=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.