Skip to content
Larianae Notaries > News > Your Questions Answered > A Brief History of Thanet House and its surroundings

A Brief History of Thanet House and its surroundings

Ben Kittoe, Larianae Notaries

We recently welcomed a client who, upon arrival, inquired about the origins of our office’s name, Thanet House. Lacking an immediate answer, this sparked a fascinating exploration into the history of Thanet House and, even more intriguingly, the rich history of the surrounding area.

To answer our client’s original question, the name of our offices stems indirectly from the Tufton family, a prominent English Noble lineage who held the title of Earl of Thanet1.

Tufton Family Crest

Their 40,000-acre estate was mainly located in Westmorland, Cumberland and Kent, but also featured property in central London2. A key feature of their holdings was Thanet Place, a collection of 10 houses once situated on the site of our Strand offices, inspiring the name “Thanet House”3. However, this is not to be confused with the “original” Thanet House, found on 35-38 Aldersgate Street. This property served as the London residence of the family and the death place of the 2nd Earl of Thanet, John Tufton4. About a decade later, the property was acquired by the Earl of Shaftesbury, which led to the building being renamed Shaftesbury House – the name still used to this day5.

When exploring the name origination of our offices, it is impossible not to be drawn into the rich tapestry of events, societies and activities that have unfolded right outside our front door, placing further historical significance on our offices, and what stood before it, as a witness to centuries of change and evolution. This section of the Strand, after all, is among the most historically vibrant parts of London.

For instance, just a minute’s walk from our offices up Fleet Street takes you to a small stone archway, easily overlooked next to the imposing Jacobean, timber framed architecture above.

The entrance to Inner Temple Lane

Entering will lead you to the Temple district of London, once home to the Knights Templar – one of the wealthiest and most powerful Christian military orders, founded in 1120, who for two hundred years sought to protect pilgrims travelling the dangerous path to the Holy Land6. Eight hundred years ago, this area was a bustling, fortified space filled with monastic buildings and communities. Amongst this stood, and still stands, the grand Temple Church: the “headquarters” of the Templar’s London chapter7.

Temple Church

Although not seeming particularly grand compared to the nearby St Paul’s or Westminster Abbey, Temple Church being one of four churches in the country modelled after the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem had one of the grandest claims of them all: to those in the Middle Ages, walking through it was the closest you could get to Jerusalem without taking the dangerous pilgrimage to get there.

Whilst the Templars were creating one of medieval England’s most significant military orders just down the road, Temple Bar Gate stood right outside our front door, marking the gateway to the City of London from the City of Westminster8. First found mentioned in 1293, Temple Bar has been the backdrop to many historic moments throughout time, from welcoming the marriage procession of Mary Tudor and Phillip of Spain, to witnessing the passing of Elizabeth of York’s funeral cortege, wife of Henry VII9. Whilst these events unfolded, the Temple Bar evolved through various forms over time. Originally a chain strung between posts, it later became a timber archway with a small prison above. Its most famous incarnation, however, was the Temple Gate, rebuilt after the Great Fire of London, designed by Christopher Wren and commissioned by King Charles II10. However, by 1878, it was dismantled due to its obstruction of the growing horse and carriage traffic and now stands in Paternoster Square, just near St Paul’s Cathedral. In its original location, a memorial from 1880 now marks the gate’s former site, casting its shadow over Thanet House11.

Wren’s Temple Bar c.1799

Whilst Wren was unveiling his new reconstruction of Temple Bar, standing nearby in the site of our offices was The Rose Tavern, a popular haunt for the lawyers of London, described by English clergyman John Strype as “a well customed house with good conveniences of rooms, and a good garden”12. This serves as a good example of the social activities which dominated the Strand during Georgian England13. The rise of tea shops contributed to the vibrant scene, with many initially specializing in “saloop”: a popular drink consisting of dried orchid roots, hot water and milk14. In fact, a legacy from this era can still be found just a few doors up from our offices at Twining’s Tea Shop, which opened on the Strand in 1706 and claims to be the oldest ratepayer in Westminster. The Rose Tavern was eventually destroyed in the late 18th century to make way for Thanet Place, tying back to my earlier point in the article15.

