Ancient
north-east view of Cornhill showing the pump formerly situated
at the intersection of Gracechurch Street, Cornhill, Bishopsgate
Street and Leadenhall Street. Also showing is St Peter upon
Cornhill and part of Leadenhall near the north end of Gracechurch
Street.
Cornhill
is one of the city's chief wards, and stands on one of the
major hills of the City (on which formerly stood the Roman
basilica). On this site in ancient times a corn market was
held. It was anciently a very wide street with a market place
aspect . In 1283 Henry de Walleis build a prison on Cornhill
for the incarceration of improper persons (mostly prostitutes).
It was called the Tun-upon-Cornhill after its distinctive
shape which reminded people of a ship of that name. In 1401
the prison was converted into a cistern for sweet water, conveyed
by lead pipes from Tyburn, and was then called the Conduit-on-Cornhill
although the sites remained famous for its stocks and pillory
for hundreds of years afterwards.
By
the seventeenth century Cornhill's market was replaced by
a score of coffee shops for which Cornhill remained noted
until the late nineteenth century.
