Chapter VI: Part 6

[509]No. 24, Betterton Street—Entrance doorway (measured drawing).

[509]No. 32, Betterton Street—Entrance doorway (photograph).

No. 32, Betterton Street—Marble chimneypiece, front room, first
floor (photograph).

XLIX.—NO. 25, ENDELL STREET.

GROUND LANDLORDS.

The Trustees of the late John King, Esq.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND DATE OF STRUCTURE.

Plots of land on both sides of Belton Street were leased for building by Sir John Brownlow, apparently in 1682,[510] and a stone tablet[511] gave the date of the street’s formation as 1683. The name obviously refers to the seat of the Brownlow family at Belton in Lincolnshire.

About 1846 the street was widened on the eastern side and renamed Endell Street, after the Rev. James Endell Tyler, then Rector of St. Giles.

At the expiration of the original leases in 1728, Peter Walter purchased portions of the Brownlow property, including a house in Belton Street “in the occupation of Daniel Holme,[512] surgeon, and used by him as a bagnio.”[513] Holme’s Bagnio was, it appears, the fourth house (inclusive) from the corner of Castle Street, and is therefore to be identified with the present No. 25, Endell Street.

At the rear of these premises is an apartment, about 16 feet by 9 feet, which is known as “Queen Anne’s Bath.” It has a coved ceiling surmounted by a small lantern, and on each side bull’s eye windows are constructed in the coved part of the ceiling. The roof is covered with tiles. The form of the chamber can be seen by Plate 37, which is taken from a watercolour drawing made by J. W. Archer in 1844. There are some blue and white tiles still affixed to the walls, but there is insufficient evidence to enable a definite date to be given to these. The level of the top of the steps is about 10 feet below the present street pavement. The floor of the bath is said to be about 18 feet below that level, but it cannot be seen as the bath is filled with soil and rubbish to an estimated depth of about 8 feet. The structure is dilapidated and floored over at about 18 inches below pavement level, and is now used as an iron merchant’s store.

Tradition asserts that the bath was frequented by Queen Anne,[514] a statement that it is not possible to confirm. The apartment is, however, very possibly a relic of the old “bagnio.”

THE COUNCIL’S COLLECTION CONTAINS:—

[515]No. 25, Endell Street—Queen Anne’s Bath (photograph).

No. 41, Endell Street—Exterior (photograph).

L.—NORTH OF SHORT’S GARDENS.

The land to the north-east of Short’s Gardens seems also to have formed part of that acquired by William Short in 1590, for certain premises which can be identified as occupying a site to the rear of the centre of the frontage to Drury Lane between Short’s Gardens and Broad Street, are stated to be bounded on the south by ground of Robert Clifton, “which ground was heretofore the inheritance of William Short, deceased.”[516] The fact that the property in Crown Court sold by Thomas Short in 1679[517] was also bounded on the south by land “late in the possession of Robert Clifton” shows that the Short property originally extended further westwards. It stretched, in fact, as far as the eastern boundary of Marshland.[518]

The Subsidy Roll for 1646 gives three names between that of the Earl of Downe, probably representing Lennox House, and Paviors Alley, afterwards Ashlin Place. The first is that of “Mr. Edw. Smyth,” who was taxed 6s. 8d. for land, and 8s. for goods, and was evidently a person of much more substance than his two neighbours, who figure each at 2s. for land only. Mr. Smith had caused much concern by his building. As early as June, 1618, the Privy Council wrote[519] to the justices pointing out that “there is a faire building now goeing up in Drury Lane, w^{ch} is by credible information erected upon a new foundacion,” that the “said building is under his Ma^{ties} eye as he passeth that way, and is observed as a speciall marke of contempt amongst all the rest,” and asking for particulars as to the date of the foundation, etc. As a result it was found that Smith’s new building, which had been assigned him by William Short,[520] was contrary to the proclamation as going beyond the old foundations, and converting a stable into a dwelling house,[521] and order was accordingly given for the demolition of that part,[522] but Smith seems to have made a successful protest. Eighteen years elapsed, and Smith was again in trouble. On 20th June, 1636, the Earl of Dorset reported to the Privy Council that “one Smith hath lately erected an house in or neare Drury Lane suddenly and for the most part by stealth in the night, not onely contrary to His Ma^{ties} proclamation, but after he was commanded by his Lo^{pp} to forbeare to proceed in the building thereof.” Smith was thereupon committed to prison until the house should be wholly demolished.[523]

The north-eastern angle of land formed by Drury Lane and Broad Street, like the land on the opposite side of the way, is one of the very few sites which can be identified with certainty in the book of grants to the Hospital of St. Giles. In some unknown year, but apparently in the reign of Henry III., John de Cruce demised to Hugh, the smith, “all that his land situate at the angle or corner formed by the meeting of the two streets, whereof the one comes from St. Giles and is called St. Giles Street, and the other goes towards the Thames by the forge of the said Hugh, and is called Aldewych. And which land begins on the east part of the said corner, and stretches westwards towards the Hospital of St. Giles; and again beginning at the said corner or forge, and facing the spring,[524] extends southwards towards the Thames, in a line with the street called Aldewych, by the garden of Roger, the son of Alan.”[525] Before Elizabethan times the forge had disappeared, and the site in question was occupied by _The Bear_ inn, and property connected therewith.

