-9-292x300.jpg 292w" sizes="(max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px" /></a></figure></div> It was believed at the time that the lower parts of the well dated from early Medieval times, or possibly earlier, but as far I can find, no direct dating evidence was found. I also cannot find any evidence that the brick and stone structure of the well was removed, so presumably the lower parts of this ancient well are still there, far below the road surface of the junction today. The plaque mentions that the Standard was removed around 1674, and London Past and Present states that it remained long after water ceased to flow in 1603, and from most of the references I have found, it seems to be that the Standard had become an obstruction at a major road junction. It had long ceased to have any functional purpose and so was simply demolished. Despite the loss of the Standard at some point in the later part of the 17th century, it continued to be used as a point for measuring distances to and from for many years to come. Not just formal measurements in maps, but also for almost any purpose that required a City of London reference point that would be widely known. For example, I found the following advert in the Morning Herald on the 4th of January 1838: “WANTED, a detached FAMILY RESIDENCE, within six miles of the Standard, Cornhill; consisting of drawing and dining rooms, three or four best bedrooms, servants’ rooms, and convenient domestic offices; double detached coach house and stabling lawn, pleasure and kitchen gardens; and if a few acres of meadow land it would be preferred – Apply by letter (post paid) to A.H., 9 Coleman-street, City” The Standard, Cornhill was often mentioned on milestones when giving a distance to London. There was an 18th century example in Purley for many years. I am not sure if it has survived. A 1921 article in the Sussex Express mentions the preservation of a milestone in Lewis: “The milestone let in the upper front of 144/5 High Street, which the Council are to preserve when the building is demobilised, bears the interesting inscription, which probably many Lewes residents have not read; ‘Fifty miles from the Standard in Cornhill, 49 miles to Westminster Bridge, 8 miles to Brightelmstone.” I have not heard of a building being “demobilised”. I assume it meant being demolished, and the Council did indeed preserve the milestone as it can still be seen in Lewes today, and fortunately I found a photo of the milestone on the brilliant <a href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6038102">Geograph website</a>: <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-10.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="531" height="640" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-10.jpg" alt="Standard Cornhill" class="wp-image-20563" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-10.jpg 531w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-10-249x300.jpg 249w" sizes="(max-width: 531px) 100vw, 531px" /></a></figure></div> Credit: Old Milestone by the A277, High Street, Lewes <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">cc-by-sa/2.0</a> – © <a href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/124913?a=A+Rosevear">A Rosevear</a> – <a href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6038102">geograph.org.uk/p/6038102</a> The Standard, Cornhill is just one of a number of locations that have been used as a point from where distances to and from London have been measured. The most common location seems to be the statue of Charles I to the south of Trafalgar Square, where the Eleanor Cross once stood, so possibly the location of the final cross as part of a 13th century journey to London, still marks where distances are measured to and from: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-11-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-11-scaled.jpg" alt="Standard Cornhill" class="wp-image-20568" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-11-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-11-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Plaque by the statue recording that the site of the cross was / is from where distances are measured: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-12-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-12-scaled.jpg" alt="Standard Cornhill" class="wp-image-20569" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-12-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-12-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> It is fascinating to stand at the eastern end of Cornhill, look across the road junction, and imagine the Standard water pump / conduit that once stood there, and that an ancient well probably still exists deep below the surface. What I also find fascinating are the stories told by books, not just from their intended contents. I have a copy of a 1939 facsimile of Ogilby’s Britannia, published by the Duckhams Oil Company on the 7th of December 1939, the 40th anniversary of the company’s founding. Duckhams had a sales office at Duckhams House, 16 Cannon Street in the City, and the books of the facsimile of Britannia were in the office when war broke out. The company thought that the celebration of their 40th anniversary was a little out of place as war had just been declared. The books appear to have been stored in Cannon Street for a period, with “two narrow escapes from bombing”, they were then distributed, with a little note in the inside cover: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-13-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-13-scaled.jpg" alt="Duckhams Oil" class="wp-image-20571" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-13-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Standard-Cornhill-13-225x300.jpg 225w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></a></figure> The PTO reveals a postscript appealing for funds for the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund. Alexander Duckham, who founded the company, and also signed the note in the book lived for some years at Vanbrugh Castle near Greenwich Park. He must have been a long standing supporter of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund as in 1920, just a year after the fund had been established, he donated Vanbrugh Castle to the fund, to be used as a school for children of members of the RAF who had been killed in service. Just some of the obscure connections you can make across London. From an ancient well and water conduit at an important cross roads in the City, to a map maker who used the water conduit as the starting point for his routes out of London, and to an early 20th century industrialist who loved Ogilby’s maps and published a facsimile from their office in Cannon Street during the last war. Copies of the facsimile of Ogilby’s Britannia can be found on the <a href="https://www.abebooks.co.uk/">Abebooks website</a>, and if you are interested in John Ogilby, the <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-nine-lives-of-john-ogilby/alan-ereira/9780715652268">Nine Lives of John Ogilby by Alan Ereira is a really good account, and can be found here</a>. <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/">alondoninheritance.com</a> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/the-standard-cornhill/" data-text="The Standard, Cornhill" >Tweet</a></li><li class="share-facebook"><div class="fb-share-button" data-href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/the-standard-cornhill/" data-layout="button_count"></div></li><li><a href="#" class="sharing-anchor sd-button share-more">More</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul><div class="sharing-hidden"><div class="inner" style="display: none;width:150px;"><ul style="background-image:none;"><li class="share-bluesky"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="sharing-bluesky-20564" class="share-bluesky sd-button" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/the-standard-cornhill/?share=bluesky" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Bluesky" >Bluesky</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-history/" rel="category tag">London History</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-monuments/" rel="category tag">London Monuments</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/" rel="category tag">London Streets</a> and tagged <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/cornhill/" rel="tag">Cornhill</a> on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/the-standard-cornhill/" title="6:30 am" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2024-07-14T06:30:00+00:00">July 14, 2024</time></a> by <a class="url fn n" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/author/admin/" title="View all posts by admin" rel="author">admin</a>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-20538" class="post-20538 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-london-history category-londonpubs category-london-streets tag-farringdon-street"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/centuries-of-change-in-farringdon-street/" rel="bookmark">Centuries of Change in Farringdon Street</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/centuries-of-change-in-farringdon-street/#comments">24 Replies</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> Today’s post was not on my list of posts to write. Last Sunday, I was in the City to explore a site for a future post. It was a grey, overcast morning, and at one point there was a fine, wind driven drizzle, so I decided to head back home (I should have stayed for the afternoon as the sun came out). Walking towards the Holborn Viaduct Bridge over Farringdon Street, I noticed another new building site where the previous building had been demolished and construction of the concrete core of the future development was underway. I walked down from Holborn Viaduct, down to Farringdon Street as I wanted to see if a bit of Victorian construction was visible. The following photo is from Farringdon Street. Part of the bridge over Farringdon Street is on the left, then there is one of the four pavilions, one on each corner of the bridge, then an open space with the new concrete core of the new building on the right edge of the photo: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-1-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-1-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20529" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-1-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Farringdon Street is the route of the lost River Fleet, and the bridge carries the road over what was the river, hence the low level of Farringdown Street, and the slope of the streets on either side. Walking along the road to cross the bridge, it is not really obvious that the bridge is not the only part of the overall construction of the road, as you are walking along a manmade viaduct of some length. Holborn Bridge is part of Holborn Viaduct, the 427m long viaduct designed to provide a bridge over the valley of the Fleet River and a level road between Holborn Circus and Newgate Street. The construction contract for Holborn Viaduct was awarded on the 7th May 1866 and on the 6th November 1869 it was opened by Queen Victoria. The construction of this 427m viaduct is not that visible, unless buildings along the viaduct are demolished, and it was this that I wanted to see. Looking across the cleared construction site, and the side of the viaduct was clearly visible: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-2-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1697" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-2-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20539" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-2-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> This is a view of what remains of the 1860s construction of Holborn Viaduct, and how the long approach to the bridge was built up in height. At the top, there is a distnct layer which makes up the made ground under the street. We then come to the core of the viaduct, with the edge of brick walls, which presumably run the width of the viaduct across the street, and in the lower half of the viaduct there are clearly defined brick arches. Much of the side of the viaduct appears to have been skimmed and filled with concrete. I assume the whole of the viaduct has been filled, but it would be interesting to know whether there is any open space within the arches of the viaduct. I also assume that the concrete skim and possible fill is of later date, and the brick columns and arches are from the 1860s build of Holborn Viaduct. It is not often that you can see the hidden details of Victorian design and construction techniques, and the outline of the brick arches that support Holborn Viaduct will probably be soon covered again by the new building that will be built on the site, but they show the considerable construction work either side of the bridge, and which you are walking over as you walk along Holborn Viaduct, towards the bridge over Farringdon Street. There has been a considerable amount of construction in Farringdon Street in the small section between Holborn Viaduct and Ludgate Circus in the last few years, the above example being just the latest, and I wanted to see what was happening at another, where the Hoop & Grapes pub was located: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-3-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1682" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-3-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20530" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-3-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-3-300x197.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> The Hoop & Grapes has been closed for the last couple of years, when the buildings on either side of the pub were demolished. The new building on the right of the pub is making good progress, and there will soon be more construction on the left, and until this is complete the left hand wall of the pub is shored up. The building is Grade II listed and is of some age. According to the listing details, the building was part of a terrace, with the house being built around 1720 for a vintner, and converted to a public house in 1832. The listing also states that the “Basement has brick vaults thought to be part of 17th century warehousing vaults built in connection with the formation of the Fleet Canal. Built on part of the site of St. Bride’s Burial Ground.” Rocque’s 1746 map still shows St. Bride’s burial ground (ringed in map extract below), although there is a space between the burial ground and Fleet Market, so the terrace which included the building that would become the Hoop & Grapes could have been within this small space, or perhaps to one side: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-12a.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="728" height="747" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-12a.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20544" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-12a.jpg 728w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-12a-292x300.jpg 292w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-12a-624x640.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px" /></a></figure> The Fleet Canal reference in the Historic England listing refers to when this stretch of the River Fleet was constrained within a channel, along which, and partly over, the Fleet Market developed. Another view looking at the new developments and the old Hoop & Grapes pub, which has seen the area change beyond all recognition since the house was built: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-4-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1691" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-4-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20531" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-4-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-4-300x198.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> I really struggle with some of these redevelopments. London has always changed. Some of the terrace houses that survived to the 20th century along with the Hoop & Grapes were damaged during the war, and then demolished. New officces were built surrounding the pub in the 1950s. These were in turn demolished in the 1990s, and it is these buildings which are being demolished for the new development. Each iteration of development seems to get larger and more overpowering for buildings that survive, and based on the lifespan of the post-war developments on the site, the building currently being built, will be demolished in turn, in the 2060s / 2070s. Again, it is good that buildings such as the pub survive, but they almost become a museum exhibit, stuck in a streetscape that they have no relationship with, and totally out of context. I photographed the Hoop & Grapes in 2020, when I had a walk around all the City of London pubs: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-10-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-10-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20536" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-10-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-10-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> I do not know whether the pub will reopen when redevelopment of the surrounding buildings has been completed. The City of London Corporation seems to be making some efforts to retain City pubs, and they have announced that the Still and Star, Aldgate, St Brides Tavern, Blackfriars, the White Swan, Fetter Lane and the King’s Arms at 55 Old Broad Street / London Wall, will all be reopening in the coming years, however this often refers to the name being retained and the pub being relocated to a new structure within a new development. There is no mention of the Hoop & Grapes. A very short distance south along Farringdon Street, on the opposite side of the road is 5 Fleet Place, the cream coloured building that was completed in 2007: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-5-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-5-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20532" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-5-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-5-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> In the above photo, you can just see a road sign with a white arrow on a blue background on the street at the corner of the building. Look through the square arch of the building to the left of the arrow sign, and there are three plaques. which tell of religious and political history: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-6-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-6-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20533" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-6-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-6-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> Staring from the bottom is a stone that was laid on the 10th of May, 1872 at the new Congregational Memorial Hall and Library: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-7-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1684" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-7-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20534" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-7-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-7-300x197.