BEER LANE

   South out of Great Tower Street at No.36 to No.52 Lower Thames Street. In Tower Ward (P.O. Directory).

   "Beere Lane" (Leake, 1666).

   Early forms : "Berelane," 1539, 31 H. VIII. (Lond. I. p.m. L. and M. Arch. Soc. Trans. VII. p. 64). "Beare Lane" (S. 135). "Bear Lane," 1661 (L. and P. Chas. II. I. p. 568). "Bear Lane," 1657 (Howel, p. 49).

   Derivation of name : Maskell suggests that it was so called either as the highway to Brewer's Quay, or else from the sign of the Bear there (All Hallows Barking, p. 184). It has been suggested that Beer Lane is to be identified with Berewards Lane, All Hallows Barking (q.v.).

   Roman patera found here.