In 1567 George Harrison purchased[526] from Lord and Lady Mountjoy, _inter alia_, the messuage called _The Bear_, two messuages lying between _The Bear_ on the east and the tenement of Godfrey Matthew (_i.e._, _The Swan_) on the west, and all other houses, etc., lying between Godfrey Matthew’s tenement on the west and the Queen’s highway from the Strand to St. Giles on the east. Harrison sold the property in 1568 to John Walgrave who in the following year parted with it to Johanna Wise, who subsequently married James Briscowe, and in 1582[527] the property, including brewing vessels and other implements belonging to the inn and the brewhouse, was acquired by James Mascall, brewer, who was then actually in occupation of _The Bear_. The property continued in the Mascall family, and in 1634, according to a deed[528] relating to the marriage portion of Frances Godman, daughter of Olive Godman (_née_ Mascall) it included (i.) a messuage sometime in the tenure of John Vavasour and then of Matthew Quire, (ii.) the messuage, inn or tenement commonly called _The Black Bear_, sometime in the tenure of Richard Robins and then of Matthew Quire, (iii.) ten messuages in Black Bear Yard, (iv.) a number of other messuages,[529] and (v.) two gardens to the rear of Black Bear Yard, one of them formerly in the tenure of John Vavasour, and the other occupied with the inn. Vavasour’s house, it is known, occupied the site of Ragged Staff Court,[530] which was situated about 60 feet northwards from Paviors Alley,[531] and as no mention of it occurs in the sale to Mascall, it may be taken for granted that it was built either by the latter within the course of the next three years,[532] or by John Vavasour, who married Mascall’s widow. The first building on that spot therefore was erected some time between 1582 and 1608.[533]

To the west of _The Bear_ property was _The Swan_. In 1566 Lord and Lady Mountjoy sold to Thomas Allen[534] all that messuage or tenement “sometyme called ... _The Swanne_,” in the tenure of Geoffrey Matthew, abutting to the east on _The Bear_, west on the tenement of Robert Bromeley, “sometyme called _The Grayhounde_,” south-west on Matthew’s stables, south on the Greyhound Close, and north on the Queen’s highway. It has unfortunately not proved possible to trace the later history of _The Swan_, but there can be no doubt that the property is identical with that sold in 1723 by William Gyles to Peniston Lamb and Thos. Hanson,[535] and which consisted of three houses in the main street with the alley behind, formerly called Cock alley and then Gyles’ Court, and is described as having a frontage to the street of 44½ feet and a depth of 114 feet, and bounded on the south by the brewhouse late Mr. Theedham’s,[536] on the east partly by messuages and lands in the occupation of Theedham, and on the west by messuages and lands “heretofore of one Short” (_i.e._, _The Greyhound_).

A comparison between the names of the occupiers of the three houses as given in the deed of 1723, and the entries in various issues of the sewer ratebook, shows that the houses in question corresponded with the present Nos. 59 to 61 (formerly 56 to 58).

There does not seem any reason to doubt the identity of _The Swan_ of the time of Elizabeth with _Le Swan on le Hop_,[537] demised by the Hospital of St. Giles to John de Polton in 1360–61. It was then described as standing south on land of the said Hospital and north on the king’s highway. This description certainly does not warrant the statement of Parton that the inn must “have been situate somewhat eastward from Drury Lane end, and on the south side of Holborn.”[538]

Immediately to the west of _The Swan_ came _The Greyhound_. Unfortunately no description of the inn or the property connected with it has come down from Elizabethan times. In 1679, however, Thomas Short, son and heir of Dudley Short, sold the whole to John Pery, and the indenture[539] embodying the transaction gave a description of the property as it then existed. It included two houses in the main thoroughfare, both extending southward to Greyhound Court and one of them being “commonly called ... or knowne by the name or signe of _The Crowne_.” It would seem therefore that _The Greyhound_ had by now been renamed _The Crown_, although the court still retained the old name. By 1704 the court had also been renamed Crown Court.[540] Included in the sale was a quantity of land in the rear, with buildings, garden ground and other ground, including the house in Greyhound Court where Thomas Short had himself lived. The details given, though full, are not sufficient to enable a plan to be drawn of the property. It certainly included the eastern portion of the site of St. Giles’s Workhouse,[541] and did not extend as far south as Short’s Gardens, as it is said to be bounded in that direction by a “peice of ground commonly called the mulberry garden, late in the possession of Robert Clifton.”

To the west of _The Greyhound_, were a number of houses, which in 1567 were sold[542] by Lord and Lady Mountjoy to Henry Ampthill.[543] They are described as in eleven occupations, adjoining _The Greyhound_ on the east, the highway on the north, and a close (probably Greyhound Close) on the south. The western boundary, unfortunately, is not given. The property was subsequently split up, about half coming into the hands of a family named Hawkins,[544] and this in 1726 certainly included property on either side of Lamb Alley,[545] probably as far as the site of the present No. 45, Broad Street. How much further the Ampthill property extended is not known.

In 1631 Ann Barber, widow, and her son Thomas, sold[546] to Henry Lambe a tenement and two acres of land, the said two acres being garden ground and adjoining on the west “a parcell of ground called Masslings,” on the south “a parcell of ground in the occupation of one Master Smith,” on the east a “parcell of ground in the occupation of Mistris Margarett Hamlyn,” and on the north certain tenements and garden plots in the occupation of Robert Johnson and others. In 1654 John Lambe sold the property to Henry Stratton, who in the following year parted with it to Thomas Blythe.[547] In the indenture accompanying the latter sale, the two acres are stated to be “a garden or ground late in the occupation of Samuel Bennet,” and the remainder of the property is described as 10 messuages late in the tenure of Edmund Lawrence, 4 small messuages also late in Lawrence’s occupation, a chamber commonly called the Gate House, a messuage called _The Bowl_, and a messuage called _The Black Lamb_. The property had formerly belonged to William Barber,[548] Ann’s husband. There is nothing to show how he became possessed of it, but it is possible that the property is identical with the “one messuage, one garden and two acres of land with appurtenances” sold by John Vavasour in 1590 to Thomas Young.[549]

The eastern limits of the property above described may be fixed within a little, as it is known that a portion of it was utilised in the 18th century for the building of the original workhouse, and is described in a deed quoted by Parton[550] as bounded on the east by the backs of houses in Crown Court. It may be regarded therefore as including the site of the central portion of the present workhouse. The “parcel of ground in the occupation of one Master Smith” described as the southern boundary, and referred to in a deed of 1680[551] as the garden and grounds of William Short, is obviously the strip of ground on the north side of Short’s Gardens, leased by Short to Edward Smith.[552] The western boundary, “Masslings,” has been strangely misconstrued. Parton read it as “Noselings,”[553] which he regarded as a corruption of “Newlands,”[554] and located the ground on the east side of Neal Street. Blott copied the error and, in a highly imaginative paragraph, connected it with Noseley, in Leicestershire.[555] As a matter of fact, there is not the slightest doubt that “Masslings”[556] is “Marshlands,” between which the form “Marshlins” appearing in a deed of 1615[557] is evidently a connecting link.

The boundary between Marshland and _The Bowl_ property is shown on Plate 39.

By 1680[558] a considerable portion of _The Bowl_ property had been built on and Bowl Yard had been formed. In the first instance, the latter led by a narrow passage into Short’s Gardens, but afterwards the entrance was widened, and the southern part of the thoroughfare was named New Belton Street, Belton Street proper being distinguished as Old Belton Street. About 1846 both were widened on the east side to form Endell Street, and the still remaining portion of Bowl Yard at the northern end was swept away. Bowl Yard obviously derived its name from _The Bowl_ inn, which, together with _The Black Lamb_, is mentioned in the deed of 1655, above referred to. The sign had no doubt reference to the custom mentioned by Stow[559] that criminals on their way to execution at Tyburn were, at St. Giles’s Hospital, presented with a great bowl of ale “thereof to drinke at theyr pleasure, as to be theyr last refreshing in this life.” The inn itself probably fronted Broad Street, and the brewhouse attached to it was situated behind, on the west side of Bowl Yard.

Plate 38 shows the west front of _The Bowl_ Brewery in 1846, and the houses at the northern end of Belton Street.

IN THE COUNCIL’S COLLECTION ARE:—

[560] _The Bowl_ Brewery in 1846 (photograph).

Nos. 7 and 9, Broad Street. Exterior (photograph).

LI.—SITE OF MARSHLAND (SEVEN DIALS.)

Included in the property transferred to Henry VIII. in 1537 was “one close called Marshland.”[561] In 1594, Queen Elizabeth farmed the close to Thomas Stydolph, his wife, and his son, Francis, for the life of the longest liver, and in 1598 she farmed it for the sixty years following the death of the longest lived of the three to Nicholas Morgan and Thomas Horne. The latter immediately conveyed their interest to James White, and subsequently it came into the hands of Sir Francis Stydolph, who thus held a lease for the length of his own life and for sixty years afterwards. In 1650, while he was still in possession of the close, it was surveyed by Commissioners appointed by Parliament[562]. In their report, the close is described as “all y^t peice or parcell of pasture ground comonly called ... Marsh close _alias_ Marshland ... on the north side of Longe Acre,[563] and ... betwene a way leadinge from Drury Lane to St. Martin’s Lane on the north;[564] and a way leadinge from St. Gyles to Knightsbridge, and a way leadinge from Hogg Lane into St. Martin’s Lane on the west;[565] and Bennet’s Garden[566] and Sir John Bromley[567] and Mr. Short on the east.” These boundaries are in accord with the plan showing the design for laying out (Plate 39), and with Faithorne’s Map of 1658 (Plate 4). The extension of Marshland to the east of Neal Street (formerly King Street) has never been noticed, but the fact is quite clear. One proof will suffice. On 23rd September, 1728, James Joye sold to trustees of the charity schools of St. Giles, Cripplegate, property specified as “part of the Marshlands in St. Giles-in-the-Fields,”[568] and situated on the _east_ side of King Street. Part of the property has since been thrown into the public way, but part can still be identified as No. 82, Neal Street,[569] on the _east_ side.

In 1650 the buildings on the Close were:—

(i.) _The Cock and Pye_ inn, a brick building of two storeys and a garret, standing on ground 117 feet from north to south, with a breadth of 48 feet at the north end. This is probably the building shown on Hollar’s Plan of 1658 (Plate 3), at the southern angle of the close. From it the close was sometimes known as Cock and Pye Fields.

(ii.) A house with wheelwright’s shop and shed attached, covering with yards, gardens, etc., 3 roods.

(iii.) A shed of timber and Flemish wall, with tiled roof, containing two small dwelling rooms, occupying, with a garden, half an acre.

(iv.) A piece of ground, half an acre in extent, “late converted into a garden, beinge very well planted w^{th} rootes.”

(v.) Three tenements of timber and Flemish wall, with thatched roof, on the north side of what was afterwards Castle Street, occupying, with gardens, etc., half an acre.

(vi.) “All that conduit scituate and adjoyninge to the aforesaid 3 tenements, and standeth on the southest corner of the aforesaid Marsh Close, consistinge of one roome heirtofore used to convey water to the Excheq^r. Office, but of late not used.”

Sir Francis Stydolph died on 12th March, 1655–6, and his successor, Sir Richard, at once entered on the remaining 60 years’ term and in 1672 obtained an extension of this for 15 years.[570] Morden and Lea’s Map of 1682 shows that by that date a considerable amount of building had taken place on the close, though the details are not clear.[571] This is probably to be connected with the lease which James Kendricke obtained for 31 years as from Michaelmas, 1660.[572] In 1693 Thomas Neale, “intending to improve the said premisses by building”[573], obtained a lease of the close until 10th March, 1731–2, undertaking to build within two years sufficient houses to form ground rents amounting to £1,200, the ground rents to be calculated at from 5s. to 8s. a foot frontage, except in the case of houses fronting King Street (now Neal Street), Monmouth Street (now Shaftesbury Avenue), St. Andrew Street and Earl Street, where the amount was to be from 8s. to 12s. a foot. Building operations were apparently started immediately,[574] but do not seem to have been completed until well into the 18th century.[575]

