Hog Lane, WC2H

Beer Street and Gin Lane are two prints issued in 1751 by English artist William Hogarth in support of what would become the Gin Act.

They depicted grim scenes of “gin abuse” from St Giles - near present day Holborn in London.
Credit: William Hogarth

Hog Lane was a lane that went from St Giles’ leper hospital (set up in the 12th century) to the monument to Eleanor at Charing Cross.

Also known as Crown Street, like many London streets, Hog Lane became a busy thoroughfare. The name possible derived from the location of a pound at St. Giles, where animals were held as they were driven into London, as a stop before the final journey to the City markets. The road dates from around 1675.

Hog Lane was to eventually form the foundations the part of what we now know as Charing Cross Road north of Cambridge Circus.