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Street in the City of London
Giltspur Street, looking south towards the dome of the Old Bailey
Giltspur Street is a street in Smithfield in the City of London, England, running north–south from the junction of Newgate Street, Holborn Viaduct and Old Bailey, up to West Smithfield, and it is bounded to the east by St Bartholomew's Hospital. It was formerly known as Knightsriders Street, from the knights riding at the tournaments in Smithfield.[1]
In 1381 King Richard II met the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt here, promising to agree to the rebels' demands, which included a repeal of the Statute of Labourers that prevented workers changing jobs for better pay. However, during the negotiations William Walworth, the Lord Mayor of London, lured rebel Wat Tyler away and stabbed him; when Tyler sought refuge in the neighbouring St. Bartholemew's Church he was dragged out and beheaded. The revolt later subsided.
Located on the junction of Giltspur Street and Cock Lane is the Golden Boy of Pye Corner, a cherub which is a symbol of gluttony, the sin which supposedly led to divine retribution in the form of the Great Fire of London. An inscription on the monument reads:
"The Boy at Pye Corner was erected to commemorate the staying of the Great Fire which beginning at Pudding Lane was ascribed to the sin of gluttony when not attributed to the Papists as on the Monument, and the Boy was made prodigiously fat to enforce the moral. He was originally built into the front of a public house called The Fortune of War which used to occupy this site and was pulled down in 1910."
Memorial to the essayist Charles Lamb at Watch House on Giltspur Street
Also on Giltspur Street is a monument to the English essayist Charles Lamb, best known for his Essays of Elia and for co-writing the children's book Tales from Shakespeare. An inscription on the sculpture reads:
Perhaps the most loved name in English literature who was a bluecoat boy here for 7 years. B·1775, D·1834.
The street gave its name to the Giltspur Street Compter, a small prison located on the street from 1791 to 1855.
The nearest London Underground station is St Paul's and the closest mainline railway stations are City Thameslink and Farringdon.
^Burford Rawlings, Gertrude (1926). The streets of London: their history and associations. G. Bles.
GiltspurStreet is a street in Smithfield in the City of London, England, running north–south from the junction of Newgate Street, Holborn Viaduct and...
The GiltspurStreet Compter was a compter or small prison, designed by English architect and surveyor George Dance the Younger, mainly used to hold debtors...
Cock Lane is a small street in Smithfield in the City of London, leading from GiltspurStreet in the east to Snow Hill in the west. In the medieval period...
the earlier Bread Street Compter, from which many prisoners were transferred. Wood Street was closed and replaced by GiltspurStreet Compter in 1791. The...
Corner is a small late-17th-century monument located on the corner of GiltspurStreet and Cock Lane in Smithfield, central London. It marks the spot where...
the point where the Old Bailey thoroughfare joins to the south and GiltspurStreet to the north. A notable discovery here was a Roman tile inscribed with...
debtors. Examples of compters include London's Wood Street Compter, Poultry Compter, GiltspurStreet Compter and Borough Compter and the lock-up over the...
have run his own drapery shop. From at least March 1701, he lived at GiltspurStreet, where he made air-pumps and pneumatic engines. The transition from...
sustained after slipping in the street; he was 59. From 1833 until their deaths, Charles and Mary lived at Bay Cottage, Church Street, Edmonton, north of London...
Golden Ball, Bond's Stables, off Chancery Lane, Royal Oak Molly House, GiltspurStreet, Smithfield and Three Tobacco Rolls Covent Garden were operating in...
for the Poultry Compter (City of London) The Sheriffs' Court for the GiltspurStreet Compter (City of London) The Macclesfield Court of Portmote The Maidstone...
acres (1.8 ha) including yards and loading bays) from King Edward Street to GiltspurStreet. The complex housed the main sorting offices for London (EC district)...
1806 patented a new pattern horse shoe; he was then in practice at GiltspurStreet, London. He wrote extensively about the hoof in a series of pamphlets...
name formerly located here GiltspurStreet – thought to be the former location of a spurriers Gloucester Court Godliman Street – thought to be after Godalming...
Mansion House) Statue of John Cass, formerly on Aldgate High Street and then Jewry Street "Memorials and public art". Archived from the original on 26...
serve the Spanish Embassy. The Camden Town development begins. The GiltspurStreet Compter (prison) built. The Architect John Soane begins reconstruction...
working as a clockmaker in GiltspurStreet, London. Together with colleague William Anthony, the renowned watchmaker of Red Lion Street, he succeeded in obtaining...
enabling the city's authorities to move inmates to another City prison (GiltspurStreet Compter), although this purpose was not achieved until 1815, following...
for the Poultry Compter The City of London Sheriffs' Court for the GiltspurStreet Compter The Macclesfield Court of Portmote The Maidstone Court of Conservancy...
libel, and in January 1832 she travelled to London to visit him in GiltspurStreet Compter. Sharples' arrival gave Carlile an opportunity to revive the...
Park Garnier Park Garrison Creek Park Garthdale Park George Faludy Park Giltspur Park Glen Agar Park Glen Cedar Park Glen Long Park Glen Rouge Park and...
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