Neale’s plan was one which excited considerable notice at the time, the streets all radiating from a common centre. Evelyn records in his Diary under date of 5th October, 1694: “I went to see the building neere St. Giles’s, where 7 streets make a star from a Doric pillar plac’d in the middle of a circular area.” From the fact that on the summit of the column were dials, each facing one of the streets, the district obtained the name of Seven Dials. The top part of the pillar, however, has only six faces, a fact which has worried antiquaries. In explanation Mr. W. A. Taylor, the Holborn Librarian, has pointed out[576] that the plan (Plate 39) now at the Holborn Public Library, of the proposed laying out shows only six streets, Little White Lion Street not being provided for.[577]

The pillar was taken down in July, 1773, on the supposition that a considerable sum of money was lodged at the base. “But the search was ineffectual, and the pillar was removed to Sayes Court, Addlestone, with a view to its erection in the park. This, however, was not done, and it lay there neglected until the death of Frederica, Duchess of York, in 1820, when the inhabitants of Weybridge, desiring to commemorate her thirty years’ residence at Oatlands and her active benevolence to the poor of the neighbourhood, bethought them of the prostrate column, purchased it, placed a coronet instead of the dials on the summit, and a suitable inscription on the base, and erected it, August, 1822, on the green. The stone on which were the dials, not being required, was utilised as the horseblock at a neighbouring inn, but has been removed and now reposes on the edge of the green, opposite the column.”[578] Plate 40 shows the column as at present.

Little of architectural interest now remains in the district of Seven Dials. Plate 41 is a view of Little Earl Street at the present day. Suspended from No. 56, Castle Street is a wooden key used as a street sign and trade mark, probably dating from the reign of George III., at which time the predecessors of the present firm carried on a locksmith’s business at the premises. The exterior retains an 18th-century appearance, and a small Georgian coat of arms remains over the doorway. The interior has been many times reconstructed, and does not now contain anything of architectural interest.

IN THE COUNCIL’S COLLECTION ARE:—

No. 54, Neal Street. Exterior (photograph).

No. 54, Neal Street. Detail of staircase (measured drawing).

Nos. 54, 56 and 58, Castle Street. Exterior (photograph).

[579]No. 56, Castle Street. Street sign (photograph).

No. 50, Castle Street. Exterior (photograph).

Nos. 1–6, Little White Lion Street. General view (photograph).

No. 10, Lumber Court. Exterior of ground floor (photograph).

[579]Little Earl Street. General view looking east (photograph).

Little Earl Street. General view and No. 15 (photograph).

No. 15, Little Earl Street. Exterior (photograph).

Nos. 12–16, Great White Lion Street. General view of exteriors
(photograph).

LII.—THE CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS, WEST STREET.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND DATE OF STRUCTURE.

On 20th February, 1699–1700, John Ardowin obtained a lease of a plot of Marshland, 73 feet long, by 46 feet deep, abutting south on West Street and north on Tower Street, “as the same was laid out and designed for a chapel.”[580] The chapel in question, which was for the use of the little colony of Huguenots lately settled in the district, was duly built, and received the title of “La Pyramide de la Tremblade.” The following inscription, however, which occurs on two chalices in the possession of the West London Mission, shows that the congregation had for more than two years had a temporary place of worship on this spot. “Hi duo Calices dono dati sunt ab Honesto Viro Petro FENOWILLET die octavo Julii MDCIIIC in usum Congregationis Gallicae quae habetur in via vulgo dicta West Street de Parochia S. Ægidii. Si vero dissolvitur Congregatio in usum Pauperum venundabuntur.” In 1742 the congregation removed elsewhere, and in the following year John Wesley took a seven years’ lease of the building, holding his first service there on Trinity Sunday, 1743. His house, which stood immediately to the west of the chapel, was demolished in 1902. The lease of the chapel was renewed from time to time until Wesley’s death in 1791, after which the premises were used for various religious purposes until 1888, when they were purchased for the use of the Seven Dials Mission.[581]

The exterior is of stock brick with large semi-circular headed windows, as shown on the previous page.

The interior has three large galleries supported on panelled square wood pillars. The ceiling and roof are carried by Ionic columns. Over the bay of the nave next to the chancel is a large square lantern with flat ceiling; in each side of the lantern are three light windows.

The chancel is the full width of the nave between the galleries. The end wall had a window, known in Wesley’s time as the “Nicodemus Window.” It connected with Wesley’s house, and by its means many of his secret admirers could take part in the service without being observed by the congregation. It was filled in after Wesley’s death and was not found again until 1901, when the wall was pulled down and rebuilt. Vestries with rooms over now occupy the sides of the chancel, but formerly these were a portion of the church.

The top part of the pulpit, formerly a “three decker,” occupied by Wesley, is still in use as the reading desk. The present pulpit, of 18th-century oak, was a gift from the church of St. George, Bloomsbury, and the white marble font, dated 1810, came from the parish church of St. Giles.

IN THE COUNCIL’S COLLECTION ARE:—

[582]Church of All Saints, West Street. Exterior in 1901
(photograph).

General view of interior (photograph).

[582]Top part of Wesley’s pulpit (photograph).

LIII.—SITE OF THE HOSPITAL OF ST. GILES.

The Hospital of St. Giles-in-the-Fields was founded by Maud,[583] Henry I.’s Queen, probably in 1117 or 1118.[584] Stow[585] giving, on unknown authority, the date as “about the yeare 1117,” and the Cottonian MS. _Nero_ C.V.[586] placing the event in 1118. The number of lepers to be maintained in the Hospital was stated, in the course of the suit between the Abbot of St. Mary Graces and the Master of Burton Lazars in the fourth year of Henry IV.’s reign, to be fourteen,[587] and this is to a certain extent confirmed by a petition[588] from the brethren of the Hospital, dating from the end of Edward I.’s reign, which gives the number as “xiij,” apparently a clerical error. On the other hand, the jury who were sworn to give evidence at the above-mentioned suit, declared that from time immemorial it had not been the custom to maintain fourteen, but that sometimes there had been only three, four or five.

Maud had assigned 60s. rent, issuing from Queenhithe, for the support of the lepers, and had afterwards granted the ward of the Hospital to the citizens of London,[589] who appointed two persons to supervise the Hospital. Certain of the citizens had given rents, etc., amounting to upwards of £80 a year towards the maintenance of lepers of the City and suburbs,[590] and an arrangement come to[591] in the reign of Edward III. between the City and the Warden of the Hospital provided that, apparently in accordance with the ancient custom, the whole of the fourteen lepers should be taken from the City and suburbs and presented by the Mayor and Commonalty, or that if there were not so many within those limits, the County of Middlesex should be included, and that in the event of further gifts to the Hospital by good men of the City, the number of lepers should be increased in proportion. It will be seen, therefore, that the Hospital of St. Giles was, in early times, a peculiarly London institution, and very closely connected with the governing body of the City.

On 4th April, 1299,[592] it was granted to the Hospital of Burton Lazars in Leicestershire. It thus became a cell to that house, and a member of the order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem. Except for a short intermission, it remained under the control of the house of Burton Lazars until the dissolution in 1539, but it must long before have ceased to serve its original purpose. Its constitution during the later period of its existence is obscure, but the place of the lepers was probably taken by infirm persons, when leprosy became extinct. The hospital appears to have been governed by a Warden, who was subordinate to the Master of Burton Lazars.

The Precinct of the Hospital probably included the whole of the island site now bounded by High Street, Charing Cross Road[593] and Shaftesbury Avenue; it was entered by a Gatehouse in High Street. The Hospital church is sufficiently represented by the present parish church, while the other buildings of the hospital included the Master’s House (subsequently called the Mansion House) to the west of the church, and the Spittle Houses, which probably stood in the High Street to the east of the church. There is no evidence of the internal arrangement of these buildings, with the exception of the church, which survived till 1623, and will be described below.

THE GATEHOUSE.

The position of The Gatehouse may be roughly gathered from a deed of 1618[594], which refers to “all that old decayed building or house commonly called the Gatehouse, adjoyning next unto one small old tenement or building set and being att or neare unto or uppon the north-west corner of the brickwall inclosing the north and west parte of the churchyard.”

MANSION HOUSE AND ADJACENT BUILDINGS.

A few years after the dissolution in 1539, the property of the Hospital was divided between Lord Lisle and Katherine Legh[595], when there fell to the share of the former the mansion place or capital house of the Hospital; a messuage, part of the Hospital, with orchards and gardens, in the tenure of Doctor Borde; and a messuage, part of the Hospital, with orchard and garden, in the tenure of Master Densyle, formerly of Master Wynter. Lisle transferred the property to Sir Wymonde Carew, who at his death was found to be seized of and in “the capital mansion of the Hospital of St. Giles-in-the-Fields and of and in certain parcels of land with appurtenances in the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields.”[596] Thomas Carew, his son, seems to have disposed of the whole of the property, and in 1563 the above-mentioned, described as four messuages, were in the possession of Francis Downes.

On 10th April, 1566, Robert and Edward Downes sold[597] to John Graunge “all those messuages, tenements, houses, edyfices, barns, stables, gardens, orchards, meadows, etc., with the appurtenances, now or late in the several occupations of the Right Hon. Sir Willyam Herbert, knyght, now Erell of Pembroke, —— Byrcke, Esq., Johan Wyse, wydowe, Anthony Vuidele, Thomas More, Henrye Hye, and —— Troughton, —— Wylson, lyng and being in St. Gyles in the Fieldes.”

There are no records by which the history of these several houses may be traced, but at the beginning of the 17th century the property, having then passed into the hands of Robert Lloyd[598] (Floyd, or Flood), seems chiefly to have comprised five large houses.[599]

On 19th March, 1617–8, Robert Lloyd[600] sold to Isaac Bringhurst the reversion of a house, formerly in the occupation of Jas. Bristowe and then in that of Thomas Whitesaunder, situated “nere unto the west end of the ... parish church” and to the south of Sir Edward Cope’s residence, having an enclosure on its east side 45 feet wide by 17½ and 18 feet, and gardens and ground on the west side, extending 288½ feet to Hog Lane. Assuming a depth of from 30 to 40 feet for the house itself, it will be seen that the premises stretched between the church and Hog Lane for a distance of about 340 feet, and after making due allowance for the fact that Hog Lane was much narrower than Charing Cross Road, its modern representative, it will be apparent that the only possible course taken by the above mentioned property was along the line of Little Denmark Street, formerly Lloyd’s Court. Unfortunately the history of the house in question cannot be definitely traced after 1629[601], but if the site suggested above is correct, the premises subsequently came into the possession of Elizabeth Saywell (_née_ Lloyd) who, by will dated 5th January, 1712–3, gave all her real estate in St. Giles, after several estates for life, to Benjamin Carter for his life, and devised a fourth part of her estate to trustees for charitable purposes. Benjamin Carter on 12th March, 1727, accordingly granted to trustees all that old capital messuage or tenement wherein Mrs. Saywell had resided, “which said capital messuage had been pulled down and several messuages, houses or tenements, had been erected on the ground whereon the said capital messuage stood situated in a certain place, commonly called Lloyd’s Court.”[602]

Immediately to the north of the last mentioned house was the mansion of Sir Edward Cope, described in 1612[603] as “with twoe litle gardens before on the north side thereof impalled, and a large garden with a pumpe and a banquetting house on the south side of the same tenement, walled about with bricke, and a stable and the stable yard adjoyning to the same garden.”

If the site ascribed to the previous house is correct, Sir Edward Cope’s mansion must have been identical with that shown in the map in Strype’s edition of Stow (Plate 5) as “Ld. Wharton’s,” situated between the houses on the north side of Lloyd’s Court and on the south side of Denmark Street. In 1652, the house was in the tenure of John Barkstead or his assigns.[604] Philip, 4th Lord Wharton, was resident in St. Giles in 1677,[605] probably at this house, and the “garden of Lord Wharton” is in 1687 mentioned[606] as the southern boundary of premises in Denmark Street. It seems a reasonable suggestion that this house was originally the _capitalis mansio_, or master’s house.

The same deed of 1612 mentions(i) a house in the tenure of Tristram Gibbs, with a stable towards the street on the north side, and a large garden on the south, “walled on the east side and toward a lane of the south side,” abutting west on the garden of Frances Varney’s house; and (ii) a house “now or latelie in the tenure of Alice, the Lady Dudley,” with a paved court on the north side before the door, a stable on the north side towards the street, another paved court backwards towards the south, walled with brick, and a large walled garden on the south side.

The position of Tristram Gibbs’s house can be roughly identified by the fact that a parcel of ground abutting north on Denmark Street and south on Lord Wharton’s garden and ground is stated[607] to have been formerly “part of the garden belonging to the messuage in tenure of Tristram Gibbs, Esq.” The house was therefore to the north of Lord Wharton’s house, and its site probably extended over part of Denmark Street.

The position of Lady Dudley’s house may be roughly ascertained from the particulars given in the deed of 1618,[608] which mentions the Gatehouse. Therein reference is made to the site of a certain house formerly adjoining the north part of the Gatehouse, “conteyninge in length from the north part to the south part, viz., from the end or corner of a certain stone wall, being the wall of the house or stable there of the Lady Dudley unto the south-east corner post or utmost lymittes of the said Gatehouse 39½ feet, and in breadth att the north end, viz., from the uttermost side of the said stone wall att the south east corner thereof to a certen little shed or building there called a coach house of the said Lady Dudley, 19 feet; and in length from south to north, viz., from the uttermost lymittes or south-west corner post of the said Gatehouse to a certen old foundacion of a wall lying neare unto the south side of the said coache house 28 feet, and in breadth from east to west att the south end and so throughe all the full length of the said 28 feet of the said soile or ground 28½ feet.” The above is not as clear as it might be, but it certainly shows that Lady Dudley’s stable was to the north of the Gatehouse, which, as has been shown, was near the north-west angle of the churchyard. Lady Dudley’s house, therefore, probably occupied a site to the north of Denmark Street.

The most northerly of the five large houses existing here at the beginning of the 17th century was the White House. This was, in 1618, when it was sold by Robert Lloyd to Isaac Bringhurst,[609] in the occupation of Edmund Verney, and was then described as “all that one messuage or tenement, with appurtenances, commonly known by the name of the White House, and one yard, one garden and one long walke, and one stable with a hay lofte over the same.” In 1631 it was purchased by Lady Dudley,[610] who three years later transferred[611] it to trustees to be used for the purposes of a parsonage. At the time a lease of the premises for three lives was held by Edward Smith, and this was not determined until 1681, when the house had become “very ruinous and scarcely habitable.”[612] The Rector at once entered into an agreement with John Boswell, a hatmaker of St. Dunstan’s West, for rebuilding, and it was arranged that the houses to be erected on the site should be built “with all materials and scantlings conformable to the third rate buildings prescribed by the Act of Parliament for rebuilding the City of London.” The result was presumably Dudley Court, now Denmark Place.

THE SPITTLE HOUSES.

Among the properties which fell to the portion of Katherine Legh, after the dissolution of the Hospital were “all those messuages, houses and buyldinges, landes and tenements callyd the Spyttell howses, with all the orchards and gardens thereunto adjoyning.” The only property situated within the Precinct that can be traced as belonging to Katherine, consists of (i.) four houses and gardens, immediately to the east of the churchyard[613] and, between these and what is now Shaftesbury Avenue, (ii.) a house, garden and orchard.[614] The westernmost house of (i.) was probably _The Angel_, which is definitely mentioned as having been transferred to Katherine, but the remaining houses, etc., almost certainly were the Spittle houses, with their orchards and gardens. They are shown distinctly on Agas’s Map (Plate 1).

PASTURE GROUND.

The whole of the remainder of the Precinct to the south of the Hospital was, in the days of Elizabeth, pasture ground, and is probably to be identified with the close lying within the Precinct, commonly called the Pale Close, which is stated[615] to have formed part of the property transferred to Lord Lisle. The first specific mention of the ground occurs in 1564, when the jurors holding the _Inquisitionem Post Mortem_ on Francis Downes found[616] that he was seized, _inter alia_, of and in four messuages and four acres of pasture in the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields. Downes, it is stated, purchased the property from Thomas Carew, son and heir of Sir Wymonde Carew, to whom it had been sold by Lord Lisle.

The four acres subsequently passed to John Graunge, in 1566, whose son sold them in 1611 to Robert Lloyd (otherwise called Floyd or Flood). On the latter’s death in 1617, he was found to be seized of and in a house with a garden on the east side, a barn and garden on the south of the house, and a stable and two closes of pasture, containing four acres, adjoining the barn and garden.[617] The next reference to the ground is in 1622, when it is referred to[618] as “two closes, formerly pasture, late converted into gardens and purchased ... by Abraham Speckard and Dorothy his wife.” It next passed to Sir Richard Stydolph, for Charles Tryon, his grandson, refers in his will,[619] signed 2nd November, 1705, to “a piece or parcell of ground containing about four acres lying in the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields ... near the church ... on which said ground are now standing ... severall houses and other buildings held by severall leases thereof granted by Sir Richard Stydolphe ... all or most whereof will in few years expire.” With this fact is undoubtedly to be connected the licence granted in July, 1671, to Sir Richard Stydolph to continue building at the back of St. Giles’s church. The licence[620] sets forth that Stydolph had let ground “on the backside of St. Giles’ Church in the way to Pickadilly to severall poore men who build hansome and uniforme houses, some whereof were quite covered and the fundacions of the rest laid,” before the proclamation prohibiting building on new foundations had been issued. In due course, “Christopher Wren, Esq.,” viewed the place and made a report, approving generally of the scheme and suggesting that it might “tend in some measure to cure the noisomnesse of that part,” provided that the building was carried out in accordance with a settled design. On this condition the necessary permission was given, and it was provided that two copies of the “designe, mapp or charte” should be made, neither of which, unfortunately, is available at the present day. Stidwell Street preserved for some time, in garbled form, the name of the owner of these lands.

