Place Name
Agricultural heritage. In medieval times London was known as a wine producing region. Holborn was mentioned for its vineyards in the Domesday Book of 1086, and the bishops of Ely were recorded as paying their workers twopence a day to harvest grapes in the extensive grounds north of their palace at Ely Place, as shown on Ralph Agas’s 1561 woodcut map of London. The vineyard’s site was probably Vine Hill, which was approached by Vine Street Bridge. The street features in John Rocque’s Map of London from 1746 as Bedford Street turning into Wine Street. By the end of the century it was appearing on William Horwood’s 1799 map as Bedford Street and Vine Street. By the time the maps were redrawn in 1868 Bedford Street had disappeared and the whole thing was called Vine Street. It became Vine Hill sometime around 1937.
