Chiswell Street
Names
- Chiswell Street
- Chysel strate
- Grobstrat
- Chisel Street
- Cheselstrete
- Chiswell Street
- Everardeswellestrete
- Chisil Streete
Street/Area/District
- Chiswell Street
Maps & Views
- 1553-59 London (Strype, 1720): Chiswell Street
- 1553-9 Londinum (Braun & Hogenberg, 1572): Chiswell Street
- 1553-9 London ("Agas Map" ca. 1633): Cheswell street
- 1560 London (Jansson, 1657): Chiswell Street
- 1593 London (Norden, 1653 - British Library): Chisil Streete
- 1593 London (Norden, 1653 - Folger): Chisil Streete
- 1658 London (Newcourt & Faithorne): Chiswell Street
- 1666 London after the fire (Bowen, 1772): Chiswell Street
- 1677 A Large and Accurate Map of the City of London (Ogilby & Morgan): Chiswell Street
- 1720 London (Strype): Chiswell Street
- 1736 London (Moll & Bowles): Chiswell Street
- 1746 London, Westminster & Southwark (Rocque): Chiswell Street
- 1761 London (Dodsley): Chiswell Street
- 1799 London (Horwood): Chiswell Street
Descriptions
from A Dictionary of London, by Henry Harben (1918)
Chiswell Street
West out of Finsbury Square, at No. 1. to 32 Beech Street (P.O. Directory). Outside the City boundary.
First mention: Mentioned as "Chysel strate," the northern boundary of land and houses in the parish of St. Giles without Cripplegate, the western boundary being "Grobstrat," temp. H. III. c. 1217–43 (H. MSS. Com. 9th Rep. p. 8). In the prebend of Finsbury.
Other forms: "Chisel Street" (ib.). "Cheselstrete," 36 H. VI. (L. and M. Ft. of Fines, I. 201). "Chiswell Street," O. and M. 1677.
From Stow's description it would appear to have been called "Everardeswellestrete" (q.v.) in his time (S. 433).
from A New View of London, by Edward Hatton (1708)
Chiswell str. a spacious straight str. betn Moorfields E. and White Cross str. W. L. 360 Yds, and from P. C. Nly 1020 Yds.
from London and Its Environs Described, by Robert and James Dodsley (1761)
Chiswell street, near the Artillery ground, Moorfields. †
from Lockie's Topography of London, by John Lockie (1810)
Chiswell-street, Finsbury-Square,—extends from the S.W. corner of it, to Whitecross-st. where the numbers begin and end, viz. 1 and 87, is about ⅕ of a mile in length, and is continued by Beech-st. and Barbican to 77, Aldersgate-st.
from A Topographical Dictionary of London and Its Environs, by James Elmes (1831)
Chiswell-St., Finsbury-square, is a considerable thoroughfare leading from the south-west corner of the square to White-cross-street, Barbican, and Aldersgate-street.
from London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions, by Henry Benjamin Wheatley and Peter Cunningham (1891)
Chiswell Street, Finsbury, runs from Finsbury Square to Beech Street. At No. 46 in this street Lackington the bookseller commenced business in the beginning of 1775 with a stock of books which he valued at £2,1 At the west end of the street is Whitbread's Brewery, one of the largest in London, and particularly famous for its porter and stout. One of the most amusing of Peter Pindar's poems is his ode on the "Visit of King George III. and Queen Charlotte to Whitbread's Brewery":—
Now moved King, Queen, and Princesses so grand,
To visit the first brewer in the land;
Who sometimes swills his beer and grinds his meat
In a snug corner christened Chiswell Street.
Peter Pindar, Birth-Day Ode.
Richard Cecil, the evangelical divine, was born at his father's place of business in this street. The father, Thomas Cecil, was scarlet dyer to the East India Company.
The field called Bonhill Field belongeth to the said Manour of Finsbury, butting south upon the Highway there called Chiswel Street.—Survey of the Manour of Finsbury, dated December 30, 1567 (Strype, B. iv. p. 102).