THE MANOR AND POSSESSIONS OF ST. GILES’ HOSPITAL.

Up to within a few years of its dissolution, the Hospital of St.
Giles, or rather that of Burton Lazars, in whose custody it was,
owned the greater portion of the present Parish of St. Giles,
together with large estates in other parishes.

On 2nd June, 1536, however, Henry VIII. effected an exchange[621]
with the Master of Burton Lazars, whereby the latter received
certain property in Leicestershire and transferred to the King the
undermentioned:—

Manors of Feltham and Heston.

Messuages, etc., in Feltham and Heston.

2 acres of meadow in the Fields of St. Martins.

25 acres of pasture lying in the village of St. Giles.[622]

5 acres of pasture near Colman’s Hedge.[622]

5 acres of pasture in Colmanhedge Field.[622]

A close called Conduit Close, of five acres.

A close called Marshland.

A messuage called _The White Hart_, and 18 acres of pasture
thereto belonging.

A messuage called _The Rose_, and a pasture thereto belonging.

A messuage called _The Vine_.

_Dudley._
]

Reserved were the church and rectory of Feltham, and all glebes,
tithes, etc., belonging thereto.

Of the lands and houses above-mentioned, only the last four were
in the parish of St. Giles, and three of them have already been
dealt with. _The Vine_ was on the north side of High Holborn, and
its site, with that of the close behind, is now marked by Grape
Street, formerly Vine Street.

Very shortly afterwards, Sir Thomas Legh, the notorious visitor of
the monasteries, made a determined effort to gain possession of
the Hospital of Burton Lazars,[623] and obtained from Thomas
Radclyff, then master, the next advowson of the Hospital for his
life. This was confirmed in March, 1536–7, by Letters Patent.[624]
In 1539 the Hospital was dissolved, and its possessions reverted
to the Crown. Legh, however, for several years continued to hold
the property, and enjoy the profits, spiritual and temporal, until
on 6th May, 1544, the King granted to Sir John Dudley, Viscount
Lisle, the Hospital with all its possessions in Leicestershire,
St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and elsewhere. Very naturally, this
resulted in “contencion, varyence and stryfe” being “reysed,
stirred and dependyng betweene the said Viscount Lisle ... and the
said Sir Thomas Legh ... of for and aboute the right, tytle,
interest, occupation and possession of the seyd late Hospytall,”
and the Lord Chancellor, Lord Wriothesley, was appointed
arbitrator to settle the matter.

In the course of the same year (1544) Wriothesley gave his award,
dividing the property between the two claimants, but as the
arrangement was never completed it is not necessary to give
details here.[625]

It appears that when the award in question was being obtained,
Lord Lisle was absent from the country, “beinge occupied in the
parties beyond the see in and aboute the Kynges Majesties affaires
concernynge his warres,” and on his return refused to carry out
the decree, claiming that “the veray trewe and hoole tytle of the
seyde Viscounte of and in the premysses” had not been disclosed.
On 24th November, 1545, Sir Thomas Legh died,[626] leaving as his
sole heir a daughter, Katherine, aged five years. His widow, Joan,
pressed for the execution of the award, and eventually on 8th
March, 1545–6, a further decree[627] was made modifying the
former. In accordance therewith an indenture[628] was on 24th
March drawn up between Lord Lisle and Dame Joan Legh, providing
for the transfer to the latter during her life, with remainder to
Katherine, of the undermentioned property.

“All those messuages, houses, and buyldinges, landes and tenements
callyd the Spyttell howses, with all the orchards, gardens
thereunto adjoyning.”

A close called St. Giles’ Wood.[629]

_The Chequer._[630]

4 cottages in the occupation of John Baron.

11 cottages in the occupation of William Wilkinson.

_The Maidenhead_,[703] with a garden.

_The Bear_ and 2 cottages adjoining.

Bear Close and Aldwych Close.

_The George._[703]

A “mese” in the occupation of John Smith.

_The Angel._

6 cottages in the occupation of William Hosyer.

_The King’s Head._[703]

2 cottages near _The Greyhound_.

Rents from _The Crown_ and a brewhouse.

The tithe of two fields[631] in Bloomsbury.

13 cottages in St. Andrew’s, Holborn.

The Round Rents[632] and other tenements and cottages in St.
Andrew’s, Holborn.

Lands in Essex, Sussex, Northampton, York, Northumberland and
Norfolk.

Rents from a large number of properties in the City of London, St.
Clement Danes, etc.

In Lord Lisle’s hands remained:—

“The capitall house of the seyd late Hospitall of Seynte Gyles in
the feldes and all the stables, barnes, orchards and gardeyns
thereunto adjoyninge.”

Two “meses” parcels of the same site, with orchards and gardens,
etc., late in the tenure of Dr. Borde and Master Densyll.

A close of 16 acres lying before the Great Gate, in the occupation
of Master Magnus.

A close lying within the precinct, commonly called the Pale Close.

A close of 20 acres called The Newlands.[633]

A piece of ground called The Lane.[633]

Certain lands in Norfolk.

