Man with Van Aldwych WC2

In the seventh century, the area was an Anglo-Saxon major settlement Lundenwic (the last syllable pronounced as today) (‘London port’) centred one mile to the west of Londinium (known to the Saxons as Lundenburh ‘London fort’). “Lundenwic” later became the old wich (old port, that is Aldwych). It is not known if it had a church, and the town either took advantage of the scouring action of the Fleet or used the mouth itself as a harbour for trading ships and fishing boats. After Alfred the Great re-built the London fortifications in the late 9th century, Londinium became known as Lundenburh or simply Lunden, and Lundenwic so became ealdwic or aldwich. (The word “old” evolved from ald, the Old English being eald and the German cognate being alt.) The name was recorded as Aldewich in 1211. St Clement Danes (parish) is one of the four ancient Westminster parishes, and was first recorded in the 1190s; it covered this area throughout and originally all adjoining areas. Its church, which features in the first line of the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons, was rebuilt by Wren. The civil parish was abolished in 1922. It is open to – and it is known by residents and businesses to – use the term St Clement Danes interchangeably with Aldwych, which also covered in its final, smallest form the Adelphi and much of the Strand. The urban centre of Lundenwic was unearthed in the 1980s after extensive excavations, and were reinterpreted as being urban in character. These conclusions were reached independently by two archaeologists (Vince and Biddle). Recent excavations in Covent Garden adjoining have uncovered an extensive Anglo-Saxon settlement, covering about 150 acres (0.61 km2), stretching from the present-day National Gallery site in the west, to Aldwych in the east. As the presumed locus of the city, Lundenburh, was moved back within the old Roman walls, the older settlement of Lundenwic gained the name of ealdwic, ‘old port’, “eald” and the softer form of “wic” transposed to “ald” and “wich” in Middle English orthography.

Find out more interesting & historical facts about Aldwych at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldwych