Place name
This has undergone many name changes in the past few centuries. It was originally a particularly wide bend leading from the Aldersgate Street (this section was later named Goswell Street) into Old Street. Sometime before 1600 a speculator built a small row of houses, leaving a narrow alley. This in turn took on many names on the south side over the passing years including, Ragged Row and Rotten Row in 1728; and Middle Row in 1855. It eventually settled for its present name, which is descriptive, in 1912.