A few years ago, I used to help out occasionally on a
stall at Broadway Market – the one where Dad sold the finest Cheshire cheese (made,
of course, in Cheshire) to discerning consumers of traditional English cheeses.
Days at the market involved early starts, much cheese-related talk, generous
discounts at the stalls of fellow-traders and a slow journey back to North
London afterwards if Arsenal happened to be playing at home on that particular
Saturday.
Those days came to mind recently, along with thoughts of
early-morning visits to Billingsgate and Smithfield, when I was working on my
latest piece for Londonist – another instalment of its popular etymology
series, this one on how London’s various markets got their names. Here’s the
link:
As usual with tales of etymology, stories abound as
origins can be found in the most unlikely places; here, we have appearances by
the illegitimate son of James II and a naval hero associated with Horatio
Hornblower, some Canadian content and a mythical pre-Roman British king. Plus
some fantastic market photos taken by Allison!
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