London Street Names (1896)

LONDON STREET NAMES. THEIR ORIGIN, SIGNIFICATION, AND HISTORIC VALUE; WITH DIVERS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS F. H. HABBEN, B.A. J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 1896

PRELIMINARY. ” The happiness of London,” said the oracular Dr Johnson, whom we still reverence as “the great lexicographer,” notwithstanding his inevitable supersession by the lapse of time — ” The happiness of London is not to be conceived but by those who have been in it ! ” And again : ” When a .man is tired of London, he is tired of life ; for there is in London all that life can afford ” ; to which the astute Boswell, ever ready to assume the role of an easygoing philosopher, adds his own comment as follows : ” The truth is, that by those who, from sagacity, attention, and experience, have learnt the full advantage of London, its pre-eminence over every other place, not only for variety of enjoyment, but for comfort, will be felt with, a philosophical exultation.” With all of which sage observations we cannot but agree. To some, London presents itself as the centre of legislation, of legal administration, of commerce, or finance ; to others, as that of literature, science, or the various forms of art, according to the special department of human interest for which they may happen to have a predilection. To all it is a source of happiness and satisfaction. I conjecture, however, that, to the majority of my readers, as to myself, it is the grand arena in which is carried on a daily struggle for ” bread and cheese” ; and as we journey to and fro and in and out in the invigorating pursuit of this symbolical commodity — plurimi, not rari, nantes in gurgite vasto —we cannot but meditate occasionally, when we stop to breathe, upon the past and present of our illustrious city. The outward and visible witnesses of the past are fast disappearing before an apparently illimitable development and improvement. In one sense it is a cause of regret, in another it is a source of congratulation, to observe how surely, year after year, vestiges of Old London are being removed to make room for wider streets or nobler buildings ; and the ordinary observer, not being one of those who poke and prowl about into every nook and corner with an irrepressible antiquarian spirit and enthusiasm, comes rapidly to the conclusion that of the past little but its churches (which are steadily decreasing in number) and its street names (which, are at any time subject to change) remains. To the archaeologist and student of civil or city history, London affords an extremely happy hunting-ground — unequalled in richness and fertility ; and the humble explorer may learn much even by a consideration of the facts and circumstances embodied in the good old names of our good old streets — names which so far have endured like monuments — monumenta cere perenniora — of the eventful past.

It is satisfactory to observe that, in many instances, the memory of worthy citizens has been perpetuated by the streets which bear their names. “We could indRed have wished that this conservative energy had been more at work in both ancient and modern days, and that so many illustrious men were not absent in name from our midst. We look round, and seek in vain for the street corner commemorating Stow, the fundamental historian of London, citizen of ThreadnRedle Street and Aldgate ; or Chaucer, the father of our poetry, born by the Wall Brook, whilom Comptroller of the Petty Customs of the Port, and another denizen of Aldgate ; or De Foe, born in Fore Street, and a resident in Cornhill, where also the unrecorded Gray first saw the light ; or Hogarth, pre-eminently a painter of London life and manners ; or many other good and gifted men, notably amongst our mayors and aldermen, who helped to make London morally, socially, and politically what it is. How much might later times, restlessly eager to rebuild and reconstruct, have done to supply this deficiency, and have not done it ! Some of our names of modern application have been most arbitrarily and fancifully assigned, with an utter disregard of all consideration and consequences, and are therefore entirely without meaning, so far as historical, topographical, or any other reasonable connection is concerned. Such names, where they are not over-reduplicated, as, from apparent poverty of elective ability, they frequently are, may serve as a beacon for the prosaic postman or wandering wayfarer, but fulfil no higher object, and thus a blessed opportunity has been lost. They have been chosen on the same lucus a non lucendo principle as that which determines some suburban residents to affix to their villas titles which have either no meaning at all as house names, or no reference whatever to any perceptible characteristics, moral or physical, of their respective dwellings. A species of loyalty, mistaken and confusing, is responsible for many of the Kings, Queens, and Princes streets, and others of the like vague and indefinite kind, entirely innocent of any associations with royalty beyond the name, and for the George, William, King William, Victoria, Queen Victoria, etc., streets, serving to mark eras with some uncertainty and much inconvenience. 1 Others again are simply a record of the vanity of obscure individuals, who aspired to be remembered by posterity through the medium of bricks and mortar, making to themselves a kind of tombstone with the posthumous recognition of their virtues omitted. To have had, in lieu of these, such names as would daily have reminded us of illustrious men and useful citizens, would have been a distinct gain. It would to some extent have honoured those whose names were thus perpetuated, and certainly would honour the thoroughfares to which their names were given. Grub Street (who was Grub, or Grobbe, as his infamous name appeared in 1307?) has been wisely, if only for euphonious reasons, changed to Milton Street, to which is allied Butler Street ; but why, as an instance of inappropriate change, did Petticoat Lane (the English form, I presume, of petit court, the little short lane) become Middlesex Street — a county name assigned to an unimportant thoroughfare, which might have been endowed with a title recalling the memory of some great and worthy man, and therefore honourable, dignified, and justifiable ?

But to return to our more ancient and timehonoured thoroughfares, we find names eloquent with local history, speaking of associations and allusions which it behoves every Londoner worthy of the name to know, and the knowledge of which must add not only to his enlightenment, but to his entertainment, and thereby enhance his interest in the great city wherein he is privileged to dwell or earn his daily bread. With this end in view, I have not confined myself to a simple, bald statement of the origin of the names, but have endeavoured, wherever possible, by some sort of natural connection, to cover a larger field without straying into absolutely irrelevant regions. Where it has appeared that information respecting facts or circumstances round about the name immediately under consideration would be interesting, I have not hesitated to be discursive. Thus London and London Wall could not be dismissed with a curt etymological sentence and nothing more ; one could not but linger about the waters of the once not unsavoury Fleet or the more majestic Thames ; the Gates open an avenue to antiquarian lore ; the Black Friars would not be satisfied unless we spoke of their fraternities in general ; and so in the case of many others a note or two seemed irresistible, and might easily and satisfactorily have been multiplied had the limits of this little work permitted.

We observe that in the settlement of the city there was a tendency to centralisation. Man is a gregarious animal, as some profound philosopher long ago discovered, and men of the same trade and profession are specially gregarious — generally to their mutual inconvenience. Hence we have names indicating the special localities of trades and industries, of which several instances appear in the body of the work. In addition to these, it may be noted that the mercers and haberdashers established themselves in the West Cheap ; the goldsmiths in Guthrun Lane and Old Change; the pepperers and grocers in Soper’s Lane, now Queen Street, Cheapside ; the drapers in Lombard Street and Cornhill ; the skinners in St Mary Axe ; the fishmongers in Old Fish Street and Thames Street ; the ironmongers in Old Jewry as well as Ironmonger Lane ; the butchers in the East Cheap, in St Nicholas Shambles (Newgate Market), and the Stocks Market, where now stands the Mansion House ; the shoemakers and curriers in Cordwainer Street, and the hosiers in Hosier Lane, a continuation thereof, both now Bow Lane ; but these have left no names behind. In most cases this centralisation no longer exists. It has disappeared as our borders have widened; and in other respects, topographical and locative, the present physical and social aspect of the city obscures the appropriateness of names due to the past. This leads us to reflect upon the changes and vicissitudes experienced by our city, for an account of which the reader laudably desirous of knowledge is referred to the admirable works thereon by Loftie and Besant. He will there find a graphic and vivid reproduction of the aspect of London at various epochs ; a faithful description of the social life and domestic manners of the citizens ; and a general history of their progress and development, which is in so large a measure the history of the progress and development of the nation.

It will also be observed, as a very interesting feature, that not a few names, especially of the smaller thoroughfares, are mementoes of the signs of old houses and shops, especially taverns, which once stood therein. We have to bear in mind that the shop signs of London’s early days played an important part in the identification of the citizens’ places of business, since the more convenient method of numbering houses was not instituted — or at any rate used to any extent — until late in the eighteenth century, and took some time to become universally adopted. They were rendered necessary by the undeveloped state of education. Signs and symbols alone could be read and understood by the majority of the people. Some were chosen for their appropriateness, having reference to the business carried on ; some as an attraction. Many were adopted by arbitrary will or fancy, usually having no connection whatever with the locality of their adoption or the individuals who adopted them. Others again announced the owner’s name in the form of a rebus, as a hand and a cock for Hancock ; a fountain for Drinkwater ; two cocks for Cox ; a cobweb and spider for Cobster ; an ash-tree growing out of a cask or tun for Ashton ; or a deer and a ring for Dering. Animals, real and fictitious, were for the most part monopolised by hostelries, which retain them in large preponderance to this day. Many of these, such as the Red, White, or Blue Lion, were family cognisances of the nobility. The Blue Boar was one of the badges of the House of York, the White Hart that of Richard II. , and other instances will be found in the course of the work. Many still serve to name the streets in which they were situated, although the origins have long since passed away. They are interesting now as affording material for speculation or historic research, as evidenced by the excellent works of Larwood and others ; but the interest must have been immeasurably greater when signs met one on every hand, or literally on every shop. They usually huug over the thoroughfare, and their weight or decay constituted so grave a danger that their removal became at last a matter of necessity. The streets, courts, and alleys thus named were once much more numerous than now, and to confuse wayfarers in the greatest possible degree, several bore the same name if the sign was at all a popular one. Thus, a couple of hundred years ago, we find Angels represented by 38 thoroughfares ; the Bell by 28 ; Blue Anchor, 15 ; Frying Pan, 13; Half Moon, 17 (why has the half moon always been such a favourite in preference to the new or full moon ?) ; Lamb, 12 ; Red Lyon, 37 ; Eose, 28 ; Sugarloaf, 18 ; Swan, 17 ; Three Tuns, 17 ; Castle, 22 ; Cock, 10 ; Crown, 56 ; Dolphin, 13 ; Helmet, 8 ; King’s Head, 28 ; Maidenhead, 16 ; Mitre, 8 ; Nag’s Head, 10 ; Eose and Crown, 11 ; Star, 15 ; and White Lion, 16. The apparent popularity of some of these is difficult to understand.

Our church names could not be altogether ignored. The street names dependent upon them might have been easily disposed of by a simple reference to the church, but it appeared desirable to go somewhat further, and investigate the origin of the name borne by the church itself, and thence extended to the street. To state that Abchurch Lane or Creechurch Lane owed its title to the adjacent Abchurch or Creechurch, would have afforded little satisfaction and no real information to the enquiring spirits which, I hope, constitute the greater number of my readers. Of our church names some are simply dedications to the Virgin, to the Apostles, or the primitive saints, and nRed no explanation. Others have qualifying and specific additions dependent upon local or other circumstances, and such do nRed explanation. Those connected with street names are dealt with in their appropriate places, but as a matter of interest a complete list has been furnished in Appendix I.

There is to some extent a philological element in these explorations, although perhaps a small one, which is by no means uninteresting. For instance, under Bull-and-Mouth Street, and other names of the kind, are found curiosities of anglicisation. We have illustrations of the “principle of least effort,” which determines a constant tendency towards abbreviation, in Sise Lane as the modern form of St Osyth, Bennet for Benedict, Austin for Augustine, Change for Exchange, Sermon for Sheremonier, and others. In the word Inn (vide Inns of Court) we have an instance of change of meaning and appropriation to another sense. From Lombard we trace the evolution of lumber, and from a simple rRed the peaceful ecclesiastical canon in one direction, and the death-dealing cannon in another ; and the Old Bailey, the Old Jewry, the Poultry, Crutched Friars, Bevis Marks, Bucklersbury, Mincing Lane, with others, teach us something of linguistic lore.

It cannot but occasionally occur to the reflective mind that some names have originated from apparently inadequate circumstances ; and yet we cannot but assume that, trifling as the namesuggesting characteristic may seem to us now, it was then a salient feature, and appeared the most eligible upon which to found a name. Again, one must admit that in a few instances the accepted origin is so apparently conjectural as to make a considerable demand upon our credulity. But when one has no better origin to suggest, it is of doubtful advantage to summarily discard an old authority, whose dictum has been accepted for so many years, and who, after all, may be right. In such cases we can only await further light which research may in time bestow, and when that further light has dawned upon us, as in some instances it has, I do not think it should diminish our gratitude to those early pioneers who did their best, and so much, with the material at their command.

At a very early stage of the work I discovered that, unless I was prepared to compile a volume much excReding the magnitude of that I had proposed, it would be necessary to restrict my researches within certain limits. For London is so indefinite — one may say so illimitable — in extent, that there would otherwise be difficulty in determining where to cease one’s explorations. I therefore set myself to accomplish the task as thoroughly as possible within what may be termed the area of real city life — bounded on the east by the neighbourhood of Tower Hill and Aldgate ; on the south by the Kiver Thames ; on the west by Farringdon Street ; throwing out feelers up and about Fleet Street, the Strand, and Holborn ; and on the north by Barbican, Finsbury, Bishopsgate, or thereabouts ; with an occasional excursion into regions beyond as might appear desirable. Within this circuit is the real old London, with which we are concerned, and about which we wander every day of our busy lives. I hope that every name of interest or importance, or which nReds explanation, has been included ; but it is possible that, notwithstanding all one’s care, the lector dilectissimus (to use the affectionate term of our old writers) may find some omission which he thinks should not be. If so, I pray him to make a marginal note, and to remember how difficult it is to do all that one desires to do. There are a few courts and alleys respecting which I have spent much time, and made the most diligent enquiry and research without success ; and it is astonishing what a vast amount of hunting in all sorts of by-ways a simple name may give. Possibly some of these had no legitimate godfather ; and yet I feel convinced that if one could only get at their earliest history, some curious origin of their names might be found. It is unsatisfactory that the origin of any name, especially if at all an exceptional one, should be lost in obscurity.

I have dealt with the subject by an alphabetical arrangement, with cross references where nRedful. It was a matter of consideration whether this arrangement or a division into various cognate groups, with an appropriate introduction to each, would be the more interesting and useful. Each method has something to recommend it, but as my motive was rather to assist the observant and thoughtful pedestrian, who, coming upon a suggestive name, would like to know more about it, or upon a — to him — utterly meaningless name, would like to know something about it, I was of opinion that an alphabetical arrangement, by which a name could be found at once, would be the more ready and convenient, and I have therefore adopted it.

The information contained in this modest volume has been gathered from many sources. It has been found scattered up and down in various works (mostly too expensive for the general reader) in various forms ; but in none is the subject treated as a speciality, or with that attention which it undoubtedly deserves. I have endeavoured to be careful to acknowledge my indebtedness in the course of the work ; but after fundamental Stow, to whom the deepest gratitude of Londoners will be for ever due, I would like particularly to name the modern Cunninghamcum-Wheatley, Thornbury, Loftie, and Besant, as valuable, and indRed indispensable authorities.

There is one aspect of our London streets which, although it has no connection with their nomenclature, I cannot refrain from alluding to. It is their poetic beauty by night, whether illumined by the moon, by the refulgence of the electric light, or by the secondary lustre of the now humble gas-lamp. Their quietude and serenity are so enhanced by contrast with the rush and whirl which characterise them during the busy day that, as we thread them, gazing at the calm exterior of so many majestic buildings, the silence undisturbed save by the occasional footfall of a faithful city guardian, a kind of pleasurable awe, not unmixed with solemnity, takes possession of the mind. No streets but those of a great city can suggest this feeling of profound repose.

The knowledge and study of the past, brought so closely home to us in our daily life, if we have but the spirit to observe and meditate, serve to enforce the truth that ” The old order changeth, yielding place to new.” We look back through the long vista of many past generations ; we recall to mind, through the visible tokens around us, the men who, having helped to form our city, have long since gone to rest; we remember that we, too, having done our best as citizens, must in our turn make way for others ; whilst the grand old city goes on, one may say, for ever.

In conclusion, I would express a hope that these brief notices of our street names and their origin may lead some of my readers to desire to know more of the making and growth of their wonderful inheritance. It is a branch of historic enquiry yielding to no other in interest, and one which cannot fail to add considerably to the pure pleasure of a Londoner’s daily life.

Abchurch Lane derives its name from the adjacent St Mary Abchurch, originally Upchurch, from its position on rising ground. It may be observed that St Mary-at-Hill was so named from a similar circumstance. Its exterior is plain, but its interior well repays inspection. The cupola, the altarpiece, and the carved oak are calculated to excite the admiration of the appreciative and well-ordered mind.

Acorn Street, Bishopsgate, is named from an old tavern sign. An acorn was one of the badges of the Arundel family ; which, however, does not imply that they had any connection with this neighbourhood. Adams Court, Old Broad Street, probably bears the name of a former owner of the property. Sir Thomas Adams was Lord Mayor in 1645, and may have been the man.

Addle Hill, Carter Lane. — On a token (see Tokenhouse YARD) of the seventeenth century, this is called Adlin Hill (O.E. Alikeling, or nobleman). It was probably the site of the residence of a Saxon noble.

Addle Street, Wood Street. — It is a little doubtful whether we should assign the origin of this name to Adelstan (Athelstan), who is believed to have had a palace here ; or, as in Addle Hill, to the Saxon nobles who, it is known, resided here. In either case, it originated in the nobility of the residents. In certain ancient records the name is written King Adel Street, but this does not necessarily prove regal occupation.

Alderman’s Walk, Bishopsgate, is the passage on the north side of Bishopsgate Church, leading to Dashwood House. I have in vain sought a connection with some illustrious alderman, whose dignified office, if not the man, it might perpetuate. The name appears to have been bestowed as one of civic appropriateness, with no special personal reference; but the Corporation have bestowed several favours in connection with the church and churchyard.

Aldermanbury is the site of the old Court Hall of the aldermen, the first meeting-place of the civic fathers, termed by Stow ” an old little cottage.” The Guildhall, he records, was built by Thomas Knowles, Grocer, mayor in 1400, who, in conjunction with his brethren the aldermen, made ” a fair and goodly house near unto St Lawrence Church in the Jewry.” The old Court had its entrance from the present Aldermanbury, and was situated due west, on a spot almost contiguous to that of the present Guildhall.

Aldermanbury Postern. — Here, in the time of the London Wall (which see), was a small postern, to enable the residents in Aldermanbury and thereabouts to pass out beyond the wall.

Allhallows Lane, Upper Thames Street, marks the western boundary of Allhallows Church, recently removed, of which it remains — and should be allowed to remain — in name a memorial, It is somewhat melancholy to mark the removal, one by one, of so many of our old city churches, which stand like hoary monarchs, replete with so many associations of the past. Neither their comparative desuetude, nor the nRed of their sites for improvements, real or supposed, quite reconciles one to their disappearance. We can but sigh Sic transit, and pass on.

Amen Corner.— Like Paternoster Eow (which see), this is one of the ecclesiastical names of the neighbourhood. There seems to be reason in Stow when he notes that the short lane is ” closed up with a gate into a great house, so that it is rightly called Amen Lane,” connoting a conclusion or full stop.

Anchor Alley, Upper Thames Street, formerly Palmer’s Lane. Anchor appears to have been capriciously substituted, probably as having a river connection, or it may be in honour of a tavern sign no longer existing. Palmer was probably the owner of the property, and has modestly retired into obscurity. Now the lane simply gives access to a wharf.

Angel Alley, Court, etc. — Of these we find several still existent. In olden times it was a favourite name for courts and alleys, there being close upon forty, the majority probably from shop or tavern signs. In most, at the present day, there is nothing angelic beyond the name. In some, indRed, the name is antithetical.

Artillery Street, Lane, Passage, mark the ground of the old London Artillery Company — temp. Henry VIII. — an extra parochial royalty of the Tower of London. Gun Street and Fort Street in the same neighbourhood are cognate names. Here the bowyers found a market for their bows, and the fletchers (Fr. flechier, an arrow-maker) for their “clothyard shafts.” It may be noted how the word ” artillery,” once signifying bows and arrows, as in 1 Sam. xx., has transferred its meaning entirely to cannon. Of course its original application was to an offensive weapon made by art, and bows and arrows were the principal offensive weapons.

Arundel Street, Strand. — Here dwelt the Howards, the Earls of Arundel, in Arundel House.

Austin Friars marks the site of the convent of the St Augustines or Friars Eremites (i.e. Hermits) of the order of St Augustin. The priory was founded in 1243, ” spacious and magnificent,” occupying the area between Throgmorton Street, Broad Street, and London Wall. The house and gardens became the property of the first Marquis of Winchester (son of Sir William Paulet, Treasurer of Henry VIII. , to whom they were granted upon the Dissolution), who has left his name in the adjacent Winchester House, and Great and Little Winchester . Streets. The church was given by Edward VI. to the Dutch residents of London, and has been by them well preserved and worthily used. (Consult Note on Blackfriars.)

Ave Maria Lane. — A memento of the rosary, breviary, and other ecclesiastical manufacturers and vendors gathering about St Paul’s Cathedral. (For further particulars see Paternoster Eow.)

Aylesbury Street, Clerkenwell. — A reminiscence of the town house and gardens of the Earls of Aylesbury.

Ball Alley, Lombard Street, — From an old and common sign. The alley is very nearly built out of existence, and would, without doubt, be quite so, if the contiguous encroaching property dared to do it. AllHallows Churchyard is the alley’s only refuge.

Ball Court, Cornhill, also from an old sign. The Court is now devoted to a popular restaurant.

Barbican marks the site of a speculum, or watchtower, built by the Romans adjacent to the northern wall (Low Lat. barbacana, probably from Persian bala-Jchaneh, an upper chamber, from which ” balcony” also is derived). Our friend Stow says : “The same being placed on a high ground, and also built of some good height, was in old time as a watchtower for the city, from whence a man might behold and view the whole city towards the south, and also into Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, and likewise every other way, east, north, or west.”

Barge Yard, Bucklersbury. — Hereby stood, according to Stow, ” one great house, built of stone and timber, called the Old Barge, because barges from the Eiver Thames were rowed up so far into this brook,” i.e. the Wall Brook ; and this is by him conjectured to have been the manor house of the Buckle, or Boukerel family, the founders of Bucklersbury (which see). It has been asserted by some that the stream was navigated as high as Coleman Street, on the strength of a Roman boat-hook having been found there. This evidence is, however, hardly conclusive, I think, for a boat-hook does not necessarily imply navigation at the spot where it is found.

Bars of London. — The City Bars were six in number, namely, Holborn and Temple on the west, Whitechapel on the east, Norton Folgate, Smithfield, and Aldersgate on the north. They marked the limits of the city liberties after it had been found necessary, in consequence of the city’s growth, to extend them beyond the walls and gates, and tolls were levied upon conveyances not belonging to the freemen, passing within these boundaries. The Temple Bar’s removal is comparatively recent, and its site is still indicated by a monument which is an admirable work of art, let critics (envious and otherwise) say what they will. The sites of the Bars of Holborn and Aldersgate (by Fann Street) are marked by granite obelisks, those of the former being adorned with the city arms, and the latter with fountains.

Bartholomew Close, Smithfield, indicates the site of the enclosed precincts of the Priory of St Bartholomew Benedictines, a fraternity which from such small beginnings acquired considerable notoriety. Founded by Eahere, a pleasant witted gentleman, says Stow, known as the King’s minstrel, about 1102. During a serious attack of fever he saw a vision of St Bartholomew ; was stricken with remorse for his former frivolous life ; and the founding of the Priory was the result. A comprehensive and interesting history of the Priory and the Fair is given by Mr Henry Morley in his memorials of the latter. The church is one of the most worthy sights of London. (See work by Mr A. E. Daniell.)

Bartholomew Lane, Bank, is a memento of the church of St Bartholomew Exchange, whose site is now occupied by the Sun Fire Office, known as Bartholomew the Little, to distinguish it from Bartholomew the Great and Bartholomew the Less, both in Smithfleld.

Basinghall Street marks the site of the mansion and grounds of the Basing family. Solomon Basing was mayor in 1216, and his descendants for several generations occupied important municipal positions; but Stow says that in his time (circa 1600) the family was ” worn out,” presumably by its civic labours. The hall afterwards fell into the hands of the Bakewell family, who endowed it with their own name, and subsequently became a Cloth Exchange. The present Bankruptcy Court occupies the site of the ancient house.

Baynard’s Castle. — Although no street preserves its name, one may well care to know something about it, for the wharf not far from its site, now occupied by St Paul’s Railway Station, meets our eye and serves to keep the castle’s memory green. It was the residence of many illustrious men, even of royalty ; the scene of many important historical events; and had altogether an interesting career ; for an account of which the reader is referred to Stow, who has a succinct summary of its good and evil fortunes, or to any of the many other works devoted to the history of our city. Baynard was a Norman noble, who came over with the Conqueror, and settled himself in this snug corner. The castle, after many vicissitudes, was destroyed in the great fire, and was the last city palace inhabited as such.

Beech Street, Barbican. — Stow ascribes the name probably to Nicholas de la Beech, Lieutenant of the Tower in the time of Edward III., but his connection with the locality is not discoverable. He may have been owner of the property.

Beer Lane, Great Tower Street, was in Stow’s time Beare Lane. Great Beare Key (Quay) and Little Beare Key occupied the site of our Custom House. These and Beare Lane owed their names to the fact that King Henry IIL’s White Bear, a present from Norway, was accustomed to be brought from the Tower, muzzled and chained, and taken to the river at this spot to catch fish, in accordance with the royal mandate, which imposed the observance of the ceremony upon the Sheriffs of London. The Tower Menagerie, famous in early times, appears to have been a source of much trouble and care to the Sheriffs. Hatton, another worthy antiquary, states that Bear Key was a great market for wheat and other grain, and I am therefore inclined to connect the name with O.E. JBere, barley or grain, from which we have beer, barn (i.e. a grain-house), Beretun = Barton, and Bere-wic = Berwick, a corn village, etc. Key, the original spelling of Quay, arose from the idea of a space compacted or locked together by beams and planks, as it were by keys. The modern form is an adaptation of the French quai. In Welsh, cae signifies an enclosure or reserved place.

Beehive Passage, Leadenhall Market, is indebted for its name to the old Beehive Tavern, now supplanted, for some inscrutable reason, by the Bunch of Grapes.

Bell Alley, Moorgate Street. — Bell, like Angel, was a favourite London name. This may be attributable to a former shop or tavern sign, but there is no distinct evidence.

Bell Yard, Carter Lane. — This hands down the sign of a very old notable inn, which stood on the site.

Bell Yard, Gracechurch Street, also owes its name to an old tavern sign. The tavern, or rather its successor, is extant to this day.

Bell Savage Yard has been the subject of much speculation and ingenious conjecture. The name had its origin as an inn sign, the earliest form of which appears to have been a bell on a hoop, and the doubt was, or is, what this symbolised. According to Stow, the earliest occupant of the inn was Arabella Savage, and the painter of the sign, obviously a man endowed with imagination and poetic faculty, depicted the landlady as a bell and a human savage, which was more ingenious than complimentary ; and why he hung the bell on a hoop nobody knows. The old Spectator of the Addisonian era proposed to assign the origin of the name to La Belle Sauvage, the beautiful heroine of a French romance. But the simplest and most probable explanation is that the family of Savage kept the inn, and its sign was ” The Bell,” by Savage. Alderman Treloar, in his excRedingly interesting book, “The History of Ludgate Hill,” suggests a connection between Bell and Bail, or Bailey, not far distant ; but there does not appear to be sufficient ground to establish any such connection.

Bennet’s Hill derives its name from the church of St Benedict, commonly called St Bennet Paul’s Wharf. The ecclesiastical connection of Paul’s “Wharf is shown under that name.

Bevis Marks signifies Bury’s Limits, and indicates the borders of the territory pertaining to the town-house of the Abbots of Bury St Edmunds. ” Bury’s ” has become ” Bevis ” by the mutation of u into v, and the reader will bear in mind that to use u and v interchangeably was a custom which survived in occasional instances until quite recently, and that in old lettering v is used almost invariably for u. ” Marks ” is a word full of interest if followed through all its forms and significations. For instance, we find it with the meaning of bordering or limiting in the Scotch and Welsh Marches, separating those nationalities from English territory ; in Mercia (Myrcna ric) the Saxon kingdom bordering on North Wales ; in margin and in demarcation. Letters of marque permit the holders to harass their country’s enemy beyond the frontier or borderland. So a margrave (mark graf) is the lord or keeper of the marches or country borders, and the office of a marquis, or our Earl of Marches, was to defend the frontier against aggressive neighbours. As forests served so often as boundaries, we find the Scandinavian mork, or forest, in our epithet “murky,” suggesting the gloom and obscurity of a wood. For further most interesting explication of this word, the reader may consult Taylor’s ” Words and Places,” to which I am indebted for most of the above information.

Bevois Court, Basinghall Street. — A comparatively modern name, probably that of an owner of the property. It may be a corruption of “Bevoy’s,” or even “Bel voir,” as there is no beauty to see.

Billiter Street. — One authority asserts that here the bell founders plied their vocation, whence ” bell-yeter,” or “bell-hitter,” but there is no confirmatory record. Stow derives the name from Belzettar, the builder, and, I suppose, owner, and this derivation is at present accepted. Strype notes that the lane, as it was then called (1720), was a very poor and squalid place, although Billiter Square contained houses of some pretension.

Birchin Lane, originally Burcham, hands down the virtues, if there be any virtue in a name, of its builder. Stow says Birchover was the builder, but modern researches, as well as the name itself, point to Burcham as more probable.

Bird-in-Hand Court, Cheapside. — Formerly Bird-in-Hand Alley. An old sign of the past; supplemented by the Queen’s Arms, better known, perhaps, as ” Simpson’s.” The royal escutcheon proudly guards the entrance to the court.

Bishop’s Court, Old Bailey, has reference to the neighbouring cathedral and its dignitaries. There is nothing suggestive of episcopacy now. There is also a Dean’s Court in the Old Bailey, and the adjacent “Warwick Lane was formerly Old Dean Street.

Blackfriars marks the region of the settlement of the Mendicant Friars of this Order upon their removal from Holborn, where they had been located from 1221 to 1285, to accommodate whom, within the city, the wall at this point was removed and re-erected further west, close to the Fleet. Their monastery occupied the spot where now the busy Ludgate Hill Station stands — a vast leap from quiet seclusion to teeming crowds. The Mendicant Orders were founded to counteract the disrepute into which the ancient monastic fraternities had fallen by their accumulation and enjoyment of wealth, proving that they were not above or really removed from ordinary human desires, passions, and weaknesses. A lucid summary of their origin, ratio and modus vivendi, their waxing and their waning, may be found in Hallam’s “Europe in the Middle Ages.” The most celebrated were the Dominicans, or Black Friars, and the Franciscans, or Grey ; then the Augustines and the Carmelites, or White Friars. After them ranked the Priory of Holy Trinity at Aldgate ; St Bartholomew’s Priory ; St John the Baptist’s Benedictine Nunnery near Houndsditch ; the Knights Templars, and the Crutched Friars ; the whole occupy ing a considerable area, consequently leaving numerous records in street names, under which they have received due attention.

Black Raven Alley, Upper Thames Street, owes its name to the sign of an old departed hostelry. The Raven was a badge of the old Scotch kings, and is supposed to have been a kind of Jacobite symbol. In Scandinavia it was sacred to Odin, and formed the national emblem. In many countries it was regarded as a bird of ill omen.

Black Swan Alley, London Wall. — Judging from the several courts and alleys which once existed bearing this name, the rara avis in terra was deemed worthy of much honour as a tavern sign, whence the names of the thoroughfares originated.

Black Swan Alley, St Paul’s Churchyard. — The sign still exists.

Blomfield Street, London Wall, commemorates a London worthy, Charles James Blomfield, incumbent of St Botolph, Bishopsgate, in 1819, and Bishop of London in 1828. London churches owe much to his energetic enterprise.

Blue Boar Court, Friday Street.— From an old sign. The Boar was a badge of the House of York. (See remarks on Signs in Preliminary.)

Bolt Court, Fleet Street. — Over against the Bolt-in-Tun, the noted coach-office of olden times. Bolt-in-Tun (an arrow or bolt-head through a cask) is a rebus expansion of Bolton, the name of the family who owned the property. At one time puerilities of this kind were much in fashion. They were termed ” rebus names,” and may be found on the title-pages of many old books. This particular device may be seen beneath Prior Bolton’s window in St Bartholomew’s Church.

Bond Court, Walbrook. — Formerly Bond’s Court. The possessive indicates a surname, probably that of the owner. William Bond was alderman in 1567, and Sir George Bond mayor in 1587 ; but whether either of these was connected with the property I cannot ascertain.

Boss Court, Upper Thames Street, is indebted for its name to the “boss,” or conduit erected here in accordance with the Will of Whittington. Stow calls this and other conduits ” bosses of water,” boss being obviously connected with the French bouche, a mouth or opening from which the water flowed.

Boswell Court, Fleet Street, was not connected with the great biographer. It was the site of Boswell House, the residence of an Elizabethan gentleman, of whom nothing more is known.

Botolph Lane is so named from the parish church which formerly stood in Thames Street, and said to be of Saxon foundation. The church, which was St Botolph, Billingsgate, is now united with St George, Botolph Lane. The wharf at the bottom of the lane, known, it is stated, in the Conqueror’s time as Botolph’s Gate, marks the site of the foot of the original London Bridge {which see).

Boy Court, Ludgate Hill. — Formerly Naked Boy Court, from an old sign, but we are somewhat more modest nowadays. (See Horseshoe Court.)

Brabant Court, Philpot Lane, probably marks the site of a settlement of immigrants from the Low Country province. John, Duke of Brabant, temp. Edward L, granted great privileges to the Merchant Adventurers, one of our earliest mercantile corporations ; and the fourteenth century was marked by a considerable trade with Brabant. The court has a very strong old city flavour. There is a weird look about the place ; and it always appears to be beyond ” the busy hum of men.”

Bread Street. — The quarter assigned to bakers in olden time for the disposal of their wares. Until the reign of Edward L, bread was made mostly at Bromley and Stratford, or elsewhere without the city, and could be sold within the city only at or adjacent to the market here, at the market price. The reason of the restriction as regards locality is not clear, unless it was to prevent confusion and variation as to price. Stow informs us that the bread brought into the city was ‘ ‘ two ounces in the penny wheat loaf heavier than the penny wheat loaf baked in the city, the same to be sold in Cheap ” ; and as evidence of the paternal solicitude with which the welfare of the citizens was guarded, and honesty enforced, we read: ” Eichard Eeffeham being mayor, a baker named John of Stratford, for making bread less than the assize, was, with a fool’s hood on his head, and loaves of bread about his neck, drawn on a hurdle through the streets of the city.”

Brewers Lane, Upper Thames Street. — A reference to the brewing interest, which was well represented in Thames Street even in Stow’s time, as it is now.

Brickhill Lane, Upper Thames Street, was originally Breikels’ Lane, being so named from one John Breikels, sometime owner thereof. He left an annual sum of £9 to keep an ” obit,” a form of prayer to be read on the anniversary of his death for the repose of his soul. He evidently had ground for doubt respecting his posthumous peace.

Bride Street Lane, Court, etc., commemorate Bride Well, a fount sacred to St Brigit, or Bridget, of which Bride is an abbreviation. Brigit was a king’s daughter, and the only Irish female saint honoured in our city, or indRed, as it is said, in the whole country. The site of the old well was until recently indicated by a pump on the east side of the church wall in Bride Lane, but is now boarded up, exhibiting its spout only, as an interesting memento to the enthusiastic antiquary. Between the well and the river was a castle and royal residence from the days of William the Conqueror. On its site a palace was built by Henry VIII. in 1522 ; given by Edward VI., in 1553, to the Mayor of London for the commonalty and citizens as a ” Workhouse for the poor, and as a house of correction for the strumpet and idle person ; for the rioter that consumeth all ; and for the vagabond that will abide in no place.” It subsequently became a prison only, and so remained until its demolition in 1864.

Bridgewater Street, Barbican, records the site of a residence of the Earls of Bridgewater.

Broad Street was so named at the time of its reconstruction as a recognition of its superior width. Previously it was known by the much less euphonious title of Pig Street, in honour of the porcine property of the Hospitallers of St Anthony, which roamed hereabout.

Broken Wharf, Upper Thames Street, curiously took its name from a Watergate or quay, the apparently chronic condition of which was that of being broken and falling down towards or into the river. This dilapidated condition is said to have been of such long continuance as to have become an inseparable characteristic of the wharf. We cannot do otherwise than accept the statement as correct.

Bucklersbury does not, as one might at first suppose, indicate the locality of the bucklermakers’ business. It was the site of the residence of the Bukerels, a family of considerable repute. Andrew Bukerel was a pepperer, i.e. a druggist, mayor 1231 to 1237; and other members of the family appear in the list of sheriffs. As regards the signification of ” bury,” it is of interest to note that its ordinary locative meaning is an earthwork, hence a fortified town (O.E. burh or hyrig, from beorgan, to hide, indicating shelter). Its application in London appears to signify a residence, as in the present instance, and in Lothbury and Aldermanbury (which see). Broad Street, too, was once Lodingberi, the residence of Albert Lotering, a Saxon. In all derivations from this root there is the fundamental idea of hiding, and so sheltering, or protecting. Thus in a barrow were hidden the ashes of the dead ; a burrow is the hidingplace of rabbits (we have the surname Conybeare, a rabbit-burrow, as Mr Bardsley has pointed out in his entertaining volume on surnames) ; and bury, borough, brough, burgh, originally applied to a raised mound for the biding or security of men, now indicate a town for the same purpose. The extension of meaning to a single residence is, I think, traceable to the nascent idea that an Englishman’s house was his castle, or bury, i.e. his place of retreat and security.

Budge Row indicates the locality of the dealers in ” budge,” a fine lambs’-skin fur, formerly used for the edging of scholastic gowns. Eeaders of Milton (I assume that even in these degenerate days, when we are overwhelmed by a flood of light, and in some respects, questionable literature, there are a few) may remember how Comus in his crafty philosophy refers to ” The foolishness of men that lend their ears To those budge doctors of the stoic fur.” Budget, in its original meaning, is a bag made from lambs’-skin or leather ; now applied to the contents, or prospective revenue which might be collected therein — an instance of transfer of meaning.

Bull-and-Mouth Street, Aldersgate, is the anglicised rendering of Boulogne Mouth, or Harbour, a name bestowed in honour of the capture of Boulogne by Henry VIII. in 1544. Bowl-and-Mouth has also been suggested, but has no shadow of fact. These linguistic corruptions are somewhat curious, illustrating the difficulty we English once had in adopting foreign nomenclature. Thus Tour de la Eiole is stated, although with almost complete doubt, to have become transmuted into Tower Eoyal (which see) ; the Pige Washael or the Virgin’s Greeting (O.E. wassail, whence the wassail bowl) was transposed into Pig and Whistle; and Hangman’s Gains, once a Wapping demesne within the Tower precincts, was considered good English for Hammes et Guynes, a district near Calais, whence refugees found retreat in this neighbourhood upon the loss of that dependency by Mary.

Bull Wharf Lane, Upper Thames Street. — From the relative position of the words ” wharf” and ” lane,” it is obvious the lane has been named from the wharf, which is probably the relic of an ancient sign.

The Bull was a badge of the Neville family.

Bunhill Fields, — A modern rendering of Bone Hill, probably from the sepultures which there took place. Many urns, stone coffins, and other similar relics have been found on the spot. It was supposed that this was the site of the Great Plague pit, in Finsbury, described by De Foe in his celebrated “Journal of the Plague,” a book full of gruesome horrors, most graphically and fleshcreepily depicted, but modern researches appear to prove otherwise. In sober fact, it was the depository of over a thousand cartloads of bones, removed in 1549 from the charnel-house of Old St Paul’s.

Burleigh Street, Strand, is the site of the house of the great Lord Burleigh.

Bury Street, Bevis Marks, occupies the site ot the Abbot’s House, referred to in Bevis Marks.

Bush Lane, Cannon Street. — Once famous as the locality of the nRedle trade in London, which, however, does not assist us as regards the origin of the name; nor does anything else with certainty ; but it may probably be ascribed to an old tavern sign, the bush being equivalent to ivy, the crown of Bacchus. There was an old Roman saying, Vino vendibili hedera non est opus — Good wine nReds no ivy, or bush, or Bacchanalian sign to attract customers — but we may suppose the tavern in question determined to demonstrate that the two might be co-existent.

Butler Street, Milton Street, worthily honours the author of “Hudibras.” Here are two contemporary poets, of a very different stamp, however, associated by the connecting-link of street names.

Camomile Street. — Taking good old Stow as our authority, this recalls to mind the waste ground by the city walls and the predominant herb which grew thereon. Wormwood was the cognate production of the adjacent waste. [ am inclined to believe that the names of Camomile and Wormwood Street do not so much definitely specify the abundance of those particular herbs, as indicate a luxuriant growth of wild and bitter wReds of all kinds, of which camomile and wormwood were typical.

Cannon Street. — A corruption of Candlewick Street, formerly the centre of the wax chandlery trade (O.E. ivic or wike, a dwelling-place, i.e. of the candlemakers, as Scalding-wike in the Poultry, the abode of the scalders). In a map of 1604 it is shown as Conning Streete, which was perhaps a stage in development of the name, but affords no reasonable ground for the suggested derivation from Cyning, or King. Old maps are anything but infallible authorities in the matter of spelling.

Canon Alley, St Paul’s Churchyard, bears, of course, a respectful reference to the dignitaries of the Cathedral. It formed the eastern boundary of the old college of the minor canons, and was the site of one of the six gates in the enclosure of the Cathedral territory. (See Carter Lane and Paul’s Alley.) It is curious to reflect that derivations from Lat. canna, a rRed or cane, have in one direction come to be applied to the deadly weapon of war, and in another — by passing through the various gradations of a measuring cane, hence a standard of measurement, hence a rule or law, hence ecclesiastical law, hence the administrators of that law — to those whose vocation is one of peace.

Capel Court marks the site of the city house of Sir William Capel, draper, and Lord Mayor in 1503.

Carey Lane, Foster Lane, is indebted for its name to a former owner of the property, of whom I can find no further information.

Carter Lane is stated to owe its name to the circumstance that carriers and others had to make this detour to the south after the enclosure of St Paul’s area in 1284, and so it became known specially as the Carters’ Lane. The statement hardly commends itself to one’s credulity, and one would be rather inclined to connect it with a builder or owner’s name, but there is no evidence to warrant this. This walled enclosure of St Paul’s was bounded by Carter Lane, CrRed Lane, Ave Maria Lane, Paternoster Eow, and Old Change. It was rendered necessary because ” by the lurking of thieves and other lewd people in the night time, within the precincts of this churchyard, divers robberies, homicides, and other acts of violence had been oft times committed therein.” For further account of which see Simpson’s ” Gleanings from Old St Paul’s/’ (See also Paul’s Alley.)

Castle Court, Birchin Lane. — A reminiscence of the sign of an old tavern, which once occupied the site. This sign lent its name to no fewer than twenty-two of our old courts and alleys. It is a common heraldic charge, entering into the insignia of many cities and to was. It was also a badge of Edward II.

Castle Court, Lawrence Lane. — A similar reminiscence. The court has a flavour of Old London about it; and its course into Milk Street is somewhat devious.

Castle Street, Falcon Square.— A memorial of the Castle and Falcon Inn, built close upon the site of the Aldersgate, upon its destruction in 1761.

Catherine Court, Seething Lane. — One of the numerous mementoes of the visit of Peter the Great, Emperor of Eussia, to this country, upon the invitation of William III. in 1697-98. He spent some time in the neighbourhood of Tower Hill, and some at Deptford amongst the shipping. Catherine Court is named in honour of his wife ; and Muscovy Court, and the Czar’s Head in Tower Street, also occur to one’s mind.

Cecil Street, Strand. — A memento of Sir Eobert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, the younger son of the great Sir William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, who has left his name in Burleigh Street.

Chadwell Street, Myddelton Square. — Chadwell Spring in Hertfordshire was the source of the New Eiver water which Sir Hugh Myddelton brought to London, and the name is therefore appropriately bestowed upon one of the streets of the locality associated with that benefactor. (See Myddelton Square.)

Chancery Lane. — A house near ” the foot,” or south end of the lane, belonging to the Bishops of Chichester ; one of whom — the last who made the place his residence — was Chancellor of England, 1292-1307. Hence Chancellor’s Lane, and by easy metamorphosis Chancery Lane. Prior to this it was known as New Street. The etymological connection of cancel, chancel, chancellor and chancery, is noteworthy. The Latin cancelli, latticework, is the common godfather. We cancel writing by making cross-bars like latticework; the chancel was formerly enclosed with lattices, as it is now with rails or gates ; and the judgment -seat in the chaneery, or chancellor’s court, was surrounded with cross-bars.

Change Alley. — An abbreviation of Exchange Alley, the chief centre of financial operations, when the business of the Stock Exchange was transacted at the famed Jonathan’s Coffee House, which was situated in the Alley. The Koyal Exchange had become too crowded for those mysterious persons, known as ” jobbers,” and so in 1698 they transferred the locale of their exhilarating profession to the Alley, which then became known as Exchange Alley. In 1773 they removed to ” New Jonathan’s,” in Capel Court, a name for which ” The Stock Exchange ” was spRedily substituted, and the memory of Jonathan rapidly grew dim.

Chapel Place, Poultry, is a reminiscence of the old chapel to which the passage formed an entry.

Chapter House Court, St Paul’s Churchyard, runs round the side and back of the present Chapter House. The old Chapter House was adjacent to the south porch of the former cathedral, but was transferred to the north upon the clearance necessary for Wren’s work.

Charterhouse Street, Square, and Lane, recall to mind the old Chartreuse or Carthusian monastery here situated. The Order had its origin at Chartreuse, in France, where St Bruno retired in 1086 with six companions, built hermitages, and clothed and fed themselves with wholesome but unpleasant severity. They are chiefly known now by their choice liqueurs. The Charter House, which is Chartreuse anglicised, was one of four foundations settled in England in 1180. The Square occupies the site of the churchyard.

Cheapside. — The road which skirted the West Cheap, or market-place, as distinguished from the East Cheap. The West Cheap was a spacious open area from which there branched streets of booths and shops of the type made familiar to us by revivals of Old London. Che&ipside, of course, ran by the side of the market-place.

Christ Church Passage, Newgate Street, is the retired thoroughfare round the church from Newgate Street to King Edward Street, speaking eloquently, as one of the old nooks of London, with the buildings of the Grey Friars and those added in 1682 by the munificence of Alderman Eobert Clayton (as the mural tablet testifies), gazing upon us and directing our minds to the long vista of the past.

Church Alley, Basinghall Street, is contiguous to St Michael’s Bassishaw, a corrupted form of the Basings’ Haugh or Hall, which gave its name to the street and ward. (See Basinghall Street.)

Church Court, Clement’s Lane, Lombard Street. — A eul-de-sac by the side of St Clements-near-Eastcheap. The original name of the church, St Clement’s Eastcheap, tells us how the East Cheap formerly extended so far, and we are reminded that King William’s statue occupies the site of the famous Shakespearian Boar’s Head, situated in what was then Eastcheap, much curtailed to make room for the new London Bridge approaches.

Church Court, Old Jewry. — The southern boundary of the yard of St Olave’s, of which little now remains. The tower of the old church, left to tell its tale, half converted into offices, calls to mind the fact that Wren built his towers separate from the body of the church, as though foreseeing that future times might desire to remove the one and leave the other. The clock, bearing date 1824, handless and probably workless, is a melancholy symbol of the past, of time gone beyond redemption. The church was formerly known as St Olave’s Upwell, from the well, marked until recently by a pump by the Ironmonger Lane railings, but now removed.

Church Court, Lothbury, borders St Margaret’s on the east and north. A cul-desac, with an air of calm retirement, almost sacred in its peacefulness, which much commends itself to the few weary wanderers who penetrate its precincts. Below runs, or ran, the course of the Wall Brook, vaulted over upon the rebuilding of the church in 1440. But the present church dates from after the Great Fire, 1666.

Church Entry, Carter Lane, is a reminiscence of St Anne’s, Blackfriars. A portion of the old burying-ground remains, and there is a mausoleum air about the whole place.

In the wall of the first of the block of houses is inserted an ancient stone, bearing date 1620, recording the care of the Lady Vice Countesse Elizabeth Lomley, for the poor of the precinct. I am glad to call attention to her munificence, two hundred and seventysix years afterwards. Thus is the memory of one’s good dReds kept for ever green !

Church Passage, Gresham Street, runs round St Lawrence Jewry, and has no noteworthy feature.

Church Eow, Fenchurch Street, bounds the western side of St Katharine Coleman, leading by a devious, malodorous, and darksome alley to Crutched Friars. Coleman’s haw or garden was annexed to the church, and probably belonged before its annexation to the family referred to in Coleman Street.

Church Row, Houndsditch, lies under the shadow of St Botolph, Aldgate.

Church Row, Walbrook, between St Stephen’s and the Mansion House, has a certain cheerfulness imparted to it by the pleasant little churchyard garden. I never travel round here without gazing with a kind of respectful awe upon the kitchen windows of the civic palace, and meditating upon the magnificent gastronomic preparations almost continuously progressing inside.

Church Street, Minories. — The quaint old structure of Holy Trinity Church yet stands to justify the name. It was rebuilt in 1706. For its connection with the Minoresses, or poor nuns of St Clare, see Minories.

