Place Name
In the mid-17thCentury William Smyth and others acquired the Manor of Stepney, this they leased to speculative developers Thomas Fossan, citizen and skinner of London, and his “natural brother”, Lewis Fossan, citizen and goldsmith of London in December 1653. Thomas already had ownership of the south-western section having taken out an 80 year lease four years earlier. Now the the northern and eastern parts of the ground were laid out in streets under building leases, mostly for 99 years, granted by Thomas and Lewis Fossan between 1654 and 1656. The ground was by that time known as Fossan Square over time his became corrupted to Fashion Street. Interest in Spitalfields began the late 1500s, when two local residents William and Jeffrey Brown employed some builders to develop the north of the Spital Field. At the time despite its closeness to the City it was still a rural area. In her book, The Worst Street in London Fiona Rule takes up the story: “The south and west sides of the Spital Field remained opened pasture, used by locals for grazing cattle when it was not too boggy. In addition to the grazing areas, a series of footpaths stretched across the field, providing routes to and from the shops and market stalls… The owners of land around the Spital Field watched with great interest as the area gradually became increasingly built up. Despite the area being semi-rural, its proximity to the city ensured that new developments were highly sought after and let for decent rents. Therefore, many landowners decided to take the plunge and get the builders in. Two such men were Thomas and Lewis Fossan. The Fossan brothers lived in the city and had purchased land south of the Spital Field as an investment some years previously. In the mid-1650s they decided to utilise their investment and employed John Flower and Gowen Dean of Whitechapel to built two new residential streets on their land. Both streets ran east to west across the Fossan brothers’ field. The southernmost road took on the names of the builders and became known as either Dean and Flower or Flower and Dean Street, depending on who you asked. Today it is known as the latter. The other road was named after the landowners and became known as Fossan Street. However, this unusual name was replaced by the more memorable Fashion Street, the name it retains today.”