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> The stone states that the Memorial Hall was erected to commemorate “The Fidelity of Conscience shown by the Ejected Ministers of 1662”. To understand what was being commemorated, we need to go back to the mid-16th century and the Act of Uniformity of 1558. This was passed in 1559 and established that the church should be unified around Anglicanism and worship should be according to the Book of Common Prayer. This act was an attempt to address the conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism that had been simmering since the break from the Church of Rome by Henry VIII. The act lasted until 1650 when it was repealed by the Rump Parliament established during the first year of the new Commonwealth of England, set up immediately after the English Civil War. It was repealed to provide greater religious freedom for Puritans and non-conformists. There was a strong religious independent and Puritan element to Parliamentary forces in the Civil War, and is why many churches had their decoration and statues damaged and destroyed by Parliamentary soldiers as these were seen as being a residual influence of the Church of Rome. When Charles II was returned to the throne, there was pressure from the Church of England to unify the church around Anglican principles and the Book of Common Prayer. The Act was brought back into law, and Ministers were forced to swear an oath that they would give “unfeigned assent and consent to all and everything contained and prescribed” in the Book of Common Prayer. Many Puritan, Presbyterian and Independent ministers could not swear such an oath, and around 2,000 were forced out by the “Great Ejection” from the Church of England on St. Bartholomew’s Day, the 24th of August, 1662 – the event recorded by the stone. Title page from the pamphlet “‘The Farewell Sermons of the Late London Ministers'” showing 12 of the ejected ministers: <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-13.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="384" height="615" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-13.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20547" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-13.jpg 384w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-13-187x300.jpg 187w" sizes="(max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></a></figure></div> <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">© The Trustees of the British Museum</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)</a> Newspaper reports of the ceremony to lay the foundation stone included the following which gives some background as to how the memorial hall was funded and the facilities within the building: “The Act of Uniformity passed in the year 1662, had the effect of ejecting from their charges more that two thousand ministers who could not conscientiously subscribe to it. At a meeting of the Congregational Union, held at Birmingham in 1861, it was resolved to commemorate the event. A conference was convened and held, at which it was decided that a bicentenary memorial fund should be raised, among the objects specified being the erection of new chapels, the extinction of chapel debts, and especially the erection of a Congregational Memorial Hall. A committee was appointed to carry the scheme into full effect, and at the next annual meeting it was reported that the total amount paid and promised in connection with this commemoration was nearly £250,000. A site was found in Farringdon-street, which had formed part of the old Fleet Prison, and the ground was purchased at a cost of £23,000. The architect’s designs comprise a hall to hold from 1,200 to 1,500 people, a library, a board-room, and other offices. The whole is erected at a cost of not less than £30,000.” The Congregational Hall and Library as it appeared in the 1920s (the building with the large tower): <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-11-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1855" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-11-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20537" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-11-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-11-300x217.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> The library was a considerable resource of over 8,000 volumes and manuscripts covering dissenting religious history. The library was moved to Manchester during the war, for safety, and also because the Government requisitioned the building between 1940 and 1950 for war purposes. The library returned in 1957, however ten years later, the collection had to be moved out again as the site was being redeveloped, which brings us to the second plaque: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-9-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="667" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-9-1024x667.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20540" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-9-1024x667.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-9-300x196.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-9-768x501.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-9-1536x1001.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-9-2048x1335.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-9-624x407.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Around 100 years after completion, maintenance of a large Victorian building was difficult and expensive, so the Congregational Memorial Hall Trust decided to have the site redeveloped with a new office block on site, along with space for the library and for meetings. The above foundation stone is from this new building – Caroone House. The library though did not return to the new building. It had been moved to 14 Gordon Square in advance of the redevelopment, and was housed with and administered by Dr. Williams’s Library, another library of religious dissenting books and manuscripts. The library had to move out of Gordon Square a couple of years ago due to the potential costs of the redevelopment of the site, and the library is now housed at Westminster College, Cambridge, a theological collection that brings together Congregational and Presbyterian college traditions. And now for the third plaque. It is not often that one of my posts has a very topical subject, but for this week’s post, in 1900, the Congregational Memorial Hall was the site of the founding of the Labour Party: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-8-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1943" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-8-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20535" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-8-scaled.jpg 1943w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Farringdon-Street-8-228x300.jpg 228w" sizes="(max-width: 1943px) 100vw, 1943px" /></a></figure> Rather than a northern industrial town, the meeting that resulted in the founding of the Labour Party was held in the Congregational Memorial Hall, in Farringdon Street on the 27th of February, 1900. The meeting was the inaugural meeting of the Labour Representation Committee and the purpose of the meeting, which had been arranged by the Trades Union Congress, was to agree on how the various strands of the Labour movement could be brought together into a single party. Up until the 1900 meeting, the interests of labour had been represented by the Trades Union Congress, the Independent Labour Party and the Social Democratic Federation, who all attended the meeting in Farringdon Street. The Cooperative Movement had been invited but did not attend as their aim was to maintain a politically neutral approach. 130 delegates met in the library of the Congregational Hall, and the following paragraph from the end of a report on the meeting in the London Daily News gives an indication of the approach of the new unified Labour Party: “The speeches for the most part were couched in a spirit of broad toleration. Mr. Burns and Mr. Harnes, and Mr. Steadman and Mr. Tillett, all protested against the spirit of narrow sectarianism which has prevailed so largely hitherto. And Mr. Hardie and Mr. Burgess, from the Independent Labour Party also took the same line, and strongly condemned a proposal that a Labour Party should be organised upon the basis of ‘recognising the existence of a class war’, which got defeated by the adoption of an amending resolution.” Caroone House was demolished in 2004, so that the office block we see today could be built, and which was completed in 2007. The two foundation stones and the plaque recording the founding of Labour were reinstalled. A very short walk along part of Farringdon Street, where we can see part of the viaduct constructed by the Victorians to create a wider and higher bridge over what was the route of the River Fleet, a 300 year old house that once looked onto the river and that once housed a pub, and hopefully will do so in the future, as it is surrounded by much larger steel and glass office blocks, and the site of a hall, built to commemorate a religious schism in the 17th century, and the founding of the Labour Party at the very start of the 20th century. Another example of just how much diverse history can be found during a short walk along a City street. The next time I write about Farringdon Street, I hope that the Hoop & Grapes will be open again as a traditional London pub, rather than what seems to happen to so many pubs where development takes place – a reimagined pub. Despite the appearance of Farringdon Street today, it is a very historic street, and the Fleet Prison which was on the site of the Congregational Memorial Hall will be the subject of a future post. <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/">alondoninheritance.com</a> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/centuries-of-change-in-farringdon-street/" data-text="Centuries of Change in Farringdon Street" >Tweet</a></li><li class="share-facebook"><div class="fb-share-button" data-href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/centuries-of-change-in-farringdon-street/" data-layout="button_count"></div></li><li><a href="#" class="sharing-anchor sd-button share-more">More</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul><div class="sharing-hidden"><div class="inner" style="display: none;width:150px;"><ul style="background-image:none;"><li class="share-bluesky"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="sharing-bluesky-20538" class="share-bluesky sd-button" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/centuries-of-change-in-farringdon-street/?share=bluesky" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Bluesky" >Bluesky</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-history/" rel="category tag">London History</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/londonpubs/" rel="category tag">London Pubs</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/" rel="category tag">London Streets</a> and tagged <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/farringdon-street/" rel="tag">Farringdon Street</a> on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/centuries-of-change-in-farringdon-street/" title="6:30 am" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2024-07-07T06:30:00+00:00">July 7, 2024</time></a> by <a class="url fn n" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/author/admin/" title="View all posts by admin" rel="author">admin</a>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-20358" class="post-20358 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-london-history category-london-parks-and-gardens category-london-streets tag-bedford-square tag-bloomsbury"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/bedford-square/" rel="bookmark">Bedford Square</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/bedford-square/#comments">20 Replies</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/a-london-inheritance-walks-33326287375" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">I have just put a couple of my Limehouse and Wapping walks on Eventbrite for the month of June. Click here for details and booking.</a> Bedford Square, Bloomsbury must be one of the best preserved, late 18th century squares in London, and in this part of London there is plenty of competition. Bedford Square is just north of New Oxford Street, and has the British Museum to the east, and Tottenham Court Road a short distance to the west. The following map shows the location of the square in red: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-16.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="581" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-16-1024x581.jpg" alt="Bedford Square" class="wp-image-20357" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-16-1024x581.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-16-300x170.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-16-768x436.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-16-624x354.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-16.jpg 1490w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Bedford Square was planned and built between 1775 and 1780 as part of the development of the land owned by the Duke of Bedford (hence the name) within his Bloomsbury Estate. This was a time when London was expanding northwards and the fields, streams, ponds and footpaths that comprised the Bloomsbury Estate would soon be part of the built city, however it would be a unique area due to the number of large squares which provided open, green space for the occupants of the new houses to enjoy. The following extract shows the area as it was not long before the development of Bedford Square. This is from Rocque’s map of 1746 and I have marked the future location of Bedford Square with the red rectangle, and much of the approximately 112 acres of the Bloomsbury Estate then open space: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-15.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="709" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-15-1024x709.jpg" alt="Bedford Square" class="wp-image-20356" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-15-1024x709.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-15-300x208.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-15-768x532.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-15-624x432.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-15.jpg 1228w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> The yellow rectangle is around Montague House, the future site of the British Museum. Plots of land around Bedford Square were leased by the architect Thomas Leverton and builders, Robert Crews and William Scott. it is believed that Thomas Leverton was responsible for the overall plan of the buildings lining the four sides of the square, although there is no firm evidence to support this. Thomas Leverton was the son of the builder Lancelot Leverton who was based in Woodford, Essex. He seems to have designed a number of country houses, and where there is firm evidence of his connection with Bedford Square is with number 13 where he worked on the interior of the building and lived in the house from 1796 until his death in 1824. Each of the sides of the square has the same basic design, which was intended to emulate the appearance of a large country house, with the central building decorated with stucco, along with pilasters and pediments. The “wings” of this central house are the row of brick terrace houses on either side of the central house and that run to the corners of the square: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-4-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-4-scaled.jpg" alt="Bedford Square" class="wp-image-20345" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-4-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-4-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> The above photo is of the northern side of the square and the photo below is of the eastern side. The overall design is the same however there are subtle differences, for example the central house on the north side has six bays, whilst that on the eastern side has five: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-5-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-5-scaled.jpg" alt="Bedford Square" class="wp-image-20346" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-5-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-5-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> This seems to be down to the fact that the square is not really a square, rather a rectangle with the north and south sides being 520 feet long whilst the east and west are 320 feet. To show how little Bedford Square has changed, the following print from 1851 is of the same view as the above photo: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/774464001.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="664" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/774464001-1024x664.jpg" alt="Bedford Square" class="wp-image-20341" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/774464001-1024x664.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/774464001-300x195.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/774464001-768x498.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/774464001-1536x997.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/774464001-2048x1329.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/774464001-624x405.