Scotch whisky is usually styled Mountain Dew, from the fact that in former times it was often distilled in the mountains in order to escape the watchfulness of the excise officers. The superior Scotch whisky known as Glenlivet derives its name from the district in which it is distilled. The popular LL Whisky originated under the following circumstances: When the Duke of Richmond was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he one day, in the year 1807, sent to various Dublin distilleries for samples of their best whisky; and preferring that furnished by Messrs. Kinahan, his Grace ordered a large vat in which this particular quality of the spirit was kept to be reserved for his own use. Accordingly, the letters “LL,” signifying Lord Lieutenant, were painted on the vat; and ever since Messrs. Kinahan’s whisky of the same quality has borne the name of “LL Whisky.”
LONDON STREETS AND SQUARES.
Fleet Street received its name from the Fleet, once a swift-flowing stream, now converted into a sewer. Mitre Court, Falcon Court, and Red Lion Court were designated after old taverns respectively bearing these signs. Bolt Court was so called from the “Bolt-in-Tun,” an ancient coaching-house, transformed into a railway goods receiving office standing on the opposite side of the way. Johnson’s Court did not receive its title from Dr. Johnson, who lived in it for some time, but from the owner of the property. Wine Office Court originally contained an office where wine licences were issued. Shoe Lane received this designation from the traditional account that when the Devil ran away with Lady Hatton [see [Hatton Garden]] he dropped one of her shoes in Shoe Lane and her cloak in Cloak Lane, near Cannon Street. St. Bride Street and Bride Lane owe their names to the Church of St. Bride close by. Salisbury Court occupies the site of an ancient palace of the Bishops of Salisbury. Dorset Street and Dorset Buildings carry us back in fancy to the Dorset Gardens Theatre, erected in the grounds attached to the residence of the Earl of Dorset in the early days of the Restoration. Whitefriars Street marks the western boundary of the monastery of the Carmelites, or White Friars, built in 1245. The whole district of Whitefriars formerly comprised a Sanctuary infested by debtors and lawbreakers; on which account it bore the name of Alsatia, in allusion to the French province of Alsace, long notorious for its intestine strife and political disaffection. Bridge Street is a modern thoroughfare leading to Blackfriars Bridge and Blackfriars Road, so called from the monastery of the Dominicans or Black Friars established on the site of Printing House Square and the Times office, about the year 1276. Water Lane was originally a narrow lane winding down to the Thames.
Ludgate Hill derived its name from the old Lud Gate, built by King Lud in the year 66 B.C. on the spot where the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway now crosses this busy thoroughfare. The gate was removed in 1760. La Belle Sauvage Yard was formerly the coachyard of the celebrated Inn of this name. The Old Bailey is a corruption of Bail Hill, which contained the residence and court of the Bail, or Bailiff, from very early times. The Broadway was doubtless considered a fine thoroughfare in the days when London streets generally were so narrow that opposite neighbours could shake hands out of their top-story windows. Friar Street was designated after the Black Friars’ Monastery. Sermon Lane is a corruption of “Shere-moniers’ Lane,” in which stood the office of the money-shearers or clippers at the time when the Mint was in this neighbourhood. Paul’s Chain owed its name to a chain formerly drawn across its northern extremity the while service was held in St. Paul’s. Old Change was originally known as “The King’s Exchange” on account of the building where the bullion was stored convenient to the Money-shearers’ Office and the Mint. Paternoster Row received its name from the stationers who sold religious texts, prayer-books, and rosary beads, formerly called Paternosters in this street. Ave Maria Lane, Creed Lane, and Amen Corner, being of later date, their designation to complete the religious metaphor was perhaps natural. Warwick Lane stands on the site of a magnificent palace owned by the Beauchamps, Earls of Warwick. Ivy Lane contained the ivy-clad houses of the prebendaries attached to St. Paul’s Cathedral. In Panyer Alley may be seen a curious stone let into the wall of the middle house on the east side, upon which are chiselled the rude figure of a boy seated on a pannier or basket, and a distich reminding the pedestrian that this is the highest ground in the City. The alley was a standing-place for bakers with their panniers at the time when a corn market was held at the western extremity of Cheapside.
Cheapside properly denotes that side of the Cheap where the rich goldsmiths had their shops. The term cheap is Saxon for a market, derived from ceapan, to buy. The Old English spelling of the name of this locality was Chepe. Ironmonger Lane was the regular habitation of the artificers in iron in the reign of Edward I.; Bread Street of the bakers; and Friday Street of the fishmongers who supplied the fast-day markets. Milk Street was the ancient milk market. Gutter Lane is a corruption of “Guthurun Lane,” so called after a wealthy Danish burgher. Foster Lane contains the Church of St. Vedast (otherwise St. Foster), Bishop of Arras in the French province of Artois, in the time of Clovis. Wood Street was anciently inhabited by turners and makers of wooden cups and dishes and measures. Lawrence Lane received its name from the Church of St. Lawrence in Gresham Street, which perpetuates the memory of Sir Thomas Gresham, merchant and founder of the Royal Exchange (born 1519, died 1579), because Gresham College, established by him in his own mansion, on the site of the present Gresham House, Old Broad Street, was removed here in 1843. Lad Lane, now absorbed in Gresham Street, was a corruption of “Our Lady Lane,” so called from a statue of the Virgin. Aldermanbury was so called from the original Guildhall that stood on its east side. The approach to the present Guildhall received the name of King Street in honour of Henry IV., in whose reign the edifice was opened. In Basinghall Street stood the mansion of Solomon Basing, Lord Mayor in 1216. Coleman Street preserves the memory of the first builder upon the land. The Old Jewry was the privileged quarter of the Jews, whose first synagogue was erected here in 1262. The Poultry comprised the shops of the scorchers and stuffers, who afterwards settled down in the Stocks Market (so called from the old stocks for public offenders that stood there), displaced by the building of the Mansion House in 1739. Bucklersbury was originally the property of a wealthy grocer named Buckle who owned a manor-house here; the Anglo-Saxon word bury being applicable either to a town or to an inhabited enclosure. King William Street was named soon after William IV. opened the present London Bridge, on August 1, 1831. Queen Victoria Street was cut through in the reign of her present Majesty.
