Fetter Lane

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Fetter Lane
A busy scene in New Fetter Lane - geograph.org.uk - 1803128.jpg
New Fetter Lane, the northern extension of Fetter Lane towards Holborn Circus
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Fetter Lane
Location within Greater London
Sui generis
Administrative area Greater London
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LONDON
Postcode district EC4A
Dialling code 020
Police City of London
Fire London
Ambulance London
UK Parliament
London Assembly
List of places
UK
England
London
51°30′54″N0°06′35″W / 51.5150°N 0.1096°W / 51.5150; -0.1096
Statue of the politician John Wilkes on Fetter Lane. StatueOfJohnWilkes.jpg
Statue of the politician John Wilkes on Fetter Lane.

Fetter Lane is a street in the ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London, England. It forms part of the A4 road and runs between Fleet Street at its southern end and Holborn.

Contents

History

The street was originally called Faytor or Faiter Lane, then Fewteres Lane. This is believed to come from the Old French "faitor" meaning lawyer, though by the 14th century this had become synonymous with an idle person. Geoffrey Chaucer used the word to refer to the beggars and vagrants who were seen around the lane. An alternative origin of the name is the fetter (lance vest) made by armourers working for the nearby Knights Templar. [1]

In the 1590s there was a gibbet at the junction of Fleet Street and Fetter Lane. The Catholic martyr Christopher Bales was among those hanged there. [2] In 1643, the Member of Parliament Nathaniel Tomkins was arrested for conspiracy against the government by withholding taxes, and hanged outside his front door in Fetter Lane. [1] [3]

No 10 Nevills Court, Fetter Lane, 1891 by Philip Norman No 10 Nevills Court, Fetter Lane, 1891 by Philip Norman.jpg
No 10 Nevills Court, Fetter Lane, 1891 by Philip Norman

It is sometimes said that John Dryden lived at No. 16, but there is no evidence for this. In 1604, John Dowland published "Lachrimae". The preface states "to be solde at the authors House in Fetter-lane neare Fleet-streete". [4] In 1651 Thomas Hobbes lived in Fetter Lane. In the opening paragraphs of Gulliver's Travels the central character states that he lived briefly at Fetter Lane. From 1660 to 1680 Thomas Goodwin preached at the Fetter Lane Independent Church. [5]

The Socialist Party of Great Britain was founded in Bartlett's Passage, off Fetter Lane, in 1904. [6] From 1920 to 1961 the Daily Mirror newspaper was initially located in Geraldine House, then moved to the north end of Fetter Lane, at Holborn Circus, and remained there until 1990, when it moved to the Isle of Dogs. The original site, between Rolls Buildings (a street) and Bream's Buildings (another street to the north) was called Rolls House from 1961 until its demolition in 2007. The new site, sometimes called 110 Fetter Lane rather than Rolls House, is the site of an 11-storey building containing 29 courtrooms and other judicial accommodation. [7] 43 Fetter Lane was the longtime headquarters of printing company Monotype until its destruction by bombing in 1941. [8]

Properties

At the southern end, towards Fleet Street, is situated Clifford's Inn, established in 1344 and named after the Barons de Clifford. [9] Towards the northern end, near Holborn, is Barnard's Inn. They were both Inns of Chancery. The official address of the old Public Record Office (1856–1997) was on Chancery Lane, but the back of this building dominates the southern stretch of Fetter Lane. It is now the Maughan Library belonging to King's College London.

On Fleet Street is St. Dunstan-in-the-West, and next to it, at 133–137 Fetter Lane, is St. Dunstan's House. In Victorian times the publishing house Sampson Low was located at St. Dunstan's House. Two plaster reliefs (1886) by Walter Crane were salvaged from the building when it was destroyed in 1905. They now stand next-door in the King's College library. [10] The site then became the main London warehouse of the Cambridge University Press. It is now the Technology and Construction Court hearing litigation related to science and engineering. The Admiralty Court is also at St. Dunstan's House.

