Finsbury Court was the minor of the great Finsbury’s; every Londoner has heard of the well known Square and the equally famed Circus, most will have heard mention of the Street and perhaps the not so famous Avenue. Few, however, will be able to pin-point the site of the narrow little Court which used to link Finsbury Pavement and Finsbury Street. It is hardly surprising since nobody actually went to it and only a minority of those who were familiar with its presence passed through it. Guide books by ritual failed to allow it even a fleeting mention, and history books in their endeavours to tell a good story disregard it in favour of the more prominent Circus and Square. As truly as these two monsters do hog the lime-light Finsbury Court held a central position, albeit a small one, in the history surrounding this area.

Years ago, when the citizens of London thought their City had expanded outward from the centre as far as was physically possible, green fields lay only yards from the Royal Exchange. The boundary of the City was then London Wall and to the north the drainage from the higher grounds of Hampstead and Islington settled, forming a vast area of marsh land totally unsuitable for even the most adventurous attempts at building. Numerous unsuccessful attempts had been made to drain the land and notably, in 1511 Sir Roger Acheley achieved a degree of headway by constructing a culvert to channel the water into the Walbrook, a little to the west, and thereby into the Thames. The problem was that the narrowing of the channel as it passed through the City wall was constantly blocked up with rubbish which caused the water to overflow back into the fields. In its water-logged state, Finsbury Fields became the City playground with annual events such as winter skating on the solid ice.

A little to the north, the ‘bury of Finn’, a large manor house, had stood since at least the 15th century on the site of the junction between Finsbury Pavement and Chiswell Street. It was a large fortress style building with several outhouses and spacious courtyard enclosed by a wall around three sides. Finsbury Court occupied the site of a pathway running along the southern courtyard wall of the manor house. Its length would have been approximate to that of the old Court which ran through to Finsbury Street, but for what reason it was made is unclear; there was no access way into the courtyard via the southern wall and the path seemed to lead from nowhere, to nowhere. It can only be assumed that it started out as a track, worn by pedestrians making their way along the northern edges of the boggy land.

Until the early 15th century the Roman wall was continuous along the southern stretch of Finsbury Fields, with no way through between Bishopsgate and Cripplegate. The boggy moor of Finsbury Fields was about mid-way between the two gates, and although the people of London had been pleading for a means of direct access to the ‘recreation facilities’ for years, nothing was done. There are some who hold the belief that Moor Gate was a relic of the Roman era, but it actually came about through the consideration of Thomas Falconer, Lord Mayor in 1414. Not only did Falconer breach the wall and erect a gate, he was successful in raising a ridge of land sufficiently high enough to lay a dry path across the fields to link with the more solid ground near the manor house and beyond. This path, of which Finsbury Court was a tributary, has carried the same name of Finsbury Pavement through the centuries to the present day.

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Citation information:	The alleyways and courtyards of London – The Underground Map
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