Silver Street was a short east‑west thoroughfare in the City of London, situated within the historic Cripplegate ward and partly in the parish of St Olave. The street ran from the north end of Noble Street at Falcon Square to Wood Street.
Origin and early history
The street originated in medieval times and is recorded as being occupied by silversmiths, which gave rise to its name. It appears on the sixteenth‑century “Woodcut map of London,” a detailed city plan formerly attributed to the cartographer Ralph Agas.
Notable residents and cultural significance
In the early seventeenth century the Mountjoy family, Huguenot refugees who manufactured luxury headgear for ladies, lived on Silver Street. William Shakespeare lodged with the Mountjoys during the winter of 1604–05, a fact noted in contemporary records and later scholarly analysis. Other documented inhabitants include the skinner John Wolfall, who was active in the 1590s.
Destruction and later history
The parish church of St Olave, located on Silver Street, was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666; a commemorative stone now marks its former site. During the Second World War the Cripplegate area, encompassing Silver Street, suffered extensive damage in the Blitz, leading to the virtual demolition of many surviving structures.
Legacy
Although the street no longer exists as a distinct thoroughfare, its historical presence is remembered through plaques, scholarly works on Shakespeare’s early London life, and the surviving urban layout that reflects the medieval street pattern of the City.