Seething Lane
Seething Lane is a street in the City of London. It connects All Hallows-by-the-Tower, Byward Street, with St Olave's Church, Hart Street. The street is named after an Old English expression meaning "full of chaff", which was derived from the nearby corn market in Fenchurch Street. Samuel Pepys lived there and is buried in St Olave's Church at the junction with Hart Street. A bust of Pepys, created by Karin Jonzen, sits in the public garden at the south end of the street.
Etymology
The term 'seething' originated from the Old English word sifeða that meant bran, chaff, or siftings. The street was named prior to the thirteenth century, when the lane was a narrow path, and grain was threshed there.History
In the 14th century, the street contained several houses owned by the Lords Grey of Codnor, with records suggesting ownership dating back at least a century. The Knollys Inn, on the west site of Seething Lane, was established in 1370 when Sir Robert Knollys purchased the estate from Thomas de Brandon.Sir Francis Walsingham lived in Seething Lane from 1580 until his death ten years later. Frances Seymour, Duchess of Somerset was born at the house in 1599. The Earl of Northumberland owned Walsingham House from 1603 to 1606, and in 1604 it was visited by the priest Henry Garnet and the Spanish ambassador Juan de Tassis, 1st Count of Villamediana.
The Navy Office building here was constructed in 1656. Samuel Pepys moved into a house in the lane in 1660 when he became Clerk of the Acts of the Navy. The office was destroyed by fire in 1673 and rebuilt over the following two years, designed by Sir Christopher Wren. It was demolished in 1788. Catherine Court, also by Wren, was a combined office and residential building on the east side of Seething Lane constructed between 1720 and 1725. It supported two large doorways flanked by four large Roman Doric columns. The property was demolished in 1913 and replaced with offices for the Port of London Authority.