The alleyways and courtyards of London: K

Kemp’s Court W1

A court situated right in the heart of Berwick Street Market where a seemingly endless line of stalls stretch down both sides of the road. All varieties of fruits and vegetables are available and the market has a tradition of specialising in the most exotic species. The street markets of London have been a feature of the City for many years and the market in Berwick Street has been here since 1840 – not the oldest by far but certainly one of the most popular. Trading is at its peak around lunchtime when the street turns into a bustling hive of brisk activity, and at the close of business many of the items can be had for little more than a song. The present panorama is a scene quite in contrast to the salubrious sounding description of Berwick Street outlined by Edward Hatton (New View of London) in 1708: ‘a kind of row like a small piazza, the fronts of the houses resting on columns.’ Number 83 was the studio of John Hall, engraver; it was here in 1791 that he meticulously worked from the portrait of Sheridan by Sir Joshua Reynolds

The modern King of Corsica public house is on the corner of the Court. If you visit Kemp’s Court out of market hours when the cabbage leaves and the squashed apples have been washed away, you will find two or three barrows ‘resting’ by the northern wall.

Market hours are nine to five, Monday to Saturday. The best time to browse around the street and its byways is definitely outside of these times.

King John Court EC2
UG: Shoreditch
Bus: 5 8 26 35 43 47 48 55 67 78 149 243
From Shoreditch Station walk west along Sclatter Street. At the end turn right into Shoreditch High Street then left into Holywell Lane. Pass under the railway bridge and King John Court is on the right.
Lying bang up against the railway embankment, King John Court is really what we would expect it to be; a narrow road where arches supporting the tracks are utilised to their utmost capacity. It is a lively place; every arch in their individual ways are hives of activity overseen by masters of small business. Motor mechanics and associated trades are much in evidence but here you can employ the services of a freight exporting agent or dispose of your defunct refrigerator or washing machine; a sign fixed to the wall declares ‘Scrap urgently wanted’.

King John Court was built about the mid-16th century on part of the site occupied by the Fraternity of St John the Baptist – Holywell Nunnery. It was founded towards the end of the 13th century by the Bishop of London with further buildings being added by Sir Thomas Lovell in about 1500. Compared with some of the religious houses in the City of London, Holywell rated among the smallest and covered the site between here (Holywell Lane) and Bateman’s Row to the north.

During Henry VIII’s mass closure of the religious houses the nuns were given orders to quit and their church and domestic quarters were surrendered to the Crown in 1539. All the buildings were subsequently demolished and the land sold off for building development. During the following years a number of houses of very adequately dimensions were erected on the site, along with two playhouses and the area became fashionable with the middle classes.

The inclusion of King in the name of the Court is something of a mystery but the likely answer is that this was a mis-transcription of Saint John. King John reigned between 1199 and 1216 and so would not have been around at the time.

King’s Head Yard SE1
UG: London Bridge
Bus: 21 35 40 133 P3 P11 or any to London Bridge station
From the southern end of London Bridge walk under the railway bridge into Borough High Street. Cross London Bridge Street and St Thomas Street. King’s Head Yard is then about 45 yds on the left, opposite the junction with Southwark Street.
When the borough of Southwark was a haven for ale swillers, centuries before the stuff was dispensed from an illuminated box on the counter, and when ‘amber nectar’ was the staple diet of bees, the Pope’s Head, built in 1530, held prominence on this strip of land. Just about this time Henry VIII was having his tussle with the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope was not high on his list of commendable persons. To avoid any annoyance to the King and a possible stretch in the Tower, it seemed a wise move to change its name to the King’s Head. In 1560 the inn was part of the estate of Thomas Cure, Master of the Queen’s Horse and founder of Cure College. When Cure died in 1588 a Mr Humble took possession of the inn and it seems to have remained in his family at least until 1676.

In that year catastrophe struck; along with the other old inns lining Borough High Street, the King’s Head was largely destroyed in a fire believed to have started near to the George Inn (see George Inn Yard and White Hart Yard). As though they had divine knowledge concerning the future of the inn, the Humbles got out just in time – no insurance, a quick sale, and the new owner picked up the bill. It was reconstructed shortly after to a design closely resembling the original. The Inn later became the property of St Thomas’s Hospital who, in about 1760, leased it to Henry Thrale, brewer and owner of the Anchor Brewery, Bankside.

A decorative round archway with an overhanging sign depicting Henry VIII gives access to this impressive passage. It is still cobbled as it was in the days when dray horses clattered down here, although the modern uniformly positioned type now covering the ground are rather more kind to the feet. Almost all the buildings in King’s Head Yard have either been replaced or modernised but the character of the place has largely been retained and merely brought into present times.

