Chapter I: Preface (1)

With this volume we begin what may be called the second part of the Survey. All that has preceded it has dealt with the history of London as a whole; now we turn to London in its topographical aspect and treat it street by street, with all the historical associations interwoven in a continuous narrative with a running commentary of the aspect of the streets as they were at the end of the nineteenth century, for the book is strictly a Survey of London up to the end of the nineteenth century. Sir Walter Besant himself wrote the greater part of the volume now issued, calling it “The Antiquities of the City,” and it is exclusively confined to the City. For the topographical side of the great work, however, he employed assistants to collect material for him and to help him; for though, as he said, he had been “walking about London for the last thirty years and found something fresh in it every day,” he could not himself collect the mass of detail requisite for a fair presentation of the subject. In the present volume, therefore, embedded in his running commentary, will be found detailed accounts of the City Companies, the City churches and other buildings, which are not by his hand. A word as to the plan on which the volume is made may be helpful. In cases where the City halls are standing, accounts of the Companies they belong to are inserted there in the course of the perambulation; but where the Companies possess no halls, the matter concerning them is relegated to an Appendix. The churches, however, being peculiarly associated with the sites on which they are standing, or stood, are considered to be an integral part of the City associations, and churches, whether vanished or standing, are noted in course of perambulation. A distinction which shows at a glance whether any particular church is still existing or has been demolished is made by the type; for in the case of an existing church the name is set in large black type, as a centre heading, whereas with a vanished church it is given in smaller black type set in line.

The plan of the book is simplicity itself; it follows the lines of groups of streets, taken as dictated by common sense and not by the somewhat arbitrary boundaries of wards. The outlines of these groups are clearly indicated on the large map which will be found at the end of the volume.

CONTENTS

THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE CITY

GROUP I

PAGE

STREETS NORTH AND SOUTH OF CHEAPSIDE AND THE POULTRY 1

GROUP II

STREETS NORTH OF GRESHAM STREET AND WEST OF MOORGATE STREET 63

GROUP III

STREETS BETWEEN MOORGATE AND BISHOPSGATE STREETS 91

GROUP IV

STREETS BETWEEN FENCHURCH AND BISHOPSGATE STREETS 146

GROUP V

THAMES STREET AND THE STREETS NORTH AND SOUTH OF IT 190

THE TOWER OF LONDON 288

GROUP VI

NEWGATE STREET AND THE STREETS NORTH AND SOUTH OF IT 300

ST. PAUL’S 327

GROUP VII

FLEET STREET AND THE ADJACENT COURTS (INCLUDING THE TEMPLE AND THE
ROLLS) 362

THE TEMPLE 370

THE ANCIENT SCHOOLS IN THE CITY OF LONDON 385

APPENDICES

1. THE CITY COMPANIES 433

2. MAYORS AND LORD MAYORS OF LONDON FROM 1189 TO 1900 455

3. A CALENDAR OF THE MAYORS AND SHERIFFS OF LONDON FROM 1189 TO
1900 461

INDEX 483

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Interior of Royal Exchange _Frontispiece_

Cheapside Cross (as it appeared on its erection
in 1606) 5

St. Mildred, Poultry 18

Inside the Poultry Compter 19

St. Lawrence, Jewry 26

SS. Anne and Agnes 27

Blackwell Hall, 1819 31

Mercers’ Hall: Interior _Facing_ 32

Mercers’ Hall 35

City of London School, Milk Street 39

Church of St. Vedast 43

Goldsmiths’ Hall, 1835 45

Gerard’s Hall Crypt in 1795 57

The Armourers’ and Brasiers’ Almshouses,
Bishopsgate Without, 1857 65

St. Mary, Aldermanbury, in 1814 70

Porch of St. Alphage, London Wall, 1818 72

Sion College, London Wall, 1800 73

Grub Street Hermit 77

St. Giles, Cripplegate 81

London Wall 83

The Pump in Cornhill, 1800 93

St. Peter’s, Cornhill 96

Confectioner’s Shop, Cornhill 98

Garraway’s Coffee-House 99

Pope’s House in Plough Court 103

St. Mary Woolnoth _Facing_ 106

Altar of St. Mary Abchurch 109

Salters’ Hall, 1822 113

St. Stephen, Walbrook _Facing_ 118

The Mansion House and Cheapside 120

Stocks Market 123

Bank of England Fountain _Facing_ 126

St. Benet Finck 129

St. Martin Outwich 131

Gresham College 135

Carpenters’ Hall, London Wall, 1830 144

Ironmongers’ Hall in the Eighteenth Century 149

A Remarkable Old House in Leadenhall Street 154

Leadenhall Street 155

Skin Market, Leadenhall, 1825 157

Leadenhall Chapel in 1812 160

Crypt in Leadenhall Street, 1825 161

Aldgate in 1830 169

St. Andrew Undershaft 173

Bishopsgate Street, showing Church of St.
Martin Outwich, and the Pump, 1814 177

St. Helen, Bishopsgate, 1817 179

Cornhill Military Association, with a View of
the Church of St. Helen’s, and
Leathersellers’ Hall _Facing_ 180

Council Room, Crosby Hall, 1816 181

Principal Entrance to Leathersellers’ Hall.
Demolished 1799 184

St. Ethelburga, Bishopsgate Street 186

St. Botolph, Bishopsgate 187

Blackfriars Bridge, 1796 193

Ludgate Circus and Ludgate Hill 198

Stationers’ Hall in 1830 199

Stationers’ Hall (Interior) 201

Fleur-de-lys Court 203

British and Foreign Bible Society House _Facing_ 206

The College of Arms 209

Doctors’ Commons, 1808 211

Queen Victoria Street _Facing_ 214

A Bas-relief of a Gardener, Gardeners’ Lane,
1791 219

Council Chambers, Vintners’ Hall 230

Whittington’s House 236

Cannon Street, looking West _Facing_ 250

Old Merchant Taylors’ School, Suffolk Lane,
Cannon Street 254

Fishmongers’ Hall, present day 260

London Bridge _Facing_ 260

Fishmongers’ Hall in 1811 261

St. Magnus 262

The Monument in 1752 265

The Coal Exchange 271

Billingsgate Market _Facing_ 272

Custom House _Facing_ 274

Clothworkers’ Hall 277

Whittington’s House, Crutched Friars, 1796 279

Pepys’ Church (St. Olave, Hart Street) 281

Trinity House, Tower Hill 284

Remains of London Wall, Tower Hill, 1818 285

Block, Axe, and Scavenger’s Daughter 288

Newgate Market, 1856 304

Newgate, 1799 305

Christ’s Hospital, from the Cloisters, 1804 308

An Exciting Game, Christ’s Hospital 319

The Oxford Arms, Warwick Lane 323

The Post Office, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Bull
and Mouth Inn, London 329

St. Paul’s Cathedral 334

Paternoster Row (as it was) 343

Paternoster Row _Facing_ 346

The City Boundary, Aldersgate 349

St. Bartholomew the Great 353

General Post Office _Facing_ 354

Cloth Fair 356

Old Coach and Horses, Cloth Fair 357

Long Lane, Smithfield, 1810 358

Bartholomew Fair, 1721 359

Fleet Street _Facing_ 364

Izaak Walton’s House in Fleet Street 366

St. Dunstan in the West (Old Church) 368

Inner Temple Gate House _Facing_ 374

Supposed House of Dryden, Fetter Lane 380

Dr. Johnson’s House 381

Fleet Ditch, West Street, Smithfield, as it was
in 1844 383

St. Paul’s School (before its removal to
Hammersmith) 402

THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE CITY

It seems convenient in treating of the history and archæology of the City to take the streets in groups, each group being in connection with the main street to which it belongs. We may in this fashion conveniently arrange the streets as follows:—

(1) Those north and south of Cheapside and the Poultry.

(2) Those north of Gresham Street and west of Moorgate Street.

(3) Those between Moorgate and Bishopsgate Streets.

(4) Those between Fenchurch and Bishopsgate Streets.

(5) Thames Street and the streets north and south of it.

(6) Newgate Street and the streets north and south of it.

(7) Fleet Street and the adjacent Courts (including the Temple and the
Rolls).

GROUP I

=Cheapside.=—We begin with the true heart of London, West Chepe, as it was formerly called, and the streets lying north and south of this marketplace. St. Paul’s Churchyard and Foster Lane mark our western boundary; Princes Street and Walbrook, our eastern; Gresham Street (formerly Cateaton Street) is on the north, and Cannon Street on the south.

By the time of Queen Elizabeth we find the West Chepe, with its streets north and south, laid out with something like the modern regularity. We must therefore go back to earlier centuries to discover its origin.

West Chepe, from time immemorial, has been the most important market of the City. It was formerly, say in the twelfth century, a large open area. This area contained no fewer than twenty-five churches, of which nine still exist. The churches are dotted about in apparent disorder, which can be partly explained. For the market of Chepe was extended in fact from the Church of St. Michael le Querne on the west, to that of St. Christopher le Stock on the east, and lay between the modern Gresham Street in the north and Watling Street in the south.

It is ordered in _Liber Albus_ that all manner of victuals are to be sold between the kennels of the streets. The so-called streets were narrow lanes, many of which remain to the present day.

There was, however, a principal way, not a street in our sense of the word, on either side of which, on the north and on the south, as well as along the middle, were stalls and shops. These stalls were at first mere wooden sheds; the goods were exposed by day and removed at night; in course of time they became permanent shops with living rooms at the back and an upper chamber. Among the sheds stood “selds.” The seld was a building not unlike the present Covent Garden Market, being roofed over and containing shops and store-houses. Several “selds” are mentioned in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. These were the “great-seld” in the Mercery, called after the Lady Roisia de Coventre. This was near the house of St. Thomas of Acon, where now stands the Mercers’ Hall. There was also the “great seld of London,” in the ancient parish of St. Pancras, therefore on the south side of Cheapside. There was again the “seld of Fryday Street serving for foreign tanners, and time out of mind occupied with these wares”; and there was a seld held in 1304 by John de Stanes, mercer.

In the _Liber Albus_ the seld is distinguished from the “shop, the cellar or solar.” It is also alluded to in the same book as the place where wool and other commodities are sold. Bakers were forbidden to store their bread in selds longer than one night. The seld was therefore a warehouse, a weighing place, as well as a shop. Since we hear nothing about selds in the _Calendar of Wills_ after the fourteenth century, we may infer that a change had been made in the methods of the market. The change in fact was this. North and south of what is now Cheapside were arranged in order the stalls of those who sold everything; these stalls were protected from the weather; the various branches or departments of the market were separated by narrow lanes. It is impossible at this time to assign all the various trades accurately each to its own place—in fact, they always overlapped; but we can do so approximately. The names of the streets belonging to Cheapside are a guide. For instance, Wood Street, Milk Street, Honey Lane, Ironmonger Street, Old Jewry, the Poultry, Scalding Alley, Soper Street, Bread Street, Friday Street, Old Change, explain a great part of the disposition of the ancient market.

When we consider that twenty-five churches stood in or about the great market, and that they were all presumably more ancient than the Conquest, we may deduce the fact that the stalls very early became closed shops, and in many cases permanent houses of residence, and that the market contained a large resident population by which industries were carried on as well as shops. With certain wares, such as milk, honey, wood, spices, mercery, salt-fish, poultry, meat, and herbs, there was no other industry than that of receiving, packing, and distributing. We therefore find few churches between Wood Street and Ironmonger Lane, the chief seat of these branches; while on the south side, for the same reason, there are still fewer churches.

The South Chepe was occupied by money-changers, salt-fish dealers, leather-sellers, bakers, mercers, pepperers, and herb-sellers. Soap-makers were there also at one time, but they were banished to another part of the City before the time of Edward the Second. “Melters,” _i.e._ of lard and tallow, were also forbidden to carry on their evil-smelling trade in West Chepe so far back as 1203.

A brief study, therefore, enables us to understand, first, why the churches stand thickly in one part and thinly in another; next, that West Chepe was a vast open market containing a resident population, crowded where industries were carried on, and sparse where the goods were simply exposed for sale; and, thirdly, that the place could be easily converted into a tilting ground, as was done on many occasions, by clearing away the “stationers,” that is to say, the people who held stalls or stations about the crosses in Cheapside. On one occasion, at least, this was done, to the great indignation of the people.

There are certain places in the country, and on the Continent, where the mediæval market is still preserved in its most important features. For instance, there is the market-place of Peterborough, which is still divided by lanes, and which has areas allotted to the different trades; and that of Rheims, where the ancient usages are preserved and followed, even to the appearance of Autolycus, the Cheap Jack, and the Quack, who may be seen and heard on every market day.

We may take Stow’s description of the Elizabethan Chepe:

“At the West end of this Poultrie, and also of Bucklesbury, beginneth the large street of West Cheaping, a market place so called, which street stretcheth west till ye come to the little conduit by Paule’s gate, but not all of Cheape ward. In the east part of this street standeth the great conduit of sweet water, conveyed by pipes of lead underground from Paddington for the service of this city, castellated with stone, and cisterned in lead, about the year 1285, and again new built and enlarged by Thomas Ilam, one of the sheriffs 1479.

“About the midst of this street is the Standard in Cheape, of what antiquity the first foundation I have not read. But Henry VI., by his patent dated at Windsor the 21st of his reign, which patent was confirmed by parliament 1442, granted license to Thomas Knolles, John Chichele, and other, executors to John Wells, grocer, sometime mayor of London, with his goods to make new the highway which leadeth from the city of London towards the palace of Westminster, before and nigh the manor of Savoy, parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster, a way then very ruinous, and the pavement broken, to the hurt and mischief of the subjects, which old pavement then remaining in that way within the length of five hundred feet, and all the breadth of the same before and nigh the site of the manor aforesaid, they to break up, and with stone, gravel, and other stuff, one other good and sufficient way there to make for the commodity of the subjects.

“And further, that the Standard in Cheape, where divers executions of the law beforetime had been performed, which standard at the present was very ruinous with age, in which there was a conduit, should be taken down, and another competent standard of stone, together with a conduit in the same, of new, strongly to be built, for the commodity and honour of the city, with the goods of the said testator, without interruption, etc.

“Of executions at the Standard in Cheape, we read, that in the year 1293 three men had their right hands smitten off there, for rescuing of a prisoner arrested by an officer of the city. In the year 1326, the burgesses of London caused Walter Stapleton, Bishop of Exceter, treasurer to Edward II., and other, to be beheaded at the standard in Cheape (but this was by Paule’s gate); in the year 1351, the 26th of Edward III., two fishmongers were beheaded at the standard in Cheape, but I read not of their offence; 1381, Wat Tyler beheaded Richard Lions and other there. In the year 1399, Henry IV. caused the blank charters made by Richard II. to be burnt there. In the year 1450, Jack Cade, captain of the Kentish rebels, beheaded the Lord Say there. In the year 1461, John Davy had his hand stricken off there, because he had stricken a man before the judges at Westminster, etc.

“Then next is a great cross in West Cheape, which cross was there erected in the year 1290 by Edward I. upon occasion thus:—Queen Elianor his wife died at Hardeby (a town near unto the city of Lincoln), her body was brought from thence to Westminster; and the king, in memory of her, caused in every place where her body rested by the way, a stately cross of stone to be erected, with the queen’s image and arms upon it, as at Grantham, Woborne, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Dunstable, St. Albones, Waltham, West Cheape, and at Charing, from whence she was conveyed to Westminster, and there buried.

“This cross in West Cheape being like to those other which remain to this day, and being by length of time decayed, John Hatherle, mayor of London, procured, in the year 1441, license of King Henry VI. to re-edify the same in more beautiful manner for the honour of the city, and had license also to take up two hundred fodder of lead for the building thereof of certain conduits, and a common granary. This cross was then curiously wrought at the charges of divers citizens: John Fisher, mercer, gave six hundred marks toward it; the same was begun to be set up 1484, and finished 1486, the 2nd of Henry VII.

“In the year 1599, the timber of the cross at the top being rotted within the lead, the arms thereof bending, were feared to have fallen to the harming of some people, and therefore the whole body of the cross was scaffolded about, and the top thereof taken down, meaning in place thereof to have set up a piramis; but some of her majesty’s honourable councillors directed their letters to Sir Nicholas Mosley, then mayor, by her highness’ express commandment concerning the cross, forthwith to be repaired, and placed again as it formerly stood, etc., notwithstanding the said cross stood headless more than a year after. After this (1600) a cross of timber was framed, set up, covered with lead, and gilded, the body of the cross downward cleansed of dust, the scaffold carried thence. About twelve nights following, the image of Our Lady was again defaced, by plucking off her crown, and almost her head, taking from her her naked child, and stabbing her in the breast, etc. Thus much for the cross in West Cheape” (Stow’s _Survey_, 1633, pp. 278-80).

CHEAPSIDE CROSS (AS IT APPEARED ON ITS ERECTION IN 1606).

From an original Drawing in the Pepysian Library, Cambridge.
]

The cross was the object of much abuse by the Puritans, who at last succeeded in getting it pulled down. “On May 2nd, 1643, the Cross of Cheapside was pulled down. A troop of horse and two companies of foot waited to guard it; and, at the fall of the top cross, drums beat, trumpets blew, and multitudes of caps were thrown into the air.... And the same day, at night was the leaden popes[1] burnt in the place where it stood, with ringing of bells and a great acclamation” (Wilkinson’s _Londina Illustrata_).

