 | |
  Location in Central London | |
| Part of | A4 |
|---|---|
| Maintained by | Transport for London |
| Length | 0.8 mi (1.3 km)[1] |
| Postal code | WC2 |
| Nearest Tube station | |
| Coordinates | 51°30′41″N0°07′08″W / 51.5114°N 0.1190°W /51.5114; -0.1190 |
TheStrand (commonly referred to with a leading "The", but formally without[a]) is a major street in theCity of Westminster,Central London. The street, which is part of London'sWest End theatreland, runs just over3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) fromTrafalgar Square eastwards toTemple Bar, where it becomesFleet Street in theCity of London, and is part of theA4, a main road running west from central London.
The road's name comes from theOld Englishstrond, meaning the beach or edge of a river, as it historically ran alongside the north bank of theRiver Thames. The river side of the street was home to grand houses, interspersed with slum alleys, between the 12th and 17th centuries. Mansions of historical importance built between the Strand and the river includedEssex House,Arundel House,Old Somerset House,Savoy Palace,Durham House,York House andCecil House, none of which survive. The aristocracy moved to theWest End during the 17th century, and the Strand became known for its coffee shops, restaurants and taverns. The street was a centre point for theatre andmusic hall during the 19th century, and several venues have survived to the current day.
At the east end of the street are twoEnglish Baroque churches:St Mary le Strand byJames Gibbs andSt Clement Danes byChristopher Wren. This easternmost stretch of the Strand is also home toKing's College, one of the two founding colleges of theUniversity of London. Other notable structures include theRoyal Courts of Justice andAustralia House.[2][3][4][5][6]
Several authors, poets and philosophers have lived on or near the Strand, includingCharles Dickens,Ralph Waldo Emerson andVirginia Woolf.
The street is the main link between the two cities ofWestminster andLondon.[7] It runs eastward fromTrafalgar Square, parallel to theRiver Thames, toTemple Bar which is the boundary between the two cities at this point; the road ahead beingFleet Street.[1] Traffic travelling eastbound follows a short crescent aroundAldwych, connected at both ends to the Strand. The road marks the southern boundary of theCovent Garden district[8] and forms part of theNorthbankbusiness improvement district.[9]
The name was first recorded in 1002 asstrondway,[10][7] then in 1185 asStronde and in 1220 asla Stranda.[11] It is formed from theOld English word "strond", meaning the edge of a river.[7] Initially it referred to the shallow bank of the once much wider Thames, before the construction of theVictoria Embankment. The name was later applied to the road itself. In the 13th century it was known as "Densemanestret" or "street of the Danes", referring to the community ofDanes in the area.[11]
TwoLondon Underground stations were once named Strand: aPiccadilly line station (which was renamedAldwych station) that operated between 1907 and 1994[12] and a formerNorthern line station which today forms part ofCharing Cross station. "Strand Bridge" was the name given toWaterloo Bridge during its construction; it was renamed for its official opening on the second anniversary of the coalition victory in theBattle of Waterloo.[13] London buses routes23,139 and176 all run along the Strand, as do numerous night bus services.[14]
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DuringRoman Britain, what is now the Strand was part of theroute toSilchester, known as "Iter VIII" on theAntonine Itinerary,[15] and which later became known by the nameAkeman Street.[16][17] It was briefly part of a trading town calledLundenwic that developed around 600 AD,[18] and stretched fromTrafalgar Square toAldwych.[19]Alfred the Great gradually moved the settlement into the old Roman town ofLondinium from around 886 AD onwards, leaving no mark of the old town, and the area returned to fields.[18]
In theMiddle Ages, the Strand became the principal route between the separate settlements of theCity of London (the civil and commercial centre) and the royalPalace of Westminster (the national political centre). In the archaeological record, there is considerable evidence of occupation to the north of Aldwych, but much along the former foreshore has been covered by rubble from the demolition of theTudor Somerset Place, a former royal residence, to create a large platform for the building of the firstSomerset House, in the 17th century.[20] The landmarkEleanor's Cross was built in the 13th century at the western end of the Strand atCharing Cross byEdward I commemorating his wifeEleanor of Castile. It was demolished in 1647 by the request of Parliament during theFirst English Civil War, but reconstructed in 1865.[21]
