Chapter VIII: Preface (8)

In the “Taxatio Ecclesiastica” of Pope Nicholas IV. (1291) occurs
reference to _ecclesia Sancte Marie de Wolchurche hawe_, indicating
that the names of St. Mary de Westcheping and Niewecherche had alike
disappeared to give place to a title in some way derived from the
wool staple and market. This is Stow’s etymology of the name. Mr. J.
H. Round doubts the theory; he suggests that this St. Mary’s was a
daughter-church to St. Mary Woolnoth (_Athenæum_, August 17, 1889,
p. 223) (Woollen-hithe-hatch, or haw). This would give as the full
and new name of our “Niewecherche” St. Mary-in-Woollenhaw,
Church-Haw, and by contraction St. Mary Woolchurch Haw. It is
actually styled St. Mary Wolmaricherch in 1280-81, which certainly
appears to support Mr. Round’s theory.

The first rector given by Newcourt is John Dyne, who resigned in
1382. By licence granted 1442 (20 Henry VI.), the church was
rebuilt; the new building stood farther south than the old, in
accordance with a condition imposed by the licence, which ordained
it to be 15 feet from the Stocks Market “for sparing of light to the
same.” The foundation stone of this new building was discovered when
digging the foundations of the Mansion House in 1739.

The stone was drawn by R. West, engraved by Toms, and relegated to
an obscurity from which it has never since emerged: its whereabouts
is unknown. The new church, whose foundation was laid on May 4,
1442, is described by Stow as “reasonably fair and large.”

The church was destroyed in the Great Fire and not rebuilt, its
parish being annexed to the neighbouring one of St. Mary Woolnoth.
The earliest date of an incumbent is 1349.

The patronage of the church was in the hands of: Hubert de Ria,
father of Eudo, Steward of the Conqueror’s household; Abbot and
Convent of St. John, Colchester, being the gift of Eudo; Henry VIII.
seized it, and thus it continued in the Crown until the church was
burnt down and the parish annexed to St. Mary Woolnoth, of which the
Crown shares the alternate patronage.

Houseling people in 1548 were 360.

Chantries were founded here by: Anne Cawood, at the Altar of St.
Nicholas, whose endowment fetched £8 in 1548, when Henry Cockes was
priest, and to which John Chamberlayne was admitted June 2, 1525;
Roger Barlow, whose endowment fetched £3 : 6 : 8 in 1548, which was
spent on maintaining the Cawood chantry: by Godwine le Hodere in
1313 for himself and his wife, for which the King granted his
licence July 8, 1321.

The church formerly contained monuments to several benefactors,
amongst whom were John Winger, mayor in 1504, donor of £20 for
church purposes; Richard Shaw, sheriff in 1505, and donor of £20.

Stow records that the list of legacies and gifts was too long for
the churchwardens to give account of in their parochial visitation
of 1693, but that it could be seen in the parish registers.

William Fuller (1608-75), Bishop of Lincoln, was rector here.

Of the =Wool Haw= it is interesting to know: “They set up a beam for the tronage or weighing of wool in the churchyard of St. Mary, Westcheping, which was henceforth known as the Wool Haw or yard, and became a wool market. The date is not known, but it was before 1275 (‘S. Mary de Wolcherche’ occurs in a will of 1265 (see _Calendar of Wills_, vol. i. p. 26)). ‘Les Customes de Wolchirchaw’ as ordained in the reign of Edward I., were as follows (_Liber Albus_, p. 216):—‘For one pound of wool (sold) to a foreigner (non-freeman) one halfpenny; and for one sack, only one halfpenny. For two woolfels and more, one halfpenny, and for one hundred only one halfpenny. For one pound of woolen yarn, one halfpenny; for one hundred only one halfpenny. If any foreigner brings wool, woolfels, or yarn through the city for sale, to the value of ten pence and more, he shall pay as custom one farthing.’

“The weighing of wool was continued here until 1383 (6 Richard II.) when John Churchman, having built the Custom House upon Wool Quay (Tower Ward) the tronage was discontinued in this spot” (Strype).

When the watercourse of the Walbrook was open, there was a bridge over it at the junction of Walbrook, Broad Street, and Cheap wards. At the east side of the Mansion House, running from Mansion House Street to Church Row, is Mansion House Place. It contains only the sides of buildings.

Previously to the erection of the Mansion House, Mansion House Place formed merely the east side of Stocks Market, and was planted with rows of trees. On the east, about the middle, was a court, and in it, says Strype (1720), “a good large house, the habitation of Godfrey Woodward, one of the attorneys of the Sheriff’s court.” Strype’s map shows the position of the court, which opened into a fair-sized quadrangle.

=Stocks Market.=—In Plantagenet London the Westcheping (Westcheping comprised at least the present Cheapside, Poultry, and Mansion House Street) had an open space, “very large and broad,” where the Mansion House now stands. South of the space was St. Mary Woolchurch Haw, already described; in the space itself a pair of stocks for punishment of offenders. By patent of Edward I., in 1282, Henry Waley, several times mayor, built sundry houses in the City, whose profits were destined for the maintenance of London Bridge. The void space by the Woolchurch he built and otherwise turned into a market, known as “Les Stokkes,” otherwise Stocks Market, sometimes Woolchurch Market. He appointed it a market-place for fish and flesh. The keepers of the bridge let out the stalls to fishmongers and butchers for term of their lives, until 1312-13, when John de Gisors, mayor, and the whole commonalty decreed that life-leases should not be granted in future without the consent of the mayor and commonalty (for full text of the decree see Strype, 1754 ed.). In 1322, Edward II. sent Letters Patent from the Tower commanding that no one should sell fish or flesh save in the markets of Bridgestreet, Eastcheap, Old Fish Street, St. Nicholas Shambles, and Stocks Market—a first offence to be punished by forfeiture of such fish or flesh as was sold, second offence by loss of freedom; and it was accordingly thus decreed by the mayor, Hamo de Chigwell. The rents of the market at that time amounted to £46 : 13 : 4 per annum. Foreigners, _i.e._ non-freemen, were allowed to sell in this “house called the Stocks,” but under conditions. None might cut meat after 2 P.M. rung at St. Paul’s; meat cut and remaining unpurchased at that time was all to be sold by vespers, “without keeping any back or carrying any away.” In 1320 three alleged “foreigners” were accused of selling their pork and beef by candlelight, after curfew had rung at St. Martin’s-le-Grand. One did not appear to defend himself, one acknowledged his offence; the meat of both was forfeited. The third contended that he possessed the City freedom, and his meat was returned to him (Riley, _Memorials of London_).

