Strand, often called the Strand, is a street in the City of
Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile
long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet
Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this
point, though its historical length has been longer than this. At the east end
of the street are two old churches, St Mary-le-Strand and St Clement Danes
which are now, owing to road-widening, situated on islands in the middle of the
road.
The length of road from St Mary's church eastwards up to St
Clement's was widened in 1900 and subsumes the former Holywell Street which
forked from the Strand and ran parallel with it to the north. The Strand marks
the southern boundary of Covent Garden. Two tube stations were once named
Strand: the former Piccadilly line Strand tube station, now called Aldwych but
no longer in use, and the former "Strand tube station" on the
Northern Line now part of Charing Cross tube station. "Strand Bridge"
was also the name given to Waterloo Bridge during construction, it was renamed
for its official opening on the second anniversary of the victory.
