There are no roads in London. Take a look~there are Streets, Squares and Alleys, but “traditionally” not one single road. As The Londonist observes the word “road” was not developed until the late 1500’s, and by that time all the major streets in London had already been named. Even the historic Square Mile, which includes “Bleeding Heart Yard” had no Roads until 1994. At that time half of Goswell Road went under the City’s jurisdiction, while the other half stayed in the Borough of Islington.
The word “road’ is used only once in the King James bible and at that time it meant a “raid”. Shakespeare used the word road to mean a type of street only three times, the other thirteen uses meant a trip or foray. The word comes from the old Anglo-Saxon “rad”, for a journey on horseback. And the word “street”? That is from Latin meaning a way paved with stone, and developed with a more urban connotation than the more rural usage of “road”.
Back to London. Purists still insist that there is technically no “road” in the City of London as the Borough only owns half of Goswell Road, not the full Road.
