Language & Geography: Billingsgate Market

Billingsgate is a large fish market in east London. The former London market was closed in 1982. It was situated in the City of London at the north end of London Bridge beside The Monument, which commemorates the outbreak of the Great Fire of September 1666. It was moved a to new site on the Isle of Dogs in 1982.
The word “Billingsgate” was also formerly used to mean swearing and offensive language, because the people who worked in the market (the fish vendors) were known for this.

Edmund Blackadder, Lord Blackadder, the main character in the second series of the popular BBC sitcom Blackaddr and played by actor Rowan Atkinson, resided in Billingsgate.
Billingsgate is also referenced in the song 'Sister Suffragette' in the 1964 version of Mary Poppins.
Billingsgate is perhaps the oldest market in London. The wharf has long been a busy place where one can purchase such delicacies as lobster, herrings, turtle, and turbot imported from America.