Place name
The church of St Bride or St Bridget in Fleet Street has the remains of an ancient spring or well that used to attract thousands of pilgrims. Gillian Bebbington in London Street Names, says: “The street lies close to the site of the River Fleet, which gave rise to so many wells along its course that it was often known as the River of Wells. (Most of them are forgotten, but the Clerkenwell still exists). The well of St Brigid, or Bride, rose beside St Bride’s Church in Fleet Street. The association between the well and the saint probably dates back to very early times, before Christianity had discarded pagan wellworship. St Bride’s is one of the two places in London where relics of a Saxon church on the site can be seen (the other being Allhallows-by-the-Tower).” Saint Bride, also known as Saint Bridgit, Saint Brigid of Kildare, or Brigid of Ireland, probably lived from about AD451 to about AD525. An Irish nun and abbess who became one of the patron saints of Ireland. Bridewell Prison, formerly a Palace of Henry VIII, was converted in the 16thCentury to a workhouse and prison though was demolished in 1864.
