Clare Market is one of the streets of London in the WC2A postal area.
| CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY |
 
The Underground Map Added: 8 Dec 2020 00:24 GMT |
Othello takes a bow
On 1 November 1604, William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello was presented for the first time, at The Palace of Whitehall. The palace was the main residence of the English monarchs in London from 1530 until 1698. Seven years to the day, Shakespeare’s romantic comedy The Tempest was also presented for the first time, and also at the Palace of Whitehall.
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Linda Webb Added: 27 Sep 2021 05:51 GMT |
Hungerford Stairs
In 1794 my ancestor, George Webb, Clay Pipe Maker, lived in Hungerford Stairs, Strand. Source: Wakefields Merchant & Tradesmens General Directory London Westminster 1794
Source: Hungerford Stairs
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Roy Batham Added: 7 Jan 2022 07:17 GMT |
Smithy in Longacre
John Burris 1802-1848 Listed 1841 census as Burroughs was a blacksmith, address just given as Longacre.
Source: Batham/Wiseman - Family Tree
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Reg Carr Added: 10 Feb 2021 12:11 GMT |
Campbellite Meeting
In 1848 the Campbellites (Disciples of Christ) met in Elstree Street, where their congregation was presided over by a pastor named John Black. Their appointed evangelist at the time was called David King, who later became the Editor of the British Millennial Harbinger. The meeting room was visited in July 1848 by Dr John Thomas, who spoke there twice on his two-year ’mission’ to Britain.
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Jeff Owen Added: 20 Mar 2021 16:18 GMT |
Owen’s School
Owen Street is the site of Owen’s Boys’ School. The last school was built in 1881 and was demolished in the early 1990s to make way for the development which stand there today. It was a “Direct Grant” grammar school and was founded in 1613 by Dame Alice Owen. What is now “Owen’s Fields” was the playground between the old school and the new girls’ school (known then as “Dames Alice Owen’s School” or simply “DAOS”). The boys’ school had the top two floors of that building for their science labs. The school moved to Potters Bar in Hertfordshire in 1971 and is now one of the top State comprehensive schools in the country. The old building remained in use as an accountancy college and taxi-drivers’ “knowledge” school until it was demolished. The new building is now part of City and Islington College. Owen’s was a fine school. I should know because I attended there from 1961 to 1968.
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Scott Hatton Added: 11 Sep 2020 19:47 GMT |
Millions Of Rats In Busy London
The Daily Mail on 14 April 1903 reported "MILLIONS OF RATS IN BUSY LONDON"
A rat plague, unprecedented in the annals of London, has broken out on the north side of the Strand. The streets principally infested are Catherine street, Drury lane, Blackmore street, Clare Market and Russell street. Something akin to a reign of terror prevails among the inhabitants after nightfall. Women refuse to pass along Blackmore street and the lower parts of Stanhope street after dusk, for droves of rats perambulate the roadways and pavements, and may be seen running along the window ledges of the empty houses awaiting demolition by the County Council in the Strand to Holborn improvement scheme.
The rats, indeed, have appeared in almost-incredible numbers. "There are millions of them," said one shopkeeper, and his statement was supported by other residents. The unwelcome visitors have been evicted from their old haunts by the County Council housebreakers, and are now busily in search of new homes. The Gaiety Restaurant has been the greatest sufferer. Rats have invaded the premises in such force that the managers have had to close the large dining room on the first floor and the grill rooms on the ground floor and in the basement. Those three spacious halls which have witnessed many as semblages of theatre-goers are now qui:e deserted. Behind the wainscot of the bandstand in the grillroom is a large mound of linen shreds. This represents 1728 serviettes carried theee by the rats.
In the bar the removal of a panel disclosed the astonishing fact that the rats have dragged for a distance of seven or eight yards some thirty or forty beer and wine bottles and stacked them in such a fashion as to make comfortable sleeping places. Mr Williams. the manager of the restaurant, estimates that the rats have destroyed L200 worth of linen. Formerly the Gaiety Restaurant dined 2000 persons daily; no business whatever is now done in this direction.
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Bruce McTavish Added: 11 Mar 2021 11:37 GMT |
Kennington Road
Lambeth North station was opened as Kennington Road and then Westminster Bridge Road before settling on its final name. It has a wonderful Leslie Green design.
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MCNALLY Added: 17 May 2021 09:42 GMT |
Blackfriars (1959 - 1965)
I lived in Upper Ground from 1959 to 1964 I was 6 years old my parents Vince and Kitty run the Pub The Angel on the corner of Upper Ground and Bodies Bridge. I remember the ceiling of the cellar was very low and almost stretched the length of Bodies Bridge. The underground trains run directly underneath the pub. If you were down in the cellar when a train was coming it was quite frightening
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Jessie Doring Added: 22 Feb 2021 04:33 GMT |
Tisbury Court Jazz Bar
Jazz Bar opened in Tisbury Court by 2 Australians. Situated in underground basement. Can not remember how long it opened for.
