At the northern end of Giltspur Street, leading to West Smithfield, in Farringdon Ward Without (Elmes, 1831).
First mention: 6 Eliz. (Lond. I. p.m. II. 17).
Spelt " Pie Corner " (O. and M. 1677).
Former name: " Rennerstrete," 1456 (Ct. H.W. II. 530).
Strype says the street leading from Newgate to West Smithfield is called by this name in the Bp. of London's Register of Wills (ed. 1720, I. iii. 245).
Stow derives the name "Pie Corner" from the signe of the Pie, "a fayre Inn for recipte of travellers, but now divided into tenementes " (S. 375-6).
This derivation is borne out by the entry relating to " Rennerstrete " referred to above, which is as follows: "A tenement called 'le Pye' in parish of St. Sepulchre without Neugate near the high street called 'Rennerstrete,' 1456 " (Ct. H.W. II. 530).
It is suggested in N. and Q. 3rd S. VIII. 292 that the name may be derived from the French term " pied cornier," defined in Littré as a " terme d'eaux et forets," signifying "l'arbre qu'on laisse à léxtrémité d'un héritage d'un orpentage, pour servir de marque," and that a tree stood in the vicinity marking the boundary of West Smithfield.
Stow's derivation seems more likely to be correct.
The word " corner" in early times seems to have been used in a somewhat diflerent sense in this connection to that denoted by the modern use of the term.
"Cornere" in Promp. Parv. = " angulus," and the word seems to have been used to include both sides of the angle, and to have been used to denote in this connection a short, narrow, unimportant street. In addition to "Pye Corner" we have "Amen Corner," near St. Paul's.
The Fire of London ended at this point.
Houses pulled down and rebuilt 1790.