Ogden Daily Standard | 1909-05-01 | Page 8 | Says Oxen Laid out London

SAYS OXEN LAID OUT LONDON. Swayed as They Plowed, Hence the Crooked Streets. r , Lord Avebury has suggested an explanation ex-planation of the crooked streets which have puzzled so many visitors to London. Lon-don. Presiding at the first of a series ofv addresses on the history of this city, he said it was remarkable how the London of-to-day bore traces of its ancient history. Between London and Westminster there were formerly open fields divided di-vided Into long strips of an acre. each. These strips, he said, had a tendency to curvature owing to the way in which the oxen walked while plowing the ground. An instance of that was seen in the curious way in which longacre enrved. Several of the strips abutted at right angles ou Hyde paik, and the fact that they did not end In one line suggested a reason for the singular irregularity of tho lino of houses forming Park lane. Tho dip In Piccadilly, added Lord Avebury, was the site of the old stream, part of which formed the Serpentine.