London’s Alleys: Heathcock Court, WC2

This is a short narrow passage on Strand that used to be somewhere else.
It originally shows up as Heathcot Court in William Morgan’s map of London in 1682. Quite when it gained a C to become Heathcock is unclear. The origins of the name of the court are also unclear, sometimes cited as coming from the name of a pub, the Heathcock Tavern that was on the site. As a pub name though, Heathcock is fairly commonplace, being named after a type of black grouse which would presumably have been ser