Clare Market and Clarehouse Court mark the site of the Clare House and Gardens, belonging to the Earls of Clare, afterwards Dukes of Newcastle.

Clark’s Place, Bishopsgate Street, derives its name from the builder or owner, now sunk into oblivion.

Clement’s Court, Wood Street. — The origin of the name is doubtful, but it is probably that of a former owner of the property.

Clement’s Danes, is either the burial site of noble Danes, or the dwelling-place allotted to those of that nation, who, having married English women, were allowed to remain in London, when others less fortunate or judicious were expelled. St Clement was Bishop of Rome, a disciple of St Peter.

Clement’s Lane, Lombard Street. — From the Church. (See Church Court, Clement’s Lane.)

Clerkenwell, or Clerk’s “Well (O.E. plural en) ; one of the old wells which fed the Fleet Eiver. In this neighbourhood were represented the Miracle Plays in the open air by the worshipful Parish Clerks of London. They acted some ” Large History of Holy Scripture,” such as the Creation of the World, a play which consumed eight days in the performance, in 1409, ” whereat was present most part of the nobility and gentry of England.” Until recently the curious investigator might have seen a pump at the end of Farringdon Eoad, by Eay Street, erected four feet westward of the spring which was the old original well ; but it has now been removed. In the Miller’s Tale, Chaucer tells us how

” The parish clerk e, the joly Absolon, Sometimes to shew his lightnesse and maistrie, He plaieth Herode on a skaffold hie.”

The Parish Clerks’ is the second oldest of the City Companies. It was instituted in 1232. It appears to have been a special function of its members to act in these old miracle plays. The ecclesiastical dignitary as we know him (or knew him, for I am afraid he is almost, if not quite, extinct), whose special office was to encourage and cheer the minister by his hearty responses in the church service, was a more modern institution, dating from the Eeformation.

Clerkenwell Close. — The Clerks’ Well was used by the brothers of the adjacent Priory of St John, and the present close formed a part of the old convent cloisters.

Cloak Lane. — It is strange that the origin of this name, comparatively modern, is quite unknown. It is referred by some to cloaca, on account of an old sewer running here ; but apart from this being in itself an insufficient explanation, because applicable to any other portion of the sewer’s course, its previous name was Horsebridge (which crossed the Wall Brook) Lane, and it is most improbable that a name of Latin derivation would supersede this. It may perhaps be referred to an owner of the property ; but in any case it is unsatisfactory that no authentic record exists.

Cloth Fair, Smithfield, was a portion of Bartholomew Fair. The Cloth Fair was long the resort of drapers, and was a great centre for the wares of French and Flemish merchants. The booths were within the churchyard of the Priory. {See Bartholomew Close.)

Cobb’s Court, Carter Lane, owes its name to a former owner of property, of whom nothing further is publicly recorded. It is probably the narrowest court in London, insulating by a streak of empty space a block of buildings at the north-west corner of Carter Lane.

Cold Bath Square and Fields mark the site of an ancient spring, utilised in its palmiest days as a lucrative bathing establishment, in the early part of the eighteenth century.

Coleman Street. — The locality of the coalmen, or charcoal burners, as some say; a memento of the builder, one Coleman, as Stow conjectures ; or of Ceolmund, a sheriff or portreeve, who had a farm near the West Gate (afterwards New Gate), as others say. The first explanation is the most probable, and may be accepted, as it is known the charcoal burners were in the neighbourhood two centuries before the builder, Coleman, and the sheriff is somewhat mythical. College Hill. — The site of Whittington College and Almshouses, built by the executors of the illustrious Eichard. These were removed to Highgate in 1808, and the name of College Hill alone remains to remind us of our former possession.

Copthall Court, Throgmorton Street, apparently perpetuates the memory of an owner of the property, but his name appears to be the only information we have respecting him.

Corbet Court, Gracechurch Street, formerly Corbet’s Court. The possessive case indicates a surname, probably that of a former owner, otherwise consigned to obscurity.

Cornhill, or, as Stow calls it, Cornhill Street, was not, as would naturally suggest itself, had we not historic knowledge to the contrary, the hill upon which the corn-market was held. Its name is due to the Corenhell family, who were considerable landowners in the city in the time of Henry III. Members of the family appear at various times in the list of Sheriffs. One, Henry, filled this office in 1189, during the mayoralty of Fitz Aylwin, the first Mayor of London ; another was Dean of St PauTs in 1251. As, however, a charter of William Eufus makes mention of one Edward Hupcornhill, I think it is a fair supposition that the surname may have been derived from the locality, as there certainly was a hill, leaving the origin of Corn still in doubt.

As regards the corn-market, we may note it was held on the north-east of St Paul’s, by the end of Paternoster Kow, as indicated by the Church of St Michael-le-Querne (O.E. cwern, a corn-mill), or AdBladum (a blade of corn) by St Martins-leGrand, a church now removed. The Corn Cheap was squeezed out of existence when the Cathedral precincts were walled in in 1284. (See Carter Lane.)

Cousin Lane, Upper Thames Street, formerly Cosin Lane, from William Cosin, a resident of long standing, and presumably owner of the property. He was Sheriff in 1305.

Covent Garden was the garden of the convent of the monks of Westminster Abbey. The Broad Sanctuary and the Savoy also belonged to the abbots and monks of “Westminster. Upon the dissolution of the monasteries the convent garden fell into the hands of the Eussell family. The Earls of Bedford here built a manse, and upon its removal the site was occupied by Southampton Street, Eussell Street, Tavistock Street, Bedford Street, and others of kindred names. If we travel a little further north, to Bloomsbury, we have evidence of the subsequent settlement of the family there, in such names as Bedford Square, Southampton Street, Eussell and Tavistock Squares. But this is somewhat discursive, and beyond our city boundaries.

Convent became Covent from the Norman French convent, the u being elided.

Cowcross Street serves to remind us of the old stone cross which adorned this spot, the specific name having reference to the wholesale meat market which centred round here ; but why Cow Cross in preference to Bull Cross is an inscrutable mystery. Cowcross Bridge spanned the adjacent Fleet.

Cowper’s Court, Cornhill, is not named in honour of the poet, as one might have hoped; its title is of much older date. Sir William Cowper, Bart., temp. James L, was owner of much property hereabouts, and has left his name as a testimony. A monumental inscription to Sir William and his wife exists (or did exist) in St Michael’s. It states (or did state) that his fourth son — ” In pious memory of his parents erected this monument, and died a bachelor.” His celibacy may be accepted as an indubitable proof of filial affection !

Craven Street, Strand, is the site of the quondam Earls of Cravens London residence.

Cree Church Lane, Leadenhall Street, derives its name from the adjacent church of St Katharine Cree. Inigo Jones built three Gothic churches in London, to wit, this, the Chapel of Lincoln’s Inn, and St Alban’s, Wood Street. Of these St Katharine Cree is the only one remaining. It is situated in what was the cemetery of the conventual Church of Holy Trinity, which was originally called Christ Church. Holy Trinity Priory stood to the north of the Aldgate. Cree^ is an ingenious and unreasonable abbreviation of Christ. This was one of the few churches which was spared by the Great Fire, and dates back to 1631. We may therefore gaze upon the holy pile with veneration.

CrRed Lane obviously has some relation to the neighbouring cathedral (See Paternoster Row.) It was formerly Spurrier’s Row, the seat of the spurriers’ trade.

Crooked Lane. — Of the original thoroughfare there is but a small, and that a straight, portion left. In its entirety it wound its sinuous way as far as the eastern side of the present London Bridge, to make room for the approach to which it was almost annihilated. It is pleasant to see that its traditional notoriety as the abode of fish-tackle manufacturers is maintained to the present day by one or two worthy representatives.

Crosby Square. — Crosby Place was built by Sir John Crosbie, grocer and wool stapler, a worthy citizen, and Lord Mayor in 1470. The domicile has had a chequered career, reminding us of the mutability of human affairs. Built as a city mansion, it affords to the architectural eye a fine example of Gothic of the perpendicular period. About 1672 it was transformed into a Presbyterian chapel. Then, after many years, the withdrawing-room and throne-room were let as warehouses or store-rooms to the East India Company. The Hall afterwards passed into the hands of a packer. In 1836 its partial restoration was effected by public subscription. From 1842 to 1860 it served the purpose of a literary and scientific institute ; and now in the character of a popular restaurant, the nourishment of the body in lieu of that of the mind is its chief concern. Sic transit gloria mundi. What would, or does, good old Sir John think of these various uses, some of a baser sort, to which his noble residence has been applied ? Its history in extenso may be found in Cassell’s ” Old and New London,” and will amply repay perusal. The present Square was built in 1677, and its houses stand on the site of a portion of the old mansion. Cross Lanes and Cross Streets. — The numerous Cross Lanes and Streets, like Union Streets, are names used to mark connecting thoroughfares, and are not designed to have any meaning beyond this single fact of crossing or uniting. It is obvious this circumstance was predominant upon their construction, being, in fact, their original raison d’etre, and future confusion was not considered. Streets which take their name from the then existence of a cross therein have the cross specialised, as in White and Red Cross Streets (which see).

Cross Key Court, London Wall, and Cross Key Square, Little Britain, have the origin of their names in an old sign of ecclesiastical reference, a not uncommon sign prior to the Reformation, the crossed keys being the arms of the papal see, the emblem of St Peter. In the insignia of the Fishmongers’ Company, whose patron saint is St Peter, the cross keys figure largely. Medieval inns having this sign were under some ecclesiastical influence — it might be of locality only — or were the resting-places of pilgrims. We call to mind the lines ofMiltoninthepoem of “Lycidas” :

” Last came and last did go The pilot of the Galilean lake ; Two massy keys he bore of metals twain, The golden opes, the iron shuts amain.”

Albeit a gold and a silver key are the heraldic device.

Crown Court, of which there are several, the name originating in an old tavern sign. It speaks well for the lo}^alty of the old citizens that there oncee xisted some threescore courts and alleys of this name ; but, withal, it must have been somewhat confusing.

Crutched Friars commemorates the site of one of the principal religious fraternities which settled in London, enumerated in the Note upon Blackfriars. The crutched, crouched, or crossed friars were distinguished by a red cross on the back of their robes, and carried a cross in their hands, at first of iron, but afterwards, as their means increased, of silver. Their monastery was behind Seething Lane, opposite St Olave’s Church. The site was afterwards that of the Navy House, and is now that of the Crutched Friars’ Warehouses.

The word ” crutch” is still found retaining its meaning of cross in the cripple’s crutch, which has a cross-piece on top. Crusade and crozier are of the same philological family ; and crook, crotch, crotchet, crochet, and cricket, in all of which a cross is connoted, are connected. But this by the way.

Cullum Street is the site of the residence of Thomas Cullum, sheriff in 1646, a no doubt worthy citizen, but now relegated to obscurity, for nothing is known of him but what this name conveys.

Culver Court, Fenchurch Street. — An obscure and unsavoury cul-de-sac, whose name is probably a memento of the long-forgotten owner. A member of the Culver family carried on business in Lombard Street in 1416. One cannot associate the place with anything dove-like (O.E. culfre, a dove or pigeon). Stow informs us it was sometime a lane which led from Fenchurch Street to the middle of Lime Street, but “was stopped up for suspicion of thieves that lurked there by night.” So it remains closed to this day, abutting upon premises in Billiter Square.

Curtain Koad, Shoreditch, is rather beyond our boundary, but is worthy of note from the fact that it is a memento of the Curtain Theatre, the second metropolitan building devoted to the drama, ” The Theatre,” in the same neighbourhood, preceding it by a few years. Mention is made of it in 1578 ; and it derived its name from the circumstance that it was built on land called the Curtain, a part of the precinct of the dissolved Priory of Holywell. Its site was the present Hewitt Street, formerly Curtain Court. For a history of Early London Theatres, see work by T. F. Ordish.

Cushion Court, Old Broad Street, has its name from an old sign. The Cushion was a charge borne on the escutcheon of several of our ancient families. The court is now devoted to stock and share brokers.

Cutler Street, Houndsditch, is the site of the old centre of the cutlery trade, and, I believe, still forms part of the Cutlers’ Company’s property. On the first house on the righthand side as one enters is a tablet bearing date 1734, whereon the name is spelt Cuttlers’ Street (so we have a double t in cuttle, the fish with the knife -like bone), and beneath is a representation of the Company’s arms, in a state of excellent preservation. The street is now devoted to the second-hand clothes business, in the midst of the Jewish Quarter.

Dean’s Court, Old Bailey, has reference to the diaconal dignitaries of the neighbouring cathedral. As one stands at the dark entryhe wonders what could possibly suggest the clerical title for such a wretched little place. There is also a Bishop’s Court in the Old Bailey, and the adjacent “Warwick Lane was formerly Old Dean Court.

Dean’s Court, St Paul’s Churchyard, is satisfactorily named as containing the residence of the Dean of St Paul’s.

Devereux Court, Strand. — A memento of Devereux, the misguided Earl of Essex, being the site of his town residence.

Devonshire Square, Bishopsgate, was the town residence of the Dukes of Devonshire during the seventeenth century, but not later, I think, than 1670. The house is described as “a magnificent structure, called in derision to the builder ‘Fisher’s Folly/ which came first to the Earl of Oxford, and afterwards to the Earl of Devonshire.”

Dionis Yard, Fenchurch Street, may be regarded as a memento of St Dionis Backchurch, which, however, stood close by Lime Street. St Dionis was Dionysius, the Areopagite, the first bishop of Athens, consecrated by St Paul. He also appears as the French St Denis. The origin of the cognomen Backchurch is doubtful, but is with probability ascribed to the circumstance that the church occupied a somewhat obscure position behind another building, back from the main thoroughfare — the adjacent St Gregory (also now no more) occupying a prominent position, being known as Forechurch for distinction sake. Concerning the yard in question, it may be observed it has many characteristics of an old London cul-de-sac.

Distaff Lane, Cannon Street. — Stow states this is corruptly written for Distar Lane. The name of Distaff is ascribed to the sign of an inn long existing in the lane. It is difficult to assign a meaning to Distar ; but if it was really correct, one might conjecture the O.E. dystig, dusty, as the etymon ; but it is more probable that Stow was mistaken.

Doctors’ Commons. — The Common House of Doctors of the Law, who, to obviate the inconvenience caused by their several courts and offices being held in various parts of the city, resolved to live in common together in the collegiate manner (communis = serving together). Their first abode was a small house where now stands the King’s Head Tavern in Paternoster Row. Thence they removed to St Bennet’s Hill, and then to St Paul’s Churchyard. Many courts, ecclesiastical and other, have been held here, to wit, as enumerated by Strype : (1) Court of Arches ; (2) Court of Audience ; (3) Prerogative Court ; (4) Court of Faculties and Dispensations ; (5) Court of Admiralty ; (6) Court of Delegates ; (7) Commission of Review. In 1857, upon the establishment of the Divorce and Probate Courts, the charter of the Commons was surrendered, the Corporation was dissolved, and its various functions were transferred to other courts and tribunals. And with them has disappeared by rebuilding of premises the “low archway, with bookseller’s at one corner, hot-el on the other, and two porters in the middle touting for licenses,” which was Sam Weller’s lucid direction to Mr Jingle in quest of a marriage license. The whole place is changed, and its romance and poetry are gone for ever.

Dolphin Court, Ludgate Hill, so named from the tavern sign, which remains to this day. In the Mediaeval Age the dolphin was the special device of the Dauphins, the eldest sons of the kings of France. It is also the charge of various noble English families.

Dorset Court and Street recall to mind the Sackvilles, Earls of Dorset, whose town residence occupied this site.

Dove Court, Old Jewry. — An obscure thoroughfare connecting the Old Jewry and Grocers’ Hall Court ; no doubt a relic, in name, of the columbar section of the Poultry Market.

Duck’s Foot Lane, Upper Thames Street. — A corruption of Duke’s Foot Lane, a footpath in connection with the residence of the Dukes of Suffolk, whose town house was where is now Suffolk Lane (which see).

Duke’s Place and Street, Aldgate, occupy the site of the Priory of the Holy Trinity, dissolved by the ecclesiastical reformer, Henry VIII. The property subsequently came into the possession of the Duke of Norfolk, whose memory is thus perpetuated in this locality. In the time of Cromwell the Jews took up their quarters here, and have remained unmolested ever since. (See Old Jewry.)

Duke’s Head Passage, Ivy Lane. — An old sign of the past. There is no longer, if ever there was, anything of a ducal nature about the passage, now nothing more than a poor, mean little connecting-link between Ivy Lane and Paternoster Square.

Dunster Court, Mincing Lane. — An old thoroughfare connecting Mincing and Mark Lanes, named after the owner of the property, now transformed into a covered corridor. The courtyard boasts of buildings of some magnificence.

Drapers’ Gardens, Throgmorton Street. — The gardens pertaining to the Hall which was formerly the mansion of Lord Cromwell. The Drapers’ Company purchased the property in 1541.

Drury Lane is a little beyond our western boundary, but may be noted as a reminiscence of Sir Drew Drury, an owner of considerable property here and in the city.

Dyer’s Court, Aldersmanbury, so named from a former owner. It has no connection with the Dyers’ Company. Here is about the site of the old Aldermen’s Bury — ” the little old cottage in Aldermanbury Street,” of which Stow speaks — which Thomas Knolles, grocer, mayor in 1399, and his brother aldermen decided should be superseded by a noble building, and so instituted the new Guildhall, on a plot of ground immediately to the east.

Earl Street, Blackfriars, was named in honour of Pitt, Earl of Chatham, “the heaven-born minister.” The old Blackfriars’ Bridge, completed in 1766, was originallynamed Pitt Bridge, “the citizens of London having unanimously voted this bridge to be inscribed with the name of William Pitt.” Alas for the transitoriness of human greatness, the local name spRedily reasserted itself!

Eastcheap. — The cheap or market-place (O.E. ceap) of the east. Cheapside’s earlier name was West Cheap, in contradistinction. In very early times Eastcheap was mainly a flesh market, and was occupied chiefly by butchers and cooks. It extended westward as far as St Clement’s Church, now in King William Street, but still bearing the title of St Clement’s-near-Cheapside. It was curtailed to make room for the approach to the new bridge. The old course of the street is indicated by the fact that King William’s statue occupies the site of the famous Boar’s Head Tavern, sacred to the memory of Falstaff.

East India Avenue, Leadenhall Street, commemorates the old East India Company, on the site of whose house it stands, recalling to mind, as one journeys by, Hastings, Clive, Charles Lamb, and others. Why should not these and kindred names be applied to the lateral courts of the central avenue ?

Ely Place, Holborn. — Somewhat beyond our limits, but demands notice as commemorating the residence of the Bishop of Ely, and forming the basis of a well-known passage in Shakespeare. The readers of the ” divine William” will remember how Gloucester, pretending extreme thirst, exclaimed —

11 My lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn I saw good strawberries in your garden there. I do beseech you send for some of them,”

and how the bishop himself went to obtain some, and returning, found the crafty Gloucester gone.

Essex Street and Court, Strand, mark the site of the old town mansion of the Earls of Essex.

Evangelist Court, Blackfriars, is nominally in keeping with its ecclesiastical surroundings, and for this reason only, so far as I can ascertain, the name was bestowed. It has no perceptible attributes of an evangelical nature, but the evangelist undoubtedly harmonises with the adjacent pilgrim.

Exeter Street, Strand, is the site of the town house of the Earl of Exeter, the eldest son of the famous Lord Burleigh.

Falcon Court, Fleet Street, owes its name to the sign of an old tavern.

Falcon Square, Aldersgate. — A memorial of the Castle and Falcon Inn, a noted hostelry, built near the site of the Alders Gate upon its removal in 1761.

Fann Court, Miles’ Lane, has its name from a former owner of the property. Its appearance does not commend it.

Farringdon Street. — Sir William Farringdon, goldsmith, Sheriff in 1280, purchased the Aldermanry of the Ward, and endowed it with his name, laying the foundation of a considerable estate.

Feathers Court, Milk Street. — An old sign. Ostrich feathers were a favourite badge of our princes in the Middle Ages ; and from the time of the Black Prince, who adopted them from the King of Bohemia, conquered at the battle of Crecy, they have formed the crest of the Prince of Wales.

Fell Street, Wood Street, bears the name of a former owner of the property. He may or may not (probably not) be connected with the celebrated Doctor Fell, Dean of Christ Church, who, according to the wellknown distich, incurred dislike for no explicable reason.

Fenchurch Street. — The church which gave its name to the street owed its distinctive appellation to its situation in the fenny district of the Lang Bourne, so that the Ward received the name of Fenny About as well as Langbourne. This little but often inconvenient stream took its rise somewhere in the neighbourhood of Mark Lane, flowed westward, across G-racechurch Street, continuing its course between where are now Lombard and King William Streets, and joining the Wall Brook about where the Mansion House now stands. A deviation to the south formed the Shere Bourne, for which see Sherborne Lane. The derivative from fcenum, indicating the adjacent Haymarket, has no foundation in fact, and is not now entertained by antiquaries.

Fetter Lane. — Formerly Fewter — Stowsays from the “fewters ” (a now obsolete word), idle or depraved people, who here congregated. Stow had a remarkable degree of boldness in some of his conjectures, and this derivation does not commend itself to one’s enquiring mind. It has been suggested with more probability that the name had its origin in the felters, or makers of felt, who also carried on their business here.

Finch Lane, Cornhill, formerly Finke’s Lane, commemorates the Finke family, which had a high legal reputation, and were owners of the property. The most notable member was Sir Heneage Finke, Lord Chancellor in 1675. Eobert Finke is stated to have rebuilt the church of St Benedict or St Bennet in the seventeenth century, whence it received the cognomen of Finke. This church occupied the site of the Eoyal Exchange, and its full name is perpetuated by a worthy citizen of Cheapside. Finsbury Square, etc., mark the fenny waste which, with the moor, now Moorfields, was immediately outside the northern wall. It has been argued by Mr Loftie that the burg or bury of Fin is not derivable from Fen, as it is a personal affix (see Bucklersbury and Lothbury). There is, however, no record of one Fin having set up his bury or residence here, and assuredly he would not have altogether died out of remembrance had he been so influential as to annex this territory. Moreover, so marked a characteristic as the fenny nature of the locality was likely to determine its name. I am inclined to assume that the bury was added as a euphonious suffix when London began to extend in this direction.

Fish Street Hill, Thames Street, formerly Bridge Street, being the approach to the old bridge (see London Bridge), then New Fish Street, in contradistinction to the Old Fish Street by Friday Street (which see) ; and, finally, Fish Street Hill. The fishmongers took up their quarters here in the reign of Edward I., and St Magnus and St Botolph received the mortal remains of the mayors and aldermen connected with the fish business. The dealers in fish consisted at first of two communities, namely, the Salt Fish and the Stock Fish Mongers, the former having been incorporated in 1433, the latter in 1509. The division proving prejudicial to the profession in general, they united, and were incorporated as one in 1536. The Fishmongers’ Company has an important and interesting history.

Fishmongers’ Alley, Fenchurch Street, indicates the fact that the Fishmongers’ Company is the freeholder of this (and other) property in the neighbourhood.

Fitchett’s Court, Noble Street, originally Fitche’s, was so named from the owner, whose existence having ever been is known by this token alone.

Fleet Street. — The Fleet Eiver, from which, it is superfluous to say, the thoroughfare derives its name, found its way to the Thames through what is now the line of Farringdon and Bridge Streets. In one part of its course it was known as the River of Wells, from the number of springs and wells which fed it, namely, the Clerken Well, Skinner’s Well, Fagge’s Well, Tod’s, Loder’s, and Ead Well ; but there is some doubt as to whether all these really did find their way to this stream. Where it flowed amidst the hollows of the hills on the north it was known as the Hollow or Hole Bourne, and so gave name to the bridge which spanned it by Newgate, and to the street which extended thence westward. From this point to its embouchure, at the spot whence now springs the first arch of Blackfriars Bridge, in the wall of which its outlet may still be seen, it received the name of Fleet (O.E. Fleot), signifying the navigable (i.e. where vessels may float) part of a stream. In Stow’s time (circa 1600) it had degenerated so much as to be spoken of as the Fleet Dike. It takes its rise amongst the Highgate and Hampstead ponds, by Caen Wood ; and to trace its source on a bright summer day would surely be no unpleasant task, even omitting the practical investigation of the Theory of Tittlebats, which, in conjunction with that of the source of the ” mighty Ponds of Hampstead,” rendered Mr Pickwick famous. For a most interesting history of the river’s course, its prison, its marriages, and of all doings connected with it, see Mr John Ashton’s valuable work.

Fleet Lane, Old Bailey. — One of the ancient thoroughfares to the margin of the river. The whole configuration of this part of the city is so changed since the time when the Fleet flowed merrily along, and those little streets or lanes ran precipitously down to its margin, that it requires a powerful effort of the imagination to reproduce it to one’s mind.

