Chapter XI: Preface (11)

“Next I read in a charter, dated the year 1235, that Walter Brune, citizen of London, and Rosia his wife, having founded the priory or new hospital of our blessed Lady, since called St. Mary Spittle without Bishopsgate, confirmed the same to the honour of God and our blessed Lady, for canons regular.

“Also in the year 1247, Simon Fitzmary, one of the sheriffs of London, the 29th of Henry III., founded the hospital of St. Mary, called Bethlem without Bishopsgate.

“This gate was again beautifully built in the year 1479, in the reign of Edward IV., by the Haunce merchants.

“Moreover, about the year 1551, these Haunce merchants, having prepared stone for that purpose, caused a new gate to be framed, there to have been set up, but then their liberties, through suit of our English merchants, were seized into the king’s hand; and so that work was stayed, and the old gate yet remaineth.”

BISHOPSGATE STREET, SHOWING CHURCH OF ST. MARTIN, OUTWICH, AND THE
PUMP, 1814
]

In 1731 the old gate was taken down and another erected. This, with the other City gates, was removed in 1760.

If we walk down Bishopsgate Street Within, we cannot do better than take Stow with us, remembering that he is writing in the year 1598:

“And first to begin on the left hand of Bishopsgate street, from the gate you have certain tenements of old time pertaining to a brotherhood of St. Nicholas, granted to the parish clerks of London, for two chaplains, to be kept in the chapel of St. Mary Magdalen, near unto the Guildhall of London, in the 27th of Henry VI. The first of these houses towards the north, and against the wall of the city, was sometime a large inn or court called the Wrestlers, of such a sign, and the last in the high street towards the south was sometime also a fair inn called the Angel, of such a sign. Among these said tenements was on the same street side a fair entry, or court, to the common hall of the said parish clerks, with proper almshouses, seven in number, adjoining, for poor parish clerks, and their wives and their widows, such as were in great years not able to labour. This brotherhood, amongst other, being suppressed, in the reign of Edward VI. the said hall, with the other buildings there, was given to Sir Robert Chester, a knight of Cambridgeshire; against whom the parish clerks commencing suit, in the reign of Queen Mary, and being like to have prevailed, the said Sir Robert Chester pulled down the hall, sold the timber, stone, and lead, and thereupon the suit was ended. The almshouses remain in the queen’s hands, and people are there placed, such as can make best friends; some of them, taking the pension appointed, have let forth their houses for great rent, giving occasion to the parson of the parish to challenge tithes of the poor, etc.”

After mentioning St. Ethelburga, St. Helen’s, and St. Andrew Undershaft, he goes on:

“Then have you one great house called Crosby place, because the same was built by Sir John Crosby, grocer and woolman, in place of certain tenements, with their appurtenances, letten to him by Alice Ashfeld, prioress of St. Helen’s, and the convent, for ninety-nine years, from the year 1466 unto the year 1565, for the annual rent of £11 : 6 : 8.

“Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and lord protector, afterwards king, by the name of Richard III., was lodged in this house; since the which time, among other, Anthonie Bonvice, a rich merchant of Italy, dwelt there; after him, Garmain Cioll, then William Bond, alderman, increased this house in height, with building of a turret on the top thereof: he deceased in the year 1576, and was buried in St. Helen’s church. Divers ambassadors have been lodged there; namely, in the year 1586, Henry Ramelius, chancellor of Denmark, ambassador unto the queen’s majesty of England from Frederick II., the king of Denmark; an ambassador of France, etc. Sir John Spencer, Alderman, lately purchased this house, made great reparations, kept his mayoralty there, and since built a most large warehouse near thereunto.

“From this Crosbie place up to Leaden Hall corner, and so down Grass Street, amongst other tenements, are divers fair and large built houses for merchants and such like.

_Drawn by Schnebbelie_.

ST. HELEN, BISHOPSGATE, 1817
]

“Now for the other side of this ward, namely, the right hand, hard by within the gate, is one fair water conduit, which Thomas Knesworth, mayor, in the year 1505, founded: he gave £60, the rest was furnished at the common charges of the city. This conduit hath since been taken down and new built. David Woodroffe, alderman, gave £20 towards the conveyance of more water thereunto. From this conduit have you, amongst many fair tenements, divers fair inns, large for receipt of travellers, and some houses for men of worship; namely, one most spacious of all other thereabout, built of brick and timber by Sir Thomas Gresham, knight, who deceased in the year 1579, and was buried in St. Helen’s church, under a fair monument, by him prepared in his life: he appointed by his testament this house to be made a college of readers, as before is said in the chapter of schools and houses of learning.

“Somewhat west from this house is one other very fair house, wherein Sir William Hollis kept his mayoralty, and was buried in the parish church of St. Helen. Sir Andrew Jud also kept his mayoralty there, and was buried at St. Helen’s: he built almshouses for six poor alms people near to the said parish church, and gave lands to the Skinners, out of the which they are to give 4s. every week to the six poor alms people, 8d. the piece, and 25s. 4d. the year, in coals amongst them for ever” (Stow’s _Survey_, p. 181).

Shakespeare, who lived for a time in St. Helen’s, and therefore knew Crosby Hall well, has introduced it in Richard III. Sir Thomas More lived here for a time, the guest of Bonvici, to whom from the Tower he wrote, and in whose gown, of silk camlet, he went to his execution. In 1547 Bonvici let the house on lease to William Roper, More’s son-in-law, and to his nephew William Rastell, a printer. Under Edward VI., Bonvici, Rastell, and Roper went abroad, but came home under Mary. Meantime Edward VI. had conferred the house upon Sir Thomas D’Arcy, afterwards Lord D’Arcy, who seems to have sold it to William Bond, alderman and sheriff. Sir John Spencer next became the owner of the house. He received the Duc de Sully, Grand Treasurer of France, with all his retinue.

The way in which the inheritance of this great merchant came to the Comptons is told by Hare:

“Sir John Spencer, having but a poor opinion of the Compton family in that day, positively forbade the first Earl of Northampton to pay his addresses to his daughter, who was the greatest heiress in England. One day, at the foot of the staircase, Sir John met the baker’s boy with his covered barrow, and, being pleased at his having come punctually when he was ordered, he gave him sixpence; but the baker’s boy was Lord Northampton in disguise, and in the covered barrow he was carrying off the beautiful Elizabeth Spencer. When he found how he had been duped, Sir John swore that Lord Northampton had seen the only sixpence of his money he should ever receive, and refused to be reconciled to his daughter. But the next year Queen Elizabeth, having expressed to Sir John Spencer the sympathy which she felt with his sentiments upon the ingratitude of his child, invited him to come and be “gossip” with her to a newly-born baby in which she was much interested, and he could not refuse; and it is easy to imagine whose that baby was. So the Spencer property came to the Comptons after all” (Hare, vol. i. pp. 284-85).

CORNHILL MILITARY ASSOCIATION, WITH A VIEW OF THE CHURCH OF ST.
HELEN’S AND LEATHERSELLERS’ HALL
]

In 1642 the Earl of Northampton was killed at Hopton Heath, beside the King. Here lived the Countess of Pembroke, Sidney’s sister, immortalised by Ben Jonson’s epitaph. In 1640 Sir John Langham, sheriff in 1642, leased the house; it is said to have been used as a prison for Royalists. His son, Sir Stephen Langham, succeeded, and in his time a great part of the house was destroyed by fire. In 1672, its great hall became a Presbyterian meeting-house; it was then turned into a packers’ warehouse. In 1831 it was converted into an institute for lectures and is now a restaurant.[3]

COUNCIL ROOM, CROSBY HALL, 1816
]

The streets and courts leading out of Bishopsgate Street Within are neither important nor numerous. On the west side going south from the gate were inns called the Vine, the Four Swans, the Green Dragon, the Black Bull, and the Cross Keys (in Gracechurch Street).

Beginning at the south end of the modern Bishopsgate we see on the west the Bank of Scotland, the National Bank of Australasia, and the Delhi and London Bank, housed under one roof in a large stone building with the lower windows enclosed in exceptionally high and bold arches. Baring Bros. Bank is opposite. It is a plain, well-proportioned brick building, symmetrical and without tawdry ornament; it was designed by R. Norman Shaw. It is flanked on either side by a public-house, The Black Lion and the City of London Tavern. Just opposite the entrance of Threadneedle Street the Wesleyan Centenary Hall attracts attention by its size and solidity. Four immense fluted columns run up the facade to a frieze and triangular pediment. It was erected in 1839. Close by is the Bank of Scotland. It looks out on the really fine National Provincial Bank of England at the north corner of Threadneedle Street. This has fluted stone columns running up to the frieze along the whole frontage. They enclose very tall, round-headed windows, and above the windows are deep panels of great size executed in _basso-relievo_. It was erected in 1833 and the architect was J. Gibson. Along the parapet of the roof at intervals are placed statues which break the hard line.

Immediately opposite the entry, on the east side of the square we see a dreary block of brick houses; these are Crosby Buildings, and are fully occupied by representatives of trade and commerce. On the south side there is an old stuccoed house with a square pillared porch. The next house is of red brick with decorative brick panels let in on the face. This is an old house which has been recased. Its fine stuccoed doorway is still preserved. On the west a large red brick building bearing date 1876 fills up the space, and on the north is an old brick house with a plain projecting pediment over the door, and brackets similar to those on the south side. No. 7 in the north-east corner is a new stone house of plain but rather original design. A couple of little plane-trees grow up at either end of the quiet square.

A covered entry leads from Crosby Square to Great St. Helen’s. The first part of this tortuous thoroughfare is lined by the side of Crosby Buildings, modern brick, on the one side, and the end of the stuccoed synagogue, which stands back from the frontage of the street, on the other. About this part, and the narrow lane which succeeds it running north and south, there is little to say; the substantial business spirit pervades even the bricks and mortar. But in the open space beyond, facing the church, are some features of interest. Nos. 8, 9, and 10 have all been rebuilt in the large-windowed flat modern style. No. 7 is a fine old red brick house. No. 2 is a delightful one and has an ornamental doorway with fluted columns and pilasters supporting the lintel, beneath which on either side are cherubs’ heads. Across the wide space before the quaint and interesting church are other red brick houses, some old and some of more modern date. Close by the entry the builder is at work on the site of some charming old gabled houses demolished within the last five years.

ST. HELEN, BISHOPSGATE

There is a well-known tradition that a church was built here in the
fourth century by the Emperor Constantine, and there is a record
preserved which proves that the church was in existence before the
year 1010. A church standing on this site was given by one Ranulph,
and Robert his son, to the Dean and Canons of St. Paul’s at a date
unknown. About 1212, permission was obtained to found the Priory of
St. Helen for nuns of the Benedictine Order and with this the real
history of the church begins. It is always stated that the north
aisle of the church was used by the nuns, while the south was
occupied by the parishioners, but the first rector mentioned dates
from 1541, that is to say, after the suppression of the Religious
Houses. On the dissolution of the priory in 1538 the church was
given in its entirety to parochial uses. It was largely repaired in
1631 (under the direction of Inigo Jones), in 1841, 1865, and again
in 1891-93. In 1873 the Parish of St. Martin Outwich was united with
this, its church having been pulled down.

Houseling people in 1548 were 220.

The church consists of two parallel naves, each of 122 feet in
length and about 25 feet in width, and a south transept, out of
which two eastern chapels open. In the north wall is an arched
doorway which led from the choir into the priory, also a hagioscope
through which the nuns were able to discern the high altar from the
cloisters. All this part and some of the south transept dates from
the thirteenth century; the side chapels were added about the middle
of the fourteenth and the rest dates from the fifteenth century.

A chantry was founded in honour of the Holy Ghost for the soul of
Adam Fraunceys, to which Joan, Prioress of the Convent of St. Helen,
presented Robert Gryngeley, May 18, 1399, and for Agnes his wife
(Hennessey’s _Chantries_, p. 39).

The church contains a remarkable number of interesting monuments.
The following are commemorated: Alderman John Robinson, Merchant
Taylor and merchant of the Staple of England; died 1599. Francis
Bancroft, who bequeathed over £28,000 to the Drapers Company for the
erection of almshouses and a school for boys; he died 1727. Martin
Bond, M.P. in 1624 and 1625 for the City of London. Alberticus
Gentilis, Merchant Adventurer and a prolific legal author who was an
exile from Italy on account of his Protestant opinions; he became
Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford and died in 1608. Sir Thomas
Gresham, founder of the Royal Exchange and Gresham College, who died
in 1579. Sir Andrew Judde, Lord Mayor in 1550, and a great
benefactor of the parish. Sir Julius Cæsar, judge, Master of the
Rolls under James I.; his monument was executed by Nicholas Stone,
Master Mason to King Charles I. Sir William Pickering, Knt., soldier
and scholar, whose monument is the most magnificent in the church;
he distinguished himself greatly under Henry VIII., Edward VI.,
Mary, and Elizabeth; he died in 1574. Sir John Crosby, already
mentioned in connection with Crosby Hall. Sir John Spencer, Lord
Mayor in 1594, commonly known as “Rich Spencer” on account of his
vast wealth. The Rev. J. E. Cox, D.D., who was Vicar-in-charge of
the united parishes, wrote _The Annals of St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate,
London_; he was for nine years in succession Grand Chaplain of
England. On the floors of the two chapels there are several brasses
very well executed.

A considerable number of benefactors are recorded by Stow, but the
amounts of their gifts were small individually. Sir John Crosby, at
his death in 1475, bequeathed 500 marks for the repair of the
church. In more recent times Francis Bancroft bequeathed over
£28,000; this has been devoted to founding a school at Woodford,
Essex, for boys—100 boarders and 200 day-boys. Sir Andrew Judde left
the Skinners Company trustees for the accomplishment of charitable
aims.

There were five almshouses near the church for as many decayed
Skinners and their wives. Six almshouses also were founded by Sir
Andrew Judde; in Little St. Helen Street there were seven houses for
the same number of widows, each of whom had £5 : 4s. per annum.

Thomas Horton (d. 1673), Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, 1649, was
rector here.

For an account of the ancient nunnery of St. Helen, see _Mediæval London_, vol. ii. p. 313.

St. Helen’s Place is a quiet corner with monotonous rows of Early Victorian or Georgian brick houses finished off with yellow paint. No. 1, near the entrance, and No. 2 have slight pillared porches over their doorways. In the northeast corner the small but richly-decorated front of the Leathersellers’ Hall attracts attention. The place is shut off from the street by spiked iron gates.

THE LEATHERSELLERS COMPANY

Dealers in leather are supposed to have existed as a society or
corporation in Britain from the time of the Romans.

PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE TO LEATHERSELLERS’ HALL. DEMOLISHED 1799
]

The “leathersellers,” as a company, are first mentioned about A.D.
1372, in Edward III.’s reign, when their “probi homines,” or “bons
gentz,” their wardens or seniors, came before the Court of Aldermen,
together with those of the craft of Pursers, afterwards amalgamated
with the Leathersellers Company, and jointly presented a bill or
“supplication” desiring some stringent regulations to be made for
the prevention of the sale of other than genuine leather, and to
prevent fraudulent colouring of leather.

The leathersellers were known as a corporation in London, and were
governed by ordinances, 1377-99.

The first charter of incorporation was granted to the Company by 22
Henry VI., 1444. It is still in their possession, and, “after
reciting the petition of Thomas Bigge and fourteen others, men of
the mistery of leathersellers of the city of London, sets forth an
ordinance made by Richard Whittington, mayor, and the aldermen of
the city, 21 Richard II., A.D. 1398, that two or four of the better
or more approved men of the mistery should yearly be chosen and
sworn to guard and oversee defaults in the same mistery, and to
present, from time to time, to the mayor and chamber of the said
city aforesaid for the time being; and that none of the mistery
aforesaid, to wit, master or servant, should be rebellious or
contrarious to such men so chosen and sworn, duly exercising search
in the said mistery, nor points, or laces, unless they were well and
sufficiently made, nor straps of the leather of sheep or calf, nor
thereof any other work, should falsely or deceitfully be wrought to
the deception of the people under pain of the heavy punishment upon
such cases ordained, and the payment of 6s. 8d.; to wit, to the use
of the Chamber of the city aforesaid 40d., and to the use of the
said mistery 40d.”

There are now 151 members of the livery. They have a Corporate
Income of £17,000 and a Trust Income of £3000. With the
Leathersellers were incorporated the White Tawyers, or makers of
white leather; the Pouchmakers, the Pursers, the Mailmakers, the
Galoche-makers, the Tiltmongers, the Leather-dressers, the
Parchment-makers and the Leather-dyers.

The earliest quarters of the trades connected with Leather were in
the north under London Wall. Here they had their first hall. After
the dissolution of the Religious Houses the Company obtained the
site of the nunnery known as St. Helen’s. Part of the house was
converted into the Company’s Hall, the old Refectory becoming the
Company’s place of meeting and banqueting. This ancient structure
was destroyed in 1797, the present one was built in 1878.

The low small Church of =St. Ethelburga= peers over some old houses, which seem to have stuck to it as barnacles to a decayed ship.

ST. ETHELBURGA THE VIRGIN

This church is dedicated to Ethelburga, who was sister of Erconwald,
fourth Bishop of London, and first Abbess of Barking. In all
probability the parish was formed and the church was built in the
century which succeeded the Conquest. It escaped the Great Fire, and
has subsequently had a great deal of attempted restoration. The
earliest date of an incumbent is 1304.

The patronage of the church was in the hands of: the Prioress and
Convent of St. Helen’s, London, 1366; then Henry VIII. seized it and
it was granted in 1569 to the Bishop of London, and continues with
his successors.

Houseling people in 1548 were 140.

The present church, originally Early English, appears to have been
altered at the close of the fourteenth century or early fifteenth.
It is very small, measuring less than 60 feet by 30, and under 31
feet in height, and is almost crowded out by houses. Entrance is
obtained through an archway between two shops, the upper stories of
which conceal everything but the top of the west window and turret.
It contains a south aisle separated from the rest by four pointed
arches, with a clerestory above. The roof is divided into
compartments and slopes slightly at the sides. The arch at the
entrance of the nave is fine and there are remnants of wood-carving,
probably of the sixteenth century, on the porch.

A chantry was founded here at the Altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary
by Gilbert Marion, and Christina his wife, to which Thomas More was
admitted chaplain, December 15, 1436.

There are tablets affixed to the wall commemorating parishioners,
but little interest attaches to the individuals. The only two
connected with this church of any eminence are John Larke, a friend
of Sir Thomas More, who was executed in 1554 for denying the King’s
supremacy; and Luke Milbourne (1649-1720), Dryden’s hostile critic,
rector here in 1704. William Bray (d. 1644), chaplain to Archbishop
Laud, was also sometime rector.

In Clark’s Place is a building containing the Marine Society, with the statues of a woman and boy in a niche. In Bishopsgate Street, No. 68, is an old stuccoed house with projecting upper stories. No. 67 is also old though not so noticeable.

Part of Ethelburga House and the numbers on the north, as far as 23 inclusive, are in this ward. The corner house has a stone mitre of large size on its corner and an inscription, rather quaintly worded, announcing that the gate stood formerly “adjoining to this spot.” Looking back down Bishopsgate from here we get a fine perspective view. The modern buildings are of all heights, but distance blends them not inharmoniously, leaving enough variety to be pleasing.

_Drawn by R. West, 1736._

ST. ETHELBURGA, BISHOPSGATE ST.
]

The Mail Coach public-house is at the corner, and on the opposite house is a small mitre in memory of the Bishopsgate.

Just outside the City Wall is

ST. BOTOLPH, BISHOPSGATE

This church escaped the Great Fire of 1666, but was rebuilt in
1725-29 by James Gold. In 1615 the City gave the parishioners
additional ground on the west for burial purposes. The earliest date
of an incumbent is 1323.

The patronage of the church has always been in the hands of the
bishops of London since 1323.

Houseling people in 1548 were 650.

The building includes two aisles, separated from the main body by
composite columns. There are galleries on the north, south, and
west. The steeple rises at the east end, and the chancel, therefore,
is formed beneath the tower. It is built of stone and consists of
three stories, the third of which is completed by a small composite
temple surrounded by a balustrade and surmounted by an urn. The
remainder of the exterior is of red brick with stone dressings.

_Pictorial Agency._

ST. BOTOLPH, BISHOPSGATE
]

Sir Paul Pindar, a great benefactor to the church, who acted as
James I.’s Turkish Ambassador in 1611, was buried in this church,
and a monument was erected to his memory. Close to this, also in the
chancel, is a brass plate in memory of Sir William Blizard,
President of the Royal College of Surgeons, who died in 1835. John
Keats was baptized here in 1795, and Edward Alleyn, founder of
Dulwich College, in 1566. Here also Archibald Campbell, 7th Earl of
Argyll and father of the celebrated first marquis, was married in
1609.

There were a considerable number of small charitable gifts belonging
to this parish. Of the larger, Ralph Pindar was a donor of £60;
Nicholas Reive, of £406 : 5s. in 1626; William, Earl of Devonshire,
of £100.

There was one charity school for twenty-five boys and twenty-five
girls, who were taught and made apprentices by subscription and
legacies. Also almshouses in Lamb’s Court for the poor of the
parish, maintained by Dulwich College, and three almshouses by the
pesthouse for three poor widows, the gift of Lady Lumley.

Some of the notable rectors were: Alfred Earle, Bishop of
Marlborough, in 1888; Charles James Blomfield (1786-1857), Bishop of
Chester; John Lake (1624-89), Bishop of Chichester.

On the site of Spital Square, Bishopsgate Street Without, stood the ancient house called St. Mary Spital, for an account of which see _Mediæval London_, vol. ii. p. 322.

Bishopsgate Street Without is a curious mixture of old houses, some with grotesque features, and modern buildings presenting only a strip of much-ornamented stone or brick frontage. After the Great Eastern Hotel on the west, the frontage of the station presents a very long row of uniform buildings in new red brick with stone dressings and ornamental gable ends. The famous old house named Paul Pindar’s was pulled down to make way for these.

