Wych Street was in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
where King, Melbourne and
Australia House
The High Commission of Australia in London is the diplomatic mission of Australia in the United Kingdom. It is located in Australia House, a Grade II listed building. It was Australia's first diplomatic mission and is the longest continuously ...
s now stand on
Aldwych
Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the List of areas of London, area immediately surrounding it in central London, England, within the City of Westminster. The street starts Points of the compass, east-northeast of Charing Cros ...
. It ran west from the church of
St Clement Danes
St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th century by the Danes, the current ...
on the
Strand
Strand may refer to:
Topography
*The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a:
** Beach
** Shoreline
*Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida
Places Africa
*Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa
* Strand Street, ...
to meet the southern end of
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster.
Notable landmarks ...
. It was demolished by the
London County Council
London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...
in around 1901, as part of redevelopment bisected by new street
Aldwych
Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the List of areas of London, area immediately surrounding it in central London, England, within the City of Westminster. The street starts Points of the compass, east-northeast of Charing Cros ...
, the east of which mimics its course, in a curved way so taking up land buildings stood on, and these works created
Kingsway.
History
![DISTRICT(1888) p111 - Temple (map)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/DISTRICT%281888%29_p111_-_Temple_%28map%29.jpg)
The area around Drury Lane was not affected by the
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the ...
, and contained decrepit
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
houses, with projecting wooden
jetties
A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...
. The Angel Inn public house was at the bottom of the street, by
the Strand. Further west, about halfway along on the north side, was the
New Inn
New Inn - ( cy, Y Dafarn Newydd) - is a village and community directly south east of Pontypool, within the County Borough of Torfaen in Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It had a population of 5,986 at the 2011 Census.
L ...
, an
Inn of Chancery
The Inns of Chancery or ''Hospida Cancellarie'' were a group of buildings and legal institutions in London initially attached to the Inns of Court and used as offices for the clerks of chancery, from which they drew their name. Existing from a ...
where
Sir Thomas More
Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...
received his early legal education, and, to the south,
Lyon's Inn
Lyon's Inn was one of the Inns of Chancery attached to London's Inner Temple. Founded some time during or before the reign of Henry V, the Inn educated lawyers including Edward Coke and John Selden, although it was never one of the larger Inns. It ...
, another Inn of Chancery where
Sir Edward Coke
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...
was a reader in 1578,
which was replaced by a
Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and gra ...
and the
Opera Comique
The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street, Holywell Street and the Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway.
...
.
The Shakespeare's Head was the meeting place of the Club of Owls, named because of the late hours kept by its members.
[ Larwood, Jacob; Hotten, John Camden ''The History of Signboards from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'', London: John Camden Hotten, 1866,]
66-7
/ref> Mark Lemon
Mark Lemon (30 November 1809, in London – 23 May 1870, in Crawley) was the founding editor of both ''Punch'' and '' The Field''. He was also a writer of plays and verses.
Biography
Lemon was born in Marylebone, Westminster, Middlesex, ...
, editor of ''Punch
Punch commonly refers to:
* Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist
* Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice
Punch may also refer to:
Places
* Pun ...
'', lived there for a year and "a club of literati used to meet on the first floor".
In ''Literary Anecdotes'' John Nichols listed members of the monthly dining club that met at the Shakespeare's Head tavern:[Nichols, John, ''Literary anecdotes of the eighteenth century'', volume 5, 1812]
p325
/ref> James Robson, Alderman Cadell, James Dodsley
James Dodsley (1724–1797) was an English bookseller.
Life
Dodsley was born near Mansfield in Nottinghamshire in 1724. He was probably employed in the shop of his prosperous brother, Robert, by whom he was taken into partnership—the firm trad ...
, Lockyer Davis, Thomas Longman, Peter Elmsly, honest Tom Payne of the Mews-gate, Thomas Evans of the Strand and Thomas Davies.
South of the western end was Drury House
Drury House was a historic building on Wych Street, London. It was the house of Sir Robert Drury, after whom Drury Lane was named. It was a meeting place for Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and his accomplices in 1601, when they were plotting a ...
, the house of Sir Robert Drury
Sir Robert Drury (1456–1536) was an English knight, Lord of the Manor of Hawstead, Suffolk, and Knight of the Body to Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII. As a politician he was Knight of the Shire for Suffolk, Speaker of the House of Commons (el ...
, from which Drury Lane took its name, later rebuilt as Craven House by the first Lord Craven (died 1697), and finally turned into a public house, the "Queen of Bohemia", named after his unrequited love, Elizabeth of Bohemia
Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 159613 February 1662) was Electress of the Palatinate and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Frederick V of the Palatinate. Since her husband's reign in Bohemia lasted for just one winter, she is called the Win ...
, the daughter of James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
. This building was demolished – replaced by the first Olympic Theatre
The Olympic Theatre, sometimes known as the Royal Olympic Theatre, was a 19th-century London theatre, opened in 1806 and located at the junction of Drury Lane, Wych Street and Newcastle Street. The theatre specialised in comedies throughout m ...
.
Jack Sheppard
Jack Sheppard (4 March 1702 – 16 November 1724), or "Honest Jack", was a notorious English thief and prison escapee of early 18th-century London.
Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in ...
, the infamous thief, was apprenticed to a carpenter, Mr. Wood, on this street; one of his haunts, the White Lion tavern, was here. The music hall
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...
performer Arthur Lloyd Arthur Lloyd may refer to:
* Arthur Lloyd (rugby league), rugby league footballer of the 1930s for Wales, and York
* Arthur Lloyd (musician) (1839–1904), Scottish singer, songwriter, comedian and stage producer
* Arthur Lloyd (bishop) (1844–19 ...
lived at № 39 in 1892.
Around 1780, the brothers George and John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor who made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by smuggling opium into China, and ...
, who became America's first multimillionaire, ran an instrument store in № 26.
In popular culture
''Where Was Wych Street?'' is one of the best loved short stories by Stacy Aumonier
Stacy Aumonier (31 March 1877 – 21 December 1928) was a British writer and stage performer, most highly regarded for his short stories. Between 1913 and 1928, he wrote more than 85 stories, 6 novels, a volume of character studies, and a volum ...
(1877–1928).
In Patrick O'Brian's novel ''Post Captain'' (1972), the character Dr. Stephen Maturin is in London in late September 1804, reporting to the Admiralty in his capacity as a naval intelligence agent. Having left the Admiralty building on Whitehall, he intends to "wander[] among the bookstalls of Wych Street," but because of the rain he decides instead to return to his inn.[''Post Captain'', Patrick O'Brian; 1972; Chapter 14]
See also
* List of demolished buildings and structures in London
This list of demolished buildings and structures in London includes buildings, structures and urban scenes of particular architectural and historical interest, scenic buildings which are preserved in old photographs, prints and paintings, but whic ...
References
External links
Where Was Wych Street?
by Stacy Aumonier at Project Gutenberg.
* British Library:
Original watercolour of Wych Street, London, 1860
rom the author's presentation copy of The Life of Dickens, 1872-74
Old Houses In Wych Street, 1876
Photographer: A. & J. Bool, Printer: Henry Dixon
Old Houses In Wych Street, 1876
Photographer: A. & J. Bool, Printer: Henry Dixon
The Strand (northern tributaries): Clement's Inn, New Inn, Lyon's Inn etc.
, ''Old and New London: Volume 3'' (1878), pp. 32–5.
{{Coord, 51, 30, 47, N, 0, 6, 59, W, type:landmark_region:GB-WSM, display=title
History of the City of Westminster
Streets in the City of Westminster
Former streets and roads of London