Talbot Court, EC3V
St Paul’s from the south west in 1896
Talbot Court was next to the Talbot Inn until the Great Fire of London.

A ’talbot’ was a long-extinct large breed of hound and a favoured dog for tracking and hunting.

Nevertheless, there is no conclusive evidence to the origin of its name but the Talbot as it stood in Gracechurch Street was one of a whole array of inns and taverns, about ten in all, between here to Threadneedle Street.

Talbot Court is cobbled as it leaves Gracechurch Street through a modern square archway, turning southwards at a right angle to link with Eastcheap.

The Ship public house has now taken over dominance in the Court, a very popular resort on summery evenings when crowds of ale-swilling workers congregate and block the way.

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