Aldwych (pronounced/ˈɔːldwɪtʃ/AWLD-witch) is a street and the name of thearea immediately surrounding it, in theCity of Westminster, part ofGreater London, and is part of theWest EndTheatreland. The 450 metres (1,480 ft) street starts 600 metres (2,000 ft)east-northeast ofCharing Cross, the conventional map centre-point of the capital city.
In the 7th century, the area was an Anglo-Saxon settlement. The name means "old port", and was the port of theCity of London.
The semi-circular design of the street of Aldwych arises from its function, making navigable the gradient of the fall in levels between the roads connected by the street: the south end ofKingsway, and theStrand.[1]It forms part of theA4 road from London toAvonmouth, Bristol.
The Aldwych area forms part of the Northbank business improvement district.[2] It is known for hotels, restaurants, two theatres, and theHigh Commissions of India andAustralia. It gives its name to the now-closedUnderground station on the related section of theStrand (the return of the crescent), which poses 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 areGrade I heritage listed churches designed byWren andGibbs. Immediately north-east ofSt Clement Danes (St Clements), on the Strand, is theRoyal Courts of Justice, a complex of courtrooms used by the senior courts of England and Wales, including theHigh Court and theCourt of Appeal of England and Wales.
Aldwych, the street, is a crescent, connected to theStrand at both ends, and forms part of theA4 route. Streets adjoining areDrury 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-1994Aldwych station, originally named Strand station. It has been used when closed for scenes of films and television dramas.
In the seventh century, the area was anAnglo-Saxon major settlementLundenwic (the last syllable pronounced as today) ('London port') centred one mile to the west ofLondinium (known to the Saxons asLundenburh 'London fort'). "Lundenwic" later became the oldwich (old port, that is Aldwych). It is not known if it had a church, and the town either took advantage of the scouring action of theFleet or used the mouth itself as a harbour for trading ships and fishing boats. AfterAlfred the Great re-built theLondon fortifications in the late 9th century, Londinium became known asLundenburh or simply Lunden, andLundenwic so became ealdwic or aldwich. (The word "old" evolved from ald, theOld English being eald and theGermancognate being alt.)[3] The name was recorded asAldewich in 1211.
St Clement Danes is one of the four ancient Westminster parishes and was first recorded in the 1190s; it once covered the whole of Aldwych and all adjoining areas.[4]Its church, which features in the first line of the nursery rhymeOranges and Lemons, was rebuilt byWren. The civil parish was abolished in 1922. It is open to - and it is known by residents and businesses to - use the term St Clement Danes interchangeably with Aldwych, which also covered in its final, smallest form theAdelphi and much of theStrand.
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The urban centre ofLundenwic was unearthed in the 1980s after extensive excavations, and were reinterpreted as being urban in character. These conclusions were reached independently by two archaeologists (Vince andBiddle). Recent excavations inCovent Garden adjoining have uncovered an extensiveAnglo-Saxon settlement, covering about 150 acres (0.61 km2), stretching from the present-dayNational 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 ofLundenwic gained the name ofealdwic, 'old port', "eald" and the softer form of "wic" transposed to "ald" and "wich" inMiddle English orthography.[5]
The street was created in the early 20th century in a project that saw a new street layout destroyingWych Street which was full of overhangs and projections, and the construction ofAustralia House (built 1913–18) andBush House (completed 1925). A statue of the 19th-century prime ministerWilliam Ewart Gladstone was installed in 1905 nearSt 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, abomb wasdetonated prematurely on anumber 171 bus travelling along Aldwych, killing its carrier,Provisional Irish Republican Army memberEdward O'Brien and injuring several passengers.
In 2021, the Strand was pedestrianised between Melbourne Place and Lancaster Place, and Aldwych was converted into a two-way street.
