Hercules' Pillars Alley
Names
- Hercules' Pillars Alley
- Hercules Pillars Alley
- Hercules Pillar Alley
Street/Area/District
- Hercules' Pillars Alley
Maps & Views
- 1677 A Large and Accurate Map of the City of London (Ogilby & Morgan): Hercules Pillars Alley
- 1720 London (Strype): Hercules Pillar Alley
- 1746 London, Westminster & Southwark (Rocque): Hercules Pillar Alley
- 1761 London (Dodsley): Hercules Pillars Alley
Descriptions
from A Dictionary of London, by Henry Harben (1918)
Hercules' Pillars Alley
South out of Fleet Street, in Farringdon Ward Without, to the north of the Temple Church (O. and M. 1677–Boyle, 1799).
Mentioned temp. Jas. I. (Noble, p. 111). Still a small court by No. 27 Fleet Street "without a name" (ib. ed. 1870).
So called from the tavern there.
Site now occupied by Temple Bar House, a block of chambers.
"Hercules' Pillars" was the classic name for the Straits of Gibraltar, considered by the ancients the end of the world, and so adopted on the outskirts of towns. This house was near the City boundary.
from A New View of London, by Edward Hatton (1708)
Hercules pillars alley, on the S. side of Fleet str. near St. Dunstans Church.
from A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, by John Strype (1720)
Hercules Pillars Alley, but narrow, and altogether inhabited by such as keep Publick Houses for Entertainment, for which it is of Note.
from London and Its Environs Described, by Robert and James Dodsley (1761)
Hercules Pillars alley, Fleet street. ✽