Streets and historical figures in the Square Mile

Most streets in the City of London are named after someone, something or an activity that took place there in the past. Many names were there before the population started to expand after the Roman invasion, having made references to certain landmarks that have long since disappeared. Many more were named after historical figures from hundreds of years ago. As time passed some of the oldest names became corrupted, the meanings becoming more obscure with the passing of time. Many streets were named after the business that was carried out there. For instance, if you walk down Cheapside you will come to Milk Street, Bread Street, Ironmonger Lane, and so on. These names tell you where the cows were kept, and the bread was made etc. Incidentally, Cheapside was the market place. Its name comes from an old Anglo Saxon word Ceape, which meant “to barter”.

Around the middle of 2006 I noticed that there were new modern looking flat rectangular street signs popping up all over the Square Mile like giant headstones. All the old pointers and signposts were being taken down and replaced, if not with the headstones, then with new black signposts. The new black monoliths with their coloured street map on either side now stand on all the main street corners, and apparently were designed to provide another service besides giving directions.
In 2007 the City of London became a total wireless network area, and it seems that the new style signposts act as Wi-fi network aerials for internet and phones.

Named after Sir Thomas Gresham, (1517-1579). A ruthless but clever businessman who made his fortune manipulating government money by way of the exchange rate. While making the government a profit, he also made a fortune for himself, and was reputed to be the richest commoner in England. He was born a Londoner, the son of a Lord Mayor, Richard Gresham, and member of the Mercers company. He spent a great deal of time in Amsterdam, a great financial centre at the time .A vast amount of his fortune was spent founding Gresham College, and building the Exchange (later to become the Royal Exchange) in 1566. He had a house in Bishopsgate on the site of Gresham House. On the morning of November 29th he was leaving his house to walk to the Royal Exchange and dropped dead as he closed the door. He is buried in Saint Helen’s, Bishopsgate.
He left only one descendant, a daughter, his only son died as an infant. The Gresham family crest is a golden Grasshopper and a few examples of this can be seen by the keen eyed observer as you walk round the City of London Streets.

Named after Sir Nicholas Throckmorton one of Queen Elizabeth’s courtiers and Chief Butler of England.
His murder, by poisoning, in 1571 was said to have been caused by a jealous member of court who wished to gain favour with the Queen. It is generally agreed that the Earl of Leicester was, more than likely, the culprit.
The most famous building in this street until 2005 was the London Stock Exchange. This tall building, which stands at the bottom end of this narrow, cobbled street was vacated in 2005 when the Exchange moved to Paternoster Square near Saint Paul’s Cathedral. The building’s lower level has been totally demolished and major conversion work on the old Stock Exchange Tower is now still in progress (2007). The Draper's Hall, with it’s ornate entrance which for some reason gives me a sinister feeling when I look at it, is situated opposite.

This street owes its name to Sir Hugh Neville. In 1309 he erected a mansion with a roof made of lead, a Leaden hall. The East India Company had offices in Leadenhall Street as early as 1600. There is also the church of Saint Katherine Cree, the oldest surviving church in the City. Saint Katherine was tortured on a barbed wheel before being beheaded, and is remembered on bonfire night when we light up ‘Catherine wheels’, which were named after her. The old Leadenhall Market is also close by.
As you walk down Leadenhall Street, from the Bank and Cornhill end, you will have the opportunity to see two of the City’s most famous buildings at once; the Lloyds building on the right and the Gherkin on the left.

Up until the year 1290, the Jews were the main bankers and moneylenders of England, The Great London Synagogue stood until then in what is now called Old Jewry. They were banished by King Edward I for excessive interest rates in their dealings and usury. The Italian Lombardis were allowed to take their place and this street was named after them.
Pawnbroking was first started here, and the three brass balls which was used as a sign then, and is still in use today, represents the odds of someone ever redeeming their goods.
In 1549 Thomas Gresham and his wife took a house at number 68 Lombard Street, 'at the sign of the Grass- barrer', which was the emblem of the Gresham family. The grasshopper can still be seen there today.

As the name implies, this was one a centre for the trade of corn. It was also the centre of the lottery trade. Just as today, there were people in the City who would speculate on anything in the hope of making a killing. One such punter was a Spanish refugee going by the name of Thomas Isturitz. He entered the Cornhill offices of Martin & Company with twenty pounds, and asked for ticket number 261, the number of days since his escape from Spain. He waited while other lottery offices in the City were contacted in hope that they still had number 261, and finally managed to buy a half share in one. At five o’clock that day, the largest win ever in England till then, £40,000, was paid to number 261. He walked away £20,000 better off. Cornhill also contains the site of the oldest church in Britain, Saint Peters. It is said that the original church was built there by King Lucius in AD. 179.
Cornhill is also the home of a water pump and horse trough erected in 1799.

St. Mary Axe Joins Leadenhall Street with Houndsditch. The street passes over the site of a former church, Saint Mary the Virgin and Saint Ursula. The story is that Saint Ursula was, along with 11,000 other virgins, beheaded in Cologne. One of the axes used for this task was kept in the church until 1600. By kneeling the women side by side in threes, it was said that the axe had taken 3,666 heads, with only 1,222 swings on this mass execution by the Huns. Number 30 St. Mary Axe is what used to be the Swiss Re building before being sold for £600 million. It took the place of the old Baltic Exchange which was damaged by a terrorist bomb in the eighties. The tall circular glass monstrosity is well known as “The Erotic Gherkin”, and was completed in 2004.

Threadneedle Street was originally called Three Needle Street. This came from the three needles on the emblem for the Merchant Tailors Guild. It is the home of the Bank of England, known as ‘The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street’. It was also home to the Bank of Scotland until 2007 when it vacated the grand old building next to the Gibson Hall, and moved to Old Broad Street. In 2005 the scaffolding which had been hiding the buildings at the Bishopsgate end came down after a few years, and revealed the exterior renovations. They are being occupied by retailers rather than bankers, but the grand old buildings have not been demolished to make way for glass and steel, but brought back to their former glory. At the time of writing most are still standing empty!

In the mid seventeenth century a man from Smyrna set up a tent here in St. Michael’s Alley, and sold the first ever cup of coffee in England in 1652. The drink soon became the fashion of the day (for the wealthy), and in a short time there were coffee shops opening up all over the City. It became the custom to deposit gratuities in a large oak box standing on the counter inscribed with the letters T.I.P, meaning ‘To Increase Promptitude’, giving us the term “Tip” used today.

The only thing that makes Pudding Lane one of the famous streets in London is the fact that at number 25, the great fire that destroyed almost the whole of London, began in September 1666. It was Farryner’s, bakers to the King. The name given to the lane was nothing to do with with the trade of puddings. It was so called because the market traders from Eastcheap had the habit of dumping cart loads of steaming animal offal onto the cobbles there. I read somewhere that in 1986 the Bakers Company issued an apology for the fire!