Bevis Marks, classified as part of the
A1211, is a short street (about 150 m long) in the ward of
Aldgate
Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate.
The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...
in the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
. Traffic runs northwest in a
one-way direction into
Camomile Street, and parallel to
Houndsditch which runs southeast one-way.
History
The street name has been recorded as ''Bewesmarkes'' (1407), ''Bevys Marke'' (1450), ''Bevesmarkes'' (1513), ''Bevers-market'' (1630), and ''Beavis Markes'' (1677), prior to Bevis Marks (since 1720). The antiquarian
John Stow believed the name to derive from the
Abbots of Bury St Edmunds in
Suffolk, in whose ownership this part of the city was until the
Dissolution of the Monasteries. This etymology was confirmed as correct by E. Ekwall in his "Street-names of the City of London" (1954). At that time, their possessions were passed to
Sir Thomas Heneage
Sir Thomas Heneage PC (1532 – 17 October 1595) was an English politician and courtier at the court of Elizabeth I.
Early and personal life
Thomas Heneage the Younger was born at Copt Hall, Epping, Essex, the son of Sir Robert Heneage and Lucy ...
, a
gentleman of the
Privy chamber
A privy chamber was the private apartment of a royal residence in England.
The Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were noble-born servants to the Crown who would wait and attend on the King in private, as well as during various court activities, f ...
in attendance on
King Henry VIII.
History of Parliament at Tudorplace
accessed 20 October 2006 He is commemorated in the name of nearby Heneage Lane.
Bevis Marks is mentioned several times in Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
's ''The Old Curiosity Shop
''The Old Curiosity Shop'' is one of two novels (the other being ''Barnaby Rudge'') which Charles Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial ''Master Humphrey's Clock'', from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York r ...
'' as the street where solicitor Sampson Brass has his offices.
Notable sites
Bevis Marks is home to the Grade I listed Bevis Marks Synagogue
Bevis Marks Synagogue, officially Qahal Kadosh Sha'ar ha-Shamayim ( he, קָהָל קָדוֹשׁ שַׁעַר הַשָׁמַיִם, "Holy Congregation Gate of Heaven"), is the oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom in continuous use. It is loc ...
, the oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom in continual use.
References
Streets in the City of London
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