Nos 13, 14, and 15 Nevills Court, Fetter Lane, 1901 by Philip Norman Nos 13, 14, and 15 Nevills Court, Fetter Lane, 1901 by Philip Norman.jpg
Nos 13, 14, and 15 Nevills Court, Fetter Lane, 1901 by Philip Norman

At No. 33, the Moravian Chapel (Fetter Lane Society) was founded in 1738. The Trust Society for the Furtherence of the Gospel was founded by the Moravian Church in 1741. They undertook missionary work and were based at Fetter Lane. The composer Christian Ignatius Latrobe did missionary work for them in South Africa. The organisation still exists, but is now based in Muswell Hill. [11] For 67 years, Birkbeck, University of London, was located at Bream's Buildings on Fetter Lane. The writers Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb attended William Bird's Academy in Fetter Lane.

Gateway and Entrance of White Horse Inn, Fetter Lane, 1898 by Philip Norman Gateway and Entrance of White Horse Inn, Fetter Lane, 1898 by Philip Norman.jpg
Gateway and Entrance of White Horse Inn, Fetter Lane, 1898 by Philip Norman

Peter Böhler, the London Moravian leader of the Fetter Lane Society, and his followers established it for the purpose of discipleship and accountability. They began with the purpose of meeting once a week for prayer and fellowship. Most of their members consisted of Anglicans, most prominently John Wesley, Charles Wesley, and George Whitefield. John Wesley records in his journal for 1 January 1739: "Mr. Hall, Hinching, Ingham, Whitefield, Hutching, and my brother Charles were present at our love feast in Fetter Lane with about 60 of our brethren. About three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of His majesty, we broke out with one voice, 'We praise Thee, O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.'"

A statue of John Wilkes was erected in 1988 at the location where Fetter Lane joins New Fetter Lane.

On 7 December 2011 the Rolls Building, a new court of the High Court of Justice principally for commercial and property cases, was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holborn</span> Human settlement in England

Holborn is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Camden and the City of London. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Holborn is apart of the Ward of Farringdon Without.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle Temple</span> Barristers professional association

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. It is located in the wider Temple area of London, near the Royal Courts of Justice, and within the City of London. As a liberty, it functions largely as an independent local government authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fleet Street</span> Street in London, England

Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary of the Cities of London and Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was named.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hatton Garden</span> Street and area in Holborn, London

Hatton Garden is a street and commercial zone in the Holborn district of the London Borough of Camden, abutting the narrow precinct of Saffron Hill which then abuts the City of London. It takes its name from Sir Christopher Hatton, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, who established a mansion here and gained possession of the garden and orchard of Ely Place, the London seat of the Bishops of Ely. It remained in the Hatton family and was built up as a stylish residential development in the reign of King Charles II. For some decades it often went, outside of the main street, by an alternative name St Alban's Holborn, after the local church built in 1861.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holborn Viaduct</span> Road bridge in London

Holborn Viaduct is a road bridge in London and the name of the street which crosses it. It links Holborn, via Holborn Circus, with Newgate Street, in the City of London, England financial district, passing over Farringdon Street and the subterranean River Fleet. The viaduct spans the steep-sided Holborn Hill and the River Fleet valley at a length of 1,400 feet (430 m) and 80 feet (24 m) wide. City surveyor William Haywood was the architect and the engineer was Rowland Mason Ordish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staple Inn</span> Tudor building in London, England

Staple Inn is a part-Tudor building on the south side of High Holborn street in the City of London, London, England. Located near Chancery Lane tube station, it is used as the London venue for meetings of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, and is the last surviving Inn of Chancery. It was designated a Grade I listed building in 1974.

The Fetter Lane Society was the first flowering of the Moravian Church in Britain, and an important precursor to Methodism. It was founded in 1738. Although the original meeting house was destroyed in the mid-20th century, the society still meets in London, and is part of the British Province of the Moravian Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clifford's Inn</span> Inn of Chancery

Clifford's Inn is the name of both a former Inn of Chancery in London and a present mansion block on the same site. It is located between Fetter Lane and Clifford's Inn Passage in the City of London. The Inn was founded in 1344 and refounded 15 June 1668. It was dissolved in 1903, and most of its original structure was demolished in 1934, save for a gateway which survives. It was both the first Inn of Chancery to be founded and the last to be demolished. The mansion block was built in the late 1930s incorporating preserving the name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberty of the Rolls</span>

The Liberty of the Rolls was a liberty, and civil parish, in the metropolitan area of London, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maughan Library</span> Main academic and research library of Kings College London