The west part of the Strand was in the parish ofSt Martin in the Fields[22] and in the east it extended into the parishes ofSt Clement Danes andSt Mary le Strand. Most of its length was in theLiberty of Westminster,[23] although part of the eastern section in St Clement Danes was in theOssulstone hundred of Middlesex.[24] The Strand was the northern boundary of theprecinct of the Savoy, which was approximately where the approach toWaterloo Bridge is now.[25] All of these parishes and places became part of theStrand District in 1855, except St Martin in the Fields which was governed separately.[26] The Strand District Board of Works was based at No. 22,Tavistock Street.[27] Strand District was abolished in October 1900 and became part of theMetropolitan Borough of Westminster.[28]
From the 12th century onwards, large mansions lined the Strand including several palaces andtownhouses inhabited by bishops and royal courtiers, mainly on the south side, with their own river gates and landings directly on the Thames. The road was poorly maintained, with many pits and sloughs, and a paving order was issued in 1532 to improve traffic.[29]
What later becameEssex House on the Strand was originally an Outer Temple of theKnights Templar in the 11th century. In 1313, ownership passed to the Knights of St John. KingHenry VIII gave the house toWilliam, Baron Paget, in the early 16th century.Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, rebuilt the house in 1563, originally calling it Leicester House. It was renamed Essex House after being inherited byRobert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in 1588. It was demolished around 1674 and Essex Street, leading up to the Strand, was built on the location by property speculatorNicholas Barbon.[30]
Arundel House was originally the town house of theBishops of Bath and Wells. It was owned byWilliam FitzWilliam, 1st Earl of Southampton, between 1539 and his death in 1542, with ownership passing toThomas Seymour in 1545. After Seymour was executed in 1549, the property was sold toHenry FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel, and was owned by the Earldom for much of the 16th and 17th century. In 1666, it became the meeting place of theRoyal Society after theGreat Fire of London destroyed their previous venue. The house was demolished in 1678 and Arundel Street, adjoining the Strand, was built on the site.[31]
Somerset House was built byEdward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, regent of England from 1547 to 1549, demolishing three inns and the church of the Nativity of Our Lady and the Innocents in the process. After Somerset was executed in 1552, it became an occasional residence forPrincess Elizabeth. When she became Queen in 1558, she returned part of the house to Seymour's family (with ownership passing to his son,Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford); the remainder was an occasional meeting place for the Royal Society. After Elizabeth's death in 1603, it was owned byAnne of Denmark, wife ofJames VI and I. The building was renamed Denmark House in commemoration of Anne's brother,Christian IV of Denmark. After James died in 1625, his body lay there intestate for a month. The building was taken over by Parliament in 1645 following the Civil War, renaming it back to Somerset House.[32] It had an irregular series of owners and residents for much of the 18th century until it was demolished in 1775. The house was rebuilt as a series of government buildings. The Stamp Office, later to become theInland Revenue was established in Somerset House in 1789. In the late 20th century, a number of art galleries were set up on vacant parts, including theCourtauld Institute of Art and theKing's College London School of Law.[32]
