sites of Christian worship in the country.
One of six tube stations named after pubs, Angel recalls a once-famous coaching inn at the junction of the Great North Road (A1) and Pentonville Road. It survived into the 20th century. The inn lives on in the name of the tube station (opened in 1901), in a Wetherspoon pub adjacent to the original site and, of course, on the Monopoly board.
Old street is, indeed, very old. The name was first recorded as Ealdestrate around 1200, Eldestrete in 1275, and le Oldestrete in 1373. In other words, it was already known as the 'old street' when Robin Hood was prancing about in Sherwood Forest. It's never been conclusively shown, but the route is probably Roman in origin — hence, almost 2,000 years old.
Named after a small gateway or postern in the city walls hereabouts. The 'moor' part indicates marshy ground without. This was possibly caused by the wall itself, which interrupted the flow of the River Walbrook, backing up the water.
We'll give you one guess. That's right.
No medals, either, for intuiting how this station next to London Bridge got its name. The mainline part does, however, bear the distinction of being the capital's oldest central terminus. It opened on 14 December 1836 — one of only three remaining pre-Victorian stations (Greenwich and Deptford, on the same line, are the others).
For much of the city's history, central London was simply the core of the Square Mile, plus a smaller settlement across the bridge known as the Borough of Southwark. Because London had no other notable suburbs, Southwark was effectively the only borough. You could get away with calling it 'the Borough' without fear of confusion. (Westminster, which grew upriver from the late Anglo-Saxon period, was not subject to the City and was considered a separate town.) The Borough name has survived into modern times and, thanks to the tube station and historic market, shows no sign of vanishing even though London now has dozens of boroughs.
Elephant & Castle
Any number of spurious explanations for the name have been offered (Infanta da Castilla, anyone?), but in all probability Elephant and Castle is simply named after a pub. We've got more detail here.
Kennington to Morden
Kennington is first recorded in the Domesday Book (1086) as Chenintune. Like Kensington, it probably comes from the personal name of a local land owner; Mr Cena (probably not John), let's call him.
It's the nearest station to the Oval cricket ground, which got its name from its oval plan. That's the obvious explanation, but it's not quite correct. In fact, the Oval name goes back to a 1790s housing development arranged in an oval shape. The sports ground came later and took the name of the development. Perhaps equally surprisingly, a Lord's tube station could once be found on the Met line near the St John's Wood cricket ground.
A 'stoc', in Old English, is a post or tree stump. A well is a well. So this south London area is named for a stump beside a well. The idea has modern resonance. One of Stockwell's most obvious landmarks is a stumpy building at the top of a well or shaft. It is the entrance to the deep-level shelter dug during the Second World War.
Clapham North, Common and South
The trio of Claphams may owe their name to a former land owner called something like Cloppa. A derivation from the Old English Cloppaham, a home on a stubby hill, is also possible.
Belgo should open a branch in Balham, for the name was first recorded in the Domesday Book as Belgeham. It probably means something like 'homestead in a rounded (bal) enclosure'.
Tooting Bec and Broadway
"You should have seen the traffic on the A24 yesterday."
"Yeah, most of 'em. People should have more patience."
Poor Tooting's been the butt of many a joke thanks to its unusual name. By contrast, its derivation is both disappointing and uncertain. It may refer to a place governed by a chap called Tota (yes, another one), or else stem from the Old English verb tout, indicating a look-out tower. The Bec of Tooting Bec comes from Bec Abbey in Normandy, which gained the land after