The Maughan Library is the main university research library of King's College London, forming part of the Strand Campus. A 19th-century neo-Gothic building located on Chancery Lane in the City of London, it was formerly the home to the headquarters of the Public Record Office, known as the "strong-box of the Empire", and was acquired by the university in 2001. Following a £35m renovation designed by Gaunt Francis Architects, the Maughan is the largest new university library in the United Kingdom since World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chancery Lane</span> London street in the ward of Farringdon Without

Chancery Lane is a one-way street that forms part of the western boundary of the City of London. The east side of the street is entirely within the City, whilst the west side is in the City of Westminster south of Carey Street and the London Borough of Camden north of that street. The route originated as a 'new lane' created by the Knights Templar from their original 'old Temple' on the site of the present Southampton Buildings on Holborn, in order to access to their newly acquired property to the south of Fleet Street sometime before 1161.

Thavie's Inn was a former Inn of Chancery, associated with Lincoln's Inn, established at Holborn, near the site of the present side street and office block still known as Thavies Inn Buildings. Thavie's Inn is one of the earliest Inns of Chancery on record, both by date of establishment and dissolution. It remains a well-known City of London landmark, where Lloyd's Bank is situated, on the opposite side of Holborn Circus from Ely Place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stone Buildings</span>

Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn were constructed from 1774 to 1780. The architect was Sir Robert Taylor. Stone Buildings is a Grade I listed building. Stone Buildings appear in Anthony Trollope's novel The Prime Minister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dragon boundary mark</span> Type of sculpture marking boundaries of the City of London

The dragon boundary marks are cast iron statues of dragons on metal or stone plinths that mark the boundaries of the City of London. The dragons are painted silver, with details of their wings and tongue picked out in red. The dragon stands on its left rear leg, with the right rear leg lifted forward to support a shield, with the right foreleg raised and the left foreleg holding the top of the shield. The shield bears the City of London's coat of arms painted in red and white: the red cross of St George on a white background, with a red sword in the first quarter referring to the reputed beheading of Saint Paul. Saint George and Saint Paul are respectively the patron saints of England and of London. The dragon's stance is the equivalent of the rampant heraldic attitude of the supporters of the City's arms, which may allude to the legend of Saint George and the Dragon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bartlett's Buildings</span>

Bartlett's Buildings, once known as Bartlett's Court, was the name of a street, off Holborn Circus in the City of London, known for the number of lawyers who had offices there. It was a cul-de-sac but an alley ran from the west side to Fetter Lane that was known as Bartlett's Passage. It was destroyed in 1941 during a Second World War air raid.

This is a list of the etymology of street names in the London district of Holborn. Holborn has no formally defined boundaries - those utilised here are: Theobald’s Road to the north, Gray's Inn Road and the City of London boundary to the east, Victoria Embankment/the Thames to the south, and Lancaster Place, the north-west curve of the Aldwych semi-circle, Kingsway/Southampton Row to the west.

This is a list of the etymology of street names in the City of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanging Sword Alley</span> Alley in the City of London

Hanging Sword Alley is an alley in the Alsatia district of London, running between Whitefriars Street and Salisbury Square, close to Fleet Street.

Nathaniel Tomkins was a British Member of Parliament. He represented Carlisle and Christchurch.

The New Inn was one of the Inns of Chancery or Hospida Cancellarie. It existed from the late 15th century until 1902 and was located near Aldwych in London.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Weinreb et al. 2008, p. 289.
  2. Brooke 2010, p. 64.
  3. "Nathaniel Tomkins". History of Parliament online. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  4. "[WorldCat.org]". worldcat.org.
  5. Carson, William J. "Thomas Goodwin". www.puritansermons.com. Archived from the original on 2 June 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2008.
  6. "Socialist Party". Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2008.
  7. "110 Fetter Lane".
  8. "A Monotype Timeline". Eye magazine. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  9. Brooke 2010, p. 102.
  10. "Canada by Walter Crane". www.victorianweb.org.
  11. "Moravian Church Archive and Library: Trust Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel". www.mundus.ac.uk.
  12. Bowcott, Owen (19 August 2011). "Rolls Building court complex can make London 'global legal centre'". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 September 2012.

Sources