Gracechurch Street
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Gracechurch Street is a street in the City of London, and forms part of the A10.
It starts in the south of the City, near Wren's Monument to the Great Fire of London, at a junction with King William Street, Eastcheap and Cannon Street. It heads north, crossing Lombard Street/Fenchurch Street, until it becomes Bishopsgate.
The closest Tube station is Monument.
[edit] History
The word Gracechurch derives from Garscherchestrete, Gres-cherch and Gras-cherche with Gracechurch not being in use until after the destruction of the street in the Great Fire of London. The street is in the heart of Roman Londinium; it runs directly over the site of the basilica and forum.
In medieval times a corn market was held by St. Benet Gracechurch (a church destroyed in the Fire) at the junction of Gracechurch Street with Fenchurch Street and Lombard Street with vendors being directed to sell their wares there. The existence of such markets can be seen from the derivation of their names, gaers or gers meaning a blade of grass or herb and faenum meaning hay.
The Quakers had an assembly hall on Gracechurch Street up until the nineteenth century; William Penn was arrested on August 14, 1670 for delivering a sermon in the street in front of the building after having been forbidden to preach indoors.
[edit] Cultural references
Gracechurch Street is mentioned in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as being the home of the Mr and Mrs Gardiner, the aunt and uncle of the five Bennet sisters. The former Swan-with-Two-Necks inn is the scene of Estella's meeting with Pip in Dickens' Great Expectations.
[edit] References
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