Cannon Street, EC4R
St Paul’s from the south west in 1896
Cannon Street follows the route of a riverside path that ran along the Thames.

Linking the Monument to St Paul’s Churchyard, Cannon Street does not refer to cannons at all but to candles - being the street of the candlemakers and first appearing in 1183 as ’Candelwrichstrete’ (’Candlewright Street’). The City ward of Candlewick come from the original name before it was corrupted.

In the late Victorian period, Cannon Street was occupied by large warehouses - especially of cotton goods. It had been lengthened and widened in the mid-1850s, clearing away a maze of small streets. Cannon Street station as the new terminus of the South-Eastern Railway opened in 1866.

The London Stone, from which distances were measured in Roman times, was originally situated in the middle of Cannon Street.

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