Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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This was in approximately, or exactly, the same position as today’s Whitehall and Parliament Street.
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Actually, the southern portion ran west of Parliament St. (created after Pepys’ time), as can be seen in this 1746 map; they don’t seem to have links to individual segments, but click on Ax Yard in the list at the left and scroll down till you see it (the northern part has already been absorbed by Whitehall):
http://www.motco.com/map/81002/ -
Sorry, first you have to click on PLACE NAME INDEX, then go to Ax Yard.
Here’s a nice view from 1611; no place names, but King St. is the road that goes parallel to the river on the left side, from Palace Yard towards the left to Charing Cross in the middle, above the bend of the river; you can see it passing right through Whitehall Palace:
http://faculty.oxy.edu/horowitz/home/johnspeed/Cities28.htm -
This is the listings for Kings Street that W. Stow has in his survey of 1722.
King Street, by Bloomsbury Square, L.
King Street, by Hays’s Court near the Hay Market, L.
King Street, by Old Street Square, in Old Street, L.
King Street, by St. James’s Square, L.
King Street, in Cheapside, L.
King Street, in Covent Garden, L.
King Street, in Dean Street, by Soho Square, L.
King Street, in Princes Street, near St. Anne’s Church in Soho, L.
King Street, in Spittlefields, L.
King Street, in the Mint, S.
King Street, in Upper Moorfield, L.
King Street, near Golden Square, L. Here the Duke of Argyle hath a pretty House.
King Street, near the Six Dials, L.
King Street, on Great Towerhill, L.
King Street, W. Here is the George Inn, where is good Entertainment for Man and Horse.
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King Street no longer exists - ran from Downing Street south to Westminster Abbey in parallel to today’s Parliament Street. It had a notorious reputation for its large number of taverns, which were considered snares for unwary travellers. In the previous century there had been up to 50 taverns on the street, but Pepys mentions only 12 in his diary, all of which he visited.
The street was picturesque but quite narrow, with the buildings having overlapping gables. It was also very busy and was often congested with traffic. From 1734 to 1748 the maze of narrow slum alleys around the southern end of King Street was cleared as part of road improvements when Westminster Bridge was built. The street declined in importance and was finally completely replaced by government offices in 1899.
Source for this entry: “One on Every Corner” published by Westminster City Archives.