The “butchers of the Stokkes” were jealous of their honour. In 1331 they petitioned Sir John Pountney, mayor, and the aldermen, that ordinance should be made against certain abuses. Their prayer was granted; henceforth no butcher having once or twice failed in payment should trade in the market until he had paid his debts. The trade had evidently got into bad repute owing to insolvent butchers. Likewise no “foreigner” was to sell by retail in the market; no butcher to “take another’s man” except such man had paid his former master that he owed him, otherwise the new master was to be held responsible for his servant. Also that butchers of the market who had bought their freedom should be obliged to live in the City. Hitherto some of them had dwelt in Stratford, and had thus avoided bearing “their part in the franchise of the City.” Infringement of the ordinance was punishable by a fine of 40s. payable to the Chamber of London (Riley, _ibid._).

STOCKS MARKET
]

By degrees the flesh and fish trade centred hereabouts overflowed into the King’s highway from Cheap conduit to the market, and became an obstruction. The common serjeant complained to the mayor and aldermen in 1345. As a result, ordinary butchers, poulterers, and fishmongers were to confine their operations to their houses and shops: market men to sell within the market. On fish days the fishmongers were to occupy the market enclosure, and the butchers the pent-house adjoining; on flesh days the enclosure was for the butchers, and the pent-house for the fishmongers. Obstruction of the highway henceforth entailed forfeiture of goods exposed for sale. That same year the common serjeant found three butchers selling from stalls in the highway of Poultry, and confiscated their meat (Riley, _ibid._).

The butchers of the “Stokkes” gave £17 to Edward III. for the carrying on of the French Wars. This was a large contribution, showing their prosperous condition. Their brethren, St. Nicholas Shambles, gave only £9, those of West Cheap only £8; the greater Companies £20 to £40, the lesser mostly below £7. This old market was under strict supervision. In 1319 the market wardens cited one William Sperlyng for offering two putrid beef carcases for sale. A jury of twelve pronouncing the carcases putrid as alleged, the unhappy man was ordered to be put in the pillory and to have the two carcases burned beneath him (Riley), as in the case of the pork butcher already mentioned. In 1351 one Henry de Passelewe, cook, was cited before the commonalty on a charge of selling at the Stocks a pasty in which the two capons baked therein were “putrid and stinking, and an abomination to mankind: to the scandal, contempt and disgrace of all the City,” and the manifest peril of the life of the purchaser. Passelewe contended that when sold the capons were “good, well-flavoured, fitting and proper.” However, eight good and trusty cooks pronounced them “stinking and rotten, and baneful to the health of man.” So poor Passelewe was sentenced to the pillory, the offensive pasty to be carried before him, and a proclamation to be made as to the reason of his punishment.

Considerable prejudice existed against non-freemen using the market. In 1382 Adam Carlelle, late alderman of Aldgate, approached the places of the “foreign fishmongers” and “in a haughty and spiteful manner cursed the said strangers, saying that he did not care who heard it or knew of it, but that it was a great mockery and badly ordained than such ribalds as those should sell their fish in the City, and further that he would rather a fishmonger who was his neighbour in the City should make 20s. by him, than such a ribald barlelle was adjudged to have thus expressed contempt for the command of the king and the ordinance of the City, and was excluded from ever holding any offices of dignity in the City” (Riley, _Memorials_).

In 1410 (2 Henry IV.) it was found necessary to rebuild the market, and the work was completed in the next year. The annual rents were valued at £56 : 19 : 6 in 1507, an increase of £10 on 185 years. In 1543, only 36 years later, the sum reached £82 : 3s. per annum. The market must have been fully let at that time: fishmongers had 25 stalls, producing £34 : 13 : 4 in rent; the butchers rented 18 stalls at £41 : 16 : 4; there were also 16 upper chambers rented at £5 : 13 : 4—total £82 : 3s. per annum (Stow’s _Survey_, p. 243, 1754).

In 1509 (1 Henry VIII.) the dwellers about the Stocks obtained leave of the Common Council to substitute for a leaden water-pipe at the south-east of the market a stone conduit, or, as it is called in the petition, “a portico of stone, with a cesterne of lead therein” from which water was “to bee drawne out by cocks.” Time wrought changes in the market and its uses. After the Great Fire, the fishmongers and most of the butchers gave place to the sellers of fruits, roots, and herbs. It was of note, says Strype (1720), “for having the choicest in the kind of all sorts, surpassing all other markets in London.” The post-Fire market was increased by the addition of the sites of St. Mary Woolchurch Haw and its churchyard, the sites of three houses belonging to the parish, purchased for £350, and of the site of the rectory house, obtained at a perpetual rental of £10 per annum. Thus the new market was 230 feet from north to south, and 108 feet from east to west, measured at the middle; besides the open roadways or passages on the west and east sides. The eastern side was planted with “rows of trees, very pleasant.” The market-place itself had twenty-two covered fruit stalls, most of them at the north side; two ranges of covered butchers’ stalls, with racks, blocks, and scales, in the south-east corner; the remaining space was occupied by gardeners and others who sold “fruits, roots, herbs, and flowers” (Strype, 1720). Well might Shadwell ask in his _Bury Fair_ (1689), “Where is such a garden in Europe as the Stocks Market?” Here follows an amusing description of it taken from a paper called _The Wandering Spy_ (1705):

“I saw Stocks Market, all garnished with nuts, and pears, and grapes, and golden pippins, all in rank and file most prettily. And then on the other side for physic herbs there is enough to furnish a whole country, from the nourishing Eringo, to the destructive Savine, where a man may buy as much for a penny as an apothecary will afford for half-a-crown, and do a man twice as much good as their specific bolusses, hipnotic draughts, sudorific hausteses, anodyne compositions, and twenty other flip-flops with hard names, which only disorder the body, put nature into convulsions, and prepare a man for the sexton. But here a man may consult a female doctor in a straw hat without fee, have what quantity he pleases, of what herb he pleases, be his distemper what it will, and convert it into a juice, concoction, syrup, purge, or glister, in a quarter of an hour, without any danger to body or pocket” (Malcolm, _Londinium Redivium_).

Oak Apple Day, 1672, was a gala day for the market. Then it was that Sir Robert Vyner inaugurated the “nobly great statue of King Charles II. on horseback” which he had, at his own charge, caused to be set upon the conduit at the north end of the same. The King was represented in armour, his head uncovered; the horse trampled beneath its feet the fallen form of Oliver Cromwell. The whole, which was of white marble, stood upon a freestone pedestal 18 feet high, carved with the royal arms and niches containing dolphins. Handsome iron gates and rails enclosed this loyal tribute to a great king. That day the market conduit ran with wine; three years afterwards Sir Robert Vyner was Lord Mayor. Alas! the glory of the statue, as of the monarch it portrayed, was short-lived. It was soon criticised as a clumsy work, and the revelation of its history turned it into a laughing-stock. Early in the eighteenth century it was discovered that the loyal Vyner had found somewhere abroad a statue of John Sobieski, King of Poland, conqueror of the Turks at Choozim. The statue represented the King’s horse trampling on a Turk. It lay on the sculptor’s hands. Sir Robert, seeing the means of paying his sovereign a compliment without great expense, obtained the statue, and secured Latham to substitute the head of Charles for that of the Pole. The downtrodden Turk was christianised into Cromwell, only, unfortunately, Latham omitted to alter the Turk’s turban, which remained intact and incongruous upon Oliver’s head, and served as a confirmation of the story. There is a lampoon on the statue worth quoting. It occurs in Lord Rochester’s _History of the Insipids_ (1676):

Could Robert Vyner have foreseen
The glorious triumphs of his master,
The Woolwich Statue gold had been,
Which now is made of alabaster:
But wise men think had it been wood
’Twere for a bankrupt king too good.

When Stocks conduit was removed, the “ridiculous statue” was relegated to the rubbish heaps of Guildhall; finally the Common Council granted it to Mr. Robert Vyner, a descendant of Sir Robert, in 1779, and it was taken by its new owner to adorn his country seat at Gantly Park, Lincolnshire. The year 1737 saw the end of Stocks Market in this place. On March 12 the sheriffs petitioned the House of Commons to remove it to Fleet Ditch, and to erect the Mansion House upon its site. Their prayer was granted; the market was removed at Michaelmas 1737, and the ancient market-place was enclosed with a broad fence. In its new home the name which it had borne for 255 years was lost, and it became known as the Fleet Market. At Michaelmas 1829, exactly 82 years after its removal, it was closed and the site cleared to form Farringdon Street. St. Christopher le Stocks, so called from its proximity to the market, stood on part of the site of the present Bank of England. Seven streets now meet before the Bank and pour forth omnibuses, cabs, and other vehicles in an endless stream of traffic. Below are the white-bricked subways of the electric railway which form a safe crossing for those who cannot ford the river of traffic.

=St. Christopher le Stocks= stood on the north side of Threadneedle
Street in the ward of Broad Street. The date of its foundation is
unknown. The building was much injured by the Great Fire and
subsequently repaired. In 1780, after the Gordon Riots, it was taken
down and its site is now covered by part of the Bank of England. The
earliest date of an incumbent is 1280.

The patronage of the church was in the hands of: The family of Nevil
in 1281; the Bishop of London, 1415, in whose successors it
continued up to 1783.

Houseling people in 1548 were 221.

_Pictorial Agency._

BANK OF ENGLAND FOUNTAIN
]

The church originally contained monuments to Robert Thorne, a donor
of £4445 to the parish for charitable uses; William Hampton, mayor,
1472, and great benefactor, and other donors. Few of these were to
be seen after the Fire.

Chantries were founded here: By John Walles, mercer, whose endowment
fetched £10 : 13 : 4 in 1548; for Thomas Legg, to which William
Swynbrok was admitted chaplain, January 10, 1370-71; for John
Gedney, Mayor of London, 1427, at the Altar of Holy Trinity; for
Margerie de Nerford, William de Bergh, cl. and Christian Vaughan,
widow, at the Altar of Holy Trinity, for which the King granted his
licence, February 23, 1406-1407: the endowment was valued at £10 :
4s. in 1548; by John Plonkett, whose endowment fetched £13 : 17 : 8
in 1548; by Alice, wife of Benedict Harlewyn, late citizen and
clothier, at the Altar of Holy Trinity, for the king, John Wenlok,
Knt., herself, Richard, Duke of York, and Benedict her husband; the
King granted his licence, March 20, 1461-62: the endowment fetched
£5 : 13 : 4 in 1548.

Robert Thorne was donor of more than £4445 to the parish. John
Kendrick was also a great benefactor, whose will is recorded in full
by Stow. Sir Peter le Maire bequeathed £100 to the poor of the
parish. There were many other donors of smaller amounts.