King’s Scholars Passage SW1
UG: Victoria
Bus: 2 8 11 16 24 36 36 38 52 73 82 185 239 507 511 to Victoria Station
From Victoria Underground Station exit via the steps signed Wilton Street/Vauxhall Bridge Road. Cross both of these roads and turn into Victoria Street but almost immediately, take the first right into Carlisle Place. The opening to King’s Scholars Passage is about 70 yds on the right.
Formerly Bedford Place and York Place.

The name refers to the King’s Scholars of Westminster School, founded by Elizabeth I out of the ancient monastic school run by the monks of Westminster Abbey. Following the Reformation, when the Abbey became a cathedral, the school was renamed the King’s Grammar School and initially had provision for educating forty boys. The school never had any direct relationship with the Passage or even the land on which it is built but the honour rests in a distant association.

To the west of the Collegiate Church of St Peter (Westminster Abbey), Tothill Fields stretched out as far as what is now Victoria Station. Development of the northern part of these fields began in the early 1600’s to meet the demands of the middle classes who were hell bent on defying the King in owning their own houses. Further south, however, it remained a soggy marsh only saved from becoming a swamp by drainage assisted by the Tyburn Brook. As building land it was pretty much a lost cause – that was, until a successful attempt at complete drainage was achieved in 1810 and development was commenced by first of all constructing a playground for Westminster School on the site now called Vincent Square.

In the course of its long twisting journey from the upper reaches north of Oxford Street, the Tyburn flowed to a point just south of Buckingham Palace where it split into two separate streams. The wider of these two branches continued eastward to flow into the Thames near Westminster Bridge whilst the other, which was then called King’s Scholar Brook, continued southerly, roughly in the direction of the north-south line of Stag Place and Tachbrook Street, entering the Thames east of Vauxhall Bridge. About the time when Vauxhall Bridge Road was laid out, in 1815, this section of the Tyburn was channelled through an underground conduit. King’s Scholar Passage was thus formed from the water course which still runs beneath its paving.

The Passage today has little use; it serves as neither a short cut nor an access and merely provides a rear entry to buildings fronting onto Vauxhall Bridge Road and Carlisle Place. Leaving Carlisle Place the line quickly turns through 90° to continue its long length in a southeasterly direction. Here, beneath a round cover in the middle of the road is a man-hole giving access to the Tyburn flowing below.

Kingly Court W1
UG: Oxford Circus
Bus: 3 6 12 13 15 23 53 88 94 139 159
From Oxford Circus walk down the east side of Regent Street for about 3 mile and turn left into Beak Street. In about 55 yds cross Kingley Street. Kingly Court is then a few yds on the left.
Branching from Beak Street through a square whitewashed tunnel, Kingley Court is an attractive place. Beyond the entrance it opens out into a yard where well maintained old warehouses now serve as premises for modern businesses. At the northern end of the yard a large sign forming the name ‘Kingly Court’ surrounds an arched tunnel which used to lead onto Ganton Street, but this exit was blocked off many years ago by the building of shops.

This is an old Court, rebuilt at some time in the last century and still retaining a pleasing quality. It was built shortly after 1686 along-side the line of a track cutting through Six Acre Fields, a plot of land once owned by the abbot of Westminster and snatched by Henry VIII when he dissolved the monastery in 1536. Henry held on to the land throughout his reign and it passed down through successive monarchs until the present time when much of this area remains Crown property. Until the beginning of the 20th century the Court and adjacent street were simply called ‘King’ but in 1906 ‘ly’ was added to avoid confusion with other ‘king’s.

A few strides to the east of Kingly Court is Carnaby Street that world-wide known mecca of shops catering for the clothing needs of the young at heart. It sprang from the existence of Richard Tyler’s 17th century squat, Karnaby House, built in 1683 and demolished in the 1720’s. Carnaby Street was tossed into the limelight in the swinging 60’s when the name was on tip of the tongues of every trendy bopper but it now survives as a mere relic of those former days.

King’s Arms Yard EC2
UG: Bank
Bus: 21 43 76 133 141 172 214 271 or any to the Bank
From Bank Station walk along Prince’s Street, by the side of the Bank. Cross Lothbury and continue into Moorgate. King’s Arms Yard is then about 55 yds crossing to the right and left.
In the calmness of the morning air on the 5th September 1666 the smoke was still rising from the cremated remains of the old King’s Head Tavern in Coleman Street. Its yard, so narrow that scarcely two people could pass, was blocked by a heap of charred wood. If notable for no other feature, the narrow alleys of Coleman Street would have tried the patience of a saint. During the Great Plague, the restrictive width of these alleys presented John Hayward, the assistant sexton, with a most inconvenient obstacle he could well have done without. His busy day was made all the more tedious through having to leave his dead cart in the main street while he man-handled the plague stricken bodies from their homes onto a wheel-less truck to convey them along the confined passages. It was something of a fair miracle that he never fell victim but lived for a further twenty years after the epidemic was past.

