LONDINIUM
"London was built on the first spot going up the river where any
considerable tract of dry land touches the stream. It is a tract of
good gravel, well supplied with water, not liable to flooding, and not
commanded by neighbouring higher ground."--LORD AVEBURY, _Scenery of
England_.
From the standing-ground of what is known of London in the Middle Ages, I
have endeavoured to reach back towards Londinium Augusta. To set out
adequately all the data that we have for reconstructing the Roman city
would require a treatise from a specialist. I can only venture here a
rapid glance in conclusion at the more salient features of the ancient
town. Much in recent years has been written as to a still earlier London
than that included within the circuit of Roman walls which held what is
now known as the City. It is at once evident that the early city must have
had a nucleus and a greater density in one part than in others; and
every evidence goes to show that this earliest centre was situated on the
east side of the Walbrook at the head of London Bridge. We have the facts
of the position of the Bridge itself, and the suitability of the site; the
evidence that important buildings were densely packed in this district,
while outside of it they were more and more scattered; and also that no
graves have been found within this area. Mr. Roach Smith thought that
certain remnants of thick walls found near Cannon Street in the south and
Cornhill in the north were probably parts of earlier city walls. He says:
"Here and there during excavations, walls of great thickness, which may be
referred to walls of circumvallation, were intersected. The extraordinary
sub-structures which were cut through in Bush Lane and Scott's Yard
indicate a south-east boundary wall with a flanking tower. In Cornhill
another thick wall which seemed to point towards the Bank of England was
met with." Then, in a passage already referred to above, he concludes that
old London Bridge pointed to the axis of this earlier Londinium, the
centre or carfax of which was at the intersection of Gracechurch Street
and East-Cheap. He was inclined to place the earlier north wall along the
course of Cornhill and Leadenhall Street, the east wall in the direction
of Billiter Street and Mark Lane, the south in the line of Thames streets,
and the west on the eastern bank of the Walbrook--an irregular square with
four gates, corresponding with Bridge Gate, Bishop's Gate, Ludgate, and
Aldgate.[213]
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--ROMAN PAVEMENT. DRAWN IN SITU BY FAIRHOLT, 1854.]
Possibly Wren had found some remnant of such an earlier north wall, for he
put the northward extent of the city along Cheapside and in line with
Cornhill. This earlier north wall seems to have been again found about
1897, in which year Mr. Williamson sent the following passage to the
Middlesex and Herts _Notes and Queries_:--"Very close to St.
Peter's-upon-Cornhill, _Roman_ walls of immense thickness have been
discovered, proceeding in a westerly direction from Leadenhall Market
under the Woolpack Tavern in Gracechurch Street along St. Peter's Alley, a
few feet on the south side of the churchyard of St. Peter's, continuing
under the banking-house of Messrs. Prescott, Dimsdale, & Co. (50
Cornhill), _supposed_ to continue under the roadway of Cornhill, and
appearing again in the foundations of the new building now being erected
on the _north_ side of Cornhill (No. 70) for the Union Bank of Australia.
For what purpose, is it conjectured, were these walls at Leadenhall and
Cornhill built?" By the aid of this valuable observation, I think that the
concluding question may be safely answered by the theory of earlier walls.
Mr. Loftie has brought forward a suggestion, or rather stated a
conclusion, that there was in the earlier days a walled castrum, like
Richborough, at the head of London Bridge, reaching northwards to the
"Langbourne." It is not usual to seat such a post on a steep hill-side, it
would be curious to pass all the Bridge traffic through it, and, finally,
I have not found a vestige of foundation for its existence--it is a
castrum in the air.[214]
It may be held for certain that when Tacitus, writing of the insurrection
of A.D. 62, spoke of London as a wealthy and important place, no walls
existed, for of the still more important Camalodunum he tells us that it
had no defences, and the garrison could only fortify themselves in the
temple. "The Roman generals," he says, "neglecting the useful, embellished
the province, but took no care for its defence."
However, it is reasonable to suppose that the chief centres would have
been protected a little later under the very thorough policy of Agricola,
if these shortcomings were so noticed when Tacitus wrote; and it is the
opinion of Mr. Haverfield, our best authority on things Roman, that the
walls of the sister city of Silchester, now so well known to us, go back
to this time.
I cannot think that the greater wall of London dates back to the first
century, but it has never been proved to be later.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--ROMAN BRICK INSCRIBED LONDON.]
[Illustration: FIG. 37.--INSCRIPTION FROM ROMAN BRICK.]
Fragments of sculpture, themselves not very early, have been found in
portions of the wall, yet the Camomile Street bastion and other similar
places might be additions and repairs; and some late fragments from the
south wall found by Roach Smith seem to have come from its foundation
(Figs. 24 and 25).
If it is difficult to offer any convincing argument as to the age of the
wall of London, it is possible to get a general idea of the walled city
and its neighbourhood with some vividness and accuracy. We have the great
tidal river, the background of forest, and the nearer fen-lands, which
seem to have almost insulated the site. There is the great white
posting-road from Canterbury and Dover, and, more remotely, from Rome,
Lyons, Chalons, Auxerre, Troyes, Rheims, Amiens, Boulogne, striking
straight from point to point. On its course are villas, like one just
discovered in Greenwich Park. The road dips towards the river, and passes
over the drained and banked marshes to the Surrey suburb. There is a
gate-tower at the end of the Bridge, then comes the long and narrow
passage over the strong, swift river to the grey walls of Londinium. Along
the river-front are several wharves formed of timbering, to the left is
the creek of the little river which ran under the west walls, and, still
further west, some water-side villas.[215] Entering the city the street
ascends steeply towards the north gate; others, parallel to its course,
lead to two other gates in the north wall, and two chief routes traverse
the city longitudinally from west gate to east gate, and from west postern
to east postern. A bridge[216] over the Walbrook gives good reason why the
street lines in the eastern half of the city converge toward this point.
The area extending from the north-gate street to the bank of the Walbrook
is covered with the principal buildings closely packed together.[217]
Beyond this central mass of buildings stand isolated villas in gardens and
orchards. In the open belt of ground outside the walls, and along the
roads, west, north, and east, are cemeteries, the graves marked with
sarcophagi and sculptured headstones, some of imported marble. A theatre
somewhat similar to those at Dorchester, Cirencester, and Silchester is
situated without the west gate, being excavated in the steep bank of the
rivulet between it and the city wall.[218]
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--ROMAN TOMB, FROM OUTSIDE OF THE EAST WALLS.
RESTORED.]
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--INSCRIPTION FROM ROMAN TOMB.]
Within the walls the city is adorned by more than one bronze statue. The
sculptured ornaments of the public buildings are somewhat rude and
ponderous, but the dwellings are furnished with numerous imported works of
art, such as bronze statuettes, bowls of red Samian ware, and very
beautiful coloured glass vessels of the _millefiore_ kind. The rooms have
their walls painted in bright colours with birds, flowers, and figures,
and imitations of porphyry and verde antique, while a few are cased with
thin slabs of marble. The pavements are patterned mosaic, and raised
above hot air chambers; lead pipes supply water, the windows are glazed,
and the roofs without are covered with red pantiles. So far there seem to
be authentic data for such a picture. It would be vain to attempt in many
instances to assign the fragments found in excavations to particular
buildings. Roach Smith, however, was of opinion that a large fragment
sculptured with the three seated goddesses, the _Deae Matres_, found in
Hart Street, Crutched Friars, and now in the Guildhall, "stood on the
outside of a temple dedicated to these popular divinities."
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--END OF A ROMAN TOMB FOUND IN LONDON.]
[Illustration: FIG. 41.--LEADEN CIST.]
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--PLATE OF FIGURED GLASS FOR DECORATION.]
[Illustration: FIG. 43.--ROMAN INSCRIPTION.]
The illustration of a tomb is made up from fragments in the British
Museum found in the east wall (Figs. 38 and 39).