To continue Stow’s account:

“Then at the west end of West Cheape Street, was sometime a cross of stone, called the Old Cross. Ralph Higden, in his _Policronicon_, saith, that Walter Stapleton, Bishop of Exceter, treasurer to Edward II., was by the burgesses of London beheaded at this cross called the Standard, without the north door of St. Paul’s church; and so is it noted in other writers that then lived. This old cross stood and remained at the east end of the parish church called St. Michael in the Corne by Paule’s gate, near to the north end of the old Exchange, till the year 1390, the 13th of Richard II., in place of which old cross then taken down, the said church of St. Michael was enlarged, and also a fair water conduit built about the 9th of Henry VI.

“In the reign of Edward III., divers joustings were made in this street, betwixt Sopers lane and the great cross, namely, one in the year 1331, the 21st of September, as I find noted by divers writers of that time.

“In the middle of the city of London (say they), in a street called Cheape, the stone pavement being covered with sand, that the horses might not slide when they strongly set their feet to the ground, the king held a tournament three days together, with the nobility, valiant men of the realm, and other some strange knights. And to the end the beholders might with the better ease see the same, there was a wooden scaffold erected across the street, like unto a tower, wherein Queen Philippa, and many other ladies, richly attired, and assembled from all parts of the realm, did stand to behold the jousts; but the higher frame, in which the ladies were placed, brake in sunder, whereby they were with some shame forced to fall down, by reason whereof the knights and such as were underneath, were grievously hurt; wherefore the queen took great care to save the carpenters from punishment, and through her prayers (which she made upon her knees) pacified the king and council, and thereby purchased great love of the people. After which time the king caused a shed to be strongly made of stone, for himself, the queen, and other estates to stand on, and there to behold the joustings, and other shows, at their pleasure, by the church of St. Mary Bow, as is showed in Cordwainer street ward” (_ibid._).

In 1754 Strype writes:

“Cheapside is a very stately spacious street, adorned with lofty buildings; well inhabited by Goldsmiths, Linen-Drapers, Haberdashers, and other great dealers. The street, which is throughout of an equal breadth, begins westward at Paternoster Row, and, in a straight line, runs to the Poultry, and from thence to the Royal exchange in Cornhill. And, as this Street is yet esteemed the principal high street in the City, so it was formerly graced with a great Conduit, a Standard, and a stately Cross; which last was pulled down in the Civil Wars. In the last Part, almost over-against Mercers Chapel, stood a great Conduit; but this Conduit, standing almost in the Middle of the street, being incommodious for Coaches and Carts, was thought fit by the Magistracy, after the great Fire, to be taken down, and built no more.”

The great Conduit of Chepe, commenced in 1285, brought the water from Paddington, a distance of 3½ miles. It stood opposite Mercers’ Hall and Chapel. It was a stone building long and low, battlemented, enclosing a leaden cistern. In the year 1441 at the west end of Chepe and in the east end of the Church of St. Michael le Querne, the smaller conduit was erected. Both conduits were destroyed in the Great Fire—the larger one was not rebuilt. The Standard opposite Honey Lane was in later years fitted with a water cock always running. At the Standard many public executions took place (Strype, vol. 1. p. 566).

Hardly any street of London is more frequently mentioned in annual documents than Chepe. There are many ancient deeds of sale and conveyances still preserved at the Guildhall, relating to property in Chepe. In the _Calendar of Wills_, houses, etc., in Chepe are bequeathed in more than two hundred wills there quoted; many ordinances concerning Chepe are recorded in Riley’s _Memorials_.

Stow has given some of the history of Chepe. His account may be supplemented by a few notes on other events and persons connected with the street.

The antiquity of the street is proved by the discovery of Roman coins, Roman _tesserae_, Romano-British remains of various kinds, and Saxon jewels. It is not, however, until the thirteenth century that we find historical events other than the conveyance, etc., of land and tenements in Cheapside.

In the thirteenth century a part of Cheapside, if not the whole, was called the Crown Field; the part so called was probably confined to a space on the east of Bow Church.

In the year 1232 we find the citizens mustering in arms at Mile End and “well arrayed” in Chepe.

In 1269 it is recorded that the pillory in Chepe was broken, and so remained for a whole year by the negligence of the bailiffs, so that nobody could be put in pillory for that time. The bakers seized the opportunity for selling loaves of short weight—even a third part short. But in 1270, on the Feast of St. Michael, the sheriffs had a new pillory made and erected on the site of the old one. Then the hearts of the bakers failed them for fear, and the weight of the loaves increased.

In 1273 the Mayor removed from Chepe all the stalls of the butchers and fishmongers, together with the stalls which had been let and granted by the preceding sheriffs, although the persons occupying them had taken them for life and had paid large sums for their leases. This was a political move, the intention being to deprive the stall-keepers of their votes. The Mayor, however, defended the action on the ground that the King was about to visit the City, and that it behoved him to clear the way of refuse and encumbrances.

In the year 1326 a letter was sent by the Queen and her son Edward calling upon the citizens of London to aid with all their power in destroying the enemies of the land, and Hugh le Despenser in especial. Wherefore, when the head of Hugh was carried in triumph through Chepe, with trumpets sounding, the citizens rejoiced.

In October of the same year when the Bishop of Exeter, Walter de Stapleton, was on his way to his house in “Elde Dean’s Lane” to dine there, he was met by the mob, dragged into Chepe with one of his esquires, and there beheaded. Another of the Bishop’s servants was beheaded in Chepe the same day.

On the birth of Edward III. on November 13, 1312, the people of London made great rejoicings, holding carols, _i.e._ dances and songs, in Chepe for a fortnight, while the conduits ran wine.

