Shoreditch Area Guide

Shoreditch is a district and Church of England parish in the borough of Hackney in Greater London, England and is part of both Central London and the East End.[1] It lies immediately to the north and north east of the City of London.

Shoreditch High Street railway station is partly outside Shoreditch in the Bethnal Green area of Tower Hamlets. This sometimes leads to adjacent areas of Bethnal Green being informally referred to as part of Shoreditch

The etymology of "Shoreditch" is debated. One legend holds that the place was originally named "Shore's Ditch", after Jane Shore, the mistress of Edward IV, who is supposed to have died or been buried in a ditch in the area. This legend is commemorated today by a large painting, at Haggerston Branch Library, of the body of Shore being retrieved from the ditch, and by a design on glazed tiles in a shop in Shoreditch High Street showing her meeting Edward IV.[2]

But the area was known as "Soersditch" long before Jane Shore lived. London County Council Survey of London (v. 8) attests to at least thirty deeds between 1150 and 1250 CE which refer to Shoreditch. A more plausible origin for the name is "Sewer Ditch", in reference to a drain or watercourse in what was once a boggy area.[3] It may have referred to the headwaters of the Walbrook, which rose in the Curtain Road area.

In another theory, antiquarian John Weever claimed that the name was derived from Sir John de Soerdich, who was lord of the manor during the reign of Edward III (1327–77)