A large stone, about two feet high, found fifty years ago below Clement's
Lane, Lombard Street, bearing "a few letters of the sounding words
PROVINCIA BRITANNIAE," was thought by the same authority to have stood
above a civil basilica. This most important inscription was lodged at the
Guildhall, but has disappeared. I have Roach Smith's original sketch of
it, and a letter asking Fairholt to go and draw it more carefully. But in
his _Roman London_ he complains that it could not be found. Fortunately,
there is a second careful drawing of the stone in the Archer Collection at
the British Museum, and from this my figure is made.[219]
Following the model of Silchester, it is quite probable that a Christian
church stood in a main street on such a site as the present St. Peter's
upon Cornhill. The Forum, as has been said, probably lay north of London
Stone, which may have been the golden milestone of London. Wren thought
that the Prætorium occupied the ground between the two west gates; but the
Tower site seems even more probable.
Bagford refers to the discovery of some Roman water-pipes in Creed Lane
after the fire, which were "carried round a bath that was built in a round
form with niches at an equal distance for seats."
It has been noticed that the masonry of the walls of the Roman houses
seems to have finished not far above ground as if in preparation for
timbering; other indications of this have been found, and a rough
scratching of a house on a tile shows timber construction. This has
recently been confirmed by the discovery at Silchester of houses which had
timbered framing covered with clay daubing over wattle work, the outside
surface being ornamented with zigzag patterns like mediæval pargeting, all
of brick-red colour.
Before the Roman forces were drawn back to the heart of the empire, London
seems to have grown into the position of British Metropolis. Its position
in regard to the arterial roads when the itinerary was compiled, shows how
it tended to take precedence over the more military centres. Moreover,
while the mint marks of one or two British cities appear on coins earlier
than the mark of London, in Constantinian days London is the only British
city where money seems to have been coined.[220] In the last days of the
occupation the city had acquired the name of Augusta. We cannot doubt that
the Roman soldiers drawn away to protect their lines of communication
marched Romeward with the intention of returning again to the city by the
Thames when the barbarian Germans and Goths had been thrust back into
their woods and plains; yet the day of Rome was done, and their retreat
was itself an incident in the advance of a new age.
APPENDIX
ON MATERIALS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF MAPS OF EARLY LONDON
In bringing this topographical essay to a conclusion, it may be desirable
to note a few observations on the materials we possess for making a map of
early London, the reconstruction of which, with considerable fulness and
accuracy, is possible. We have in the Survey of Leeke, made directly after
the great fire, and engraved on two sheets by Vertue from a parchment
original, now in the MS. room of the British Museum (5415. E.I.), an
admirable starting-point. Even the widths of the streets are figured on
this plan, and the forms of St. Paul's and the other old churches are
given with fair precision. It is entitled "An Exact Survey of the Streets,
Lanes, and Churches, comprehended within the Ruins of the City of London;
first described in six platts in December, Anno Domini, 1666. By John
Leeke.... And here reduced into one entire platt by John Leeke." This
parchment was engraved by Hollar to a smaller scale, with the unburnt
portions of the city added in isometrical projection. On this plan the
ward boundaries are carefully laid down. As to the ground-plan of the
portions left uninjured by the fire, we can supplement Leeke's Survey by
the plan Wren made for reconstructing the city, now at Oxford, which
shows the streets and churches of the uninjured areas; and from Ogilvie's
large map, made only a few years later, details, such as the block-plans
of the churches in the unburnt part, can be filled in with greater
accuracy. From Faithorne's map, 1658, some additional facts, especially as
to Southwark and the suburbs, can be obtained, as it is of large
extent.[221] Putting all these together, we have an exact map of London as
it existed at the moment of the fire. Afterwards a few modifications were
made in the streets, but the plan of old London remained practically
unchanged till Southwark Bridge was built and Queen Street made to lead to
it.
We can now check our plan and add to the names of the streets from Stow's
perambulation of every street and alley, and his account of ward
boundaries and parishes. Further than this, however, we have in the
remarkably clear plot of the city given in Braun and Hogenburghe's
_Civitates Orbis Terrarum_ (1572), a survey of the city as it existed
about 1570. It is often said that this view _must_ date back to 1561 at
least, as St. Paul's spire, which was burnt in that year, is shown in it.