Cannon Street is a corruption of Candlewick Street, colloquially styled “Can’lwick Street,” from the candlemakers who congregated in it. Budge Row received its name from the sellers of budge, or lambskin-fur, which at one time was greatly used as an ornamentation to their attire by scholars and civic dignitaries. London Stone marked the centre of the City during its occupation by the Romans in the year 15 B.C. Watling Street is a mispronunciation of “Vitellina strata,” meaning the street of Vitellius, who at the time it was constructed occupied the Imperial throne. This was the great highway of the Romans, running from Dover, through Canterbury and London, direct to Cardigan in Wales. Walbrook, formerly written “Wall-brook,” reminds us of the pleasant stream of clear water that once ran along the west side of this street and emptied itself into the Thames. Crooked Lane was so called from its winding character. Swan Alley, in Upper Thames Street, derived its title from an ancient mansion of the Beauchamps whose crest was a swan. Boss Alley calls attention to the fact that the executors of Sir Richard Whittington erected a boss, or conduit, hereabouts in the long, long ago. College Hill is all that remains to remind us of the College of St. Spirit and St. Mary founded on its site by the same generous Lord Mayor and benefactor of the public. Fye Foot Lane is properly “five-foot lane,” the actual width of this thoroughfare at one end; while Duck’s Foot Lane is a corruption of “Duke’s Foot Lane,” signifying the private path leading from the manor-house of the Dukes of Suffolk in what is now Suffolk Lane down to the water-side. Queenhithe was so called because the tolls collected at this hithe, or wharf, were claimed as pin-money by Eleanor, queen of Henry II. Dowgate is a modern spelling of “Dwrgate” (dwr being Celtic for water), where, in the absence of bridges, the Romans had a ferry across the river to the continuation of Watling Street towards Dover. The Steelyard was the place where the King’s beam, or Steel yard, for weighing merchandise was set up. Foreigners who landed goods here were, between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, known as The Steelyard Merchants.
Gracechurch Street, formerly corrupted into “Gracious Street,” received its name from an old church standing in a grass market hereabouts. Fenchurch Street recalls the church in the fens, or marshy land, on the north bank of the Thames. Eastcheap was the eastern cheap or market, as distinguished from Chepe or Cheapside. Mincing Lane is a corruption of “Mynchen Lane,” denoting the tenements held by the minichery, a Saxon name for a nunnery, of St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate Street. Mark Lane was originally styled “Mart Lane,” from a fair held here from the earliest times. Blind Chapel Court, situated at the north-east corner of Mark Lane, carries the imagination back to “Blanch Appleton,” the documentary description of a white stone manor belonging to a knight named Appleton, in the reign of Richard II. In Rood Lane stood an ancient rood, or cross, representing the dying Saviour. Seething Lane is a corruption of Sidon Lane; and Billiter Street of Belzetti Street, commemorating the names of the original owners of, and builders upon, the land. The Minories marks the site of the Priory of the Minoresses, or Nuns of St. Clare (the Order founded in Italy, by St. Clare in 1212); corresponding to the Minims, or Lesser Friars, founded by St. Francis de Paula in 1453. Crutched Friars was the Priory of the Crutched, or Crossed, Friars of the Holy Trinity [see [Religious Orders]]. Aldgate received its name from the Ald Gate, the oldest of the City gates, taken down in 1760. Aldgate Pump, which stood beside the gate, still remains. George Yard was formerly the inn yard of “The George.” Duke’s Place preserves the memory of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, beheaded in 1572, who had inherited the property of the Crutched Friars by marriage.
Leadenhall Street derived its title from the Leadenhall Market, a corruption of “Leather Hall,” the leather-sellers’ market of olden times. St. Mary-Axe owes its name to the Church of St. Mary-Axe which stood in it [see the article “[London Churches and Buildings]”]. Throgmorton Street and Nicholas Lane were both named after Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, a wealthy London banker, and the head of an ancient Warwickshire family, said to have been poisoned by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, in 1571. Threadneedle Street is a corruption of “Three-Needle-Street,” so called from the arms of the Needle Makers’ Company. Bartholomew Lane was designated after the Church of St. Bartholomew, at the back of the Royal Exchange. Lothbury was originally “Lattenbury,” inhabited by the workers in latten, a fine kind of brass or bronze, which formed an important industry in the Middle Ages. Cornhill was the ancient corn market. St. Michael’s Alley, where the first English coffee-house was opened, took its name from the neighbouring church. Finch Lane is properly “Finke Lane,” in honour of Sir Robert Finke, who built the Church of St. Bennet Finke, pulled down to enlarge Gresham’s Royal Exchange. Change Alley, a contraction of “Exchange Alley,” was in the year 1720 the busy centre of the South Sea Bubble. Birchin Lane is a corruption of “Birchover Lane,” named after the builder.