Fleur-de-Lis Court, Carter Lane ; Fleur-deLis Court, Fetter Lane; Fleur-de-Lis Street, Norton Folgate. — These are relics of old tavern signs, and indRed in the last-named a Fleur-de-Lis hostelry still exists. The cognate name, Fleur de Luce, of which in olden times there were no fewer than fifteen instances, seems to have disappeared. The fleur-de-lis is a heraldic device of three flowers of the white lily, or of the white iris, which is called the flower de luce. It was the badge of the kings of France, and dates back to Louis VII. (1137-80), with reference to whom Fleur de Louis has been suggested, a conjecture doubtful although plausible.

Fore Street. — The street immediately before or in front of the Cripple Gate, and which formed the High Street, as it were, of the little village which grew up outside the city wall, under the shadow of the protecting Barbican, or watch tower.

Fort Street, Spitalfields, occupies the site of the practising ground of the old London Artillery Company. Gun Street is cognate.

Foster Lane, Cheapside, is indebted for its name to the parish church of St Vedast Foster. St Vedast was an old French bishop, of Arras, and Foster is believed to have been a benefactor of the church. This explanation of the name is more reasonable, I think, than that usually given of Foster being a familiar form or variation of Vedast.

Founder’s Court, Lothbury, was origina]ly the site of Founders’ Hall, now located in St Swithin’s Lane. The Company was incorporated in 1614, and its special function was to test the correctness of brass weights, and the quality of brass and copper wares within the city and suburbs.

Fountain Court, Alderm anbury. — A very old court, as its appearance testifies. The inn sign from which it derived its name was by no means uncommon, and probably had reference to the city conduits. Stow mentions that a conduit existed in Aldermanbury in the fifteenth century.

Fountain Court, Cheapside, is also a reminiscence of an old fountain tavern.

Frederick’s Place, Old Jewry, was the residence of Sir Christopher Frederick, surgeon to James I. His son, Sir John, was Lord Mayor in 1662.

Freeman’s Court, Cheapside, perpetuates the name of a worthy alderman who owned property on the site. It will be remembered that our great novelist located Dodson and Fogg in Freeman’s Court, which, however, he placed in Cornhill, probably to be in proximity to the George and Vulture in George Yard, Lombard Street.

French Horn Court and French Ordinary Court, Crutched Friars. — From a tavern sign. French Ordinary Court was in existence at least a hundred and sixty years ago, and was probably retained when the railway terminus under which it burrows was constructed, as an old right-of-way. It unites Crutched Friars by a devious passage with Church Eow, Fenchurch Street. I think we may accept Ordinary as an expanded corruption of Horn. French Horn Court is situated opposite, but I believe, from such records as I have been able to consult, that French Ordinary Court existed first, its name being adapted and deviated from a tavern sign (or the tavern may have had the same sign ; in which case there would be a possible reference to an ” ordinary “), and restored to its normal form upon the construction of French Horn Court, at a subsequent period.

Friar Street, Carter Lane. — A reminiscence of the neighbouring Black Friars. The street is at the best but an alley.

Friar’s Alley, Upper Thames Street. — Says Stow, ” formerly Greenwiche Lane, now Frier Lane, of such a sign there set up.” “Probably,” adds Larwood, in his book on Signboards, “a Blackfriar or Dominican monk, for that Order above all others had the reputation of being great topers, and therefore was not out of place on a signboard ” ; and I am sorry to say that various old poems afford evidence of the truth of this statement. It may be noted that Greenwich Street, a small area between the bottom of Friar’s and adjacent lanes and the river, still exists.

Friday Street was for long the residence of fishmongers, forming the fish market of the West Cheap, whence was supplied fish for the Friday’s market, Friday being the recognised fast-from-flesh day. At the southern end was Fish Street, subsequently Old Fish Street, to distinguish it from New Fish Street, founded in the east (see Fish Street Hill). The eastern part of Fish Street was swept away by Queen Victoria Street, and the remainder was absorbed by Knightrider Street. On the tower of St Mary Somerset Church, which stands a solitary, we may say melancholy, relic of the edifice, without name or notice of any kind, at the corner of Lambeth Hill, in Upper Thames Street, and which is noteworthy for its profusion of ornament on the summit, is the legend : ” Lambeth Hill, late Old Fish Street Hill.”

Fyefoot Lane, Upper Thames Street, is a slight abbreviation, and yet effectual disguise, of Five Foot Lane, a name originating in the width or narrowness of the thoroughfare. Accurately speaking, it is about seven feet ; but it may have been narrower when the name was first applied, or, as is more probable, the nomenclator exaggerated a little for effect’s sake. , This is no uncommon expedient at the present day.

Gardner’s Lane, Upper Thames Street, is no doubt derived from a family name ; but it is worthy of note that a bas-relief, representing a gardener with a spade, existed in the street as a sign or symbol of its title until some forty years ago. This interesting sculpture now finds a resting-place in the Guildhall Museum.

Garlick Hill, in connection with Garlickhithe, is a reminiscence of the importation of that edible into London, this hithe or wharf being the place of landing. That its name should thus have been perpetuated indicates that a large demand for the article at one time existed. It has its modern representative in the locality in the more pungent, but less offensive mustard.

Gates. — The names of the various streets which owe their origin to the gates of the city are referred to this article upon the Gates as a whole, as being the most interesting and convenient method of dealing with them ; and the article upon London Wall may also be read in connection therewith.

It must not be supposed that all the gates which pierced the Roman wall, and have left their names behind, were coeval, and existed from the first. They were severally constructed as required. It has been difficult, with the scant records of the Roman settlement, and has much exercised the ingenuity of our archaeologists, to determine the times of their construction. But it seems now to be tolerably well established that the circumvallation of the city (not the earliest, for this, the first Koman fortification or citadel, constructed immediately that people settled on the east bank of what was afterwards known as the Wall Brook, circumscribed a small area bounded by what are now Cornhill and Leadenhall Street on the north, Billiter Street and Mark Lane on the east, the Walbrook of course on the west, and the river front, supported by piles, of which not a vestige remains, on the south) was at first pierced by two land gates only, namely, the West Gate and the North Gate, which occupied sites near, but not exactly coinciding with, the subsequent New Gate and Bishop’s Gate respectively. The water gates, which there is reason to believe were coexistent, were those occupying the points afterwards known in the Saxon period as Dowgate and Billingsgate, and also Ebsgate, at the bottom of what is now Old Swan Lane, formerly Ebsgate Lane. Aldersgate, Cripplegate, and Moorgate were of later date, and Aldgate and Ludgate, which later replaced a postern overlooking the Fleet, were later still.

Taking them in topographical sequence, we make a complete circuit of the wall from point to point, commencing with the southwest corner.

Ludgate. — The origin of the name has been much debated, and is not yet finally determined. In early legendary days, Lud and Belin were regarded as old British kings, giving their names to Ludgate and Belinsgate, or Billingsgate respectively. The latter has been definitely deposed, and it has been decided that the gate was built and named by a real Saxon entity (see Billingsgate). The former cannot be so easily and satisfactorily disposed of. After a time Lud was regarded as no more than a traditional monarch, and the etymon had to yield in favour of a derivative from the Fleet, through the transitional phases of Flud and Lud. This has been pronounced by an eminent authority as “philologically impossible ” — a bold assertion, which I should have supposed no one who knows the changes names undergo would have dared to make. It has, however, driven Mr Loftie, the most thoughtful historian of London, to “fall back upon King Lud.” If I were he, I would not do so. No other gate has a British name. Why should the Saxons, who named this postern, have endowed it with one ? There is more to be said in favour of Fleet and Flud, and to that, I think, we should, until more light be shed on the matter, adhere. Newgate, near the site of the aboriginal West Gate, reconstructed and renamed probably in the time of Henry I. or Stephen.

The Koman gate was smaller. This was the main outlet westward, over Holborn Bridge, which spanned the Fleet, and thence along a continuation of the Watling Street, subsequently named Holborn (which see). The room over the gateway was used as a place of confinement, and Newgate Prison is its ultimate development. It is stated that the gruesome gyves and fetters, which now adorn the portals of the prison, served the same purpose at the old gate ; but I will not vouch for the accuracy of the tradition.

Aldersgate. — The origin of the name can only be conjectured. It may with probability be referred to Ealdred, a noble of Alfred’s time, a supposition which is strengthened by the fact that Ealdredsgate is alluded to in the laws of Ethelred. That any connection existed between it and alder trees growing near the spot, as some have imagined, is extremely doubtful.

Cripplegate. — It is stated that the body of Edmund the Martyr, in one of its removals to escape seizure by the Danes, was conveyed through this gate, and as it passed it diffused a healing influence upon the halt and maimed there assembled. In which case, however, the name would be due to the assembly, rather than to the miracle. Credat Judceus Apella, for there is every token of improbability about the legend. A more reasonable, and the probable, origin has been suggested in connection with O.E. crypel or cryppel, a den or burrow, indicating the narrow, half-underground passage from the gate, which was but a postern, to the Barbican.

Moorgate commemorates the moor which extended from the city wall to the Middlesex woods. It was built in 1415, says old Stow, ” for the ease of citizens to walk that way towards Iseldon (Islington) and Hoxton.”

Bishopsgate. — -The north gate of the Romans. Eebuilt by Erkenwald, son of King Offa, held in high repute by succReding ages, which regarded him as the second patron saint of London, and ascribed innumerable miracles to his influence. The gate was repaired and renamed by Bishop William, in the reign of the Conqueror, and the effigies of the two Williams adorned the structure. As a memento of the old gate there may be observed on the houses abutting upon Wormwood and Camomile Streets the bishop’s mitre, with an inscription that ” Adjoining to this spot Bishopsgate formerly stood.” It is interesting to know that the Bishop of London was accustomed to receive a stick from every load of wood which entered the city by this gate, and in consideration thereof was bound to keep the hinges in repair. We have Bishopgate Within and Without. The former indicates the portion of the thoroughfare within the boundary of the old wall or the ancient city liberties ; the latter is an extension of the liberties, rendered necessary by the growth of the metropolis, to Norton Folgate (see Bars).

Aldgate, speciously interpreted as the Old Gate, but, it is held, incorrectly so. The name has no connection with eald, or old ; and there is reason to believe it was not constructed until after the Roman era — perhaps, says Loftie, in the reign of Edgar or Edward the Confessor, but there is no certainty. It provided an outlet towards the new bridge over the Lea at Stratford, built by Maud, Queen of Henry I., the old road having run from Bishopsgate to Old Ford. In the oldest documents the name is spelt Alegate, then Al, and finally Aid, which is no help whatever to the etymology. One might make two or three plausible guesses, but these would serve little purpose without evidence. We can only hope that the future may throw light upon the difficulty.

Postern Gate, on Tower Hill, although not a main gate, demands notice from its importance, as indicated by the persistence of the name. Until recently its site was marked by Postern Eow.

Billingsgate is believed to be indebted for its name to one Belin, a Saxon, evidently of some repute, although there is no direct evidence respecting him, who settled by the old Roman Watergate. The incga, or descendants of himself or of a common ancestor were widely spread, having settlements at Billinge in Lancashire, Billingham in Hants and Durham, Billinghurst in Sussex, Billingsley in Shropshire, Billington in Bedford, and at some half-dozen other places. It is superfluous to add that the family is still flourishing in several parts of London. In 1558 Billingsgate was officially constituted a landing-place for provisions; in 1699 it was made “a free and open market for all sorts of fish.” There was a tradition that the phraseology of the ladies engaged in business here was unpolished, but this is of the past. Dowgate. — The etymon is unaccountably lost. Stow suggests Down Gate, from the rapid descent of the road to the river. This is improbable, for the rapid descent could hardly have been the chief or a peculiar feature of the locality, or the most important or striking attribute of the gate. The celtic Dwyr, water, appears as a component in the names of several of our rivers, and offers a plausible and appropriate derivation, but there seems to be no reason why the Saxons, who named or renamed the gates, should have adopted a Celtic prefix for this one only, although, of course, it is possible. The probability is that it is an inscrutable corruption of, or deviation from, the original name, which it would now be difficult and inconclusive to conjecture, although Dock-Gate is tempting. (See St Mary Bqthaw, Appendix I.)

The city gates and bulwarks were finally demolished by Act of Parliament in 1760.

George Lane, Botolph Lane, is so named from the adjacent parish church of St George and Botolph. The article on Botolph Lane may be referred to.

George Yard, Lombard Street. — Here, according to Stow, stood a famous hostelry for travellers, called The George, said to have originally been the London “lodging” of the Earl of Ferrers. The Yard was rebuilt after the Great Fire, and endowed with the name of the ancient inn, which was not rebuilt. It will be remembered that here, in the George and Vulture Tavern and Hotel — ” very good, old-fashioned, and comfortable quarters ” — Mr Pickwick and Sam took up their abode, the better to ascertain and study the evil machinations of Dodson and Fogg. The George and Vulture Tavern was a happy thought as a revival of an old historic name. One can imagine Dickens taking a lunch here to test the hostelry before locating his hero.

As regards other Georges, the reader is referred to the Preliminary Observations.

Giltspur Street is stated to be so named from the gilded spurs of the knights who rode that way to tournament at West Smithfield. I think it is open to doubt, or at least question, whether so slight a circumstance, common to every street through which they rode, is the exact or sole derivation ; but obviously there was a connection between the thoroughfare and the gilded spurs of the knights. I am inclined to believe that here may have been the emporium for this portion of the accoutrement necessary for the jousts in the adjacent field of mimic war.

Glasshouse Yard, Aldersgate. — Here a Venetian glass manufacturer founded a factory and made an effort to carry on his business. It records an irruption of the enterprising trading foreigner, to whom, it is right to remember, England is much indebted for the introduction of arts and manufactures. The enterprising predatory foreigner dates from the earliest times — many ” came over with the Conqueror ” — and is supplemented in modern days by the pauper immigrant. But this by the way.

Globe Court, Fish Street Hill. — From an old sign. A public-house of the same sign still exists.

Godfrey’s Court, Milk Street, perpetuates the name of a former owner. It is but a cul-de-sac, having at the entrance a gate and barwork, evidently designed to protect the wealth of the court, actual or potential. It is not improbable that Michael Godfrey, one of the founders of the Bank of England, possessed the property.

Godliman Street. — A name in keeping with the ecclesiastical surroundings, but what particular godly man (if Godliman is not by a curious coincidence the original owner’s name, which is unascertainable) is here immortalised is unknown; undoubtedly one under the beneficent influence of the adjacent sanctuary, of whom, probably, in the words of Goldsmith’s ” Elegy” —

“the world might say That still a godly race he ran “Whene’er he went to pray. “A kind and gentle heart he had To comfort friends and foes. The naked every day he clad When he put on his clothes.”

It has been suggested that the name is a corruption of Godalming, but there is nothing to establish any connection with the Surrey town, or with ” godalmins,” as the calf leathers prepared there are called.

Golden Lane, Barbican, originally Golding Lane, from the name of the builder.

Goldsmiths Street, Wood Street, reminds us of the time when this craft held important sway in the West Cheap, on the south side of which was Goldsmiths Eow, extending from Old Change to Bucklersbury. Their Hall now stands in the adjacent Foster Lane, and Cheapside is still the chief locality of the city jewellers.

Goodman’s Fields, Minories, Goodman’s Stile, Little Alie Street, Goodman’s Yard, Minories. — Here Farmer Goodman used to dispense milk to country ramblers ; and prior to his occupation it was the farm of the Minoresses. (See Minories.) The locality is rich in associations.

Goring Street, Houndsditch, late Castle Street, indicates a modern change from a meaningless title to at any rate a rational surname, distinctive if obscure.

Goswell Street is a contraction of Godes “Well, or God’s Well, one of the old London springs.

Gracechurch Street “was so named,” says Stow, “from the parish church of St Benet, called Grass Church, of the herb market there kept.” The name appears at various times as Grasschurch Street, Grasse Street, Grastreet, and Gracious Street. The present name dates from the rebuilding of the church after the Fire. Here was a market for not only herbs, but corn, malt, cheese, nuts, and kindred produce, and extended from the church to Birchin Lane. The Haymarket was adjacent. (See Fenchurch Street.)

Gravel Lane, Houndsditch, has now no distinctive gravelly features, but taking it in conjunction with the adjacent Stoney Lane, we can understand the application of the name in olden time.

Great Bell Alley, Coleman Street. — So called from an old sign. It may be noted that the ” Alleys” between Moorgate and Coleman Streets are much too good for the title. They are worthy at the least of the cognomen of ” Courts,” i.e. short ways from one thoroughfare to the other.

Great St Helen’s, originally Great St Helen’s Court. The little maze surrounding the old church has its specific name to distinguish it from Little St Helen’s, as St Helen’s Place (which see) was formerly named.

Great St Thomas Apostle. — A reminiscence of the parish church of St Thomas Apostle, now non-existent, the parish having been united with St Mary Aldermary. The church stood in Cloak Lane, across where now is Queen Street, and was removed to make room for the new thoroughfare.

Great Swan Alley, Moorgate Street, has its origin in an old sign. At the present day is a hostelry known as ” Ye Old Swan’s Nest,” a pretty ornithological conceit.

Green Court, Coleman Street, has no distinguishing verdure, and we may assuredly assign the origin of its name to a builder or owner.

Green Dragon Court, St Andrew’s Hill, is indebted for its name to an old sign, and the Green Dragon hostelry, still existent, testifies to the fact.

Greenwich Street, Upper Thames Street. — The origin of the name is buried in obscurity, but undoubtedly we may accept the suggestion of Mr Kiley, that its builder, and therefore godfather, may have been John de Greenwich, an inhabitant of Dowgate in the time of Edward II. The present Greenwich Street is but a small area on the bank of the river; the past included also what is now Friar’s Alley.

Gresham Street does honour to Sir Thomas Gresham, the munificent founder of the Eoyal Exchange in 1563; a mercer and a loyal citizen, who desired that his city should possess a building rivalling the Bourses of Antwerp and Vienna. His whole life is interesting and instructive, calculated to stimulate youth, if one could only induce the youth of the present day to learn more of the lives of London’s worthies, who made our city what it is.

Greyfriars, or Christ’s Hospital. — The Grey Friars were the Franciscans. The cloister and buttery of the present building are all that remains of the original. (See Blackfriars for notes upon the Friars in general.)

Grocers’ Hall Court marks the entrance to the sacred precincts of the Hall of the Grocers’ Company. It was formerly Conyhoop Lane, indicating its connection with the poultry market.

It should be borne in mind that grocers, or ” grossers ” of the olden time, were traders of considerable importance. They were merchants en gros, or wholesale, as the name indicates. Their earlier English title was ” Pepperers,” of Italian, Genoese, Florentine, or Venetian nationality. They supplied the spices and drugs of India and Araby, the wine and fruits of Italy, to all Europe. Kings, princes, dukes, and others of the nobility have, according to its records, been enrolled in this illustrious Company.

In Grub Street, now Milton Street, was an appropriate Butterfly Court, also a Honeysuckle Court, both suggesting a sweetness and a freshness there never known. The same street boasted of a Flying Horse Court, which may fancifully, but no doubt incorrectly, be held as having reference to the Pegasus of that classic region. On St Dunstan’s Hill was a Coffin Court, not inappropriate for the adjacent churchyard. Crab Courts and Cradle Courts numbered three and four respectively ; and we find a Cross Harper’s Court, which, probably, did not refer to ” an enraged musician.” In Kosemary Lane was Crowfoot’s Court, and in Thames Street a Double Hand Court ; a Eunuch Court near Goodmans Yard ; and Barbican, as well as the Inner Temple, boasted a Fig Tree Court. There were a Five Inkhorn Court and a Five Inkhorn Alley, also a Five Pipe Alley, whence we may infer that five was regarded as a mystic number in this relation. Hairbrained Court in Thames Street was probably a misspelling of Harebrained, having a subtle reference to the builder, the owner, or the inhabitants thereof. Then we find a Mutton Court and a Mutton Lane — the one in Wood Street, the other in Clerkenwell — having no allusion, apparently, to that article of diet ; a Powdered Beef Court, which, no doubt, bore the name of a then toothsome dainty ; a Purse Court, appropriately in Old ‘Change ; a Strawberry Court in Tower Royal ; a Sweet Apple Court in Bishopsgate Street ; and a Tobacco Roll Court in Gracechurch Street; whilst a Pig Court kept in countenance two Hog Lanes. In Cheapside was a Blowbladder Street ; in Bucklersbury a KnitnRedle Street ; and in Aldersgate a Pickax Street. We find also Turn wheel Lane bordering upon the Wall Brook in its course towards the Dow Gate, undoubtedly having connection with a once existing water mill. Gun Square, Houndsditch, should be rather Gun’s Square, the only surviving memento of an obscure individual, probably the owner of the property.

Gun Street, Spitalfields. — A portion of the ground of the old London Artillery Company. Fort Street is cognate. Gutter Lane commemorates the residence of Guthrun or Gutheron, a Danish burgher, sometime owner thereof. The name has passed through the transition stages of Guthrun, Gutheron, Goderan, and Gutter, as attested by old documents.

Hammet Street, Minories, bears the name of a former owner of the property. Sir Benjamin Hammet was Sheriff in 1788, and was probably a city freeholder.

Hand-and-Pen Court, Leadenhall Street, is very nearly built out of existence. IndRed, it now exists only upon sufferance, as a kind of back entrance to magnificent offices in Fenchurch Street. The Hand-and-Pen Tavern, which acted as godfather, is buried in the profoundest obscurity, and I observe that the very name of the court has been removed, as though there were reason to be ashamed of its origin. It is situated next to number sixty-one. There was in olden time a Hand-and-Pen Court on Tower Hill.

Hare Court, Aldersgate Street. — A reminiscence of a shop sign, which appears to have had reference to the name of the proprietor, Nicholas Warren, who should have considered that a rabbit would have been more appropriate. Maybe the sign-painter was at fault.

Harp Lane, Lower Thames Street, is mentioned by Stow as Hart Lane, and probably owed its name to Sir John Hart, Lord Mayor in 1589, to whom Hart Street, Crutched Friars, is likewise indebted. Hart Street, Crutched Friars. (See Harp Lane.) Sir John was probably a freeholder in these localities.

Hart Street, Wood Street. — Probably also commemorates Sir John. Hartshorn Alley, Leadenhall Street. — I am sorry to say I am unable to find any information as to the origin of this name. There was a Hartshorne of Aldersgate, “Servant to the King, 1400,” but I cannot ascertain that he possessed property in Aldgate. Again, Northumberland House, which was the town residence of the Earls of Northumberland, and has left its name to the adjacent Northumberland Alley in Fenchureh Street, was previously the house of the Prior of Horn Church in Essex, which may perhaps afford an explanation of the second syllable. Whether the first can be assigned to the neighbouring Hart Street by any ingenuity of connection is problematical. There appears to be no association with the ammonia of commerce. It is a curious fact, but nothing more I think than a coincidence, that there was a Hartshorne Lane at Charing Cross until 1760, when it was demolished, and Northumberland Street built in its stead. Here, in the east, we have a Hartshorn Alley and Northumberland Alley almost in contiguity.

Hatchet Court, Trinity Lane, Thames Street, is of an ancient sign, still existent in the guardian tavern at one entrance of the maze, which has another in Garlick Hill, under the name of Sugarloaf Court, where stands the Crown and Sugarloaf as the guardian there. There is also another entrance from Thames Street.

Hatton Court, ThreadnRedle Street, is indebted for its name to that of a past owner of the property, not improbably the famous Sir Christopher of Hatton Garden memory, or one of the family. Hatton Garden is a memento of the illustrious Sir Christopher Hatton, Elizabeth’s Chancellor. In connection with Sir Christopher may be mentioned his marriage with a beautiful gipsy girl, who bewitched him by compact with the Evil One. This gentleman’s price was the girl’s body and soul after a stipulated time. At the expiration thereof the Evil One seized her, carried her into mid-air, tore out her heart and cast it to the ground. The spot upon which it fell was named BlReding Heart Yard, so who can doubt the legend ? And yet those incredulous sceptics, who destroy our beautiful legends one by one, seek to explain the name by the assertion that it was originally BlReding Hart Yard, a forgotten sign or family cognizance, and I am inclined to think they are right.

Haydon Square, Minories, serves to record the past existence of Alderman John Heydon, the ground landlord in 1582.

Helmet Court, Wormwood Street. — One of a half-dozen which formerly existed in the city. An old sign, which probably originated during the knightly era.

Heneage Lane, Bevis Marks. — Upon the dissolution of the monasteries, the Abbey House of the fraternity here located (see Bevis Marks) was acquired by Sir Thomas Heneage, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1595, whose name is thus preserved.

Hercules Passage, ThreadnRedle Street. — From an old sign. It has no herculean characteristic. On the contrary, it is rather small and mean.

Hermitage Street, Wapping. — The site of the Hermitage, a brewhouse, which owed its name to a hermit residing on the spot before the brewhouse was built. He was presumably a man of some note, but nothing now appears to be known respecting him.

Herring Court, Redcross Street. — One might have supposed this to be a surname, had not the original been Three Herring Court, which declares it to have been an old sign, the badge of the Herring family.

High Timber Street, Upper Thames Street. — An ingenious transposition and mutation of Timber Hithe, its original name, being the hythe, or landing-place, for timber.

Holborn was originally the continuation of Waiting Street after its exit from the city through the West (afterwards the New) Gate. The name of Holborn was subsequently imposed by reason of its being the highway from Holborn Bridge, which, just outside the New Gate, spanned the Hole Bourne in that part of its course where it was about to change its name to the River Fleet.

From the time of Stow until, one may say, a comparatively recent period, the Hole Bourne, or Old Bourne, as it was sometimes indecisively named, was supposed to have taken its rise somewhere about the spot now known as Holborn Bars, and to have flowed down as a tributary to the Fleet. But it is at length conclusively proved that the name was applied to the upper reaches of the Fleet itself, where it ran its course in the hollows amidst the high ground of the north, thus being the bourne in the hollow, whence Hollow or Hole Bourne. An early village bearing the name studded the bank of the brook, and gradually extended itself westward. It had the honour of being mentioned in the Conqueror’s Survey.

Holborn Bars, a little west of Brooke Street, indicated the limit of the city liberties westward. (See Bars.)

Holiday Yard, CrRed Lane, is, I believe, a surname, probably that of a former owner, and has no reference to the gambols of young or old citizens bent on recreation.

Holywell Lane and Eow, Shoreditch, commemorate the site of a Priory of Nuns of St John the Baptist, built near one of London’s many wells ; ” sweet, wholesome, and clear” in Stow’s time, but not so for long after.

Holywell Street, Strand, received its name from the holy well of St Clement’s, to whom the adjacent church was dedicated. (See Wych Steeet.)

Honey Lane, Cheapside, perpetuates the memory of the market. The market-house occupied the centre of the area, until recently the site of the City of London School, now devoted to commercial and mercantile offices. The consumption of honey was probably considerable when the importation of sugar was small. Stow is careful to inform us that the lane was so called, ” not of sweetness thereof, being very narrow and somewhat dark, but rather of often washing and sweeping to keep it clean/’ which is somewhat contradictory. The fact of its connection with the principal emporium of honey seems to have escaped his usually alert observation.

Hooper’s Court, Nicholas Lane, presumably records the name of the builder or original owner. The occupiers are for the most part devoted to the advancement of financial projects, and the interpretation of the ” T. N. S. ” over the entrance is obviously ” Try New Shares,” or a disinterested and friendly recommendation to ” Trust No Syndicate.”

Horseshoe Court, Ludgate Hill. — The horseshoe once gave name to about a dozen of our courts and alleys. This before us survives as one of the most dilapidated little entries, immediately adjacent to a noble thoroughfare, that our city can be ashamed of. We wind round it into Boy Court, and thence by Benson’s Chambers we emerge again into the civilisation of Ludgate Hill. Horseshoes form the charge borne in the arms of Ferrers, Earls of Derby.

Hosier Lane, Smithfield. — The earlier seat of the hosiery trade, afterwards removed to Hosier Lane, Cheapside, which formed the northern half of what is now Bow Lane, the southern being Cordwainer Street, the residence of the shoemakers and curriers.

Houndsditch. — The ditch, which was outside this part of the city wall, probably derived its name from the refuse deposited in it, of the animal component of which dead dogs appear to have formed a predominant, or, at any rate, a most impressive proportion. It has been suggested that its name may be due to the practice of letting dogs swim or bathe there ; but it appears to have always had an unpleasant reputation. Stow speaks of it as “full of dead dogs” — an obvious exaggeration. It was no doubt filthy; so much so that in his day — a time of no particular regard for sanitary arrangements — it was deemed necessary to cover it over.

Howard Street, Strand. — A reminiscence of the Howard family, former residents in the locality.

Huggins Lane, Wood Street, and Queen Victoria Street. — According to Stow, Hugan was a citizen of the time of Edward I., and was apparently a man of some repute, having given name to two thoroughfares. But the eminent antiquarian, Mr H. B. Wheatley, is inclined to think that both are a euphemistic rendering of Hog’s Lane, since they were spoken of as Hoggenelane in 1281. I prefer Stow’s explanation, as Hoggene is as likely to be a form of Hugan as the plural of hog, and the circumstances are more probable.

Idol Lane, Tower Stbeet, is a corruption of Idle Lane, as it was written in Stow’s time, and is supposed to have had reference to the comparative absence of business, and the loitering of unemployed, persons in the thoroughfare. This derivation is not altogether satisfactory and conclusive to the enquiring mind, but no better can at present be found.

A cognate name, ascribed by Stow to the circumstance that the place was not inhabited by artificers or open shopkeepers (evidently to him the embodiment of real industry) was that of Dolittle Lane, in Old Fish Street, no longer existing ; although some conjecture this was derived from the quondam rector of St Alphage of that name, who, ejected from his living, here set up a Presbyterian church.

Ingram Court, Fenchurch Street, marks the site of the residence of Sir Thomas Ingram, merchant, who contributed to the financial welfare of St Dionis Backchurch, which stood by Lime Street, and contained a monument to his memory.

Inns of Court, although not strictly streets of London, and somewhat beyond the boundaries of the city, may be regarded as thoroughfares (as indRed they are), and are sufficiently interesting to be worthy of a place amongst our names. As Mr Pickwick remarked (chap, xx.) : ” Curious little nooks in a great place, like London, these old Inns are.”

Originally Inn signified a large private house or dwelling (O.E. inn = a, house, chamber, or dwelling), and was so applied to the residences of several of the nobility. Subsequently its meaning was extended to a house of call or entertainment for travellers, and to a college for students of law, or to a legal colony — the fundamental idea seeming to be a place of welcome for a common object. The original meaning is now quite superseded.

As regards the history and development of the Inns of Court, the reader who desires full information is referred to Mr Loftie’s excellent work on the subject.

Barnard’s Inn, formerly Mackworth’s Inn, a private residence, founded by Dr John Mackworth. Barnard was a subsequent occupier, when it became an Inn of Chancery.

Clement’s Inn is so named from Clement’s Well. Its foundation is buried in obscurity, but it is known that students of the law had rooms here in 1480. It was at one time possessed by the Earl of Clare, who left his name to various parts of the adjacent district. The Inn buildings have recently undergone considerable change, and the transformation is not yet completed. St Clement was Bishop of Eome, a disciple of St Peter.

Cliffords Inn. — The mansion of Eobert de Clifford, to whom it was granted by Edward II., at an annual quitrent of one penny. In 1345 Clifford’s widow devised it to certain students of the law. It is the oldest Inn in Chancery.

FurnivaVs Inn occupies the site of the town residence of the Furnival family ; built by Sir William in 1388. Members of the family were companions of Eichard I. in Palestine. The Inn is famous for many historical connections ; most famous to the modern mind as the residence of Charles Dickens and the birthplace of Pickwick.

Grays Inn is a memento of Baron Gray of “Wilton, by whom it was built. It was devised to students of the law in the reign of Edward III.

Lincoln’s Inn derives its name from Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, who built it as a town residence. It was conveyed to the Benchers in 1579.

New Inn was founded about the year 1485, and was originally situated at the junction of Seacoal Lane and Fleet Lane. It received the name of New when transferred to its present site.

Staple Inn was originally an hostelry for merchants of the wool staple (O.E. stapel == a heap, hence a depot where goods were accumulated and shown for sale ; then, by transfer of meaning, not uncommon in the growth of languages, the goods themselves as a chief commodity). In the fourteenth century wool was the principal or staple article of English production, and regulations were made with respect to its exportation. The history of staplers, as connected with the development of our commerce, is replete with interest.

The Temple recalls to mind the Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem, the famous military Order, a combination of knights and monks, owing its origin to the Crusades, whose second and final abode in London was here. The first was in Holborn, at the north-east corner of Chancery Lane, from 1118 to 1184, in which latter year they removed their quarters hither, to what was long known as the New Temple. The church is modelled on that of the Holy Sepulchre, but the circular portion is the only ancient part remaining. The Templars were suppressed in the reign of Edward III., who gave their estate to his cousin the Earl of Pembroke, from whom it passed to the Earl of Lancaster ; from him it reverted to the Crown, and thence went to the Knights of St John at Clerkenwell, who leased the greater portion to the students of common law, with whom it remains to this day. The full history of the Templars, which is excRedingly interesting, must be sought elsewhere.

Thavies Inn was so named as being the hospitium of John Thavie, an armourer of Edward III. By him it was demised to students of the law, who, however, had taken up their quarters therein, with his permission, during his lifetime.

Ireland Yard, Blackfriars, has a literary interest associated with its name, inasmuch as William Ireland, the owner of a house therein, whence the title of the Yard, conveyed his property to Shakespeare, and the dRed of conveyance is to this day preserved in the Corporation Library.

Ironmonger Lane, the early seat of the hardware trade — the members of which ” for the better furtherance of their business,” removed to Thames Street, where they may still be found in considerable numbers. Ivy Lane, Paternoster Eow, carries us far back to the time when ivy grew in notable profusion on the walls of the prebendal houses which stood in this then avenue.

Jeffrey’s Square, St Mary Axe. — A comparatively modern name, no doubt that of the builder or owner ; to him probably a clarum et venerdbile nomen, worthy of being handed down to posterity.

Jewin Street and Crescent mark a settlement of the Jews. Here was the only spot in London where this race had the right of burial, until the reign of Henry II., when they obtained permission to purchase ground for sepulture elsewhere. It is spoken of in ancient dReds as ” The Jews’ Garden.”

As in Jewry the terminal ry has a collective signification, so in Jewin the terminal in is a modification of the plural en, seen in oxen, hosen, brethren, etc. (O.E. an.)

Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street, is worthy of notice as not being named after the great lexicographer. It was the residence of a Mr Johnson, whose services to mankind are apparently otherwise unrecorded. He was probably the owner.

Joiners’ Hall Buildings, Thames Street. — A reminiscence of the — shall we say more prosperous ? — times when the Joiners’ Company possessed a hall, here situate. Now the Company is one of those which dispense with a hall. Of the old building nothing is left but the gateway, surmounted by two savage-looking, half-naked individuals, apparently a copy of the crest of the Company’s arms ; but what connection such truculent personages have, or had, with a decently clothed and peaceable fraternity it is not easy to conjecture.

King Street, Cheapside. — Complementary to Queen Street, enlarged and renamed after the Fire. I am sorry there is no better reason for the name, but we must give the nomenclators credit at least for their loyalty.

King Edward Street, Newgate, was formerly Stinking Lane (afterwards Butcherhall Lane, Newgate Street being then known as the Shambles), as a mild and humorous protest against the nauseous odours of the adjacent meat market. Its present revised name is in honour of the founder of the Christ’s Hospital School, Edward VI. The Grey Friars’ Church was given to the city by his father, Henry VIII. Edward confirmed and developed the gift, and heartily entered with Eidley into the scheme of utilising the place to the utmost for the benefit of the poor and the cause of education. Thus the name of the street is right worthily bestowed.

King William Street is in commemoration of the opening of the present London Bridge by King William IY. in 1831. Here, there is reason for the regal nomenclature. (See Note on London Bridge.)

King’s Arms Yard, Moorgate Steet. — From an old sign, probably the outcome of loyalty to Charles II. The term “yard” appears to indicate an enclosure, which probably existed before the thoroughfare was made.

King’s Head Court, Fish Street Hill, was the site of an old tavern bearing the sign of the King’s Head, spoken of by ” rare old ” Ben Jonson. [To suppress the epithet would be unorthodox.] The court has certainly a most uninviting and unregal entrance, but is interesting as a souvenir of the past.

King’s Head Court. Others, Several. — There once existed somewhere about a score and a ha]f of courts named after this popular sign, which doubtless had reference to the head of Charles I., which we know, upon Mr Dick’s unassailable testimony, was always of an obtrusive nature.

Knightrider Street. — Stated to be a thoroughfare much used by the knights of old riding to the tournaments at West Smithfleld. They were accustomed to assemble here for inspection by their standard-bearer, whose appointment was attached to the soke which comprised this south-west corner of the city. As standard-bearers the Fitz Walters long held Baynard’s Castle, where they possessed a “liberty,” or exemption from ordinary jurisdiction. The office was one of some importance. In the old ages of chivalry, which has now assumed other and less horsey forms, the spurs of knights (equites aurati) were of gold, or at least gilded {see Giltspur Street), whilst those of their squires were of silver or its counterfeit presentment. But now —

. ” The knights are dust, And their good swords are rust. Their souls are with the saints, we trust.” COLERIDGE

Lambeth Hill, Thames Street. — Stow tells us how one Lambert, of whom nothing more appears to be known, was the owner of property on this site.

Langbourne. — The Lang or Long Bourne was so called, says Stow, ” of the length thereof,” although to our minds this was not a striking characteristic. Prior to the fourteenth century, it is spoken of as the Langford. Taking its rise somewhere about the upper part of Mark Lane, or perhaps even a little more north, it ran swiftly westward across Gracechurch Street, and between King William Street and Lombard Street, past Sherborne Lane, where it gave off the Shere, or divided, Bourne (which see), and thence into the Wall Brook, at about the spot now occupied by the Mansion House. From its overflowing in the first part of its course, being “a great stream breaking out of the ground,” as Stow says, the district was known also as Fennieabout, whence the name of Fenchurch Street {which see). There is now no memorial of the notable brook but Langbourne Chambers in Fenchurch Street. It is regrettable that it has not shared equal honours with the Fleet, the Wall Brook, and the Shere Bourne, which still survive in our city street names.

Lawrence Lane, Cheapside. — A well-merited memento of Sir John Lawrence, Lord Mayor in 1665, the year of the Plague. He much distinguished himself by his energy and resources, courage and liberality, in the trying circumstances. He may be read of in Darwin’s “Loves of the Plants,” — a volume, I suppose, few but specialists look at nowadays — where he is spoken of as ” London’s generous Mayor.”

Lawrence Pountney Lane and Hill. — Formerly Lawrence Poulteney. Sir John Poulteney (the I in whose name has, for some reason, probably a mistaken idea of euphony, been displaced by n in the modern naming of the locality) was one of London’s worthiest and most munificent citizens — a draper, and four times Mayor. In 1337 he built a fair chapel in St Paul’s Church, wherein he was in due time buried. He founded a college in the parish church of St Lawrence, called Poulteney. He built the parish church of Little Allhallows, and the Carmelite Friars Church in Coventry. He gave relief to prisoners in Newgate and in the Fleet ; ten shillings a year to St Giles’ Hospital by Oldborne for ever ; and other legacies, too long to rehearse ; all of which is related by Stow. The burial-ground of St Lawrence still exists, an interesting survival of the past, and a spot admirably adapted for the exercise of a meditative spirit. It is not unpleasing, but perhaps a little melancholy, to gaze upon these disused city churchyards, and try to conjure up scenes of the past, when loved ones were being consigned to their last earthly resting-place by those who have in their turn long since trodden the Valley of the Shadow.

Laystall Street, Clerkenwell, I notice, is a memento of the unsavoury custom which long existed in old London of placing refuse in certain open spaces, called ” lay-stalls,” until the nuisance became so intolerable that active measures had to be taken to put an end to it. Leadenhall Street. — Formerly a continuation in name of Cornhill, until the erection of Sir Hugh Neville’s mansion in 1309, on the site of the present market. One of the chief characteristics of the building was the roof of lead, whence it was known as the Leaden Hall, and ultimately gave its name to the thoroughfare in which it was situated. It was successively owned and inhabited from time to time by members of the nobility and many illustrious citizens. In 1443 it was determined to erect a granary on the site “for the people’s greater advantage,” and for this purpose the area was much extended, since it dawned, or was forced upon, the municipal mind that ” the garnering of wheat had been hitherto much neglected.” It afterwards became a market for meat and fish ; then for raw hides, and for wool and herbs. In 1814 it was specially a leather market. It subsequently reverted to hides and meat, and is now, as we know, a general provision market.

Leather Lane, Holborn, is spoken of by Stowas Lither Lane, which name was apparentlyderived from the owner, who in Stow’s day ” had lately replenished it with houses built.”

Lilypot Lane, Noble Street. — From an old tavern sign. An heraldic charge, being a lily-shaped ornamental cup, with a circular pedestal and base.

Lime Street. — The locality of the lime-burners — an objectionable pursuit. It is probable, however, that the obnoxious article was only sold, not burned, here.

Little Britain, originally Bretagne or Britain Street, indicates the locality in which the Dukes of Bretagne took up their abode. Little Britain, in its palmy days, was a famous emporium for antique and blackletter books — a happy hunting-ground for virtuosi and curiosi. Washington Irving has written a great deal of gossipy meditation upon its glories, past and present.

Lombard Street, — The quarter wherein the money-lenders from Lombardy settled. The Lombards were an eminently commercial and financial people, and competed with the Jews in the Middle Ages as capitalists and pawnbrokers. They judiciously located themselves between the two trading quarters of the West and East Cheaps. There is an etymological interest in the fact that the unredeemed pledges deposited in the Lombards’ store-rooms gave rise to the word ” lumber,” applied to the pledges, as old and useless. Then the application was extended to stored furniture in general ; thence to anything of a heavy and cumbrous nature as lumbering, or to any accumulation of old and awkward articles. More recently, heavy American timber has acquired the specific name of lumber. Thus the word is yet developing.

London. — The name of our city has existed with comparatively little change from its first bestowal by the Britons, who, choosing the highest easternmost ground on the northern river bank, on the west of what was afterwards the Wall Brook, founded the little settlement of Llyn-din, ” the lake fortress,” aptly named from its position amid the swamps — with the river flowing, or rather overflowing, on its south, the estuary of the Fleet on the west, marshes on the east, and fens on the north, with the Middlesex woods in the distance. It is worth while to note that a legend, now no longer entertained by antiquaries, told how the original name was Lluan-din, ” the fortress of the moon ” ; that a temple devoted to the worship of that luminary was built on the high ground on which St Paul’s now stands ; and that on this site the Romans, always agreeable for political reasons to respect the religious prejudices of those they subjugated, erected a nobler temple to the same deity, under the title of Diana. There is nothing, however, to support the legend. Wren found no remains which would afford the least confirmation, although he penetrated to a depth of forty feet for his foundations. It has therefore been dismissed, to share the fate of many another legend which cannot bear the fierce light of this sceptical and prosaic age. Actually, or legendarily, the site of St Paul’s has been that of a British fortress, a Roman camp, a burial-ground of successive occupiers of the city, a heathen temple, a Christian fane, and lastly a metropolitan cathedral, for an account of which Dean Milman’s ” Annals of St Paul’s ” should be consulted.

Tacitus, first of Roman historians, wrote of the settlement as Londinium, a Konianised form of Llyn-din, and the name has appeared in the various guises of Lundinum, Longidinum, Lundayne, Lundonia, Lundone, Lundenceaster, Lundenbyrig, Lundenwic, all tending to the final form of London, whereof, as Stow says, ” You may read a more large and learned discourse in that work of my loving friend, Master Camden, which is called Britannia, ” of which privilege no one, I suppose, but those engaged in pure antiquarian research would desire to avail himself. Cassar speaks of it as ” Ci vitas Trinobantum,” a name based on the tradition of its having been founded by Brut, the son of iEneas, who called it New Troy, Troy Nova, whence Trinobantum. At one period the Roman settlers would fain have changed the name to Augusta, or Londinium Augusta ; and from 369 to 412 it was so called. (One Roman chronicler mentions ” Londinium vetus oppidum, quod Augustam posteritas adpellavit.”) Some say from Helena Augusta, the mother of Constantine the Great, who had lived many years in Britain ; others as being the quarters of the Second or Augustan Legion ; others again, with the most probability, as being the capital of a province, since we find the name used as an affix in the names of seventy other Roman colonial cities ; but the fundamental British name proved the stronger, and spRedily reasserting itself, has continued to the present day.

The earliest limits of the city, as determined by the Romans, were, on the north, what are now Cornhill and Leadenhall Street ; on the east, Billiter Street and Mark Lane ; on the west, the east side of the Wall Brook ; and on the south, the river Thames. The borders were much enlarged when the erection of the London Wall was found to be necessary ; and its growth became most rapid under the influence of the civilising Norman.

London Bridge. — The great southern highway to and from our city. There is some doubt as to when the first bridge was built, but there appears to be sufficient evidence to ascribe it to the Roman period, crossing from about where St Olave’s, Tooley Street, now stands, to Botolph Gate. (See Botolph Lane.) We may concur with good old Stow that the antiquity of the first bridge was great, if a little uncertain. A bridge is mentioned as existing in 994. This, being of wood, was patched, repaired, and sometimes nearly wholly reconstructed, until a stone one was built by Peter, Chaplain of St Mary Colechurch, a gifted engineer and architect, in 1176-1209, abutting on St Magnus Church ; and the appreciation of his fellow-citizens was shown by their entombing him in one of the buttresses, wherein he had placed a small chapel, dedicated to St Thomas of Canterburj 7 . They thus anticipated Wren’s epitaph : ” Si monumentum quseris, circumspice.” The present bridge was built 1824-1831, in which latter year it was opened by King William IV., after whom the approach on the north side is aptly named King William Street. Whether it will be upon a broken arch of this bridge, or of one of its successors yet to be built, that the oft-quoted Macaulay’s New Zealander will sit to sketch (from one of the least favourable points of view) the ruins of St Paul’s, one cannot say ; but one may doubt if the fantastic idea will ever be realised at all.

London House Yard, St Paul’s, is the site of the palace of the See of London. The official town residence of the Bishop is now in St James’s Square. Why ? Who knows ? London Street, Fenchurch Street. — This name is a memento of John London, who was warden of the Ironmongers’ Company in 1724, and, presumably, he or they were the landowners.

London Wall. — This and Walbrook are the sole nominal reminiscences of the wall which surrounded our city in its early days. This famous structure, which has not even yet totally disappeared (for may not portions be inspected by our very own eyes at St Giles’ Cripplegate, at George Street on Tower Hill, and in the remnant of the churchyard of St Alphage ?), was built by Governor Theodosius in the year 306. It was two miles and a fifth in length ; twenty feet in height ; ten feet thick ; had fifteen gates (when all were constructed), including posterns ; forty towers, twenty -five feet high ; and the external ditch, afterwards known as Houndsditch, two hundred feet feet wide. Its line was from where St Paul’s Eailway Station now stands to a little eastward of the south end of the Old Bailey ; northward, still eastward of Old Bailey, to St Sepulchre’s Church ; thence north east behind Christ’s Hospital to Aldersgate Street ; across to the north side of Falcon Square ; then north to Cripplegate Church ; along London Wall and Wormwood Street to near Bishopsgate Church ; thence by Camomile Street southeast to Aldgate ; along the Minories to the river at the eastern extremity of the Tower, and thence by the river’s side to our point of departure. A perspicuous diagram of the course of the wall may be found in the introductory chapter of Cassell’s ” Old and New London.” It was frequently repaired or improved by both public enterprise and private munificence, of which Stow gives a detailed account.

Long Lane, Smithfield. — ” A lane,” says Stow, 4 ‘truly called long, reaching from Smithfield to Aldersgate Street.” In the days of our good old antiquary it had been ” lately built on both sides with tenements for brokers, tipplers, and such like.” Why these should be classed together, and require special domiciles, is incomprehensible to the modern mind. The length, however, seems to have been impressive.

Lothbury was in Stow’s time (circa 1600) the quarter devoted to workers in brass and copper, pewterers and makers of candlesticks, chafing-dishes, spice-mortars, and “such like copper or latten work” (latten was a mixture of copper and brass), and from the noise occasioning loathing in passers-by, he derives the first portion of the name, which, like most specious etymological conjectures, is incorrect. The origin of the name is somewhat obscure, but it is not that. With great probability it is assigned to the fact that one Albert, a Lotharingian, or Albert Lotering, held a manor here ; hence Lotering’s, or abbreviatedly, Loth’s Bury.

Love Lane, Eastcheap. — In olden time Roper Lane, and afterwards Lucas Lane, names derived from the successive owners of the property. In Stow’s time (circa 1600) the name of Love Lane, the origin of which is not known, had superseded that of Lucas. The later name may have been bestowed as better befitting the amorous disposition of the residents, but it would have been wiser to retain even an obscure owner’s name than to adopt the present meaningless one. It is barely probable that Lucas can have become transformed into Love.

Love Lane, Wood Street. — Stow’s opinion is that the name in this case originated from the street being infested by wantons. To my mind such an origin is improbable, almost incredible, under the very shadow of the church, for which (i.e. for the building per se) in those times there was more reverence than even in these latter days. Some other less objectionable circumstance must be sought for the naming of the Love Lanes in Wood Street and the outlying districts of Shadwell, Southwark, and Bow. I would rather refer them to the name, or even caprice, of the builders or owners, or perhaps to the retirement (which at an undeveloped period of London’s history those lanes enjoyed), rendering them suitable as trysting-places for the young men and maidens of the period, or to some topographical circumstance of loveliness, no longer existing ; but in this latter case the appellation would probably have been Lovely Lane.

Lovell’s Court, Paternoster Row, marks the site of a mansion belonging to the Earls of Bretagne, which subsequently became the property of the Lovell family, who made it their town residence.

Ludgate Hill. — Formerly Bowyer Row, of Bowyers dwelling there in olden time, now worn out (says Stow in his quaint, playful manner) by mercers and others. “Worn out ” probably means supplanted. (See Gates as regards the etymon of Lud.)

Maiden Lane, Queen Street, Cheapside, suggests our much admired and somewhat overlauded ” Good Queen Bess,” by some irreverently called “the capricious vixen” ; but I am inclined to think, failing any authentic information as to the origin of the name, that this may be regarded as a midden (O.E. middan), or Midway Lane. Its position between Garlick Hill and College Hill favours this view, especially as Queen Street derived its name, long after the demise of the maiden queen, from Charles’s consort. Taylor notes, in his ” Names and Places,” that Maidenhead on the Thames was originally Maydenhithe, or the midway landing-place between Marlow and Windsor.

Maidenhead Court, Aldersgate Street. — A once not uncommon name in the city. It may indicate property belonging, now or in the past, to the Mercers’ Company, whose escutcheon is a maiden’s head. A maiden’s head was also the heraldic badge of Catherine Parr — the head rising from a Tudor rose. It may, however, be safer to attribute the name of the court to an old tavern sign. (See also above.)

Mark Lane, originally Mart Lane, was so named from the fair or market or mart which the manor of Blanch Appleton (a name afterwards converted into Blind Chapelton, teste Blind Chapel Court which once existed here), situated at the northeast corner of the lane, the property of a knight, had the privilege of holding in the reign of Eichard II. This manor appears to have been permitted to be used as a place of assembly for traders not possessing the frRedom of the city, for in the time of Edward IV. foreigners were allowed to dwell and trade here without control of the municipal authorities.

Market Street, Clerkenwell, is a memento of the Skin Market, the actual site of which is now occupied by Percival Street.

Martin’s Lane, Cannon Street. — Originally St Martin Orgar Lane, from the parish church, which still remains. St Martin was the patron saint of saddlers, whose first hall was contiguous to St Martin-le-Grand College. Ordgar, or Ordgarus, was a landowner, and founder of the church, which he presented to the canons of St Paul’s. Orgar le Prude was a member of the Knighten Guild, a fraternity of some note, which left its name in Nightingale Lane, Wapping (which see).

Mason’s Avenue, Coleman Street, owes its name to the circumstance of the Masons’ Company’s Hall being situated therein. This Company is of considerable antiquity. It was instituted in the early part of the fifteenth century ; its arms were granted in 1474 ; and letters patent of incorporation in 1677 ; but it has outlived its hall, and now has none. The discarded building fulfils the congenial functions of an hotel and tavern.

Meeting-House Court, Miles’ Lane, is all that remains to remind us of St Michael’s Lane Meeting, a chapel of the Independents, The lane is a cul-de-sac, uninviting at the entrance, leading by a devious way to business premises, where one may certainly pursue his vocation in delightful solitude.

Mildred Court, Poultry, is indebted for its name to the extinct St Mildred’s Church. St Mildred was a Saxon princess, niece of Penda, King of Mercia. She preferred the quiet simplicity of a convent to the garish delights of the Saxon Court. The parish of St Mildred the Virgin is now incorporated with St Margaret’s, Lothbury.

Miles Lane, Thames Street. — An abbreviation of St Michael’s Lane. The church of St Michael stood in Crooked Lane, and was removed to make room for the approach to the new London Bridge.

Milford Lane, Strand, indicates the ford by the water mill, turned by a stream on its way to the river.

Milk Street marks the site of the stalls of those who, when Cheapside was the market-place of the city, dispensed the lacteal fluid.

Milton Street, Fore Street. — Formerly the renowned Grub Street, the abode of poor authors, poetasters, and journalistic hacks. It has been questioned whether the present name is really that of our great epic poet or of an obscure proprietor of the property of the same name. There is, however, little doubt that the honour may be given to the former.

Mincing Lane. — Here in olden time was the residence of the conventual Minchuns, affiliated to St Helen’s, Bishopsgate. Municen, minicen (note the c was always hard, or as h, in O.E.) or minichen, was the feminine of munec or monc. It may be interesting to note that in “friar” we have the Latin /rater, a brother in a religious order ; that ” nun ” is from the Latin nonna, a grandmother, indicating that the first nuns were women of somewhat advanced age. For which Dr Richard Morris (” Historical Outlines of English Accidence”) is my authority.

Minories. — The site of the London convent of the Abbey of St Clare, a Franciscan Order of nuns, which, founded in 1212 by Clara Assisi, an Italian lady, rapidly extended through Europe. In their humility the nuns assumed the title of ” Sorores Minor es,” as the Franciscan monks did that of ” Fratres Minores.” They were consequently known as ” Minoresses,” and have left their name, slightly modified, to the locality which knows them no more. The north wall of Holy Trinity is all that remains of the Clare Sisters’ Church. The Three Nuns Inn in the adjacent Aldgate is said to be a memento in name, as regards the nuns, but not as regards the number of the Minorites ; but I think this may be doubted. (See Note upon Three as an element in Signs.) Their farm occupied the site now known as Goodmans Fields, which, with Eosemary Lane and similar street names of the neighbourhood, have an odour of fresh country air, which would now be sought in vain in this densely populated locality.

As regards the topography of the Minories, one may notice it has a Circus in miniature, and, moreover, of a fragmentary nature ; a Crescent, which has been despoiled of one third of its continuity ; two Squares, one an American, which, by the irruption of the railway, is no longer a square, the other a New square, which is characterised by incontestably old and quaint houses.

Mitre Court, Wood Street. — From the sign of an old tavern of Charles the Second’s time, to which Pepys resorted, to play at the now mysterious game of “handycap.” The court is of a meandering nature, and adorned with a massive oaken door at the Wood Street entrance, well worthy of inspection.

Mitre Square and Street, Aldgate, of which the street is the elder, are also reminiscences of an old sign.

Moorfields. — Moorfields and Moor Lane preserve the memory of the extensive moor which stretched northward from the city walls towards the Middlesex woods.

Monkwell Street, Aldersgate. — Here was the hermitage of the monastery of Garendon, Lincolnshire, and from the well attached thereto the street derived its name, for which statement Stow is the authority. It is, however, asserted that the original name was Mog or Mugwelle before the founding of the monastery ; but who the illustrious Mog or Mug was, or what he did beyond endowing the well with his cacophonous name, nobody knows. The well by any name was no doubt once sweet.

Mumford Court, Milk Street. — James Mumford was surgeon to Henry VIII. , and he may have possessed property hereabouts. In any case, the name is derived from a past owner.

Muscovy Court, Tower Hill. — A reminiscence of Peter the Great’s visit to London and Deptford in 1698, which is further alluded to in Catherine Court.

Myddelton Street, Square, and Place, Clerkenwell. A worthy commemoration of Sir Hugh Myddelton and the services he rendered in connection with the supply of water to north London by the New Kiver, which he brought from Chadwell Springs in Hertfordshire, a distance of thirty-eight miles. There is a Chadwell Street in Myddelton Square. Sir Hugh was a goldsmith, but withal died poor in the year 1631. The seventy-five original New River shares of £100 now sell at from £85,000 to £95,000.

New Square, Minories, was so named apparently in distinction to the previously existing America Square. The fatuity of such nomenclature is demonstrated by the antiquity of most of our squares, streets, etc., known under the name of New. Even the chronological value may be lost by the construction of more recent squares, streets, etc., unless the terms, ” newer” and ” newest,” to be superseded in their turn, were introduced. This new square is characterised by incontestably old and curious houses. (For other anomalies of the neighbourhood see Minories, under the topographical paragraph.)

New Streets and Courts, Several. — The most that can be said of these is that they were new once. Time has robbed them of the appropriateness of the name, the bestowal of which indicates a hRedlessness of the future, which makes all new things old, and a poverty of invention highly discreditable to the nomenclators.

New Broad Street was formerly Petty France, a name bestowed from the circumstance of its being inhabited chiefly by French refugees — a kind of early Leicester Square. It was reformed into a continuation of Old Broad Street, a name originating from the then superior and impressive width of the thoroughfare early in the eighteenth century. (See also Broad Street.)

Newcastle Street, Farringdon Eoad, is interesting in the name it bears, as demonstrating the availability of the Fleet Kiver in times past for the passage of colliers, chiefly from Newcastle, and other small vessels. Seacoal Lane was named from the same circumstance, but has now disappeared.

Newman’s Court, Cornhill. — One Newman appears to have been the original owner, of whom nothing but the name is known. This is one of those snug creeks into which the worried pedestrian may turn out of the strong current of Cornhill — a little haven of rest and peace.

Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, is a record of the old church of St Nicholas Aeon, destroyed in the Great Fire and not rebuilt. A portion of the churchyard remains. The church was of great antiquity, as there is a record concerning it in 1084. Nicholas was a citizen of Lysia in Asia Minor, ” casually chosen bishop of Myrsea out of a caprice of the electors ” ; the electors being the bishops and priests, and their caprice being that whoever first entered the church on a certain day should be elected bishop. It appears, however, that Nicholas, although chosen in this eccentric manner, gave entire satisfaction. The facts were probably somewhat different to the tradition. As regards the cognomen ” Aeon,” this was added many years after the building of the church. It is said to have been a title of Thomas a Becket, derived from the circumstance that, under the energy given by invocation of the martyr’s name, certain pilgrim soldiers were successful in their efforts at the siege of Acre in the Holy Land, and for some reason not recorded, this church shared the honour with St Thomas Aeon. Aeon has been referred, but doubtfully, to the possible existence of an adjacent oak-tree.

Nightingale Lane, Wapping, has been referred to the Knighten Guild, a company of thirteen knights to whom King Edgar granted a piece of land hereabouts, with liberty to found a guild, of which there remains this commemorative name in a modified form. But some later authorities are inclined to give sweet Philomela or (pardon the bathos) an alehouse sign the credit of originating the name.

Norfolk Street, Strand, marks the site of the London residence of the Howards, Dukes of Norfolk.

Northampton Square, Clerkenwell, is the site of the old London house and gardens of the Earls of Northampton.

Northumberland Alley, Fenchurch Street. — The Earls of Northumberland had their town house in Fenchurch Street, of which this humble alley alone furnishes a memento. Not another vestige of the noble residents can be found.

Norton Folgate was a manor belonging to the Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s. Norton indicated its situation north of the city. As regards Folgate, it has been suggested that it is equivalent to Forth-the-Gate, as being outside Bishopsgate. This suggestion is, I think, untenable, as it was too great a distance from the Gate to render it plausible. It is immediately beyond the limit of the liberty of Bishopsgate Without, and is spoken of by Stow as the Norton Fall Gate, and in older records still as the Fold Gate, the folding or shutting gate on the north, and as such was one of the Bars of the city (see Bars). At the corner of “White Lion Street there is built into the wall of the house on the north side what is stated to be the jamb of the old gate. The statement may be discarded, as the Bar was further south, about on a level with Spital Square.

Nun Court, Coleman Street. — This may be a reminiscence of an old sign, but as the name was formerly Nuns, or Nun’s, it probably indicated the owner. There was no conventual establishment adjacent. It is now a very humble yard.

Oat Lane, Wood Stkeet. — In Stow’s time Oate Lane. It appears to be indebted for its name to the owner or builder. The neighbourhood never had any connection with grain.

Old Bailey was the site of the Roman vallum, forming part of the city’s fortifications external to the Wall, hence Ballium and Bailey. A vallum was a rampart of palisades, so called from vallus, a stake, and was planted on the top of the agger, or mound, thrown up for the purposes of defence. Our own word ” wall ” is closely allied, for literally and originally it means a fence of stakes ; such a fence as forms the primitive fortifications of all barbarous nations ; and although now a wall is not a fence, and is not composed of stakes, the idea of enclosing and fencing off remains.

Another derivation of Bailey, which for a time had currency, was that of a corruption of Balehill, “an eminence whereon was situated the Bale or Bailiff’s house, wherein he held a Court for the trying of malefactors,” but of this there is no historic evidence beyond that afforded by the inadequate circumstance that the name Balehill is, or was, found in connection with other cities in the kingdom. No antiquaries now support the theory.

Old Change, Cheapside, was the ancient site of the King’s Exchange, where the supply of bullion to the mints, the distribution of the coinage, and the exchange of foreign coin, were regulated. Closely allied was the bankers’ business, the earliest form of which was the keeping of “running cashes,” or current accounts, by the goldsmiths, who occupied this western end of Cheap, insomuch that it was at one time known as G-oldsmiths’ Eow. The goldsmiths subsequently betook themselves to the old financial quarters of Lombard Street, where their descendants remain.

Old Jewry. — One of the localities allotted in olden times as a residence for the Jews. The terminal ry is the O.E. ru or ra, having a collective signification, as in rookery, eyry (eggery), poultry, etc,

The Jews followed William I. from Normandy, and being a ready source of revenue, were allowed to establish themselves, under royal protection, in separate quarters or ” Jewries ” in the chief towns of England. The Jewry we are now considering extended on both sides of the present Gresham Street to Basinghall and the Old Jewry. The Jew had no legal right or citizenship, and the Jewry was exempt from common law. He was a valuable royal chattel, was the sole capitalist, and exacted heavy usury ; whilst his loans gave an impulse to that industry which could have found but little scope without them. Thus he amassed wealth, which was ruthlessly confiscated for the royal exchequer whenever nRed arose, as it frequently did. Although to a certain extent the Jews enjoyed royal protection, not of a disinterested kind, the popular hatred, not altogether undeserved, of which we have a lively representation in “Ivanhoe,” ever pursued them with insatiable intensity. The sacking of Jewries, the terrible persecutions of the law, the crippling of their trade by the prohibition of usury, at length readied a climax in their expulsion by Edward I. in 1290, as one means of securing popular favour. They were ” pursued by the execrations of the infuriated rabble/’ which is undoubtedly putting it strongly and graphically, “leaving in the hands of the king all their property, debts, obligations, and mortgages.” But happier and quieter times at last dawned upon them, when Cromwell connived at their return to London and elsewhere, and when they resettled at Aldgate soon after the Eestoration, as recognised citizens.

Oxford Court, Cannon Street. — On the west side of St Swithins Church was the spacious city mansion of the Priory of Tortington, in Sussex. This was purchased by the Earl of Oxford, who named it Oxford Place. In 1641 the Salters’ Company acquired it for their Hall. It was destroyed by the Great Fire, but rebuilt, and remained their home until 1821, when it was pulled down and gave place to the present buildings. (See Salters’ Hall Court.)

Pancras Lane, Queen Street, with the assistance of a portion of the churchyard, preserves the memory of the church dedicated to St Pancras, a young Phrygian nobleman, an early Christian, who suffered martyrdom at the hands of Diocletian, in the year 286. The church was destroyed by the Fire, and was not rebuilt, the parish being annexed to St Mary-le-Bow.

Pannier Alley, Newgate Street. — The name is supposed to have reference to, or connection with, the article on which the insufficiently clothed lad is sitting on the lithographic symbol which adorns the eastern side of the alley. This is stated to be a pannier, or bread-basket, and as we can hardly argue from its general vagueness that it is not, we may accept the statement as provisionally correct. What the monument typifies is uncertain, but there is little doubt it is an ancient tavern sign, originally built into the wall of the hostelry it adorned. The lad is probably a kind of abstract juvenile Bacchus, holding in his hand a bunch of grapes, signifying the vinous liquor to be found within. It has also been conjectured that the child is handing out a loaf (which would account for his seat being a pannier), on the ground that the alley was an allotted standing (or sitting ?) place for bakers’ boys with their wares. Still another conjecture is that the pannier here depicted is a fruit-basket, and that the lad is endeavouring to dispose of its contents. His dress, or undress, is, I think, contrary to both these latter suppositions, and the first hypothesis is the most tenable. IndRed, Mr Welch, the City Librarian, informs us that a Pannier or Panyer was a tavern sign in Paternoster Kow about the year 1430 — two hundred and sixty years anterior to the date inscribed upon the stone (which we may assume is the date of its removal to its present site), and it was probably from this sign that the alley derived its name.

Paternoster Row. — The usual explanation of the name, and the one which most commends itself, is that here the stationers or text-writers, who, says Stow, wrote and sold all sorts of books, rosaries, or absies (booklets containing the Paternoster, Ave, CrRed, Graces, etc., the “A B C,” or absy, of theological principles) were located here adjacent to the Cathedral. Another explanation, which at any rate has an air of plausibility and circumstantiality to recommend it, is that the Eomish processions on Corpus Christi Day, or Holy Thursday, assembled at the Cheapside end of the street, and marching westward commenced to chant the Paternoster, which occupied them the length of the Eow, thence called Paternoster. Then they passed through what is now Ave Maria Lane, chanting the salutation to the Virgin, the Ave Maria, which continued until they reached CrRed Lane, where they chanted the Credo, which ended when they arrived at the spot now known as Amen Corner, where they sang the concluding Amen. -Ghe non 3 vero 4 hen trovato, and so we will not quarrel with the ingenious tradition.

The Row has seen a variety of inhabitants. At first entirely ecclesiastical in character, it afterwards became the abode of spurriers, then of mercers and silkmen, who are even now in force in the adjacent neighbourhood. Then followed stationers and booksellers, succReded by vendors of female head-gear, and finally dispensers of literature, with an intermixture of lighter kinds of business.

Paul Alley, St Paul’s Churchyard, marks the site of one of the six gates of the wall which enclosed the Cathedral precincts (see Carter Lane), the area of which is now St Paul’s Churchyard. The gates were : the principal, opening into Ludgate Street, now Hill ; this of Paul’s Alley, being the postern to Paternoster Row ; one in Canon Alley ; the ” Little Gate,” leading into Cheapside ; the Augustine Gate to Watling Street ; and one by Paul’s Chain.

Paul’s Bakehouse Yard, Godliman Street. — The original constitution of the Chapter of St Paul’s, Dean Milman informs us, included a common (in its proper sense) refectory, kitchen, buttery, brewhouse, bakehouse, and mill ; and here is indicated the site of the bakehouse, the only institution of them all thus handed down in name to posterity.

Paul’s Chain calls to mind the chain which used to be drawn across the carriage way of the old cathedral yard to prevent vehicular traffic during service, on the plea of preserving silence. One would hardly have thought this device necessary to secure concentration of attention. The lane so named continued riverward to Paul’s Wharf, which had a close connection with the Cathedral, as may be seen upon reference to that name, which follows.

Paul’s Wharf belonged to Bishop Belmers, who gave the rents for the service of the altar of St Paul’s. Hence it boasts of an ecclesiastical connection beyond that of the mere name.

Pear Tree Court, Clerkenwell Close, a once not uncommon name. It must be referred to an old sign, rather than to the existence of a pear tree.

Peter’s Hill, Thames Street, received its name from the church of St Peter, Paul’s Wharf, now united to St Nicholas Cole Abbey. The church was of ancient foundation, certainlyprior to 1181. It was not rebuilt after the Fire, but the site was converted into a cemetery, of which a small portion, eastward of the hill, remains, preaching a daily homily to the occupiers of the overlooking offices upon the inexhaustible text of Memento mori. The hill itself is now but a poor little cul-de-sac, or recess, as regards the Thames Street end. Its upper half, cut off by Queen Victoria Street, remains to the north thereof.

Philpot Lane. — Here resided Sir John Philpot, who was also owner of the property, grocer, and Mayor in 1379. He was especially conspicuous for the energy he displayed in obtaining protection for the vessels engaged in the trade of the port, which was then developing, from piratic interlopers. He gathered together a force of about a thousand Thames sailors and watermen, put to sea with his squadron, and captured on the east coast a Scottish pirate, who had been a very troublesome marauder, and thus well earned the immortality here bestowed upon his memory. For a history of the guardian care exercised by the citizens upon the growing commerce of their great water highway see the Chapter on Trade in Loftie’s ” London,” in the Historic Towns Series. Philpot is also mentioned by Stow as causing the Town Ditch (Houndsditch to the Kiver) to be cleansed, for which an impost of fivepence was levied upon every householder.

Phil’s Buildings, Houndsditch. — A ” clothes and general mart,” forming a passage into Kag Fair, not inviting close inspection by the ordinary wayfarer. Phil’s full name was no doubt Philip, of Hebrew descent, and owner of the property.

Phoenix Court, Newgate Street.— Eelic of an old sign, probably in Newgate Street itself. It is now a gruesome court or cul-de-sac; ashes and dirt being the only elements at all suggestive of the phoenix. There is no trace of the sweetsmelling spice of which the bird formed its nest prior to immolation — rather the reverse ; a court down which, I feel assured, no one goes more than once, except on business.

Pilgrim Street, Blackfriars, is said to be the road taken by pilgrims from the water gate to St Paul’s, which I am afraid is mere conjecture. The name appears to be comparatively modern, assigned by some one inspired by the ecclesiastical surroundings. The same spirit probably evolved the title of Evangelist Court, adjacent, which has very little of evangelical aspect or attributes.

Pinners’ Court, Old Broad Street — Wherein is Pinners’ Hall, formerly the Austin Friars’ Hall — is a memento of the past glory of the Pinmakers’ Company, a fraternity incorporated so long ago as 1636. Now they have no Hall. The court is one of the quiet nooks of the city.

Playhouse Yard, Blackfriars. — The site of an old theatre, built by Burbage in 1575, hallowed by the acting of Shakespeare, who was a shareholder in the venture previous to his proprietorship of the celebrated Globe on the opposite shore. The building was pulled down in 1655.

Playhouse Yard, Whitecross Street, occupies the site of the Fortune Playhouse, founded by Edward Alleyn, of Dulwich Cottage celebrity (circa 1600).

Plough Court, Lombard Street. — A memento of the Plow Tavern, long since removed. Looking up from Lombard Court we have a noble vista, formed by the long range of lofty buildings on either side.

Pope’s Head Alley, Cornhill, is a record of the old Pope’s Head Tavern, of great celebrity as far back as Henry VI. ‘s time. Stow thinks it may originally have been a royal palace, as it bore the English arms.

Poppin’s Court, Fleet Street, is named either from the sports practised there or thereabouts, of which the popinjay was one (for which the inquisitive reader may consult Strutt, or any other writer on Ancient Sports), or from its being the site of a religious fraternity, having the popinjay for a crest, — an assumption hazarded by the enterprising restaurateur who plies his vocation at the corner.

Postern Eow, Tower Hill, has been swept away by modern improvements, and is no longer numbered amongst our streets. The memory of it is, however, worthy of a passing allusion, and some particulars respecting it, the most important postern of the ancient wall, will be found under the head of Gates.

Poultry indicates the locality where the poulterers kept their market stalls. Adjacent was Scalding Alley, where now is Mildred’s Court, so called from its being the scene of the scalding of fowls and pigs after singeing. The word “poulterer” is an extension of the original, “poulter,” which survives as a not uncommon surname. A poult is a little hen or fowl (Fr. poulet, diminutive of poule). Pullet is cognate. Thus does the thoroughfare lead us to philological musings.

Priest’s Court, Foster Lane. — Adjacent to St Vedast’s Church, from which we mav infer that it was probably the site of the ecclesiastical residence, but its present aspect does not encourage the assumption.

Printing House Square. — Here was the office of the King’s Printer until 1770. The Times, which made its appearance in 1785, is an appropriate, worthy, and potent successor.

Prudent Passage, King Street, Cheapside, appears to be a name of comparatively modern application — that is to say, within the last hundred years, as I do not find it in earlier records ; but its origin I am at present unable to trace. Had it been Prudence, we might have fairly assumed it had reference to the spouse of the owner of the property. As it is, we may suppose it had some connection, real or apparent, with foresight or judgment in the construction of the court.

Prujean Square, Old Bailey. — A memento of Sir Francis Prujean, an eminent physician, and President of the College from 1650 to 1654.

Pudding Lane, Eastcheap, formerly Pother or Ped Pose Lane, from a tavern sign. It acquired the name of Pudding from the circumstance that the butchers of Eastcheap had their scalding-house for hogs here, and, says Stow, with more force than delicacy (good old Stow never minced matters), ” Their puddings, with other filth of beasts, are voided down that way to their dungboats on the Thames.” Puddings, which etymologically signifies something bulging out, were the intestines of animals. I believe a hog’s pudding, into the merits of which I am not desirous of closely inquiring, is something of the kind to this day.

