Houndsditch, EC3A
Houndsditch, an 1872 engraving.

The name may derive from the widespread dumping of rubbish in this stretch of ditch; relating to the dumping of dead dogs, or the scavenging of the waste by feral dogs.

Credit: Gustave Doré
Houndsditch runs through the Portsoken and Bishopsgate Without wards of the City of London - areas traditionally considered part of the East End.

Houndsditch follows the line of the outside edge of the ditch which once ran outside the London Wall. This ditch was dug outside Londinium’s defensive wall by the Romans but was subsequently filled in and obliterated. The Danes under Cnut the Great later constructed a town ditch to control access to the city.

The street running alongside the ditch was first paved in 1503. Many adjacent houses found it a convenient place to dispose of filth and refuse. The name Houndsditche appears in the 13th century, and seems to relate to the quantity of rubbish and dead dogs thrown into it. Several dogs’ skeletons were unearthed at Houndsditch in 1989.

By the turn of the 20th century, the street had become a thriving market in clothing and novelties, giving rise to one of London’s leading department stores, the Houndsditch Warehouse, dubbed the ’Selfridges of the Jewish Quarter’.

The street is now the location of a number of restaurants, bars and offices, and a short pedestrianised section of it runs along the north side of the Heron Tower, a tall building in the City of London.

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