Gracechurch Street

The southern end of Gracechurch Street.

The Gracechurch Street exit of Leadenhall Market.

Gracechurch Street is a street in the City of London which forms part of the A10 road. It is home to a number of shops, restaurants, offices, and Leadenhall Market.

At its southern end, the street begins near Christopher Wren's Monument to the Great Fire of London, at a junction with King William Street, Eastcheap and Cannon Street. Heading north, it crosses Lombard Street and Fenchurch Street, and continues forward into Bishopsgate.

The closest mainline railway station is Fenchurch Street and the nearest London Underground station is Monument.

Leadenhall Market, a covered market dating back to the 14th century and Grade II* listed structure since 1972, is perhaps the street's most famous attraction.

History

The word Gracechurch derives from Garscherchestrete, Gres-cherch and Gras-cherche with Gracechurch not used until after the destruction of the street in the Great Fire of London in 1666. 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 Great Fire) at the junction of Gracechurch Street and Lombard Street, with vendors 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 Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) had a meeting house on Gracechurch Street. William Penn was arrested on 14 August 1670 for delivering a sermon in the street in front of the building after having been forbidden to preach indoors. It was burnt down in 1821 but was rebuilt. Many of its members had already moved to Stoke Newington, a couple of miles north along more or less the same street, though it changes its names. The world's first school bus was set up to run between Newington Academy for Girls, a Quaker school set up there in 1824, and Gracechurch Street Meeting House. For a time it "became one of the most important Quaker Meetings, and the neighbourhood around it became the centre of the Quaker business community in the city. By the eighteenth century 20-25% of the immediate population were Quakers. City Friends mingled piety with prosperity and earned reputations as sober, honest tradesmen."

During its long history, the street was for a period named Gracious Street.

Cultural impact

Gracechurch Street is mentioned in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as being the home of 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 Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.

The street has lent its name to the Gracechurch Shopping Centre in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, which was named after the street by the property company based in Gracechurch Street responsible for its creation.^{[citation needed]}

References

• Gracechurch Street, A Dictionary of London (1918)