Trig Lane, London
Trig Lane was an alleyway in the City of London near the north bank of the River Thames, named for the Trigge family, fishmongers who lived and worked nearby during the late middle ages.[1]
During the 1970s a major archaeological survey of the Trig Lane area was undertaken by the Guildhall Museum's Department of Urban Archaeology (a forerunner of Museum of London Archaeology), showing occupation of the site that dated back to the medieval period.[2]
The modern street Trig Lane in London is slightly eastwards from the site of the original Trig Lane, which ran in a straight line from Upper Thames Street to the still-extant Trig Lane Stairs.[2]
A History of Trig Lane
The Trig Lane area is located to the south of the site of the original Roman defensive wall around Londinium.[3] The natural Thames riverbank was originally sited further north from its modern position, roughly lining up with the road Thames Street.[2] The riverside land was gradually reclaimed and in the mid fourteenth century an oak medieval harbour front or revetment was constructed at Trig Lane, the remains of which were rediscovered in 1974-1976 along with many other historical layers of embankment.[4][5][2] The medieval harbour front contained some timbers believed to have been reused from an older vessel, possibly of Scandinavian origin.[3]
Pilgrim badges relating to the Black Prince and Saint Thomas a Becket, an ampulla souvenir of the Holy Rood of Bromholm [a shrine to a reputed fragment of the True Cross kept at the Cluniac priory of Bromholm] and a pair of bone spectacle frames from the 1400s were recovered during the 1970s archaeological work.[6][7][1]
In John Stow's Survey of London (1603), Trig Lane is noted by Stow as a lane that runs down to the Thames,[8] and in John Strype's update of Stow's work dating from 1720, Strype added a little more detail: "The Lane is pretty open, reasonably well built and inhabited."[9]
Trig Lane, along with the rest of the Queen Hithe ward, was consumed by the Great Fire of London in 1666[10] and subsequently rebuilt.
Trig Lane contained a mixture of industrial and residential buildings in the early 1800s. In 1807 numbers 8,9 and 10 Trig Lane, which had comprised part of "a sugar-house [a sugar refinery], with large dwelling house" were sold with the understanding that the buildings would be immediately demolished and sold for their materials: with an advertisement listing components like pantiles, oak and fir timbers, Portland stone and marble chimney pieces.[11] By the early 1800s London's sugar production industry was moving to the east of the city nearer the docks, and a Court of Common Council ruling of 1807 entirely forbade the operation of sugar refineries within the City of London due to risk of fire.[12]
In 1820 a corn merchant named Ashling was robbed at his front door in Trig Lane by a group of men who let a firework off into his face, and then snatched his fob watch. The alleged robbers were brought to court but eventually discharged due to insufficient evidence.[13][14] The witnesses in the Ashling robbery case included a night watchman stationed at the nearby Trig Wharf.[13]
Notable Businesses and Residents of Trig Lane
1800s-1830s: Lightermen: William Green and Charles Man, Lightermen [skilled Thames barge operators] based out of Trig Lane, dissolved their business partnership in 1807.[15] William Green was still advertising his own Lighterman business from number 3 Trig Lane in 1823.[16]
circa 1811- circa 1880: Iron Foundry and Iron Merchants: William Graham and Sons: suppliers of drain pipes and later oven metal: the company made parts for kitchen ranges.[17] The company's founder William Graham served as a Steward and Governor of the London Smallpox Hospital in the early 1830s.[18]
1891 - circa 1909: Edward Bidwell, ornithologist: Edward Bidwell (1845-1929) was a paper merchant, one of the founder members of the British Ornithologists Club and compiled a survey of existing Great auk eggs after the species became extinct.[19] In the late 1890s Bidwell gave his address as Number 1 Trig Lane, EC.[20]
Trig Lane Stairs
Trig Lane Stairs were a traditional access point to the River Thames for watermen. A set of modern steps are extant in the same location as the original stairs.
