Aldwych

Coordinates: 51°30′48″N 0°07′00″W / 51.5132°N 0.1167°W / 51.5132; -0.1167
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Aldwych
Aldwych is located in Greater London
Aldwych
Aldwych
Location within Greater London
London borough
Ceremonial countyGreater London
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLONDON
Postcode districtWC2B
Dialling code020
PoliceMetropolitan
FireLondon
AmbulanceLondon
London Assembly
List of places
UK
England
London
51°30′48″N 0°07′00″W / 51.5132°N 0.1167°W / 51.5132; -0.1167
Part of Aldwych pictured in 2011

Aldwych (pronounced

Theatreland. The 450 metres (1,480 ft) street starts 600 metres (2,000 ft) east-northeast of Charing Cross
, the conventional map centre-point of the capital city.

The name means "old port", and in Anglo-Saxon times it was the port of the City 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 of

Kingsway, and the Strand.[1]
It forms part of the A4 road from London to Avonmouth, Bristol.

The Aldwych area forms part of the Northbank business improvement district.

.

Landmarks

Aldwych, the street, is a crescent, connected to the

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

Lundenburh or simply Lunden, and Lundenwic so became ealdwic or aldwich. (The word "old" evolved from ald, the Old English being eald and the German cognate being alt.)[3]
The name was recorded as Aldewich 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 rhyme Oranges and Lemons, was rebuilt by Wren. 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 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, and were reinterpreted as being urban in character. These conclusions were reached independently by two archaeologists (

Middle English orthography.[5]

The street was created in the early 20th century in a project 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.

detonated prematurely on a number 171 bus travelling along Aldwych, killing its carrier, Provisional Irish Republican Army member Edward 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.

References

  1. ^ Macartney, Mervyn Edmund (June–December 1899). "From Holborn to the Strand: An Ideal Street". The Architectural Review. 6: 239–244.
  2. ^ "The Northbank District". Archived from the original on 12 March 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  3. Clarendon Press
    (1910), at p. 357
  4. ^ "Middlesex and London". Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  5. ^ Hobley B, Lundenwic and Lundenburh: two cities rediscovered, AHDS Archaeology, University of York (PDF)