Toponymy and the
Fleet Ditch: February 1862 There are numerous places in England called Farringdon; all meaning
fern covered hill. William and
Nicholas de Faringdon, whose name is likely to have originated from one of these places, were two related prominent citizens and
Aldermen in the early 13th century. Nicholas purchased the area of the Farringdon ward of the City of London in 1279 and became its Alderman in 1281. In 1394 the ward was split into the still extant Farringdon Within and Farringdon Without.
Farringdon Street was built by covering part of the
River Fleet in the Farringdon Without Ward of the city. The street was named after either the Ward The presence of the railway station has led to the surrounding areas of southern Clerkenwell being referred to as
Farringdon. under
British Rail with a
Network SouthEast livery
British Rail Class 319 on a
Thameslink service
Administration Farringdon station and its environs historically corresponded to southern Clerkenwell and three much smaller areas; the parish of
St Sepulchre Middlesex,
Charterhouse and
Glasshouse Yard. When the
Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury was formed in 1900, Clerkenwell and the other areas were absorbed into the new borough. In 1965 the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury became part of the new London Borough of Islington.
Street name etymologies • Albion Place – thought to be simply a suitably patriotic name; formerly George Court •
Aldersgate Street – the name
Aldersgate is first recorded around 1000 in the form
Ealdredesgate, i.e. "gate associated with a man named Ealdrād". The gate, constructed by the Romans in the 2nd or 3rd centuries when
London Wall was constructed, probably acquired its name in the late Saxon period. • Benjamin Street – unknown; thought to probably be for a local landowner/builder • Briset Street – after Jordan de Briset, local 12th-century landowner who gave land to the Order of St John for their headquarters here • Britton Street – after
Thomas Britton, local coal seller and prominent patron of the arts, who lived nearby in the 17th – 18th century; it was formerly known as Red Lion Street, after a local inn • Broad Yard • Carthusian Street – after the Carthusian monks who lived near here in the Middle Ages • Charterhouse Buildings, Charterhouse Mews,
Charterhouse Square and
Charterhouse Street –
Anglicisation of Chartreuse, from
Grande Chartreuse, head monastery of the
Carthusians in
France; a nearby abbey was founded by monks of this order in 1371 • Dickens Mews – presumably after Victorian author
Charles Dickens • Eagle Court – after
Eagle, Lincolnshire; the
Order of Knights of St John owned land in this village and the Bailiff of Eagle owned a house near here •
Farringdon Road – from Sir William or Nicholas de Farnedon/Faringdon, local sheriffs or aldermen in the 13th century • Faulkners Alley • Fox and Knot Street – after the Fox and Knot tavern of the 18th century • Francis Court • Glasshouse Yard – after a 17th-century glass factory on this site •
Goswell Road – There is dispute over the origins of the name, with some sources claiming the road was named after a nearby garden called 'Goswelle' or 'Goderell' which belonged to
Robert de Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk, and others a well called the Gode Well whilst others state it derives from "God's Well", and the traditional pagan practice of well-worship. • Greenhill's Rents – after John Greenhill, local 18th-century property owner • Hat and Mitre Court – after an 18th-century tavern of this name • Passing Alley – altered from the descriptive Pissing Alley, renamed at some point prior to the 1790s • Peter's Lane – after the former St Peter's Key pub on this site • Rutland Place – after the Manners family, earls of Rutland, local property owners of the 17th century • Stable Court • Turk's Head Yard – after an 18th-century tavern of this name here •
Turnmill Street – originally 13th-century ‘Trimullstrete’ or ‘Three Mills Street’, after three mills that stood near here by the
river Fleet • White Horse Alley ==Geography==