Bevis Marks
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Bevis Marks, classified as part of the A1211, is a short street (about 150 m long) in the ward of Aldgate 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 ...
. 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 Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
, in whose ownership this part of the city was until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Evidently the "r" in "Bury" had been misread as a "v" in a mediaeval manuscript; "Marks" comes from ''maerc'' (
march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...
), the boundary of the abbotts' London estate. Bury Street, adjoining to the south-west, also commemorates the association. At the dissolution, their possessions were passed to Sir Thomas Heneage, a
gentleman ''Gentleman'' (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man; abbreviated ''gent.'') is a term for a chivalrous, courteous, or honorable man. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire ...
of the Privy chamber in attendance on King Henry VIII. 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 novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
's '' The Old Curiosity Shop'' as the street where solicitor Sampson Brass has his offices.


Notable sites

Bevis Marks is home to the Grade I listed Bevis Marks Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom in continual use.


References

Streets in the City of London {{London-road-stub