But as it was known to be the intention to rebuild this famous spire at
once, it seems probable that a view even in the interim would not leave it
out. It is not quite certain who drew this admirable map. In the preface
to a copy of the book which I have examined, George Braun of Cologne,
January 1, 1575, speaks of the admirable industry of the painter
Hogenburghe, and the living portraitures he had so carefully painted, so
that the cities may be seen at a glance more easily than in reality. On
comparing the prospects of other cities, it looks almost certain that
London was drawn by the same hand which drew Paris, Brussels, etc.
Hofnagle, who it is thought may have made this prospect, is known to have
been in England in or before 1571. It is to be remarked in this connection
that the plan of London is not numbered with the rest of the plates; it is
marked A, and put in at the beginning of the series as if it came to hand
late.
This valuable map, whoever it may have been drawn by, and whatever may be
its exact date, is delineated according to a method which is still made
use of at times--the buildings, trees, and other details being figured in
perspective. This has resulted in giving the whole such a pictorial
character, that the correctly planned basis is not at first apparent. I
have not seen it pointed out that it is properly a map and not a view, and
this method of projection may be what Braun refers to in the preface cited
above. About this same time William Smith, the herald, made some drawings
of cities; and on one of Bristol, which is drawn according to the same
method as the London map we are now considering, he writes:--"Bristow,
measured and laid in Platforme by me, W. Smith, at my being in Bristow the
30 and 31 July Ano Dni 1568" (Sloane MSS. 2596). Pictorial views of cities
had been known for centuries; this "laying in platform" is, however, new.
We may suppose that Smith, the Rouge Dragon, was not the first to make use
of this method in his Survey of Bristol, and that there must even at this
time have existed such a plan of London; it may also be pointed out that
Smith's MS. _view_ of London, which may, however, have been made later
than the one of Bristol, is plainly founded on Braun's plan, or on some
original used in common. Bagford speaks of having seen a single sheet on
copper, from Temple Bar to St. Katharine's and the Bank-side Southwark,
which seemed to him the best of old London and perhaps the most ancient.
It is necessary to notice the large woodcut prospect usually called Aggas'
plan, if only to criticise this ascription, which is accepted in the
_Dictionary of National Biography_. It is plain on comparing it with
Braun's plan that one of them is copied from the other, or a common
original source, and this relation is made more certain when we notice
that the large woodcut, which I shall call the Anonymous plan, has been
cut down at the margins, and that it must originally have included
Westminster and St. Katharine's exactly like Braun's. As the Anonymous
woodcut plan is far inferior in workmanship to the other, and as it was
still being printed from in the seventeenth century, there seems to be
some likelihood that it is the copy, and yet, as we shall see, a "Large
Mappe" existed before 1580. Although so little is known in regard to the
Anonymous plan, there seems to be sufficient evidence to negative the idea
propounded by Vertue that it was the work of Aggas. This idea he gained
because a view of Oxford, drawn by Aggas in 1578, and published in 1588,
speaks of his having had a desire to publish a plan of London, but (in 30
Queen Elizabeth, 1588) "meantime the measure, form, and sight I bring of
ancient Oxford." A trained surveyor like Aggas would hardly have brought
out an enlarged copy of Braun's map twenty years after the original. It is
probable indeed, considering the spelling of the names, that Bagford's
observation on the Anonymous plan, that it seemed to have been "done in
Holland," is true. Mr. Thomas Dodd, in a MS. letter in the Crace
Collection, points out a passage in Hakluyt where it is advised that the
Pit and Jackman Expedition of 1580 should take with them the map of
England and the "large Mappe of London." Mr. Dodd goes on to point out
that Hakluyt also refers to Clement Adams as an engraver on wood, and he
might have been the author of such a large map, which may be the Anonymous
woodcut plan. Mr. Overall, in his inconclusive preface to the reproduction
of the Anonymous plan, shows that Giles Godhed had submitted "the Carde of
London," in 1562, to the Stationers' Company. We might conclude that this
was a large plan on the same projection as Braun and Hogenburghe's plan,
but this is uncertain, as just at this time there was published an
engraved view of St. Paul's and the neighbourhood, of which there is a
unique copy at the Society of Antiquaries. The most beautiful plan known
to me, executed after the manner of Braun's cities, is a large plan of
Bruges, signed by Marcus Gerard, pictor, 1562. Altogether I am inclined to
think that there was such a plan of London existing before Braun's, and
that the Anonymous plan is a coarse copy of one of those made in Holland
for popular sale some time before 1580. Braun's plan, in any case, carries
us back on firm ground to the end of the mediæval period, and by its aid
we can check over our former results for an accurate plan of mediæval
London.
Beyond this point we have an overwhelming mass of documentary evidence, by
which the names of the streets, churches, and other landmarks, can be
carried backwards by references in deeds, wills, patents, close-rolls, and
Parliament-rolls, etc. etc. I have little doubt that almost every street
and lane in London which existed in Stow's day could be carried back by
this means to the thirteenth century, and a good many can be shown to have
borne the same names in the century after the Conquest.
Then we have the complete list of city churches in the time of Edward I.
given in the _Liber Custumarum_. The parish boundaries probably remain
much as at that time, and the wards in their present form go back as far.
It may be noted that a study of the boundaries shows that the parishes are
in the main subdivisions of wards, and not that wards are aggregations of
parishes. Such general documentary evidence can be further supplemented by
the data which we have in regard to particular buildings which are still
in part existing, or of which we have plans and other evidence.
We can accurately reinstate the City wall with its bastions and gates, the
Bridge and the Tower of London. We have ample particulars as to the
Cathedral and precinct of St. Paul's, with the line of the Close wall, the
position of its gates, and the site of the Campanile in the north-east
corner. The boundaries of the Conventual Establishments can be plotted,
and the buildings within them can, in many cases, be laid down in detail.
The plan of the Guildhall buildings may be reconstructed, and Hollar and
Leeke's map gives the position of the Halls of the several Companies. An
attempt has been made in the body of this work to sift out what can be
learned of a still more remote London.
THE END
_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Mr. Green, from the long sections dealing with London in _The Making
of England_ and _The Conquest of England_, must be reckoned among the
specialists on London. I shall often have to criticise Mr. Loftie's
conclusions, but I do so merely because those are the views in possession
at the present time. His books have the distinction of having revived an
interest in London topography.
[2] _E.g._ Mr. Loftie's most recent book, _London Afternoons_.
[3] _Origines Celticæ._
[4] Loftie, vol. i. ch. ii.
[5] Hearne actually says it is Long-town.
[6] Canon Isaac Taylor, _Dict. of Place-Names_.
[7] _Social England_, vol. i.
[8] Rhys, _Celtic Britain_.
[9] Ramsay, vol. i. p. 32.
[10] See Ludgate below.
[11] Now represented by Edgware Road.
[12] See _Dict. Nat. Biog._, and De la Moyne Borderie.
[13] Thorpe's _Ancient Laws_.
[14] Joceline de Brakelonde, p. 56, cited by Wright.
[15] _Cal. St. Paul's MSS._, Ninth Report Historic MSS. Com., p. 65.
[16] Rhys, _Celtic Britain_; Elton's _Origins_.
[17] Thomas Wright says the Billings, a Saxon people, settled at
Billingsgate, and Mr. W. H. Stevenson derives the name from Billing, a
Saxon name.
[18] There is probably some fact at the bottom of this story: perhaps the
sword of St. Paul was carved on the Bishop's Gate. According to Geoffrey,
the older Belinus had been placed in a golden urn on Billingsgate.
[19] Robert of Gloucester.
[20] See the story of Lludd in the Mabinogion.
[21] _English Hist. Rev._ vol. ii.
[22] _Episcopal Succession._
[23] _Celtic Britain_, p. 124.
[24] C. F. Keary, _Vikings_.
[25] Asser.
[26] Asser.
[27] See Ramsay, _Foundations of England_, vol. i. p. 126.
[28] Compare Tame, Tamar, Teme, Tean, Teign. See _Surrey Collections_,
vol. v.
[29] _Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles_, Camden Society.
