Place Name
Named after the 12thCentury Church of St Clement, Eastcheap, still standing at the King William Street end of Clement’s Lane and made famous in the children’s nursery rhyme for its bells that ring out for oranges and lemons. The lane however wasn’t named until 1241 when it was referred to as vicus sancti Clementis (literally the lane of St Clement). St Clement was the first Pope or Bishop of Rome holding office from AD88 to his death in AD99. The patron saint of sailors, he was martyred after being thrown into the sea weighed down by an anchor tied to his neck. The Lane was Seint Clementeslane in 1348, and had previously extended as far south as Cannon Street but was cut short by the creation of King William Street in 1831.
