11 Strange Street Names in London and the Stories Behind Them

by Jacqui Ma October 13, 2026

From a road named after an invisible ditch to an alley with a decidedly dodgy past, London's street names are full of surprises. Discover the weird, wonderful and occasionally disgusting origins hiding behind the capital's most curious place names.

London is a city where you can walk past a street called Pudding Lane, turn into Frying Pan Alley and finish your journey at Elephant and Castle. It sounds less like a route across the capital and more like the ingredients for a very unusual dinner party.

But London's stranger street names aren't random nonsense. Many are clues to the city's medieval trades, forgotten rivers, royal residents, ancient rubbish dumps and centuries-old legends. Some have surprisingly sensible explanations, while others have stories so good that it's a shame they might not be true.

So, next time you're wandering around London, look beyond the street signs. Here are 11 unusual London street names and the fascinating history behind them.

1. Ha-Ha Road, Woolwich

Why would anyone call a road Ha-Ha Road?

Despite sounding like a practical joke, Ha-Ha Road in Woolwich is named after a real landscape feature called a ha-ha. This is a hidden ditch, usually with a wall on one side, designed to keep livestock out of gardens without spoiling the view with a fence.

The idea was popular in landscape design in the 18th century. The name is often explained as the surprised exclamation someone might make when approaching what appears to be an uninterrupted lawn, only to discover a sudden drop.

Woolwich's ha-ha was constructed in 1778 to help keep livestock away from the military grounds. At the time, sheep and cattle were often driven across Woolwich Common on their way to London's markets. Keeping wandering animals away from the military's activities was a sensible idea, even if the resulting road name sounds like a joke.

Today, the name remains a reminder of a time when London's roads had to accommodate both military manoeuvres and very determined sheep. Source: Londonist.

2. Bleeding Heart Yard, Holborn

If London street names were judged by their potential to inspire a murder mystery, Bleeding Heart Yard would be a strong contender.

This atmospheric, cobbled courtyard in Holborn has inspired some wonderfully gruesome stories. One famous legend claims that a woman was murdered there and her heart was found still beating. Another version involves a young woman who died after being imprisoned by her cruel father for refusing to marry the man he had chosen.

Charles Dickens even included Bleeding Heart Yard in his 1857 novel Little Dorrit, weaving local legends into the story.

However, the more likely explanation is less supernatural. The name is thought to come from an old inn sign depicting the Virgin Mary's heart pierced by swords, a traditional religious symbol.

The real lesson? Londoners have always enjoyed a good ghost story, particularly when a perfectly ordinary historical explanation just isn't dramatic enough.

3. Frying Pan Alley, Spitalfields

Just when you thought London's street names couldn't get any more specific, along comes Frying Pan Alley.

Situated in the Spitalfields area of east London, this narrow passage is associated with the ironmongers and braziers who once sold metal household goods in the area. Shops commonly displayed objects representing their trade, and a frying pan made a fairly unmistakable sign.

According to local folklore, one particularly large pan hanging outside a shop fell and nearly hit a passer-by. People supposedly began walking on the opposite side to avoid being struck by another flying frying pan.

It's a brilliant story, although the accident itself is best treated as folklore rather than established fact.

The name is a reminder of a time when London's streets were effectively outdoor shopping directories. Before illuminated signs, online reviews and Google Maps, you could often work out what a shop sold simply by looking at the object hanging above its door.

4. Pudding Lane, City of London

Pudding Lane is perhaps London's most famous street name, thanks to the Great Fire of London in 1666. It's also one of the easiest to misunderstand.

If you're imagining a medieval street full of custard tarts and Christmas puddings, prepare to be disappointed.

The word pudding once had a much less appetising meaning. It could refer to animal intestines or offal, including the waste produced when butchers prepared meat.

The lane was close to Eastcheap, a historic meat-trading area. Butchers needed somewhere to dispose of their waste, and the nearby Thames provided a convenient, if thoroughly unpleasant, destination.

Pudding Lane became famous for another reason on 2 September 1666, when a fire broke out at the bakery of Thomas Farriner. The blaze spread through the largely wooden buildings of the City of London and eventually destroyed thousands of homes and many important buildings.

Today, a small lane near Monument carries the name of an event that transformed London forever. Next time someone mentions Pudding Lane, remember that the original recipe was considerably less sweet than the name suggests.

5. Turnagain Lane, Farringdon

Some street names sound as though they're giving you directions. Turnagain Lane is one of them.

The name is associated with the old course of the River Fleet, one of London's lost rivers. Before the river was covered over and built around, it ran through a valley that shaped the surrounding streets and neighbourhoods.

Turnagain Lane originally led down towards the Fleet. If you reached the riverbank and couldn't cross, you would have to turn around and retrace your steps. The name is thought to reflect precisely that predicament.

Today, the surviving lane is much shorter than its historic predecessor. The river itself has largely disappeared beneath the streets, but the geography it created still influences the shape of the city.

It's a useful reminder that modern London is built on top of an older landscape of streams, valleys and waterways. The next time you're underground on the Tube, spare a thought for the rivers flowing unseen beneath your feet.

6. Houndsditch, City of London

Houndsditch sounds like a place where you might expect to find a Victorian detective investigating a suspicious paw print.

The name comes from the old ditch that ran outside the eastern section of London's defensive wall. The ditch formed part of the city's medieval boundaries, separating the built-up settlement from the land beyond.

But why the hounds?

One traditional explanation is that dead dogs and other rubbish were thrown into the ditch. Another possibility is that the name relates to dogs kept for hunting or to animals scavenging around the waste.