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>  <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">© The Trustees of the British Museum</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)</a> The only things that have changed is the replacement of coach and horses by cars, wider paving and the amount of street furniture we see today. The remarkable preservation of the houses in Bedford Square appears to be due to the way that the Bedford Estate has managed the square since its original construction. Steen Eiler Rasmussen writing in “London: The Unique City” (1948 edition) gives a fascinating insight into how this worked. The original land was leased as a number of lots where a house would be built, and for the first 99 year lease, the annual ground rent was £3 for each lot. After 99 years, the Bedford Estate than became the owner of not only the ground, but also the house that had been built on the land, and it was then leased for an additional period for a new annual sum that reflected both the land and the house, so by the end of the 99 years of the first leasing period, houses were then leased at different values to reflect the type, design and condition of the house on the land. After the first 99 years, as well as different financial values, the leases were also for different periods, between twenty and fifty years. This seems to have been based on the work that the new leaseholder was planning to put into the building, so a leaseholder making a considerable investment on repairs, rebuilding and improvements would have a longer lease period. One of the benefits to the Bedford Estate of then having leases expire at different times was that it avoided the risk of the leases for all the houses surrounding the square being renewed, for example, during a period of financial depression and low demand, when lease values would have been reduced. It also means that any plans for radical change across the square are difficult, as the leases all expire at different times, and so the leases that make up a large block of land would not all become available at the same time. I have no idea whether the Bedford Estate still takes this approach, however it does help explain why the houses in Bedford Square have externally hardly changed since their original build. Although the external appearance has hardly changed, the interior of the houses on Bedford Square may be very different, reflecting the changes that have taken place over the last few centuries. Different uses, different types of owner, all would have left their mark on the interior. There are also subtle different to the external façade of the houses, for example, this end of terrace house has a metal veranda structure above the balcony that runs the full width of the house: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-3-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-3-scaled.jpg" alt="Bedford Square" class="wp-image-20344" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-3-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-3-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> From the street, these houses look relatively narrow, however clever design results in a sizeable interior. The following plan from the book London: The Unique City shows the layout of a typical house in Bedford Square: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-17-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1635" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-17-scaled.jpg" alt="Bedford Square" class="wp-image-20359" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-17-scaled.jpg 1635w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-17-192x300.jpg 192w" sizes="(max-width: 1635px) 100vw, 1635px" /></a></figure> Despite the narrow front facing onto the square, each house does extend a fair way back, with both the basement and the ground floors extending some distance, and storage areas which would have held consumables such as coal, extending underneath the pavement from the basement. On the north east corner of Bedford Square, the house in the photo below has street signs indicating that it is at the corner of Gower Street and Montague Place: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-1-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1968" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-1-scaled.jpg" alt="Bedford Square" class="wp-image-20342" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-1-scaled.jpg 1968w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-1-231x300.jpg 231w" sizes="(max-width: 1968px) 100vw, 1968px" /></a></figure> However below the signs for these two streets are these much older signs indicating a Bedford Square address: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-2-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-2-scaled.jpg" alt="Bedford Square" class="wp-image-20343" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-2-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Much of the decoration around the doors of the houses is of Coade Stone, which was made in the factory owned by Eleanor Coade on the south bank of the river, just to the west of the Royal Festival Hall, and in the following photo Coade stone alternates with brick around the main entrances to the house: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-6-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1847" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-6-scaled.jpg" alt="Sir Harry Ricardo" class="wp-image-20347" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-6-scaled.jpg 1847w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-6-216x300.jpg 216w" sizes="(max-width: 1847px) 100vw, 1847px" /></a></figure> As could probably be expected for a location such as Bedford Square, there are a large number of blue plaques on the houses. On the house in the above photo is an English Heritage plaque to Sir Harry Ricardo: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-7-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1753" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-7-scaled.jpg" alt="Sir Harry Ricardo" class="wp-image-20348" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-7-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-7-300x205.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> As stated on the plaque, Sir Harry Ricardo was a Mechanical Engineer, and much of his work was centred around the development of the internal combustion engine for both vehicles and aircraft, and his work contributed to the outcome of the First World War as he developed the engines that were used by the tanks on the battlefield. And if you fill up a car with petrol, and check the octane rating of the petrol, that is also down to Sir Harry Ricardo as his work on the chemical composition of fuels resulted in the octane classification system The company he founded is still going strong, and is still named Ricardo, and is based at Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex. The large central houses on the north and south sides of the square have six window bays, and two large entrances: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-8-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1681" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-8-scaled.jpg" alt="Bedford Square" class="wp-image-20349" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-8-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-8-300x197.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Whilst those in the centre of the other two sides, have five window bays, and a single entrance from the street: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-12-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2062" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-12-scaled.jpg" alt="Lord Eldon" class="wp-image-20353" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-12-scaled.jpg 2062w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-12-242x300.jpg 242w" sizes="(max-width: 2062px) 100vw, 2062px" /></a></figure> To the right of the entrance to the building in the above photo, a London County Coucil blue plaque record that Lord Eldon (1751 – 1838), Lord Chancellor, lived in the house. He does not appear to have been very popular in the role of Lord Chancellor as the following is typical of the obituaries that were published after his death; “For five-and-twenty years Lord Eldon held possession of the woolsack. Here was a position and a power of doing good in the hands of any man honestly disposed towards his country. For a quarter of a century he had absolute authority over the very stronghold of legal corruption – over the crying grievance of the nation – over the engine which broke the happiness, destroyed the fortunes, and wore away even the lives, of no small portion of his fellow men. What did Lord Eldon do? Did he make one effort to palliate the evil? Did he, in a single instance, exert his power to rescue its victims? Did he, by one gesture, encourage those who were labouring day and night to work out the reformation he could at once have accomplished? No. Lord Eldon was their bitterest, their most determined foe. He exerted his mighty power, in his court, in the cabinet, and in the closet, to stifle all enquiry, to destroy all opposition, to render hopeless every effort for amendment. He threw his protection over every harpy which fattened upon the corruption of his court, and verily they flourished.” He also does not appear to have been that popular with his daughter, as she eloped with G S Repton, who was the son of Humphry Repton, the designer of the gardens in nearby Bloomsbury and Russell Squares. View along the western side of Bedford Square: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-9.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-9.jpg" alt="Bedford Square" class="wp-image-20350"/></a></figure> The above photo shows that there are subtle differences to the apparent identical design of the houses in the terrace. Look at the decoration around the entrances, and the central two have solid white stone decoration, whilst the outer two have a mix of white Coade stone and the same brick as the rest of the house. The central gardens are private, and are for the residents of the square. As well as the majority of the surrounding houses being listed, these gardens are also Grade II* listed. They have not changed that much since originally being set out. The shrubbery around the perimeter of the gardens appear to be a long standing feature. In the 19th century, paths across the grass were removed. There was limited damage to the square during the last war, with a single house in the southern side of the square damaged, along with the houses in the south east corner. The shrubbery limits the views across the gardens, but glimpses are available as shown in the following photo: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-13-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-13-scaled.jpg" alt="Bedford Square gardens" class="wp-image-20354" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-13-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-13-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Another Bedford Square blue plaque on the house in the photo below: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-10.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-10.jpg" alt="Ram Mohun Roy" class="wp-image-20351"/></a></figure> This plaque is a perfect example of the range and diversity of people who have passed through London over the centuries. The plaque records that Ram Mohun Roy, Indian reformer and Scholar lived in the house. Ram Mohun Roy was born in Radhanagar, Bengal, India, in 1772. Although a Hindu, Roy studied all the religions he could find in India. He wrote and campaigned against religious superstition, and the caste system. He was the founder of two of India’s earliest newspapers, but after the British imposed censorship of the Calcutta press in the 1820s, he started to campaign for freedom of speech, and became more involved in social reform. He had come into contact with the East India Company, working as a translator as well as an assistant to East India Company staff. in 1830, Roy came to England. An ex-emperor of Delhi had made Roy his ambassador so that he could plead the emperor’s cause with the authorities of the East India Company. He was well received in London society (no doubt a Bedford Square address helped), and addressed the Unitarians (a dissenting Christian approach, where members follow their own beliefs rather than the doctrine of the Church of England). The Unitarians are still based in Essex Street off the Strand, where their first meeting was held in 1774, so it was probably here that Roy made his address. He did not return to India, but died in Bristol during a visit at the invitation of Unitarian friends, and is now buried at Arnos Vale cemetery in Bristol. On an adjacent house is a green plaque: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-11-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1740" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-11-scaled.jpg" alt="Bedford College for Women" class="wp-image-20352" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-11-scaled.jpg 1740w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-11-204x300.jpg 204w" sizes="(max-width: 1740px) 100vw, 1740px" /></a></figure> Recording that the Bedford College for Women, the University of London was founded in the house in 1849 by Elizabeth Jesser Reid. There is a connection between Ram Mohun Roy and Elizabeth Jesser Reid, as she was the daughter of a wealthy Unitarian ironmonger and was born in 1789. She married Dr. John Reid, a nonconformist, and in 1849 she founded the Ladies College or College for Women, using her Unitarian and Bloomsbury connections to gather support, and to get teaching staff and professors to teach at the college. The College was the first higher education establishment for women in the country. It would stay in Bedford Square to 1874, when the lease came up for renewal. The Bedford Estate did not want to renew the lease with the college, so the college moved to larger premises near Baker Street. Yet another blue plaque: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-14.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bedford-Square-14.jpg" alt="William Butterfield" class="wp-image-20355"/></a></figure> This one to an architect, William Butterfield. Born in London in 1814, Butterfield trained as an architect and established his own architectural practice in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, before moving to the Adelphi. He was involved with the study of Gothic Architecture, and the Victorian revival of religious architecture. This resulted in a considerable amount of work on churches and their associated building both in London and across the country. William Butterfield died in his house in Bedford Square on the 23rd of February, 1900. That is just a sample of the plaques to be found in Bedford Square. Today, Bedford Square is home to a number of cultural institutions, including Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Yale University Press, and the New College for Humanities. Bedford Square is one of those rare places in London, where, if you took away all the cars, a resident from the late 18th century, just after the square was completed, could return today and externally, the square would be perfectly recognisable. It is also interesting to consider that whilst there is so much change across London, and there have been multiple different buildings on sites across much of London, when we stand in Bedford Square, we are looking at the only houses that have been built here, since the land was fields. It is a lovely example of architecture and street planning. <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/">alondoninheritance.com</a> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/bedford-square/" data-text="Bedford Square" >Tweet</a></li><li class="share-facebook"><div class="fb-share-button" data-href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/bedford-square/" data-layout="button_count"></div></li><li><a href="#" class="sharing-anchor sd-button share-more">More</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul><div class="sharing-hidden"><div class="inner" style="display: none;width:150px;"><ul style="background-image:none;"><li class="share-bluesky"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="sharing-bluesky-20358" class="share-bluesky sd-button" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/bedford-square/?share=bluesky" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Bluesky" >Bluesky</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-history/" rel="category tag">London History</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-parks-and-gardens/" rel="category tag">London Parks and Gardens</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/" rel="category tag">London Streets</a> and tagged <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/bedford-square/" rel="tag">Bedford Square</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/bloomsbury/" rel="tag">Bloomsbury</a> on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/bedford-square/" title="6:30 am" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2024-05-26T06:30:00+00:00">May 26, 2024</time></a> by <a class="url fn n" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/author/admin/" title="View all posts by admin" rel="author">admin</a>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-19807" class="post-19807 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-londonpubs category-london-streets tag-mayfair"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/londonpubs/the-footman-and-red-lion-a-tale-of-two-charles-street-pubs/" rel="bookmark">The Footman and Red Lion – A Tale of Two Charles Street Pubs</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/londonpubs/the-footman-and-red-lion-a-tale-of-two-charles-street-pubs/#comments">11 Replies</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> Charles Street is a typical Mayfair street. A varied range of architecture, a hotel, private houses, investment and wealth management companies, corporate offices, embassies, and much more hidden behind the facades of tall buildings that line the street. I recently went for a walk along the street to find two pubs, the Footman and the Red Lion. A photo of the Footman appeared in the 1920s three volume set of Wonderful London, when it was known as the Running Footman: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-19-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2020" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-19-scaled.jpg" alt="Running Footman pub" class="wp-image-19806" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-19-scaled.jpg 2020w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-19-237x300.jpg 237w" sizes="(max-width: 2020px) 100vw, 2020px" /></a></figure> The following text is the commentary to the above photo in Wonderful London: “THE RUNNING FOOTMAN, A PICTURE OF THE OLD MAYFAIR – Charles Street, off Berkeley Square, retains a pub named after that special kind of servant whose duty it was to run before the crawling family coach, help it out of ruts, warn toll-keepers, and clear the way generally. He wore a livery and usually carried a cane. The last person to employ a Running Footman is said to have been ‘Old Q.’ the Duke of Queensbery who died in 1810. The faded sign is fixed to the bay in the side street and appears here, over the taxi. The tavern is a bit of London from the days of ‘the Quality’, whose servants it served.” Wonderful London has a rather rose tinted view of the role of a running footman. I suspect in reality it was really difficult and exhausting to keep ahead of a coach, and carry out any other manual activities such as lifting the coach out of outs. I found an alternative description of the role of a running footman, which is probably more realistic: “The Running Footman – men have adopted various inhuman methods to increase their self-importance at different epochs, but few more inhuman than that of the running footman, of whom Mr. John Owen writes in his new novel, published today under the title of ‘The Running Footman’. This 18th century barbarism, whereby a man was forced to run 30 yards in front of his master’s coach for incredible distances, naturally resulted in the runners death from heart disease or consumption.” The following print from 1741 is a satirical interpretation of the opposition methods in the parliamentary motion to remove Robert Walpole from office, and shows a Running Footman at the left of the print, running in front of a team of horses and the coach. As described in Wonderful London, he is carrying a cane ( <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">© The Trustees of the British Museum</a>): <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-20.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="580" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-20-1024x580.jpg" alt="Running Footman pub" class="wp-image-19809" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-20-1024x580.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-20-300x170.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-20-768x435.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-20-1536x870.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-20-2048x1160.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-20-624x353.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> There was an interesting story of a Running Footman in the newspapers on the 5th of October, 1728, which hints at how fast they could run: “A Foot Race of two Miles being Advertised to be Run last Thursday on the Marshes near Hackney River by young Women for a Holland Shift, as three were dressing in order to start, one of them was discovered to be a Running Footman to a Person of Quality, who seeing he was betrayed found means to re-mount the Horse he rode on with a Side-Saddle. The Mob understanding the matter pursued him in order to duck him in the River, but to make more speed, he dismounted, rid himself of his Petticoats, took to his Heels and got clear of them, after much more Diversion than the Race, which was afterwards run by the other two.” The pub that is shown in the Wonderful London photo would only last for around another 10 years, as in the 1930s, the Running Footman would be rebuilt in the red brick style of pubs of the time, and it is this version of the pub that we find in Charles Street today, with the name truncated to just The Footman: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-1-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2054" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-1-scaled.jpg" alt="Running Footman pub" class="wp-image-19788" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-1-scaled.jpg 2054w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-1-241x300.jpg 241w" sizes="(max-width: 2054px) 100vw, 2054px" /></a></figure> The shorter name is relatively recent as the pub also had the names “The Only Running Footman” and “I am the Only Running Footman”. The original pub dates from the mid-18th century, and there are online references to the pub originally being called the Running Horse, although I cannot find any references from the late 18th century of a pub in Charles Street with this name. The first newspaper references to the Running Footman date from the first decades of the 19th century, for example in May 1821 there were stables for sale in Charles Street, and the Running Footman was given as one of the places were details of the sale could be found. The 1930s rebuild features an interesting extension to the roof, and the building is now taller than the rest of the terrace of which it was part: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-2-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-2-scaled.jpg" alt="Running Footman pub" class="wp-image-19789" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-2-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> The above photo shows the eastern end of Charles Street, with the southern end of Berkeley Square to the right. Charles Street seems to have been laid out during the later part of the 17th century. Rocque’s map of 1746 shows the surrounding built area, the upper eastern part of Charles Street has been built, and a blank space with street outlines covering the area west and north of Charles Street. The yellow circle marks the location of the Running Footman: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-21.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="568" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-21-1024x568.jpg" alt="Running Footman pub " class="wp-image-19811" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-21-1024x568.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-21-300x166.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-21-768x426.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-21-624x346.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-21.jpg 1512w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Although the map shows street outlines, the layout today is slightly different, and Charles Street extends to the corner of the space occupied by the large house at left, where it turns north. It was here I was heading next to find another pub, and to look at the mix of architecture along the street. The original build of Charles Street was mid to late 18th century / early 19th century, brick terrace houses, and over the following decades many of these would be combined and rebuilt to leave the mix of architectural styles and periods that we see today: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-3-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1834" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-3-scaled.jpg" alt="Charles Street" class="wp-image-19790" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-3-scaled.jpg 1834w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-3-215x300.jpg 215w" sizes="(max-width: 1834px) 100vw, 1834px" /></a></figure> At the junction with Queen Street, there is an open space with a tree in the centre, with the street turning slightly to the north. This point was the original end of Charles Street as shown in Rocque’s 1746 map, so the street may have originally terminated here, before being extended on as development of the area completed. <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-4-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-4-scaled.jpg" alt="Charles Street" class="wp-image-19791" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-4-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-4-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> And as we walk along Charles Street, we continue to see the mix of architecture, including where original terrace houses have been combined and a new stone façade has been built over the original brick: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-5-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-5-scaled.jpg" alt="Charles Street" class="wp-image-19792" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-5-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-5-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> On the house shown above, there is a London County Council plaque stating that Archibald Philip Primrose, the 5th Earl of Rosebery was born in the house in 1847: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-6-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1661" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-6-scaled.jpg" alt="Rosebery" class="wp-image-19793" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-6-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-6-300x195.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> He was Prime Minister in the years 1894 and 1895, and he was also Chairman of the London County Council in 1889 and 1890, then again in 1892, and Rosebery Avenue in Clerkenwell is named after him. <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/rosebery-avenue-st-john-street-amwell-street/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rosebery Avenue was one of the late 19th century major roads built across London to ease the growing congestion of the time, and that swept away many old street, courts and alleys</a>. Towards the western end of Charles Street, the street suddenly narrows as it turns to run along the northern edge of large, terrace houses. This change in the street marks the point where the original gardens of Chesterfield House (see the extract from Rocque’s map earlier in the post) extended, with the street turning along the north east corner of the old gardens: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-7-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-7-scaled.jpg" alt="Red Lion Pub Charles Street" class="wp-image-19794" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-7-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-7-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> At the end of the narrow section of Charles Street, where there is a sharp bend up towards Waverton Street we can see what remains of the Red Lion, the second pub I was looking for in Charles Street (the scaffolding is on the building opposite, not on the old pub): <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-8-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2039" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-8-scaled.jpg" alt="Red Lion Pub Charles Street" class="wp-image-19795" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-8-scaled.jpg 2039w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-8-239x300.jpg 239w" sizes="(max-width: 2039px) 100vw, 2039px" /></a></figure> The Red Lion is now a residential property, having closed as a pub in 2009. The building still retains some of the features of a London pub on the facade facing the street, however the rest of the building is very different. After closing as a pub, it underwent a very significant rebuild, both above and below ground to create a very different space behind the façade. I would not normally put a link to the Mail Online in the blog, however this is where I found an article on the conversion of the building from pub to residential, which includes a number of photos of the interior of the building, which are hard to reconcile with the view when you stand outside, and shows what can be done if you have £25 million to spare (in 2009). <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2514907/Disused-Mayfair-pub-transformed-25million-bedroom-home-roof-terrace-EIGHT-bathrooms.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The article is here.</a> A look down Red Lion Yard at the side of the old pub shows the way that the building has been extended above ground, in addition to the two levels below ground which doubled the overall space: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-10-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-10-scaled.jpg" alt="Red Lion Yard" class="wp-image-19797" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-10-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-10-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> The article described the pub as a “dingy drinking establishment“. It did seem to have been left to run down over the last few years of being a pub, but in the few times I went in, it always seemed to be reasonably busy. Unlike the Running Footman, the Red Lion was in a rather hidden part of the local streets, and it was a “local” pub so perhaps trade was not enough to keep the pub viable. I suspect that when the company that owned the pub was offered a good sum of money, it was worth selling for development rather than retaining as a pub. At the end of the alley leading into Red Lion Yard is this square of buildings, which again shows a level of redevelopment: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-11-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-11-scaled.jpg" alt="Red Lion Yard" class="wp-image-19798" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-11-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-11-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Entrance to Red Lion Yard alongside the old Red Lion: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-9-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-9-scaled.jpg" alt="Red Lion pub Charles Street" class="wp-image-19796" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-9-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-9-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> Although the Red Lion is at the end of Charles Street, it is also in the southern edge of Waverton Street, with a short section leading up to Hill Street before continuing northwards. A short distance from the Red Lion in Waverton Street, significant development continues: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-12-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-12-scaled.jpg" alt="Charles Street" class="wp-image-19799" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-12-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-12-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Looking back from in front of the Red Lion, along Charles Street. Again this narrow section of the street once had the gardens of Chesterfield House on the right: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-13-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-13-scaled.jpg" alt="Charles Street" class="wp-image-19800" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-13-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-13-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Walking back along Charles Street, and this is Dartmouth House: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-14-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-14-scaled.jpg" alt="Dartmouth House Charles Street" class="wp-image-19801" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-14-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-14-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Dartmouth House is another building which started off as part of a brick terrace of houses, but after combining individual houses, extending the resulting building and constructing a new stone façade, we get the building we see today. the first recorded resident was the Dowager Duchess of Chandos in 1757, and for the following centuries the house has been occupied mainly by a succession of Dukes, Earls, a Dowager and a Marquis – or “The Quality” as Wonderful London and other early references to the role of a Running Footman would have referred to them. Since 1926, Dartmouth House has been the headquarters of the English Speaking Union (ESU). The ESU have published a brief history of the house, and within this they reference the River Tyburn and that the brook runs under Dartmouth House and caused serious damage to papers stored in the basement in the 1990s. According to “The Lost Rivers of London” by Nicholas Barton and Stephen Myers the Tyburn runs slightly to the east and south. Under the south eastern corner of Berkeley Square towards Curzon Street, rather than running under Dartmouth House, however the basement of Dartmouth House is within what would have been the marshy area surrounding the Tyburn and any remaining springs, a high water table after heavy rains etc. could still result in basement flooding. Just one of the ways in which the pre-built environment, when the area was all fields streams and ponds, occasionally still bursts through to the 21st century. A house with a green City of Westminster plaque on the ground floor: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-15-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1737" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-15-scaled.jpg" alt="Charles Street" class="wp-image-19802" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-15-scaled.jpg 1737w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-15-204x300.jpg 204w" sizes="(max-width: 1737px) 100vw, 1737px" /></a></figure> The plaque states that Lady Dorothy Nevill lived in the house from 1873 to 1913: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-16-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-16-scaled.jpg" alt="Charles Street" class="wp-image-19803" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-16-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-16-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Born in 1826, she was the daughter of Horace Walpole and Mary Fawkener. When she died in 1913, obituaries stated that she was one of the more important links between the Victorian and present eras, and that she had lived through the reigns of George IV, William IV, Victoria, Edward VII and George V. Her obituaries stated that she was “profoundly conscious of the fact that she was connected in blood with many of the leading families in England; but unlike most British aristocrats (remarks the Times), though a keen Conservative in politics, fully alive to the changes that time had brought upon English Society.” Her support of Conservative politics was such that she “was one of the two or three ladies responsible for the founding of the Primrose League; indeed it is said to have been first suggested at her luncheon table; and every year on April 19 her windows and balconies were covered with primroses”. The Primrose League (named after the favourite flower of Benjamin Disraeli) was founded in 1883 and was a Conservative supporting, mass membership organisation, formed to promote the aims of the Conservative party across the country, and support the election of Conservative candidates. The success of the league was such that in ten years, membership had reached over one million, and there were members across the country, including the industrial towns of the north. There were however, many sceptical of the organisation, and the Edinburgh Evening News on the 2nd of February 1884 was reporting that: “That latest of Conservative follies, the Primrose League, is pushing its way. A considerable number of people have joined it, and its organisors assert that it will in the course of time become a powerful element of Tory reaction. It has been decided to start a branch of the League at Birmingham, with a view of assisting the candidature of Lord Randolph Churchill. A correspondent suggests however, that an institution like the Primrose League is more suited for the atmousphere of Belgravia than Birmingham. It was established by some rather weak-minded Conservatives in the West End of London, and it is not likely that it will be largely supported by the artisans of Birmingham. The League intends to hold a great demonstration on April 19th, the anniversary of Lord Beaconsfield’s death. There is some talk of its members walking through the metropolis in a monster procession.” Surprisingly, the Primrose League lasted until 2004, when it was disbanded. Her obituary also remarked that “The Sunday luncheon parties at her little house in Charles Street were the meeting place of people of all kinds of opinion, drawn from many walks of life, though she herself was fond of saying that her society was exclusive, dull people being never admitted”. I like the description of her house in Charles Street being described as “her little house”, but I suppose that all things are relative for “The Quality”. Whilst many of the buildings along Charles Street have changed significantly since the street was first developed, there are some original houses, and some of these have had some rather strange additions, such as this terrace house with a stone bay window that looks as if it has been randomly stuck on the building: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-17-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-17-scaled.jpg" alt="Running Footman pub" class="wp-image-19804" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-17-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-17-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> At the Berkeley Square end of the street there is, what the Historic England listing describes as “Two full height canted bays of 3 sashes each per floor and a 2 storey 2 window extension to left hand”. This is the rear of the Grade II listed 52 and 52A Berkeley Square, which date back to around 1750 and form part of the first development along Charles Street: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-18-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1700" height="2560" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-18-scaled.jpg" alt="Charles Street" class="wp-image-19805" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-18-scaled.jpg 1700w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Footman-18-199x300.jpg 199w" sizes="(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px" /></a></figure> Charles Street is an interesting little street. Many of the buildings have an aristocratic heritage, as does the origins of the name of the Footman pub. It is brilliant that the Footman survives, and the loss of the Red Lion is a shame. I do not know the reasons for the pub’s closure, but I often wonder in the planning decisions for pub conversions, just how much consideration is given to the change in use, and the loss of a community asset. These converted properties often become trophy assets that add very little to the area. Theoretically, it should now be much harder to get planning permission for the conversion of a pub. The London Plan, published by the Mayor of London, includes “Policy HC7 Protecting public houses” which does appear to provide a