BRETASK LANE

   In Dowgate Ward, leading down to the Thames.

   Some time prior to 1343 this lane had been closed up by Thomas de Porkeslee, who owned the house in the lane, called "la Bretaske," and the wharf adjoining it. For in 1343 an inquest was held by the Mayor and Aldermen and men of Dowgate Ward as to this obstruction, and the lane was declared "communis omnibus hominibus."

   In 3 H. VIII. the Dyers' Company claimed this lane, but the claim was disallowed, and the lane was found to be a common lane of the City and not the Company's (Strype, ed. 1720, I. ii. 207).

   Name derived from the house "La Bretask," standing in the lane (q.v.).

   The mention of the Dyers' Company suggests that the lane may be identified with Dyers' Hall Wharf at No. 95 Upper Thames Street, running south to the Thames, in which street the Dyers' Hall had stood before the Fire of 1666.