Note 103 — XXVIII-XXIX. Nos. 181 and 172, HIGH HOLBORN (Demolished).

From deeds quoted by Parton (Hospital and Parish of St. Giles) it is evident that in the 13th century Drury Lane was known as “Aldewych” or “Via de Aldewych.” The name “Drury Lane,” given later, was no doubt due to the existence of Drury House near the Strand end of the road. How late “Via de Aldewych” was used there is nothing to show. In certain deeds of the 17th century (e.g., Close Roll, 24 November, 8 Charles I.—Indenture between Francis, Lord Russell, and Earl of Bedford and John, Earl of Bristol, etc.) the road is called “Drury Lane alias Fortescue Lane.” It is just possible that the latter name is to be connected with Sir John Fortescue, who held the Elm Field (i.e., the land between Castle Street and Long Acre) in the reign of Henry VI. (Close Roll, 30 Henry VI. (302)—Grant by John Crouton and Wm. Horn to John and Katherine Nayler); in fact there is reason for thinking that the “viam regiam ducentem ... a villa Sci. Egidii versus Bosomysynne modo Johis. Fortescue militis” mentioned in the same deed is actually Drury Lane. The road seems also to have gone by the name of St. Giles’s Lane in the early part of the 17th century. (See p. 35n.)