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Play croquet on The Mall and learn street secrets
Sri Carmichael, Consumer Affairs Reporter11 Jun 2009
The Mall is to be turned into a grass court for a 17th-century version of croquet-cum-lacrosse.
The event reveals the story behind the naming of the road near St James's Park, which hosted matches of paille maille during the reign of Charles II.
Visitors will be able to pick up a mallet and take part in the games, which take place on North Horse Ride in the shadow of St James's Palace next Tuesday.
They kick off a campaign to engage Londoners and tourists in the history behind the capital's roads.
Street Stories, run by Visit London, hopes to appeal to the increased numbers of Britons taking "staycation" holidays at home. Other lesser-known facts to be highlighted include:
How Portobello Market was given its name to commemorate the capture of Puerto Bello, a port in the Gulf of Mexico, from the Spanish in 1739.
Piccadilly Circus is named after the picadil, a stiff collar sold there by a tailor, Robert Baker, in the 17th century. The fashionable collars usually had an elaborate lace border.
Belsize Park, the southernmost part of Hampstead, takes its name from the French "bel assis", meaning "beautifully situated".
It became a residential area in the 19th century.
The rather less glamorous story behind the naming of Pudding Lane is that entrails and organs, known as puddings, used to fall from carts as they rattled down the lane from butchers in Eastcheap.
Houndsditch, leading from Liverpool Street to Aldgate, was named after the gutter into which medieval people threw their dead dogs.
It is also the area where in 1866 Dr Thomas Barnardo found 11 boys sleeping huddled together, which inspired him to found his home for destitute children.
Visit London's chief executive Sally Chatterjee said: "Through the Street Stories activity and the re-enactment of paille maille we want to celebrate the unusual and world-famous heritage of London's streets, bringing them back to life in a really fun and engaging way."