strong framework for resisting the conversion of a pub to alternative uses, however I suspect there are always ways and means to get around such constraints. On a positive note for the area, Charles Street is in the City of Westminster, which in the 2017 London Pubs Annual Data Note (part of the Greater London Authorities Cultural Infrastructure Report), and Westminster had the highest number of pubs of any borough in London with 430, In second place was Camden with 230 and in third place was Islington with 215. Barking and Dagenham had the fewest number of pubs, with just 20. I did not take any photos of the Red Lion when it was open, which I regret. You do not appreciate places until they are gone, and this is now one of the reasons why I probably take too many photos of even the most mundane street scene, as you know for sure, that within London – at some point it will have changed. <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">alondoninheritance.com</a> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="https://alondoninheritance.com/londonpubs/the-footman-and-red-lion-a-tale-of-two-charles-street-pubs/" data-text="The Footman and Red Lion - A Tale of Two Charles Street Pubs" >Tweet</a></li><li class="share-facebook"><div class="fb-share-button" data-href="https://alondoninheritance.com/londonpubs/the-footman-and-red-lion-a-tale-of-two-charles-street-pubs/" data-layout="button_count"></div></li><li><a href="#" class="sharing-anchor sd-button share-more">More</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul><div class="sharing-hidden"><div class="inner" style="display: none;width:150px;"><ul style="background-image:none;"><li class="share-bluesky"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="sharing-bluesky-19807" class="share-bluesky sd-button" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/londonpubs/the-footman-and-red-lion-a-tale-of-two-charles-street-pubs/?share=bluesky" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Bluesky" >Bluesky</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/londonpubs/" rel="category tag">London Pubs</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/" rel="category tag">London Streets</a> and tagged <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/mayfair/" rel="tag">Mayfair</a> on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/londonpubs/the-footman-and-red-lion-a-tale-of-two-charles-street-pubs/" title="7:30 am" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2024-02-04T07:30:00+00:00">February 4, 2024</time></a> by <a class="url fn n" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/author/admin/" title="View all posts by admin" rel="author">admin</a>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-19750" class="post-19750 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-london-streets tag-rotherhithe tag-surrey-quays"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/jays-for-jeans-surrey-quays-rotherhithe/" rel="bookmark">Jays for Jeans, Surrey Quays, Rotherhithe</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/jays-for-jeans-surrey-quays-rotherhithe/#comments">32 Replies</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> Jays Stores was a store in Lower Road, Rotherhithe, that had a large sign advertising Jays for Jeans at the top of the building, above an illustration of a man presumably dressed in clothes available from the store. My father photographed Jays Stores and the Jays for Jeans sign in 1986: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-1-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1711" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-1-scaled.jpg" alt="Jays for Jeans" class="wp-image-19735" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-1-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> I could not get exactly the same view as in 1986 due to road works occupying the space directly opposite, however an almost the same view of Jays for Jeans, 38 years later in January 2024: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-2-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-2-scaled.jpg" alt="Jays for Jeans" class="wp-image-19736" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-2-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> I am not sure exactly when Jays Stores opened, but the store closed in 2016. I suspect that the location of the store opposite the shops of the Surrey Quays shopping centre, Internet shopping, and the loss of local industry, with the resulting loss of trade for industrial wear, donkey jackets etc. (as advertised in the 1986 window) resulted in the store being economically unviable. The store did make it onto the Internet though, as the surviving sign on the top of the building in 2024 shows that Jays for Jeans had a.co.uk address for the store, a different sign to the one in 1986. The central panel has either completely faded, or perhaps been over painted. To the right of the store, in the 1986 photo, can be seen part of one of the estate agents set-up to market the new properties being built as part of the redevelopment of the docklands. Jays for Jeans is one of those local landmarks that defines an area for a specific period of time. I walked down to the location of Jays for Jeans from Canada Water station, having arrived on the Jubilee Line. It was a short walk, by the most direct route (that avoided the Surrey Quays shopping centre), but a route that confirmed that you can find things of interest in almost any London street, and is one of the joys of walking. The following map shows my route from Canada Water station (within the red circle) down to the site of Jays for Jeans, next to the Surrey Quays station which is over ground only (dark blue circle). the dark blue dotted line shows the short route  (<a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright">© OpenStreetMap contributors)</a>: <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-17.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="663" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-17-1024x663.jpg" alt="Jays for Jeans" class="wp-image-19754" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-17-1024x663.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-17-300x194.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-17-768x497.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-17-624x404.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-17.jpg 1308w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> Staring with the wonderful drum structure over Canada Water station, a design which allows a large amount of natural light to get into the station below. The drum is above the escalators which run between the ticket hall and the platforms below: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-3-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1665" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-3-scaled.jpg" alt="Canada Water Station" class="wp-image-19737" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-3-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-3-300x195.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> From Canada Water Station, I headed down Surrey Quays Road, a street which was one of the main entrances into the Surrey Commercial Docks which once occupied the majority of this part of Rotherhithe. Along this street is one of the very few remaining buildings from the docks – the Dock Manager’s Offices: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-6-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1681" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-6-scaled.jpg" alt="Dock Manager's Offices" class="wp-image-19740" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-6-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-6-300x197.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> This glorious buildings is Grade II listed, and dates from 1892 when it was built by the Surrey Commercial Dock Company. The building is very well preserved, and when in use as the dock offices, it consisted of three main parts: the Superintendent’s Office with clock tower, a Janitor’s House, which is the smaller block closest to the camera with the Dock Offices signage, and a large open plan General Office, which can be seen in the above photo receding to the right. <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-5-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-5-scaled.jpg" alt="Dock Manager's Offices" class="wp-image-19739" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-5-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-5-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> The building is now owned by British Land, and I believe part of the interior has been designed to showcase the flats that are being built as part of the significant redevelopment going on around the Surrey Quays area. There is a plaque on the side of the Dock Manager’s Office which records a major event during the last war: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-4-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1655" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-4-scaled.jpg" alt="Dock Manager's Offices" class="wp-image-19738" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-4-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-4-300x194.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> I am going to save the story of the docks here in Rotherhithe for some later posts as there is so much to tell about this part of London, and for now, I will continue on to Jays for Jeans. At the end of Surrey Quays Road, the street meets Lower Road, and on the western side of Lower Road is the Seven Islands Leisure Centre: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-10-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1682" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-10-scaled.jpg" alt=" Seven Islands Leisure Centre" class="wp-image-19744" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-10-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-10-300x197.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Opened as the Rotherhithe Bath and Assembly Hall on the 27th of November, 1965, the building included a swimming pool, assembly hall with stage and dressing rooms, crèche and play area for children and a place for sunbathing. The name comes from what were believed to have been seven islands in-between the streams that drained Rotherhithe and Bermondsey into the Thames. The building retains a wonderful example of the coat of arms of the old Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-7-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-7-scaled.jpg" alt="Bermondsey Coat of Arms" class="wp-image-19741" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-7-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-7-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Bermondsey, as a Metropolitan Borough existed from 1900 (when it brought together the old parishes of Bermondsey, Rotherhithe and St. Olave), until 1965 when it was replaced by the London Borough of Southwark. Within the coat of arms, the lion and the two letter B’s on either side, are from the Bermondsey Vestry and have their origins in Bermondsey Abbey. The crown and the axe are from St. Olave, and come from the Royal Arms of Norway <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-history/three-hundred-years-of-hays-wharf/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">(see this post for more details on the origins of St. Olave and the connection with Norway)</a>. Rotherhithe and the docks are represented by the ship at bottom right. The Latin motto at the bottom of the arms, “prosunt gentibus artes” means “Arts profit the people” On the opposite side of Lower Road is a brick built block of apartments, with a blue plaque between the first and second floors, above the central arch: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-9-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-9-scaled.jpg" alt="King Edward Frederick Mutessa" class="wp-image-19743" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-9-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-9-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> The blue plaque is to King Edward Frederick Muteesa II, the first President of Uganda: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-8-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1684" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-8-scaled.jpg" alt="King Edward Frederick Muteesa" class="wp-image-19742" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-8-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-8-300x197.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Muteesa was the Kabaka (king or ruler) of Buganda, one of the individual kingdoms that make up the country of Uganda. When Uganda became independent from Britain in 1962, Milton Obote became the Federal Prime Minister, and Obote negotiated an agreement with Muteesa that he would become President of Uganda, an agreement which was implemented by secret vote in Parliament on the 4th of October, 1963. In the following years, there was infighting between the coalition that made up Parliament and between Obote and Muteesa, and it finally got to the point where in February 1966, Obote suspended the Federal Constitution and declared himself President, thereby deposing Muteesa. Muteesa fled into exile and arrived in London, penniless, and without any support from the Government of Uganda. During his earlier years he had been educated at Cambridge, where he also joined the university’s officer training corps, which led to a commission as a Captain in the Grenadier Guards. It was this military connection that was to help with accommodation in London, and an old military contact provided him with the apartment in Orchard House, Lower Road. He was not there for too long as on the 21st of November, 1969, he was found dead in the apartment, apparently of alcohol poisoning. <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnSimpsonNews/status/1154783501574660096" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A few hours before his death he had been interviewed by the BBC correspondent John Simpson, who found him sober, and there have been theories that he was murdered</a>. He was temporarily buried in England until the political situation changed in Uganda when Idi Amin overthrew Milton Obote and Muteesa’s body was returned to Uganda and given a state funeral and burial. As with so much of London, there are a number of closed pubs in Lower Road, places that recall the working class history of the area. The first of these is the Prince of Orange: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-11-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-11-scaled.jpg" alt="Prince of Orange" class="wp-image-19745" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-11-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-11-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> The pub seems to have opened around the late 1830s / 1840s as it is during these years that I find the first mentions of what appears to be the Prince of Orange pub. In the following decades there are all the usual mentions of events that you would expect to find in a London pub in the docks, with crime, fights, jobs available etc. in the pubs last few decades, it seems to have been a venue for jazz, as in newspapers there are plenty of adverts, such as for Pete Boulter’s Blues Jam session (1995), and Mr. B Plays Basie (1983). In the Stage and Television Today in October 1982, it was reported that “on the pub front, let us applaud the Prince of Wales, Buckhurst Hill and the Prince of Orange, Rotherhithe, both presenting jazz practically every night of the week”. At times, the pub was on BBC Radio 2, for example the listings for the 25th of January, 1988, included “Jazz Score, where Benny Green is in the chair at the Prince of Orange, Rotherhithe, and on the panel are Acker Bilk, Peter Clayton, Alan Elsdon and Ronnie Scott”. The Prince of Orange is now apartments. A short distance further along Lower Road is another closed pub, the China Hall: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-12-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-12-scaled.jpg" alt="The China Hall" class="wp-image-19746" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-12-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-12-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> There has been a pub on the site for a number of centuries and in 1719 a pub on the site was apparently called the “Cock and Pye Ale House.” The earliest written reference I can find to the name China Hall is in the Oracle and Daily Advertiser, on the 27th of February, 1802, when “A few afternoons since, about half past four o’clock,, as Mr. Witts of the Europa Inn, Rotherhithe, was travelling near China Hall, in the lower Deptford Road, he was stopped by a single foot-pad, who robbed him of a £2 note and his cash”. The road was originally called Lower Deptford Road, but has since dropped Deptford and is now simply Lower Road. The site of the pub has a long history. In 1776 the pub appears to have been leased to a trader in tea and china called Jonathan Oldfield, and who built a theatre next to the pub, called the China Hall. The name may have come from his trade in china, and the name appears to have transferred from the theatre to the pub. Edward Walford, writing in Old and New London (1878), has the following to say about the China Hall: “In former times a narrow pathway, called the ‘Halfpenny Hatch’ extended through the meadows and market-gardens from Blue Anchor Road to the Deptford Lower Road, where it emerged close by an old and much-frequented public-house called the ‘China Hall’. The ancient tavern, which was a picturesque building partly surrounded by an external gallery, was pulled down within the last few years, and in its place has been erected a more modern-looking tavern, bearing the same sign. Our old friend Pepys mentions going to China Hall, but gives us no further particulars. It is not unlikely, says Mr. Larwood in his History of Signboards, that this was the same place which, in the summer of 1777, was opened as a theatre. Whatever its use in former times, it was at that time a warehouse of a paper manufacturer. In those days the West End often visited the entertainments of the East, and the new theatre was sufficiently patronised to enable the proprietors to venture upon some embellishments. The prices were – boxes 3s; pit 2s, gallery 1s; and the time of commencement varied from half-past six to seven o’clock, according to the season. The Wonder, Love in a Village, the Comical Courtship and the Lying Valet were among the plays performed. The famous Cooke was one of the actors in the season of 1778. In that same year the building suffered the usual fate of theaters, and was utterly destroyed by fire”. The China Hall pub closed at the end of 2018, after a local campaign failed to save it, although it appears to have been a going concern, was wanted by the local community and had publicans who wanted to continue. The ownership of the pub has been very controversial, and since closure the upper floors have been converted to residential, with extra space from the addition of a mansard roof. The ground floor did appear to be undergoing conversion however council planners issued a warning notice to stop. A planning application was made for conversion of the ground floor, this was turned down, and the council issued an enforcement notice requiring removal of residential partitions and fixtures. The owner has since appealed against the planning refusal – I do not know the status of this appeal. The China Hall illustrates the sad fate of many London pubs, that even when they are still viable businesses, and wanted by the local community, they are all too easily sold to a developer who can find more profit in the conversion of the property to residential. Continuing down Lower Road, and on the eastern side of the street is a row of late 19th century, terrace houses. The second house on the left has a plaque to Ada Salter, just above the ground floor bay window, directly above where green bins can be seen: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-14-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-14-scaled.jpg" alt="Ada Salter" class="wp-image-19748" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-14-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-14-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Ada Brown was born in 1866, a child within a Wesleyan Methodist family in Raunds, Northamptonshire. She moved to London in 1896, where she joined the West London Mission of the Wesleyan Sisters of the People, before moving to their Bermondsey Settlement in 1897. Alfred Salter was a student at Guy’s Hospital when he met Ada at the Bermondsey Settlement. They married in 1900 and lived in Bermondsey. Both Ada and Alfred worked tirelessly to improve conditions in Bermondsey and Rotherhithe. The house with the plaque is at 149 Lower Road, and was the Women’s House of the Bermondsey Settlement. Ada lived in the house for two periods in 1897 and 1898. The plaque is very recent as it was installed on the house in 2023: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-13-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1682" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-13-scaled.jpg" alt="Ada Salter" class="wp-image-19747" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-13-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-13-300x197.