This street is handsome and well-built, and contains several large and important houses or mansions. Of late years several of these have been converted into the homes of public institutions, and the “Young Men’s Christian Association,” “Gilman’s Insurance Offices,” and the “Masonic Association,” now occupy some of the largest of them.
On the north side of this main street, near to Fisher’s Lane, formerly stood a Domus Dei, or Almshouse, but this was pulled down about 150 years ago. Browne, writing in 1814, says: “On the south side of this street is the office of Mack’s London Waggons, which go and return to and from London every week.” These waggons continued to ply for many years; and “Mack’s yard,” which adjoined what is now Mortimer’s Hotel, was a business centre of considerable importance.
In olden times, Fisher’s Lane, which extends from St. Giles’s Broad Street to Pottergate Street, was believed to have been so called as being the road to a fish-quay, which formerly existed there; but this is now thought to be very doubtful. The other principal thoroughfares are St. Giles’s Plain, in which was formerly an open pit—seen and mentioned by Kirkpatrick, but long since filled up; Rigby’s Court, leading from it, formerly called Pit Lane, but now known as Rigby’s Court, from the eminent Dr. Rigby, who once lived at its St. Giles’s end; and Willow Lane, noteworthy for having for a time been the residence of the Rev. Francis Blomefield, the Norfolk historian, and of George Henry Borrow, the celebrated writer.
The principal Public Buildings are
The Church,
The Church Schools, built in 1862,
The Roman Catholic Chapel, erected in 1828, and
The Volunteer Drill Hall, erected in 1865–6.
Until quite recently the City Prison stood immediately outside the Gate of St. Giles; but the site of this prison is now occupied by the Roman Catholic Church, now in process of erection.
In earlier times a Leper-house existed just beyond the gate.