But first, a big thank you to my blogmate Pete, blogger supreme – check him out at beetleypete.com, who has made a generous sponsorship pledge for my Wye Valley Mighty Hike in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support and in memory of my cousin.
Yesterday’s post was green-themed to fit in with the Macmillan colour scheme, and one of the streets was Emerald Street, once called Green Street and renamed. I mentioned at the time that there are other precious stone London street names, so today let’s look at a few.
Following on from Emerald Street, renamed because of a plethora of Green Streets, we have Diamond Street in south London. One theory for this name is that the street forms one side of a small ‘square’ that could be considered roughly diamond-shaped.
There was once, evidently, another Diamond Street, built in 1890. This was, intriguingly, given its name because the plumber who built it was able to do so because of a diamond – however, any details of the plumber and his diamond have been lost in the mists of time. Maybe there is some connection with the Flanders and Swann song ‘Down Below’ about Hatton Garden in which a sewer worker says:
Hatton Garden is the spot, down below
Where we likes to go a lot, down below,
Since a bloke from Leather Lane,
Dropped a diamond down the drain
Ruby Street, also in south London, has a name that is unrelated to precious stones. This is believed to have been named after Ruby Hahn, the daughter of the area’s landlord.
Garnet Street in Wapping, despite its current name, started off nothing like precious stones. The street was originally called New Gravel Lane and the present Wapping Street was Old Gravel Lane because they were part of the routes for carrying sand and gravel inland from the riverside. The name was changed to honour Thomas Garnett, an ordained priest who was suspected of involvement in the Gunpowder Plot.
Other gemstone names, the derivation of which I confess to being ignorant, include Agate Road, Amethyst Road, Coral Street, Crystal Terrace, Opal Street, and Sapphire Road. If anyone can pass on any information about these names, I’d be most grateful.
If you want to sponsor me for the Wye Valley Mighty Hike, my fundraising page is http://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Elizabeth-Steynor.
thestreetnames 
2 responses to “Hidden and not-so-hidden gems of London street names”
Thanks for the mention, I hope we can sort that out. 🙂
I have one to add. Pearl Street, E1. It runs off of Garnet Street, not far from The Prospect of Whitby.
Best wishes, Pete.
Goodness! How did I miss that one? Thanks, Pete.