tornica

Updated: May 15, 2025

Part of this stream ran down Gardener's Lane; part of it diverged and ran south, forming a narrow moat or ditch called Long Lane, turned eastward at College Street, and so fell into the Thames. The island is mentioned in a charter of 785 by Offa, King of Mercia, as "Tornica, Locus terribilis" i.e., sacred. It was about 1,410 feet long and 1,100 feet broad.

Sir Walter Besant - Westminster: The Fascination of London