Territory and memory

Memory and territory: the French Influence on London Street Names

1. Relevance of the visual document (sign street names)

When you wander in any big city, middle town or even a small village and if you pay attention to the street names, you will probably notice that most of them are memories of the past.

The streets are not only little territories and boundaries on their own. They are also one of the most important clues to the history of the area. Every street has one, and if you know where their name comes from, they will tell us a lot about the past, hence the memory. The etymology of a street name is sometimes very obvious, more complex.

2. Why did I choose these visuals

I chose to pick up few examples of some London street names to show how these territories are bearing memories. I decided on 4 street names: Fleur de Lis street; Cheval place; Montpelier place; Beauchamp place, and a lot of them are in the area of Knightsbridge. As we can quickly notice, they are all evidently French names.

French were very important in the capital in the past as well and the street names are an indication of this past.

3. What do the street names teach us

The street names are French named because the area was, during the course of the French Revolution, a refuge for the nobility in England. The nobles and aristocrats fled the massacres in France and were provided an escape route. The nobility in London built, especially around Knighstbridge, some houses rather quickly, and in order to make them feel more at home, they gave the streets French sounding names.

Another example of the past memories is given by the small territory of “Fleur de Lis street” (in French you would spell it with a y, “Lys”). The Fleur de Lis is the symbol of French monarchs. Even Joan of Arc is depicted with the Fleur de Lis.

This street is named after a such symbol because this territory was filled with French Huguenots during the 17th Century. The Huguenots were French Protestants who fled the persecution in Catholic France after the (St Bartholomew) massacres and were offered a sanctuary by English King Charles II, and moved on masse to the East End of the City of London. Many French street names can be found there as a result: Fournier Street, Fleur de Lis Street and Nantes Close passage.

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