Cloth Fair is a street in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

where, in

medieval times In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, merchants gathered to buy and sell material during the

Bartholomew Fair The Bartholomew Fair was one of London's pre-eminent summer charter fairs. A charter for the fair was granted to Rahere by Henry I to fund the Priory of St Bartholomew; and from 1133 to 1855 it took place each year on 24 August within the preci ...

. Today, it is a short residential street to the east of Smithfield in the north-western part of the city and is located in the ward of Farringdon Within. The street runs southwest to northeast from

Little Britain Little Britain may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little Britain'' (sketch show), a British radio and then TV show ** ''Little Britain USA'', an American spin-off * "Little Britain", a song by Dreadzone from the 1995 album ''Second Light'' * ...

, parallel to Long Lane to the north and bordered by the Anglican church of St. Bartholomew-the-Great to the south, until it merges with Middle Street some 150 yards later. P1266JBdoorway

The street was originally within the precincts of the Priory of St. Bartholomew's, and until 1910 formed a separate

liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

, with gates that were shut at night. Such a small area could not meet the demands of installing street lighting and sewers, and rejoined the city. The area has a long history, a varied past and strong literary tradition. It contains within its boundaries the oldest residential dwelling in London (numbers 41 and 42), and a pair of properties administered by the

Landmark Trust The Landmark Trust is a British building conservation charity, founded in 1965 by Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or architectural merit and then makes them available for holiday rental. The Trust's headqua ...

. One of them (number 43) is the former home of English poet

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture ...

; its door is in Cloth Court off Cloth Fair. A restaurant on the ground floor on Cloth Fair for a time took his name.Betjeman’s
The City Music Foundation is based in Church House in Cloth Fair. The nearest

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

station is

Barbican A barbican (from fro, barbacane) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe In the Middle A ...

(

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is cons ...

, Hammersmith & City and

Metropolitan line The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in Hillingdon. Printed in magenta on the tube map, the lin ...

s) and the closest mainline railway station is Farringdon.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Cloth Fair, London
Landmark Trust website
Streets in the City of London

See also

References

External links