Queen Street, Cheapside, formerly Soper’s Lane, the abode of the soapmakers, unless it be true, as Stow declares, that it took its name from one Soper, who resided here in the time of Edward II. ; but the former explanation is generally accepted. The thoroughfare was renamed upon rebuilding after destruction by the Great Fire. Here, it is stated, the Queens of England were accustomed to witness the tourneys, which, on special occasions, were held in Cheapside, from a stone balcony erected at the corner of the street. It was thus associated with royalty, but it received its present name in honour of Charles II. ‘s queen.

As regards other Queen Streets, etc., the reader is referred to the Preliminary Observations.

Queenhithe. — In some old documents this is spelt Cornhithe, whence it has been sug gested that the name may have been derived from the quern (O.E. cweorn) or mill (a great wonder at the time, says Stow) used for the corn which, with fish and other commodities, was landed at this hithe. But the method of spelling is no proof in itself, for old documents are somewhat remarkable for the latitude allowed in orthography, owing to the language not having then become fixed. Another account of the origin of the name, which we may accept as correct, is that the hithe originally belonged to one Edred, whence it was known as Edred’s hithe. It afterwards passed into the hands of King Stephen, and was by him given to William de Ypre&, by whom it was bequeathed to the Convent of the Holy Trinity of Aldgate, from whom it reverted to royalty, passing into the possession of Queen Eleanor, wife of Henry II. , who derived a revenue from duties imposed on the goods landed, and whose royal title it retains to this day.

Queen’s Head Passage, Newgate Street, simply records the sign of an ancient tavern. It is noteworthy that the hostelry which now guards the entrance is the Kings Head.

Ray Street, Farringdon Road, formerly Rag Street, is named from an obscure private individual, but is noteworthy as a landmark in our search for the pump which marks, or marked, the spring of the old Clerks’ Well (but see Clerkenwell).

Red Cross Street, Barbican, derives its name from the red cross which once graced the thoroughfare. A cognate erection stood in the adjacent Whitecross Street.

An interesting enquiry might be pursued with respect to the numerous crosses of London, as to whether they were Sanctuary, Boundary, Memorial, or for other purposes which crosses have served. Such an enquiry would doubtless involve much instructive research.

Red Lion Court, Cannon Street, perpetuates an old inn sign, as the Old Red Lion, now existent, in all his rampancy, testifies beyond a doubt.

Redgate Court, Minories, probably indicates the former existence of a way into Goodman’s Fields, when they were fields, through a red gate at the end of a country lane. I doubt if any ordinary pedestrian, however bold he may be, ever now makes his way from end to end of the court. A somewhat analogous name was Green Lettuce Lane — a corruption of Green Lattice, as the upper part of Lawrence Pountney Hill was called — a reminiscence of the lattice gate which opened from the Duke of Suffolk’s garden into Cannon Street (see Suffolk Lane).

Robin Hood Court. Milk Street. — From an old sign. A speciality of this court is its gate at either end, as though indRed it might have formed a stronghold in the Middle Ages. Evidently it desires no connection with the contiguous Russia Court.

Roman Bath Street, Newgate Street, formerly simply Bath Street, from the previous cognomen of Bagnio Court, the site of the Royal Bagnio, erected in 1679, and which has long ceased to exist. Roman seems to be a capricious and meaningless addition to the name, for effect’s sake apparently, for there was never a Roman bath here.

Rood Lane recalls to mind the rood or cross set up in the churchyard of St Margaret Pattens. When the old church was demolished for rebuilding, the cross was specially blessed by the Pope, with particular reference to indulgences and pardons to those who came to pray before it and make their offerings towards the rebuilding of the church. The edifice was completed in 1538, soon after the Reformation, and the rood was one night broken in pieces and its tabernacle entirely demolished by religious zealots, who regarded it as an idolatrous article, from the manner of its use.

Rose Streets, Alleys, and Courts. — The Rose, either alone or in combination with the congenial Crown, gave name to very many thoroughfares in olden time, most of which have disappeared or have been endowed with other names. The rose was the badge of Edward I. It was also used as a device by the sons of Edward III. John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, adopted a red rose ; his brother Edward, Duke of York, a white one. The two rival houses being happily united by Henry VII. marrying the eldest daughter of Edward IV., the two roses were combined, the white being placed within the red, and so became the royal badge of England.

Rosemary Lane was so named from its prolific production of the odoriferous herb. As we conceive the open country spaces on the very borders of the city in olden times, our senses are refreshed by the waft of pure fresh air laden with this and kindred sweetsmelling herbs.

Russia Court and Row, Milk Street. — The origin of this name at present baffles one. It does not appear in old records, and I doubt if it has any genuine Muscovite connection. The Row is not a thoroughfare in itself; it is dependent upon the sufferance of Robin Hood Court, from which it is separated by a stout iron gate. There is a mediaeval air about the place ; not an air that one cares to breathe too long at a time.

Rutland Place, Charterhouse Square, marks the site of the town house of the Earls of Rutland.

Sadler’s Wells. — One of the many wells of London. The spot was in early times much resorted to for the salubrity of its waters. To the waters succReded wines and refreshments of all kinds, with certain amusements to attract the citizens. These reached their climax in 1683, when a Mr Sadler built a theatre and bestowed the local name.

Saffron Hill tells us of the time when saffron or crocus-beds formed a feature in the garden of Ely House. (See Ely Place.)

St Alban’s Court, Wood Street, is so named from the adjacent church. St Alban was the British proto-martyr. The church tower is well worthy of note. We are told by Matthew Paris that in 1077 this church belonged to the Abbey of St Alban’s, but was subsequently transferred to the Abbot of Westminster,

St Andrew’s Hill, Queen Victoria Street, formerly Puddle Dock Hill, derives its present name from the church of St Andrew in the Wardrobe. For information as to the specific cognomen of the church, see Wardrobe Place.

St Benet’s Place, Gracechurch Street, is an old-fashioned little thoroughfare, quite in harmony with the contiguous Brabant Court, with which it is connected by a glazed passage, narrow and barred, apparently as a protest against obesity. It serves as a memento of the church of St Benet, Gracechurch Street, one of the many of the past, which stood at the south-west corner of Fenchurch Street until comparatively recent times.

St Dunstan’s Hill and Alley, Tower Street, are so named from the church, which is as advantageously and picturesquely situated as any in London. It would be unpardonable, even though it may be beyond the scope of this little book, not to direct particular attention to the Gothic tower, one of the finest in the kingdom, said to have been built according to a fancy of Miss Wren’s,

St Helen’s Place, Bishopsgate, formerly Little St Helen’s, in contradistinction to Great St Helen’s ; site of the nunnery of St Helen, in connection with the adjoining church. This Benedictine Priory was founded in 1210; and after its dissolution the Nuns’ Hall was purchased and used as a Common HallbytheLeathersellers’ Company. In 1799 it was destroyed, and St Helen’s Place built on its site. In Stow’s opinion, with which we must concur, ” The church is a fair one, but wanteth such a steeple as Sir Thomas Gresham promised to have built, in recompense of ground in this church filled up with his monument, prepared during his lifetime.” We have here a relic of the past, which no citizen should omit to lovingly and reverently inspect, and every information is considerately given by those in charge of the church. A full account of the Priory may be found in Allen’s ” History of London.”

St John’s Gate, Passage, Square, Street, Clerkenwell, are reminiscences of the Hospitallers — the Knights of the Hospital of St John formerly here situate. This once powerful military and religious Order owned nearly nineteen thousand manors in Europe. It was dissolved and declared illegal in England by Henry YIIL in 1541. The Gate, still standing, is a visible witness of the past, and is therefore of surpassing interest, as something genuine and tangible. The Square occupies the old courtyard ; and the street says Stow, stretcheth towards Iseldon, as Islington was in his time named.

St Katharine’s Docks mark the site of the Abbey of St Katharine, transferred to the west when the Docks were constructed, in the early part of the present century. The modern representative of the abbey is by Eegent’s Park, and still affords a retreat for sundry gentlemen and gentlewomen. The original asylum was founded by Matilda of Bretagne [temp. Stephen), and a condition of tenancy was frequent prayer for the souls of her two dead children. Whether this requirement is still observed I do not know.

St Martin’s-le-Grand is the site of an ancient religious foundation, dedicated to St Martin, in 1056. It maintained until a late period the rights of sanctuary, which often meant the wrongs of honest men and the protection of knaves. The fundamental idea — a good one to start with — was no doubt that criminals should not be dealt with in hot blood ; but the idea spRedily became subject to abuse, so that they often, by taking sanctuary, escaped being dealt with at all. For instance, there is the typical story of a poor widow of Aldgate, who took compassion on a destitute Breton, took him home and treated him kindly — which we at the present day should say was extremely injudicious. He took the earliest opportunity of murdering his benefactress and carrying off her portable property. His crime was detected, but he fled to Southwark, where he took sanctuary. He was starved. out, but the only punishment applicable to one who had taken sanctuary was expulsion from the kingdom, and so he was simply expelled.

Le Grand, as applied to St Martin’s College, is supposed to have reference to its greater than ordinary privileges of sanctuary.

St Mary-at-Hill, Thames Street, owes its name to the church, which derives its specific appellation from its situation on the acclivity of the river bank, or, as an old author says, “upon a pleasant eminence.”

St Mary Axe, originally St Mary Street simply. In olden time here stood a parish church, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, St Ursule, and the eleven thousand virgins — a dedication equal in amplitude to any emergency. The specific designation has reference to a holy relic which the church possessed ; to wit, ” an axe, one of the iij that the xjm a (xi millia, i.e. 11,000) Virgins of St Ursula were beheaded w*,” says an old chronicle. But as the tradition of Ursula and her virgins is open to pious doubt, so is that of this axe. Another explanation more probable is that the church adjoined a shop having that deadly instrument as a sign, hence St Mary by the Axe, abbreviated into St Mary Axe, and transferred from church to street.. The church was also known as St Mary Pelliper (a pelliper being a skin preparer or dresser ; Lat. ‘pellis, a pelt), from the circumstance that on its north side was a plot of ground belonging to the skinners. The former title proved the more enduring, and has continued long after the disappearance of the sacred edifice itself.

St Michael’s Alley, Cornhill, obviously named from the adjacent church. {Consult Appendix I.)

St Peter’s Alley, Cornhill, obviously named from the adjacent church. (Consult Appendix I.)

St Swithin’s Lane is named from the adjoining parish church. Stow records that Sir John Hende, mayor in 1404, an especial benefactor, lies buried herein, ” with a fair stone laid on him,” as though his heirs and legatees were apprehensive of a premature resurrection. St Swithin, or Swithun, was Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor to King Egbert ; died 862 ; buried in Winchester Churchyard, where, in accordance with his own request, ” passers-by might tread on his grave, and where the rain from the eaves might fall on it.”

Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, occupies the courtyard of old Salisbury House, which pertained to the see of Sarum, and formed the town residence of the bishops.

Salter’s Court, Bow Lane, a very small cul-de-sac, perpetuating the memory of an old proprietor.

Salters’ Hall Court, Cannon Street, so named from the Salters’ Hall, once here situate; removed in 1821 to St Swithin’s Lane. The Salters is an honourable company, of considerable antiquity, there being record of a grant of a livery by Eichard II. in 1394. Speaking of liveries in connection with our city companies, the following particulars from ” Chambers’s Encyclopaedia” are of much interest.

The word is derived through the French from the Latin liber are, “to deliver,” from the custom of the Merovingian and Carlovingian kings delivering splendid habits to their households on great festivals. Thus, each noble family had its distinctive livery colours, and their members were entitled to wear them. Analogously, the freemen of the city guilds are entitled to wear the livery of their respective companies, and for this reason are called ” liverymen.” In former times the companies placed in the hands of the Lord Mayor certain sums, to enable him to present to any individual unable to purchase sufficient cloth for a suit the amount of twenty shillings ; and the companies were duly proud of the magnificent appearance of their members in the civic train. Whether every liveryman now wears a livery, and whether liverymen are still assisted in the purchase of their garments or not, I do not know.

Sambrook Court, Basinghall Street, was for some time the residence of Sir Jeremy Sambrook, a notability — legal, I believe — in the second half of the seventeenth century.

Savage Gardens, Tower Hill, once formed part of the territory of the Crutched Friars. In James I.’s reign this had become the property of Sir Thomas Savage, afterwards Lord Savage, whose name his whilom gardens hand down to posterity.

Savoy Street, etc., Strand, owe their name to Peter, uncle of Eleanor, the queen of Henry III., who, when he came to reside in England, was created Earl of Savoy and Eichmond, and was granted the palace which had been built by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Lancaster, in 1245, which he renamed the Savoy Palace. It afterwards became the town residence of John of Gaunt ; was burned during Wat Tyler’s attempt at rebellion in 1381 ; rebuilt byHenry VII. as a hospital for the poor ; and in 1515 the Chapel Eoyal was added. It has had an eventful history.

Seething Lane, formerly Sidon Lane, according to Stow. This being so, we may probably trace the transition to Seething by assuming that as the Eunic character equivalent to th was in Old English expressed by a crossed d, or “8, Sidon became Sithon, and then Seethin or Seething. If Stow’s Sidon be true, it was probably a family name ; but doubt has been thrown upon his statement by the name appearing in the city records of 1281 as Sieuthenestrate, which, however, might equally be regarded as a family name. It cannot in any way be connected with the old Phoenician city.

Sermon Lane, Knightrider Street, has no reference to ecclesiastical oratory. It is an abbreviation of Sheremonier Lane, the locality of the ” sheremoneyers,” whose vocation it was to shear or clip bullion into shape for coining at the Old Exchange (see Old Change) adjacent. Sarmonneris and Sermoneris were transition forms.

Shaft’s Court, Leadenhall Street. — This obscure, and to many unknown, court, is the memento of an obscure and quite unknown proprietor of the property in olden time. In an ancient record it is mentioned as Sharp’s Alley, which was probably the original name, corrupted by phonetic resemblance. A Shaft Alley once existed in St Mary Axe, behind St Andrew’s Undershaft Church, and comprised the cottages whereon hung the Maypole (see Churches, Appendix I.)

Sherborne Lane indicates a small portion of the course of the Shere Bourne, at the point of its deviation from the Lang Bourne (which see). It left the parent stream at about the King William Street end of the lane, and took a tolerably uniform curve, following the declivity of the hill, into the Wall Brook (which see), at about the centre of the present Dowgate Hill. Its name is derived from the fact of its being divided (O.E. sceran, to share or separate) into small rills or streams, and so flowing placid and pellucid on its way. 1

Shoe Lane. — An abbreviation of Show Well Lane. The well which flowed into the Fleet having disappeared, that portion of the name, for this reason, and upon the linguistic principle of ” least effort” (a principle not confined to language), disappeared also. The name is found in an early form as Scolane, which phonetically has a relation to Seacoal Lane (see Newcastle Street). Whether it has any actual connection with similar circumstances as that lane cannot be more than a matter of curious conjecture.

Shoreditch affords an instance of the construction of one of those circumstantial pathetic historical legends which a sceptical investigating age has ruthlessly discarded as being without foundation in fact. The royal libertine, the forsaken husband, the abandoned mistress at last dying in a ditch, are held to be fictitious, and we have to accept the origin of the name from the

1 The etymon of Sherborne in Dorset is scire bourn, “the bright shining brook.” The monks called it Fons Clarus. prosaic John de Sordich, lord of the village in 1343, of whom it is recorded he lived a blameless life, and was buried in Hackney Churchyard. Stow derives the name, quite conjecturally and unnecessarily offensively, from a common sewer or drain (Sewerditch).

Short Street, Finsbury, is aptly named, for it is really short.

Shorter’s Court, Throgmorton Street. — A Stock Exchange cul-de-sac. Sir John Shorter was Sheriff in 1675, and Lord Mayor in 1687, and was probably the owner of this property.

Silk Street, Cripplegate. — A name of comparatively modern application, having no connection with the silk industry, which made Spitalfields its headquarters. It appears to have reference to the general character of the business of the neighbourhood, that of Manchester warehousemen, including a silk element.

Silver Street, Wood Street, was so named from being the locality of the silversmiths ; not far removed from the goldsmiths.

Sise Lane. — ¦ Sise is the mutilated remains of St Osyth (which dropped the saint, and then passed through the forms of Syths and Sise), queen and martyr, the mother of OfTa, King of Mercia. At the south or Watling Street end of the lane is a somewhat picturesque, but withal melancholy, bas-relief, and a legendary notice to the effect that the parish church of St Antholin once stood here, but was demolished in 1875, and its funds and the procReds of the sale of the ground wisely devoted to more pressing nReds. As one stands and meditates upon the inscription, he can hardly help picturing to his mind a quiet Sabbath morning, with the sunshine gleaming, and the city bells cheerily pealing, when the worthy citizens came flocking, with their wives and little ones and dutiful apprentices, from their business premises hard by, to listen to the pious exhortations, which no doubt influenced them in their dealings with their fellow-men throughout the succReding week, of some worthy man who has long since finished his earthly work, fought his good fight, and gone to rest. Skinner Street, Clerkenwell, is a memento of the skin market, the actual site of which is now occupied by Percival Street.

Skinner Street, Holborn, commemorates Alderman Skinner, who took much interest in improving the neighbourhood. Thus is immortality conferred upon a worthy man ! He was Sheriff in 1783, and Lord Mayor in 1794.

Smithfield is a corruption of Smoothfleld. FitzStephen, one of our earliest antiquarians (obiit 1190), much quoted by Stow, speaks of it as planus campus re et nomine. It was a fair and smooth expanse, adapted for sports, tournaments, and revels, as well as for executions and burnings, in the exercise of an auto de fa or the act de comburendo heritico, to which our mild and gentle ancestors were much addicted.

Smithfield Bars. — One of the northern boundaries of the city liberties. (See Bars.)

Snow Hill. — In Stow’s time Snore Hill. The origin of the name appears to be unknow T n ; but I take Snore to be that of the early landowner, probably Snorro, a Scandinavian settler ; one of the unwept, unhonoured, and unsung, caret quia vate sacro. One daring old antiquary has it Sore Hill, and attributes the name to the labour and pain of the ascent, as indRed was the case until the construction of the viaduct ; for which what better testimony can we require than that of Charles Dickens in ” Nicholas Nickleby”? •

Southampton Street, etc., mark the site of the old town residence of the Earls of Southampton.

Sparrow Corner, Minories, records the name of an owner of the property. A congenial connection with the adjacent Nightingale Lane suggests itself, but there is no ground for the suggestion.

Spitalfields and Spital Square occupy the territory of the Priory and Hospital of St Mary, founded in 1 197, and dissolved towards the end of the sixteenth century. The Spital Sermon is still delivered at Easter before our Lord Mayor and Aldermen, although the church in which it was originally instituted no longer exists. The present square marks the site of the Priory churchyard.

Staining Lane, Wood Street. — Stow, unwilling herein to commit himself, states that of old time the lane was so called, as may be supposed, of painter stainers (.as, indRed, painters are still entitled in their Company) dwelling here, and the parish church at the north end thence acquired its name of St Mary Staining. It is more probable that the name of the lane was derived from the church, one of those distinguished as being built in great part of stone, whilst in most others wood predominated. A portion of the churchyard remains, and on the house at the southwest corner is a record of repairs and renewals which should not be allowed to suffer effacement, to which it is rapidly tending.

Star Alley, Fenchurch Street, was formerly Cradock’s Lane — Cradock, a quite forgotten individual, being probably an early owner of the property. This name was in later days set aside in favour of Church Alley, having reference to Allhallows Staining (Allhallows being equivalent to All Saints, and Staining indicating the church was of stone, whilst most city churches had still a considerable quantity of wood in their construction, as stated under Staining Lane), of which only the tower now remains, but in a state of good preservation. Star Alley superseded Church Alley long before the demolition of the church, for I find this name pertaining to the thoroughfare at least a hundred and sixty years ago. It appears, so far as I can ascertain, to be an arbitrary or fancy name, with no appropriate signification.

Star Court, Bread Street, from an old tavern sign. The court, which is not a thoroughfare, is now demoted to commercial and manufacturing enterprise, and is rendered inconvenient and dangerous to ordinary inexperienced pedestrians by an accumulation of empty chests and boxes.

Steelyard, Thames Street, although not a street, is worthy of a note. Various etymons have been assigned. One, as being the abode of the Easterling merchants from the Hanse, who did a considerable business in steel ; another, as the place of the king’s steelyard or beam for weighing imports ; and yet another, as a contraction of staple-yard, indicating an emporium. The last is regarded as probably correct. (See Note on Staple, under Staple Inn.)

Stew Lane, Thames Street, is so called, says Stow, ” of a stew or hot house there kept.” A connection between this old term and its modern equivalent brothel might present itself to the ingenious mind, but brothel really means a little cottage, from the French bordel, horde, a hut. The lane was also said to lead to Stew Quay, an embarking or landing place for wanton women to or from the stews on the opposite shore. Stew-houses were recognised institutions in the Bankside district, under municipal regulations, or the license of the Bishop of Winchester, within whose liberty they were situated. They were painted a special colour, and bore prescribed signs, and were suppressed in the reign of Henry VIII. But these are unsavoury particulars of London’s former social life.

Stoney Lane, Houndsditch, has no particularly stoney attribute now, but doubtless at its inception it offered this feature as distinctive in comparison with the adjacent Gravel Lane. Stoney and Stone Lanes and Courts were not uncommon in olden time.

Strand, as forming the margin of the Thames, is an old London name, but it was not finally laid out as a thoroughfare until during the reign of Elizabeth, when many worthies of the period took up their residence thereabouts, as the names of the now existing streets on the sites of their property abundantly testify.

Suffolk Lane occupies a portion of the site of the Manor House and Grounds of the De la Poles, Dukes of Suffolk. The recently erected Suffolk House, on the contiguous Lawrence Pountney Hill, is a building of some pretension, evidently designed to be somewhat worthy of its ancient forerunner. (See also Duke’s Foot Lane.)

SuGARLOAF COURT, LEADENHALL STREET. Formerly Sprinckle Alley (probably the euphonious name of the landowner). It owes its present title, says Stow, to a house or tavern sign.

Sugarloaf Court, Garlick Hill, is also reminiscent of an old sign. Boldly venturing into the recesses of the court, we penetrate into the bowels of a block of buildings of a nondescript character, and winding about, with blind faith, we at last emerge byHatchet Court into Trinity Lane. At both entrances the signs from which the names of the courts are derived still exist, but to that of the Sugar Loaf the Crown has been loyally prefixed.

Sun Courts, Several. — From old tavern signs. As regards that in Cornhill, one may note the arms of the Merchant Tailors’ Company in the north-west corner, adorning the very small visible portion of the back of their Hall, which extends hither from ThreadnRedle Street.

Surrey Street, Strand, commemorates the residence of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, whose country seat was Surrey House, near Norwich.

Sussex Place, Leadenhall Street. — This humble but useful thoroughfare appears to have received its present name, which is comparatively modern, in conjunction with Sussex Hall, once its opposite neighbour, whose site is now occupied by a suite of offices under the name of Sussex House. The Hall was originally that of the Tylers’ and Bricklayers’ Company, whose arms may be observed adorning the back wall in the court called Fenchurch Buildings. Upon the Company’s ceasing to occupy the Hall, it was rented by the Jews of Aldgate, who used it as a literary and scientific institution, and endowed it with the title of Sussex College, probably on account of favour or patronage from the Duke, and the opposite court shared in its fortunes to the extent of change of name. The College subsequently became the parent of the useful educational agency now flourishing in Moornelcls.

Swan Lane, Thames Street. — This and Old Swan Lane (formerly Ebsgate Lane, see Gates) are a reminiscence of the Old Swan Brewery House, which faced the river, and marked the boundary beyond which, down stream, amateur anglers were not allowed to exercise the gentle craft, lest they should interfere with the vocation of the legitimate piscator. There was also the Swan Tavern, a very ancient hostelry. Its trade-tokens (see Tokenhouse Yard) represented a swan walking on the bridge, to indicate that the tavern was above bridge, and had no connection with the inferior rival establishment bearing the same sign below bridge. The sign was a not uncommon one. Old Swan Stairs was a landing-place as early as the fifteenth century.

Stow records how ” John Tate, at first a brewer and afterwards a mercer, Mayor in 1514, caused his brew-house, called the Swan, near adjoining to the hospital of St Anthony, in London, to be taken down for the enlarging of the said church, then newly built, a great part of his charge (i.e. at his cost).” Many of the London churches owed much to the private benefactions of her citizens, but their enthusiastic philanthropy takes a different, and probably more useful, direction nowadays.