The Stairs appear in Thomas Middleton's play A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (written circa 1613), Act IV, scene ii, as the location of a scene where the character Moll Yellowhammer attempts to elope with her lover Touchwood Junior.[21]
John Strype suggested that in the early eighteenth century the Trig Lane Stairs were not a particularly reliable spot to find a water taxi, saying it was "indifferently well supplied by Watermen."[9]
On 18 June 1728 a Bargeman was killed by being struck by lightning, then falling into the river, as he went up a ladder at the Stairs.[22]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hibbert, Christopher; Weinreb, Ben; Keay, John; Keay, Julia; Weinreb, Matthew (2008). The London Encyclopedia (3rd ed.). London: Macmillan. p. 945. Search this book on
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Milne, Gustav; Milne, Chrissie (1978). "Excavations on the Thames Waterfront at Trig Lane, London, 1974-1976". Medieval Archaeology. 22 (1) – via Archaeology Data Service.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hobley, Brian (1 October 1977). "Archaeology: London's historical port". The Illustrated London News. pp. 75, 79 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "Window on the World". The Illustrated London News. 1 September 1974. p. 24 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ McIntosh, Christopher (1 August 1974). "On the Waterfront". Country Life. p. 296 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ McIntosh, Christopher (7 November 1974). "Archaeology Today: New Light on Saxon London". Country Life. p. 1361 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ Spencer, Brian; Cherry, John (1982). "Pilgrim Souvenirs from the Medieval Waterfront Excavations at Trig Lane, London 1974-76 with a note on two seal matrices". Transactions of the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society. 33 second series – via Archaeology Data Service.
- ↑ Stow, John (1908). "Queene hith ward". In Kingsford, C L. A Survey of London, Reprinted from the Text of 1603. Oxford: Clarendon – via British History Online. Search this book on
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Strype, John (1720). "Chapter 10: Queen Hith Ward: Present State Queen Hith Ward. of this Ward.". A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster – via The Stuart London Project, Humanities Research Institute, The University of Sheffield. Search this book on
- ↑ Burton, Richard (1681). Historical Remarques and Observations of the Ancient and Present State of London and Westminster. London: Nathaniel Crouch. p. 103 – via archive.org. Search this book on
- ↑ "Building Materials of a Sugar House, and Four Dwelling Houses, opposite Lambeth-hill, Upper Thames-street". Morning Advertiser. 23 January 1807. p. 4 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "Survey of London | 20-27 Wentworth Dwellings". surveyoflondon.org. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Police: Guildhall: Yesterday, two Brothers, names J. and F. Angell, and a man named F. Bolton, were examined before Alderman BIRCH, on a charge of having robbed Mr Ashling, a respectable corn-merchant, residing in Trigge-Lane, of a valuable watch, gold chain, and seale, at his own door". Statesman (London). p. 4 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "Guildhall: F. Angell and T. Boult, who were charged with robbing Mr Ashling, of Trigge Wharf, were discharged, Sir W. Leighton thinking the evidence did not apply sufficiently to them". Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser. 8 December 1820. p. 3 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "Partnerships Dissolved". The British Press (1374). 1 June 1807. p. 4 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ Kent's London Directory: 1823: Being an Alphabetical List of more than 18,000 Merchants and Traders of London. Cornhill, London: Henry Kent Causton. 1823. p. 143 – via Google Books. Search this book on
- ↑ "[Advertisement] To Bakers: Messrs. William Graham & Sons' Wish to Inform the Baking Trade that they are now allowing the Discount of their Price List of Oven Metal, which has hitherto been reserved for Oven Builders". Southwark Mercury. 27 March 1880. p. 7 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ The Small-Pox and Vaccination Hospital at Battle Bridge, St. Pancras, Middlesex. London: W. Guthrie. 1831. p. 37 – via Google Books. Search this book on
- ↑ "Founders of the British Ornithologists' Club: 9. Edward Bidwell (1845-1929) – British Ornithologists' Club". 2024-11-26. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
- ↑ "List of Members, 1897-98" (PDF). Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society: Presented to the Members for 1897-1898: vi. 1898 – via norfolknaturalists.org.uk.
- ↑ "A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, by Thomas Middleton". tech.org. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
- ↑ "London, June 21". Ipswich Journal. 22 June 1728. p. 3 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
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