Hosier Lane

Names

  • Hosier Lane
  • Hosiereslane
  • Hosyereslane
  • Hosierlane

Street/Area/District

  • Hosier Lane

Maps & Views

Descriptions

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

Hosier Lane

West out of West Smithfield, at No. 24, to 7 King Street (P.O. Directory). In Farringdon Ward Without.

First mention: "Hosiereslane," 1328 (Ct. H.W. I. 332).

Other forms: "Hosyereslane," 1332 (ib. 379). "Hosierlane," 1365–6 (ib. II. 92).

One house in this street has an oak beam still in use, dated 1583 (N. and Q. 11th S. vii. 249).

There are numerous references in old records to Hosiers living here, and Stow says they gave their name to the lane.

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

Hosier lane, betn Smithfield (near Pye Corner) E. and Cow lane W. It is so called, (says Stow) from many of that Trade Residing there.

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

Hosier lane, comes out of Cow lane, and runs into Smithfield. A Place not over well built or inhabited, having all old Timber Houses. This Place is of a great Resort during the time of Bartholomew Fair. All the Houses generally being made Publick for Tipling, and leud Sort of People.

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

Hosier lane, West Smithfield; so called from its being formerly inhabited by the hosiers. Stow.

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

Hosier-Lane, West Smithfield,—at 25, the second on the L. from Newgate-st. it extends to 7, Cow-lane by Snow-hill.

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

Hosier-Lane, West Smithfield, is the second turning on the left hand from Newgate-street, and derives its name from being formerly inhabited by hosiers.

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

Hosier Lane runs from the west side of Smithfield into King Street. It is mentioned in a Corporation Letter Book of 1367.

Hosier Lane, a place not over-well built or inhabited, having all Old Timber Houses. This place is of a great resort during the time of Bartholomew Fair, all the houses generally being made Publick for Tippling and Lewd sort of people.—R.B., in Strype B. iii p. 284.,
Also the same yere [16th Henry VI., 1437–1438] on William Goodgrom, of London, corsour, for scleynge of a man of court in Hosyere Lane be syde Smythfeld, was hangen at Tybourne.—A Chronicle of London, edited by Nicolas, p. 123.

On the night of June 27–28, 1869, William Duggan and his wife destroyed themselves and their six children with prussic acid at No. 15 in this street. Such a wholesale slaughter in one family the Coroner considered quite unprecedented.