The precise origin remains uncertain, but the name has been recorded in medieval forms dating back centuries.

Houndsditch later developed into a busy commercial area, particularly known for clothing and retail businesses. It also became associated with London's East End Jewish community.

It's a striking example of how an unappealing name can survive long after the original landscape and its uses have disappeared.

7. Mount Pleasant, Clerkenwell

Mount Pleasant sounds like somewhere you'd find a country manor, a manicured garden or perhaps a particularly cheerful retirement village.

The historical reality is rather less idyllic.

The name is associated with a former rubbish dump in Clerkenwell, where waste accumulated outside the built-up parts of London. The area was once far removed from the tidy streets and efficient waste collection systems we take for granted today.

As London expanded, places on its outskirts were frequently used for depositing household refuse, ashes and other unwanted material. Some of these areas eventually became streets and neighbourhoods in their own right.

Mount Pleasant is a particularly memorable example of a place name that seems to promise the opposite of what it originally represented.

It's also a reminder that London's urban landscape has been shaped by something much less glamorous than kings and queens: rubbish.

8. Sherborne Lane, City of London

Sherborne Lane, near Bank, sounds respectable enough. You might imagine a quiet street named after an English market town.

Its earlier recorded forms tell a rather different story.

Historical records include names such as Shitteborwelane and Shiteburn lane, dating back to the medieval period. These forms have been linked to a public privy in the area, although the precise linguistic origin has been debated by place-name historians.

Over time, the name evolved into the considerably more polite Sherborne Lane.

It's a wonderfully direct example of how street names can change as language evolves and people find more respectable ways to describe their surroundings.

It also suggests that medieval Londoners were not particularly shy about the realities of urban life. Modern estate agents might prefer to describe a property as being in a historic City location, but its name can preserve an entirely different side of that history.

9. Rotten Row, Hyde Park

Rotten Row sounds like a street you'd avoid after dark, perhaps because of a suspicious smell or an unusually high concentration of rats.

In reality, it's one of London's most famous riding routes, running along the southern side of Hyde Park.

A popular explanation is that the name derives from the French phrase Route du Roi, meaning “King's Road”. The route connected royal residences and became important during the reign of William III.

In 1690, William ordered 300 oil lamps to be installed along the route to make it safer for travellers. This was a significant development at a time when highwaymen operated in and around Hyde Park after dark.

Rotten Row later became a fashionable place for London's wealthy residents to ride horses and see one another. For centuries, it was as much about being seen as it was about getting anywhere.

The French explanation is widely repeated, including by the Royal Parks, although other theories about the name exist. Whatever its exact linguistic history, Rotten Row has evolved from a royal route into an enduring part of London's equestrian tradition.

10. French Ordinary Court, City of London

French Ordinary Court is a narrow passage in the City of London with a name that sounds like it belongs on a restaurant menu.

And food is indeed part of the story.

The word ordinary was once used to describe a meal provided at a fixed price, often in an establishment serving regular customers. The name is associated with a French eating house in the area.

London has long been shaped by immigration, trade and international influences. French food and dining traditions became part of the capital's commercial life centuries before the modern restaurant scene, and the city's street names sometimes preserve traces of those connections.

French Ordinary Court is a particularly intriguing example because its name sounds almost meaningless to modern ears. In its original context, however, it would have conveyed something quite specific to people familiar with the dining customs of the time.

It's also a reminder that a street name can be a tiny piece of social history, preserving the memory of a business that disappeared long ago.

11. Elephant and Castle, South London

Finally, one of London's most recognisable names is also one of its strangest.

Elephant and Castle is a major road junction and neighbourhood in South London. But why would anyone name a place after an elephant carrying a castle?

The name comes from a coaching inn that stood at the junction. The earliest surviving record connecting the name to the area dates to 1765, when a meeting of the Manor of Walworth was recorded as taking place at the Elephant and Castle in Newington.

The origin of the inn's sign is less certain. One theory connects it to the Worshipful Company of Cutlers, whose coat of arms features an elephant carrying a castle-like structure. The elephant's ivory was associated with the making of knife and tool handles.

A more colourful explanation claims that the name is a corruption of La Infanta de Castilla, referring to a Spanish princess. It's a popular story, but historians have challenged it, and there is no reliable evidence that it explains the name of this particular inn.

The important point is that the pub's name eventually became the name of the surrounding area. The old settlement of Newington gradually became better known by the name of the coaching inn, and the name survived even as the buildings around it changed.

Today, Elephant and Castle is a busy transport hub and a neighbourhood undergoing major redevelopment. Its name is a reminder that sometimes the most enduring landmarks aren't grand monuments or historic palaces. They're pubs.

Why does London have so many strange street names?

London's street names are a kind of unofficial history book. They preserve the memory of industries, forgotten waterways, local landmarks, royal routes and everyday activities that have long since disappeared.

Some names, like Pudding Lane, have become attached to major historical events. Others, like Sherborne Lane, reveal the less glamorous realities of medieval life. And some, like Elephant and Castle, have outlived the businesses that originally gave them their identity.

The most interesting names are often the ones that sound the least plausible. They encourage us to ask questions, investigate the past and look at familiar streets in a completely different way.

So next time you're walking around London, keep your eyes open. Behind an ordinary street sign might be a story about a fallen frying pan, a lost river or a rubbish dump with an optimistic name.

And if you happen to pass Ha-Ha Road, try not to laugh. The sheep probably wouldn't have found it funny.