In 1482 a grocer’s shop in Cheapside with a “hall” over it—perhaps a warehouse—was let for the rental of £4 : 6 : 8 per annum. The owner of the shop was Lord Howard, created Duke of Norfolk in 1483.

References to Cheapside multiply as we approach more modern times. In 1522, when Charles V. came to England, lodgings were appointed for his retinue. Among them was a house in Cheapside, a goldsmith’s. It contained one parlour, one kitchen, one chamber, and one bed. The murder of Dr. Lambe in 1631, the execution of William Hacket in 1591, the burning of the Solemn Covenant in 1661,—these are incidents in the history of Cheapside. Many other events belonging either to the history of the City or of the realm have been mentioned elsewhere.

In the sixteenth century one of the sights of London was the Goldsmiths’ Row, built in 1491 on the site of certain shops and selds. Stow calls the Row “a most beautiful frame of faire houses and shops consisting of ten faire dwellinghouses and fourteen shops, all in one frame, builded foure stories high, beautified towards the street with the Goldsmith’s Arms and the likeness of woodmen, in memory of his name, riding on monstrous beasts all richly painted and gilt.” Maitland, who certainly could not remember it, says that it was “beautiful to behold the glorious appearance of the Goldsmith’s shops in the South row of Cheapside, which in a course reached from the Old Change of Bucklersbury exclusive of four shops only, of three trades, in all that space.”

Coming now to a description of Cheapside as it is at present, we find a statue of Sir Robert Peel standing on a block of granite. The whole is more than 20 feet in height. The statue was put up in 1855, and on the pedestal is the inscription of Peel’s birth and death. On the north of Cheapside is a large stone block of building in one uniform style with shops on the ground floor. This contains the Saddlers’ Hall, and in the middle is the great entrance way solidly carried out in stone.

THE SADDLERS COMPANY

The date of the formation of the Company, and the circumstances
under which it was founded, are unknown. It existed at a very remote
period. There is now preserved in the archives of the Collegiate
Church of Saint Martin’s-le-Grand a parchment containing a letter
from that foundation, in which reference is made to the then ancient
customs of the Guild. This document is believed to have been written
about the time of Henry II., Richard I., or John, most probably in
the first of these reigns. In this letter reference is made to
“Ernaldus, the Alderman of the Guild.” This Ernaldus is stated by
Mr. Alfred John Kempe, in his work _Historical Notices of the
Collegiate Church of Saint Martin’s-le-Grand_, to have lived before
the Conquest, by which it may be inferred that the Company is of
Anglo-Saxon origin.

King Edward I., A.D. 1272, granted a charter. King Edward III., by
his charter 1st December, 37 Edward III., A.D. 1363, granted that as
well in the City of London as in every other city, borough, or town
where the art of Saddlers is exercised, one or two honest and
faithful men of the craft should be chosen and appointed by the
Saddlers there dwelling to superintend and survey the craft. This
charter was exemplified and confirmed by Henry VI., Henry VII., and
Henry VIII.

Richard II., by charter 20th March, 18 Richard II., A.D. 1374,
granted to the men of the mystery of Saddlers of the City of London,
that for the good government of the mystery they may have one
commonalty of themselves for ever, and that the men of the same
mystery and commonalty may choose and appoint every year four
keepers of the men of the commonalty to survey, rule, and duly
govern the same. Furthermore, that the keepers and commonalty, and
their successors, may purchase lands, to the yearly value of twenty
pounds, for the sustentation of the poor, old, weak and decayed
persons of the mystery, and this charter was exemplified, ratified,
and confirmed by Edward IV.

Queen Elizabeth, by charter 9th November, 1 Elizabeth, A.D. 1558,
exemplifies, ratifies, and confirms the previous charters, and
reincorporates the Company by the name of the wardens or keepers and
commonalty of the mystery or art of Saddlers of the City of London.
The charter names and appoints four wardens to hold office from the
date of the charter until the 14th August then following, and
authorises them to keep within their common hall an assembly of the
wardens or keepers or freemen of the same mystery, or the greater
part of them, or of the wardens, and of eight of the most ancient
and worthy freemen, being of the assistants of the mystery, and that
the wardens and eight of the assistants at least being present shall
have full power to treat, consult, and agree upon the articles and
ordinances touching the mystery or art aforesaid, and the good rule,
state, and government of the same. Power is given to elect four
wardens on the 14th August yearly. Power of giving two votes is
given to the master at doubtful elections. Powers are also given for
the government and regulation of the trade.

This is one of the most ancient, as it is also one of the most
interesting, of the City Companies. Their original quarter was at
St. Martin’s-le-Grand. The saddle played an important part in every
man’s life at a time when riding was the only method of travelling.

The saddlers were connected with the Church of St. Martin’s-le-Grand
and made some kind of convention with the Canons, the nature of
which is uncertain. Probably the Canons promised them their aid in
support of their rights and privileges, in return for which their
religious gifts and fees were paid to the Church of St. Martin. The
mystery of saddlery, like all others, overlapped, and encroached
upon, other mysteries and crafts. Then there followed quarrels. Thus
in 1307 (Riley, _Memorials_, p. 156) there was an affray between the
saddlers on one side and the loriners, joiners, and painters on the
other, on account of such encroachments. The quarrel was adjusted by
the Mayor and Aldermen. Another trouble to which so great a trade
was liable, was the desire of the journeymen to break off into
fraternities of their own. This pretension was seriously taken in
hand in 1796, and such fraternities were strictly forbidden.

The Company has had three halls, all on the same site. The first was
burned in the Great Fire; the second in 1822; the present hall was
built after the second fire, and is at No. 141 Cheapside.

