This book is for anybody interested in the history of London.
The book is a browser’s miscellany of London street names, focusing on names that have interesting or surprising origins, unusual street names, and street names which tell an interesting story.
The book tries to explain why the streets in question acquired their names, and in doing so offers rich insights into the history of London.
Street names often provide the last remaining connection with otherwise forgotten events or people. Some of these names have been lost over the years; others survive, and can give important clues about how London has developed.
Amongst the street names discussed in the book are:
- Names that have been changed on grounds of taste or decency, such as Gropecunte Lane, Pissing Alley, Dirty Lane, Stinking Lane, Tripe Alley.
- Strange and quirky names, such as Pickled Egg Walk, Ha Ha Road, Crooked Usage, Bellestaines Pleasuance, and Quaggy Walk.
- Surviving names that reflect institutions or practices that have been lost, such as Coldbath Square, French Ordinary Court, Wine Office Court, Threadneedle Street and Yorkshire Grey.
- Names that indicate how an area used to be used, such as English Grounds and Lots Road.
- Names with interesting historical stories behind them: these include two streets named after a notorious Victorian swindler (Balfour Street), and a name that reflects one man’s thwarted ambitions to turn a part of north London into the world’s first hub airport (Aeroville)
- Marketing names designed to give a (sometimes) false impression of tranquility, or to change how an area is viewed, such as Vale of Health (changed from Hatchett’s Bottom)
The book is a browser’s miscellany of London street names, focusing on names that have interesting or surprising origins, unusual street names, and street names which tell an interesting story.
The book tries to explain why the streets in question acquired their names, and in doing so offers rich insights into the history of London.
Street names often provide the last remaining connection with otherwise forgotten events or people. Some of these names have been lost over the years; others survive, and can give important clues about how London has developed.
Amongst the street names discussed in the book are:
- Names that have been changed on grounds of taste or decency, such as Gropecunte Lane, Pissing Alley, Dirty Lane, Stinking Lane, Tripe Alley.
- Strange and quirky names, such as Pickled Egg Walk, Ha Ha Road, Crooked Usage, Bellestaines Pleasuance, and Quaggy Walk.
- Surviving names that reflect institutions or practices that have been lost, such as Coldbath Square, French Ordinary Court, Wine Office Court, Threadneedle Street and Yorkshire Grey.
- Names that indicate how an area used to be used, such as English Grounds and Lots Road.
- Names with interesting historical stories behind them: these include two streets named after a notorious Victorian swindler (Balfour Street), and a name that reflects one man’s thwarted ambitions to turn a part of north London into the world’s first hub airport (Aeroville)
- Marketing names designed to give a (sometimes) false impression of tranquility, or to change how an area is viewed, such as Vale of Health (changed from Hatchett’s Bottom)