Lisle retained the property only for a few months, selling it in
the same year[634] (1546) to John Wymond Carew, (afterwards Sir
Wymond). Sir Wymond died on 23rd August, 1549, when he was
found[635] to be seized of “and in the capital mansion of the
Hospital of St. Giles-in-the-Fields and of and in certain
parcels of land with appurtenances in the parish of St.
Giles-in-the-Fields ... in his demesne as of fee.”

In December, 1561, his widow, Dame Martha Carew, gave up, in
return for an annuity, to his son Thomas “all those lands,
tenements, rents, hereditaments, etc., lieing and being in St.
Gyles and Maribone, nere London, late belonging to Burton Lazar,
which she holds by way of jointure”;[636] and Thomas sold them to
Francis Downes. On the latter’s death in 1564 they were
particularised[637] as four messuages, and four acres of pasture
in St. Giles, and 20 acres of pasture in St. Marylebone.

_Blount._
]

Although the manor of St. Giles is not mentioned, it must have
been included in the portion assigned to Katherine Legh, for it is
found afterwards in her possession. Sir Thomas’s widow died on 5th
January, 1555–6[638] (having previously remarried[639]), leaving
Katherine in her sixteenth year. Such a desirable prize was not
likely to remain long in the matrimonial market, and a husband was
soon found in the person of Sir James Blount, Lord Mountjoy.
Blount’s life seems to have been one of continual financial worry,
and his mortgages and recognisances figure very prominently in the
Close Rolls of the period.[640]

The date of his marriage with Katherine Legh is not known
precisely, but it was certainly within 13 months of the death of
her mother.[641] By degrees the greater portion of Lady
Katherine’s inheritance was converted into ready money, and among
other transactions, the manor of St. Giles was on 18th July, 1565,
mortgaged to Robert Browne, citizen and goldsmith of London, and
Thomas his son.[642] The mortgage was never redeemed,[643] and on
20th June, 1579, Thomas Browne parted with the manor to Thos.
Harris, who in turn sold it on 12th February, 1582–3, to John
Blomeson. Blomeson retained it for nine years, and on 3rd May,
1592, sold it to “Walter Cope, of the Strand, Esq.,”[644]
afterwards Sir Walter Cope.[645] On his death in 1614, the manor
came into the possession of his daughter and sole heiress,
Isabella, who married Sir Henry Rich, and on 2nd April, 1616, it
was sold to Philip Gifford and Thos. Risley, in trust for Henry,
third Earl of Southampton.[646]

_Russell._
]

On the death of the fourth earl in 1668, it became the property of
his daughter, Lady Rachel Russell, from whom it descended to the
Dukes of Bedford, who now hold it.

LIV.—THE CHURCH OF ST. GILES-IN-THE-FIELDS.

FIRST CHURCH.

In a book,[647] now in the possession of the Holborn Metropolitan Borough Council, containing a number of extracts apparently copied from an earlier volume, is the copy of a document dated 26th January, 1630–31, in which it is stated that Queen Maud, about the year 1110, here built a church “pulchram satis et magnificam,” and called it by the name of St. Giles-in-the-Fields. It is possible that the statement is merely based on the fact of the foundation of the hospital, including the church, at about that date.

Although there is no record of any presentation to the living before the Hospital was suppressed in 1539, the fact that the parish of St. Giles was in existence at least as early as 1222[648] necessitates the assumption that the church was partially used for parochial purposes. After the suppression of the Hospital the whole fabric became parochial.

The earliest institution that has been found to[649] this church is dated 20th April, 1547, and was at the presentation of Sir Wymond Carew. On the next occasion (1571) the privilege was exercised by Queen Elizabeth, and since that time the patronage has always been in the hands of the Crown.

Very little information remains as to the architectural character of the church (whether the original structure or not) at the time of the dissolution.[650]

Besides the high altar there must have been an altar to the patron saint, St. Giles. There is also evidence of the existence of a chapel of St. Michael, for in the 46th year of Henry III. Robert of Portpool bequeathed certain rents to provide for the maintenance of a chaplain “to celebrate perpetually divine service in the chapel of St. Michael, within the hospital church of S. Giles.”[651]

According to an order of the Vestry of 8th August, 1623, there then existed a nave and a chancel, both with pillars, clerestory walls over, and aisles on either side.

The Vestry minutes of 21st April, 1617, record the erection of a steeple with a peal of bells, but from the fact that “casting the bells” is mentioned as well as the buying of new bells, and from the reference to it in the following year (9th September, 1618) as “the new steeple,” it seems probable that something of the kind had existed before. Parton[652] says that there was in early times a small round bell tower, with a conical top, at the western end of the church, but his authority for the statement is very doubtful.

The size of the church, measured within the walls, was 153 feet by 65 feet.[653]

SECOND CHURCH.

The church was, in the early years of the 17th century, in danger of falling, as indeed some of it did, causing a void at the upper end of the chancel “which was stored with Lumber, as the Boards of Coffins and Deadmen’s Bones.” A screen was erected at the expense of Lady Dudley “to hide it from the beholders’ eyes, which could not but be troubled at it.”[654] A further collapse caused the parishioners to decide to erect a new church. This was begun in 1623 and finished in 1631. The cost of building amounted to £2,068, all of which, with the exception of £252 borrowed, was obtained from voluntary offerings. The largest contributor was Lady Dudley, who gave £250, and, in addition, paid for the paving of the church and chancel. A small sketch of the church is given by Hollar in his plan of 1658 (Plate 3), and a lithograph (here reproduced) by G. Scharf is in Parton’s _Hospital and Parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields_.

Hatton[655] gives the length as 123 feet and the breadth 57 feet. The church and steeple appear to have been built of rubbed brick[656], surmounted with battlements, and coped with stone.[656] A western gallery was erected in 1671, and others to the north and south in 1676–7.

The chancel had a large east window, and one on either side. The nave had a window over the chancel arch, and a large one at the west end.