Paul Pindar (b. 1565) was the son of Ralph Pindar, alderman’s deputy for the ward of Bishopsgate. At sixteen he was apprenticed to one Parvish, an Italian merchant who sent him to Venice as his factor, and he stayed there many years. In 1615 he was sent to Turkey as Ambassador by request of the Turkey Company, and he remained there for nine years. He returned in 1623, and was knighted. The King offered him also the Lieutenancy of the Tower, which he declined. Charles thereupon made him Farmer of Customs.

In 1639 he possessed £236,000, out of which he gave large sums to the King. He died August 22, 1650. The row of houses that now stand on the site of his house have fairly good shops on the ground-floors, and there are one or two archway entrances into the station premises near the north end. The Black Raven public-house is one of these. Acorn Street, Skinner Street, and Primrose Street need very little comment. They are chiefly composed of the sides of houses fronting Bishopsgate, and some ordinary modern brick buildings.

Nos. 131-2-3 are old plaster houses, and No. 120, beyond Acorn Street, has a projecting bay window carried up two stories. This is also an old house. These are all on the west side. On the east, beginning again from the south end, the first building to attract attention is the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Station, erected 1885. It is an improvement on the monstrosities continually perpetrated in the name of the Fire Brigade. The Bishopsgate Institute is near Brushfield Street. It fronts Bishopsgate with an elaborate yellow terra-cotta façade, and has an open entry. The entrance to the Bishopsgate Chapel is under an old stuccoed house, and the chapel itself is a large stuccoed building. Beyond this, after a Great Northern Receiving Office, are some very old houses, plastered with rough stucco in imitation of stone. These are Nos. 82 to 84. One of them has wooden rusticated work from above the first story to the top of the gable end. The date 1590 is stated to have been visible on one of them within the memory of man. On the corner house of Spital Street is a tablet noting the point of the City Bounds. This was placed here in 1846.

GROUP V

We come next to those streets which run north and south of Thames Street. The area is bounded on the north by Ludgate Hill, St. Paul’s Churchyard, Cannon Street, and Fenchurch Street; on the south by the Thames; on the east by Tower Hill and the site of London Wall; and on the west by the bed of the Fleet River, now New Bridge Street. For the sake of convenience we will begin at the west end.

The wall of the City originally crossed Ludgate Hill at the gate, and ran down nearly in a straight line to the river. The Castle or Tower of Montfichet was in the middle of this piece of wall, and Baynard’s Castle was at the south end of it. The Tower of Montfichet passed into the Fitzwalter family, who also owned the soke beside it. Now, when the first enmity broke out between John and Fitzwalter, all the castles and houses of the latter were dismantled and destroyed by the King’s command. In 1276 the Dominicans begged permission to occupy a piece of ground lying between the wall and the river Fleet. Lord Fitzwalter gave the Friars the site of Castle Baynard and of Montfichet. They also obtained permission to pull down the town wall at this place, and to rebuild it farther west, so as to include their ground. Here the Black Friars settled and built great buildings, and claimed the right of sanctuary. Westward of the Black Friars was the house of the Carmelites, called the White Friars. They claimed right of sanctuary also, a right which descended to a haunt of rogues, called Alsatia, an account of which may be read in _The Fortunes of Nigel_:

“The ancient sanctuary at Whitefriars lay considerably lower than the elevated terraces and gardens of the Temple, and was therefore generally involved in the fogs and damps of the Thames. The brick buildings by which it was occupied crowded closely on each other.... The wailing of children, the scolding of their mothers, the miserable exhibition of ragged linens hung from the windows to dry, spoke the wants and distresses of the wretched inhabitants; while the sounds of complaint were mocked and overwhelmed in the riotous shouts, oaths, profane songs, and boisterous laughter that issued from the alehouses and taverns, which, as the signs indicated, were equal in number to all the other houses.”

Where is now Bridge Street was formerly the Fleet River, and on its western bank was Bridewell Palace, a palace where the Norman kings held Court.

The old palace, burnt down in the Great Fire, was built round two courtyards; in its later days rebuilt, it followed the frequent fate of such ancient monuments, and became partly a “hospital” for poor boys, partly a prison for vagrants and other unwanted persons. It was also a hospital for lunatics, and was put under the same management as Bethlehem in 1557. Bridewell is also fully described in _London in the Eighteenth Century_. The part of London bounded north and south by Fleet Street and the River, east and west by New Bridge Street and the Temple, is now almost entirely occupied by mammoth printing-offices; yet on the Embankment are one or two buildings of note: Sion College, opened here in 1886 to supersede the old building on London Wall; the Guildhall School of Music; the City of London School for Girls (all modern).

After Blackfriars Bridge, running behind the line of wharves and warehouses, begins Thames Street, Upper and Lower, once one of the principal thoroughfares in London, a London that knew nothing of what is now called the “West End.” It is now a noisy street “pestered” with drays and vans, with cranes and their accompaniments, so that to walk therein in work-hours is a perilous proceeding.

Yet this ancient street, Thames Street, is, not even excepting West Chepe, the most interesting and the most venerable of all the streets of London. It is the seat of the export and the import trade. From Thames Street the City sent abroad the products of the country—the iron, the wool, the skins and hides; from Thames Street the City distributed the imports to the various parts of the country.

Off the wharves of Thames Street lay the shops of all the nations of Western Europe. In the narrow lanes leading down to the stairs between the quays lived the seafaring folk and those who worked for them, and those who worked for the merchants.