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> Ada became a Labour councilor, the first woman councilor in Bermondsey in 1909 and set about recruiting women workers to trade unions to organise against the terrible working conditions in the area’s factories. Alfred was elected MP for Bermondsey in 1909, the same year as Ada was elected Mayor. A view of Ada’s campaigning approach to improving the living conditions of Londoner’s, can be seen in the following first two sections from an article she wrote in the Daily Herald on the 28th of February, 1934, titled: “Don’t forget the HIDDEN LONDON”: “London is the most wonderful and romantic city in the world. London leads. What London thinks to-day Great Britain will do to-morrow. Underlying its romance, its magnificence, its power, its wealth and its resources, is a vast morass of sorrow and misery, of poverty and struggle, of unrequited toil and unmerited suffering. Watch some hundreds of thousands of citizens pouring each evening out of their office and work places in the centre of London and follow them to their homes. You will have glimpses of drab, featureless streets, rows of Early Victorian terrace houses, huge blocks of tenement dwellings. In these industrial dormitories the workers are not housed, but warehoused. Observe the daily fight for tram or bus and all the discomfort that it involves. Note the imperfect education given to children, too large classes, insufficiency of secondary schools, inadequacy of playing space in all working-class quarters. Compare the dullness and ugliness of grace and colour which constitute the environment of the poor with the stateliness and magnificence of the West End and the pleasing amenities of the middle-class suburb. Contrast the narrow, shut-in back yards with the spacious gardens surrounding the houses of the well-to-do. Remember the acres and acres of playing fields attached to all the public schools of England where the sons of the rich are educated, and then turn to the cramped, asphalted play grounds of the elementary schools in Bermondsey, Southwark, Bethnal Green, Stepney and Poplar. It is this London of the mean streets to which our thoughts should turn at a London County Council Election rather than the ‘show’ London which visitors from the country and abroad come to see.” Ada Salter in the early 1920s: <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-16.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="461" height="585" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-16.jpg" alt="Ada Salter" class="wp-image-19752" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-16.jpg 461w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-16-236x300.jpg 236w" sizes="(max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px" /></a></figure></div> Ada was also featured in “The VOTE -THE ORGAN OF THE WOMEN’S FREEDOM LEAGUE” on the 1st of December 1922, when she was the fifth in a series of features on women mayors. In the article, she wrote: “As the first woman in London to be offered the position of Mayor, I am proud that I live and work in a borough, the elected representatives of which are prepared to choose an individual who belongs to what is sometimes described as the weaker sex. As a woman, I am naturally eager that the woman’s share in responsibility of government should be a direct one. There is still a tremendous leeway to be made up in all departments of life that affect women, but the failure to catch the vision of a free humanity, where men and women can act together, and not in antagonism, is not confirmed to one sex. By common consent, the Bermondsey Borough Council has for some years dispensed with the wearing of the Mayoral and Aldermanic robes, but I also do not intend to wear the chain of office. This, of course, is a purely personal matter. For brilliant colouring, and for the brightness of gold, I have the greatest admiration, but I desire them not as symbols of place and power. The ideal for which we must strive is to secure respect for the authority and decisions of the Chair, rather by personality and character, than by decorations of office.” I suspect we need more Ada’s in politics today. Ada Salter died on the 4th of December, 1942. One of the newspaper reports of her death started with “The death of Mrs. Ada Salter, who was London’s first woman Mayor, is a reminder of the many hitherto exclusively masculine fields in which women have now staked out a claim”. Continuing down to the site of Jays for Jeans, and the third pub in this short walk. This is still open as a bar and restaurant but with a new name of the Yellow House: <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-15-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1700" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-15-scaled.jpg" alt="Jolly Caulkers" class="wp-image-19749" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-15-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jays-for-Jeans-15-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></figure> The was the Caulkers, originally the Jolly Caulkers, and in a couple of references, the Merry Caulkers. A Caulker was the person who had the job to fill in any gaps in a ship, to make it watertight. Filling the gaps between originally wooden planks and later the metal sheets that would make up the hull of a ship. A profession that would have been found across the docks of Rotherhithe. The earliest reference I can find to the pub is in the 1840s, however the design of the pub does not look 19th century, and I suspect it may have been rebuilt in the 1910s, as in the South London Gazette in 1919 there are references to the New Jolly Caulkers, and which therefore may be a reference to the pub we see today. And a very short distance on from the Yellow House / Caulkers, was Jays for Jeans. A short walk, which has revealed one of the few remaining buildings from the time when Rotherhithe was covered in docks, the coat of arms of the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey, the first President of Uganda, Ada Salter, a campaigner for the living conditions of London’s working class and London’s first woman mayor, and three historic pubs. There is so much more to write about this area, and the large dock complex that once occupied much of this part of Rotherhithe, and I hope to return in future posts. <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">alondoninheritance.com</a> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/jays-for-jeans-surrey-quays-rotherhithe/" data-text="Jays for Jeans, Surrey Quays, Rotherhithe" >Tweet</a></li><li class="share-facebook"><div class="fb-share-button" data-href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/jays-for-jeans-surrey-quays-rotherhithe/" data-layout="button_count"></div></li><li><a href="#" class="sharing-anchor sd-button share-more">More</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul><div class="sharing-hidden"><div class="inner" style="display: none;width:150px;"><ul style="background-image:none;"><li class="share-bluesky"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="sharing-bluesky-19750" class="share-bluesky sd-button" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/jays-for-jeans-surrey-quays-rotherhithe/?share=bluesky" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Bluesky" >Bluesky</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/" rel="category tag">London Streets</a> and tagged <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/rotherhithe/" rel="tag">Rotherhithe</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/surrey-quays/" rel="tag">Surrey Quays</a> on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/jays-for-jeans-surrey-quays-rotherhithe/" title="7:30 am" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2024-01-21T07:30:00+00:00">January 21, 2024</time></a> by <a class="url fn n" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/author/admin/" title="View all posts by admin" rel="author">admin</a>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-19600" class="post-19600 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-london-history category-london-streets tag-lanquage tag-vulgar-tongue"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-history/the-vulgar-tongue-and-provincial-words/" rel="bookmark">The Vulgar Tongue and Provincial Words</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-history/the-vulgar-tongue-and-provincial-words/#comments">7 Replies</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> An extra post this weekend, following up on the post a couple of weeks ago on Captain Francis Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue which was first published in 1785; a fascinating little book that really bring to life the language that would have been heard on the streets of London in the 18th century. This week I am covering words starting with the letters N to Z, and as with the first post covering A to M, there is the same focus on crime and punishment, and the challenges of everyday life. There are words and phrases that are still in use today, many others have been redundant for a very long time. There are also early examples of how we communicate today, with “gentlemen’s visiting cards” showing an early use of the type of text abbreviation used today with text and Whatsapp messaging (see P.P.C and D.I.O). It was not just the vulgar tongue of London that Grose collected, he also published “A Glossary of Provincial and Local Words used in England” – a collection of words used across the country and show a very different focus than the vulgar tongue with an emphasis on agriculture, the weather and rural life, my favourite being AQUABOB which I will be using should we get any really cold weather this winter. So, starting with the letter N from Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, we find some people that you would not want to meet on the streets of London: NATTY LADS – Young thieves or pickpockets. NAVY OFFICE – The Fleet prison. Commander of the Fleet; the warden of the Fleet prison. Confined in the Fleet Prison, from “A Rake’s Progress” by Hogarth ( <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">© The Trustees of the British Museum</a>): <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-2.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="872" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-2-1024x872.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-19604" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-2-1024x872.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-2-300x256.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-2-768x654.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-2-1536x1309.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-2-2048x1745.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-2-624x532.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> NECK STAMPER – The boy who collects the pots belonging to an alehouse, sent out with beer to private houses. NEW DROP – The scaffold used at Newgate for hanging criminals; which dropping down, leaves them suspended. By this improvement, the use of that vulgar vehicle, a cart, is entirely left off. NICKNACKS – Toys, baubles or curiosities. NIGHTMAN – One whose business is to empty the necessary houses in London, which is always done in the night. NYP SHOP – The Peacock in Gray’s Inn Lane, where Burton ale is sold in nyps. NIPPER – A cut-purse; so called by one Wotton who in the year 1585 kept an academy for the education and perfection of pickpockets and cut-purses; his second school was near Billingsgate, London. As in the dress of ancient times many people wore their purses at their girdles, cutting them was a branch of the light fingered art, which is now lost, though the name remains. OAR – To put in one’s oar; to intermeddle, or give an opinion unasked; as, to be sure, you must put in your oar. OLD HAND – Knowing or expert in any business. OLD HARRY – A composition used by the vintners to adulterate their wines, also the nick name for the devil. OLD NICK – The Devil. ORGAN – A pipe. Will you cock your organ? will you smoke your pipe? OTTOMISED – To be ottomised; to be dissected. You’ll be scragged, ottomised, and grin in a glass case; you’ll be hanged, anatomised, and your skeleton kept in a glass case at Surgeons Hall. OVERSEER – A man standing in the pillory, is, from his elevated situation, said to be made an overseer. OWL – To catch the; a trick practiced upon ignorant country boobies, who are decoyed into a barn under pretence of catching an owl, where, after divers preliminaries, the joke ends in their having a pail of water poured upon their heads. OWL IN AN IVY BUSH – He looks like an owl in an ivy bush; frequently said of a person with a large frizzled wig, or a woman whose hair is dressed a-la-blowse. OWLERS – Those who smuggle wool over to France. P.P.C. – An inscription on the visiting cards of our modern fine gentleman, signifying that they have called pour prendre conge, i.e. ‘to take leave’. This has of late been ridiculed by cards inscribed D.I.O. i.e.’ Damme, I’m off’. PADDINGTON FAIR DAY – An execution day, Tyburn being in the parish of Paddington. To dance the Paddington frisk; to be hanged. PALL – A companion. One who generally accompanies another, or who commit robberies together. PANNIER MAN – A servant belonging to the Temple and Gray’s Inn, whose office is to announce dinner. This in the Temple is done by blowing a horn, and in Gray’s Inn proclaiming the word Manger, Manger, Manger, in each of the three courts. PARSON – A guide post, hand or finger post by the road for directing travelers: compared to a parson, because like him, it sets people in the right way. I discovered the Guide Post shown in the photo below, which dates from 1686 and includes a pointing hand at Wroxton, from my post <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/cycling-around-britain/stratford-upon-avon/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">On The Road To Stratford-Upon-Avon</a> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-1.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="344" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-1-1024x344.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-19602" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-1-1024x344.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-1-300x101.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-1-768x258.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-1-624x209.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-1.jpg 1141w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> PECKISH – Hungry PETER GUNNERE – will kill all the birds that died last summer. A piece of wit commonly thrown out at a person walking through a street or village near London, with a gun in his hand. PETTICOAT HOLD – One who has an estate during his wife’s life, called the apron-string hold. PETTICOAT PENSIONER – One kept by a woman for secret services. PIGEONS – Sharpers, who, during the drawing of the lottery, wait ready mounted near Guildhall, and, as soon as the first two or three numbers are drawn, which they receive from a confederate on a card, ride with them full speed to some distant insurance office, where there is another of the gang, commonly a decent looking woman, who takes care to be at the office before the hour of drawing; to her he secretly gives the numbers, which she insures for a considerable sum. PIMP – A male procurer, or cock bawd; also a small fagot used about London for lighting fires, named from introducing the fire to the coals. The following print from 1771 is a satire on gullible youths and dishonest prostitutes. The women on the left is picking the man’s pockets, and behind the curtain is the pimp. To emphasize the story being told, the picture on the wall behind the three at the table is of a sheep being fleeced ( <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">© The Trustees of the British Museum</a>). <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-3.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="743" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-3-1024x743.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-19605" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-3-1024x743.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-3-300x218.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-3-768x558.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-3-1536x1115.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-3-2048x1487.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-3-624x453.