Place name
Named after St Bride’s Wharf, in Whitefriars, which was owned by John Thomas Pocock, coal merchant, who bought property in Islington that became known as Pocock’s Fields on which this street was laid out. Pocock (1776 – 1832) owned coal mines and their related buildings in south Wales. He was married to Caroline Crosswaite. In 1806, the fields were in the name of his eldest son, Samuel Pocock. Initially the plan was not to develop the land but to exploit its potential to provide water to the City. In 1810 an Act formed Pocock’s Holloway Water-works and George Pocock sunk a 172 foot well near George Place. But the firm was forced out of business by the New River Company sometime around 1823. The road was featured in the rate book of 1825 and on maps by 1828.
