TEMPLE ROW, AND NEEDLESS ALLEY
Brilliant comments on why Temple Row, but it looks as if a dovecote is going to win out for us, because that round building on the map is just about were Union Chambers stands, on one side of Needless alley, and the row of houses on the other side, top end of Cherry St, is were Temple Court stood, so maybe we are onto the correct answer for this.
Before Temple Court was pulled down, to make room eventually for the Pallisades, do you remember a bridge that ran over Needless alley ? It was at the top end of the alley, the cathedral end, and that was our bridge to carry us across from Temple Court and into Union Chambers. It was only to be used as a fire escape, and for the caretakers access to each building to keep an eye on things, but so handy, rather than having to cross over Needless alley by road, perhaps on a rainy day, but again it has proved hard to find any photos of the bridge, every photographer seems to have pointed his lens downhill so as to catch the atmosphere of that dark narrow alley.
I noticed that someone, in another thread, suggested that the name Needless, had something to do with needles, but I thought that perhaps it refered to the fact that when the alley was created, many felt it was needless, going nowhere, just an alley put there for no reason, so it became known as Needless alley.
I dont know, but if you know of any other idea, in other threads, or something you can add to why it was called Needless alley, it would I am sure be of interest to us all.