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure> PISS POT HALL – near Hackney, built by a potter chiefly out of the profits of chamber pots. PISS-PROUD – Having a false erection. That old fellow thought he had an erection, but his _______ was only piss-proud; said of any old fellow who marries a young wife. PITT’S PICTURE – A window stopt up on the inside, to save the tax imposed in that gentleman’s administration. PURL – Ale in which wormwood has been infused, or ale and bitters drunk warm. QUEEN STREET – A man governed by his wife, is said to live in Queen Street, or at the sign of the Queen’s Head. QUEER BIRDS – Rogues relieved from prison, and returned to their old trade. QUEER PLUNGERS – Cheats who throw themselves into the water, in order that they may be taken up by their accomplices, who carry them to one of the houses appointed by the Humane Society for the recovery of drowned persons; and the supposed drowned persons, pretending he was driven to that great extremity by great necessity, is also frequently sent away with a contribution in his pocket. QUICK AND NIMBLE – More like a bear than a squirrel. Jeeringly said to any one moving sluggishly on a business errand that requires dispatch. RABBIT CATCHER – A midwife. RAINY DAY – To lay up something for a rainy day; to provide against a time of necessity of distress. RANTALLION – One whose scrotum is so relaxed as to be longer than his penis, i.e. whose shot pouch is longer than the barrel of his piece. RAREE SHEW MEN – Poor Savoyards, who subsist by showing the magic lantern and marmots about London. RIDING ST. GEORGE – The woman uppermost in the amorous congress, that is, the dragon upon St. George. This is said the way to get a bishop. RIGMAROLE – Roundabout, nonsensical. He told a long rigmarole story. RING – Money procured by begging; beggars so called it from its ringing when thrown to them. Also a circle formed for boxers, wrestlers, and cudgel-players, by a man styled Vinegar; who, with his hat before his eyes, goes round the circle, striking at random with his whip to prevent the populace from crowding in. ROMEVILLE – London ROUGH – To lie rough; to lie all night in one’s clothes; called also roughing it. Likewise to sleep on the bare deck of a ship, when the person is commonly advised to choose the softest plank. ROUND ABOUT – An instrument used in house-breaking. This instrument has not been long in use. It will cut a round piece about five inches in diameter out of a shutter or door. RUFFLERS – The first rank of criminals; also notorious rogues pretending to be maimed soldiers or sailors. RUNNING STATIONERS – Hawker of newspapers, trials and dying speeches. RUSSIAN COFFEE HOUSE – The Brown Bear in Bow-street, Covent Garden, a house of call for thief-takers and runners of the Bow street justices. SANDWICH – Ham, dried tongue, or some other salted meat cut thin and put between two slices of bread and butter; said to be a favourite morsel with the Earl of Sandwich. SCAMP – A highwayman. Royal Scamp; a highwayman who robs civilly. Royal foot scamp; a footpad who behaves in like manner. A Scamp in action ( <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">© The Trustees of the British Museum</a>): <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgat-Tonque-4.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="732" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgat-Tonque-4-1024x732.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-19606" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgat-Tonque-4-1024x732.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgat-Tonque-4-300x214.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgat-Tonque-4-768x549.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgat-Tonque-4-1536x1098.jpg 1536w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgat-Tonque-4-2048x1464.jpg 2048w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgat-Tonque-4-624x446.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption>1894 06 11 79 Maclain the Highwayman robbing Lord Eglington Anon P&D</figcaption></figure> SCOURERS – Riotous bucks, who amuse themselves with breaking windows, beating the watch, and assaulting every person they meet; called scouring the streets. SHARK – A sharper; perhaps from his preying upon anyone he can lay hold of. Also a custom-house officer, or tide-waiter. Sharks; the first order of pickpockets. Bow-street term, 1785. SHOOT THE CAT – To vomit from excess of liquor; called also catting. SHOPLIFTER – One that steals whilst pretending to purchase goods in a shop. SHY COCK – One who keeps within doors for fear of bailiffs. SILVER LACED – Replete with lice. The cove’s kickseys are silver laced; the fellow’s breeches are covered with lice. SIMPLES – Physical herbs; also follies. He must go to Battersea, to be cut for the simples – Battersea is a place famous for its garden grounds SNAP DRAGON – A Christmas gambol; raisins and almonds being put into a bowl of brandy, and the candles extinguished, the spirit is set on fire, and the company scrambles for the raisins. STARVE’EM, ROB’EM AND CHEAT’EM – Stroud, Rochester and Chatham; so called by sailors, and not without good reason. SUGAR SOPS – Toasted bread, soaked in ale, sweetened with sugar, and grated nutmeg; it is eaten with cheese. SUNNY BANK – A good fire in winter. SURVEYOR OF THE HIGHWAYS – One reeling drunk THIEF TAKER – Fellows who associate with all kinds of villains, in order to betray them, when they have committed any of those crimes which entitle the persons taking them to a handsome reward, called blood money. It is the business of these thief takers to furnish subjects for a handsome execution, at the end of every sessions. The thief-taker Stephen Macdaniel, 1756 ( <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">© The Trustees of the British Museum</a>): <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-5.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="672" height="1024" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-5-672x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-19608" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-5-672x1024.jpg 672w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-5-197x300.jpg 197w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-5-768x1171.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-5-1008x1536.jpg 1008w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-5-624x951.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-5.jpg 1276w" sizes="(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px" /></a></figure> THIMBLE – A watch. the swell flashes a rum thimble; the gentleman sports a fine watch. THREE-PENNY UPRIGHT – A retailer of love, who, for the sum mentioned, dispenses her favours standing against a wall. THREE THREADS – Half common ale, mixed with stale and double beer. TILBURY – Sixpence; so called from its formerly being the fare for crossing from Gravesend to Tilbury fort. TWITTER – All in a twitter; in a fright. Twittering is also the note of some small birds such as the robin &c. TWO TO ONE SHOP – A pawnbroker’s; alluding to the three blue balls, the sign of that trade; or perhaps to its being two to one that the goods pledged are never redeemed. The three balls of a pawnbroker’s can be seen in this Hogarth print “Beer Street” from 1751. The drawing shows the collapsing house of “N Pinch Pawn Broker”, and looking at the people shown in the view, one can imagine how the phrases listed in Captain Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue were part of normal street language. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-6.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="783" height="1024" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-6-783x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-19610" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-6-783x1024.jpg 783w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-6-230x300.jpg 230w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-6-768x1004.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-6-1175x1536.jpg 1175w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-6-1567x2048.jpg 1567w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-6-624x816.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/More-Vulgar-Tonque-6.jpg 1794w" sizes="(max-width: 783px) 100vw, 783px" /></a></figure> UPPING BLOCK – Steps for mounting a horse. he sits like a toad on a jossing block; said of one who sits ungracefully on horseback UPSTARTS – Persons lately raised to honours and riches from mean stations. VAULTING SCHOOL – A bawdy-house; also an academy where vaulting and other manly exercises are taught. WAITS – Musicians of the lower order, who in most towns play under the windows of the chief inhabitants at midnight, a short time before Christmas, for which they collect a Christmas-box from house to house. They are said to derive their name of waits from being always in waiting to celebrate weddings and other joyous events happening in the district. WATER SNEAKSMAN – A man who steals from ships or craft on the river. WATERPAD – One that robs ships on the River Thames WESTMINSTER WEDDING – A match between a whore and a rogue. WHETSTONE PARK – A lane between Holborn and Lincoln’s Inn Fields, formerly famed for being the resort of women of the town. WIBLING’S WITCH – The four of clubs: from one James Wibling, who in the reign of King James I, grew rich by private gaming and was commonly observed to have that card, and never to lose a game but when he had it not. WINDOW PEEPER – A collector of the window tax. XANTIPPE – The name of Socrates’s wife; now used to signify a shrew or scolding wife. YARMOUTH PYE – A pye made of herrings highly spiced, which the city of Norwich is by charter bound to present annually to the King. ZNEES – Frost or Frozen, Zueesy weather; frosty weather. <h2 class="wp-block-heading">A Glossary of Provincial and Local Words used in England</h2> Francis Grose also published “A Glossary of Provincial and Local Words used in England”, and the words and phrases in this publication are very different to those in his Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Whilst those in the Vulgar Tongue have a number of common themes such as crime and punishment, prostitution, sexual relations, and general street life, those in Provincial and Local Words have mainly agricultural and rural meanings. It is though impossible to know whether there was any bias in Grose’s collection of words and phrases. Was he looking for words that confirmed the worst of city life for his dictionary of the vulgar tongue, whilst looking for words that confirmed the rural nature of the countryside? The two books do show the split between City and Country life which was still very marked in the 18th century, and would change significantly during the 19th century with the rapid expansion of industry and migration to the city by very large numbers of those who had lived in the countryside. Examples from “A Glossary of Provincial and Local Words used in England”, include: AQUABOB – An icicle BARSON – A horse’s collar BERRY – to berry, to thresh out corn CANDLING – a supper given in some parts by landlords of ale houses to their customers on the Eve of Candlemas-day; part of it is a pie, thence called a CANDLING-PIE CUSHETS – Wild pigeons DALLOP – A patch of ground among corn that has escaped the plough; also tufts of corn where dung-heaps have long laid ERRISH – A stubble field FEATHERING – Binding a hedge FLIGGURS – Young birds, just fledged. GIBBET – A great cudgel, such as are thrown at trees, to beat down fruit. HOPPER-CAKE – a seed cake with plums in it, with which the farmers treat their servants when seed-time is finished. IMP – to rob, or disposes a person. JACK – half a pint. KING HARRY – A goldfinch LEASTY WEATHER – dull, wet, dirty. MAWKIN – a bunch of rags used for cleansing the oven. NEB or NIB – the nose, also the beak of a bird. NOON-SCAPE – the time when labourers rest after dinner. OLD LAND – ground that had laid long untilled, and just ploughed up. PINGSWILL – a boil QUAKLED – almost choked, or suffocated. RANDLE BAWK – an iron gibbet in a chimney, to hang the pot-hooks on. SEEING-GLASS – a mirror, or looking glass. TWITTER – to tremble. This is a word of general use. My heart twitters; I am all of a twitter. To TWITTER thread or yarn, is to spin it uneven; generally used also in this sense. URCHIN – a hedgehog VELLING – ploughing up the turf, or upper surface of the ground, to lay in heaps to burn. WARPING – turning a river on land to obtain the mud for manure when it recedes. YEAVELING – evening. ZINNILA – a son-in-law Francis Grose left a wonderful collection of words and phrases in use in the city and country during the late 18th century. The importance of these words is that they provide an insight into life at the time, I did wonder how many of these terms were invented by those providing them to Grose, however I have found very many of them in newspapers from the 18th and 19th centuries, confirming their use in the way described by Grose. For example, the first reference I could find of the term SNAP DRAGON dated from 1738, and in the Bristol Mercury dated the 30th of December 1889, there is a feature on Christmas customs, and the following is included: “SNAP DRAGON – With regards to Christmas fare, snap dragon is a very ancient favourite, although I think it is dying out. A number of raisins are deposited in a shallow disk or bowl, and brandy is poured over them and ignited. The fun is to snatch a raisin through the flames. To this there is such a song as: Here he comes with flaming bowl, Don’t he mean to take his toll; Snip snap dragon, Take care you don’t take too much, Be not greedy in your clutch, Snip snap dragon.“ Although Grose collected all these words and phrases in the second part of the 18th century, many of them must have had some considerable age, particularly those of the Provincial and Local words as I suspect words in use in the city changed more frequently than those in the countryside.. Both of Grose’s publications help to bring to life the everyday experience of the late 18th century, and provide a very valuable record. <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">alondoninheritance.com</a> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-history/the-vulgar-tongue-and-provincial-words/" data-text="The Vulgar Tongue and Provincial Words" >Tweet</a></li><li class="share-facebook"><div class="fb-share-button" data-href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-history/the-vulgar-tongue-and-provincial-words/" data-layout="button_count"></div></li><li><a href="#" class="sharing-anchor sd-button share-more">More</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul><div class="sharing-hidden"><div class="inner" style="display: none;width:150px;"><ul style="background-image:none;"><li class="share-bluesky"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="sharing-bluesky-19600" class="share-bluesky sd-button" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-history/the-vulgar-tongue-and-provincial-words/?share=bluesky" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Bluesky" >Bluesky</a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-history/" rel="category tag">London History</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/" rel="category tag">London Streets</a> and tagged <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/lanquage/" rel="tag">Lanquage</a>, <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/tag/vulgar-tongue/" rel="tag">vulgar tongue</a> on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-history/the-vulgar-tongue-and-provincial-words/" title="7:30 am" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2023-12-30T07:30:00+00:00">December 30, 2023</time></a> by <a class="url fn n" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/author/admin/" title="View all posts by admin" rel="author">admin</a>. </footer> </article> <nav id="nav-below" class="navigation" role="navigation"> <h3 class="assistive-text">Post navigation</h3> <div class="nav-previous"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/page/2/" >← Older posts</a></div> <div class="nav-next"></div> </nav> </div> </section> <div id="secondary" class="widget-area" role="complementary"> <aside id="blog_subscription-2" class="widget widget_blog_subscription jetpack_subscription_widget"><h3 class="widget-title">Subscribe to Blog via Email</h3> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions__container"> <form action="#" method="post" accept-charset="utf-8" id="subscribe-blog-blog_subscription-2" data-blog="64512453" data-post_access_level="everybody" > <div id="subscribe-text">Join me as I explore London past and present over the coming months. Enter your e-mail address to receive new posts. </div> <label id="jetpack-subscribe-label" class="screen-reader-text" for="subscribe-field-blog_subscription-2"> Email Address </label> <input type="email" name="email" required="required" value="" id="subscribe-field-blog_subscription-2" placeholder="Email Address" /> <input type="hidden" name="action" value="subscribe"/> <input type="hidden" name="source" value="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/"/> <input type="hidden" name="sub-type" value="widget"/> <input type="hidden" name="redirect_fragment" value="subscribe-blog-blog_subscription-2"/> <input type="hidden" id="_wpnonce" name="_wpnonce" value="d7979f7e75" /><input type="hidden" name="_wp_http_referer" value="/category/london-streets/" /> <button type="submit" class="wp-block-button__link" name="jetpack_subscriptions_widget" > Subscribe </button> </form> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions__subscount"> Join 5,072 other subscribers </div> </div> </aside><aside id="media_image-4" class="widget widget_media_image"><a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/a-london-inheritance-walks-33326287375"><img width="300" height="187" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Widget-Photo-1-300x187.jpg" class="image wp-image-16634 attachment-medium size-medium" alt="" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Widget-Photo-1-300x187.jpg 300w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Widget-Photo-1-1024x639.jpg 1024w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Widget-Photo-1-768x479.jpg 768w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Widget-Photo-1-624x390.jpg 624w, https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Widget-Photo-1.jpg 1171w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></aside><aside id="search-3" class="widget widget_search"><h3 class="widget-title">Search ALondonInheritance.com</h3><form role="search" method="get" id="searchform" class="searchform" action="https://alondoninheritance.com/"> <div> <label class="screen-reader-text" for="s">Search for:</label> <input type="text" value="" name="s" id="s" /> <input type="submit" id="searchsubmit" value="Search" /> </div> </form></aside> <aside id="recent-posts-2" class="widget widget_recent_entries"> <h3 class="widget-title">Recent Posts</h3> <ul> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/the-thames/patrick-colquhoun-and-the-thames-river-police/">Patrick Colquhoun and the Thames River Police</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/lower-robert-street-jennys-hole-and-the-tragic-death-of-a-child/">Lower Robert Street, Jenny’s Hole and the Tragic Death of a Child.</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/the-thames/north-woolwich-a-station-pier-pleasure-gardens-and-causeway/">North Woolwich – A Station, Pier, Pleasure Gardens and Causeway</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/londonpubs/soho-pubs-part-3/">Soho Pubs – Part 3</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-streets/the-bank-junction-the-historic-centre-of-london/">The Bank Junction – The Historic Centre of London?