POPLAR.

The hamlet of Poplar derives its name from the great number of Poplar-trees which anciently grew there.

RATHBONE PLACE.

Rathbone Place, Oxford Street, was so called after a carpenter and builder of that name. It was built in 1718.

RED AND WHITE CROSS STREETS.

At the upper end of Red Cross Street, says Maitland, and northeast corner of Beach Lane, stood a Red and White Cross, which gave names to the streets so called.

REGENT'S PARK.

This delightful place, which is bounded on the one hand by Chalk Farm and Primrose Hill, and on the other by Portland Place and the Crescent, was denominated the Regent's Park, out of compliment to George IV., when Prince Regent of these realms.

SLOANE STREET.

Sloane street, so called after Sir Hans Sloane, the celebrated projector, architect, naturalist, and book virtuosi; born 1660, died January 11, 1753.

SKINNER STREET.

The principal houses in this street were built by Alderman Skinner, who resided here, and whose name the street bears. Lord Mayor in 1795.

SHOREDITCH.

Shoreditch does not take its name from Jane Shore, as is generally supposed, but from one Sir John de Sordich, a valiant knight in the time of Edward III., who was lord of the manor. This parish forms a part of the Tower Hamlets, and, according to the census of 1851, contained 109, 209 inhabitants.

SOHO SQUARE.

This square was begun in the reign of Charles II. It was originally called Monmouth Square, after the unfortunate duke, who lived in the centre house; it was afterwards called King's Square, and subsequently Soho Square, that (Soho) being the battle-word of the day at the field of Sedgemoor.

ST. JAMES'S PARK.

A park of eighty-seven acres, originally appertaining to the Palace of St James's; first formed and walled in by Henry VIII.; replanted and beautified by Charles II.; and finally arranged by George IV. much as we now see it, in 1827, 1828, and 1829. When George I. came first to England, he talked of turning St James' park into a turnip ground, and to employ turnip hoers.

SAFFRON HILL.

Saffron Hill was formerly a part of Ely gardens, and derives its name from the crops of saffron which it bore.

SHERBORNE LANE.

The immediate neighbourhood of Fenchurch Street was very fenny ground, and was intersected by various brooks, or bournes, which took various directions; one of these streams flowed into the Thames in a southerly direction, and was called Southbourn, and when built over gave a name to the lane now corrupted into Sherborne.

SMITHFIELD.

An open area containing five acres and three quarters, and used as a market for sheep, horses, cattle, and hay, for which it has been for centuries famous. Fitzstephen, who wrote in the reign of Henry II., says, Smithfield was so called because it was a plain or smooth field. Stow says, it was at one time called The Elms, because it was covered with elm-trees; since the which time, saith he, building hath so increased, that now remaineth not one tree growing: he also adds, it hath been a place for honourable jousts and triumphs, by reason it was unpaved. Smithfield has been long celebrated for its market and its Bartholomew fair. The cattle market will shortly be transferred to Copenhagen fields.

ST JOHN'S GATE.

St. John's Gate is the only remaining part of a priory, founded there by the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. It was completed by Prior Docura about the year 1504; hence the name of the gate, as well as the Old Jerusalem Tavern.

STEEL YARD.

The place called the Steel Yard, in Thames Street, belonged to the corporation of Hanseatic merchants, who engrossed all the foreign trade of Europe.

The steelyard derives its name from its being the place where the King's steelyard or beam was erected, for weighing the tonnage of goods imported into London.

STRAND.

In the year 1353, the Strand was an open highway, with here and there a great man's house, with gardens to the water side. There was no continued street till about the year 1532, when an Act was passed for "paving the street-way between Charing Cross and Strand Cross, at the charge of the owners of the land;" before that, it entirely cut off Westminster from London, and nothing intervened except the scattered houses and a village, which afterwards gave a name to the whole. The parish of St. Clement Danes, originally consisted of the village Strande. The mansions of the Cecils, Bedfords, Villiers, &c., are swept away; nought remains of the days of chivalry and ancient grandeur, (save Northumberland House); and a distant age will ask where the fabrics stood. Narrow streets and courts now bear the names of men who once swayed the destinies of England.

SOMERSET HOUSE.

In the year 1549, in the reign of Edward VI., the lord-protector, Somerset, pulled down several churches and houses in the vicinity of the Thames, and built himself a palace thereon, now called Somerset House. The old brick palace just alluded to, was taken down in the beginning of the reign of George III., and the present magnificent palace built thereon. The architect was Sir William Chambers, son of a Scottish merchant residing at Stockholm.

