The spring that fed the Walbrook rose here on the slight elevation that was Holywell Mount, now buried under the eastern end of Luke Street and near to the junction of Holywell Lane and Curtain Road in Shoreditch.

It takes its name from a ’holy well’, source of water for the medieval Holywell Priory. Holywell Priory was an important religious house in Shoreditch established around 1127 and also known as Halliwell. The the priory was surrendered in 1539 during Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. Traces of the old priory were found in 1863 during the construction of the Middle Level Sewer that crossed London from Beckton to Hampstead.

Holywell Mount was open ground until the late 18th century and can still be seen marked as a hill on the 1750s John Rocque map. Being beyond the city walls, it was a burial ground for centuries, but Holywell Mount was used heavily during the outbreak of the Great Plague. Over 15% of London’s population was wiped out between 1665 and 1666 - some 100 000 people in the space of two years.

Dozens of plague pits - places to bury the dead in a hurry - were scattered across the city. The majority of these sites were in the grounds of churches but as the body count grew, dedicated pits were hastily constructed around the open land surrounding London.

The name Shoreditch originates from this area. Soersditch as it was known, interpreted as ’Sewer Ditch’, was thought to be in reference to the boggy watercourse of the river Walbrook as it left the slight slope of Holywell Mount.

As the area urbanised, Holywell Mount was levelled.