Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-06-22
THE STRAND.
One Of the Worlds Noted Streets.

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Among the million streets of the
great cities of the world there are on
ly few which have any marked in
dividuality or character of their own,
so that they are distinctly remember
ed by the visitor; and not the least
among these is the Strand. Its very
name is peculiar, for strand usually
denotes the seashore, and yet the sea
is many miles away from London, and
even the Thames is some way Off the
modern street; the Embankment now
adays seems more entitled to the
name. But the modern Strand is very
different from the road to which the
name was first applied and some Of
the greatest changes In 1t have been
made during the last few years. Mem
ories are short, and 1t needs an effort
to remember what the Strand was like
before the palatial hotels took the
place Of modest old-fashioned houses,
and before that triumph of improve
ment, the County Council Wilderness,
was created. And yet though the old
street is always changing, 1t is ever
the same. It is the first street Of Lon
don along which the average foreign
er wanders, and the one In which the
passerby may always be sure Of meet
ing some friend from the far ends Of
the earth whom he has not set eyes
upon for many years past. AS its
western end is the main entrance
from the continent, and therefore
from all the world except the Wild
West, and it is the first piece of Lon
don which the traveller returning from
the east sees after years Of exile. 1t
is the Strand, though why it is called
so few people trouble to think.
But it was not always so far from
the river. In the distant days when
the great tidal estuary Of the Thames
was a wide marshy lagoon, before 1t
was drained, built upon, and embank-
ed, the street running along the high
bank just above the water was really
the strand. In the days when the an
cient Britons used 1t 1t was probably
track much frequented, because 1t
led, high and dry, through the brush
wood which fringed the banks Of the
river. In those days the forest ex-
tended to the northern shores Of the
Thames, and whereas the southern
banks were low and marshy, the OBJ
vious way along the river to the west
from the British town where London
stands to the villages lying westward
was along the high bank. And so
path was trodden out where the
Strand now runs, well above the tides
Of the river, and was improved by the
Romans when Londinium was made
into a prefecture. The successors Of
the Romans, whether Saxon, Dane or
Norman, did not worry about roads,
and were quite content to struggle
along in the mud, but as the Strand
led from the great commercial city of
London to the Royal Palace Of West
minister, it was no doubt quite one
of the best roads in the kingdom. That
however, Is not saying much, for 1t
is on record that in 1853 the state of
the Strand was so bad that Edward
iii. ordered that tax should be rails
ed on wool, leather, wine and all
goods carried from Temple Bar to
Westminster, for the repair of the
road, and that all owners Of houses
along the road should repair as much
of the way as lay before their doors.
In those days the Strand was an open
road with few great houses and gar
dens running down to the waters
edge.
It is no wonder that people who
wished to go from London to West
minister preferred to go by boat, for If
they caught the tide they would go
much more quickly and comfortably
than by the ill-kept road. Even the
great houses which faced the Strand
and the south side did not patronize