Queenhithe is one of the oldest havens or harbours for ships along the Thames. Hyd is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning landing place. Queenhithe was known in the ninth century as Aetheredes hyd or the landing place of Aethelred. Aethelred was the son-in-law of Alfred the Great (the first king to unify England and have any real authority over London), an ealdorman (I.e., alderman) of the former kingdom of Mercia, and ruler of London (Sheppard 70).

According to John Stow, the Boss of Billingsgate was a fountain of spring water continually running, which was set into the wall of Boss Alley (Stow 1598, sig. M2v). This boss was the subject of an early modern poem, which personified both the Boss of Billingsgate and the London Stone. In this poem, the Boss is described as a fallen woman, who the London Stone marries ( sig. A5v). While the Boss of Billingsgate was located on the north side of Billingsgate Ward, its exact coordinates remain unknown and it is not labelled on the Agas map.

The Boss of Cripplegate was located on the south end of the Almshouses of St. Giles (Cripplegate), just before Redcross Street becomes Forestreet. Carlin and Belcher state that the location was a Boss of water made by executors of Richard Whittington (Carlin and Belcher 67).

Harben explains that [a]fter the dissolution of the monasteries [the wharf] was granted to Thomas Broke [and was] described as a great messuage in the parish of St. Michael Queenhithe (Harben 111). However, prior to his ownership the wharf passed through many other hands and was known by aliases such as Bockyng Wharffe and Dockynes Wharfe; it was also referred to as Broke Wharffee and Brookers Wharf (Harben 111). Harben tells us that [t]here can be little doubt that these names commemorate the various owners, who held the wharf or wharves form time to time, as it was the common practice for these wharves to be designated by the names of their respective owners (Harben 111).

Browne’s Place was rebuilt from 1384-1394, and in 1434 Stephen Browne, grocer and mayor, bought the site and by 1463 it was known as a great messuage (Carlin and Belcher 68). From 1361-1517, the adjacent wharf went by many names: Ass(h)elynes Wharf, Pakkemannys or Pakenames Wharf, Browne’s Key, Dawbeneys Wharf, Cuttes Wharf, and Bledlowes Key (Carlin and Belcher 68). Referred to as Brown’s Wharf in Harben, which records that the wharf was removed in 1827 (Harben).

Clare’s Key appears to be the primary name of this space from 1525 onward. Henry Harben records that the key was located [i]n Petty Wales, in the Parish of All Hallows (Barking) (Harben 151)

Not labelled on the Agas map, the Conduit upon Cornhill is thought to have been located in the middle of Cornhill Ward and opposite the north end of Change Alley and the eastern side of the Royal Exchange (Harben 167; BHO). Formerly a prison, it was built to bring fresh water from Tyburn to Cornhill.

The Conduit at London Wall was, according to Henry Harben, In London Wall by Moorgate opposite the northen end of Coleman Street, erected 1517 (Harben 168).

The Conduit in Newgate was the channel through which water was [conveyed] to the Gaol of Newgate and Ludgate in 1432 (Stow 1:17).

According to Harben, the conduit in Colemanstreet was located in Coleman Street by the west end of St. Margaret, Lothbury in Coleman Street Ward. The conduit was built by the city of London in 1546 (Harben; Stow 1598, sig. B8v). It was not rebuilt after the Fire (Harben).

Conduit upon Dowgate was a water conduit in Dowgate Ward. It flowed from the upper end of Dowgate Street to the Thames (Stow 1633, sig. Y4r). Dowgate marks the end of the water conduit where it flows into the Thames. According to Stow, the conduit was built in 1568 at the expense of the citizens of London (Stow 1633, sig. Y4r).

According to Stow, the Conduit in Cripplegate was built under Sir William Eastfield, a mercer [who in] 1438 appoynted his executors of his goods to conuey sweete water from Teyborne, and to build a faire Conduit by Aldermanberie church, which they performed, as also made a Standard in Fleetstreete by Shewland end: they also conveyed water to Cripples gate &c (Stow i. 109).

Located on the north side of the Thames near Watergate, Crown Key was located between Horner’s Key and Kneseworth Key.

Dodding Pond may have been a lane somewhere east of the Tower of London and near the Abbey of St. Mary Graces (Harben).

Ebbegate became such by 1147-1167 (Carlin and Belcher 73), and Stow tells us that Ebbgate is a common stayre on ye Thames, but the passage is very narrow by meanes of incrochments (Stow 1:169).

