Cockspur Street is a short street in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...

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 ...

, within which a very short part of

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...

links

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

to Pall Mall/Pall Mall East at the point where that road changes name, opposite the traffic exit from Haymarket. It and all the streets mentioned are part of the A4. It has existed since at least the 16th century along a similar line. __NOTOC__

History

A map of 1572 shows the street in existence. In 1746, John Roque's detailed map of London and ten miles around shows Cockspur Street and two very narrow passages connecting, which were later variously abolished and widened. After

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George IV of the United Kingdom, George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash (architect), J ...

was built heading north, Pall Mall was extended directly east. This enabled the present one-way flow around the triangle facing the north side of Cockspur Street.'Pall Mall East', in ''Survey of London: Volume 20'', St Martin-in-The-Fields, Pt III: Trafalgar Square and Neighbourhood, ed. G H Gater and F R Hiorns (London, 1940), p. 88. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol20/pt3/p88 ccessed 8 May 2018 All the small-plot properties between Cockspur Street and the newly formed Pall Mall East were pulled down, leaving a triangular site which was taken by the College of Physicians and the Union Club.

Properties

Number 1, Oceanic House, was originally the London office of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company trading as the

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping line. Founded out of the remains of a defunct Packet trade, packet company, it gradually grew to become one of the most prominent shipping companies in the world, providing passenger and cargo service ...

, which operated famous liners including the RMS ''Titanic''. "Oceanic House" is inscribed twice on the building and it forms part of

Canada House Canada House () is a Greek Revival building on Trafalgar Square in London. It has been a Grade II* Listed Building since 1970. It has served as the Chancery (diplomacy), chancery of the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom since 192 ...

. It was also the

Pall Mall Restaurant The Pall Mall Restaurant was a hostelry situated at Number 1 Cockspur Street, Westminster, London, just off Pall Mall and near Trafalgar Square. The site was subsequently the offices of the White Star Line, and was then occupied by a Tex Mex r ...

at one point. Undivided from this are numbers 2–4, the Serious Fraud Office. Numbers 2–4 were the Canadian Military Headquarters from 1939 to 1947. Numbers 6 to 13 are no longer used, having made way for new wider street layouts. 14-16 was the Hamburg-Amerika House, London office of the

Hamburg America Line The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), known in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. Among those involved in its development were prominent Germ ...

. It was put up for sale in 1917 under the

Trading with the Enemy Act 1914 The Trading with the Enemy Act 1914 ( 4 & 5 Geo. 5. c. 87) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that prescribed an offence of conducting business with any person of "enemy character". It was enacted soon after the United Kingdom ...

In news and literature

On 29 June 2007, a car containing explosives was found on the street. It was removed and further investigated.BBC NEWS , UK , Two car bombs found in West End
/ref> The celebrated 'Irish Giant' Charles Byrne, who was reputedly just over 7 feet 7 inches tall (2.31m), died in 1783 at the age of 22 at his lodgings in Cockspur Street. Byrne's skeleton is preserved in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in England.

References

{{Trafalgar Square, state=collapsed Streets in the City of Westminster A4 road (England)

History

Properties

In news and literature

Further reading

Architecture and lost buildings

References