</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-history/alderman-stairs-artificial-intelligence-historical-accuracy-and-copyright/">Alderman Stairs – Artificial Intelligence, Historical Accuracy and Copyright</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-history/william-adams-the-adventures-of-a-limehouse-apprentice/">William Adams – The Adventures of a Limehouse Apprentice</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-photography/london-films-capturing-100-years-of-change/">London Films – Capturing 100 Years of Change</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-books/a-christmas-book-london-after-dark-by-fabian-of-the-yard/">A Christmas Book – London after Dark by Fabian of the Yard</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/york-buildings-stairs-and-the-watergate/">York Buildings Stairs and the Watergate</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/cycling-around-britain/the-eagles-nest-and-monmouth/">The Eagle’s Nest and Monmouth</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-history/thomas-linacre-faraday-gregory-de-rokesley-thanet-house-and-john-wesley/">Thomas Linacre, Faraday, Gregory de Rokesley, Thanet House and John Wesley</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-transport/crossing-the-thames-at-woolwich/">Crossing the Thames at Woolwich</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-infrastructure/king-george-v-dock-the-last-of-the-royals/">King George V Dock – The Last of the Royals</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-infrastructure/the-gallions-reach-entrances-to-the-royal-docks/">The Gallions Reach Entrances to the Royal Docks</a> </li> </ul> </aside><aside id="recent-comments-2" class="widget widget_recent_comments"><h3 class="widget-title">Recent Comments</h3><ul id="recentcomments"><li class="recentcomments"><a href="http://none" class="url" rel="ugc external nofollow">Ron Long</a> on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/caledonian-park-history-murals-and-a-fire/#comment-1322011">Caledonian Park – History, Murals And A Fire</a></li><li class="recentcomments">Ian Dewar on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-buildings/atlantic-house-holborn-viaduct/#comment-1322001">Atlantic House, Holborn Viaduct</a></li><li class="recentcomments">Colin Watson on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/the-thames/patrick-colquhoun-and-the-thames-river-police/#comment-1321346">Patrick Colquhoun and the Thames River Police</a></li><li class="recentcomments">George on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/the-great-fire-at-london-bridge/#comment-1321217">The Great Fire at London Bridge</a></li><li class="recentcomments"><a href="http://none" class="url" rel="ugc external nofollow">Ron Long</a> on <a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/london-monuments/caledonian-park-history-murals-and-a-fire/#comment-1321074">Caledonian Park – History, Murals And A Fire</a></li></ul></aside><aside id="archives-2" class="widget widget_archive"><h3 class="widget-title">Archives</h3> <ul> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2025/02/'>February 2025</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2025/01/'>January 2025</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2024/12/'>December 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2024/11/'>November 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2024/10/'>October 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2024/09/'>September 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2024/08/'>August 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2024/07/'>July 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2024/06/'>June 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2024/05/'>May 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2024/04/'>April 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2024/03/'>March 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2024/02/'>February 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2024/01/'>January 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2023/12/'>December 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2023/11/'>November 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2023/10/'>October 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2023/09/'>September 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2023/08/'>August 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2023/07/'>July 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2023/06/'>June 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2023/05/'>May 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2023/04/'>April 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2023/03/'>March 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2023/02/'>February 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2023/01/'>January 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2022/12/'>December 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2022/11/'>November 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2022/10/'>October 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2022/09/'>September 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2022/08/'>August 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2022/07/'>July 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2022/06/'>June 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2022/05/'>May 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2022/04/'>April 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2022/03/'>March 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2022/02/'>February 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2022/01/'>January 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2021/12/'>December 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2021/11/'>November 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2021/10/'>October 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2021/09/'>September 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2021/08/'>August 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2021/07/'>July 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2021/06/'>June 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2021/05/'>May 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2021/04/'>April 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2021/03/'>March 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2021/02/'>February 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2021/01/'>January 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2020/12/'>December 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2020/11/'>November 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2020/10/'>October 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2020/09/'>September 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2020/08/'>August 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2020/07/'>July 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2020/06/'>June 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2020/05/'>May 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2020/04/'>April 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2020/03/'>March 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2020/02/'>February 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2020/01/'>January 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2019/12/'>December 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2019/11/'>November 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2019/10/'>October 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2019/09/'>September 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2019/08/'>August 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2019/07/'>July 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2019/06/'>June 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2019/05/'>May 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2019/04/'>April 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2019/03/'>March 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2019/02/'>February 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2019/01/'>January 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2018/12/'>December 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2018/11/'>November 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2018/10/'>October 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2018/09/'>September 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2018/08/'>August 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2018/07/'>July 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2018/06/'>June 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2018/05/'>May 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2018/04/'>April 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2018/03/'>March 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2018/02/'>February 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2018/01/'>January 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2017/12/'>December 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2017/11/'>November 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2017/10/'>October 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2017/09/'>September 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2017/08/'>August 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2017/07/'>July 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2017/06/'>June 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2017/05/'>May 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2017/04/'>April 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2017/03/'>March 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2017/02/'>February 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2017/01/'>January 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2016/12/'>December 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2016/11/'>November 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2016/10/'>October 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2016/09/'>September 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2016/08/'>August 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2016/07/'>July 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2016/06/'>June 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2016/05/'>May 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2016/04/'>April 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2016/03/'>March 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2016/02/'>February 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2016/01/'>January 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2015/12/'>December 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2015/11/'>November 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2015/10/'>October 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2015/09/'>September 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2015/08/'>August 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2015/07/'>July 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2015/06/'>June 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2015/05/'>May 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2015/04/'>April 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2015/03/'>March 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2015/02/'>February 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2015/01/'>January 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2014/12/'>December 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2014/11/'>November 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2014/10/'>October 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2014/09/'>September 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2014/08/'>August 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2014/07/'>July 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2014/06/'>June 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2014/05/'>May 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2014/04/'>April 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2014/03/'>March 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://alondoninheritance.com/2014/02/'>February 2014</a></li> </ul> </aside><aside id="categories-2" class="widget widget_categories"><h3 class="widget-title">Categories</h3> <ul> <li class="cat-item cat-item-17"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/cycling-around-britain/">Cycling Around Britain</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-5"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/eventsandceremonies/">Events and Ceremonies</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-11"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-books/">London Books</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-18"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-buildings/">London Buildings</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-549"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-canals/">London Canals</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-10"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-characters/">London Characters</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-7"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-churches/">London Churches</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-307"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-history/">London History</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-674"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-infrastructure/">London Infrastructure</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-12"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-journeys/">London Journeys</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-9"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-monuments/">London Monuments</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-91"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-parks-and-gardens/">London Parks and Gardens</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-54"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-photography/">London Photography</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-6"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/londonpubs/">London Pubs</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-13 current-cat"><a aria-current="page" href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-streets/">London Streets</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-16"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-transport/">London Transport</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-15"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-villages/">London Villages</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-3"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/londonvistas/">London Vistas</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-795"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-walks/">London Walks</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-146"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/london-wards/">London Wards</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-392"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/out-of-london/">Out Of London</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-550"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/rivers-and-streams/">Rivers and Streams</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-4"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/thebombedcity/">The Bombed City</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-563"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/the-netherlands/">The Netherlands</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-8"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/the-thames/">The Thames</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-1"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/uncategorized/">Uncategorized</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-14"><a href="https://alondoninheritance.com/category/under-london/">Under London</a> </li> </ul> </aside><aside id="media_image-2" class="widget widget_media_image"><h3 class="widget-title">Contact</h3><img width="166" height="54" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/New-Email-1.jpg" class="image wp-image-16156 attachment-full size-full" alt="" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /></aside><aside id="linkcat-2" class="widget widget_links"><h3 class="widget-title">Blogroll</h3> <ul class='xoxo blogroll'> <li><a href="https://bugwomanlondon.com/">Bug Woman – Adventures in London</a></li> <li><a href="https://cabbieblog.com/">Cabbie Blog</a></li> <li><a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/">diamond geezer</a></li> <li><a href="http://dirtymodernscoundrel.blogspot.com/">Dirty Modern Scoundrel</a></li> <li><a href="https://flickeringlamps.com/">Flickering Lamps</a></li> <li><a href="https://greenwichindustrialhistory.blogspot.com/">Greenwich Industrial History</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/">Ian Visits</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.londonhistorians.org/">London Historians</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.londonhistorians.org/">London Topographical Society</a></li> <li><a href="https://naturegirlblogdotcom.wordpress.com/">naturegirl</a></li> <li><a href="https://spitalfieldslife.com/">Spitalfields Life</a></li> </ul> </aside> </div> </div> <footer id="colophon" role="contentinfo"> <div class="site-info"> <a href="https://wordpress.org/" class="imprint" title="Semantic Personal Publishing Platform"> Proudly powered by WordPress </a> </div> </footer> </div> <script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');</script> <div id="fb-root"></div> <script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=249643311490&version=v2.3'; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script> <script> document.body.addEventListener( 'is.post-load', function() { if ( 'undefined' !== typeof FB ) { FB.XFBML.parse(); } } ); </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/themes/twentytwelve/js/navigation.js?ver=20141205" id="twentytwelve-navigation-js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://stats.wp.com/e-202508.js" id="jetpack-stats-js" data-wp-strategy="defer"></script> <script type="text/javascript" id="jetpack-stats-js-after"> /* <![CDATA[ */ _stq = window._stq || []; _stq.push([ "view", JSON.parse("{\"v\":\"ext\",\"blog\":\"64512453\",\"post\":\"0\",\"tz\":\"0\",\"srv\":\"alondoninheritance.com\",\"j\":\"1:13.4.4\"}") ]); _stq.push([ "clickTrackerInit", "64512453", "0" ]); /* ]]> */ </script> <script type="text/javascript" id="sharing-js-js-extra"> /* <![CDATA[ */ var sharing_js_options = {"lang":"en","counts":"1","is_stats_active":"1"}; /* ]]> */ </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/_inc/build/sharedaddy/sharing.min.js?ver=13.4.4" id="sharing-js-js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" id="sharing-js-js-after"> /* <![CDATA[ */ var windowOpen; ( function () { function matches( el, sel ) { return !! ( el.matches && el.matches( sel ) || el.msMatchesSelector && el.msMatchesSelector( sel ) ); } document.body.addEventListener( 'click', function ( event ) { if ( ! event.target ) { return; } var el; if ( matches( event.target, 'a.share-facebook' ) ) { el = event.target; } else if ( event.target.parentNode && matches( event.target.parentNode, 'a.share-facebook' ) ) { el = event.target.parentNode; } if ( el ) { event.preventDefault(); // If there's another sharing window open, close it. if ( typeof windowOpen !== 'undefined' ) { windowOpen.close(); } windowOpen = window.open( el.getAttribute( 'href' ), 'wpcomfacebook', 'menubar=1,resizable=1,width=600,height=400' ); return false; } } ); } )(); var windowOpen; ( function () { function matches( el, sel ) { return !! ( el.matches && el.matches( sel ) || el.msMatchesSelector && el.msMatchesSelector( sel ) ); } document.body.addEventListener( 'click', function ( event ) { if ( ! event.target ) { return; } var el; if ( matches( event.target, 'a.share-bluesky' ) ) { el = event.target; } else if ( event.target.parentNode && matches( event.target.parentNode, 'a.share-bluesky' ) ) { el = event.target.parentNode; } if ( el ) { event.preventDefault(); // If there's another sharing window open, close it. if ( typeof windowOpen !== 'undefined' ) { windowOpen.close(); } windowOpen = window.open( el.getAttribute( 'href' ), 'wpcombluesky', 'menubar=1,resizable=1,width=600,height=400' ); return false; } } ); } )(); /* ]]> */ </script> </body> </html>