Carfukes, Leadenhall

   Poulterers forbidden to stand and expose their goods for sale at Carfukes of Leadenhalle, 44 Ed. III. (1370) (Cal. L. Bk. G. p. 271).

   "Carfax" = "a place where four ways meet." M.E. "carfoukes," a place where four streets met. O.F. "Carrefourgs." In Prompt. Parv. "Carfax" or "carfans" = Quadrivium. Late L. "quadrifurcum," acc. of "quadrifurcus" = "four-forked" (Skeat's Ety. Eng. Dict.). From "quatre-fourgs," not "quatre-voies" = "four forks," not "four ways." The disappearance of the "r" from the M.E. form is curious.

   The Carfukes would probably be where Bishopsgate Street, Gracechurch Street, Leadenhall Street and Cornhill met.

   Called "Leadenhall Corner," 1600-1 (H. MSS. Com. Salisbury, XI. 47).

   Compare "Carfax" in Oxford and also in Exeter, Horsham, etc.

   In the glossary to the Liber Albus "carfeux" = a place with four faces, and Riley says the Carfax at Oxford was so named from a fountain there with four faces, and suggests that there may have been a similar fountain at Leadenhall.