A lane called White Horse Street once ran continuously from Stepney Churchyard to Butcher Row near the riverside. The construction of Commercial Road divided it, resulting in opposite streets with the same name and a single numbering system.

It follows an ancient trackway used before the Norman Conquest, stretching nearly two miles from the river landing to the manor house. It was the only north-south communication route in East London until modern times.

The street’s name, in use for over 300 years, has unclear origins. A tradition links it to a Saxon warrior chief’s burial and a white horse emblem of Kent, but this is unverified. Another theory suggests it comes from a public house sign, possibly related to the Hanoverian white horse symbol popular during the reigns of the first three Georges.

White Horse Lane, winding from Whitechapel, ended in White Horse Street, while Rose Lane continued eastward to Limehouse. The land between Rose Lane and Butcher Row was part of estates owned by the Corporation of London, acquired by Sir John Philpot in 1370 for the City’s defence against river-based foreign threats.

The northern section of White Horse Street became White Horse Road in 1938 (3080).


Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence