Chapter XVI: Part I: p. 3) in 1259; “St. Michael de Paternoster-cherch” in 1284; (3)

The present church measures 54 feet in length, 36 feet in breadth,
and 36 feet in height. It has two side-aisles, each separated from
the nave by two composite columns, placed far apart. The tower,
which rises at the north-west, consists of three stories, concluded
by a cornice and parapet, the angles of which are adorned with
vases. The total height is about 84 feet.

Stow records a chantry founded by Roger Delakere.

The monuments of the original church were well preserved, Stow says.
Those commemorated, however, were of comparatively little eminence;
amongst them were William Combes, donor of £40; James Mountford,
another benefactor to the church, who died 1544. Among the more
recent ones was one in memory of George Clint, parish clerk for
thirty years, who died in 1605.

=Monument Street= was only opened about ten years ago, and cost half a million of money; this was spent partly in compensation to the dispossessed leaseholders. It was designed to afford a wide and direct route to the City for the fish brought from Billingsgate. A row of new red brick buildings lines part of the way on the right; at the corner of St. Mary-at-Hill is a post-office. Beyond these buildings is the ancient graveyard of St. Botolph, Billingsgate, which church was burnt in the Great Fire and not rebuilt. The graveyard is now used as a public recreation ground, and is fronted by a neat wall with a parapet, and on either side of the gate is a high brick pier with a lamp on the summit. On the south side of Monument Street fragments of waste ground remain still unbuilt on, and form receptacles for decayed fish and garbage.

For the Coal Exchange see p. 270.

THE WATERMEN

In the sixth year of the reign of Henry VIII. an Act was passed
regulating the traffic of watermen, ferrymen, and bargemen on the
Thames, and settling the fares to be charged by them. In 1555 a
court was held by the “Company,” and in 1648 a proclamation
compelled certain “dirtboats and bumboats” to submit to the
regulations of “the Company.” The Lightermens Company was united to
the Watermens in 1667. But the first charter of incorporation was
not granted until 7 and 8 George IV., 1827; and this was amended by
two acts of Victoria in 1859 and 1864.

After the Great Fire the Watermen’s Hall was erected on the
south-west corner of the Cold Harbour quay, where Strype’s map shows
it. It was a handsome brick building, and was in use by the Company
until 1780, when, their premises being required for an extension of
the brewery, they vacated them, afterwards removing to their present
hall in St. Mary-at-Hill. The old hall faced the Thames upon New
Key, and in front to the river there was a large flight of stone
stairs, open at all times to watermen and the public. They had been
in uninterrupted use for a long period since the Great Fire, and had
neither gate nor other obstruction. They became at length much
dilapidated, and were “altogether removed and the wharf closed up”
says Wilkinson, a few years prior to 1825. The hall, wharf, and
stairs are shown in an engraving published by S. and N. Buck in
1749.

Love Lane was formerly Rope Lane, afterwards Lucas Lane, and then corruptly Love Lane.

It is a crooked winding thoroughfare paved by flags, and the houses are mainly inhabited by fish salesmen who work at Billingsgate. Beyond the church are large warehouses, and business houses in the usual style.

The back of a famous old house now used as a ward school is in Love Lane, but its front faces on to a cobble-stone yard connected with Botolph Lane by a covered entry. Within the house everything points to its having been the residence of some one of wealth and taste. The hall is paved with alternate slabs of black and white marble. The staircase is wide and beautifully proportioned and decorated. The date 1670 is on the ceiling; on the first floor four doors with rich wood carving on the pediments and lintels attract attention. Ceilings and fireplaces alike bespeak careful work. One of the latter is inlaid in different coloured marbles with a white marble plaque of a sleeping child. But downstairs, in a small room on the ground floor, is the chief feature of interest. The walls and panels are literally covered with oil-paintings with the artist’s name and the date “R. Robinson, 1696.” The subject seems to be life in different parts of the globe. The ceiling is of oak heavily carved, though, alas! whitewashed.

The house is now a ward school, and though in repair shows inevitable signs of wear and tear. The hall pavement is stained and broken, the carved woodwork thickly covered with paint and varnish, yet in spite of all this is a place well worth seeing, probably the oldest dwelling-house in the City.

=St. Andrew Hubbard=, sometimes called St. Andrew, Eastcheap,
formerly stood in Love Lane. It was burnt down in the Great Fire and
not rebuilt. The parish was then annexed to St. Mary-at-Hill. The
earliest date of an incumbent is 1366.

The patronage of the church was in the hands of: The Earl of
Pembroke in 1323; John, Lord Talbot, cousin and heir of the above,
1427; Edward IV., who restored it, 1463, to the Earl of Shrewsbury,
who presented it in 1470; the Earl of Northumberland up to 1666,
when it was annexed to St. Mary-at-Hill, after which the alternate
patronage was shared with the Duke of Somerset.

Houseling people in 1548 were 282.

The charitable gifts recorded of this parish are very few; the
donors of them were: Margaret Dean, 3s. 4d. per annum; Mr. Jacobs,
£1 : 6 : 4; Mr. Green, £1. All were for the use of the poor.

The most notable rector was John Randall (1570-1622), Fellow of
Lincoln College, Oxford.

In =Little Eastcheap= was the weigh-house, built on the site of St. Andrew Hubbard, and rebuilt after the Fire.

“Which said Weighhouse was before in Cornhill. In this House are weighed merchandizes brought from beyond seas to the King’s Beam, to which doth belong a Master, and under him four Master Porters, with labouring Porters under them. They have Carts and Horses to fetch the goods from the Merchants’ Warehouses to the Beam, and to carry them back. The house belongeth to the Company of Grocers, in whose gifts the several Porters’, etc., places are. But of late years little is done in this office, as wanting a compulsive power to constrain the merchants to have their goods weighed; they alleging it to be an unnecessary trouble and charge” (Cunningham).

=Philpot Lane= was named after Sir John Philpot, mayor.

At the south-east end of =Rood Lane= is the Church of St. Margaret Pattens, so called, according to Stow, because pattens were sold there. Formerly the lane was called St. Margaret Pattens, but when about 1536-38 the church was rebuilt, a rood was set up in the churchyard and oblations made to the rood were employed in building the church. But in 1538 the rood was discovered to be broken, together with the “tabernacle” wherein it had been placed. There was then a colony or settlement of basket-makers in the parish, among whose houses a fire broke out in the same month, which destroyed twelve houses and took the lives of nine persons.

ST. MARGARET PATTENS

This church was rebuilt, as Stow records, in the reign of Henry
VIII.; thoroughly repaired in 1614 and 1632, but destroyed by the
Great Fire. The present church was completed by Wren in 1687. The
parish of St. Gabriel’s, Fenchurch, was annexed to it after 1666.
The earliest date of an incumbent is 1305.

The derivation of the name is obscure; Stow’s conjecture has already
been given.

The patronage of the church was in the hands of: The family of the
Nevils in 1281; Robert Rickenden and Margaret his wife, who
confirmed it to Richard Whittington, who bestowed it on the Mayor
and Commonalty of London in 1411, with whom it continued up to 1666
when St. Gabriel’s was annexed, and it was therefore shared
alternately with the Crown.

Houseling people in 1548 were 223.

The church measures 66 feet in length, 52 feet in breadth, and 32
feet in height, and consists of a nave, chancel, and north aisle.
The steeple consists of a tower, terminated by a cornice and
balustrade, with four pinnacles at the corners, above which a spire
rises, culminating in a ball and vane. The spire, which is 200 feet,
is taller than any other of Wren’s similar ones, and the steeple
comes third in order of height of those of his churches. There is a
picture on the north side of the church which is said to be the work
of Carlo Maratti (1625-1713), a Roman painter. The church is famous
for its canopied pews, the only ones in the city; in one of these
the initials C. W., supposed to be those of Sir Christopher Wren,
and the date 1686, are inlaid.

A chantry was founded here by: Peter at Vyne, at the Altar of
Blessed Virgin Mary, to which John Skelton was admitted chaplain
1472-73.

The original church does not seem to have possessed any monuments of
note. Of the later ones, the most interesting are those of: Giles
Vandeput, erected by his son, Sir Peter Vandeput, who was sheriff in
1684, and donor of £100 to the parish; Sir Peter Delme, Lord Mayor
in 1723, whose monument is the work of Johan Michael Rysbrack, or
Rysbrach, of Antwerp; Dr. Thomas Birch, Secretary of the Royal
Society, and author, who was rector here for nearly nineteen years,
was buried in the chancel, 1766. The side altar of the north aisle
contains a Della Robbia plaque representing the Virgin and Child, in
memory of Thomas Wagstaffe, the ablest of the non-jurors, appointed
rector here in 1684 and deprived in 1690.

Sir Peter Vandeput was donor of £100 to the parish; —— Collyer of
£5; Thomas Salter of £20; Richard Camden of £20. The other
charitable gifts recorded amounted to £6 per annum.

John Milward (1556-1609), chaplain to James I., was rector here;
also Thomas Birch (1705-66), Secretary to the Royal Society; and
Peter Whalley (1722-91), head-master of Christ’s Hospital, and
author of various works.

ST. MARY-AT-HILL

We pass on to St. Mary-at-Hill; a church well known on account of
the energetic work of its rector, Rev. W. Carlile, founder of the
Church Army, who popularises church work among his poor parishioners
by lantern services and other devices. The date of the foundation of
the original church is not known, but there is evidence of its
existence in the middle of the fourteenth century. In 1616 it was
thoroughly repaired, but the body of it was destroyed by the Great
Fire and rebuilt by Wren, 1672-77. The stone tower remained standing
till 1780, when it was considered insecure and pulled down, when it
was replaced by the present one. In 1892 the church was closed for
two years, while 3000 bodies were removed from beneath the flooring
to Norwood Cemetery. The parish of St. Andrew Hubbard was not
rebuilt after the Fire, and was annexed to this. The earliest date
of an incumbent is 1337.

The patronage of the church was in the hands of Richard Hackney,
sheriff of London, who presented to it in 1337, and so on; it
remained in private persons up to 1640, when the parishioners
presented to it, up to 1666, when the parish of St. Andrew Hubbard
was annexed to it, the patronage now being alternate, Sir Henry Peek
having presented last in right of St. Andrew Hubbard in 1891.

Houseling people in 1548 were 400.

The church measures 96 feet in length and 60 feet in breadth, and is
crowned by a cupola which rises to the height of 38 feet. The cupola
is divided into panels and is supported by four Doric columns,
forming two side aisles. The ceiling to the east and west of this is
arched, as well as that of the side aisles between the columns, so
that the appearance of the roof is thus rendered cruciform. There is
a great quantity of carving in the church, but of a late date, being
the work of Mr. W. Gibbs Rogers, who executed it in 1848-49 when the
church was remodelled.

Chantries were founded here: By Rose Wrytell, at the Altar of St.
Edmund the King, before 1336. She left six marks for an endowment,
and Michael de Leek was licensed as chaplain, November 5, 1365. The
value was £8 : 2 : 6 in 1548, when Christopher Burley was priest at
the age of 43 years, “a good singer and well learned.” By John
Weston, whose endowment fetched £8 : 13 : 4 in 1548. By John Nasing,
at the Altar of St. Katherine. Harry Yorkflete the chaplain
exchanged it with John atte Welle, February 20, 1395-96; Thomas
Lewes was priest in 1548, “of the age of 42 years, a good singer and
player on the organ and prettily learned.” By William Cambridge,
whose endowment fetched £10 : 6 : 8 in 1548, when Matthew Berye was
priest, “of the age of 40 years, a good singer and indifferently
well learned.” By John Cawston, whose endowment yielded £20 : 17 : 8
in 1548, when Edmond Alston was priest, “of 36 years, a good singer
and handsomely learned.” By Richard Gosselinge, whose endowment
produced £9 in 1548, when John Sherpyn was priest, “of the age of 44
years, a teacher of children.” By John Bodman, whose endowment
fetched £14 : 6 : 8 in 1548.