Swan Street, Minories. — Formerly Swan Alley, from an old tavern sign.

Tabernacle Alley, Fenchurch Street, is a cul-de-sac, once an entry into the graveyard, into which one may peer through the iron gate, and meditate. The name is not an old one, and, so far as I can ascertain, appears to have been bestowed without regard to appropriateness.

Talbot Court, Gracechurch Street. — Taylor, the Water Poet, mentions, in 1637, the Tabard Inn, near the Gracious Street. Tabard is modernised into Talbot, and Talbot Court is no doubt a memento of the old sign. It may be useful to note that a tabard was a short loose garment worn over armour by knights in the fifteenth century, and now by official heralds. A talbot is a hunting dog, between a hound and a beagle, which derived its name from the celebrated historic family, who had the canine quadruped in their coat of arms. The confusion of the two in our tavern signs was not unusual.

Telegraph Street, Moorgate Street, is obviously a quite modern name, bestowed by reason of the Postal Telegraph Schools established here.

Thames Street. — The street bordering the river, which, like all other rivers of England (except two — the Ouse and the Trent, of which the latter is doubtful), derives its name from a Celtic root (vide Canon Taylor in ” Words and Places,” concerning river names generally). While other names have changed with the successive nationalities which have occupied our land, those of the hills and rivers have remained Celtic, i.e. British, with, of course, such slight modifications as have been necessary to modernise them. Tem-ese indicates a broad or spreading water. The same root is found in the Teme in Worcester, and in the form of Tarn in the Tame in Cornwall and other counties, and in the Tamar in Devon. Ese assumes a very extensive variety of forms, from Ax to Uisge, all signifying water. Temese or Tamese became in Roman garb Thamesis, and so it has remained unchanged to the present day, except by a slight curtailment, the natural effect of the growth of the language.

ThreadnRedle Street. — Here lived honest John Stows father, plying his vocation as a tailor, and our antiquary himself resided here previous to his removal to Aldgate. Originally it was Three NRedle Street, three nRedles being the charge on the escutcheon of the NRedlemakers’ Company, to whom the property belonged. The Merchant Tailors’ Company appropriately acquired the estate in 1311, and their Hall still graces the thoroughfare.

Three. — In the old shop and tavern signs, and therefore in the derivative names of our streets, three was a favourite numeral, owing undoubtedly in some measure to the frequent adoption of heraldic devices or badges, of which three is the normal number — two in chief, i.e. above the chevron, and one in base, i.e. below ; but in some cases it is obvious three has been adopted from mere caprice, perhaps from the once prevalent idea that it was a lucky number. It will also readily occur to the mind of the reader how important a part this number has played in mythology, legendary history, and folk-lore of every kind. Dealing with our own subject, I find in an enumeration of streets, courts, and alleys of a hundred and fifty years ago, Three Anchors, Colts, Compasses, Cranes, Cups, Falcons, Hats, Horseshoes, Legs, Links, NRedles, Pigeons, Tuns, Twisters, Bowls, Crowns, Daggers, Diamonds, Foxes, Herrings, Kings, Mariners, Moulds, Stills, Oaks, etc. Of these the Three Tuns, being the device of the Vintners’ Company, largely predominated. Most of the thoroughfares named have disappeared, having been decidedly improved off the face of the city. Of those remaining we may notice —

Three Cranes Lane, Thames Street. — A memento of ” the three strong cranes of timber placed on the Vintry Wharf by the Thames side, to crane up wines there from Bordeaux.” Thus Stow. Three Cranes Wharf, at the bottom of the lane, might have more appropriately served to support the dignity of the name, and justified its assumption thereof, had it had three cranes instead of two. Three Cranes was not an uncommon tavern sign, doubtless from its connection with the vintners, but in most cases the cranes took the form of the bird, probably being thus more intelligible to the ordinary wayfarer.

Three Daggers Court, Fore Street, now the backyard, of most modest dimensions, of a public-house, ” The Hope and Anchor,” probably the Three Daggers of olden time.

Three Nuns’ Court, Aldermanbury. — This may be a corruption of Three Tuns. I find the Axe was an inn sign here in the seventeenth century, and that it was a famous point of departure for stage waggons to Liverpool. It appears probable that a confused connection has been made between the Three Nuns (or Tuns, superseded pro re nata) and the Axe (still the sign of a public-house in the court) alluded to in St Mary Axe.

Three Tuns Passage, Ivy Lane. — Quite of the past ; not a relic remains but the name. It is now a mean little backway from Ivy Lane to Paternoster Square. Three Tuns was once a rather popular name for London courts and alleys, there being no fewer than seventeen. (See s. v. Three.)

Throgmorton Street. — Sir Nicholas Throgmorton was Chief Butler of England ; died 1570, and is embalmed in the name of this busy thoroughfare. He will be remembered as one of Elizabeth’s favourite ministers, the result being that he was poisoned, as ’tis said, by Dudley, Earl of Leicester, another favourite. Stow’s father had a house and garden here, and Stow records that Lord Cromwell, in enlarging his own territory, ” loosed the house from the ground and bore it upon rollers into my father’s garden, twenty -two feet, ere my father heard thereof.” Others were served in the same way, without compensation or daring to argue. So, says Stow, “thus much of mine own knowledge have I thought good to note, that the sudden rising of some men causeth them in some matters to forget themselves.” His pathetic moral reflection must be my excuse for transcribing his account of the domestic trouble.

Tokenhotjse Yard recalls to mind the early days of the coinage when, there being nothing less than the silver penny, about the size of the modern threepenny-bit, and therefore inconveniently small for division into halves or fourths (fourthings or farthings) as marked by cuts penetrating half through, the device of private tokens, or representative money, was resorted to by tradesmen by way of furnishing small change. These tokens were made of lead, tin, or even leather, and took the place of the current coin. It is stated there were twenty thousand different kinds in use between 1648 and 1672, in which latter year an authorised copper coinage was issued. The Tokenhouse was the office for the delivery of these tokens, which were there exchanged for current silver coin of equivalent value, and gave its name to the yard in which it was situated. The history of our coinage is highly interesting.

“While on the subject of tokens and coins, we may observe that coin originally signified the wedge (Lat., cuneus), by means of which money was stamped. From the die for stamping the metal the name was transferred to the metal itself, stamped and current as money. The “coining” of tin in Cornwall at the present time consists in cutting off a wedge-shaped portion for assay.

Tower Royal, Cannon Street. — One ingenious and somewhat plausible explanation of the name is, or rather was, for it is now quite discarded, that the original buildings were erected by merchants of the Vintry, who stored there certain wine imported from La Eeole, near Bordeaux, and therefore named the buildings and the street the Tour de la Eeole. The true explanation is that which is given by Stow, that ” this tower and great place was so called of pertaining to the kings of this realm, but by whom the same was first built, or of what antiquity, is unknown.” King Stephen is stated to have resided therein, and in Edward III.’s reign it acquired its royal appellation. In the time of Richard II., who resided there with his mother, it was known as the Queen’s Wardrobe. In later time, Stow records, with an expression of grief which does him credit, ” It was neglected, and turned into stables for the king’s horses, and now letten out to divers men, and divided into tenements.” This scandal was ended, and its decadence completed, by destruction in the Great Fire.

Trig Lane, Thames Street. — John Trigg was owner of the landing stairs, which have now disappeared, in the time of Edward III. His memory is honoured by the lane and a wharf. The family, who carried on the business of fishmongers, long dwelt in the neighbourhood.

Trinity Court, Aldersgate, is a memento of a brotherhood of the Holy Trinity, resident on the site.

Trinity Lane, Thames Street, is a reminiscence of the Church of Trinity the Less, which previous to the Great Eire stood at the north-east corner of Little Trinity Lane, at its junction with Great Trinity Lane. It was one of the many not rebuilt.

Trump Street. — Here the manufacturers of the trumpets used by the city watchmen and at the tournaments pursued their vocation.

Turnagain Lane, Farringdon Street. — Says Stow, our indispensable guide, philosopher, and friend, ” Turnagain, or Windagain Lane goeth down west to Fleet Dyke, from whence men must turn again the same way they came, for there it stopped.”

Turnmill Street, Clerkenwell, is a survival of Turnmill Brook, a tributary of the Fleet, or, according to Stow, a portion of the stream itself, so called “for that divers mills were erected upon it, as appeareth by a fair register book, containing the foundation of the priory at Clerkenwell.” These mills were principally flour and flatting mills.

Union Street, Ubique. — Union and Cross Streets (which see) are names used to mark connecting thoroughfares where the idea of connection was obviously predominant, and indRed was probably the reason of their construction. Their multiplication is an undesirable and confusing element in our nomenclature, and the names of most might well be superseded by others.

Vine Street. — In mediaeval times vineyards and orchards were no uncommon features in the gardens of the religious houses of London, and of private dwellings also. There is nothing now beyond a few names to suggest the picture of the poet Thomson : —

Low bend the weighty boughs ; the clusters clear Half through the foliage seen, or ardent flame Or shine transparent, while perfection breathes White o’er the turgent film the living dew. As thus they brighten with exalted juice, Touch’d into flavor by the mingling ray.”

Vine Streets, Clerkenwell, Holborn, and Minories. — The Vine Streets of Clerkenwell and Holborn are mementoes of the vineyards attached to Ely Place. That of the Minories stands upon the site of the old vineyard pertaining to the Abbey of St Clare or the Minoresses. (See Minories.)

In the early part of the present century the street bore the name of The Vineyard.

Vineyard, Aldersgate Street, is a reminiscence of an old vineyard attached to a private dwelling.

Vineyard Walk, Clerkenwell. — In 1752 the site was known as The Mount, and upon its western slopes vines were still flourishing. When The Mount was razed shortly afterwards, the soil is said to have been sold for £10,000 on account of its richness. This reminds one of the Golden Dustman’s possessions in ” Our Mutual Friend.”

Walbrook, formerly Wallbrook Lane, marks a portion of the course of one of the streams which ran through London (see also Fleet, Langbourne, Holborn, and Sherborne), and derived its name from the circumstance that, originating just outside the northern wall, in the marshes of Finsbury and Moorfields, the drainage of which it received, it passed through the wall, about where Blomfield Street now is, midway between the Moor Gate and the Bishop’s Gate, and then ran in a south-westerly direction by Throgmorton Street and where is now the Bank to the east end of the Poultry, thence turning south down the present Walbrook, which stands upon its eastern bank, and Dowgate Hill to the river. The stream was arched over and converted into a sewer about the middle of the fourteenth century. It received the Langbourne (which see), by where now stands the Mansion House, and the Sherbourne about the centre of Dowgate Hill. (See also Barge Yard, Bucklersbury.)

Wardrobe Place, Carter Lane. — The site of a mansion built by Sir John Beauchamp, Warden of the Cinque Ports, died 1359; sold by his executors to Edward III., who converted it into a repository of state garments and royal robes w r orn at different times and occasions in the city, and kept here for convenience sake ; doubtless a very paradise for an archaeological Sartor Eesartus. It was removed after the Fire, but the name was retained.

Warnford Court, Throgmorton Street, is now a corridor, obviously an old right-ofway maintained through the building which covers its site. Warnford was no doubt an old landowner, but history has failed to record anything about him.

Warwick Lane commemorates the residence of the Earl of Warwick, “the king-maker,” whose gardens ran down to the Fleet.

Previously it enjoyed the ecclesiastical appellation of Old Dean’s Lane.

Water Lane, Tower Street. — The lane leading to the water, i.e. the river, and terminating, in Stow’s time, in a water-gate. Now it does neither, owing to alteration in the course of the streets, and thus an origin comes to be obscured. Superficial conjecturers have regarded this as possibly cognate with the adjacent Beer Lane, but of course there is no connection. (See Beer Lane.)

Watling Street. — Our Saxon ancestors borrowed their word ” street” from the Roman strata, a name applied to the long, well-made, straight-as-an-arrow lines of communication between the most important towns and military positions. There were four principal roads thus constructed by the Romans in Britain, to which the Saxons, when they took possession of the country, applied their own names. Of these, that which came to be called Watling Street was the most important, extending from Kichborough to Canterbury, thence to and through London, and on to Chester. It pleased the Saxons to connect this with one of their own mythic personages, Wsetla, an apotheosised Atheling, or noble, and to name it Wsetlinga Street, or the road of the Waetlings. Probably Atheling in this connection was a generic name, and may be interpreted as indicating a noble street. In the Saxon mythology Wsetla and his numerous family were located in the Milky Way ; and Chaucer, who, although the ” Father of English Poetry,” is much neglected in these latter days (but how, indRed, can any worthy old writer hope for recognition in the present whirl of literature ?) writes in his ” House of Fame ” : —

“Lo there, quod he, cast up thine eye Se, yonder, to the galaxie, The whiche men clepe the milky way : For it is white, and some par fay Y-callin it have Waetlinge-strete.”

Or, as Milton beautifully expresses it : — ” A broad and ample road whose dust is gold, And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear, Seen in the galaxy, that milky way, Which nightly, as a circling zone, thou seest Powdered with stars.”

—”Paradise Lost,” Book VII, 577-581.

Our present Watling Street is, however, a deviation from the course of the original road through the city, which ran along what is now our Budge Kow, and thence by a direct line to the west end of the Cheap, and onward to the West Gate, very nearly in the line of our Newgate Street. The market arrangements appear to have interfered with its course from Budge Row to Newgate Street, and it has never been restored. The present course of the street was laid out after the fire of 1136, one of the great fires frequently occurring in old wooden-housed London.

The other roads or streets, which it may be interesting to notice, although a little foreign to our subject, were the Ryknield, connecting Tynemouth, York, Derby, Birmingham, and St David’s. The Icknield, connecting Norwich, Dorchester, and Exeter. The Eormen, later JErmyn, from Pevensey to London, Lincoln, and thence up into Yorkshire. The AJceman may be added, from London to Bath, a city known as AJcemannes Ceaster, or ” City of Invalids,” which had an even earlier reputation in Koman times as Aquce Solis, on account of its therapeutic springs.

Well Court, Queen Street. — Late George Street, as the inscription informs us. This is but a reversion to the old name, borne at least a hundred and fifty years ago, and probably long before. Whether the well indicates the existence of a former spring, which is doubtful, or is simply a personal name of an old owner, which is probable, I cannot determine. It may be noted that Sir John Wells, Mayor in 1431, was a mercer, and a part of Well Court belonged to the Mercers’ Company.

Well Street, Cripplegate. — The site of Crowder’s Well. Who Crowder was appears to be lost in the obscurity of the past. He was probably the philanthropic proprietor. Its waters had a reputation as a specific for ocular ailments, although, like many modern patent medicines, they aspired to be a panacea ; but above all, and herein lay their superiority, they were an antidote for drunkenness.

Westmoreland Buildings, Aldersgate Street, commemorate the site of the town house of the Nevilles, Earls of Westmoreland.

White Street, Cutler Street, the surname of the landowner, of whom nothing more is known.

Whitecross Street marks the fact that here for many years stood a white stone cross, erected in very olden time, certainly as early as the first part of the fifteenth century, apparently in connection with a brotherhood of St Giles, founded by Henry V., but it may have had an even earlier origin, being connected with Redcross Street and Beech Street (which see).

Whitefriars serves to mark the local habitation of the Carmelite Order of Mendicant Friars, — the Friars of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Syria, Mount Carmel being the dwelling-place of Elias and Eliseus, the prophets. They were distinguished by a white robe with a black hood. (See Blackfriars, as regards the Orders in general.) The precinct of Whitefriars was afterwards known as Alsatia, and as such bore a discreditable reputation. Eeaders of Scott’s ” Fortunes of Nigel” will be familiar with it.

“White Hart Court, Bishopsgate Street, and White Hart Street, Warwick Lane, owe their names to old tavern signs. The white hart was a favourite badge of Eichard II., and is supposed to have originated in the white hart consecrated by Diomedes to Diana. The thoroughfares may therefore, in one way or another, boast a very ancient connection. In the latter I observe the “White Hart is replaced by the Coffee Pot, a meaningless substitution, which does little credit to whoever is responsible for it.

White Horse Alley, Smithfield, an old tavern sign. A snow-white stRed was the ensign of the Saxons, from whom it has descended as the arms of Kent. The early invaders, Hengist (which signifies a stallion) and Horsa, were believed to have assumed their names from their national emblem.

White Lion is another old tavern sign, and the courts and alleys named therefrom were once much more numerous than now, being no fewer than sixteen in number. The Lion Blanch formed part of the escutcheon of the Mowbray family : — ” Who in the field or foray slack Saw the Blanch Lion e’er fall back 1 ” says Scott, in the ” Lay of the Last Minstrel.” The White Lion is also the cognizance of the Dukes of Norfolk. The animal also supported the arms of Edward IV., and one helps to support our Royal Arms at the present time. The noble quadruped in some form, mostly tending to the extravagantly attenuated, especially about the loins — which circumstance, I believe, arose from heraldic ingenuity to make room on the escutcheon — has been borne by English sovereigns as far back as authentic records of animal bearings extend.

Of the White Lions yet remaining, and deserving notice, are —

White Lion Court, Birchin Lane, formerly White Lyon Alley, wherein stood an ancient tavern of the sign.

White Lion Court, Cornhill, which marks the site of a famous White Lion Tavern, destroyed by fire in 1765, having been purchased the day before for £3000.

White Lion Court, Great Tower Street, has the same origin, but is now a mean little court, with no trace of a leonine attribute about it.

White’s Alley, Coleman Street, is simply a memento of the name of the owner. For note upon Alleys in this region, see Great Bell Alley.

Whittington Avenue, Leadenhall Street, a name of comparatively recent application, but right well commemorating one of London’s worthies.

“William Street, Blackfriars, was so named in honour of Pitt, whose surname was, indRed, the first bestowed upon the Blackfriars Bridge of 1766, but happily superseded.

Winchester Street, Broad Street. — Upon the dissolution of the Augustinian Monastery (see Austin Friars), the house and garden were given, by an easy royal munificence, to William Paulet, the first Marquis of Winchester, who made the place his town residence. The construction of the street, destined to perpetuate his family title, was commenced in 1656.

Windmill Street, Finsbury, marks the site of a windmill in the days when the citizens took their rural walks in this direction. The mill is said to have occupied the summit of a mound made up by the deposit of bones from the churchyard of Old St Paul’s. I think we may regard this as legendary lore, and decline to believe it.

Windsor Place, Monkwell Street, commemorates the site of the town house of the Lords Windsor. The place has changed with the times.

Wine Office Court, Fleet Street, is the sole reminiscence of the office whence wine licenses were issued, and this, there is reason to believe, is more conjecture than certainty, although probably some such fact is the foundation of the name.

Wood Street, Cheapside. — The origin of this name is somewhat doubtful.

(1.) It may have been the fact that the houses were built of wood, notwithstanding the edict promulgated in Eichard the I.’s reign that all London houses should be of stone, to diminish risk of fire. But one can hardly believe that a street of wooden structures should be so unique as to give a distinguishing name.

(2.) Thomas Wood, Sheriff in 1491, resided here, and, as landowner, may have endowed the street with his name. He was noteworthy for his benefactions to the Church of St Peter’s in Cheap, and as builder of the “beautiful front of houses in Cheap over against Wood Street end, which is called Goldsmith’s Kow, garnished with the likeness of woodmen ” (Stow).

(3.) It is tolerably certain there was no connection with the wood business.

Worcester Lane, Thames Street, formerly Worcester Place Lane, commemorates the site of the Earl of Worcester’s Place, or town house.

Wormwood Street recalls to mind the waste ground within the city walls on the north, and the predominant production; So camomile was the herb of the adjacent waste. It is remarkable that bitter herbs should have specially abounded in both places. But for remarks upon this natural phenomenon see Camomile Street.

Wrestlers Court, Camomile Street. — Stow records that against the wall of the city, by Bishopsgate, was a large inn or court, called The Wrestlers, of such a sign, granted to the parish clerks of London as a chaplain’s residence. The present humble thoroughfare exists as a memento.

Wych Street, Strand, is one of those outlying streets beyond our allotted boundaries, which we cannot willingly pass by. It is said to derive its name from the Via de Aid Wych, a lane leading from the Strand northwards. I am unable to find any acceptable explanation of the old wych or wic alluded to, but am inclined to think that as the O.E. wic means amongst other things a monastery or convent, this lane formed a portion of the way to and from the residence in connection with the Holy Well of the locality, whence Holywell Street has its name. Via de Aid Wych would thus indicate the road of the old convent, now abbreviated to the simple Wych. Drury Lane was a continuation of the Via.

APPENDIX

NAMES OF THE PAST.

Looking through a list of the names of streets of a hundred and fifty or sixty years ago, we notice very many no longer existent, having been effaced by the progress and improvements of our city. Some of these were so quaint, and must have required so much hardihood and recklessness on the part of the municipal, parochial, or other authorities responsible for their application, that they deserve to be rescued from oblivion, if only as a memento of what can be and has been done in the art of street nomenclature. Many were undoubtedly from shop or tavern signs ; but why the sign should be transferred to brand the thoroughfare, the spirit of mischief alone knows. That their disappearance is an advantage cannot be gainsaid, for in many cases it involved the sweeping away of abodes of squalor, of narrow dirty passages, never purified b) r sunshine, moral or physical, and incapable of being so purified so long as they and the city might exist. The sanitary and social condition of some few of our smaller thoroughfares nReds attention now, and, as we must be glad to know, the nReded attention is being actively bestowed ; but the normal and unhReded state of a considerable area of our city was once what we cannot now conceive. There was nothing for it, as the growing wisdom of our civic administrators spRedily recognised, but to clear away the nests where pestilence, bodily, mental, and spiritual, was born, bred, and fostered, and thence let loose full fledged. But this by the way. Strictly speaking, street nomenclature is not a branch of social economics, or of sanitary or moral science. We find, then, a Bag and Bottle Alley in Old Street ; a Bandy Leg Alley abutting on the Fleet — probably so named from its tortuosity — a congener of Crooked Lane in Cannon Street ; a Barber’s Alley, which may have been derived from a surname, but Barber’s Pole Alley plainly indicates professional influence. There was a Beggars’ Alms Alley, which has an obscure and inexplicable reference to charitable donations. Black Lyon Alley and two Courts of like designation are noteworthy for their reference to the king of beasts in unaccustomed sable hue. Blind Beggars’ Alley, Cow Cross, was probably the recognised quarter of sightless mendicants. Blue Maid Alley suggests a woad-coloured virgin of our British ancestors, but it was probably an improper abbreviation of a blue-eyed maid. In St Thomas Apostle was Blunderbuss Alley, and in Abchurch Lane a Boot Alley. In Bishopsgate Street was Bottle Alley, and no fewer than three Broomstick Alleys existed. In East Smithfield was a Brown Beer Alley, probably, but by no means certainly, a misnomer for Brown Bear (see Beer Lane in the body of this work). Then there were a Buttermilk Alley, a Cabbage Alley, a Chitterling Alley, suggestive of edible luxuries ; two Dirty Alleys and a Dirty Hill, as well as six Dirty Lanes, no doubt appropriately named, with a modest, or, it may be, a shameless, reference to their special characteristics. That humble but highly useful and meritorious article of culinary service, the Frying-pan, was in great request, no fewer than thirteen alleys bearing its name. There were a Gingerbread Alley and two Gingerbread Courts, where probably the dainty comestible had attained notoriety ; a Good Child’s Alley, possibly a surname divided into its constituent elements ; a Grey Pea Alley, and a Grey Peas Alley ; a Great Swordbearer’s Alley, which, doubtless, had a reverential allusion to the civic functionary ; a Gullyhole Alley; two Halfpenny Alleys, three Farthing Alleys, and a Farthing Street. LabourinVain Alley, St Margaret’s Hill, and LabourinVain Court, Old Fish Street Hill, indicate unsuccessful effort, probably to derive an income from treacherous bricks and mortar and evanescent tenants. Lyon and Lamb Alley probably had a confused reference to Isaiah’s picture of peace and happiness. The domestic Mouse and the pungent Mustard had each their representatives, and Noah’s Ark Alley was found in Katcliff, a nominal ancestor, one might conjecture, of the renowned Jamrach. There was an Old Shore Alley in Hoxton, and a One Gun Alley in Wapping ; several Paved Alleys and Courts, a Half-paved Court (betokening a conscientious scrupulosity on the part of the nomenclator), and Paved Entry, London Wall, so named, no doubt, from a becoming pride in their superior condition. Then we had a Peas Porridge Alley and a Peascod Court ; a Penny Barber’s Alley, indicating that honest, if ruinous, competition existed in those days. In Gracechurch Street was Pewter Platter Alley, and Porridge Pot Alley in Aldersgate Street. Quart Pots, Shovels, Smocks, and Spectacles were also represented ; nor were the Washermaids and the Wildgoose forgotten.