London at one time was roughly divided into belts of population. The first belt is that of the Service. It consists of the foreshore between Thames Street and the river, with the lanes and houses upon it. The second is that of the Merchants, between Thames Street and the Markets of West and East Chepe. The third is that of the Markets. The fourth that of the Industries between the Markets and the Wall.

As to the first: The Wall of London, when it was first erected, was carried along the river from the south-west angle to the Walbrook. Beyond the Walbrook the south wall of the Roman fortress formed a river-wall, which was continued as far as the south-east angle.

Beyond that stream the south wall of the Roman fort was allowed to remain as the river-side wall of the City, when all the rest of the Roman buildings, temples, public edifices, tombs, and villas were ruthlessly pulled down to build the wall towards the end of the fourth century.

Now, the wall between the south-west angle and the Walbrook ran along the middle of Thames Street. At the time of its construction there were, therefore, no buildings between the wall and the river. It was built about the middle of the bank, which sloped to the river below, with a narrow stretch of mud at low tide; and above it rose on the hill which still exists, to the higher ground on which the City stood. The breadth of the foreshore varied, but, of course, it was not very great. The first break in the wall was that which allowed for the waters of the Walbrook. Here there was the first port—the Roman port. It may have been the only port, unless, in their haste to complete the wall, which was undoubtedly built under the pressure of panic, the builders deliberately excluded other ports. In that case there may have been many, for nothing was easier than to make a small port, such as the two which still remain of Billingsgate and Queenhithe. A small square space was dug in the mud and shingle of the foreshore. It was maintained by piles placed close together along the three sides of the square, leaving the fourth side open for the ships. Other piles furnished support for wharves and quays.

It is therefore quite possible that there may have been other such ports. Puddle Dock may have been one. In the absence of any evidence which might lead one even to form a conjecture, we may believe that Queenhithe, originally Edred’s hithe, was of later, or Saxon, construction; while Billingsgate, close to London Bridge and Bridge Gate, was probably still earlier.

What happened, therefore, was this: On the increase of trade, when London was again settled in the sixth century, wharves and quays began to be pushed out on piles upon the foreshore of Billingsgate and Walbrook, or afterwards at other places, when a break in the wall allowed access to the City. When Queenhithe was constructed as an additional port, another break was needed in the wall, and wharves and quays were built along this part of the foreshore as well. The erection of the wharf on piles was speedily followed by the erection of tenements for the people between the wharf and the wall on the bank. The wharf extended laterally; the houses grew up laterally with the wharf; the wharf was pushed out farther upon the mud of the low tide; the wall was broken into here and there at intervals, continually growing less in length. These breaks are marked, possibly, by the ancient stairs, such as those of Paul’s Wharf and Trig Stairs.

In a word, the whole of the first belt, that of the Service, is later than the Roman wall. It belongs, therefore, to the Saxon period, and in great part, perhaps, to the early Norman times. It seems likely that, if the riverside wall had been pierced or broken in parts, the Danish and Norwegian besiegers would have attacked the City at those vulnerable points. A narrow stream, such as Walbrook, with wharves on either side, could be easily defended by chains drawn across; but a dozen places where the wall was broken—and there was nothing to defend it except wooden wharves and wooden huts—would have been difficult to defend.

BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE, 1796
]

Thames Street in later times, when the wall had disappeared, became the most crowded, the most busy part of the City. Its south side was wholly occupied by wharves, warehouses, and the dwellings of the working people, the Service of the port. On the north side and in the streets rising up the hill were the houses of the merchants and the better class—the second belt of the City. Here stood the townhouses of the nobles among the equally stately houses of the merchants. Here kings were entertained by the mayors and aldermen. The great number of churches shows not only the crowded condition of this part, but also the wealth of the merchants by whom the churches were founded, rebuilt, adorned, and endowed.

The breadth of the foreshore as at present built upon varies from 150 feet at its narrowest, which is at the western end, to 450 feet at its broadest, which is on either side of the Walbrook. The modern breadth, however, must not be taken to represent the breadth in the twelfth century. The excavations for London Bridge in 1831 disclosed three distinct lines of piles, representing three several occasions when the foreshore was built upon. And the oldest plan of London, called after one Agas, clearly represents the erection by the riverside built upon piles. There are no churches on this belt of reclaimed land. As it was gradually added to the City, so it was gradually added to the riverside parishes. Four churches are built on the south side of Thames Street, viz. Allhallows the Great, Allhallows the Less, St. Botolph, and St. Magnus. The dedication of the last two proclaims their late origin. The last, for instance, must belong to the late eleventh or the twelfth century. The very small size to which the parishes would be reduced if we took away the reclaimed foreshore seems to indicate that much was reclaimed before the Norman Conquest. The dedication of the churches along Thames Street—St. Peter, St. James, St. Michael, St. Mary, St. Andrew—has been supposed to indicate the site of Roman churches. Perhaps the parish boundaries may have been adjusted from time to time.

“Roomland” was the name given to the quays and the adjacent plots of land of Queenhithe, Dowgate, Billingsgate, etc., whereon goods might be discharged out of vessels arriving there.

In 1311 and in 1349 we find mention of houses built upon “la Romeland” by St. Michael, Queenhithe. In 1338, and again in 1349, we read of a tenement near the King’s garden upon _le Romelonde_, near the Tower. In 1339 we learn that there was a Roomland in the parish of Allhallows Barking. After 1374 we find no more mention of any Roomland. Perhaps the limits of the quays were by this time contracted and defined; perhaps the foreshore had been enlarged and the “land” behind had been built upon.