Fagswell was a natural well in the Clerkenwell area and a source of fresh water for inhabitants of the City of London (Harben, Water Supply of London).

Fagswell Brook became known as such by 1196 and was also known as the river of Fakeswell (Carlin and Belcher 73). It also [m]arked boundary of City liberty (Carlin and Belcher 73).

The Fleet, known as Fleet River, Fleet Ditch, Fleet Dike, and the River of Wells due to the numerous wells along its banks, was London’s largest subterranean river (Stow 1598, sig. C4r). It flowed down from Hampstead and Kenwood ponds in the north, bisecting the Ward of Farringdon Without, as it wended southward into the Thames (Weinreb, Hibbert, Keay, and Keay 298).

The Fleet Bridge Cistern, or the Cistern at Fleet Bridge was, according to Victor Belcher and Martha Carlin, Built in 1478 by inhabitants of Fleet Street for receipt of waste water, carried above ground over the bridge (Carlin and Belcher 74). Stow records that a Sestern was added to the Standerd in Fleetstreete, and a Sestern was made at Fleetebridge, and one other without Cripplegate in the yeare, 1478 (Stow 1:17). The Fleet Street Conduit was made that same year (Harben 167).

The Great Conduit in Westcheap, which began construction in 1245, conveyed fresh water to London. It carried the water supply from Tyburn to Cheapside Street in London, passing through Constitution Hill, the Mews at Charing Cross, the Strand, and Fleet Street on the way (Harben). It was fifty years in the making, and its completion was celebrated in triumphall manner (Stow 1633, sig. C1r).

James Bird’s Volume 8 of the , Shoreditch, indicates that there were two wells on the property of Holywell Priory, one in the orchard and one in the middle of the inner court (Bird 153-187). In a footnote, Bird indicates that the well in the orchard is most likely the one from which the priory and the district took its name (Bird 153-187n204). This is because Stow, in 1598, identifies Holy Well as being much decayed and marred with filthinesse, purposely layd there, for the heighthening of the ground, for garden plots and while it is possible that the orchard land was used for gardening plots, the inner court was never put to that purpose (Bird 153-187n204; Stow 1598, sig. B7v). By this reasoning, we assume that the well in the orchard of Holywell Priory is the one that bears the name Holy Well.

Also known as Smithfield Pond.

Located in Tower Street Ward, Kneseworth Key was, as Henry Harben notes, a [m]essuage with [a] wharf annexed belonging to Thomas Kneseworth, formerly called Hatters Key (Harben 336).

The Little Conduit (Cheapside), also known as the Pissing Conduit, stood at the western end of Cheapside Street outside the north corner of Paul’s Churchyard. On the Agas map, one can see two water cans on the ground just to the right of the conduit.

According to Stow, the Little Conduit by Stock Market was built around 1500 (Stow 1598, sig. B8v).

The name Marowe Key was in use at least by 1499 (Carlin and Belcher 80). The key was located just south of Petty Wales, between Watergate and Clares Key.

Stow locates this conduit for Thames water variously on the porche of St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street and in a wall to the north of St. Nicholas Cole Abbey (Stow 1598, sig. U7r; Stow 1598, sig. T8v). The conduit was made of stone and lead and its building was funded by Barnard Randolph for the ease and com-moditie of the Fishmongers’ Company and the other inhabitants of Old Fish Street (Stow 1598, sig. T8v). Agas map coordinates are based on location information found in Stow.

In 1516, the earliest mention of this site, it is said that John Sabbe constructed a dock and stairs into the Thames at his wharf called Sabbis Key (Harben 514). It is also stated that the key was [m]ade one of the Legal Quays by [an] Act of Parliament [in] 1559 (Harben 515). In today’s London, Custom House resides on the site (Harben 515).

Sewersditch is a heteronym for Shoreditch, the drainage ditch that gave its name to the marshy neighbourhood of Shoreditch. The ditch was built over by the early modern period, but was known to Stow, who mentions it in his .

Henry Harben describes the location of Tower Wharf in noting that it is [s]outh out of and fronting the Tower (Harben 588). The antiquated spelling of the name is Towre Wharf. (Harben 588). Victor Belcher and Martha Carlin trace the toponomy of the location back further, noting that it was previously King’s quay, or kaia regis circa 1228 (Carlin and Belcher 96).

The Well in Cripplegate was [a]n open pool as of 1244, which had been arched over with stone by Richard Whittington’s executors (Carlin and Belcher 97).