E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Hangman’s Acre, Gains, and Gain’s Alley (London),
in the liberty of St. Catherine. Strype says it is a corruption of “Hammes and Guynes,” so called because refugees from those places were allowed to lodge there in the reign of Queen Mary after the loss of Calais. (See also Stow: History, vol. ii.; list of streets.)