The Strand, London, in 1824

On a final note, it is worth noting that even the building of Thanet House itself has seen considerable change and evolution over time. For example, any eagle-eyed clients who have visited the building may have noticed a faded sign above what is now a Tesco Express, reading “aerated bread”. This is left over from ABC Bakeries (formerly the “Aerated Bread Company”), founded in 1862, who used the bottom floor as one of their many London shops2. They patented a new automated method of bread making which avoided the need of both yeast and kneading, hence making the rising of the bread “automated”16. Above this enterprise was once the base of “Legal Insurance Company Limited”, hence establishing an association between Thanet House and legal operations which Larianae Notaries continues to this day.

Thanet House in 1922

Therefore, to any customers interested in visiting our offices at Thanet House, may I encourage you to consider the layers of history embedded in our surroundings. Thanet House, and the buildings that stood in its place prior, has borne witness to centuries of change and evolution. From the monastic presence of the Knights Templar and grand processions passing through Temple Bar to the social vibrancy of Georgian taverns and the rise of tea-drinking culture, this stretch of the Strand has been a crossroads for legal, commercial and cultural significance. As a student myself, I feel inspired by the lives that have walked these streets before me, from the legal minds found at The Rose Tavern to the entrepreneurs who revolutionized baking techniques. I hope that this article has therefore answered the question behind our office’s name and offered a glimpse into the wonderfully rich layers of history that we are fortunate enough to be in the heart of, here at Larianae Notaries.

  1. Brooke-Little JP. An Heraldic Alphabet. London: Macmillan; 1985. ↩︎
  2. London Remembers. Thanet House / Shaftesbury House [Internet]. 2024. Available from: https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/thanet-house-shaftesbury-house [Accessed 16 Nov. 2024] ↩︎
  3. London Picture Archive. View of the Strand [Internet]. 2016. Available from: https://www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk/view-item?i=142646&WINID=173195842717 [Accessed 16 Nov. 2024] ↩︎
  4. Lewespriory.org.uk. Lewes Priory [Internet]. 2015. Available from: https://www.lewespriory.org.uk/john-tufton [Accessed 16 Nov. 2024] ↩︎
  5. Colvin HM. A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840. 3rd ed. New Haven: Yale University Press; 1991. ↩︎
  6. Ruggeri A. The hidden world of the Knights Templar [Internet]. BBC. Available from: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20160510-the-hidden-world-of-the-knights-templar [Accessed 16 Nov. 2024]. ↩︎
  7. Wikipedia. Temple Bar [Internet]. 2023. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Bar [Accessed 17 Nov. 2024]. ↩︎
  8. Anon. History of Temple Bar | Temple Bar Gateway [Internet]. 2009. Available from: https://www.thetemplebar.info/history.html [Accessed 17 Nov. 2024]. ↩︎
  9. Temple Bar Trust. Temple Bar London – Temple Bar Gateway [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://templebar.london [Accessed 17 Nov. 2024]. ↩︎
  10. Harris R. The History of the Temple Bar Memorial. London: The Temple Bar Trust; 2004. ↩︎
  11. Thornbury W. The Strand (southern tributaries). In: Old and New London: Volume 3. London; 1878. Available from: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol3/pp63-84 [Accessed 17 Nov. 2024]. ↩︎
  12. All Things Georgian. The Strand – All Things Georgian [Internet]. 2017. Available from: https://georgianera.wordpress.com/tag/the-strand/ [Accessed 17 Nov. 2024]. ↩︎
  13. Smith A. Getting to the Root of It: Saloop in Early Modern London [Internet]. Intoxicating Spaces. Available from: https://www.intoxicatingspaces.org/2022/02/08/getting-to-the-root-of-it-saloop-in-early-modern-london/ [Accessed 17 Nov. 2024]. ↩︎
  14. Wikipedia. Twinings [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinings [Accessed 17 Nov. 2024]. ↩︎
  15. amudlarksdiary. The Aerated Bread Company [Internet]. A Mudlark’s Diary. Available from: https://amudlarksdiary.com/2019/01/04/the-aerated-bread-company/ [Accessed 17 Nov. 2024]. ↩︎
  16. European Heraldry :: House of Tufton [Image]. Europeanheraldry.org. 2024. Available from: https://europeanheraldry.org/united-kingdom/families/families-s-z/house-tufton/ [Accessed 17 Nov. 2024] ↩︎

Tags: