Geography lesson, Dickens style

For Charles Dickens, taking long walks, usually at night, wasn't just exercise. It was also research. On his walks he passed places that later showed up in his novels. Throughout Our Mutual Friend some of his characters also take long walks, and Dickens himself probably took these same walks and saw the same landmarks. He knew firsthand how long these walks would take, and this passage of time is sometimes reflected in his narrative.

A couple of years ago I picked up a used copy of the Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names and have been wondering ever since how I might use it in this blog. Our Mutual Friend, loaded as it is with London place names, provides the excuse. So here is a small sampling of places Dickens mentions and what this dictionary says about them.

The Monument

"The wheels rolled on, and rolled down by the Monument and by the Tower, and by the Docks; down by Ratcliffe ..." In Old English Ratcliffe meant "red cliff. There is red soil in this area on the north bank of the Thames. The Monument was designed by Christopher Wren to commemorate victims of the Great Fire of 1666. The Tower refers to the stone tower of a fortress built in 1097.

"Over against a London house, a corner house not far from Cavendish Square ..." Like Cavendish Place and both Old Cavendish Street and New Cavendish Street, Cavendish Square was named for Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles.

"Whosoever had gone out of Fleet Street into the Temple ..." Fleet Street, once known for its row of newspaper offices, gets it name from the Fleet River, which flows into the Thames. The Temple is "a house belonging to the religious Order of Knights Templar."

"'Mr. Boffin, I happened to be in Chancery Lane this morning ..." Beginning in the 14th century, the chancellor's office was located along this street. The building was demolished in 1896, some two decades after Dickens wrote this novel.

"At length, tidings were received by the Reverend Frank of a charming orphan to be found at Brentford." So named because of a ford over the River Brent. Later a bridge was built over the river.

Westminster Bridge

"Bradley Headstone and Charley Hexam duly got to the Surrey side of Westminster Bridge, and crossed the bridge, and made along the Middlesex shore towards Millbank." Surrey is a county south of London. Westminster Bridge was constructed between 1854 and 1862 and was new when Dickens wrote the novel. Westminster means "the west monastery." Middlesex, another ancient county, means "middle Saxon." Millbank refers to the mills that were once found along this area of the Thames.

"Being by this time close to Vauxhall Bridge ..." Named for a man named Falkes who had a manor house, the Vauxhall Bridge was an iron structure built in 1816. It was replaced with a new bridge in 1906. Dickens was referring to the former.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Dickens knew a lot about London geography.