Bank Junction is a major

road junction A junction is where two or more roads meet. History Roads are a means of transport, historically linking locations such as towns, forts and geographic features such as river fords. Where roads met outside of an existing settlement, these junct ...

in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, the historic and financial centre of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, at (or by) which nine streets converge and where traffic is controlled by

traffic light Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – also known as robots in South Africa, Zambia, and Namibia – are signaling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order t ...

s and give-way lines. It is named after the nearby

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

. Directly underneath it is one of the ticket halls of Bank station, one of the busiest stations on the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

Street network

The streets which originate at Bank Junction are: * Threadneedle Street (northeast, towards

Bishopsgate Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate's name is traditionally attributed to Earconwald, who was Bishop of London in the 7th century. It was first built in Roman times and marked the beginning o ...

) * Cornhill (east, towards

Leadenhall Street __NOTOC__ Leadenhall Street () is a street in the City of London. It is about and links Cornhill, London, Cornhill in the west to Aldgate in the east. It was formerly the start of the A11 road (England), A11 road from London to Norwich, but th ...

) * Lombard Street (southeast, towards Gracechurch Street) *Mansion House Place (south, runs to the east of Mansion House) *Walbrook (south, towards Cannon Street) * Queen Victoria Street (southwest, towards Blackfriars) *

Poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, Eggs as food, eggs or feathers. The practice of animal husbandry, raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typ ...

(west, towards

Cheapside Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, England, which forms part of the A40 road, A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St Martin's Le Grand with Poultry, London, Poultry. Near its eas ...

) *Mansion House Street (west, effectively part of the junction, leading to Poultry and Queen Victoria Street) *Princes Street (northwest, towards Moorgate) King William Street, a major thoroughfare, begins just south of the junction, leading off Lombard Street. Since May 2017, the junction has been closed to all vehicles except buses and pedal cycles from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Friday, on an experimental basis.

Notable sites

Standing on the northeast corner of this junction is the

, headquartered on Threadneedle Street since 1734 and thus sometimes known by the

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "wikt:suit, suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such ...

''The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street'', or simply ''The Old Lady''. Across that street and nestled in the gap between Cornhill is the commercial centre the Royal Exchange, founded in 1565 by Thomas Gresham, after whom the nearby Gresham Street is named. Outside the main entrance to the Royal Exchange is an equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington overlooking Bank Junction; it was inaugurated in June 1844. Also in front of the Royal Exchange is the London Troops War Memorial, commemorating those Londoners who served and died in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. There is also a statue of James Henry Greathead, responsible for an improved tunnelling shield which enabled construction of London's deep-level Underground lines. To the south of the junction is Mansion House. This has been the official residence of the

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...

since its completion in 1752. Other notable buildings close to Bank Junction include the City of London Magistrates' Court on Walbrook, No 1 Poultry, the Worshipful Company of Grocers, off Princes Street, and the Worshipful Company of Mercers, on Threadneedle Street.

Railway links

The surrounding pavements host the access steps and ramps to one of London's busiest Underground stations,

Bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, 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 m ...

. Built in 1900, the interchange station is served by the Central, Northern and Waterloo & City lines, as well as the

Docklands Light Railway The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated medium-capacity rail system, light metro system primarily serving the redeveloped London Docklands, Docklands area of London and providing a direct connection between London's two major financi ...

. The station is connected with

Monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

, a station served by the

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all point (geometry), points in a plane (mathematics), plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the Centre (geometry), centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is cal ...

and

District line The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road tube station (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines), Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One br ...

s – together the two stations form one of the world's most complex underground train stations. The closest mainline railway stations are Cannon Street,

Fenchurch Street Fenchurch Street is a street in London, England, linking Aldgate at its eastern end with Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street in the west. It is a well-known thoroughfare in the City of London financial district and is the site of many cor ...

and Liverpool Street.

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline Road junctions in London Road junctions in England Streets in the City of London