Eastcheap, from ‘east market’ in early English, is a relative toponym, as opposed to Cheapside, which was the westerly market location within the City of London. The Eastcheap placename is first recorded in the 11th century. Late medieval London chroniclers… Read More »Eastcheap
(and Tower Ward) Tower Hill and the surrounding Tower Ward take their name from “the most celebrated fortress in Great Britain”: The Tower of London. Note that the Tower itself lies just outside the boundary of the City of London,… Read More »Tower Hill
Threadneedle Street is among the most iconic City of London streets and therefore rich with historical associations. Rather surprisingly, until the early modern era, both Threadneedle Street and what is now called Old Broad Street, which intersects with Threadneedle, were… Read More »Threadneedle Street
Perhaps due to its profoundly utilitarian nature, Thames Street has been altered to an even greater extent than most other City of London thoroughfares. During the Roman period, the riparian side of the walled city was extended via land reclamation… Read More »Thames Street (Upper and Lower)
Up to the 1840s, the area surrounding the Guildhall (between Cheapside, London Wall, Saint Martin Le Grand and Coleman Street) did not feature any major east-west avenue, but rather a hodgepodge of narrow lanes. In 1845, Lad Lane and Cateaton… Read More »Gresham Street
Both the street and market in this part of the City are named after a prominent building, the Leaden Hall, which is first recorded in 1292. It was originally owned by the Neville family and included both a large building… Read More »Leadenhall Street and Market
Both New Bridge Street and the Victoria Embankment are relatively late additions to the City’s largely medieval street pattern. New Bridge Street was created in 1764, essentially following the course of and covering over the Fleet Ditch, leading to the… Read More »New Bridge Street & Victoria Embankment
The locations named above comprise the area bordered to the west by the Temple, to the north by Fleet Street, to the east by New Bridge Street (built over the Fleet River) and to the south by the Thames. ‘Bridewell’… Read More »Bridewell & Whitefriars
Cornhill is one of the streets that fan out from the Bank intersection ‒ the City’s of London’s financial heart. Running roughly west to east from Bank Junction, it meets the intersection (anciently know as ‘carfax’) between Gracechurch Street, Bishopsgate… Read More »Cornhill
Bishopsgate is the name of a major City street as well as one of its wards and derives from gate that once stood upon it. Bishopsgate was one of the seven double gates that afforded passage through the medieval walls.… Read More »Bishopsgate