Queen Street
Names
- Queen Street
- New Queen Street
- Three Cranes in the Vintry
Street/Area/District
- Queen Street
Maps & Views
- 1720 London (Strype): New Queen Street
- 1736 London (Moll & Bowles): New Queen Street
- 1746 London, Westminster & Southwark (Rocque): New Queen Street
- 1761 London (Dodsley): New Queen Street
Descriptions
from A Dictionary of London, by Henry Harben (1918)
Queen Street
South out of Cheapside at No. 69, across Cannon Street to Upper Thames Street (P.O. Directory). In Vintry, Cordwainer and Cheap Wards.
Made after the Fire of 1666, according to Act of Parliament, as a direct route to the river from the Guildhall.
Called: "New Queen Street" (O. and M. 1677). "Queen Street" (Horwood, 1799)
The northern portion occupies the site of Soper Lane (q.v.), only wider; the southern portion in Vintry Ward occupies the site of "Brodelane" (q.v.) and the Three Cranes in the Vintry. The street was widened in 1846–7.
In the days when the Lord Mayor and Aldermen went by water to Westminster Hall in order that the Lord Mayor might be sworn in before the Barons of the Exchequer, they took water at the Stairs at the end of this street (Strype, ed. 1720, I. iii. 13).
Named in honour of the Queen of Charles II.
Roman wall found a short distance from Watling Street and the bronze figure of an archer at a depth of 12–13 ft. Coins also found at a depth of 12–15 ft. (R. Smith, 71, 127), pavements and pottery.
from A New View of London, by Edward Hatton (1708)
Queen street, a very spacious str. of good Buildings, betn the Thames S. and Cheapside, against King str. end, N. L. 460 Yds. Some call the N. end of this str. from Watling str. Soper lane.
from A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, by John Strype (1720)
New Queen-street, commonly called the Three Cranes in the Vintry. a good open street, especially that part next Cheap-side, which is best built, and inhabited; but it hath no more in this Ward than a little beyond St. Thomas Apostles, the rest of this street being in Cordwainers Ward, and Cheap Ward: At the lower end of the street, next the Thames, is a pair of Stairs, the usual place for the Lord Maior and Aldermen to take Water at, to go to Westminster Hall, for the new Lord Maior to be sworn before the Barons of the Exchequer. This place with the 3 Cranes is now of some account for the Costermongers, where they have their Ware-houses for their Fruit.
from London and Its Environs Described, by Robert and James Dodsley (1761)
Queen street. Many of these streets were thus named after the restoration, in honour of the royal family. ... Opposite King street in Cheapside; this street was widened, and had its name changed to Queen street, by act of Parliament, after the fire of London.
from Lockie's Topography of London, by John Lockie (1810)
Queen-Street, Cheapside,—at 70, the sixth on the R. about ¼ of a mile from St. Paul's church-yard, it extends to the Three Cranes.
from A Topographical Dictionary of England, Vol. I, by Samuel Lewis (1831)
Queen-St., Many of these streets were thus named after the Reformaion, in honour of the royal family.—is opposite King-street, Cheapside, and leads down to the Three Cranes-stairs, in the Vintry, the usual place of embarkation of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen from Guildhall, and its name changed to Queen-street, by act of parliament.
from London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions, by Henry Benjamin Wheatley and Peter Cunningham (1891)
Queen Street, Cheapside, "A street," says Strype, "made since the Great Fire, out of Soper Lane, for a straight passage from the water side to Guildhall." About 1667 it was named Queen Street in honour of the wife of Charles II. A trade token dated 1669 has on it "Will Clerke, 1708, at ye Cock and Bottle in Soper Lane, alias Queen Street."1
Some call the north end of this street from Watling Street, Soper Lane.—Hatton, p. 67.
On the east side is the churchyard of St. Thomas the Apostle, a church destroyed in the Great Fire, and not rebuilt. The Rectory house of St. Thomas the Apostle and St. Mary Aldermary on the east side was designed in 1860 by Tress and Chambers, architects. At the south end of the street is Southwark Bridge. The end next Cheapside was widened in 1887–1889.