Chancery Lane

102, Fleet Street (WC2) The name is a corruption of Chancellor's Lane, which was built in the reign of Henry III. It was so dirty, and so full of deep ruts and holes in the reign of Edward I, that John Briton, the custos of London, ordered it to be barred up to prevent its being used as a thoroughfare, "and that no harm might happen to persons passing that way." In the year 1632 Izaak Walton, the famous angler, lived here, carrying on the business of a milliner-sempster, or dealer in shirts. In a house now no more, which abutted upon Serjeants' Inn, was born the poet Abraham Cowley. His father was a grocer in Chancery Lane. (Reference: Smith's Streets of London, pp. 259-61)