Savoy Palace was the London residence ofJohn of Gaunt (uncle ofKing Richard II), the nation's power broker. In the 14th century the Savoy was the most magnificent nobleman's mansion in England. During thePeasants' Revolt of 1381, rebels, led byWat Tyler, inflamed by opposition to the poll tax promoted by John of Gaunt, systematically demolished the Savoy and everything in it. In 1512 it was rebuilt as the Savoy Hospital for the poor. It gradually fell into dereliction and was divided into multiple tenancies. It was demolished in 1816–1820 to build the approach road toWaterloo Bridge. TheSavoy Hotel now occupies this site.[33]
Durham House, the historic London residence of theBishop of Durham, was built circa 1345 and demolished in the mid-17th century. It was the home ofAnne Boleyn. It had become derelict by the mid-17th century and was demolished in 1660. Durham Street and the Adelphi Buildings were built on its site.[34]
York House was built as the London residence for theBishop of Norwich not later than 1237. At the time of the Reformation it was acquired by King Henry VIII, and came to be known as York House when he granted it to theArchbishop of York in 1556. In the 1620s it was acquired by the royal favouriteGeorge Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and after an interlude during the Civil War it was returned toGeorge Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, who sold it to developers in 1672. It was then demolished and new streets and buildings built on the site, including George Street,Villiers Street, Duke Street, Of Alley, and Buckingham Street.[35]
Cecil House, also called Exeter House or Burghley House, was built in the 16th century byLord Burghley as an expansion of an existing Tudor house. Exeter House was demolished in 1676 andExeter Exchange built on the site.[36] Amenagerie was built on the upper floors in 1773, which was later run byEdward Cross, who housed lions, tigers, monkeys and hippopotami. In 1826, an elephant,Chunee, nearly broke free from its cage and had to be destroyed; the skeleton was later put on display. The exchange was demolished in 1829, with the menagerie moving to theSurrey Zoological Gardens, and replaced byExeter Hall, noted for itsEvangelical meetings. This was demolished in 1907, and the site is now occupied by theStrand Palace Hotel.[37]
Other significant palaces along the Strand include Worcester House, formerly the Inn, or residence, of theBishop of Carlisle,[38] Salisbury House, used for royal lodgings in the 15th and 16th centuries,[39]Bedford House demolished in 1704,[40] Hungerford House, which was demolished and replaced, in turn, byHungerford Market andCharing Cross station andNorthumberland House, a largeJacobean mansion, the historic London residence of theDukes of Northumberland; built in 1605 and demolished in 1874.Northumberland Avenue now occupies the site.[41] The official residence of the Secretary of State, next door at No. 1 the Strand, became the first numbered address in London.[42]
Apart from the rebuilt Somerset House, all of these buildings have been demolished and replaced from the 17th century onwards.[29] A New Exchange was built on part of the gardens of Durham House, in 1608–1609, facing the Strand. This high-class shopping centre enjoyed considerable popularity but was eventually destroyed in 1737.[43]
During the 17th century, many of the grand mansions on the Strand were demolished as the aristocracy moved to theWest End.[29] The Duck and Drake tavern on Strand was famed as a venue for the conspirators involved in theGunpowder Plot.[42][44] In the time of the Civil War, the Nag's Head tavern was the venue of a meeting betweenHenry Ireton and some of theLevellers which resulted in the production ofRemonstrance of the Army, demanding the abolition of the monarchy and the trial ofKing Charles I.[45]
In the 18th century,coffee andchop houses were established on the street;Twinings was established at No. 206 in 1706 by Thomas Twining, supplier of tea to Queen Anne. The company claims to be the oldest ratepayer in Westminster. The Grecian Coffee House ran from around 1702 to 1803, while Tom's ran from 1706 to around 1775. Though these premises were well-known, the alleyways around the Strand were regular haunts for pickpockets and prostitutes during this time.[29] The Rose Tavern, at the eastern end of the street, was frequented by lawyers during the 18th century. It was later demolished and became Thanet Place. TheCrown and Anchor in Arundel Street was the main meeting place for the Catholic Association, and helped established theRoman Catholic Relief Act 1829. It was later used for Catholic politicians such asDaniel O'Connell to address constituents. The original premises burned down in 1854, but was rebuilt.[20]Simpson's-in-the-Strand originally started at No. 100 in 1828 as a smoking and dining club.[46] It later became a restaurant.[7] The Strand was also notable in the 18th century as a centre for the British book trade, with numerous printers and publishers along the street. The prominent booksellerAndrew Millar is an example of one of the most successful publishers who owned a shop there.[47]
In the 19th century, much of the Strand was rebuilt, and the houses to the south no longer backed onto the Thames and no longer had direct boat access, separated from the river by theVictoria Embankment constructed in 1865–1870 and reclaiming 37 acres (15 ha) of land.[48]King's College, London was founded in 1828. The historicKing's Building, based next to the church ofSt Mary-le-Strand, was designed byRobert Smirke and constructed in 1829–1831 to complete the riverside frontage ofSomerset House.King's College Hospital opened as a branch of the college in 1840, and became a constituent part of theUniversity of London in 1908. The current campus building was constructed between 1966 and 1972 by E.D. Jefferiss Mathews.[49] In 2015, the college acquired Strand House, Bush House and other buildings in the Aldwych Quarter.[50][51] TheRoyal Courts of Justice, at the eastern end of the Strand, was designed in the mid-1860s by G.E. Street as a replacement for the older courts atWestminster Hall, though construction was so delayed that he died shortly beforeQueen Victoria opened the courts in 1882. The West Green extension to the courts opened in 1911, while the Queen's Building opened in 1968.[52]
The architectJohn Nash redeveloped the western end of the Strand in the 1830s, including the construction ofCharing Cross Hospital,[48] later (1990s) converted for use as Charing Crosspolice station.[53]
The street became well known for theatres, and at one point contained more than any other; including the Tivoli Music Hall at No. 65, theAdelphi,Gaiety,Savoy,Terry's andVaudeville. In the 21st century, only the Adelphi, Vaudeville and Savoy remain.[54] The Piccadilly branch line from Holborn to Aldwych was built partly to serve theatre traffic.[12]
TheCoal Hole tavern was founded at No. 91 in the early 19th century, and frequented by coal-heavers working on the Thames.[55] The impresarioRenton Nicholson held song-and-supper evenings at the inn, featuringtableaux vivants.[56] The actorEdmund Kean established the Wolf Club at the venue, which is now commemorated by the Wolf Room.[55]
Charing Cross railway station was built on the Strand in 1864, providing a boat train service to Europe, which stimulated the growth of hotels in the area to cater for travellers. These included the Charing Cross Hotel, attached to the station itself. Today, there are several luggage outlets and tourist agents on the Strand, as well as old postage stamp dealers.[57] ThephilatelistStanley Gibbons opened a shop at No. 435 in 1891. It moved to No. 391 in 1893, and is currently based at No. 399.[58]
| Strand Improvement Act 1896 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to authorise the widening of part of the Strand on the south side and the taking of lands in the Parishes of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and St Clement Danes and for other purposes. |
| Citation | 59 & 60 Vict. c. ccviii |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 7 August 1896 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
TheStrand Palace Hotel was designed by F. J. Wills and constructed in 1925–1930. The entrance was rebuilt in 1968, with the original being moved to theVictoria and Albert Museum.[59] The Strand underwent extensive redevelopment in the mid-20th century. The length of road from St Mary's eastwards up to St Clement's was widened in 1900, subsuming the former Holywell Street which forked from the Strand and ran parallel with it to the north, leaving the two churches of St Mary Le Strand and St Clement Danes as islands in the centre of the road.[60] The Gaiety Theatre was demolished, to be replaced by Citibank House, whileVilliers House andNew South Wales House were both built in 1957–1959. New South Wales House was subsequently demolished in 1996 and replaced by an office block.[29] In 1998, a statue ofOscar Wilde was built at the junction of Adelaide Street and Duncannon Street, adjoining the western end of the Strand.[61][62]
