Wood Street

Map

The overlays that highlight 17th century London features are approximate and derived from Wenceslaus Hollar’s maps:

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Wikipedia

This text was copied from Wikipedia on 12 November 2024 at 5:10AM.

Tower of St Alban, Wood Street[1]

Wood Street is a street in the City of London, the historic centre and primary financial district of London. It originates in the south at a junction with Cheapside;[2] heading north it crosses Gresham Street and London Wall. The northernmost end runs alongside The Postern, part of the Barbican estate, stopping at Andrewes House. Today Wood Street lies within the wards of Bassishaw (north of Gresham Street) and Cheap (south of Gresham Street).

History

The street was originally the main north–south route through the Roman Fort, which was discovered after World War II bombing. The north gate of the fort became Cripplegate, the south gate of the fort was just south of the junction with Love Lane, and the road diverts slightly to the east suggesting that the gate was blocked up or in use, and they had to knock through the Roman fort wall to allow Wood Street to continue.

It has been suggested that this was an early road after the so-called Alfredian restoration of the City in around 886 AD. The road led from the main port at Queenhithe (Bread Street) to the main market street at Cheapside and then on north to Cripplegate and out of London to the north.

St Alban, Wood Street was a church in the street, dedicated to Saint Alban. The church was of medieval origin, rebuilt in 1634 and then destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.[3] It was then rebuilt in a Gothic design by Sir Christopher Wren.[4] However, it was severely damaged by bombing during the Second World War and the ruins cleared, leaving only the tower still present.[5]

St Michael Wood Street was a church and parish of medieval origin that was first mentioned in 1225 as St. Michael de Wudestrate.[6] It stood on the west side of Wood Street, initially with a frontage on Huggin Lane but later on Wood Street itself.[7][8]

Wood Street was formerly the location of the headquarters of the City of London Police, at its corner with Love Lane, before leaving the site in 2020. There is a tower on a traffic island in the middle of the street, which is all that remains of the church of St Alban, Wood Street.

Notable Buildings and Offices

88 Wood Street, a commercial office

One notable building is 88 Wood Street, a commercial office completed in 1999 that was designed by Richard Rogers Partnership, now known as Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.[9]

Other notable buildings include the hall of the Worshipful Company of Pewterers on nearby Oat Lane.

TradeWinds, the international shipping news service have an office on Wood Street.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Wood Street" in Christopher Hibbert; Ben Weinreb; John Keay; Julia Keay (2008). The London Encyclopaedia (3rd ed.). London: Pan Macmillan. p. 1029. ISBN 978-0-230-73878-2.
  2. ^ 'Cripplegate, one of the 26 Wards of the City of London' Baddesley, J.J p78: London; Blades, East & Blades; 1921
  3. ^ "The Survey of Building Sites in London after the Great Fire of 1666" Mills, P/ Oliver, J Vol I pp131-134: Guildhall Library MS. 84 reproduced in facsimile, London, London Topographical Society, 1946
  4. ^ 'Cripplegate, one of the 26 Wards of the City of London' Baddesley, J.J p18: London; Blades, East & Blades; 1921
  5. ^ Tucker, T. (2006). The Visitors Guide to the City of London Churches. London: Friends of the City Churches. ISBN 0-9553945-0-3.
  6. ^ H.A. Harben, A Dictionary of London (Herbert Jenkins, London 1922)
  7. ^ "The Survey of Building Sites in London after the Great Fire of 1666" Mills, P/ Oliver, J Vol I p7: Guildhall Library MS. 84 reproduced in facsimile, London, London Topographical Society, 1946
  8. ^ 'Cripplegate, one of the 26 Wards of the City of London' Baddesley, J.J p41: London; Blades, East & Blades; 1921
  9. ^ "88 Wood Street - Office". RSHP. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  10. ^ "TradeWinds Global Shipping News". Marine Pilots. Retrieved 1 December 2023.

Media related to Wood Street, London at Wikimedia Commons

51°30′58″N 0°05′39″W / 51.51616°N 0.09428°W / 51.51616; -0.09428

3 Annotations

First Reading

Eloise Millar  •  Link

Wood Street crops up in Anne Halkett's account of the (future) James II's escape from St James's Palace, during the Civil War. She writes of "having sent for a Wood-street cake (which I knew he loved)". Does anyone know whether "Wood-street cake" was a specific recipe, or whether the street was known for its bakeries?

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

Wood Street, Cheapside, runs from Cheapside into London Wall. Stow has two suppositions about the origin of the name: first, that it was so called because it was built throughout of wood; and secondly, and more probably, that it was so called after Thomas Wood, one of the sheriffs in the year 1491, who dwelt in this street, an especial benefactor to the church of St. Peter-in-Cheap, and the individual at whose expense "the beautiful front of houses in Cheap over against Wood Street end were built." "His predecessors," says Stow, "might be the first builders, owners, and namers of this street." ... In Strype's time the street was famous for the manufacture of wedding-cakes.

At the corner of Wood Street, when daylight appears,
Hangs a thrush that sings loud, it has sung for three years:
Poor Susan has passed by the spot, and has heard
In the silence of morning, the song of the Bird.

'Tis a note of enchantment; what ails her? She sees
A mountain ascending, a vision of trees;
Bright volumes of vapour through Lothbury glide,
And a river flows on through the vale of Cheapside.
Wordsworth, The Reverie of Poor Susan, 1797

---London, Past and Present. H.B. Wheatley, 1891.

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References

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