The land lying just to the south of Sardinia Street (between Wild Street and Drury Lane), was leased by Henry Holford to John Ittery on 20 April 1618. It was described as “one hundred foote of ground from the south side of the close, called Oldwich Close”.
Before 1629, the ground had been enclosed with a ditch on the north side and a mud wall on the west. South and east were respectively the Earl of Clare’s landholding and a “common sewer”.
In 1629, what soon afterwards became known as Duke Street was described as “the pathway on the south side thereof, leading from Princes Streete towardes Holbourne, the said pathway conteyning in breadth 10 foote.”
In 1652 the land came into the hands of Humphrey Weld who started to develop Duke Street. By 1661, Weld had let out a house with a 21 year lease but a 1658 map shows the street as fully built.
The street had an arch at its northern end which led to Lincoln’s Inn Fields – the west side of the fields were called Arch Row for that reason.
The house immediately south of the archway was the home of the Sardinian Ambassador – his house was once the only entrance to the Sardinian Chapel. Chapel Yard came later. The street was subsequently renamed Sardinia Street after the 1860s.
The street was demolished during the construction of Kingsway in 1904-5. The arch at the northern end survived somewhat later. A new Sardinia Street was constructed south of the old street.