Thames Street was the Exchange, the place of meeting for the merchants. One supposes, however, that the lesser sort transacted business at the taverns. Here walked in great dignity Aylwin of London Stone, the first mayor; Whittington, Philpott, Rokesley, and the Beckets, Faringdons, Walworths, Sevenokes, and all the great men of the City, each in his generation, not only building up their own fortunes, but fighting against disorder and crime in their wards, and against encroachments from the sovereign.

The Fire swept through the street, raging among the stores of the warehouses, laying low churches, destroying monuments, and burning up old memories and associations.

The warehouses were at once rebuilt, but, according to Malcolm (1803), many of the buildings had in his time become ruinous or decayed. There is very little left of the building immediately after the Fire: hardly a single warehouse, and on the north side only one or two of the mansions built by the merchants. The two ports, Billingsgate and Queenhithe, still remain, though the trade of the City is no longer carried on upon the quays. The Custom House still stands very nearly on its old site; the bridge has been moved farther west; there are other City bridges—Blackfriars and Southwark; one can still walk down lanes as narrow as when they were first reclaimed from the foreshore; and there are still one or two of these narrow lanes where, as of old, the people of the Service live.

The following is a list of the old signs in Thames Street:

“The White Bear” inn; “The White Lion” inn near London Bridge; “The White Lion” inn at the White Lion Wharf; “The Blew Ancor” inn; “The Old Swan” inn; “The Bull Head” inn; “The Naggs Head Tavern” inn; “The Princes Arms” inn; “The Fling Hors” inn; “The Lion and Key” inn; “The Black Bell inn; “The Woodmongers Arms” inn; “The Crose Bulets” inn; “The Suggar Lofe” inn; “The Lobster” inn; “The Bear and Ragged Staff” inn; “The Two Fighting Cocks” inn; “The Blue Boar and Three Horse Shoes” inn; “The Horse Shoe” inn; “The Royal Arms on Shield” inn; “The Cross against Barkin Church” inn.

Thames Street itself is the subject of a great many references in the _Calendar of Wills_ dated from 1275 to 1688. The earliest is in 1275, after which they occur repeatedly. In 1280 a tenement is mentioned as that of Ernald Thedmar; in 1282 Henry de Coventre bequeathed to his wife his mansion in the Vintry from Thames Street to the waterside.

So far, we have spoken of Thames Street and the riverside generally; let us now take our section in detail.

Only a short way to the north lay =Ludgate=, one of the principal entrances to the City.

Ludgate can hardly have been so named later than the Norman Conquest. Stow, in his explanation of the ancient street leading from Aldgate to Ludgate, clearly conveys the belief that it was an ancient gate. Perhaps the necessity of land communications from the City to Westminster caused the piercing of this gate and the construction of the causeway and the bridge over the valley and stream of the Fleet. In that case, one would naturally think of King Knut and his palace at Westminster. The name is said to mean a postern.

Ludgate was either repaired or rebuilt in 1215, when the barons, in arms against King John, entered London and destroyed the houses of the Jews, using the stones in the restoration of the City walls and of Ludgate more especially. Stow records a curious confirmation of this circumstance, the discovery, when the gate was rebuilt in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, of a stone with a Hebrew inscription, signifying the sign or note of Rabbi Moses, the son of Rabbi Isaac. On the east side, in a niche, on this renewal, were placed the statues of Lud and his two sons in Roman costumes; and on the west side the statue of Queen Elizabeth. When the gates were taken down (1761-62), Lud and his sons were given by the City to Sir Francis Gosling, who intended to set them up at the east end of St. Dunstan’s Church, in Fleet Street. This, however, he did not carry into effect, and the king and his two sons were deposited in the parish bone-house. The statue of Elizabeth met with a better fate, having a niche assigned it in the outer wall of old St. Dunstan’s, Fleet Street. The Lud gate of 1586 was gutted in the Great Fire, and the stonework seriously injured.

Ludgate was first erected into a prison in the reign of Richard II., and was anciently appropriated to the freemen of the City and to clergymen. The place soon became too small for the growing occasions of the City, and it was enlarged at the expense of Dame Agnes Forster, widow of Stephen Forster, mayor in 1454.

“Formerly Debtors that were not able to satisfy their debts, put themselves into this prison of Ludgate for shelter from their creditors. And these were merchants and tradesmen who had been driven to want by losses at sea. When King Philip, in the month of August, 1554, came first through London, these prisoners were thirty in number, and owed 10,000 pounds, but compounded for 2000 pounds, who represented a well-penned Latin speech to that Prince to redress their miseries, and by his royal generosity to free them. ‘And the rather for that place was not Sceleratorum Carcer, sed Miserorum Custodia, _i.e._ a gaol for villains, but a place of restraint for poor unfortunate men; And that they were put in there, not by others, but themselves fled thither; and that not out of fear of punishment, but in hope of better fortune.’ The whole letter was drawn by the curious pen of Roger Ascham, and is extant among his epistles, _Lib._ III.” (Cunningham).

The rules and customs of Ludgate are given by Strype:

“If a freeman or freewoman of London be committed to Ludgate, they are to be excused from the Ignominy of irons, if they can find sureties to be true prisoners, and if the sum be not above £100. There is another custom for the liberal and mild imprisonment of the citizens in Ludgate; whereby they have indulgence and favour to go abroad into any place, under the guard and superintendency of their keeper; with whom they must return again to the prison at night.

“This custom is not to hinder and delay Justice nor to defraud men of their debts and executions, as it is quarrelled against by some, but serves for a mitigation of their punishment; and tends rather for the expedition of their discharge, and speedy satisfaction of their creditors. While they may go and inform themselves, upon their mutual reckonings, both what they owe, and what is due unto them.” For further account of this prison see _London in the Eighteenth Century_, pp. 581-87.

