Cow Lane

   West out of West Smithfield to Snow Hill, in Farringdon Ward Without (Elmes, 1831).

   First mention: 1416 (Ct. H.W. II. 410).

   A place noted for Coachmakers and Harness makers (W. Stow, 1722).

   Now King Street (q.v.).

   Stow identifies this lane with Cowbridge Street (q.v.), but Cow Lane is shown in all the old maps as meeting Snow Hill at Holborn Conduit, and unless its course had been diverted it could never have touched the "River of Wells."

   The maps show the Chick Lane bridge as the next bridge northward of Holborn Bridge, and no street or lane between the two, where a bridge could have been. It is difficult therefore to see where the Cow Bridge could have been situated, unless it was identical with the Chick Lane bridge, or stood further north. It seems more likely that Chick Lane was identical with Cowbridge Street, not Cow Lane.