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shockingly explicit earlier form that also appeared on
London’s Bankside where the ladies were known as the
Bishop of Winchester’s geese
as they were licensed by
and subject to the by-laws of the Bishop who owned
the land here around his London palace.
Boundary Marks
Ancient boundaries were usually marked by natural
features, rivers, hills or sometimes by manmade
features like purpose built boundary ditches or perhaps
an old Roman Road. Trees were also used as boundary
markers – the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Naturalists' Trust
have a lease for Oakley Parish Hedge as a nature
reserve – the hedge was once the county boundary
between Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
As time went by the division of manorial lands by sale
or inheritance meant that new boundaries were needed,
commonly these were fence posts or stone markers.
Up on Hampstead Heath in London, boundary stones
and boundary oaks march together through Kenwood
and its here, legend says, that Dick Whittington running
away from his disappointing initial encounter with
London heard the City bells call
turn again
Whittington, thrice Mayor of London
. In the City of
Earlier - a fortified place or castle. In this context it
would have been a big house or mansion. If you
were looking for Bucklerbsury you could use your
nose for a herb and fruit market was held here right
through to the Great Fire which explains the
expression “
to smell like Bucklersbury
” from the
Merry Wives of Windsor
.
Off Bucklersbury was Barge Yard leading onto
Walbrook one of London’s lost rivers. Threadneedle
Street is probably a reference to the three needles in
the arms of the Needlemakers Livery Company, just
one of many examples of names derived from
association with the Livery Companies, one of the
most picturesque being Adam And Eve Court
leading off Oxford Street and named for the arms
of the Fruiterers Company. Up in Oxford itself the
central junction in the town is called Carfax from
the Norman French for crossroads – Carrefour itself
derived from the Latin quadrifurcus which means
four forked
.
All towns and cities played host to
ladies employed in the oldest profession and this
occupation has left its mark in Bristol’s Grope Lane,
York’s Grape Lane and Reading’s Grape Passage.
Each name is a more polite version of a longer,