At the corner of Wood Street is what remains of the churchyard of St. Peter’s, Westcheap, the building of which was destroyed in the Great Fire: a railed-in space, gravel covered and uninteresting, except for the magnificent plane-tree which spreads its branches protectingly over the low roofs in front. On the walls of the old houses near are fixed two monuments, and a little stone tablet rather high up, with the inscription:

“Erected at the sole cost and charges of the Parish of St. Peter’s,
Westcheap, A.D. 1687,”

followed by the names of the churchwardens.

=The Church of St. Peter, Westcheap=, was also called SS. Peter and
Paul. After the Great Fire its parish was annexed to that of St.
Matthew, Friday Street. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1302.

The patronage of the church was in the hands of the Abbot of St.
Alban’s before 1302. Henry VIII. seized it and granted it in 1545 to
the Earl of Southampton, in whose successors it continued up to
1666.

Houseling people in 1548 were 360.

A chantry was founded here at the Altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary
by Nicholas de Faringdon, Mayor of London, 1313 and 1320, for
himself and Rose his wife, to which Lawrence Bretham de Faversham
was admitted chaplain, October 24, 1361; the endowment fetched £29 :
3 : 4 in 1548, when Sir W. Alee was priest. There was another at the
Altar of the Holy Cross.

Sir John Munday, goldsmith, Mayor, was buried here in 1527; also Sir
Alexander Avenon, Mayor in 1569; and Augustine Hind, clothworker,
Alderman, and Sheriff of London, who died in 1554.

The only charitable gifts recorded by Stow are: £2 : 4 : 4, the gift
of Sir Lionel Ducket; 3s. 4d., the gift of Lady Read; 7s. 6d., the
gift of Mr. Walton.

John Gwynneth, Mus. Doc. and author, was rector here in 1545; also
Richard Gwent, D.D., and William Boleyn, Archdeacon of Winchester.

ST. MARY-LE-BOW

But the ornament of Cheapside is St. Mary-le-Bow, which derived its
additional name from its stone “bows” or arches. The date of its
foundation is not known, but it appears to have been during or
before the reign of William the Conqueror. The court of the
Archbishop of Canterbury was held here before the Great Fire; and
though the connection between the church and the ecclesiastical
courts has ceased, it is still used for the confirmation of the
election of bishops. The “Court of Arches” owes its name to the fact
that it was held in the beautiful Norman crypt which still survives.
The church has been made famous, Stow observes, as the scene of
various calamities, of which he records details. In 1469 the Common
Council ordained the ringing of Bow Bell every evening at nine
o’clock, but the practice had existed for already more than a
century; in 1515 the largest of the five bells was presented by
William Copland. The church was totally destroyed in 1666, as well
as those of St. Pancras, Soper Lane and Allhallows, Honey Lane; the
two last were not rebuilt, their parishes being annexed to St.
Mary’s. Wren began building the present church in 1671 and completed
it in 1680. The cost was greater than any other of Wren’s parish
churches by £3000, £2000 of which was contributed by Dame
Williamson. The steeple was repaired by Sir William Staines in the
eighteenth century, and again in 1820 by Mr. George Gwilt. In 1758,
seven of the bells were recast, new ones were added, and the ten
were first rung in 1762 in honour of George III.’s birthday; the
full number now is twelve. In 1786 the parish of Allhallows, Bread
Street, was united with this.

The earliest date of an incumbent is 1242.

The patronage of the church has always been in the hands of the
Archbishop of Canterbury and his successors, but Henry III.
presented to it in 1242.

Houseling people in 1548 were 300.

The church measures 65 feet in length, 63 feet in breadth, and 38
feet in height; it contains a nave and two side aisles. The great
feature of the building is the steeple, which is the most elaborate
of all Wren’s works and only exceeded in height by St. Bride’s. It
rises at the north-west end of the church and measures 32 square
feet at the base. The tower contains three storeys. The highest is
surmounted by a cornice and balustrade with finials and vases, and a
circular dome supporting a cylinder, lantern, and spire. The
weather-vane is in the form of a dragon, the City emblem. The total
height is 221 feet 9 inches. The Norman crypt already mentioned
still remains, consisting of three aisles formed by massive columns;
it probably formed part of the building in William I.’s time.

Chantries were founded here:

By John Causton, to which John Steveyns was admitted chaplain,
December 2, 1452; by John Coventry, in the chapel of St. Nicholas;
by Henry Frowycke, whose endowment fetched £15 : 10s. in 1548; by
John de Holleghe, whose endowment produced £7 in 1548; by Dame
Eleanor, Prioress of Winchester, whose endowment yielded £4 in 1548.

The original church does not appear to have contained many monuments
of note. Among the civic dignitaries buried here was Nicholas
Alwine, Lord Mayor in 1499, whose name is familiar to readers of
_The Last of the Barons_.

Sir John Coventry, Mayor in 1425, was also buried here.

There is a tablet fixed over the vestry-room door, commemorating
Dame Dionis Williamson, who gave £2000 towards the building of the
church. On the west wall a sarcophagus commemorates Bishop Newton,
rector, who won celebrity by his edition of Milton first published
in 1749.

The parish possessed a considerable number of charities and gifts:

George Palin was donor of £100, to be devoted to the maintenance of
a weekly lecture.

Mr. Banton, of £50 for the same purpose. There were others, to the
total amount of £60.

There was one Charity School belonging to Cordwainer and Bread
Street Wards for fifty boys and thirty girls, who were put to
employments and trades when fit.

The following are among the notable rectors:

Martin Fotherby (d. 1619), Bishop of Salisbury; Samuel Bradford
(1652-1731), Bishop of Gloucester; Samuel Lisle (1683-1749), Bishop
of Norwich; Nicholas Felton (1556-1626), Bishop of Bristol; Thomas
Newton (1704-1782), Bishop of Bristol; and William Van Mildert
(1765-1836), Bishop of Llandaff, and later the last Prince-Bishop of
Durham.

