PLACE NAME
Previously called Charlotte Street. Gillian Bebbington in London Street Names says that this is one of a group of streets in the old parish of St Pancras that were renamed by the St Pancras Vestry in 1865 because their existing names were common ones duplicated elsewhere in the parish. She notes no apparent significance among the group, namely Seaford Street, Lancing Street, Longford Street, Lyme Street, Netley Street, Penryn Street, Redhill Street, Rhyl Street, Wicklow Street, Powlett Place and Wrotham Road and suggests they were chosen at random, however, it is noticeable that they are all, with the exception of Powlett Place, the names of towns in the UK and Ireland, and so perhaps these places had some personal significance to the vestry worthies. Leek (variously known as Lee, Leike, Leeke) is a market town and civil parish in Staffordshire, for centuries it served as a centre of local farming, and after the Industrial Revolution became a major producer of textiles. This street was laid out during the late 18thCentury, it appears on Horwood’s plan of 1799.