In the year 1659, one Marmaduke Johnson, a prisoner in Ludgate, presented a memorandum on the prison and its Government to the Lord Mayor. In this document he sets forth the history of the prison, its constitution and laws, its officers, its charities, and the grievances of the prisoners.

A great many benefactors have left money to the prison, amounting in all to about £60 a year. In addition, the Lord Mayor allowed the prisoners a basket of broken meat every day; and provisions of some kind were every day, to some small extent, bestowed upon them by the markets. Besides which there were two grates, one in Ludgate, and the other on the Blackfriars side, where all day long a man stood crying, “Pity the poor prisoners.” There were about fifty of the prisoners “on the Charity,” as it was called. But the warders and turnkeys, by their exactions, got most of the money.

=Ludgate Hill= was formerly Bowyer Lane. On the south, until a few years ago, were to be seen some fragments of London Wall, now vanished.

On the top of Ludgate Hill, and on the west side of St. Paul’s, Digby, Grant, Winter, and Bates were executed, January 30, 1606, for their participation in the Gunpowder Plot.

The houses on the south side of the hill were set back when the street was widened in modern times. On the north side there are several old ones.

ST. MARTIN, LUDGATE

This church was rebuilt in 1437 for Sir John Michael, then mayor,
but was destroyed by the Great Fire, and rebuilt from the designs of
Wren in 1684. The benefice was united with the united benefices of
St. Mary Magdalene, Old Fish Street, and St. Gregory by St Paul’s,
by Order in Council, 1890. The earliest date of an incumbent is
1322.

The patronage of the church, long before 1322, was in the hands of:
The Abbot and Convent of Westminster; Henry VIII., who seized it and
granted it to the Bishop of Westminster, January 20, 1540-41; the
Bishop of London, by grant of Edward VI., 1550, confirmed by Queen
Mary, March 3, 1553-54, in whose successors it continued.

Houseling people in 1548 were 476.

The interior of the church is noticeable as being broader and higher
than it is long, its width being 66 feet, height 59 feet, and length
51 feet. The appearance is rendered cruciform by four composite
columns, which, with pilasters on the walls, support entablatures at
the angles of the church. The ceiling is lowered in the quadrangular
corners thus formed. The tower rises at the centre of the south
front, and contains three stories; this is concluded by a cornice,
above which there is a narrow stone stage surmounted by an octagonal
cupola, with a lantern and balcony. The steeple is completed by a
tapering spire, with ball, finial, and vane; its height is 158 feet.
It is said to have been especially built by Wren to form a
foreground to the towering dome of St. Paul’s.

Chantries were founded here by: William Sevenoke, whose endowment
fetched £3 : 6 : 8 in 1548; Michael de London and John le Hatte,
augmented by Roger Payn, William Pows, Simon Newell, and Thomas
Froddashame, to which John de Derby was admitted as chaplain,
January 11, 1392-93, on being vacated by Roger Shirrene; William
Alsone, who also founded chantries in Northants and Derbys.

William Sevenoke, grocer, who founded a free school and almshouses
in the town of Sevenoaks, Kent, Mayor of London, 1419, was buried
here and commemorated by a monument. The other monuments recorded by
Stow are of little note. No benefactors are recorded by Stow.

Sixty boys and fifty girls, belonging to the charity school of the
ward, were clothed and disposed of (when fit) by subscriptions from
the inhabitants.

William Glyn (d. 1558), Bishop of Bangor, was rector here; also
Richard Rawlins (d. 1536), Bishop of St. David’s.

_Photochrom Co., Ltd._

LUDGATE CIRCUS AND LUDGATE HILL
]

On Ludgate Hill we find also Stationers’ Court, where is the Stationers’ Hall.

THE STATIONERS COMPANY

The Company was incorporated in 1557, but it is believed that a
brotherhood or society existed upwards of a century and a half
previously, called the Brotherhood or Society of Text-writers.

There was a Gild of Stationers as early as the beginning of the
fifteenth century. It appears to have been a branch of the
Scriveners, and to have left them to carry on the preparation of
legal documents while they themselves took over the production of
books. The charter of the Company shows that it was regarded as a
company of printers, and that Queen Mary intended it to be
especially a guard against the issue of heretical doctrines.

_Drawn by Thos. H Shepherd._

STATIONERS’ HALL IN 1830
]

The original charter was destroyed in the Fire of London, but the
Company have a copy of it; also of the charter granted by William
and Mary, confirming the privileges granted by the charter of 1556.

The Company has continued ever since its incorporation, and still
is, a trade guild consisting exclusively of members of the trade of
a stationer, printer, publisher, or bookmaker, and their children,
and descendants born free. The greater number of printers’
apprentices in the City of London are bound at Stationers’ Hall, and
the Company’s pensioners, and the recipients of the charities under
their control, are principally journeymen printers, compositors, and
pressmen.

The Company was originally established for the purpose of fostering
and encouraging the trade of a printer, publisher, and stationer,
and from the time of its original foundation to this date a limited
number of liverymen of the Company have carried on at Stationers’
Hall the trade of a publisher for their own benefit, and a division
of profits has been annually made amongst the partners. Other
portion of the profits has been distributed annually amongst poor
freemen of the Company, applied towards the necessary expenses of
the Company, and invested in the purchase of the hall and premises
adjoining. The capital for this trade was originally subscribed by
the members of the Company in certain proportions or shares, and
these shares have been regularly transmitted from time to time since
1605, as in the case of shares of trade companies.