Minories ( ) is the name of a small former administrative unit, and also of a street in central London. Both the street and the former administrative area take their name from the
Abbey of the Minoresses of St. Clare without Aldgate.
Both are positioned just to the east of, and outside, the
line of London's former defensive walls, in London's
East End
The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...
. The area of the former administrative unit was outside the City of London (most recently in the
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...
), with the street partially in the City and partly in Tower Hamlets. Boundary changes in 1994 mean the area of both is now wholly within the City of London.
Toponymy
Minories' name is derived from the former
Abbey of the Minoresses of St. Clare without Aldgate, a house of the
Poor Clares, members of the Order of
St Clare, founded in 1294 and known generally in medieval England as "minoresses". A "minoress" was a
nun in the
Second Order of the Order of Friars Minor known as
Franciscans. (A small side-road off Minories is named St. Clare Street.) The name can be found in other English towns, including
Birmingham,
Colchester,
Newcastle upon Tyne and
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
.
Governance
Minories was in the ancient parish of
St Botolph without Aldgate
St Botolph without Aldgate was an ancient parish in the metropolitan area of London. The parish was partly within the City of London and partly in the County of Middlesex. Each part operated as a separate parish for civil administration with its ...
until 1557, when it became
extra-parochial
In England and Wales, an extra-parochial area, extra-parochial place or extra-parochial district was a geographically defined area considered to be outside any ecclesiastical or civil parish. Anomalies in the parochial system meant they had no ch ...
.
The area was a papal
peculiar outside the jurisdiction of the English bishops. The abbey was
dissolved in 1539, the property passing to the Crown. The chapel of the former abbey became the
Church of Holy Trinity, Minories, and other buildings were used as an armoury and later as a workhouse. In 1686, the area became part of the
Liberties of the Tower of London. The Minories area historically hosted a large Jewish community.
Minories Holy Trinity, also known as Minories Holy Trinity, was abolished as a civil parish in 1895 and absorbed into the parish of
Whitechapel.
The street
The modern street named Minories runs north–south with traffic flowing both-ways from
Aldgate to
Tower Hill; it is part of the
A1211 road between the
Barbican
A barbican (from fro, barbacane) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer fortifications, defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes.
Europe ...
and
Whitechapel. The border between the City and the
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...
ran haphazardly between Minories and nearby Mansell Street until boundary changes in 1994 relocated the present-day border along Mansell Street, so that Minories is now within the City of London.
Aldgate Underground station is at the northern end of Minories, on Aldgate High Street.
Roman cemetery
In September 2013, a well-preserved Roman statue of an eagle with a snake in its mouth, thought to have been part of a funerary monument, was discovered on a building site on the street, close to its junction with Aldgate High Street. Burials were forbidden within the inhabited area in the Roman period, so the City's defensive wall was ringed by many large cemeteries. The statue is considered to be one of the best examples of Romano-British sculpture in existence.
[Daily Mail article (not behind a pay wall) which includes further detail and a map]
Minories railway station
The street gave its name to
Minories railway station, built in 1840 as a part of the
London and Blackwall Railway – a cable railway. The site is now occupied by the
Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station
Tower Gateway
Tower Gateway is a Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station in the City of London and is located near the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. It adjoins the tracks to Fenchurch Street station and is located on the site of a former station called Mino ...
, which opened in 1989 as the system's western terminus. The DLR was extended westward in 1991 to
Bank, leaving Tower Gateway as a secondary alternative terminus.
References
Sources
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Areas of London
Districts of the City of London
Streets in the City of London
Odonyms referring to religion
Former civil parishes in London
Bills of mortality parishes