Fleet Street Fleet Prison, but other accounts suggest the area was too marshy for regular inhabitation by the Romans. The Saxons did not occupy the Roman city but established Lundenwic further west around what is now Aldwych and the Strand. Many prelates lived around the street during the Middle Ages, including the Bishops of Salisbury and St Davids and the Abbots of Faversham, Tewkesbury, Winchcombe and Cirencester. Tanning of animal hides became established on Fleet Street owing to the nearby river, though this increased pollution leading to a ban on dumping rubbish by the mid-14th century. Many taverns and brothels were established
Fleet Street marker was designed by Sir Horace Jones in 1880. It has a statue of a griffin at the top (lending it its nickname of "the Griffin"), and a statue of Queen Victoria in a niche in the side. In the Inner Temple Gardens is a memorial to Charles Lamb. In Salisbury Square there is an obelisk commemorating Robert Waithman, mayor of London between 1823 and 1833, and a blue plaque commemorating the birthplace of diarist and naval secretary Samuel Pepys. Several writers and politicians are associated with Fleet Street, either as residents or regulars to the various taverns, including Ben