Within the ten years following the Great Fire the tavern was rebuilt and at this time, whether by intention or error, the name was changed to the King’s Arms. While work on the tavern was taking place, additional buildings were erected along the full length of the Yard, which in those days continued without a break between Coleman Street and Tokenhouse Yard. When the Moorfields gateway was taken down in the 1760’s a new road was planned to link City Road and Islington with the Bank, but the proposal aroused fierce hostility and the project was dropped. By the time the planners tried again there were more vehicles on the road, more hold-up’s, and opinion in the City had changed – Coleman Street was by then a constantly congested route with no alternative. The construction of Moorgate in 1840 was a vital improvement connecting the roads from the northern suburbs with newly built King William Street and so provided a direct route to London Bridge, but it drastically affected the Coleman Street alleys. Although the move involved the demolition of dozens of houses in Great Swan Alley, Great Bell Alley, and King’s Arms Yard it did go some way towards the clearance of dilapidated slums, intolerably close to the Bank.

Kinnerton Street SW1
UG: Knightsbridge
Bus: 9 10 14 19 22 30 52 74 137
From Knightsbridge Station walk east along the south side of Knightsbridge towards Hyde Park Corner. Cross Seville Street, William Street and by the Post Office turn right into Wilton Place. Take the first right turning into Kinnerton Street, which at the ‘T’ junction continues to the right and left.
When I first included ‘Kinnerton’ in the list of place names it was headed as Kinnerton Yard, but whilst the Yard is a worthy place in itself it is only a part of a whole string of charming byways branching from this unusual street – eight of them in all. Illustration by words of such a wondrous setting, no matter how exuberant, can only show the black and white outlines of these romantic picture book mews where coloured tints are the vital ingredient.

Beginning in the north, right at the very end, is Duplex Ride, its origin unknown but possibly from a house split between two owners. Next is Studio Place, named from an artists’ work room which occupied the yard until about 1940. The two inlets of Kinnerton Place North and Kinnerton Place South come next, followed by Frederic Mews, recalling a previous resident; then comes Ann’s Close, from Ann… who lived here at one time. Then to the yard of a carpenter and undertaker, Capener’s Close, where John Capener built up his business making coffins; and so to Kinnerton Yard, a recently refurbished residential mews where neatly pointed red brick buildings are the prominent feature.

Along Kinnerton Street, between these fine mews, every single one of the tiny residential houses is a representation of elegance with their narrow doorways and shiny knobs. At number 71 the row is gently interrupted by the Wilton Arm with an abundance of plants about its frontage – but not content with one hostelry, this short secluded street boast yet another – the Nags Head, at number 53. If there is one pub in the entire expanse of central London where the country yokel would feel at home, this is surely it. Along with a multitude of other establishments, the Nags Head claims the prize for being the smallest pub in the capitol. Whether it can uphold its claim against competition or not, it is certainly small. There are three bars here, all situated on different levels, but with the feet firmly on the ground, at street level is the place to be. In this room there is a beautiful black-leaded grate and accompanying wood burner, surrounded by an ample compliment of nick-nacks. Slouching on the bar in the Nags Head is totally out of the question – it stands about two feet high and the compulsion to sit down on the squat bar-stools is almost overpowering. Standing proud on the low bar are the four Chelsea China beer-pull handles which won outstanding merit at a Brewers’ Exhibition about 150 years ago. The service here is personal and welcoming. They offer a comprehensive menu of snacks and more hearty fare, but don’t be put off by the spelling. When I last visited this house a certain notable dish was advertised as cronkin-van, and until it was corrected caused roars of uncontrolable taughter. In its picturesque location the Nags Head would fit just as snugly on the corner of the green in a quiet village.

Not wishing to be out done by nearby Groom Place, Kinnerton Street owns its personal corner shop, an asset fast becoming extinct even in places where the community have no alternative retail outlet, let alone the West End on their doorsteps. Kinnerton Street is most certainly a place to visit – but do come during opening hours.


The alleyways and courtyards of London

This page is taken from Ivor Hoole’s defunct GeoCities site listing the alleys and courtyards in Central London, last updated in 2004 and now taken offline.
The Underground Map blog lists this information as is, with no claim of copyright.

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