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Strand

The Strand is a historic street just over 1.2 km long linking Trafalgar Square with Temple Bar, where it becomes Fleet Street. It once ran alongside the north bank of the Thames, and its name comes from the Old English 'strond', meaning shore. Between the 12th and 17th centuries, its south side was lined with grand mansions and palaces with direct access to the river, such as Essex House, Arundel House, Somerset House, Savoy Palace, Durham House, York House and Cecil House, none of which survive. At the eastern end stand two English Baroque churches left on islands in the middle of the street: St Mary-le-Strand, by James Gibbs, and St Clement Danes, by Christopher Wren. That stretch also holds King's College, one of the founding colleges of the University of London, and other notable buildings such as the Royal Courts of Justice and Australia House. The street was a hub of theatres and music halls in the 19th century, and the Adelphi Theatre, the Savoy Theatre and the Vaudeville Theatre still survive, along with the Lyceum on nearby Wellington Street. At number 206, Twinings was established in 1706, and Simpson's-in-the-Strand began in 1828 as a smoking and dining club. Several authors, poets and philosophers lived on the street or nearby, including Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Virginia Woolf. The Strand also appears in popular culture, for example in the music-hall song 'Let's All Go Down the Strand' and in works by Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot and others.

Near Strand