Between January 2021[63] and December 2022,[64]Westminster City Council's Strand Aldwych Scheme works took place, pedestrianising Strand between Melbourne Place and Lancaster Place whilstAldwych was converted into a two-way street.[65]
The church ofSt Clement Danes is believed to date from the 9th century. The name may have come fromHarold Harefoot, a Danish king who ruled England around 1035–1040 and is buried in the church, or from a place of refuge for Danes after the conquest ofAlfred the Great. It was transferred to the Order of the Knights Templar byHenry II in 1189. It survived the Great Fire in 1666, but was declared unsafe and rebuilt byChristopher Wren in 1679. The building was damaged duringthe Blitz in 1941, gutting much of the interior, and was rebuilt in 1958 by Sam Lloyd, since when it has served as the central church of theRoyal Air Force.[66][67][68] The church is one of two possible origins for the "St Clement's" in thenursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons", though more contemporary accounts suggestSt Clement's, Eastcheap in the City of London to be more likely.[69]
St Mary le Strand was designed by James Gibbs and completed in 1717, to replace a previous church demolished to make way for Somerset House. It was the first building to be designed by Gibbs, who was influenced by Wren andMichelangelo. The column on top of the church was originally designed to support a statue ofQueen Anne, but was replaced with a spire following Anne's death in 1714. It survived the Blitz but was in poor shape untilJohn Betjeman led a campaign to restore it in the 1970s.[70]Essex Street Chapel, the birthplace of BritishUnitarianism, abuts onto the Strand. The original chapel was built in 1774, but damaged in the Blitz. It was restored after the war, and now serves as the denominational headquarters of theGeneral Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.[71]
The print sellerRudolph Ackermann lived and worked at No. 101 The Strand between 1797 and 1827. His shop was one of the first to havegas lighting fitted.[29]
In the 19th century, The Strand became a newly fashionable address and many avant-garde writers and thinkers gathered here, among themThomas Carlyle,Charles Dickens,John Stuart Mill,Ralph Waldo Emerson and the scientistThomas Henry Huxley.[72] No. 142 was the home of radical publisher and physicianJohn Chapman, who published contemporary authors from this house during the 1850s and edited the journalWestminster Review from 1851.[73]George Eliot lived at No. 142 between 1851 and 1855.[29]Virginia Woolf regularly travelled along the Strand,[74] and a King's College building named after her is in nearbyKingsway.[75]
The Strand is the subject of a famousmusic hall song "Let's All Go Down the Strand", composed byHarry Castling andC. W. Murphy.[76] The song opens with a group of tourists staying the night at Trafalgar Square while about to embark for theRhineland.[77] The chorus of "Let's all go down the Strand – have a banana"[b] is now recognised as a stereotypical part ofCockney music hall[12] and parodied by English comedianBill Bailey.[79]John Betjeman used the title of the song for a television documentary made forAssociated-Rediffusion in 1967.[80] In the same year,Margaret Williams used it for a stage comedy.[81] Australian-born composerPercy Grainger used the name for his 1911 piano trioHandel in the Strand.[82]
Virginia Woolf wrote about the Strand in several of her essays, including "Street Haunting: A London Adventure",[83] and the novelMrs. Dalloway.[84]T. S. Eliot alluded to the Strand in his 1905 poem "At Graduation" and in his 1922 poem "The Waste Land" (part III, The Fire Sermon, v. 258: "and along the Strand, up Queen Victoria Street").[85]John Masefield also referred to a "jostling in the Strand" in his poem "On Growing Old".[86] The poem "Buses on the Strand", written in 1958 byRichard Percival Lister, featured inTFL's "Poems on the Underground" scheme in 2013, appearing in tube carriages all over London. The scheme celebrated the 150th year of the London Underground, showing works by poets with close London connections.[87]
The Strand Magazine, which began publishing in 1891, was named after the street. ABBC World Service arts and culture radio series was calledThe Strand.[88]Bush House, situated on the Strand, was home to the World Service between 1941 and 2012.[89]
The standard BritishMonopoly board has Strand in the red group with the nearbyFleet Street andTrafalgar Square.[90]
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