Place Name
Known from ancient times as Greenstreet, and from the 1720s until about 1800 as Ireland Green (after James and Thomas Ireland who leased land adjoining it from Dulwich College). According to local tradition, an inn has stood on the site at the west end of the lane, nearest Herne Hill, since the middle of the 17th century, but the first public house “known by the Sign of the Half Moon” was built by Joseph Miller in 1760. In 1844 Edward Alleyn’s original tombstone, removed many years before from the College Chapel, was re-discovered in the skittle ground of the Half Moon. Between 1894 and 1896 the old Half Moon, much frequented by visitors from London on account of its garden and rustic surroundings, was rebuilt. The pub’s website suggests that the pub was named after the street, not the other way around. If so, it may be because the lane is shaped in an arc.
