Minories ( ) is the name of a small former administrative unit, and also of a street in central London. Both the street and the former administrative area take their name from the
Abbey of the Minoresses of St. Clare without Aldgate.
Both are positioned just to the east of, and outside, the
line of London's former defensive walls, in London's
East End. The area of the former administrative unit was outside the City of London (most recently in the
London Borough of Tower Hamlets), with the street partially in the City and partly in Tower Hamlets. Boundary changes in 1994 mean the area of both is now wholly within the City of London.
Toponymy
Minories' name is derived from the former
Abbey of the Minoresses of St. Clare without Aldgate, a house of the
Poor Clares, members of the Order of
St Clare, founded in 1294 and known generally in medieval England as "minoresses". A "minoress" was a
nun in the
Second Order of the Order of Friars Minor known as
Franciscan
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
s. (A small side-road off Minories is named St. Clare Street.) The name can be found in other English towns, including
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
,
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...
,
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the la ...
and
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
.
Governance
Minories was in the ancient parish of
St Botolph without Aldgate until 1557, when it became
extra-parochial.
The area was a papal
peculiar outside the jurisdiction of the English bishops. The abbey was
dissolved in 1539, the property passing to the Crown. The chapel of the former abbey became the
Church of Holy Trinity, Minories
Holy Trinity, Minories, was a Church of England parish church outside the eastern boundaries of the City of London, but within the Liberties of the Tower of London. The liberty was incorporated in the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney in 1899, and ...
, and other buildings were used as an armoury and later as a workhouse. In 1686, the area became part of the
Liberties of the Tower of London
The Liberties of the Tower, or the Tower Liberty is a small neighbourhood in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, East London, which includes both Tower Hill and the Tower of London. The area was defined sometime after 1200 to provide an open ar ...
. The Minories area historically hosted a large Jewish community.
Minories Holy Trinity, also known as Minories Holy Trinity, was abolished as a civil parish in 1895 and absorbed into the parish of
Whitechapel.
The street
The modern street named Minories runs north–south with traffic flowing both-ways from
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 ...
to
Tower Hill; it is part of the
A1211 road between the
Barbican
A barbican (from fro, barbacane) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes.
Europe
In the Middle A ...
and
Whitechapel. The border between the City and the
London Borough of Tower Hamlets ran haphazardly between Minories and nearby Mansell Street until boundary changes in 1994 relocated the present-day border along Mansell Street, so that Minories is now within the City of London.
Aldgate Underground station is at the northern end of Minories, on Aldgate High Street.
Roman cemetery
In September 2013, a well-preserved Roman statue of an eagle with a snake in its mouth, thought to have been part of a funerary monument, was discovered on a building site on the street, close to its junction with Aldgate High Street. Burials were forbidden within the inhabited area in the Roman period, so the City's defensive wall was ringed by many large cemeteries. The statue is considered to be one of the best examples of Romano-British sculpture in existence.
[Daily Mail article (not behind a pay wall) which includes further detail and a map]
Minories railway station
The street gave its name to
Minories railway station
Minories was the western terminus of the London and Blackwall Railway (L&BR), located on the east side of Minories, a short distance north-east of the Tower of London. The line was operated on a cable-hauled basis with a 400 hp pair of st ...
, built in 1840 as a part of the
London and Blackwall Railway
Originally called the Commercial Railway, the London and Blackwall Railway (L&BR) in east London, England, ran from Minories to Blackwall via Stepney, with a branch line to the Isle of Dogs, connecting central London to many of London's dock ...
– a cable railway. The site is now occupied by the
Docklands Light Railway
The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light metro system serving the redeveloped Docklands area of London, England and provides a direct connection between London's two major financial districts, Canary Wharf and the City of Londo ...
(DLR) station
Tower Gateway, which opened in 1989 as the system's western terminus. The DLR was extended westward in 1991 to
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
, leaving Tower Gateway as a secondary alternative terminus.
References
Sources
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Areas of London
Districts of the City of London
Streets in the City of London
Odonyms referring to religion
Former civil parishes in London
Bills of mortality parishes