Thames Street, London Thames Street, London Thames Street, divided into Lower and Upper Thames Street, is a road in the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London. It forms part of the busy A3211 route (prior to being rebuilt as a major thoroughfare in the late 1960s, it was the B132) from Tower Hill to Westminster. The London Bridge underpass marks the divide between Upper and Lower Thames Street, with Lower to the east and Upper to the west. Thames Street is mentioned in the diary of Samuel Pepys. The first mention of the road, however, is from 1013 when
River Thames other filth had accumulated in divers places upon the banks of the river with ... fumes and other abominable stenches arising therefrom." The growth of the population of London greatly increased the amount of waste that entered the river, including human excrement, animal waste from slaughter houses, and waste from manufacturing processes. According to historian Peter Ackroyd, "a public lavatory on London Bridge showered its contents directly onto the river below, and latrines were built over all the tributaries that issued into the Thames." During a series of cold winters the Thames froze over above London Bridge: in the first