Blackfriars is in central London, specifically the south-west corner of the City of London. Blackfriars Priory The name is first visible today in records of 1317 in many orthographies. Friar evolved from as has, meaning 'brother'. Black refers to the black cappa worn by Dominican Friars. They moved their 1220s-founded priory from just west of Holborn bridge at the top of Shoe Lane (modern Holborn Circus) a few hundred metres south to be between the tidal Thames and the west of Ludgate Hill, a modest rise, but the highest in the city proper, in about 1276. Edward I gave permission to rebuild London's city wall, against the Fleet brook and Ludgate Hill, north and west of their precinct. The site hosted great occasions of state, including meetings of Parliament and the Privy Council, state visits, such as of Emperor Charles V in 1522, then, seven years later, a divorce hearing of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII. The priory was by legal process dissolved in 1538 under Henry's dissolution of the monasteries. Katherine Parr, Henry's sixth and final wife, was born in an associated parish. Local wharves of Puddle Dock Until the early 20th century the local wharves were linked to the main street by the formerly narrow street Puddle Dock. These stood by an often dredged up to, pier- and mooring post-lined, substantial mudbank of the City – in the south-east of today's Blackfriars. Among these were Wheatsheaf Wharf. Paul's Stairs is east of the modern floating pier, leading to the much narrowed, wholly tidal foreshore (meaning immersed for much of the tidal phases). Amenities Some of the buildings were later leased to a group of entrepreneurs who created the Blackfriars Theatre on the site, near Shakespeare's Globe Theatre which stood almost directly across the river. In 1632, the Society of Apothecaries (a livery company), acquired the late medieval guesthouse which they converted as their base. This was destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666 but the Society rebuilt it, becoming today's Apothecaries' Hall due north of the station. At the very centre of the zone, in typical London equidistance from stations post-pariochial terms, is Blackfriars station on a large wholly built-up roundabout. Southwest of this is Blackfriars Bridge and south, the railway bridge. A notably long road, Blackfriars Road, in Bankside, Southwark – a main approach to the road bridge – hosts near its northern extreme