Home > Encyclopedia > Placeography > Streets

Eastcheap

roseAgas Map
roseList documents mentioning Eastcheap
roseList variant names and spellings
Eastcheap Street ran east-west, from Tower Street to St. Martin’s Lane. West of New Fish Street/Gracechurch Street, Eastcheap was known as Great Eastcheap. The portion of the street to the east of New Fish Street/Gracechurch Street was known as Little Eastcheap. It is mislabelled as S. Margarits Patens, a church that was actually located two blocks to the east (Prockter and Taylor 49).
Eastcheap (Eschepe or Excheapp) was the site of a medieval food market. C[h]eap is an Anglo-Saxon verb that means to barter, buy, and sell; to trade, deal, bargain (OED cheap, v.1). Hugh Alley sketched Eastcheap Market in A Caveatt for the Citty of London (see Folger Digital Image Collection).
Drawing of Eastcheap by Hugh Alley. Image courtesy of the Folger Digital Image Collection.
Drawing of Eastcheap by Hugh Alley. Image courtesy of the Folger Digital Image Collection.
The neighbourhood of Eastcheap is best known to Shakespeareans as the location of Mistress Quickly’s inn, where Prince Hal drinks with Falstaff. In 1 Henry IV, Hal tells Poins that he has been drinking with the drawers and learning their language. His familiarity with the commoners will ensure their loyalty: When I am King of England I shall command all the good lads in Eastcheap, Hal predicts (2.5.12–13).
See also: Chalfant 70.

References

Cite this page

MLA citation

Jenstad, Janelle. Eastcheap. The Map of Early Modern London, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 26 Jun. 2020, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/EAST2.htm.

Chicago citation

Jenstad, Janelle. Eastcheap. The Map of Early Modern London. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed June 26, 2020. https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/EAST2.htm.

APA citation

Jenstad, J. 2020. Eastcheap. In J. Jenstad (Ed), The Map of Early Modern London. Victoria: University of Victoria. Retrieved from https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/EAST2.htm.

RIS file (for RefMan, EndNote etc.)

Provider: University of Victoria
Database: The Map of Early Modern London
Content: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

TY  - ELEC
A1  - Jenstad, Janelle
ED  - Jenstad, Janelle
T1  - Eastcheap
T2  - The Map of Early Modern London
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/06/26
CY  - Victoria
PB  - University of Victoria
LA  - English
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/EAST2.htm
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/xml/standalone/EAST2.xml
ER  -

RefWorks

RT Web Page
SR Electronic(1)
A1 Jenstad, Janelle
A6 Jenstad, Janelle
T1 Eastcheap
T2 The Map of Early Modern London
WP 2020
FD 2020/06/26
RD 2020/06/26
PP Victoria
PB University of Victoria
LA English
OL English
LK https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/EAST2.htm

TEI citation

<bibl type="mla"><author><name ref="#JENS1"><surname>Jenstad</surname>, <forename>Janelle</forename></name></author>. <title level="a">Eastcheap</title>. <title level="m">The Map of Early Modern London</title>, edited by <editor><name ref="#JENS1"><forename>Janelle</forename> <surname>Jenstad</surname></name></editor>, <publisher>U of Victoria</publisher>, <date when="2020-06-26">26 Jun. 2020</date>, <ref target="https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/EAST2.htm">mapoflondon.uvic.ca/EAST2.htm</ref>.</bibl>

Personography

Locations

Variant spellings