Bread Street

infobox UK place
official_name= Ward of Bread Street
map_type= Greater London
country= England
region= London
london_borough= City of London
latitude= 51.514773
longitude= -0.099808
os_grid_reference= TQ319812
post_town= LONDON
postcode_area= EC
postcode_district= EC4
dial_code= 020
constituency_westminster = Cities of London and Westminster

Bread Street is a ward of the City of London and is named from its principal street, which was antiently (anciently) the bread market; for by the records it appears that in 1302 ["30 Edw. I." The Court Rolls] , the bakers of London were ordered to sell no bread at their houses but in the open market [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=46752 "Book 2, Ch. 9: Bread Street Ward", A New History of London: Including Westminster and Southwark (1773), pp. 558-60] accessed: 21 May 2007] .

The modern ward extends greatly north and west from Bread Street itself and includes Paternoster Square, a modern development to the north of St Paul's Cathedral, home of the London Stock Exchange and Goldman Sachs [ [http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/community/wardspolicing/wards/breadstreet.html#overview City of London police - Ward Profile] accessed: 21 May 2007] .

Boundaries

Bread Street ward is bounded on the north and north-west by the ward of Farringdon Within; on the east by Cordwainer's ward; on the south by Queenhithe ward; and on the west by Castle Baynard ward. Its street boundaries are Bread Street in the east, Newgate street in the north, Warwick Lane/Ave Maria Lane in the west, and Queen Victoria Street to the south.

Guilds and churches

Five halls of the Cordwainers' (workers in fine leather) stood in this ward and they are commemorated by a blue plaque in the gardens of St Paul's Cathedral facing Cannon Street. The fifth and last Hall was built in 1909-10 but on the night of 10 May 1941, the building was gutted during the Blitz [ [http://www.cordwainers.org/ Cordwainers' "Later History"] accessed 21 May 2007] .

There were two churches in the ward, that of the Church of All Hallows and St Mildred in Bread Street. Today they form a part of the parish of St Mary-le-Bow. The former joined in 1876 when the Wren church was demolished to build warehouses, and the later when its own Wren church was destroyed by enemy action in April and May 1941 [ [http://www.stmarylebow.co.uk/?History:London_Parishes London Parishes] accessed 21 May 2007] .

Politics

Bread Street is one of 25 wards in the City of London, each electing an Alderman, to the Court of Aldermen and Commoners (the City equivalent of a Councillor) to the Court of Common Council of the City of London Corporation. Only electors who are Freeman of the City of London are eligible to stand.

First governor

Admiral Arthur Phillip was the commander of the First Fleet, and the founder and first Governor of Australia. He was baptised in All Hallows Church, Bread Street in 1738; he entered the Royal Navy in 1755, and died on the 31 August 1814. He is remembered on Australia Day. A bust of Admiral Arthur Phillips can be found in the gardens at Watling Street

Famous Residents

Bread Street is the birthplace of poets John Donne and John Milton

References

External links

* [http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/render_page.php?id=BREA3&title=Bread%20Street/ Map of Early Modern London: Bread Street Ward] - Historical Map and Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's London (Scholarly)

* [http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/ Map of Early Modern London] - Historical Map and Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's London, showing ward boundaries and reproducing John Stow's description of the wards (Scholarly)