Among notable vicars were John Pearson (1631-86), Bishop of Chester,
the theologian, and William Peirse, Bishop of Peterborough in 1630.

The site of the Church of St. Bartholomew is now also absorbed by the Bank.

=St. Bartholomew Exchange=, formerly called Little St. Bartholomew,
stood at the south-east corner of St. Bartholomew Lane, over against
the Royal Exchange. The date of its foundation is unknown, but about
1438 it was rebuilt. In 1840 it was sold, and possession given to
Kames William Freshfield, junr., for the Bank of England; instead
thereof the Church of St. Bartholomew, Moor Lane, was built. The
earliest date of an incumbent is 1331.

The patronage was in the hands of: Simon Goddard, citizen and draper
of London, who bequeathed it to his heir, Johanna, in 1273-74;
Edward III. in 1364; Richard Plessy; Abbot and Convent of St. Mary
Graces, 1374, confirmed February 19, 1422-23; Henry VIII., and
continued in the Crown.

Houseling people in 1548 were 392.

Chantries were founded here for: Richard de Plessis, Dean of the
Arches, who died 1362, when John Radyng was admitted chaplain; Mary,
wife of Sir John Lepington.

Sir William Capell, mayor, 1509, was buried here, also James
Wilford, sheriff, 1499. The church originally contained a monument
to Richard Croshawe, Master of the Company of Goldsmiths. He lived
in this parish for thirty-one years, and left by his will over £4000
for the maintaining of lectures, relief of the poor, and other
charitable uses. There are no other gifts recorded.

Ralf Brideoake (1613-78), Bishop of Chichester, was rector here;
also John Sharp (1645-1714), Archbishop of York, and Zachary Pearce
(1690-1774), Bishop of Rochester and Bangor.

=Threadneedle Street.=—The derivation of this extraordinary name is very uncertain. Stow calls it Threeneedle Street, and it may possibly have arisen from some tavern with the sign of the three needles. The arms of Needlemakers Company are “three needles in fesse argent.” This is one of the humbler Companies and has no hall.

On the north side there were in the sixteenth century “divers fair and large” houses, after which came the Hospital of St. Anthony, close to the Royal Exchange.

The very interesting foundation of St. Anthony is considered elsewhere, as so long an account would interrupt our perambulation unduly. One of the oddest customs at a time when there were so many odd customs, was that the pigs belonging to this house were allowed to roam about the City as they pleased, and on the 17th January, any year, had the privilege of going into any house that was open. But in 1281, and again in 1292, there are no exceptions made to the rule that all pigs, to whomsoever they may belong, shall be killed, if found in the street.

An open concrete-covered space beyond the Royal Exchange lines part of this street. Here there is a fountain erected in 1878 by the exertions and donations of an alderman. A gilded canopy overhangs a stone group of a mother and two children. The pedestal and basins are of granite. On the east there is a seated figure of Peabody, life size. The buildings on the north side of the street do not require much comment; the North British & Mercantile Insurance Company is the most noticeable, because the horizontal lines are broken by the deeply recessed windows. The Postal Telegraph Office next door has a little tower on the summit, and the frontage is sprinkled with rather conventional stone panels and has a superfluity of stone ornament. The Consolidated Bank, after the following corner, has a plain frontage, which makes a deep frieze across the upper part more striking; this is an allegorical subject in a stone _bas relievo_ under a heavy cornice. The National Bank of India is a solid, well-proportioned building with symmetrical columns of polished granite running up the front.

=St. Benet Finck= was situated on the south side of Threadneedle
Street, east of the Royal Exchange. It was dedicated to St. Benedict
and took its additional name from its founder, Robert Fincke. The
date of its foundation is unknown. It was burnt down in the Great
Fire, and rebuilt by Wren, who completed it in 1673. The church was
taken down in 1842, and its parish united with that of St.
Peter-le-Poer. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1323. The
patronage of the church was in the hands of: The family of Nevils in
1281, who presented to it as a Rectory; Master and Brethren of the
Hospital of St. Anthony, then the Dean and Chapter of Windsor, 1474,
up to 1844, when it was annexed to St. Peter-le-Poer.

Houseling people in 1548 were 300 and above.

Wren’s church was elliptical in shape, and measured 63 feet by 48
feet. It was traversed by six composite columns, which, with the
connecting arches, supported the roof. The steeple, which rose to a
height of 110 feet roughly, consisted of a tower, lead-covered
cupola, and lantern.

The original church contained monuments to John Wilcocks and Dame
Anne Awnsham (d. 1613), both benefactors of the parish. After the
Great Fire a Table of Benefactors was set up to the memory of:
George Holman, donor of £1000 to the rebuilding of the church; Anne
Thriscrosse, donor of £100 for apprenticing poor children, and
several other donors. On a table in the organ loft there was an
inscription to Mrs. Sarah Gregory, donor of £600 for various
charitable purposes. In 1662 Richard Baxter, the celebrated
Nonconformist divine, was married here.

In Threadneedle Street, at the corner of =Bartholomew Lane=, is the Sun Fire Office with glittering gilt suns over the corner and windows. The angle has been sliced off to form an entrance. A heavy wreath of foliage in stone surrounds the window above. The architect was C. R. Cockerell. A graceful new building in white stone with engaged pillars fluted, rising from the top of the ground-floor, contains the Life Alliance and Fire Office in Bartholomew Lane. Next door is Bartholomew House with the usual stereotyped stone detail, and a couple of somewhat cumbrous stone figures reclining over each side window. Capel Court leads to the Stock Exchange.

_Drawn by G. Shepherd._

ST. BENET FINCK
]

At No. 40 Threadneedle Street is a paved courtyard shut in by iron gates and behind an archway, striking because of its size and the massiveness of its stonework. This leads to entrances of the National Provincial Bank of England, and the Mercantile Bank of India. Beyond it is the Baltic and South Sea House. This differs from all the preceding buildings because it belongs to the eighteenth century, as the deep tinge of its well-preserved bricks tells.

