Widegate Street
Names
- Widegate Street
- Whitegate Alley
- Wide Gate Street
- White Gate Street
Street/Area/District
- Widegate Street
Maps & Views
- 1677 A Large and Accurate Map of the City of London (Ogilby & Morgan): Whitegate Alley
- 1720 London (Strype): Wide Gate Alley
- 1736 London (Moll & Bowles): Whitegate Street
- 1761 London (Dodsley): Widegate Street
Descriptions
from A Dictionary of London, by Henry Harben (1918)
Widegate Street
East out of Middlesex Street, at No. 118, to Sandy Row, in Bishopsgate Ward Without (P.O. Directory).
First mention Hatton, 1708.
Former names "Whitegate Alley" (O. and M. 1677). "Wide or White Gate" Street (Strype, 1720, I. ii. 108).
Until about 1902 it ran west into Bishopsgate in the line of the new portion of Middlesex Street. New Street constructed 1889–96.
The earlier form of the name in O. and M. suggests a gate at the end of the alley that could be closed at night, these gates being very common at that time, or there may have been a sign of that name in or adjacent to the street.
from A New View of London, by Edward Hatton (1708)
Wide gate street, on the E. side of Bishopsgate str. without, a passage to Smock alley, in Spittlefields.
from A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, by John Strype (1720)
Wide [or White] Gate Street, a place of some account, falls into Petticoat Lane.
from London and Its Environs Described, by Robert and James Dodsley (1761)
Widegate alley, Bishopsgate street without.