Quaint sayings and traditions have gathered more thickly about St. Mary’s than about any of the City churches. Dick Whittington’s story has made the name familiar to every British child; while to be born “within sound of Bow Bells” is more dignified than to own oneself a Cockney. In sooth-saying we have the prophecy of Mother Shipton that when the Grasshopper on the Exchange and the Dragon on Bow Church should meet, the streets should be deluged with blood. They did so meet, being sent to the same yard for repair at the same time, but the prophecy was not fulfilled.

The ringing of the Bow bells in the Middle Ages signified closing-time for shops, and the ringer incurred the wrath of the apprentices of Chepe if he failed to be punctual to the second.

We now proceed to the =Poultry=.

Stow thus describes the place:

“Now to begin again on the bank of the said Walbrooke, at the east end of the high street called the Poultrie, on the north side thereof, is the proper parish church of St. Mildred, which church was new built upon Walbrooke in the year 1457. John Saxton their parson gave thirty-two pounds towards the building of the new choir, which now standeth upon the course of Walbrooke.”

Strype says of it:

“The Poultry, a good large and broad Street, and a very great thoroughfare for Coaches, Carts, and foot-passengers, being seated in the Heart of the City, and leading to and from the Royal Exchange; and from thence to Fleet Street, the Strand, Westminster, and the western parts: and therefore so well inhabited by great tradesmen. It begins in the West, by the old Jewry, where Cheapside ends, and reaches the Stocks market by Cornhill. On the North side is Scalding Alley; a large place, containing two or three Alleys, and a square Court with good buildings, and well inhabited; but the greatest part is in Bread Street Ward, where it is mentioned.”

Roman knives and weapons have been found in the Poultry. The valley of the Walbrook, 130 feet in width, began its slope here. Nearly opposite Princes Street, a modern street, there was anciently a bridge over the stream. We find in the thirteenth century an inquest held here over the body of one Agnes de Golden Lane, who was found starved to death, a rare circumstance at that time, and only possible, one would think, considering the charity of the monastic houses, in the case of a bedridden person forgotten or deserted by her own people. In the fourteenth century there are various bequests of shops and tenements in the Poultry. In the fifteenth century we find that there was a brewery here, near the Compter; how did the brewer get his water? In the same century the Compter—which was one of the two sheriffs’ prisons—seems to belong to one Walter Hunt, a grocer. In the sixteenth century one of the rioters of 1517 was hanged in the Poultry; there was trouble about the pavements and complaints were made of obstructions by butchers, poulterers, and the ancestors of the modern coster, who sold things from barrows, stopping up the road and refusing to move on. Before the Fire there were many taverns in the Poultry; some of them had the signs which have been found belonging to the Poultry.

The later associations of the place have been detailed by Cunningham:

“Lubbock’s Banking-house is leased of the Goldsmiths, being part of Sir Martin Bowes’s bequest to the Company in Queen Elizabeth’s time. The King’s Head Tavern, No. 25, was kept in Charles II.’s time by William King. His wife happening to be in labour on the day of the King’s restoration, was anxious to see the returning monarch, and Charles, in passing through Poultry, was told of her inclination, and stopped at the tavern to salute her. No. 22 was Dilly, the bookseller’s. Here Dr. Johnson met John Wilkes at dinner; and here Boswell’s life of Johnson was first published. Dilly sold his business to Mawman. No. 31 was the shop of Vernor and Hood, booksellers. Hood of this firm was father of the facetious Tom Hood, and here Tom was born in 1798” (_Hand-book of London_).

Here is a little story. It happened in 1318. One John de Caxtone, furbisher by trade, going along the Poultry—one charitably hopes that he was in liquor—met a certain valet of the Dean of Arches who was carrying a sword under his arm, thinking no evil. Thereupon John assaulted him, apparently without provocation, and drawing out the sword, wounded the said valet with his own weapon. This done, he refused to surrender to the Mayor’s sergeant, nor would he give himself up till the Mayor himself appeared on the spot. We see the crowd—all the butchers in the Poultry collected together: on the ground lies the wounded valet, bleeding, beside him is the sword, the assailant blusters and swears that he will not surrender, the Mayor’s sergeant remonstrates, the crowd increases, then the Mayor himself appears followed by other sergeants, a lane is made, and at sight of that authority the man gives in. The sergeants march him off to Newgate, the crowd disperses, the butchers go back to their stalls, the women to their baskets, the costers to their barrows. For five days the offender cools his heels at Newgate. Then he is brought before the Mayor. He throws himself on the mercy of the judge, sureties are found for him that he will keep the peace, and he consents to compensate the wounded man.

For Stocks Market, St. Mary Woolchurch Haw, on the site of which the Mansion House stands, and the vicinity, formerly included in the Poultry, see Group III.

At the east end of the Poultry is =Grocers’ Alley=, formerly Conyhope Lane, of which Stow says:

“Then is Conyhope Lane, of old time so called of such a sign of three conies hanging over a poulterer’s stall at the lane’s end. Within this lane standeth the Grocers’ hall, which company being of old time called Pepperers, were first incorporated by the name of Grocers in the year 1345.” The Grocers’ Hall really opens into Princes Street.

THE GROCERS COMPANY

The Company’s records begin partly in Norman-French, partly in Old
English, as follows: “To the honour of God, the Virgin Mary, St.
Anthony and All Saints, the 9th day of May 1345, a Fraternity was
founded of the Company of Pepperers of Soper’s Lane for love and
unity to maintain and keep themselves together, of which Fraternity
are sundry beginners, founders, and donors to preserve the said
Fraternity.”

(Here follow twenty-two names.)

