Upper Swandom Lane, or Swan Lane as it was actually known, is the location of the opium den in the Sherlock Holmes story, “The Man with the Twisted Lip” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is from this den that Neville St. Clair supposedly disappears. It is the last place that his wife sees him and foul play is suspected by his family, the police, and Holmes. Eventually it is revealed that St. Clair was not missing at all, simply living his double life as a successful beggar from his base above the opium den.

In real life, Swan Lane is a street adjacent to London Bridge on the north side of the River Thames. As seen from the Victorian google map, the southern end of the lane juts against the river and is sometimes underwater at high tide. This becomes a plot point in the Holmes story as Mr. St. Clair throws his coat out the window and into the river when he hurriedly transforms into his beggar self. This action leads the police to believe that Neville St. Clair has met a terrible fate.

As can be seen from the Booth Poverty Map of the region, this street was one of the poorest in London. It is little wonder an upstanding citizen disguised as a beggar would make his base here as he would blend in so well with the surrounding socioeconomic environment. No one who knew St. Clair would ever think to look for him amongst the riffraff hanging around the docks.

Shown by the black marks on the map, Swan Lake was also a hotbed of criminal activity. It is little wonder then that Dr. Watson runs into Holmes investigating a crime on the street or, as Holmes notes, that it is so common for people to disappear from the very opium den in question.

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Man with the Twisted Lip. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

“Booth Poverty Map & Modern Map (Charles Booth Online Archive).” Booth Poverty Map & Modern Map (Charles Booth Online Archive). N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.