Place Name
As one of Richmond’s oldest streets it has had numerous names down the centuries. The corner of what is now George Street and King Street was known as Four Elms and it was here that the village stocks stood. By the early 17thCentury the street was almost fully developed with houses backing against the wall of the Friary, it was variously known as Green Street, the Street from the Green to the Red Lyon, and The Street from the stocks to the Green. By 1740 it had taken on more names Cross Street and Furbelow Street (James Green et al in The Streets of Richmond and Kew speculate “there may have been milliners’ shops” here). Its current name was made official by 1769 by the trustees who temporary took over the duties of the Vestry, the prototype parish council which oversaw the highways, it was recorded that “the street heretofore called Furbelow Street be henceforth called King Street”. It came at the same time as George Street and so the King in question was George III.
