Houndsditch, City of London
A historÂically poor relation among the City’s commercial thoroughfares, extending north-​​westward from Aldgate towards Bishopsgate’s junction with Liverpool Street
Houndsditch’s name was first recorded in 1275. Seemingly obvious explanÂations for the meaning of place names often turn out to be fallacious, but Houndsditch genuinely seems to have been a trench where “dead dogges were there laid or cast” – several canine skeletons were unearthed here in 1989, probably dating from Roman times.
During the Middle Ages, Houndsditch became the centre of the bellfounding industry. Then, as demand declined following the Dissolution, the metalÂworkers turned to the manufacture of guns and cannons.
The ditch was filled in by the end of the 16th century, when second-​​hand clothes began to be sold here – a specialÂisation that continued until the 19th century.
In December 1910 a group of Latvian anarchists killed three policemen and injured two others who interÂrupted them during a burglary attempt on a jeweller’s shop in Houndsditch. On 2 January 1911, two of the gang were cornered and subsequently killed in the siege of Sidney Street, in Stepney.
