Hanging Sword Alley

Names

  • Hanging Sword Alley
  • Ouldwood Alley
  • Blood bowl Alley

Street/Area/District

  • Hanging Sword Alley

Maps & Views

Descriptions

from A Dictionary of London, by Henry Harben (1918)

Hanging Sword Alley

East out of Whitefriars Street, at No. 22, in Farringdon Ward Without (P.O. Directory).

First mention: 6 Eliz. (Transcript of Deed of that date in Bell's Fleet Street, pp. 386 and 508).

In this deed the "Hanging Sword Alley," alias "Ouldwood Alley," is included in the grant by the Bishop of Salisbury to the Queen of his manor of Salisbury House or Place, as part of the manor (Bell, 588).

Formerly called "Blood-bowl alley" from a house so named in the alley.

Apparently a corruption of "Ouldwood."

Named after the house called the Hanging Sword (S. 399) mentioned in a document of 1574 in the Record Office (Noble, p. 98).

from A New View of London, by Edward Hatton (1708)

Hanging sword alley, a long one, on the S. side of Fleet str. running almost parallel with, and at the S. end, falls into Water lane.

from A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, by John Strype (1720)

Hanging Sword Alley, so called from a House of that Name; which is but ordinary, and leadeth into a Court so called, which hath two passages into Water lane, near ajoining.

from London and Its Environs Described, by Robert and James Dodsley (1761)

Hanging Sword alley, Water lane, Fleet street. ✽

from Lockie's Topography of London, by John Lockie (1810)

Hanging-Sword-Alley, Water-Lane, Fleet-Street,—the first on the L. two doors from 68, Fleet-st. leading to the bottom of Water-lane and Whitefriars-dock.

from A Topographical Dictionary of London and Its Environs, by James Elmes (1831)

Hanging-Sword-Alley, Fleet-street, is the first turning on the left hand in Water-lane, going from Fleet-street.

from London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions, by Henry Benjamin Wheatley and Peter Cunningham (1891)

Hanging-Sword Alley, Fleet Street, the first turning on the left hand in Water Lane (now Whitefriars Street) from Fleet Street. It was once known as Blood-Bowl Alley from the "Blood-bowl House," a notorious place, the cellar of which is represented in Plate IX. of Hogarth's "Industry and Idleness."