The church formerly contained a considerable number of monuments,
but the persons commemorated are of comparatively little eminence.
Sir John Hampson, Knight and alderman, was buried here in 1607.
Within the communion rails of the present building the body of the
Rev. John Brand lies interred, who died in 1806; he was Fellow and
Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries, and rector here for some
years. Edward Young, the poet, was married here to Lady Elizabeth
Lee, in 1731.

£10 or £11 per annum were given to the poor by several benefactors,
to be expended on bread. Other gifts recorded by Stow are: £40, from
Sir William Leman, for the maintenance of a Divinity Lecture; from
Jane Revel; £4 : 10s. to be paid every tenth year, from Bernard
Hyde.

Andrew Snape, D.D., Master of Eton College, Vice-Chancellor of
Cambridge 1721-23, was rector here.

At the south-eastern corner of St. Mary-at-Hill stands the mighty building of the Coal Exchange. The material used is Portland stone, and the great tower and cupola which rises above the street still retains its whiteness. The Exchange was opened in 1849. Monday is the principal market day, but markets are also held on Wednesdays and Fridays. Under the Exchange are the remains of an old Roman bath, which was discovered when the foundations were being made. Strype says that above the stairs at Billingsgate “the coalmen and woodmongers meet every morning about eight or nine o’clock, this place being their Exchange, for the coal trade which brings a great resort of people and occasions a great trade to the inhabitants. And this place is now more frequented than in ancient time, when Greenhithe was made use of for the same purpose, this being more commodious. And therefore it was ordained to be the only port for all such sorts of merchandise.”

_Pictorial Agency._

THE COAL EXCHANGE
]

Up to 1846 Billingsgate Fish-market contained only sheds and squalid buildings in which the fish trade was carried on. But in that year J. B. Bunning, the City architect, was employed to build a regular market. In 1872 the great increase of the trade and the necessity for further accommodation induced the Corporation to pull down this building and rebuild on a larger scale. Old Darkhouse Lane and Billingsgate Stairs were utilised to gain an increased site as the great bulk of the Custom House prevented any expansion eastward.

Sir Horace Jones was the architect. The building is of an Italian design and is of Portland stone with facings of yellow brick and polished grey granite plinths and wall linings. A long arcade faces Thames Street, and at each end there are pavilion buildings. Within, the basement has an area of about 20,000 superficial feet. On the ground floor the area is 39,000 square feet. The roof is on the Louvre glass principle carried on lattice girders of 60 feet span. There is a gallery with an area of 4000 feet; this is utilised for the sale of haddocks and dried fish.

=St. Botolph, Billingsgate=, stood against St. Botolph’s Lane, on
the south side of Thames Street. It was repaired in 1624, but burnt
down by the Great Fire and not rebuilt, its parish being annexed to
St. George, Botolph Lane. It stood against the Bridge Gate of the
first London Bridge, just as the other three churches of St. Botolph
stood at Aldgate, Aldersgate, and Bishopsgate. The earliest date of
an incumbent is 1343.

The patronage of the church was in the hands of the Dean and Chapter
of St. Paul’s, who received it from Orgarus about 1181.

Houseling people in 1548 were 300.

Chantries were founded here: By and for Thomas Snodyland, late
rector, who died 1349, in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of
which Nicholas de Wansyngdon was chaplain, and exchanged it April
11, 1163—the King granted a licence for it December 15, 1371; by
John Pickman, at the Altar of Our Lady, whose endowment fetched £10
in 1548, when Thomas Serle was priest, “of the age of 50 years, of
good consideration and learning touching ordinary things”; by Thomas
Aubrey, whose endowment fetched £8 : 6 : 8 in 1548, when Thomas
Baynton was priest, “of the age of 60 years, of good consideration
and learning”; by Roger Smallwood. Here was founded the Fraternity
of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist. The endowment fetched £14 in
1548, when William Lucay was priest, “of the age of 50 years, a man
of good conversation and small learning.”

The church originally contained many monuments, but most of them had
disappeared by 1633. John Rainwell, mayor, 1426, had been buried in
it; also Stephen Forster, mayor in 1454.

Some of the donors of charitable gifts to the parish were: Robert
Fellows, of £25; William Fellows, of £25; Thomas Barber, of £6 :
18 : 6, and others of small amounts.

The parishes of St. George, Botolph Lane, and St. Botolph,
Billingsgate, in conjunction with the other part of Billingsgate
ward, maintained forty boys by subscription.

Laurence Bothe, rector here, became Bishop of Durham, 1457; of York,
1476-80 (died): also William Sherlock (d. 1707), Dean of St. Paul’s.

=Billingsgate=, like Queenhithe, is an artificial port, constructed with great ease by digging out the foreshore of mud and shingle, and protecting the square harbour thus formed by piles of timber, on which beams were laid to form a quay, and sheds were built up for the protection of the merchandise.

The port was close to the north end of the first bridge, so that goods landed here might be easily carried into the Roman fort, while the port itself was protected by the fort. After the desertion of London by the Romans, the occupation by the Saxons, and the revival of trade, Billingsgate remained the principal port, though a large share of the trade went to Queenhithe. The mouth of the Walbrook seems to have ceased very early in the history of London to be a port. Billingsgate robbed Queenhithe of its trade in spite of all injunctions of restraint.

_Pictorial Agency, Photo._

BILLINGSGATE MARKET
]

The fish-market has long since overwhelmed every other kind of merchandise. The language and manners, the rough customs, and the drinking habits of the Billingsgate fish-wives are proverbial. They have now, however, all vanished, and the market is as quiet and decorous as any other. A curious custom is noted by Cunningham. The porters who plied at Billingsgate used to invite the passengers to stop and salute a certain post. If one complied, and paid down sixpence, they gave him a name, and pretended to be his sponsors. If one refused, they laid hold of him and bumped him against the post. The custom reminds one of the same bumping practised in walking the bounds of the parish; it had probably the same origin, in keeping alive the memory of something by the infliction of pain. The custom remained when the cause and reason had long been forgotten.

This end of Thames Street was called Petty Wales. Stow has an interesting note on this subject:

“Towards the east end thereof, namely, over against Galley key, Wool key, and the Custom House, there have been of old time some large buildings of stone, the ruins thereof do yet remain, but the first builders and owners of them are worn out of memory, wherefore the common people affirm Julius Cæsar to be the builder thereof, as also of the Tower itself. But thereof I have spoken already. Some are of another opinion, and that a more likely, that this great stone building was sometime the lodging appointed for princes of Wales, when they repaired to this city, and that, therefore, the street in that part is called Petty Wales, which name remaineth there most commonly until this day, even as where the kings of Scotland were used to be lodged betwixt Charing Cross and White Hall, it is likewise called Scotland, and where the earls of Britons were lodged without Aldersgate, the street is called Britain Street, etc.

“The said building might of old time pertain to the princes of Wales, as is aforesaid, but is since turned to other use.”

The Custom House itself, with its magnificent frontage and fine quay, is the fifth built upon the same spot. The first was built in 1385. The second, third, and fourth were all destroyed by fire. No doubt the Custom officers could tell fine tales of exciting adventure, of ruin or fortune, of clever evasions and despicable tricks; but these things are secret. The House itself, with the ships, the busy wharfingers, the boatmen, and the general liveliness of the scene, are all that are apparent. Yet it requires little imagination to see the enormous importance of the business done in this solid building of Smirke’s. A great source of our national income, a large part of the nation’s wealth, comes from this house. Tons of goods—ranging from hemp, honey, leeches, tobacco, to manufactured goods, marble, sugar, and spirits—are daily surveyed by the Customs officers. Our total imports for 1901 were worth nearly £522,000,000.

Beyond the Custom House is Wool Wharf, then several small quays, of which one, Galley Quay, carries a history in its name. It was so called because the Venetian and Genoese galleys here discharged their cargoes. There is a tradition of some religious house having stood here also. Hear what Stow says:

“In this Lane of old time dwelt divers strangers, born of Genoa and those parts; these were commonly called galley men, as men that came up in the galleys brought up wines and other merchandises, which they landed in Thames Street, at a place called Galley key; they had a certain coin of silver amongst themselves, which were halfpence of Genoa, and were called Galley halfpence; these halfpence were forbidden in the 13th of Henry IV., and again by parliament in the 4th of Henry V. And it was enacted that if any person bring into this realm Galley halfpence, suskins, or dodkins, he should be punished as a thief; and he that taketh or payeth such money shall lose a hundred shillings, whereof the king shall have the one half, and he that will sue the other half. Notwithstanding, in my youth, I have seen them pass current, but with some difficulty, for that the English halfpence were then, though not so broad, somewhat thicker and stronger.”

THE BAKERS COMPANY

The Guild or Fraternity of Bakers would seem to have been in
existence as early as any other, seeing that the craft or mystery of
baking is the most ancient in existence. In the reign of Henry II.,
A.D. 1155, the Fraternity was charged in the Great Roll of the
Exchequer with one mark of gold for their Guild.

The Bakers Company, as the united Company of White and Brown bakers,
was first incorporated by charter of Henry VIII., dated July 22,
1509, to make, create, build, and establish a certain perpetual
fraternity or guild of one master and four keepers of the commonalty
of freemen of the mystery of bakers of the City of London and
suburbs thereof then dwelling, or thereafter to dwell, and of the
brothers and sisters freemen of the said mystery and others who
would choose to be of the same fraternity or guild within the City
aforesaid, and that the same master, four keepers, and commonalty
should for ever continue to be one corporate body, with power to
elect annually from among themselves one master and four keepers for
the superintending, ruling, and governing of the said mystery and
commonalty.

Previous to 1509 there were separate Companies of White Bakers and
Brown Bakers, and the White Bakers appear to have been incorporated
as early as 1307. From 1509 to 1622 the two Companies remained
united as the Bakers Company, but in 1622 the Brown Bakers,
conceiving themselves in some way ill-used or neglected, succeeded
in getting a separate charter of their own, and remained a separate
Company for thirty to forty years, when a peace was patched up, and
the two Companies were finally united in the Bakers Company.

Their hall in Harp Lane, formerly Hart Lane, is said by Stow to have
been the residence of one of the Chichele family, a grand-nephew of
the Archbishop and grandson of his brother the mayor or his brother
the sheriff. It was burned down in 1714 and rebuilt in 1719. The
genealogy below shows how this John Chichele was related to the
Archbishop of Canterbury and Founder of All Souls.

_Photo. York & Son._

CUSTOM HOUSE
]

John Chichele
├── Henry, Archbishop.
├── Robert, Sheriff, 1402; Mayor, 1411.
└── William, Alderman and Sheriff, 1409.
├── John, Chamberlain.
│ └── Twenty-four children.
└── William, Archdeacon.

The livery consists of 111; the Corporate Income is about £1580; the
Trust Income is £320.

Roman remains have been found in =Tower Street=. Mention is made of the street from the thirteenth century, if not earlier, but the street is singularly lacking in historical associations. Here the Earl of Rochester, escaping from his friends, took up lodgings and pretended for some weeks, not without success, to be an Italian physician. Here was the tavern frequented by Peter the Czar after getting through his day’s work.

At the west end of Tower Street was a “fair house” once belonging to one Griste, by whom Jack Cade was feasted. After the feast he requited his host by robbing him.

There is also a house once owned by Sir John Champney, mayor in 1534. He built a high tower of brick, proposing, in his pride, to look down upon his neighbours. But he did not succeed, being punished by blindness. The house was afterwards occupied by Sir Percival Hart, Knight Harbinger to the Queen.

ST. DUNSTAN IN THE EAST

St. Dunstan in the East stands on St. Dunstan’s Hill, between Great
Tower Street and Upper Thames Street, and was anciently known as St.
Dunstan Juxta-Turrim. The date of its foundation is not known, but
an enlargement is recorded in 1382. It was partially destroyed in
the Great Fire and restored under Wren’s hands in 1698. This
building, with the exception of the steeple, was pulled down in
1810, and in 1817 the body of the present church was built of
Portland stone in the Perpendicular style by Laing and Tite. The
earliest date of an incumbent is 1312.

The patronage of the church was in the hands of the Prior and
Chapter of Christ Church, Canterbury, who granted it, April 24,
1365, to Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury, and his successors,
in whom it continues.

Houseling people in 1548 were 900.

The present church is in the Perpendicular Gothic style, and
contains two side aisles divided from the central portion by slender
clustered columns and pointed arches, with a clerestory above. It
measures 115 feet in length, 65½ feet in breadth, and 40 feet in
height. The steeple is one of Wren’s most striking works. The tower,
measuring 21 square feet at the base, has four stories, surmounted
by four tall pinnacles; from behind these spring four arched ribs,
supporting a lantern and spire, terminating in a ball and vane. The
total height is 180 feet 4 inches. Though it is fragile in
appearance, it is very scientifically and strongly constructed. The
central east window has been closely copied from fragments which
were found during the excavations previous to rebuilding, and is the
work of Mr. John Buckler. Many of the windows contain the
coats-of-arms of benefactors, the work of Messrs. Baillie.

The only relics of the wood-carving by Grinling Gibbons which
adorned Wren’s church are the arms of Archbishop Tenison, primate
from 1695, now placed in the vestry-room; and the organ case for
Father Smith’s organ—this was sold to St. Alban’s Abbey, but is to
be brought back.

Several chantries were founded here: The Fraternity of Our Lady
founded by John Joye; by Joan Maken and Alice Lynne, at the Altar of
Jesus—their endowment fetched £20 : 11 : 8 in 1548, when Philip
Matthew was chaplain; for Richard de Eymne in 1285; by John Bosham
cl., and Alice, who was the wife of Nicholas Potyn, at the Altar of
Holy Trinity, for John and Alice, and for Nicholas Potyn (the King
granted his licence June 20, 1408; the endowment fetched £17 : 16 :
8 in 1548, when Robert Neale was priest); by Richard Coldbrok, whose
endowment fetched £13 : 3 : 4 in 1548, when Thomas Rock was priest;
by William Barret, at the Altar of Our Lady—his endowment yielded
£12 in 1548, when John Flude was chaplain.

Before the Great Fire, the church contained a monument to Sir John
Hawkins, the naval hero; and here Admiral Sir John Lawson, who was
mortally wounded in the sea-fight with the Dutch off Lowestoft in
1665, was buried. The present building contains a considerable
number of monuments, but few of those commemorated were persons of
eminence. There is a monument on the north wall to Sir John Moore,
President of Christ’s Hospital, and friend and partisan of Charles
II.; he died in 1702. The largest monument is one on the south side
of the chapel to Sir William Russell, who died in 1705. On the north
wall there is a tablet in memory of Richard Hale, in gratitude for
his granddaughter’s (Lady Williamson) gift of £4000 for the
rebuilding of the church. The most recent memorial is one affixed to
the north wall commemorating Colonel John Finnis, one of the heroes
of the Indian Mutiny 1857.

The names of a large number of benefactors are recorded by Stow,
among them, Sir Bartholomew James, William Sevenoaks, Sir William
Hariott, whose coat-of-arms is to be seen in the windows of the
north and south walls. William Bateman was a donor of £200, and
Gilbert Keate of £120.

Richard Smith (1503-63), Dean of Douai, was rector here 1554-57;
also John May (d. 1598), Bishop of Carlisle; Dr. John Jortin
(1698-1770), author of _The Life of Erasmus_; John Morton,
Archbishop of Canterbury; William Barlow (d. 1613), Bishop of
Rochester and Bishop of Lincoln.

=Mincing Lane= is so called from having been at one time the residence or the property of certain Minchuns or Nuns, Stow says, belonging to St. Helen’s. This house was only founded in 1212.

This street is not mentioned in Riley’s _Memorials_. In the _Calendar of Wills_ it occurs in 1273, “houses in Menechinlane”; also in 1294; in 1304, “land and shops in Minchom Lane.” In 1362, “Mengeonlane”; and many other dates up to 1620.

From end to end this street is lined with solid business houses chiefly in dark imitation stone. A building which attracts attention about half-way down on the east side is the Commercial Sale Rooms, occupying Nos. 30 to 34. This is new, of light-coloured stone, and along the frontage of the top floor run small granite columns in couples. Dunster Court is surrounded by offices, etc. In it is Dunster House, occupied chiefly by brokers and merchants. Next to it is the Clothworkers’ Hall.

THE CLOTHWORKERS COMPANY

The craft of Fullers, and the Fraternity of Sheermen, arose out of
an association of persons subsidiary to the ancient “Gild” of
Tellarii, or woollen weavers, together with the Burrellers and
Testers, who seem to have been absorbed into the great guilds or
companies of Drapers and Merchant Taylors, all being associations of
persons connected with the fabrication, finishing, or vending of
cloth. The earliest notice existing in the Company’s archives is in
1456, respecting the Sheermen.

It appears, by reference to patent roll of 19 Edward IV., membrane
28, “Pro Pannariis Civitatis London,” that the wardens of the
fellowship of Sheermen, albeit unincorporate, had the power of
search over their own craft, “according to the laudable custom of
the city,” but the master wardens and fellowship of the two crafts
and mysteries of Drapers and Taylors, were thereby assured that no
charter of incorporation should be given to the Sheermen, etc.

The Fullers were incorporated the next year, 28th April, 20 Edward
IV., “Pro Fraternitate in arte Fullorum.” They would appear to have
been resident in the neighbourhood of Whitechapel Church, that
parish having been called “Villa Beatæ Mariæ de Matfellon,” a
designation derived, as has been supposed, from the fact of the herb
called “Matfellon” (“Fullers’ Teasel”), used extensively by the
fullers inhabiting that quarter, growing in a field hard by where
their tenter grounds were situate; the patron saint of the Fullers,
as of the Clothworkers afterwards, being the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Fullers’ Hall was in Billiter Square.

_Drawn by Thos. H. Shepherd._

CLOTHWORKERS’ HALL
]

The Sheermen received their charter, “Incorporatio de lez Shermen,
Lond.,” 24th January, 23 Henry VII., 1507-8.

The guilds or companies of Fullers and Sheermen were united and
reincorporated under the name and style of “The Master Wardens and
Commonalty of Freemen of the Art or Mystery of Clothworkers of the
City of London,” 18th January, 19 Henry VIII.

A freeman or woman of the Company is entitled, if well accounted and
continuing of good name and fame, and having fallen into poverty or
necessity, to be refreshed weekly, monthly, or quarterly towards his
or her sustentation and living, out of the corporate funds of the
Company, as well as out of the trust funds specifically left for
that purpose by benefactors; also to be decently buried on their
decease at the costs of the Company. There are a limited number of
almshouses for freemen and women, founded by members of the Company,
and there are trust funds likewise left by former benefactors for
the relief and sustentation of decayed or worn-out members.

The livery is 180 in number; the Corporate Income is £42,000; the
Trust Income is £18,000. The hall is at 41 Mincing Lane. Stow merely
mentions the existence of the hall. The original hall was burned
down in the Fire, rebuilt, taken down in 1856, and rebuilt by Samuel
Angell, architect. Among the most distinguished members of this
Company were Samuel Pepys, President of the Royal Society, and
Master of the Company in 1677; and Lord Kelvin, who filled similar
positions.

This rich Company has long been remarkable even among the other
wealthy Companies of the City for the encouragement and advancement
of technical education. It has either wholly or in part endowed
technical and scientific schools at Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield,
Keighley, Bristol, and other places. It has contributed to the City
and Guilds of London Technical Institute sums amounting to £118,350,
and in addition gives an annual subsidy of £3300.

=Mark Lane=, once Mart Lane, is mentioned in the thirteenth century; in 1276, Robert le Chaloner had a house in Mark Lane in the ward of William de Hadestocke, _i.e._ Town Ward. And the _Calendar of Wills_ mentions the lane a little later and has many references to it. In 1750 it contained “divers large houses for merchants, though some of them are old timber houses.” The street escaped the Fire.

Milton’s friend Cyriack Skinner lived here. Isaac Watts was assistant preacher in a meeting-house in this street.

Mark Lane is of the same general character as Mincing Lane, but possesses a point of distinction in the Corn Exchange. The new building is on the east side, a little to the south of the old one. This is a fine building, erected 1881 by Edward l’Anson. The high glass roof is supported in the interior by rows of light stone columns. The old Corn Exchange, rebuilt 1747 by J. Woods, has a heavy colonnade of fluted Doric columns which attracts attention in the line of the street. In a small court opposite the new building is a fine doorway, and passing down the entry we find ourselves facing a splendid old red-brick City mansion in good repair. Brick pilasters ending in ornate stuccoed capitals run up to a frieze or cornice above the first floor. The elaborate pediment over the doorway is supported by fluted columns and encloses a design of cherubs and foliage.

On the east side of Mark Lane we have Nos. 69 and 70 of rather unusual design, and the remainder of the street is one uniform sweep of buildings in an unobtrusive and useful style.

On the west side near the north end was the church of Allhallows Staining.

=Allhallows Staining= was so called from its having been built of
stone and not of timber. It was not burnt down in the Great Fire,
but fell down suddenly in 1669, and was rebuilt in 1694. The
building was taken down in 1870. The earliest date of an incumbent
is 1258.

The patronage of the church was in the hands of: The family of de
Waltham, 1285; the Abbey and Convent of St. Mary Graces; the Crown;
George Bingley and others; Lady Slaney, 1802, who bequeathed it to
the Grocers Company.

Houseling people in 1548 were 424.

The church contained a beautiful east window of pointed glass
presented by the Company of Grocers.

Chantries were founded here by: William de Grenestede, to which John
de Paxton, priest, was admitted November 27, 1362; William Palmer,
whose endowment fetched £3 : 6 : 8 in 1548.

This church contained monuments to: John Gostin, a benefactor to the
parish; Sir Richard Yate, Knight Ambassador for Henry VIII.; William
Frith, painter; and Ralf Hanson, a benefactor of the church.

Some of the donors of charitable gifts were: John Gostin, of 800
bushels of coal; Mary Baynham, of £5 : 4s.; Thomas Bulley, Esq., of
£15 for the minister and poor; William Winter, of £30 for the
education of six boys. Six boys were taught to read and write, and,
when qualified, put out as apprentices, with each of whom was given
£10, in accordance with the will of William Winter.

=Hart Street, Crutched Friars, Seething Lane.=—These streets may all be taken together. The most remarkable historical association of the streets is the Crutched Friars’ House, on the site of which was afterwards erected the Navy Office. The square court of the office, which had one entrance in Crutched Friars and another in Seething Lane, was originally the cloister garth of the convent. The Navy Office has been removed, but the square remains, and one may still see the lions that were placed at the principal entrance. Pepys lived for nine years in Seething Lane so as to be near his office. Sir Francis Walsingham lived and died in this street, and here the Earl of Essex had his town house.

WHITTINGTON’S HOUSE, CRUTCHED FRIARS, 1796
]

The monastery of the Crutched or Crossed Friars was founded in 1298. The symbol was a cross worn upon their habit; this cross was made of red cloth. Henry VIII. granted their house to Sir Thomas Wyatt, who built a new mansion on part of the site.

After the destruction of the house, the site of the church became a “Carpenter’s yard, a tennis court, and the like.” The Friars’ Hall became a glasshouse until 1575, when it was destroyed by fire. There appear to be no remains at all of the monastic buildings. For account, see _Mediæval London_, vol. ii. p. 342.

It was in Crutched Friars that the massive fragment of the three seated goddesses, the _Dea Matres_, was found.

Here were the Milbourne Almshouses.

“Concerning this gift of Sir John Milbourn, it appears by Dolphin’s will that he built thirteen Almshouses in his Life time on a Plot of Ground in the Parish of St. Olave’s near the Tower Algate Ward, next adjoining on the South part of the Choir, or Chancel of the Conventual Church of the Priory of Crossed Friers of London, and the Convent of the said Place, within the Precinct sometime of their House.”

Pepys’ connection with Seething Lane has already been mentioned.

In Hart Street lived Sir Richard Whittington; his house was round a courtyard entered by a gateway not far from Mark Lane.

ST. OLAVE, HART STREET

This church is at the corner of Hart Street and Seething Lane. It
was formerly called St. Olave Juxta-Turrim. The date of its
foundation is unknown, but the present building was probably
constructed during the fifteenth century. Stow speaks of Richard and
Robert Cely as the “principal builders and benefactors,” but gives
no date. It was expensively repaired early in the reign of Charles
I. and again in 1863 and 1870, when several interesting relics were
transferred from Allhallows Staining, which was annexed. The
earliest date of an incumbent is 1314.

The patronage of the church was in the hands of the family of
Nevils, 1281, from whom it passed to John Luffwick, and others about
1398, and so passed to several private persons, up to 1557, when it
came to the Windsor family, from whom it passed to Sir Andrew
Riccard, Knt., who in 1672 bequeathed it to trustees for the parish,
of whom there are five.

Houseling people in 1548 were 1435.

The present church is built in the Perpendicular style, and contains
two side aisles separated from the central portion by clustered
columns and pointed arches with a clerestory above. It is one of the
smallest of the City churches being a square of only 54 feet.

There are many interesting monuments, the most ancient of which is a
brass in memory of Sir Richard Haddon, mercer, twice Lord Mayor
(1506 and 1512). On the east wall of the south aisle William Turner
is commemorated, Dean of Wells and physician to Protector Somerset;
he was the author of a botanical book, _Herbal_, the first of its
kind published in English. Against the north wall there is a
monument to Sir Andrew Riccard (d. 1672), one of the greatest
merchants of his age. The most interesting person connected with
this church is Samuel Pepys, the Diarist, Secretary to the Admiralty
in 1673, and President of the Royal Society 1684-85. He was buried
here in 1703, and a monument erected to him in 1884 and unveiled by
the late James Russell Lowell. His colleague, Admiral Sir John
Mennis, is also commemorated by a tablet at the south end of the
chancel; he was Comptroller of the Navy and part author of _Musarum
Deliciae_. In the parish register the baptism of Robert Devereux,
3rd Earl of Essex, is entered; he commanded the parliamentary forces
at the outbreak of the Civil War.

The most notable of the benefactors to this parish were: Sir John
Worstenholm, donor of £100; Andrew Windsores, of £6 : 13 : 4; Sir
James Dean, of £5 : 4s.

In Crutched Friars there were fifteen almshouses belonging to the
Drapers Company for as many decayed freemen of that Company and
their wives, to whom 5s. per month was allowed and one load of coals
per annum. In Gunpowder Alley there were ten almshouses (the gift of
Lord Banyan in 1631, but surrendered to the parish by 1732), which
allowed each of their poor in that place 1s. to 4s. per week and
two, three, or four bushels of coals at Christmas.

_Pictorial Agency._

PEPYS’ CHURCH (ST. OLAVE, HART STREET)
]

Dr. Daniel Mills, to whom Samuel Pepys frequently refers in his
_Diary_, was rector here for thirty-two years.

=Seething Lane= betrays some characteristic features. A pair of similar eighteenth-century houses with porches stand on each side of the entrance to Catherine Court. Opposite them are old grimy warehouses. Succeeding these are huge buildings known as Corn Exchange Chambers. No. 40 on the east is an old stuccoed house, and facing the church are more towering warehouses. The churchyard is a quaint little spot, with many tombstones inclining at every imaginary angle and a few twisted young elm-trees. The gateway is curious, being surmounted by a peculiar _chevaux de frise_ of spikes and ornamented by three stuccoed skulls.

Catherine Court is delightful in its completeness. Every house in the two long sober coloured rows, which face one another across a narrow flagged space, is of the same date. The date is given on an oval slab set in the wall at the east end, “Catherine Court, Anno Dom. 1725.”

ALLHALLOWS BARKING

The church of Allhallows Barking stands at the east end of Tower
Street near Mark Lane Station. It was dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin Mary and all Saints, whence its name. The date of its
foundation is unknown, but it is to the convent of Barking that its
foundation is probably due, which might carry it back to the end of
the seventh century. It was endowed and enlarged by Richard I.,
Edward I., and Richard III. During the seventeenth century it was
repaired five times; it narrowly escaped the Great Fire of 1666.
There was extensive restoration during the last century. The
earliest date of an incumbent is 1269.

The patronage of the church was in the hands of: The kings of
England, while it was a rectory, 1269; the Abbess and Convent of
Barking from 1387, when it became a vicarage; the Crown, at the
suppression in 1540, who exchanged it with the Archbishop of
Canterbury, who presented in 1584, and in whose successors it
continues.

Houseling people in 1548 were 800.

The church consists of a nave and chancel together with north and
south aisles. It is 108 feet in length, 67 feet in breadth, and in
height 35 feet to the ceiling of the nave, but to that of the aisles
considerably less. The western portion is older than the chancel,
and probably the original building only occupied the site of the
present nave. The massive pillars at the west end are of Norman
character in contrast to the slender columns of the eastern arches,
probably not erected before the fifteenth century. The large east
window, in the Late Decorated style, seems to have been left
untouched during the numerous alterations of the seventeenth
century. The present tower, erected in 1659 after the original had
been destroyed by an explosion, is of plain brick, with a turret and
weather-vane, and rises above the west end of the nave. The original
tower rose from the west end of the south aisle. The total height of
it is 80 feet.

Chantries were founded here by: Adam de Blackeneye, citizen, for
himself and Cecilia his wife, A.D. 1295 (his will, dated 1310);
Thomas Crolys, and Thomas Pilke, before 1365; John Cade; Robert
Tate, mayor of London, who died in 1488; Richard I., augmented by
Edward I., who erected there an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
Edward IV. granted a licence to found a fraternity here (Pat. 9
Edward IV. p. 2. m. 2). This chapel was newly built by Richard III.,
who founded a college here consisting of a dean and six canons.

Owing to the proximity of the Tower, Allhallows was frequently used
for the temporary interment of the remains of those who perished on
the scaffold on Tower Hill. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, Bishop
Fisher, and Archbishop Laud, found here a temporary grave. Humphrey
Monmouth, sheriff in 1535, is one of the most notable persons buried
here. Allhallows contains the best collection of monumental brasses
to be found in any London church. Some of the most noteworthy are: A
Flemish brass, in memory of Andrew Evyngar; that of William Thynne,
one of the earliest editors of Chaucer’s works; William Armer, of
the Clothworkers Company; and the Tonge brass, the oldest in the
City. Under the east window of the south aisle is a monument by
Peter Scheemakers, the sculptor of several monuments in Westminster
Abbey; the name of the Quaker William Penn is associated with this
church, where he was baptized in 1644.

Some of the donors of charitable gifts were: Margaret Martin, £1 :
6 : 8 per annum for the poor; William Armer; Alice Polstead, £6 :
13 : 4 per annum; William Haines, £5 per annum. The parish received
a very large number of gifts.

A school was founded in this parish, 1692, by Alderman Hickson for
twenty boys. There was also a hospital for the insane, in the time
of Edward III.

The most notable vicar was Thomas Ravis (d. 1609), who became Bishop
of London.

=Jewry= was formerly called Poor Jewry Street. This street originally consisted of mean tenements, and was greatly improved by the removal of the wall which admitted air into the street and gave space for building. Stow says that “in time of old” there were Jews living in this place, whence its name. In his time there were only a few poor tenements. The name “Poor Jewry” is found in the Records of 1438. As the Jews were banished in 1290, we may therefore conclude that the name was certainly older than that date.

=Trinity Square=, Tower Hill, is of an irregular shape, including an oval garden. It is named after Trinity House, which stands on the north side. In Ogilby’s map is a part of Great Tower Hill. Cooper’s Row was then called Woodruff Lane; George Street was then George Yard, where was the postern of the wall. North of George Street there is still a long piece of the wall standing within certain warehouses. Here are also other walls and fireplaces which are said to have belonged to a workhouse. I cannot, however, discover that there was any workhouse on this spot. This is apparently the same part of the wall that is figured in Wilkinson’s _Londina Illustrata_.

=Trinity House.=—Maitland’s account of the house and the corporation is as follows:

“In Water Lane is situated Trinity House which belongs to an ancient Corporation of Mariners, founded in King Henry VIII.’s time, for the Regulation of Seamen, and security and convenience of ships and mariners on our coasts. In the said King’s reign lived Sir Thos. Spert, Knight, Comptroller of the Navy to that King; who was the first founder and master of the said society of Trinity House; and died Anno 1541, and was buried in the chancel of Stepney church. To whose memory the said Corporation, Anno 1622, set up a monument there for him eighty years and one after the decease of the said Spert, their founder. And by an inscription antienter than that set up by the said corporation, lost long since in the church, but preserved by Norden; we learn, that this gentleman had three wives, Dame Margery, Dame Anne, and Dame Mary, all lying in the chancel there; and that his Coat of Arms was Two Launces in Saltier, between four Hearts, on a Chief, a ship with the sails furled. He was commander of the biggest ship then that the sea bore, namely, _Henry Grace de Dieu_, built by King Henry VIII. near the beginning of his reign.

“The house, where the corporation usually meets, belonged to them before the great Fire, but how long I know not. They took a long lease and rebuilt it. This house was burnt down about the year 1718 again, but is now by the said Brotherhood built up fairly a second time.

“This corporation one of the considerablest in the Kingdom, is governed by a master, four wardens, eight assistants, and the eldest brothers of the Company, as they are called, one and thirty in all. The rest of their Company are called Younger Brothers, without any fixed number: For any seafaring men that will, are admitted into the Society under that name: But they are not in the Government.

TRINITY HOUSE, TOWER HILL
]