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Tom Added: 21 May 2021 23:07 GMT |
Blackfriars
What is, or was, Bodies Bridge?
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Richard Roques Added: 21 Jan 2021 16:53 GMT |
Buckingham Street residents
Here in Buckingham Street lived Samuel Pepys the diarist, Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling
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Jude Allen Added: 29 Jul 2021 07:53 GMT |
Bra top
I jave a jewelled item of clothong worn by a revie girl.
It is red with diamante straps. Inside it jas a label Bermans Revue 16 Orange Street but I cannot find any info online about the revue only that 16 Orange Street used to be a theatre. Does any one know about the revue. I would be intesrested to imagine the wearer of the article and her London life.
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Lena Added: 18 Mar 2021 13:08 GMT |
White Conduit Street, N1
My mum, Rosina Wade of the Wade and Hannam family in the area of Chapel Street and Parkfield Street, bought her first “costume” at S Cohen’s in White Conduit Street. Would have probably been about 1936 or thereabouts. She said that he was a small man but an expert tailor. I hope that Islington Council preserve the shop front as it’s a piece of history of the area. Mum used to get her high heel shoes from an Italian shoe shop in Chapel Street. She had size 2 feet and they would let her know when a new consignment of size 2 shoes were in. I think she was a very good customer. She worked at Killingbacks artificial flower maker in Northampton Square and later at the Halifax bombers factory north of Edgware where she was a riveter.
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sam Added: 31 Dec 2021 00:54 GMT |
Burdett Street, SE1
I was on 2nd July 1952, in Burdett chambers (which is also known as Burdett buildings)on Burdett street
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Richard Lake Added: 28 Sep 2022 09:37 GMT |
Trade Union Official
John William Lake snr moved with his family to 22 De Laune Street in 1936. He was the London Branch Secretary for the Street Masons, Paviours and Road Makers Union. He had previously lived in Orange St now Copperfield St Southwark but had been forced to move because the landlord didn’t like him working from home and said it broke his lease.
John William snr died in 1940. His son John William Lake jnr also became a stone mason and at the end of World War two he was responsible for the engraving of the dates of WW2 onto the Cenotaph in Whitehall.
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Julie Added: 22 Sep 2022 18:30 GMT |
Well Walk, NW3 (1817 - 1818)
The home of Benthy, the Postman, with whom poet John Keats and his brother Tom lodged from early 1817 to Dec., 1818. They occupied the first floor up. Here Tom died Dec. 1, 1818. It was next door to the Welles Tavern then called ’The Green Man’."
From collected papers and photos re: No. 1 Well Walk at the library of Harvard University.
Source: No. 1, Well Walk, Hampstead. | HOLLIS for
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Added: 4 Sep 2022 15:42 GMT |
Superman 2
I worked here in 1977. The scene in the prison laundry in Superman 2 was filmed here.
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TUM Added: 27 Aug 2022 10:22 GMT |
The Underground Map
Michael Faraday successfully demonstrated the first electrical transformer at the Royal Institute, London.
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Admin Added: 26 Aug 2022 15:19 GMT |
Bus makes a leap
A number 78 double-decker bus driven by Albert Gunter was forced to jump an accidentally opening Tower Bridge.
He was awarded a £10 bonus.
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Admin Added: 26 Aug 2022 12:44 GMT |
The world’s first underground train
The very first underground train left Paddington on the new Metropolitan Railway bound for Farringdon Street.
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Admin Added: 26 Aug 2022 12:41 GMT |
Baker Street
Baker Street station opened on the Metropolitan Railway - the world’s first underground line.
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Admin Added: 26 Aug 2022 12:17 GMT |
TV comes to Olympia
Over 7000 people queued to see the first high definition television pictures on sets at the Olympia Radio Show. The pictures were transmitted by the BBC from Alexandra Palace, introduced by Leslie Mitchell, their first announcer.
