Farringdon Within Ward shares parts of its eastern and southern borders with the western and northern boundaries of Castle Baynard Ward. This ward is called "Within" or "Infra" to differentiate it from Farringdon Without Ward and both wards take the name of William Faringdon, principle owner of Farringdon Ward, the greater ward that was separated into Farringdon Within Ward and Farringdon Without Ward in the 17 of Richard II.

Aldersgate Ward is west of Cripplegate Ward. Both the ward and its main street are named after Aldersgate, the north gate of the city.

Originally built as a Roman fortification for the provincial city of Londinium in the second century C.E., the London Wall remained a material and spatial boundary for the city throughout the early modern period. Described by Stow as high and great (Stow 1:8), the London Wall dominated the cityscape and spatial imaginations of Londoners for centuries. Increasingly, the eighteen-foot high wall created a pressurized constraint on the growing city; the various gates functioned as relief valves where development spilled out to occupy spaces "outside the wall".

The gaol at Newgate, a western gate in the Roman Wall of London, was constructed in the twelfth century specifically to detain fellons and trespassors awaiting trial by royal judges (Durston 470; O’Donnell 25; Stow 1598, sig. C8r). The gradual centralisation of the English criminal justice system meant that by the reign of Elizabeth I, Newgate had become London’s most populated gaol. In the early modern period, incarceration was rarely conceived of as a punishment in itself; rather, gaols like Newgate were more like holding cells, where inmates spent time until their trials or punishments were effected, or their debts were paid off.

Located in Farringdon Within Ward, Ludgate was a gate built by the Romans (Carlin and Belcher 80). Stow asserts that Ludgate was constructed by King Lud who named the gate after himself for his owne honor (Stow 1:1).

Farringdon Ward is the name of the larger, single ward predating both Farringdon Within Ward and Farringdon Without Ward. This ward was divided by Parliament in the 17 of Richard II, creating the separate wards of Farringdon Within and Farringdon Without.

A priory of Augustinian canons once encompassing St. Bartholomew the Great, St. Bartholomew the Less, and St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. Dissolved by Henry VIII.

According to Carlin and Belcher, [i]n 1316 Dukelane apparently ran westward into Vitrielane and that, furthermore, it is [n]ow [the] N. End of Little Britain (Carlin and Belcher 72). Ekwall notes that [t]he meaning [of the lane] is clearly lane where ducks were reared, but the name seems to have been wrongly read with the vowel of duke and mis-interpreted (Ekwall 106).

According to Stow, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital was located on the west side of Smithfield in Farringdon Without Ward. Originally a religious hospital, it was founded by its first prior, Rahere, in 1102 (Stow 1598, sig. X1r). It was dissolved under Henry VIII and reendowed and granted to the City of London in 1544 as a part of the civic hospital system.

Smithfield was an open, grassy area located outside the Wall. Because of its location close to the city centre, Smithfield was used as a site for markets, tournaments, and public executions. From 1123 to 1855, the Bartholomew’s Fair took place at Smithfield (Weinreb, Hibbert, Keay, and Keay 842).

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).

Also known as Smithfield Pond.

Cow Lane, located in the Ward of Farringdon Without, began at Holborn Street, and then curved north and east to West Smithfield. Smithfield was a meat market, so the street likely got its name because cows were led through it to market (Bebbington 100). Just as Ironmonger Lane and Milk Street in Cheapside Market were named for the goods located there, these streets leading into Smithfield meat market were named for the animals that could be bought there.

Holborn ran east-west from the junction of Hosier Lane, Cock Lane and Snow Hill to St. Giles High Street, and passed through Farringdon Without Ward and Westminster.

Hosier Lane ran west from Pie Corner in Smithfield. It was named for the hosiers who worked on the lane in the fourteenth century. The hosiers later moved to Bow Lane off Cheapside Street, which then became known as Hosier Lane.

Holborn Bridge or Oldboorne bridge (Stow) spanned the Fleet Ditch at Holborn Street. Located in the ward of Farringdon Without, the bridge was part of a major westward thoroughfare.

The Old Bailey ran along the outside of the London Wall near Newgate (Stow 1598, sig. U8v). It is labelled on the Agas map as Olde baily.

St. George’s Lane (Newgate) was just outside the London Wall and near Newgate. In Stow’s account, St. George’s Lane (Newgate) runs west from Old Bailey and becomes Fleet Lane at the intersection with Seacoal Lane. This division of the thoroughfare is not depicted on the Agas map, which labels the whole thoroughfare as Flete.

Fleet Street runs east-west from Temple Bar to Fleet Hill or Ludgate Hill, and is named for the Fleet River. The road has existed since at least the twelfth century (Sugden 195) and known since the fourteenth century as Fleet Street (Beresford 26). It was the location of numerous taverns including the Mitre and the Star and the Ram.

Shoe Lane, or Shoe Alley as it was sometimes called in the sixteenth century (Ekwall 110), was outside the city wall, in the ward of Faringdon Without. It ran north-south, parallel to the course of the Fleet River. Until 1869, it was the main route between Holborn (Oldborne, in Stow’s spelling) and Fleet Street (Smith 190). At its north end, on the west side, was the church of St. Andrew Holborn.

Fetter Lane ran north-south between Holborn Street and Fleet Street, in the ward of Farringdon Without, past the east side of the church of Saint Dunstan’s in the West. Stow consistently calls this street Fewtars Lane, Fewter Lane, or Fewters Lane (Stow 2:21, 2:22), and claimed that it was so called of Fewters (or idle people) lying there (Stow 2:39).

Temple Bar was one of the principle entrances to the city of London, dividing the Strand to the west and Fleet Street to the east. It was an ancient right of way and toll gate. Walter Thornbury dates the wooden gate structure shown in the Agas Map to the early Tudor period, and describes a number of historical pageants that processed through it, including the funeral procession of Henry V, and it was the scene of King James I’s first entry to the city (Thornbury 1878). The wooden structure was demolished in 1670 and a stone gate built in its place (Sugden 505).

Ludgate Hill, also known as Fleet Hill, ran east-west from St. Paul’s Churchyard, past Ludgate, to an undetermined point before Fleet Bridge. It was the raised portion of the greater Ludgate Street leading up out of Fleet Street. The hill is labelled "Flete hyll" on the Agas map.

Chancery Lane was built sometime around 1160 by the Knights Templar on land they owned. It ran north-south between Fleet Street at the south end to Holborn in the North, and was originally called New Street. The current name dates from the time of Ralph Neville, who was Bishop of Chichester and Lord Chancellor of England (Bebbington 78). The area around the street came into his possession when in 1227 Henry III gave him land for a palace in this lane: hence Bishop’s Court and Chichester Rents, small turnings out of Chancery Lane (Bebbington 78).

Bridewell was a prison and hospital. The site was originally a royal palace (Bridewell Palace) but was transferred to the City of London in 1553, when it was converted to function as an orphanage and house of correction. Bridewell is located on the Agas map at the corner of the Thames and Fleet Ditch, labelled as Bride Well.

This page points to the district known as Whitefriars. For the theatre, see Whitefriars Theatre.

Middle Temple was one of the four Inns of Court