Street names of Westminster

This is a list of the etymology of street names in the London district of Westminster. The Westminster area (as distinct from the Council area) has no formally defined boundaries - those utilised here are the generally accepted boundaries of: The Mall and Northumberland Avenue to the north, the river Thames and Victoria Embankment/Millbank to the east, Vauxhall Bridge Road to the south and Buckingham Gate, Buckingham Palace Road and Bressenden Place to the west. For convenience Constitution Hill and Spur Road in the Royal Parks, and the area around the Wellington Arch, are included here, as are the streets in the Leicester Square area.

Westminster

Leicester Square area

The streets around Leicester Square do not neatly fall into one of the surrounding areas and are thus dealt with here for convenience. The boundaries utilised here are: Coventry Street, the northern side of Leicester Square and Cranbourn Street to the north, Charing Cross Road and St Martin's Place to the east, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross and Cockspur Street to the south and Haymarket to the west.

  • Bear Street – unknown, though possibly from a former pub on this street called The Bear, or possibly after Augustine Beare, a glazier who worked near here[167][168] or perhaps the heraldic device of the Earls of Leicester[169]
  • Charing Cross and Charing Cross Road – built 1887, and named as it led to the cross at Charing, from the Old English word "cierring", referring to a bend in the River Thames[44][170][171]
  • Cockspur Street – unknown, though possibly after the cock fighting that formerly occurred here, cocks often having spurs attached to their feet during fights[47]
  • Coventry Street – after Henry Coventry, Secretary of State to Charles II, who lived near here in Shaver's Hall[172][173]
  • Cranbourn Alley and Cranbourn Street – built in the 1670s and named after local landowner the Earl of Salisbury, Viscount Cranbourn (or Cranbourne) after the town in Dorset[174][51]
  • Excel Court – after Excel House, 1930s office block located here[175]
  • Haymarket – site of a former market selling hay until the 1830s[176][169][177]
  • Hobhouse Court – after Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Victorian MP and arts patron[178]
  • Hunt's Court – after Samuel Hunt, local carpenter and leaseholder in the 17th century[179]
  • Irving Street – after Henry Irving, popular Victorian actor; the street was originally named Green Street, as it led to a bowling green near Leicester Square[180][181]
  • Leicester Square – the square was home to Leicester House in the 17th and 18th centuries, the town house of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester and of successive Princes of Wales; Leicester Court was formerly Ryder Court, after local leaseholder Richard Ryder – it was renamed in 1936[182][183]
  • Long's Court
  • Orange Street – after the William III, Prince of Orange, reigning king when thus street was built. The western section between Haymarket and St Martin's Street was formerly called James Street, after James II[184]
  • Oxendon Street – after Sir Henry Oxendon, husband of Mary Baker, daughter of Robert Baker who built the former Piccadilly House nearby[185][186]
  • Pall Mall East – laid out as a grounds for playing pall mall in the 17th century[110][187]
  • Panton Street – after Colonel Thomas Panton, local property dealer of the 17th century[110][188]
  • St Martin's Place and St Martin's Street – both named after St Martin-in-the-Fields church[189][190]
  • Shaver's Place – after Simon Osbaldeston, who built a gaming house here in the early 17th century. As Osbaldeston was formerly barber to Lord Chamberlain, local wits coined this name in jest at the ‘shaving’ going on at the games house[191][192]
  • Suffolk Place and Suffolk Street – after Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, who owned a stable yard attached to Northumberland House which lay on this site[146][147]
  • Swiss Court – after the Swiss Centre that formerly stood here
  • Trafalgar Square – in commemoration of Horatio Nelson’s 1805 victory at the Battle of Trafalgar[193][194]
  • Whitcomb Court and Whitcomb Street – after William Whitcomb, 17th century brewer and property developer[195]

References

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Sources

  • Bebbington, Gillian (1972). London Street Names. BT Batsford. ISBN 978-0-333-28649-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Fairfield, Sheila (1983). The Streets Of London: A Dictionary Of The Names And Their Origins. Papermac.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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