Aldwych

Aldwych
Aldwych
Aldwych shown within Greater London
London borough
Ceremonial county Greater London
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LONDON
Postcode district WC2B
Dialling code 020
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
EU Parliament London
London Assembly
Part of Aldwych pictured in 2011

Aldwych (pronounced /ˈɔːldwɪtʃ/ AWLD-witch) is a one-way street and the name of the area immediately surrounding it in central London, England, within the City of Westminster. The 450 m street starts 600 m ENE of Charing Cross, the conventional map centre-point of the city. The area, unlike the adjoining Temple area, participated in the county of Middlesex until 1965. It forms part of the A4 road from London to Avonmouth, Bristol.

The Aldwych area forms part of the Northbank business improvement district.[1] It is known for hotels, restaurants, two theatres, the High Commissions of India and Australia and in closed amenities for its associated Underground station on the related section of the Strand (the return of the crescent) posing as an active tube station in films and television shows; marking the east end of the street and in the middle of the crescent return are Grade I architecturally listed churches designed by Wren and Gibbs. Immediately north-east of St Clement Danes (St Clements) is the complex of courts which includes the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the Royal Courts of Justice.

Landmarks

Aldwych, the street, is a crescent, connected to the Strand at both ends. It forms part of the A4 route and carries traffic eastbound. Streets adjoining are Drury Lane, Kingsway, India Place and Melbourne Place. Notable buildings along its length include:

Theatres:

High Commissions:

Hotels and Restaurants:

Universities:

Former buildings include:

Facing one end of the street on the Strand is closed-in-1994 Aldwych station, originally named Strand station. It has been used when closed for scenes of films and television dramas.

History

In the seventh century, the area was an Anglo-Saxon major settlement Lundenwic (the last syllable pronounced as today) ('London port') centred one mile to the west of Londinium soon becoming the old wich (old port, that is Aldwych). It is not known if it had a church and either took advantage of the scouring action of the Fleet or used the mouth itself as a harbour for trading ships and fishing boats. After Alfred the Great re-built the London fortifications in the late 9th century, Londinium became known as Lundenburh or simply Lunden, and Lundenwic so became ealdwic or aldwich, as the word old evolved from ald; the Old English being eald and the German being alt.[2] The name was recorded as Aldewich in 1211.

St Clement Danes (parish) is one of the four ancient Westminster parishes, and was first recorded in the 1190s; it covered this area throughout and originally all adjoining areas.[3] Its church, which features in the first line of nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons was rebuilt by Wren. The civil parish was abolished in 1922. It is open to and known by residents and businesses to use the term St Clement Danes interchangeably, which also covered in its final, smallest form the Adelphi and much of the Strand.

1888 plan showing Aldwych before the construction of the modern street. The eastern part of the new street cut a swathe through just to the north of Wych Street.

The urban centre of Lundenwic was unearthed in the 1980s after extensive excavations were reinterpreted as being urban in character. These conclusions were reached independently by two archaeologists (Vince and Biddle). Recent excavations in Covent Garden adjoining have uncovered an extensive Anglo-Saxon settlement, covering about 150 acres (0.61 km2), stretching from the present-day National Gallery site in the west, to Aldwych in the east. As the presumed locus of the city, Lundenburh, was moved back within the old Roman walls, the older settlement of Lundenwic gained the name of ealdwic, 'old port', "eald" and the softer form of "wic" transposed to "ald" and "wich" in Middle English orthography.[4]

The street was created in the early 20th century that saw a new street layout destroying Wych Street which was full of overhangs and projections and the construction of Australia House (built 1913–18) and Bush House (completed 1925). A statue of the 19th-century prime minister William Ewart Gladstone was installed in 1905 near St Clement Danes church, at the eastern end of Aldwych.

In 1906, Aldwych tramway station was opened underneath Kingsway; it closed in 1952. In 1907, Aldwych station was opened on the Strand opposite Aldwych; it closed in 1994.

On 18 February 1996, a bomb was detonated prematurely on a number 171 bus travelling along Aldwych, killing its carrier Edward O'Brien in the Provisional IRA; it also injured several passengers.

References

  1. ↑ The Northbank District
  2. ↑ A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, Walter William Skeat, Clarendon Press (1910), at p. 357
  3. ↑ http://www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/counties/middlesex-london/work-in-progress/st-clement-danes-parish
  4. ↑ Hobley B, Lundenwic and Lundenburh: two cities rediscovered, AHDS Archaeology, University of York (PDF)
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