The Market rights of the City of London were based on a charter
granted by Edward III in 1327 which prohibited the setting up of
rival markets within 6.6 miles of the City, (six and two thirds
miles being the distance a person could be expected to walk to
market, sell his produce and return in a day). In 1400 King Henry
1V granted to the citizens the right, by charter, to collect tolls
and customs at Billingsgate, Cheap and Smithfield. Since then, the
Billingsgate Market Acts of 1846 and 1871 and the City of London
(Various Powers) Acts of 1973, 1979, 1987 and 1990, have confirmed
the City's role as the Market Authority and laid down its
responsibilities and rights, including the making of regulations,
byelaws and the collection of tolls, rents and other charges.
Billingsgate was known as Blynesgate and Byllynsgate before the
name settled into its present form. The origin of the name is
unclear and could refer to a watergate at the south side of the
City where goods were landed-perhaps owned by a man named
'Biling'-or it may have originated with Belin (400BC) an ancient
King of the period.
Billingsgate was originally a
general market for corn, coal, iron, wine, salt, pottery, fish
and miscellaneous goods and does not seem to have become
associated exclusively with the fish trade until the sixteenth
century.
In 1699 an Act of Parliament was passed making it "a free and
open market for all sorts of fish whatsoever". The only exception
to this was the sale of eels which was restricted to Dutch
fishermen whose boats were moored in the Thames. This was because
they had helped feed the people of London during the Great
Fire.
Until the mid-nineteenth century, fish and seafood were sold
from stalls and sheds around the 'hythe' or dock at Billingsgate.
As the amount of fish handled increased, a purpose-built market
became essential. In 1850 the first Billingsgate Market building
was constructed on Lower Thames Street but it proved to be
inadequate and was demolished in 1873 to make way for the building
which still stands in Lower Thames Street today. This was designed
by the City Architect, Sir Horace Jones and built by John Mowlem.
It was opened in 1876. It is now a listed building.