Broadwall

Broadwall takes its name from a former earthen dyke that once stood on the site, marking the western boundary of the parish of Paris Gardens, later Christchurch. The dyke was built in the medieval period as a raised causeway, running perpendicular to Narrow Wall to carry a route from the south down to the river.

The dyke gave its name to the street that later followed its line. By 1740, Roque's map shows buildings already standing along Broadwall, likely for industrial use, confirming the street was established well before the surrounding area was built up.

Before it carried warehouses, the ground beside Broadwall was open land. Prince's Meadows lay between Broadwall on the east and the site of what became Waterloo Road on the west, inside the line of Narrow Wall. Between 1779 and 1789, the London Botanic Garden occupied the ground between Green Lane, now Cornwall Road, and Broadwall, with its southern edge at Curtis's Halfpenny Hatch.

That changed as the approaches to Waterloo Bridge were built. In 1815, a new stretch of Stamford Street was laid across Prince's Meadows to connect Broadwall to Waterloo Road. This stretch was known as Upper Stamford Street until 1868, when it was absorbed into Stamford Street and renumbered.

Through the eighteenth century, industrial development on Prince's Meadows concentrated along the south of Narrow Wall and along Broadwall itself, as building spread back from the riverfront and large plots were needed close to the water's edge. By the late nineteenth century, this had grown to include a Wheel and Tyre Works and various yards strung along the street.

Thomas Lett held the main lease of Prince's Meadows and, between 1815 and 1823, built the earliest houses on Upper Stamford Street, on the north side nearest Broadwall. His building marked the start of the street's transformation from meadowland into a developed urban edge.

Around 1820, a building to house the schools of the Benevolent Society of St. Patrick was built nearby by the firm of J. & H. Lee, to a design by the architect James Mountague. The building later stood at Nos. 59 and 61 Stamford Street, with a wing added to its Broadwall side in 1930.

In 1921, the London County Council bought the former St Patrick's schools property for use as the Central Printing School, then known as the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts.

The Mitre Tavern stood at No. 90 Broadwall in 1856, and later at No. 117 Broadwall. On 19 March 1937, streets in the area were re-ordered and realigned, and the pub's address of 117 Broadwall was reassigned as 51 Hatfields.