The Strand: Craven Street

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Sir Walter Besant, in The Fascination of London, published in 1903, continues his survey of the Strand with a mention of Craven Street:

The Strand has now become a street of shops instead of a street of palaces; it has been, but is no more, a fashionable resort; it has been a place for the lodgings of visitors, and still has many small hotels and boarding-houses in its riverside lanes; its personal associations are many, but not so important as those in the City or Westminster; it is a street of great interest, but its architectural glories have almost all vanished.

Beginning at the west end, we note on the north side the Golden Cross Hotel, rebuilt.

This is the successor of a famous old coaching inn, which stood further west.

On the south side is Craven Street, formerly Spur Alley, where once Benjamin Franklin lived at No. 7.

The site of Hungerford Market is now covered by the Charing Cross railway-station.

In Charing Cross station-yard is a modern reproduction of the original Queen Eleanor's Cross.

The market was built in 1680, rebuilt in 1831, and stretched to the river.

The name will always be connected with that of Charles Dickens, and with David Copperfield.

Beside the market was the suspension bridge constructed by Brunel, opened in 1845, and removed to make room for the railway-bridge.

Next: the site of Hungerford Market