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101 Strand, WC2R This shop was one of the first in London to have gas lighting fitted. Ackermann’s Rudolph Ackermann (20 April 1764 in Stollberg, Saxony – 30 March 1834 in Finchley) was an Anglo-German bookseller, inventor, lithographer, publisher and businessman. British Museum British Museum was a station on the Central line, located in Holborn and taking its name from the nearby British Museum in Great Russell Street. Houghton Street (1906) A greengrocer’s on the corner of Houghton Street and Clare Market (behind The Strand) in 1906 just before demolition. Lisle’s Tennis Court Lisle’s Tennis Court was a building off Portugal Street in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in London. Staple Inn Staple Inn is London’s only surviving sixteenth-century domestic building, situated on the south side of High Holborn. Temple Bar Temple Bar is the point in London where Fleet Street, City of London, becomes the Strand, Westminster, and where the City of London traditionally erected a barrier to regulate trade into the city. The Temple The Temple is one of the main legal districts in London and a notable centre for English law. Weston’s Music Hall Weston’s Music Hall was a music hall and theatre that opened in 1857. In 1906, the theatre became known as the Holborn Empire. Aldwych, WC2B The name Aldwych derives from the Old English eald and wic meaning ’old trading town’ or ’old marketplace’; the name was later applied to the street and district. Andrews Crosse, EC4A Andrews Crosse stood on the site of the courtyard of the former Andrews Crosse Inn. Arne Street, WC2E Arne Street was named after the 18th century composer Thomas Arne, who was born near here. Banbury Court, WC2E Banbury Court is named for Nicholas Knollys, 3rd Earl of Banbury, who owned a house here called Banbury House. Bell Yard, EC4A Bell Yard is a small lane off the Strand where the Bell hostel once stood. Bow Street, WC2B Bow Street was built in the shape of a bow between 1633 and 1677. Bow Street, WC2E Bow Street was first developed by Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford in 1633. Broad Court, WC2B Broad Court is one of the streets of London in the WC2B postal area. Bury Place, WC1A Bury Place is one of the streets of London in the WC1A postal area. Chancery Lane, WC2A Chancery Lane has formed the western boundary of the City of London since 1994, having previously been divided between the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden. Covent Garden, WC2E Covent Garden, is the name of a district, but also the name of the central square which formerly hosted a fruit-and-vegetable market. Crown Court, WC2E Crown Court is one of the streets of London in the WC2B postal area. Drury Lane, WC2B Named from Sir William Drury, Knight of the Garter in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, who owned land on its site. Endell Street, WC2H Endell Street, originally known as Belton Street, is a street that runs from High Holborn in the north to Long Acre and Bow Street in the south. Essex Court, EC4Y Essex Court is one of the streets of London in the EC4Y postal area. Falcon Court, EC4Y Falcon Court is a courtyard off the south side of Fleet Street between Chancery Lane and Fetter Lane. Fetter Lane, EC4A Fetter Lane is corrupted from ’Fautre’ which was the name for a spear rest - spears were made close by. Galen Place, WC1A Galen Place is one of the streets of London in the WC1A postal area. Gate Street, WC2A Gate Street is one of the streets of London in the WC2A postal area. Hare Court, EC4Y Hare Court is one of the streets of London in the EC4Y postal area. High Holborn, WC1V High Holborn was part of the old road from Newgate and the Tower to the gallows at Tyburn. High Holborn, WC2B High Holborn is a road which is the highest point in the City of London - 22 metres above sea level. Kean Street, WC2B Kean Street is one of the streets of London in the WC2B postal area. King Street, WC2E King Street is one of the streets of London in the WC2E postal area. Kingsway, WC2A Kingsway is one of the streets of London in the WC2B postal area. Lincoln’s Inn Fields, WC2A Lincoln’s Inn Fields is the largest public square in London, laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder William Newton. Long Acre, WC2E Long Acre is one of the streets of London in the WC2E postal area. Maiden Lane, WC2E Maiden Lane runs from Bedford Street in the west to Southampton Street in the east. New Square, WC2A New Square is one of the streets of London in the WC2A postal area. Norfolk Street, WC2R Norfolk Street ran from the Strand in the north to the River Thames and, after the Victoria Embankment was built (1865–1870), to what is now Temple Place. Odhams Walk, WC2H Odhams Walk is one of the streets of London in the WC2H postal area. Old Square, WC2A Old Square is one of the streets of London in the WC2A postal area. Parker Mews, WC2B Parker Mews is one of the streets of London in the WC2B postal area. Pump Court, EC4Y Pump Court is one of the streets of London in the EC4Y postal area. Sardinia Street, WC2B Sardinia Street, formerly Duke Street, was a street that ran from Prince’s Street in the south to the western side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields in the north. Sicilian Avenue, WC1V Sicilian Avenue is a shopping parade that diagonally runs in between Southampton Row and Bloomsbury Way. Southampton Buildings, WC2A Southampton Buildings marks the site of the house of the 4th Earl of Southampton, son of Shakespeare’s patron. Star Yard, WC2A Star Yard is one of the streets of London in the WC2A postal area. Strand, WC2E Strand, as it nears the Aldwych, is home to many London theatres. Strand, WC2R Strand is one of the streets of London in the WC2N postal area. Strand, WC2R Strand is one of the streets of London in the WC2B postal area. Surrey Street, WC2R Surrey Street was built on land once occupied by Arundel House and its gardens. The Arcade, WC2B The Arcade is one of the streets of London in the WC2B postal area. The Market, WC2E The Market is one of the streets of London in the WC2E postal area. The Piazza, WC2E The Piazza is one of the streets of London in the WC2E postal area. Tweezer’s Alley, WC2R Tweezer’s Alley probably got its name after the tweezers used by smiths to heat items in the forge that stood there.
