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Love Lane, Thames Street was situated within Billingsgate (or Belingsgate) ward (Hughson 91). Billingsgate ward is two wards to the west of the Tower of London. The Agas map shows that the lane goes from north to south—up to St. Andrew Hubbard and down to Thames Street. It runs parallel to the streets St. Mary-at-Hill and Botolph Lane.
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In early modern London, there were several streets with the name Love Lane,
although the exact number of them varies from account to account. Today,
there are numerous streets with variations on the name Love Lane. Eilert
Ekwall, in his dictionary of the City of London, lists four such streets,
one in Aldermanbury
(Ekwall
165). Gertrude Burford Rawlings suggests that there are ten Love
Lanes in the London district [i.e., Greater London], two Love Courts and one
Love Walk
(73). The modern
Love Lane, Thames Street was situated
within Billingsgate (or Belingsgate) ward (Hughson 91). Billingsgate ward is two wards to the west of the Tower of London. The Agas map shows
that the lane goes from north to south—up to St. Andrew Hubbard and down to Thames Street. It runs parallel to the streets St. Mary-at-Hill and Botolph Lane. Stow records its
location as follows: next out of Thames
Streete is Lucas [Love]
lane, and then Buttolph lane,
and at the North end thereof Philpot
lane, then is Rother lane, of olde time so called, and thwart the same lane is little Eastcheape, and these be the
bounds of Billinsgate warde
(Stow 1.206). The street is included in
the parish of St. Mary-at-Hill, or St. Mary atte Hille according to the
spelling of a 1458 record (Harben
371).
According to Henry Harben, the earliest mention of Love Lane was in 1394, when it was referred to as
having formerly been called Roppelane
or Roperelane
(371). In
of old time called Roape lane, [and] since called Lucas laneafter an owner of nearby land, and then
corruptly called Loue Lane(1.210). This emphasis on the name being corrupt is of note. Stow refuses to refer to the lane by its contemporary name, continuing instead to use the archaic Lucas Lane. This insistence on the older name mirrors the nostalgia of Stow’s text. In contrast, James Howell’s
corrupt(86).
The use of the name Lucas Lane
cannot be traced to any early records, suggesting that perhaps Stow might be
mistaken in his record that the lane was rightfully called Lucas Lane, and then corruptly
called Love Lane (Harben 371). Further substantiating this claim is
the evidence that the lane was in fact called Love Lane in the early records. One theory is that
the name was changed from Roper
to Love
Lane around 1377. At that time,
in an ordinance for safeguarding the City, the Alderman of Billygnes-gate Ward was to guard the
wharf of
(Harben 371). Harben suggests that the name was
changed at this time in honour of the Love family, who were likely wealthy
members of the ward (371).
However, there are other hypotheses about the origin of the name Love
.
Harben records that it could have been named after contracted into Lukin, and
Lukins, and later converted into
Lucas
(371). This evidence suggests that the Billingsgate
Love Lane has a different etymology
than other Love Lanes in London. This research is significant for the lane’s
reputation, because other Love lanes were so named for their brothels: in
the Middle Ages the wanton women of the City gathered in [Love Lane near Aldermanbury], seeking customers, and the street thereby acquired
its name
(Smith 129). Similarly,
a haunt of prostitutes in the Middle Ages(Weinreb and Hibbert 485). Gillian Bebbington in
Although a sordid reputation attaches to Love Lane in Cripplegate
Ward, many scholars argue that all Love Lanes should not be regarded
as sharing a similarly infamous history. For example, Rawlings states that
we may well believe that Stow’s explanation does not fit them all
and
hypothesizes that many, no doubt, were named from innocent everyday
romances
(73). Ekwall corroborates
Rawlings’ assertion, suggesting that while the name
(166). Ekwall points out that streets called Love
Lane in Swedish towns exclude the coarser meaning
and instead suggest a
lane where loving couples are wont to walk
(166). He extends this theory to the Love Lanes in
London, and considers Billingsgate Love
Lane to have this more innocent origin.
After the early modern period, Love Lane is mentioned in a 1683 text entitled
Come to the George you Epicurean Crew That love good Eating, there’s a Diſh that’s New ’tis an OLEO, a more Spermatick Meat, Not fit for every Son of Truckle Bed, Incipit, Dull, Illiterate Logerhead
In 1774, during excavations undertaken on Love Lane for the building of a sugar warehouse, pieces of Roman bricks and ancient Saxon coins were found (Harben 371). In
calamitous fire in the citystarted on Love Lane, Lower Thames Street in the early morning at the
well-knowntavern called the Rose and Crown, at no. 17 Love Lane (68). Love Lane was eventually shortened so that Monument Street could be formed (Harben 371).
The modern travel book
one of the City’s most atmospheric cobbled streets, once renowned for its brothels( 211). Interestingly, this statement contradicts what the aforementioned scholars suggest about this street. Although
le Stuehous, which demonstrates the lane’s connection with
wantons, he argues (Kingsford 2.311).
houses of Bordell(
See also: Chalfant 122.