Derby Lane, Pepper Lane and the Cathedral Quarter

You got it Neil. The tall timber building was the two sections either side of the passageway.

Post-war Broadgate image but does that show the remains of that Tall building on what was Derby Lane to the left?

Hi Neil. I think that it was further over to the left. The row on Broadgate was much deeper than the row on Derby Lane.

Yes sorry Helen - think you're right looking at map layouts.................

You know it's one of my favourite spots, Helen, but despite ages at looking at these images I've only just realised where this exact spot was - so that's the later Brick from that taller building that remained on Derby Lane behind JB. I wonder if it was one of these properties where that Wishing Well (that it became) originated from?

Those steps went into the Popes Head Alley which wiggled between the buildings on Broadgate and Derby Lane. See the older version of the photo view here.

Brill Helen! Not seen that before. Apols Ben, pinched this one of the BoH 1851 map - so can we use this to spot the Popes Head and also try to locate where that 'wishing well' originally was?

Looking at the engraving though - comparing the steps to the ones in the CD image - wouldn't Derby Lane be in the other side?

Would this be the Alley then Helen? I wonder if the Well was in that garden further south?

That's part of it. Through the passageway people could have accessed the next open area and I suspect that originally there was a route all the way to Pepper Lane. There was at least one communal well in the area where your yellow marker starts on the left but there were other wells. What I don't know is if they were all communal or if they were within a property. There was a pump in Broadgate and a conduit in Cross Cheaping. At various times the wells were more viable than others. The water table and pollution playing a part. The problem with matching a well with the old maps is that Broadgate widened considerably. Without being able to triangulate the well with fixed points, and then adjusting for the map being slightly wrong, it's hard to say exactly where it was.

Yes, the steps up and the walled up cellar were at the back. If you look closely you can see the steps on the map, on the right of the area you've marked in yellow.

Rob, Ben and I had a quick catchup again on Saturday at the Archives - quick for me as I could only get there in the afternoon. Many Thanks to Rob for passing on to me some spare Lithograph copies after one of his recent brill purchases (we are meeting up early December to upload the entire series to Cov Digital for all to see using Ben's fancy book scanner). I must share this one as it was only following our afternoon Cuppa that we realised it's the same building as the Piccy already in CD - Notice the same arched door and 'caged' window lower left - It seems to have had that lean for years!

One of my favourite pictures From what I gather, buildings were often very wonky from almost the start. They built with unseasoned wood, which warped as it dried.

From the Cooper Collection - taken from what was then Bayley Lane looking west towards Pepper Lane and the junction on the right into Derby Lane. The Tobys Head is just out of sight on the left but you can see the same lamp from the well known images of the Pub/Lane. It's the first image I have seen from that direction pre-blitz. G.Barke Pawnbroker comes up on the 1886 directory

There are a couple of similar images before but greater detail here on this Cooper Collection image -