Wild Street, WC2B Wild Street is one of the streets of London in the WC2B postal area. Cella Karaoke Lounge This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Grand Union This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Hercules Pillar This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Inn of Court This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Knights Templar This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. My Old Dutch This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Pegasus Bar This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Penderel’s Oak This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Philomena’s This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Princess Louise This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Secrets This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Slug and Lettuce This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Sway This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Old Red Lion This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Seven Stars This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Ship Tavern This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Sun This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The White Swan This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Unknown as yet This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. White Hart This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Ye Olde Cock Tavern This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so.
Hol^born is both an area and also the name of the area’s principal street, known as High Holborn between St. Giles’s High Street and Gray’s Inn Road and then Hol^born Viaduct between Hol^born Circus and Newgate Street.The area’s first mention is in a charter of Westminster Abbey, by King Edgar, dated to 959. This mentions ’the old wooden church of St Andrew’ (St Andrew, Hol^born). The name Holborn may be derived from the Middle English
hol for hollow, and
bourne, a brook, referring to the River Fleet as it ran through a steep valley to the east.
It was at first outside the City’s jurisdiction and a part of Ossulstone Hundred in Middlesex. The original Bars were the boundary of the City of London from 1223, when the City’s jurisdiction was extended beyond the Walls, at Newgate, into the suburb here, as far as the point where the Bars where erected, until 1994 when the border moved to the junction of
Chancery Lane. In 1394 the Ward of Farringdon Without was created, but only the south side of Holborn was under its jurisdiction with some minor properties, such as parts of Furnival’s Inn, on the northern side.
The Holborn District was created in 1855, consisting of the civil parishes and extra-parochial places of Glasshouse Yard, Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents and Ely Place, St Andrew Holborn Above the Bars with St George the Martyr and St Sepulchre. The Metropolitan Borough of Holborn was created in 1900, consisting of the former area of the Holborn District and the St Giles District, excluding Glasshouse Yard and St Sepulchre, which went to the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The Metropolitan Borough of Holborn was abolished in 1965 and its area now forms part of the London Borough of Camden.
In the 18th century, Holborn was the location of the infamous Mother Clap’s molly house but in the modern era
High Holborn has become a centre for entertainment venues to suit more general tastes: 22 inns or taverns were recorded in the 1860s and the Holborn Empire, originally Weston’s Music Hall, stood between 1857 and 1960, when it was pulled down after structural damage sustained in the Blitz. The theatre premièred the first full-length feature film in 1914,
The World, the Flesh and the Devil, a 50-minute melodrama filmed in Kinemacolour.
Charles Dickens took up residence in Furnival’s Inn, on the site of the former Prudential building designed by Alfred Waterhouse now named
Holborn Bars. Dickens put his character Pip, in Great Expectations, in residence at
Barnard’s Inn opposite, now occupied by Gresham College. Staple Inn, notable as the promotional image for Old Holborn tobacco, is nearby. The three of these were Inns of Chancery. The most northerly of the Inns of Court, Gray’s Inn, is in Holborn, as is Lincoln’s Inn: the area has been associated with the legal professions since mediaeval times, and the name of the local militia (now Territorial Army unit, the Inns of Court & City Yeomanry) still reflects that. Subsequently the area diversified and become recognisable as the modern street.
A plaque stands at number 120 commemorating Thomas Earnshaw’s invention of the Marine chronometer, which facilitated long-distance travel. At the corner of Hatton Garden was the old family department store of Gamages. Until 1992, the London Weather Centre was located in the street. The Prudential insurance company relocated in 2002. The Daily Mirror offices used to be directly opposite it, but the site is now occupied by Sainsbury’s head office.
Hatton Garden, the centre of the diamond trade, was leased to a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Christopher Hatton at the insistence of the Queen to provide him with an income. Behind the Prudential Building lies the Anglo-Catholic church of St Alban the Martyr.
In the early 21st century, Holborn has become the site of new offices and hotels: for example, the old neoclassical Pearl Assurance building near the junction with
Kingsway was converted into an hotel in 1999.
Holborn station is located at the junction of
High Holborn and
Kingsway. Situated on the Piccadilly and Central Lines, it is the only station common to the two lines, although the two lines also cross each other three times in West London.
The station was opened by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR, now the Piccadilly Line) on 15 December 1906 with the name
Holborn (Kingsway).
Kingsway was a new road, cutting south from
High Holborn through an area of cleared slums to
Strand. The suffix was dropped from tube maps in the 1960s.
