Alie Street is a 400 metre long street located in

Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate. The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

. It links

Mansell Street Mansell Street is a street in East London, which is part of the London Inner Ring Road. For most of its length from the north, this street marks the boundary between the City of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. However, the southern ...

with

Commercial Road Commercial Road is a street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. It is long, running from Gardiner's Corner (previously the site of Gardiners department store, and now Aldgate East Underground station), through ...

. For much of its history, the western part was known as Great Alie Street, with the eastern part called Little Alie Street.

History

Originally called Ayliff Street, it was named after a relative of William Leman, whose great-uncle,

John Leman Sir John Leman (1544–1632) was a tradesman from Beccles, England who became Lord Mayor of London. Career Leman's business interests grew across the district of Waveney, which spans the Norfolk–Suffolk border. In the 1580s he moved to London ...

had bought

Goodman's Fields Two 18th century theatres bearing the name Goodman's Fields Theatre were located on Alie Street, Whitechapel, London. The first opened on 31 October 1727 in a small shop by Thomas Odell, deputy Licenser of Plays. The first play performed was G ...

earlier in the seventeenth century. Alie Street ran along the northern side, with

Leman Street Leman Street, once known as Lemon Street, is a street in Tower Hamlets. It was built in the seventeenth century as part of the development of Goodman's Fields. It is named after John Leman who was responsible for this development, which also in ...

to the east,

Prescot Street Prescot Street is a street in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It runs between Goodman's Yard and Mansell Street in the west and Leman Street in the east. The area, including Ayliff Street, Leman Street and Mans ...

to the south, and Mansell Street to the West. These new streets developed in the late seventeenth century while Goodman's Fields was used as a

tenterground A tenterground, tenter ground or teneter-field was an area used for drying newly manufactured cloth after fulling. The wet cloth was hooked onto frames called "tenters" and stretched taut using "tenter hooks", so that the cloth would dry flat ...

. From the 1800s to the late 20th century, the western section from Mansell Street to Leman Street was known as Great Alie Street, with an extension going east from Leman Street to Commercial Road being known as Little Alie Street.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alie Street Aldgate Streets in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets