St. Martin's Le Grand

[2] For many years St. Martin's Le Grand was "often used as a synonym for the chief postal authorities, as Scotland Yard is used to designate the police",[3] the headquarters of the General Post Office having been there from 1829-1984.

To the east of the road in medieval times stood a college of secular canons of ancient origin, with a collegiate church dedicated to St Martin of Tours.

3. c. xci) annexing the liberty to the Aldersgate Ward of the City of London when the site was earmarked for a new General Post Office.

In the latter part of the 19th century the GPO erected further buildings on the west side of St. Martin's Le Grand, for telegraph workers (1874) and headquarters staff (1894).

Guglielmo Marconi and his assistant George Kemp successfully demonstrated the wireless telegraphy system between two Post Office buildings on 27 July 1896.

A French Protestant chapel stood on the west side on the corner with Bull and Mouth Street from 1842 until 1888, when it was demolished to make way for new and expanded post office buildings.

The nearest London Underground station is St Paul's (originally named Post Office), at the southern end of the street.

The St Martin's Le Grand area on an 1875 Ordnance Survey map.
The Royal Mails Starting from the General Post Office, London . Richard Gilson Reeve, 1830.
St. Martin's Le Grand looking north, c.1900 (GPO buildings highlighted).
French Protestant chapel (left) and Sydney Smirke 's GPO Money Order Office of 1847 (right, at 1 Aldersgate Street). Both were demolished in 1888.