 View of Lant Street and the Gladstone Arms | |
| Length | 0.2 mi (0.32 km) |
|---|---|
| Postal code | SE1 |
| northwest end | Southwark Bridge Road |
| southeast end | A3 Borough High Street |
Lant Street is a street south of Marshalsea Road in Southwark, south London, England. [1] [2]
At the northwest end is the Southwark Bridge Road and at the southeast end is Borough High Street. Close by, just to the north in Borough High Street, is the historic St George the Martyr church, where the Charles Dickens character Little Dorrit was married in Dickens' book of the same name. The area around Lant Street has many Dickens associations. [3] The street is also one of main locations of the plot of Sarah Waters' Fingersmith .
The word Lant refers to aged urine, used for cleaning, in the manufacture of gunpowder, and ale and pastry making. The road is named, however, in remembrance of the Lant family and Thomas Lant who inherited and owned the nearby land and rented out several hundred homes there from the 18th century.
There is a Lant Street Association for people who live and work in Lant Street. [1] Two historic pubs, the Princes of Wales at No. 23 [4] and The Gladstone Arms at No. 64 [5] are located in Lant Street.
Charles Dickens is Lant Street's most notable resident. [6] He took lodgings in Lant Street during 1824 while still a child, in a house that belonged to the Vestry Clerk of St George's Church. [7] This was during the period that his father John Dickens was imprisoned in the nearby Marshalsea debtors' prison. [8]
Sir Joseph Lyons was born at 50 Lant Street on 29 December 1847. [9] Lyons was a self-made businessman and went on to own the Lyons Cornerhouses, a chain of tea shops run by J. Lyons and Co., established in 1887.
The area around Lant Street, mainly to the north, was previously known as The Mint. It was a slum area with privileges for debtors until The Mint in Southwark Act 1722 removed these rights. The area remained a slum until the 19th century. The only reminder of The Mint is Mint Street off Marshalsea Road, where there used to be a workhouse. [10]
The Marshalsea prison, associated with the Marshalsea Court, was located a little to the north of the southeast end of Lant Street, just north of St George's Church. [11] The prison was mentioned in the works of Charles Dickens.
In 1902, a small public open space, known as Little Dorrit's Playground, after the Charles Dickens character, was opened north of Lant Street. [12] [13] Much of the area became derelict as a result of air raid damage during World War II. Also north of Lant Street is Little Dorrit's Court.
In the late 2010s Roman burial sites excavated at 52-56 Lant Street and the nearby 56 Soutwark Bridge Road revealed more than two hundred inhumantions including the remains of a teenage girl known as the "Lant Street Teenager". [14] [15] Of the 18 individuals from the Lant Street cemetery whose DNA was analysed in details, four of them had north African (not sub-Saharan African) ancestry. [16]
Little Dorrit is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, originally published in serial form between 1855 and 1857. The story features Amy Dorrit, youngest child of her family, born and raised in the Marshalsea prison for debtors in London. Arthur Clennam encounters her after returning home from a 20-year absence, ready to begin his life anew.
Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, London.
Borough High Street is a road in Southwark, London, running south-west from London Bridge, forming part of the A3 route which runs from London to Portsmouth, on the south coast of England.
St George's Fields was an area of Southwark in south London, England.
The Mint was a district in Southwark, south London, England, on the west side of Borough High Street, around where Marshalsea Road is now located. It was so named because a mint authorised by King Henry VIII was set up in Suffolk Place, a mansion house, in about 1543. The mint ceased to operate in the reign of Mary I and Suffolk Place was demolished in 1557. In the late-17th and early-18th centuries, the area was known for offering protection against prosecution for debtors due to its legal status as a "liberty", or a jurisdictional interzone.
St George the Martyr is a church in the historic Borough district of south London. It lies within the modern-day London Borough of Southwark, on Borough High Street at the junction with Long Lane, Marshalsea Road, and Tabard Street. St George the Martyr is named after Saint George. The church is a Grade II* listed building.
John Dickens was the father of the famous English novelist Charles Dickens and was the model for Mr Micawber in his son's semi-autobiographical novel David Copperfield.
Union Street is a major street in the London Borough of Southwark. It runs between Blackfriars Road to the west and Borough High Street to the east. Southwark Bridge Road crosses in the middle.
Horsemonger Lane Gaol was a prison close to present-day Newington Causeway in Southwark, south London. Built at the end of the 18th century, it was in use until 1878.
Frederick William Dickens was the son of John and Elizabeth Dickens and was Charles Dickens's younger brother, who lived with Charles when he moved on to Furnival's Inn in 1834. He was the inspiration for two different Freds in his brother's books: the jovial nephew of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and the dissolute brother of Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop.
The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, England, from medieval times until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were heard; as such, the prison was often used as a debtor's prison until the practice was abolished in the 1860s. In 1842, it was renamed the Queen's Bench Prison, and became the Southwark Convict Prison in 1872.
Alfred Lamert Dickens was an English railway engineer and the younger brother of the Victorian novelist Charles Dickens.
Marshalsea Road is a major street in Southwark, south London, England. At the northwest end is the Southwark Bridge Road. At the southeast end is Borough tube station on Borough High Street. Continuing across the street are Long Lane and Great Dover Street. At the northeast corner is the historic St George the Martyr church, where the Charles Dickens character Little Dorrit was married in Dickens' book of the same name. The area around Marshalsea Road has many Dickens associations.
The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners—including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition—it became known, in particular, for its incarceration of the poorest of London's debtors. Over half of England's prisoners in the 18th century were in jail because of debt.
Little Dorrit's Playground, named after Little Dorrit, the eponymous Charles Dickens character, is a public playground and small park just north of Marshalsea Road in Southwark, south London, England.
Long Lane is a main east–west road in Southwark, south London, England.
Charles Dickens's works are especially associated with London, which is the setting for many of his novels. These works do not just use London as a backdrop but are about the city and its character.
Little Dorrit is a lost 1920 British silent historical drama film directed by Sidney Morgan and starring Lady Tree, Langhorn Burton and Joan Morgan. It is based on the 1857 Charles Dickens' novel of the same name. A few fragments totaling 18 minutes survive, and are featured in the documentary Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood. They've also been uploaded to YouTube.
The Gladstone Arms is a public house in Lant Street in the Borough – the Southwark district of London. It is also known as The Glad. Built on the site of a Victorian pub, the current building was constructed in the 1920s. It has been threatened by redevelopment but its popularity as a meeting place and great live music venue have caused it to be recognised as an asset of community value.
This is a list of the etymology of street names in the London district of Southwark. The area has no formally defined boundaries – those utilised here are: the river Thames to the north, Tower Bridge Road to the east, Bricklayers Arms/New Kent Road/Elephant and Castle to the south, and London Road/St George's Circus/Blackfriars Road to the west.