SPITALFIELDS.*

The series of streets thus denominated, derive their appellation from an hospital that stood here in the reign of queen Elizabeth, and which was dedicated to St. Mary Spital. It was founded in 1197, by Walter Brune and Mary his wife.

Those who have passed through those parts of Spitalfields, chiefly inhabited by weavers, must have often heard them singing at their looms. Singular as it may seem, this practice came with their forefathers from the Low Countries, and also was the custom with such of the Protestants as at an earlier period came over from Flanders, and brought with them the woollen manufactory.

SAVOY.

This place derives its name from Peter, Earl of Savoy, who built a palace here in the reign of Henry III. Edward III.

* See Spital Sermon.

Y

made a state prison of it; it was here his prisoner, King John of France, was confined, and where after many years of captivity he breathed his last. It was burnt and, entirely destroyed by Wat Tyler and his rebels (1381). It does not appear to have been rebuilt till 1505, when it was endowed by Henry VII. as an hospital, for the relief of 100 poor people. The sick and wounded in the Dutch war of 1666, were lodged here; and George I. turned it into a place of confinement for debtors. The ancient chapel of this once royal palace, which, contrary to ecclesiastical usage, stands north and south, has been restored, and its ceiling decorated by the munificence of Prince Albert.

ST. JAMES'S PALACE.

This antiquated building was commenced in the reign of Henry VII., and finished in that of Henry VIII. It derives its name from St. James's Hospital, which formerly stood here, and which gave a cognomen to the adjacent street, as well as the diplomatic appellation of the Court of St. James's. One day, after Peter the Great had visited the magnificent hospital of Greenwich, he went to St. James's Palace to dine with King William. That prince asked him how he liked Greenwich Hospital? "Extremely well, Sir," replied the Czar, "and, if I were permitted to advise your majesty, I should recommend to you to remove your Court thither, and convert your palace into an hospital."

SHADWELL.

This parish, which is one of the Tower Hamlets, has the name of Shadwell from a fine fountain, or well, which issues from under the wall of the churchyard, and which was originally dedicated to St. Chad.

STEPNEY.

It appears from Domesday Book that Stepney, in the Conqueror's time, was a manor belonging to the Bishop of London, by the appellation of Stebenhede, a Saxon compound, implying

Steben's Heath.

TOWER ROYAL.

Here stood a strong and magnificent mansion, now a paltry and disreputable street. King Stephen resided therein, as did afterwards king Richard II. and his mother; at which time it was indifferently called the Royal, or Queen's Wardrobe.

TEMPLE BAR.

Before the present gate was built, there was a bar or barrier of posts and chains, which separated the Strand from Fleet Street, and which, from its vicinity to the Temple, received the name of Temple Bar.

THEOBALD'S ROAD.

Theobald's Road, so called because it was the road by which James I. travelled to Theobald's House, in Hertfordshire, where he expired, strongly suspected of being poisoned. Theobald's House was pulled down, 1765.

THROGMORTON STREET.

This street was named after Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, who is said to have been poisoned by Dudley, Earl of Leicester, queen Elizabeth's favourite. There is a monument to his memory in the church of St. Catharine Cree.

THREADNEEDLE STREET.

So denominated, because those who resided here were principally Tailors. The Tailors' Company also built their Hall here, now called Merchant Tailors' Hall.

TOOLEY STREET.

This street derives its name from an eminent wharfinger of the name of Tuley, who had a considerable property in this neighbourhood.

TOKENHOUSE YARD.

Prior to the reign of William and Mary, in which reign the Bank of England was first established, or incorporated, the government of the country had at different periods, for the facility of the commerce thereof, found it expedient to issue Tokens, not dissimilar to our recent Bank and Provincial Tokens. The place of issue was from this locality, and was called the Token House, and from which circumstance we derive the term of Tokenhouse Yard.

TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD.

As Theobald's Road was so called, because it was the road by which king James I. went to his palace at Theobalds, in Herts, so Tottenham Court Road, because it was the road by which the queen's majesty travelled to her palace at Tottenham Court, near Tottenham.

TYBURN.

Tyburn was formerly the place of execution for criminals convicted in the county of Middlesex. It existed as early as the reign of Henry IV., and derives its name from Tyburn Brook, formerly called Aye-brook, or Eyebrook, afterwards St-Mary-le