The same twenty-two persons “accorded to be together at a dinner in
the Abbot’s Place of Bury on the 12th of June following, and then
were chosen two the first Wardens that ever were of our Fraternity,”
and certain ordinances were agreed to by assent among the
Fraternity, providing that no person should be of the Fraternity “if
not of good condition and of this craft, that is to say, a Pepperer
of Soper’s Lane or a Spicer in the ward of Cheap, or other people of
their mystery, wherever they reside”; for contributions among the
members, for the purposes of the Fraternity, including the
maintenance of a priest; the wearing of a livery; arbitration by the
Wardens upon disputes between members; attendance at Mass at the
Monastery of St. Anthony on St. Anthony’s Day, and at a feast on
that day or within the octave, at which feast the Wardens should
come with chaplets and choose and crown two other Wardens for the
year ensuing; attendance at the funerals of members; the taking of
apprentices; assistance of unfortunate members out of the common
stock; and that “any of the Fraternity may according to his
circumstance and free will devise what he chooses to the common box
for the better supporting the Fraternity and their alms.”

From external evidence it appears that for two centuries at least
before 1345 there had existed a Guild of Pepperers, who had
superseded the Soapers in Soper’s Lane, and probably absorbed them.
The twenty-two Pepperers, who in 1345 founded the social,
benevolent, and religious fraternity of St. Anthony, were of “good
condition,” probably the most influential and wealthy men in the
Pepperers’ guild; in founding the new brotherhood “for greater love
and unity” and “to maintain and assist one another,” they did not
desert their old guild, but formed a new fraternity within it. They
did not seek, apparently, to alter the institution of the Guild of
Pepperers, nor did they adopt a distinctive title for themselves;
but the movement was obviously an important one, and attracted
notice and jealousy, which was perhaps increased by the foreign
connections of some of the members. So rapidly did the Company gain
favour and strength that in 1383, not forty years after its
foundation, there were one hundred and twenty-nine liverymen of whom
not less than sixteen were Aldermen. At that time, no doubt, the
Company exercised a preponderating influence in the City of London.

The new brotherhood was styled the Fraternity of St. Anthony from
1348 to 1357. After this year there is an hiatus in the Company’s
records, and when these recommence in 1373 the title is “company” or
“fraternity” of “gossers,” “grosers,” “groscers,” or “grocers.”

The origin of the term “grocer” and its application to the Company
are involved in considerable obscurity. As far as can be
ascertained, the first use of the word, officially, is against the
Company from without, and in an aspect of reproach. It occurs in a
petition to the King and Parliament in 1363, against the new
fraternity that “les Marchantz nomez Grossers engrossent toutes
maneres de marchandises vendables.”

It is by no means improbable that the term, first suggested by less
successful rivals in trade, was adopted by the leading dealers “en
gros” for the name of the company, which formed round the Fraternity
of St. Anthony, and probably absorbed the whole Guild of Pepperers.

From this time forward the Company began to act with energy in the
interests of trade. In 1394 we find them, together with some Italian
merchants, presenting a petition to the Corporation complaining of
the unjust mode of “garbling,” _i.e._ cleansing or purifying spices
and other “sotill wares.” The petition was entertained, and the
Company were requested to recommend a member of their own body to
fill the office, and on their nomination Thomas Halfmark was chosen
and sworn garbeller of “spices and sotill ware.”

The fraternity, after holding their meetings for three years at
the Abbot of Bury’s, assembled in 1348 at Fulsham’s house at the
Rynged Hall, in St. Thomas Apostle, close to St. Anthony’s Church
in Budge Row, Watling Street, where they at this time obtained
permission to erect a chantry, etc., and called themselves the
Fraternity of St. Anthony. They ultimately collected at
Bucklersbury (“Bokerellesbury”), at the Cornet’s Tower, which had
been used by Edward III. at the beginning of his reign as his
exchange of money and exchequer. Here the Company began to
exercise the functions entrusted to them of superintending the
public weighing of merchandise.

In 1411 a descendant of Lord FitzWalter, who, in the reign of Henry
III., had obtained possession of the chapel of St. Edmund which
adjoined his family mansion, sold the chapel to the Company for 320
marks, and in the next reign the Company purchased the family
mansion and built their Hall upon the site. The foundation stone was
laid in 1427 and the building was completed in the following year.
The expenses were defrayed by the contributions of members. Five
years later the garden was added.

In 1428 the Company’s first charter of incorporation was granted by
King Henry VI., and they became a body politic by the name of
“Custodes et Communitas Mysterii Groceriæ Londini.” Nineteen years
later the same king granted to the Company the exclusive right of
garbling throughout all places in the kingdom of England, except the
City of London.

In 1453 the Company, having the charge and management of the public
scale or King’s Beam, made a regular tariff of charges. It appears
that to John Churchman, grocer, who served the office of sheriff in
1385, the trade of London is indebted for the establishment of the
first Custom House. Churchman, in the sixth year of Richard II.,
built a house on Woolwharf Key, in Tower Street Ward, for the
tronage or weighing of wools in the port of London, and a grant of
the right of tronage was made by the King to Churchman for life. It
is probable that Churchman, being unable of himself to manage so
considerable a concern as the public scale, obtained the assistance
of his Company, and thus the management of the weigh-house and the
appointment of the officers belonging to it came into the hands of
the Grocers Company.

Henry VIII. granted to the City of London the Beam with all
appurtenances, and directed its management to be committed to some
expert in weights. The City thereupon gave the management to the
Company, only requiring one-third of the profits. The Company
enjoyed, uninterruptedly, these privileges up to 1625, when a
dispute arose with the City, and an agreement was made whereby the
Company were to appoint four under-porters, and present four
candidates for Master Porter, the Lord Mayor to choose one of them.
Several disputes followed with the Corporation, who in 1700 ejected
the officers appointed by the Company, and tried their right at law.
No result is reported, but the Company filled up vacancies after
that date, and up to 1797, when a Bill was passed for making Wet
Docks at Wapping, and this appears to have had the effect of
depriving the Company of their privileges.