Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Dumb's Alley and Pissing Alley
One of the many alleys, courts and lanes that are under attack in London, in the sense that though apparently public passageways, borough councils have allowed them to be colonised, and then blocked off or gated, is Dunn's Passage. The UCL Bloomsbury Project says that it is "also known as Dums Alley/Drum Alley/Dumb's Alley" and that it lies in south east Bloomsbury, running originally from High Holborn north to Hyde Street, and now running from High Holborn to New Oxford Street. It was there in 1720 and regularly appears, unnamed,, on maps.
As to the controversy over its name, Dunn was presumed to have been a local landowner, though it should be remarked that it is immediately opposite Smart's Buildings and Smart's Place on the other side of High Holborn.
At first it is recorded on maps as having no residential buildings on either side. by the middle of the 19th century there was a Catholic Ragged School with 1000 children as its pupils. This was opened by Frederick William Faber in 1851. There was also a leather goods factory in the alley.
It managed to survive the development of New Oxford Street in the 1840s. The Ordnance Survey Map of 1867-1870 depicts it as a very tiny alleyway -information from UCL Bloomsbury Project Page
www.ucl.ac.uk/bloomsbury-project/streets/dunns_passage.htm
"Dumb's Alley in Holborn" the headquarters of The Silent Club, supposedly
founded in 1694, is mentioned in a skit by Joseph Addison in the Guardian
journal , no 121. This gives credence to the alley originally having this name.
The cartridge maker George Bussey was active here as can be seen in this entry for him:
He first appeared in the London directories in 1855 when he was classified as
a gun case maker at 173 High Holborn. The following year he moved to Arthur
Street, St Giles, where he took out his first patent for an improved method of
holding and carrying cartridges. He stayed there until 1859 when he moved to
154A High Holborn and 485 New Oxford Street. Adjacent to, perhaps
connecting, these two premises, was a narrow alley called Dunn's Passage
where he installed his first factory. It was from "Dunn's Passage Factory" that
he applied for his second patent for cartridge carriers.
www.peckhamvision.org/wiki/images/8/84/George_Bussey.pdf
The London Catholic Ragged School, run by the Servite Sisters, and payrolled
by the rich benefactor Anthony Hutchison appears to have moved into the
factory, now disused, in 1852. It had 1,000 poor children, mainly of Irish
origin, as pupils.It moved from Dunn's Passage in 1858.
At the top of the alley once stood the Bull's Head Inn. Dunn's Passage is now
stopped up at both ends. It no longer features on London A-Zs.
Outside of the City of London, another neighbourhood that has many alleys
and passageways is Clerkenwell. St John's Path comes to mind as does
Jerusalem Passage and Passing Alley. This alley, like Dunn's Passage,
originally went under other names.It runs between St. John's Lane and St.
John Street. It appears on an old map as Pissing Alley, and like many such
alleys, was used as a public urinal in previous centuries. The name was
bowdlerised in Victorian times. Despite still retaining mephitic odours as in
days of yore, Passing or Passing Alley is a very fine passageway indeed and
all the better for not being gated.
Labels: Clerkenwell, Dumb's Alley, Dunn's Passage, George Bussey, holborn, London catholic Ragged School, New oxford street, Passing alley, Pissing Alley
