SOME LONDON STREET NAMES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3695, 24 September 1927, Page 4

SOME LONDON STREET NAMES.

'Some London streets obtained their names in very peculiar ways. For example, Piccadilly took its curious name from a place of amusement which flourished at the eastern end, and which was so called from the ruffs (“pieadds” or “peccadillos”) worn by'the gallants of the reign of James L, the stiffend points of these ruff's resembling, “peckadills,” or spear heads. Both Pall Mall and its neighbour, The Mall, received their titles from the game of paille maille, from which lias developed the modern croquet, and which in Stuart times was played where these thoroughfares now are.

Fetter-lane comes from the “fajor beggars who once infested it, and Holborn derived its name from “Hole Bourne,” the name given to the upper course of the Fleet, from its flowing in a deep hollow. Shoreditch is a corruption of Soerdich, the name of the former lords of the manor, though there was at one time a theory that it was named after Jane Shore.

Many streets derive their names from some association with their locality, such as Fleet-street, from the neighbouring Fleet Ditch; the Strand which was at one time veritabily on the strand of the river; London Wall from the proximity of the City’s ancient bulwark; and Cornliill, from the corn .market formerly held there. With these also may be placed New gatestreet and Ludgatc Hill, both of which 'are named after the gates which formerly stood in the neighbourhood. -