Upper East Smithfield
Names
- Upper East Smithfield
- East Smithfield
Street/Area/District
- Upper East Smithfield
Maps & Views
- 1553-9 Londinum (Braun & Hogenberg, 1572): East Smithfield
- 1553-9 London ("Agas Map" ca. 1633): East Smithfield
- 1677 A Large and Accurate Map of the City of London (Ogilby & Morgan): East Smithfield
- 1720 London (Strype): East Smithfields
- 1736 London (Moll & Bowles): East Smithfield
- 1746 London, Westminster & Southwark (Rocque): East Smithfield
- Map of The Tower Liberty & St. Catherines (Strype 1720): East Smith fields
Descriptions
from A Dictionary of London, by Henry Harben (1918)
Upper East Smithfield
East from Littie Tower Hill to Dock Street (P.O. Directory).
Earliest mention: Lockie, 1810.
Former name: "East Smithfield" (O. and M. 1677–Horwood, 1799).
Hatton (1708) says it was so called from its being in the east part of London, but this street certainly derived its name from the district of East Smithfield in which it was situated, and was so called to distinguish it from Lower East Smithfield, nearer the river.
from A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, by John Strype (1720)
Concerning East Smithfield, mention is made in Records of Lands and Mills there, within the Parish of Whitechappel. In the 21 Edw. the Third a Fine was levied between Humfrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex, Querent, and Sir John de Bulteneye Chevalier, Defendent, of Lands and certain Mills in East Smithfield in the Parish of Whitechapel in the Suburbs of London.]
Having said thus much for building, at Wappin, East Smithfield, Bramley, and Shadwel, all on the South side of the High Way to Radcliff; now one Note on the North side also, concerning Pyrates: I read, that in the Year 1440. in the Lent Season, certain Persons, with six Ships brought from beyond the Seas Fish, to victual the City of London; which Fish when they had delivered, and were returning homeward, a Number of Sea Theives in a Barge, in the Night came upon them, when they were asleep in their Vessels, riding at Anchor on the River Thames, and slew them, cut their Throats, cast them over Boord, took their Money, and drowned their Ships, for that no Man should espy or accuse them. Two of these Theives were after taken and hanged in Chains upon a Gallows set upon a raised Hill, for the Purpose made, in the Field beyond East Smithfield, so that they might be seen far into the River Thames.
from Lockie's Topography of London, by John Lockie (1810)
Smithfield (Upper East), Little Tower-Hill,—extends from the E. side of Tower-hill, to Parson-street, Ratcliffe-highway.
from A Topographical Dictionary of London and Its Environs, by James Elmes (1831)
Smithfield, Upper East, Little Tower-hill, extends from the eastern side of Tower-hill, on the northern side of St. Katherine's Docks, to Ratcliffe Highway.
from London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions, by Henry Benjamin Wheatley and Peter Cunningham (1891)
East Smithfield, the name formerly given to the open space east of the Tower, now confined to the street firom the Mint to the entrance to the London Docks. In the 13th century, when this was an open area, a fair of fifteen days' duration was held here, commencing on the Eve of Pentecost. Edmund Spenser, author of the Faerie Queen, is said to have been born in East Smithfield.