The centre window and doorway are encased in stonework, and the solidity of the whole structure is in contrast with its “bubble” reputation. It is now occupied as chambers by merchants, brokers, etc., and the secretary of the Baltic Company finds lodging here among others.

On the south side of Threadneedle Street we have the Bank of Australasia. Then two great doorways with an interval between them. These bear over them the arms of the powerful Merchant Taylors Company, whose hall is behind.

MERCHANT TAYLORS COMPANY

The precise date of the foundation of the Company is not known, but
one of the earliest civic records mentioning the Taylors as a
separate craft, is the “Chronicle of the Mayors and Sheriffs of
London,” which narrates their dispute with the Goldsmiths in
November 1267.

In 1299 Edward I. granted them his licence to adopt the name of
“Taylors and Linen Armourers of the Fraternity of St. John the
Baptist.” Stow says that on St. John Baptist’s Day, 1300, a master
(Henry de Ryall) and four wardens were chosen, the master being then
called “the pilgrim,” as travelling for the whole Company, and the
warders “the purveyors of alms or quarterages,” plainly showing that
the gild was originally a charitable as well as a commercial
fraternity.

In March 1326 the first charter was granted to the Company by Edward
III.

In 1371 the Company, under this charter, made an ordinance to
regulate their trade, with the special object of recovering damages
from workmen miscutting the cloth entrusted to them.

The Company acquired that portion of their Threadneedle Street
estate upon which their present hall stands in 1331.

In 1351 they enrolled their first honorary member; and about 1361
obtained a grant of a chapel at the north side of St. Paul’s, in
honour of St. John the Baptist, for daily service and prayers for
“the preservation of them that are or shall be of the fraternity.”

In 1480 the Company received their first grant of arms, taking
religious emblems, viz. a holy lamb set within a sun, the crest
being within the pavilion, Our Blessed Lady St. Mary the Virgin,
Christ her Son standing naked before her, holding between His hands
a vesture (_tunica inconsutilis_).

In 1484 the celebrated controversy for precedence in processions,
etc., between the Taylors and Skinners arose, which was settled by
the award of the Lord Mayor that each Company should have precedence
in alternate years, and that each should invite the other to dine
once in every year. This custom has been ever since kept up, the
master and wardens of the Taylors dining with the Skinners on the
first Thursday in December, the master and wardens of the Skinners
with the Taylors on the 14th July.

It was not till 1502 that the Company attained to the full
privileges which they afterwards enjoyed. Under Henry VII.’s
charter, not only were the Company made “Merchant” Taylors, but they
ceased to be exclusively Taylors, and were permitted to receive
others into their fraternity.

The principal object of the guild was the preservation of the trade
or calling of the fraternity, no one being permitted to work in
London as a “tailor” unless a freeman of the Company. For the
protection of the trade the right of search was vested in the guild,
such search being a guarantee to the public that the honest usages
of trade were observed, and to the fraternity that their monopoly
was not infringed. Before a tailor’s shop was opened a licence had
to be obtained from the master and wardens of the Company, and they
granted the licence only when satisfied of the competency of the
freeman. Until the abolition of Bartholomew Fair in 1854, after an
existence of 700 years, the beadle of the Company used annually to
attend the fair and to proceed to the drapers’ shops, taking with
him the Company’s silver yard stick as the standard by which to test
the measures used for selling cloth in the fair.

In 1555, anticipation of the foundation of Merchant Taylors’ School,
Sir Thomas White, a member of the Court of the Merchant Taylors
Company, founded St. John’s College, Oxford, reserving forty-three
out of its fifty endowed fellowships for scholars from the school.

The Company’s school was founded in 1561 on Lawrence Pountney Hill.

Great Crosby School, near Liverpool, of which the Company are sole
trustees and managers, was founded in 1618 by John Harrison.

In 1622 Dr. Thomas White established Sion College, giving to the
Company the nomination to eight of the twenty almshouses which he
connected with the college.

In 1666 the losses sustained by the Company in the Fire of London
obliged them to let their land in the City upon small ground-rents
to enable their tenants to rebuild, and their resources were thus
much crippled.

The number of the livery is 288. The Corporate Income is £37,000;
the Trust Income is £13,000. Their hall is at 30 Threadneedle
Street.

Privileges of membership:

(1) The only advantages that a freeman in easy circumstances
possesses is eligibility for the livery, and prospectively for the
court, and the comfortable assurance that, should he fall into
poverty by misfortune and maintain his respectability, he will
receive a pension from the Company varying in amount from £5 to £40
a year, and that, should his wife and daughters be left in poverty,
they will be assisted by the Company to earn a living. Freemen are
eligible for certain gifts and loans of money for their advancement
in life.

Poverty from ill-health, old age, or incapacity to earn a
livelihood, alone constitutes a claim to a pension or donation.

The only patronage enjoyed by individual members of the court is the
power of presenting boys to the Company’s school in London. Each
member of the court has two or sometimes three presentations
annually, according to vacancies.

The present magnificent hall was built in 1671 by Jerman. It has
been altered and improved, but it remains much the same as when
Jerman handed it over to the Company.

The Company has almshouses and schools, notably the great school on
the site of the Charter House. It also gives largely to the City and
Guilds of London Technical Institute.

At the east end of Threadneedle Street, where it meets Bishopsgate Street, stood St. Martin Outwich.

ST. MARTIN OUTWICH
]

=St. Martin Outwich= was called Oteswich or Outwich from four
brothers of that name who founded it. It escaped the Great Fire, but
was rebuilt in 1796 by the Merchant Taylors Company. In 1873 the
parish of St. Martin Outwich was united with that of St. Helen,
Bishopsgate, and the former church pulled down; the Capital and
Counties Bank stands on its site. The earliest date of an incumbent
is 1300.

The patronage of the Church was in the hands of: Edward III., who
granted it to John de Warren, Earl of Surrey, in 1328; the
Oteswiches, who, by their trustee, John Churchman, conveyed it to
the Merchant Taylors Company, July 15, 1406, who presented it up to
1855.

Houseling people in 1548 were 227.

A chantry was founded here by John de Bredstrete, whose endowment
for this and other purposes fetched £4 : 3 : 4 in 1548. The King
granted his licence to found the Guild of St. Baptist, July 15,
1406.

Money fetched 5 per cent in 1548, for one John Kyddermester the
elder by his will bequeathed £200 to purchase £10 by year to keep an
obite, etc., in St. Martin Outwich.

A considerable number of monuments are recorded by Stow. Some of the
most notable are those in memory of: Matthew Pemberton, Merchant
Taylor, donor of £50 for repairing the chapel of St. Lawrence;
Richard Staper, alderman, 1594, and greatest merchant of his day;
George Sotherton, sometime Master of the Merchant Taylors Company,
and M.P. for the City of London, who died in 1599. All the monuments
in St. Martin Outwich were removed to St. Helen, Bishopsgate, on the
union of the parishes.

No detailed account of the charities is recorded by Stow. The
benefactors whose names are given, were: Sir Henry Rowe, donor of £5
yearly; Mrs. Taylor, donor of £2 : 15s., for two special sermons a
year.

George Gardiner (d. 1589), chaplain to Queen Elizabeth and Dean of
Norwich, was rector here; also Richard Kidder (1633-1703), Bishop of
Bath and Wells; Samuel Bishop (1731-95), head master of Merchant
Taylors’ School.

There was near the church a well with two buckets; this was
afterwards turned into a pump.

There are references to “rents” in =Broad Street= as early as 1258; in 1278, Matthew de Hekham, on his way from Broad Street to the Jewry, was murdered by Jews; in 1331 there is the conveyance of a very large and substantial house belonging to Edmund Crepin, citizen, and deed of hire by Sir Oliver Ingham, Knt. In 1387, the parson of St. Peter’s, Broad Street, brings to the mayor and aldermen a breviary called “Portehers,” _i.e._ for carrying about, bequeathed to the prison of Newgate by the late Hugh Tracy, chaplain, so that priests and clerks there imprisoned might say their service from it. And he also obtained permission to visit the prison from time to time in order to see that the book was well kept.

“East from Currier’s row is a long and high wall of stone, inclosing the north side of a large garden adjoining to as large an house, built in the reign of King Henry VIII., and of Edward VI., by Sir William Powlet, lord Treasurer of England. Through this garden, which of old time consisted of divers parts, now united, was sometimes a fair footway, leading by the west end of the Augustine Friars church straight north, and opened somewhat west from Allhallows church against London wall towards Moregate; which footway had gates at either end, locked up every night; but now the same way being taken into those gardens, the gates are closed up with stone, whereby the people are forced to go about by St. Peter’s church, and the east end of the said Friars church, and all the said great place and garden of Sir William Powlet to London Wall, and so to Moregate.

“This great house, adjoining to the garden aforesaid, stretcheth to the north corner of Broad Street, and then turneth up Broad Street all that side to and beyond the east end of the said Friars church. It was built by the said lord treasurer in place of Augustine Friars house, cloister, and gardens, etc. The Friars church he pulled not down, but the west end thereof, inclosed from the steeple and choir, was in the year 1550 granted to the Dutch nation in London, to be their preaching place: the other part, namely, the steeple, choir, and side aisles to the choir adjoining, he reserved to household uses, as for stowage of corn, coal, and other things; his son and heir, Marquis of Winchester, sold the monuments of noblemen (there buried) in great number, the paving-stone and whatsoever (which cost many thousands), for one hundred pounds, and in place thereof made fair stabling for horses. He caused the lead to be taken from the roofs, and laid tile in place whereof; which exchange proved not so profitable as he looked for, but rather to his disadvantage” (Stow’s _Survey_, p. 184).

This house stood on the north side of what was afterwards called Winchester Street; the garden and grounds between it and the nave of Austin Friars’ Church having been built over. The beautiful steeple of the church, in spite of the remonstrances of the parishioners and of a letter of remonstrance addressed to the Marquis by the mayor and aldermen, was pulled down in 1604. The letter, the earliest in favour of the preservation of ancient monuments, is given in Strype, vol. i. p. 442:

“RIGHT HONORABLE, MY VERY GOOD LORD—There hath been offered of late,
unto this Court, a most just and earnest Petition, by divers of the
chiefest of the Parish of St. Peter the Poor, in London, to move us
to be humble Suitors unto your Lordship in a Cause, which is
sufficient to speak for itself, without the Mediation of any other,
viz.:—for the Repairing of the ruinous Steeple of the Church,
sometime called, The Augustine Friars, now belonging to the Dutch
Nation, situate in the same Parish of St. Peter the Poor: The Fall
whereof, which, without speedy Prevention, is near at hand, must
needs bring with it not only a great deformitie to the whole City,
it being, for Architecture, one of the beautifullest and rarest
Spectacles thereof, but also a fearful eminent danger to all the
inhabitants next adjoining. Your Lordship being moved herein, as we
understand, a year since, was pleased then to give honorable
Promises with Hope of present help, but the effects not following
according to your honorable intention, we are bould to renew the
said Suit agayne; eftsoons craving at your Lordship’s hands a due
consideration of so worthy a work, as to help to build up the House
of God; one of the cheefest fountains, from whence hath sprung so
great glory to your Lordship’s most noble descendency of the
Powlets; whose steps your Lordship must needs follow, to continue,
to all posterity, the fame of so bountiful benefactors both to
Church and Commonwealth.

“So that I trust we shall have the less need to importune your
Lordship in so reasonable a suite; first, Bycause it doth
principally concern your Lordship, being the Owner of the greatest
part of the said Speare, or Steeple; but especially that by
disbursing of a small sum of money, to the value of 50 or 60 £s,
your Lordship shall do an excellent work, very helpful to many, and
most grateful to all, as well English as strangers; who, by this
means, shall have cause to magnify to the world this so honorable
and charitable an action. And I and my brethren shall much rejoice
to be releeved herein by your Lordship’s most noble disposition,
rather than to fly to the last remedie of the Law of the Land;
which, in this case, hath provided a Writ De reparatione facienda.

“Thus, hoping as assuredlie on your Lordship’s favour, as we pray
incessantlie for your continual Felicitie, we humbly take leaves of
your Lordship. From London, the 4th of August, 1600.

“Your Lordship’s humbly to be commauned,

NYCHOLAS MOSLY, MAYOR. RICHARD
MARTYN, JOHN HART, HENRY
BILLINGSLY, STEPHEN SOAME, WILLIAM
RYDER, JOHN GARRARD, THOMAS
BENNETT, THOMAS LOWE, LEONARD
HOLIDAY, ROBERT HAMPSON, RY.
GODARD, JOHN WATTES, THO. SMYTHE,
WILLIAM CRAVEN, AND HUMPHREY
WELD.”

The ancient Church of Austin Friars was given by Edward VI. to the Dutch congregation, in whose possession it still continues. All that remains is the nave. In 1862 this was badly damaged by fire, but was carefully restored, the window tracery and roof dating from that time as well as many other additions. For an account of the Austin Friars, see _Mediæval London_, vol. ii. p. 345.

Gilbert Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, lived in Broad Street in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, Lords Weston and Dover in that of Charles I.

“Here was a Glass House where Venice Glasses were made and Venetians employed in the work; and Mr. James Howel (author of the familiar Letters which bear his name) was Steward to this house. When he left this place, scarce able to bear the continual heat of it, he thus wittily expressed himself, that had he continued still Steward he should in a short time have melted away to nothing among those hot Venetians. This place afterwards became Pinners’ Hall” (Cunningham’s _Handbook_).

General Monk (February 1660) took up his quarters at the Glass House. On the north side was the Navy Pay Office, on the south the Excise Office.

On the site of the Excise Office was Gresham College. Sir Thomas Gresham, who died in 1596, bequeathed his dwelling-house in Bishopsgate Street for the purposes of the college, besides presenting the Corporation of the City of London and the Mercers Company with the Royal Exchange on the condition that they carried on lectures in the college as he prescribed. His house was a very fine one, well suited for the purpose he had in view. After the death of his widow in 1596, lectures on seven subjects were appointed and the work began. The house escaped the Great Fire of 1666, and the mayor took the college for courts and meetings; the merchants used the inner court for their Exchange, and temporary shops were put up for the use of those who had been burned out by the destruction of the Exchange. In the history of the college there has been a good deal of litigation, the full story of which may be found in Maitland and elsewhere.

GRESHAM COLLEGE
]

The following Regulations are given in Stow and Strype, in 1720, in full. They are here abridged:

1. Precedency of the Professors.

The three Professors of Divinity, Law, and Medicine to be
Governor or President of the College in turn.

2. The Professors to live in the College.

3. The Professors to be unmarried.

4. To have a common table, and not to entertain friends as guests at
more than three meals in one month.

5. The Year to consist of five terms:

(1) To begin on the Monday before Trinity Term and to continue
one month.

(2) From the first Monday in September and to continue a
fortnight.

(3) From the Monday before Michaelmas Term and to continue to
the end of that Term.

(4) From the Monday after Epiphany to continue two months or
sixty days.

(5) From the Monday seven night after Easter Day to the end of
Easter Term.

6. The Divinity Lecture to be read on Monday and Wednesday at 8 A.M.
in Latin and on Friday in English.

7. The Divinity Lecturer to deal especially with the controversies
which affect the Church of Rome.

8. The Law and Physick Lectures to be read, like the Divinity
Lecture, twice in Latin and once in English.

9. The other lectures in Astronomy, Geometry, Rhetoric, and Music to
be read alternately in Latin and English.

10. The Professors to wear their hoods and gowns.

11. A keeper of the House to be appointed by the Lord Mayor.

The college was intended to be a rival, in some sort, to Oxford and Cambridge. It seems never to have succeeded in attracting students. Dr. Johnson attributed its failure to the fact that the lectures were free, and that what is given is not valued. The House was pulled down in 1768 and the Excise Office took its place. The lectures were then read in a room at the Royal Exchange. In 1843 the present building was erected and the college entered upon a new course. So far, however, it does not seem to fulfil the intentions of the Founder as a great educational centre. Isaac Barrow, Robert Hooke, and Christopher Wren have been Professors in the college. The Royal Society held its meetings here for fifty years (1660-1710).

ST. PETER-LE-POER

In Broad Street at present still stands St. Peter-le-Poer, nearly
opposite the Excise Office. It escaped the Great Fire, but was
rebuilt in 1791 from the designs of Jesse Gibson. In 1842-44 St.
Benet Finck was demolished, and its parish was united with this. The
earliest date of an incumbent is 1356.

So far as there is any record, since 1181 at least, the patronage of
the church has always been in the hands of the Dean and Chapter of
St. Paul’s.

Houseling people in 1548 were 160 or 200.

The church is circular in shape, with a recess at the north for the
altar; a gallery originally ran round the building, but in 1888 the
greater part of this was removed. The steeple rises at the south,
the only side on which the exterior is visible, owing to surrounding
buildings. It consists of a square tower, supporting a stone cupola
which is terminated by a vane.

The most interesting monument which the present church contains is
that in memory of Dr. Richard Holdsworth, rector here in 1623, who
was for some time imprisoned by the Long Parliament. He was Master
of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and several times Vice-Chancellor of
the University. The church originally contained monuments to: John
Lucas, Master of the Requests to Edward VI., who died 1556; Robert
Calthrop, mayor, 1588; Sir William Roche, mayor, 1540; and Sir
William Garaway, at whose expense a new aisle was made in 1616,
costing £400.

Some of the charities given yearly to the poor were: £4, the gift of
Lady Ramsey; £5, the gift of John Quarles, for bread; £20, the gift
of Lady Richard, for housekeepers at Christmas time; £30, the gift
of Gerard Vanheithuysens, to be distributed among the poor.

There were six almshouses in Broad Street, the gift of Sir Thomas
Gresham.

Richard Holdsworth (1590-1649), Dean of Worcester, was rector here;
also Benjamin Hoadley (1676-1761), successively Bishop of Bangor, of
Hereford, of Sarum, of Winchester.

Opposite the church of St. Peter-le-Poer stood the “old” South Sea House, and behind it the yards used by the Company. This was the back of South Sea House, the front of which was at the east end of Threadneedle Street where it runs into Bishopsgate Street. The City of London Club now has its premises here; it is a large building with a massive porch, built by P. Hardwick.

Of the other business houses in this street there is nothing to say. At the corner of Winchester Street is Winchester House (modern), which keeps alive the memory of old Winchester House, standing until 1839, the town house of the marquises of Winchester.

The Pinners’ Hall was formerly in this street (see Appendix).

=Wormwood Street= is a continuation of London Wall, facing it. “In the street,” says Strype, “briefly, there be divers courts and alleys.” In other words, that part of London was occupied as lately as 1720 or 1750 by a population of industrial folk not yet driven out by the increase of merchants’ offices and banks. There appear to have been no antiquities in this street, unless we reckon a small burial-ground belonging to St. Martin Outwich, which lay in the point of the wall.

Of =London Wall= we have already spoken.

Northward are three stations, Broad Street, Bishopsgate Street, and Liverpool Street.

There are dreary rows of old brick houses on either side of the part of New Broad Street which runs east and west. Towards the west end of the street are one or two well-built business houses. The site of the Jews’ Synagogue is occupied by Blomfield House, largely inhabited by secretaries of companies and syndicates. When we turn the corner into the part of New Broad Street running north and south, we find some large modern buildings. On the east the building is uniform for a considerable way. Broad Street House occupies all the frontage between the two passages of St. Botolph’s Churchyard. It is stone fronted and is in an Italian style. Dashwood House behind it covers a very large area of ground. It is of ugly design in red brick with each line of windows in a different style. Both of these are largely occupied by agents, engineers, secretaries of companies, etc. Dashwood House looks out on the churchyard. This is an uninviting strip of ground surrounded on the south by the backs of warehouses. A small house at the east end is called “The Old Watchhouse,” and bears an inscription to the effect that it was rebuilt in 1771 by an alderman named James Townsend.

In Blomfield Street was formerly the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, now removed to the City Road. The Hospital had its origin in 1804 when some gentlemen founded a free dispensary for eye diseases.

There are some large buildings on the east known as Blomfield Buildings, also the London Provident Institution Savings Bank, and the headquarters of the London Missionary Society. The bank bears an inscription to the effect that it was erected 1835 and enlarged 1875. This Society was first formed a hundred years ago (January 15, 1795) in the Castle and Falcon Inn, Aldersgate Street, and it now sends missionaries to every quarter of the world. Close by is St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Chapel, stucco-covered, and a Roman Catholic School. At the corner of =East Street= is a fine building called Finsbury House, with grey granite columns of considerable strength running from the ground-floor upwards. It is well proportioned and has a well-finished angle.

Finsbury Circus is surrounded by a uniform line of dull brick houses having their ground-floors covered with yellow stucco. At one point only do the area railings give way, and that is at the London Institution, built of Portland stone, with a heavy portico and fluted columns. The Institution was established in 1806 in Old Jewry and afterwards removed to King’s Arms Yard, Coleman Street. It was incorporated a year after its establishment. The present building was founded in 1815 and opened four years later.

A great many solicitors have their offices in the Circus, and there is also a sprinkling of surgeons, accountants, and secretaries of companies. The centre of the Circus is occupied by a wide space of grass surrounded by a thick shrubbery of trees.

Northward of this is =Finsbury Square=, built in 1789 by George Dance. At the junction of Finsbury Pavement and Moorgate Street stood Moor Gate from which northwards outside the walls stretched the great open moor, the playground of the London citizens; this is now all built over with the exception of the Square and Circus mentioned above.

=Moorfields= so frequently occurs in documents before the end of the eighteenth century, and played so large a part in the life of the Londoner, that it deserves some notice. The earliest mention made of it is in the reign of Henry II., and was apparently a large open mere or marsh on which water lay in parts, so that in winter it was covered with ice, and formed a playground where the young citizens practised a primitive kind of skating. It was drained in 1627, and in Queen Elizabeth’s time was much resorted to for the practice of archery. It was also used as a general rendezvous for all who desired to meet without the gates, a perpetual fair, a drying ground, a preaching place, and many other things. It is generally said that the houseless people assembled here after the Great Fire; but Moorfields could have accommodated but a tenth part of them, so that the camps must have extended northward and westward far beyond the limits of Moorfields into Finsbury Fields northwards and to Islington.

Various attempts were made from time to time to enclose parts of Moorfields and build on the space, and these were resisted by the citizens with much ardour; but the spreading tide heeds not resistance, and gradually the whole area was built over—even in the seventeenth century the fields were enclosed and surrounded by shops.

Moor Gate was rebuilt in 1672, and the central gateway made higher than usual that the City Trained Bands might march through with pikes erect.