Primrose Street, EC2A

Place Name

Originally Primrose Alley. It has been suggested that Primrose Street was named after the flowers which used to grew here. However, Gillian Bebbington in London Street Names thinks this unlikely since it must have been many centuries when primroses grew in these localities, and suggests it is more likely they were named from inn-signs. There was The Primrose Pub at the entrance to Primrose Street. Sheila Fairfield in The Streets of London agrees and offers the alternative suggestion they were named after the owner or builders. In 1562 the site consisted of a great messuage and 22 gardens formerly belonging to Sir Martin Bowes and left to the Goldsmiths’ Company.

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