Place Name
Descriptive and a joke name for this is a dead-end as it originally led from Snow Hill down to the River Fleet, where there was no bridge. It was first recorded in the 13thCentury as Wendageyneslane in 1293 from the Middle English words wende meaning to turn and ageines meaning against or back: “for that it goeth down west to Fleet Ditch, from whence men must turn again the same way they came, for there is stoppeth”. By 1415 the name had been transformed to Turneageyne lane and in 1603 Windeagaine lane alias Turnagaine lane. The lane was cut in half when Holborn Viaduct was constructed in 1869.
