Holborn Viaduct

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Sir Walter Besant, in The Fascination of London, published in 1903, continues his survey of Holborn:

Pennant says also there was a hospital for the poor in Holborn, and a cell of the House of Clugny in France, but does not indicate their whereabouts.

Holborn Viaduct was finished in 1869. It is 1,400 feet in length, and is carried by a series of arches over the streets in the valleys below.

The main arch is over Farringdon Road, the bed of the Fleet or Holbourne Stream, and is supported by polished granite columns of immense solidity.

At the four corners of this there are four buildings enclosing staircases communicating with the lower level, and in niches are respectively statues of Sir William Walworth, Sir Hugh Myddleton, Sir Thomas Gresham, and Sir Henry Fitz-Alwyn, with dates of birth and death.

On the parapets of the Viaduct are four erect draped female figures, representative of Fine Art, Science, Agriculture, and Commerce. Holborn Viaduct is a favourite locality for bicycle shops.

Before the building of the Viaduct in 1869, there was a steep and toilsome descent up and down the valley of the Fleet.

This was sometimes called "the Heavy Hill," and in consequence of the melancholy processions which frequently passed from Newgate bound Tyburn-wards, "riding in a cart up the Heavy Hill" became a euphemism for being hanged.

From Farringdon Street to Fetter Lane was Holborn Hill, and Holborn proper extended from Fetter Lane to Brooke Street.

In James II's reign Oates and Dangerfield suffered the punishment of being whipped at the cart's tail all the way along Holborn.

There were Bridewell Bridge, Fleet Bridge, Fleet Lane Bridge, and Holborn Bridge across the Fleet River.

Holborn Bridge was the most northerly of the four. It was a bridge of stone, serving for passengers from the west to the City by way of Newgate. The whole thoroughfare of Oxford Street and Holborn is the result of the diversion of the north highway into the City from the route by Westminster Marshes.

The antiquities of Holborn and its streets north and south are not connected with the trade or with the municipal history of London.

On the other hand, the associations of this group of streets are full of interest. If we take the south side of the street, we find ourselves walking past Shoe Lane, St. Andrew's Church, Thavies' Inn, Fetter Lane, Staple Inn, Barnard's Inn, Chancery Lane, Great and Little Turnstiles, Little Queen Street, Drury Lane, and St. Giles's.

On the north side we pass Field Lane, Ely Place, Hatton Garden, Brooke Street, Furnival's Inn, Gray's Inn, Red Lion Street, and Tottenham Court Road.

All these will be found described in detail further on. Of eminent residents in Holborn itself, Cunningham mentions Gerarde, the author of the "Herbal"; Sir Kenelm Digby; Milton, who lived for a time in one of the houses on the south side, looking upon Lincoln's Inn Fields; and Dr. Johnson, who lived at the sign of the Golden Anchor, Holborn Bars.

There were also the Bishops of Ely, Sir Christopher Hatton, Francis Bacon, Sir Thomas More, Charles Dickens, Fulke Greville, Thomas Chatterton, Lord Russell, Dr. Sacheverell, and many others.

It is necessary now, however, to leave off generalization, and to begin with a detailed account of the parishes which fall within the district; of these, St. Giles-in-the-Fields is the most interesting.