{A facsimile of a page of Dr Johnson’s Dictionary.}
From 1748 to 1759 Dr Johnson lived and worked in these courts where he compiled his famous 'A Dictionary of the English Language'.
Site: Fleet Street Courts - 8 plaques (8 memorials)
EC4, Fleet Street
There are 8 Courts running off the north side of this section of Fleet Street and on the ground at the entrance to each Court is a plaque commemorating the printing industry which was previously based here. Rather than put a pin on each site we have recorded all 8 plaques here, listed west to east. The entrances to the courts are very anonymous, as illustrated by the Crane Court entrance shown here.
2026: These courts and alleyways figure in G. K. Chesterton's 1908 novel The Man Who Was Thursday: "Too bewildered to look back or to reason, he rushed into one of the little courts at the side of Fleet Street as a rabbit rushes into a hole. He had a vague idea, if this incomprehensible old Jack-in-the-box was really pursuing him, that in that labyrinth of little streets he could soon throw him off the scent. He dived in and out of those crooked lanes, which were more like cracks than thoroughfares; and by the time that he had completed about twenty alternate angles and described an unthinkable polygon, he paused to listen for any sound of pursuit...."
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
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