Monkwell Street
Names
- Monkwell Street
- Mukewellestrate
- Mogwellestrate
- Mugwellestrate
- Moggewellestrete
- Mugwelstrete
- Mugglestreet
- Munkes Well Streete
- Mongwell Street
- Mugwell Street
- Monkwel Street
- Mugwel Street
- Moggewelle Street
- Mogwelle Street
- Mugwelle Street
- Mugwell Street
- Monkswell Street
Street/Area/District
- Monkwell Street
Maps & Views
- 1553-9 Londinum (Braun & Hogenberg, 1572): Monkwell Street
- 1553-9 London ("Agas Map" ca. 1633): Muggle street
- 1560 London (Jansson, 1657): Monkwell Street
- 1666 London after the fire (Bowen, 1772): Mugwell Street
- 1720 London (Strype): Monkwell Street
- 1736 London (Moll & Bowles): Mugwell Street
- 1746 London, Westminster & Southwark (Rocque): Monkwell Street
- 1761 London (Dodsley): Monkwell Street
Descriptions
from A Dictionary of London, by Henry Harben (1918)
Monkwell Street
South from Hart Street, Cripplegate, to Silver Street at Nos. 13 and 29 Falcon Square (P.O. Directory). In Cripplegate and Farringdon Wards Within.
First mention: "Mukewellestrate," 12th cent. (H. MSS. Com. 9th Rep. 23).
Other forms: "Mogwellestrate," 1287 (Ct. H.W. I. 82). "Mugwellestrate," 1306–7 (ib. 183). "Moggewellestrete," 1310 (ib. 216). "Mugwelstrete," 1364 (ib. II. 84). "Mugglestreet," 1596 (Anc. Deeds, A. 5754). "Munkes well streete" (S. 293). "Mongwell street" (Leake. 1666). "Mugwell Street" (O. and M. 1677). "Monkwel street" or "Mugwel street" (Hatton, 1708).
Stow says the street was so named of a well at the north end, which belonged to the Abbot of Garendon, whose house or Cell was called "Seint James in the Wall," of which the monks were the Chaplains (S. 301).
Riley says this derivation is purely imaginary, and suggests that the earliest forms were Mogwell or Mugwell Street. This is, however, an error, for though the street was called by these names interchangeably from the 13th to the 18th centuries, the earliest form is, as shown above, "Mukwellestrate," and this may easily have been a contraction of "Munkwell," the "n" being omitted. This does not account for the "es" or "s" required to prove Stow's derivation.
On the other hand, it seems more probable that the name is derived from the family name "Muchewella," "Algarus de Muchewella" being mentioned in a deed of the early 12th century (H. MSS. Com. 9th Rep. 61). The family may have been named from the well.
There seems to have been a well in existence under the crypt of Lamb's Chapel in this street (Trans. L. and M. Arch. Soc. I. 345).
from A Topographical Dictionary of London and Its Environs, by James Elmes (1831)
Monkwell-St., Falcon-square, is about thirteen houses on the right hand in Silver-street, going from Wood-street.
from Lockie's Topography of London, by John Lockie (1810)
Monkwell-Street Falcon-Square,—near the N.E. corner, about thirteen doors on the R. in Silver-street from 81, Wood-st.
from London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions, by Henry Benjamin Wheatley and Peter Cunningham (1891)
Monkwell, Mogwell, or Mugwell Street, Cripplegate, runs from Silver Street, Falcon Square, to Hart Street, London Wall.
So called of a well at the north end thereof, where the Abbot of Garendon had a house or cell, called St. James's in the Wall, by Cripplegate, and certain monks of their house were the chaplains there, wherefore the wall (belonging to that cell or hermitage) was called Monks' Well, and the street of the well Monkswell Street.—Stow, p. 112, and see p. 118.
This is a little fiction of the old antiquary's. It was called Mogwelle or Mugwell Street in the 13th and 14th centuries, and Monkwell Street is a corruption of much later date.1 In Windsor Court, in this street, so called after Windsor Place, the residence of William, second Lord Windsor (d. 1558), stood the Presbyterian Chapel of Thomas Doolittle, the ejected minister of St. Alphage, London Wall, and the last survivor of the ejected ministers of London. It adjoined Mr. Doolittle's dwelling-house, and was the first Nonconformist place of worship in London erected after the Great Fire in 1666. It is described as "well adapted for concealment, being situated in a court which was entered by a gateway, the building not being visible from the street." It was also the first place of worship opened by the Nonconformists after the royal indulgence. [See Barber-Surgeons' Hall; Lambe's Chapel.]
1 Riley, Memorials, vol. xix.
from The Survey of London, by John Stow and Anthony Munday (1633)
Monkswell Street. And on the North side thereof [Silver Street] is Monkes well streete, so called of a well at the North end thereof, where the Abbot of Garendon had an house or Cell called saint Iames in the Wall by Criplesgate, and certaine Monkes of their house were the Chaplens there, wherefore the Well (belonging to that Cell or Hermitage) was called Monks, Wel, and the street of the Wel Monkswel street.
The East side of this streete downe against London wall, and the south side thereof to Criplesgate, bee of Criplesgate ward, as is afore shewed. In this street by the corner of Monks well street is the Bowyers hall. On the said east side of Monks well streete be proper Almesehouses, 12. in number founded by sir Ambrose Nicholas, Salter, Mayor 1575. wherein be placed twelue poore and aged people rent free, hauing each of them seuen pence the weeke, and once the yeare each of them fiue sackes of Charcoales, and one quarter of an hundreth of Faggots of his gift for euer.