[30] See Green, _Making of England_, vol. i. p. 105; _Surrey Collections_,
vol. iii.; and _Athenæum_, 1901, No. 3838.
[31] _Polyolbion._
[32] Bailey.
[33] _Calendar of St. Paul's MSS._
[34] Dugdale's _Monasticon_, art. "Temple"; and Round's _Geoffrey de
Mandeville_.
[35] _Transactions of London and Middlesex Archæological Society_, vol.
iv.
[36] Hardy and Page, _London and Middlesex Fines_, vol. i. p. 3; see also
Dugdale.
[37] _London and Middlesex Fines._
[38] Kempe translates the same passage, "From the north angle of the City
wall, where a rivulet of Springs near thereto flowing marks it out (_i.e._
the moor) from the wall as far as the running water which entereth the
City" (_Sanctuary of St. Martin_).
[39] _Eng. Hist. Rev._, 1896.
[40] A.S. dictionaries give _Wylle-burn_ = Wellbrook.
[41] Other cases of churches called by personal names are St. Benet Fink,
St. Martin Orgar, St. Martin Outwich, etc.
[42] St. Stephen's Walbrook is mentioned in a charter of _c._ 1100. See
"Churches," below.
[43] Dr. Sharpe, _Letter Book A_.
[44] _Archæological Journal_, vol. i. p. 111.
[45] _Roman Antiquities on Site of Safe Deposit_, and _Roman Pavement in
Bucklersbury_; see also _Archæological Review_, vol. iv.
[46] _Letter Book A._
[47] Price, _Safe Deposit_, p. 30.
[48] _Origines Celticæ_, vol. ii.
[49] Sir J. H. Ramsay.
[50] Maitland sounded the river, and thought that there had been a ford at
Chelsea; and the large number of Celtic and Roman antiquities found from
time to time at Battersea and Wandsworth incline me to the view that there
was a passage here.
[51] Horsley's account of the Roman roads is still the best general
authority; but see the _Antiquary_ for 1901-2. The subject is being
carefully re-examined in the new Victorian County Histories.
[52] Thorpe.
[53] The last, like all names compounded of "street," is a significant
name wherever found.
[54] Clark, _Military Architecture_, vol. i. p. 31.
[55] Hardy and Page, _Fines_; and see Stow.
[56] _London and Middlesex Archæological Society Trans._, vol. iii. p.
563.
[57] _London and Middlesex Fines._
[58] Ackerman's _Westminster_, vol. i. p. 74.
[59] For Old Ford see _London and Middlesex Archæological Society Trans._,
vol. iii. p. 206.
[60] _Crawford Charters._
[61] Bentley's _Cartulary of Westminster Abbey_, p. 4.
[62] See _Archæologia_, vol. xxvi., and, on the Tyburn, the _London and
Middlesex Archæological Society Trans._, vol. vi.
[63] _Surrey Collections_, vol. i.
[64] See Faulkner's _Chelsea_.
[65] Kemble, No. 872. See also Arnold's _Streatham_.
[66] _Eng. Hist. Rev._ 1898.
[67] See Rhys, _Celtic Britain_. The compiler of the pseudo-itinerary of
R. of Cirencester writes Guethlin Street.
[68] It has been argued that if the Britons had chariots they must also
have had roads; and it is generally held that the Icknield and other
"Ridgeways" are of British origin. Mr. Boyd Dawkins has recently shown,
from objects found in a camp with which the Pilgrim Way from Canterbury is
associated, that this ridge-road is early Celtic at latest. It seems
reasonable to suggest that it joined the Icknield Way, and that they
formed an early road-system crossing the river at Wallingford.
[69] A paved way, thought to be the Watling Street, has just been found in
Edgware Road. It was 20 feet wide, 3.6 below surface, and pitched with
"boulders." A fragment was also found in Oxford Street.
[70] Kemble, _Codex Dip._ 591.
[71] Powell and Vigfusson's _Corpus_.
[72] I do not share this view as to Claudius and the bridge. Sir J. H.
Ramsay even suggests that it may have been the work of Cunobeline.
[73] Roach Smith, _Archæological Journal_, vol. i. p. 112.
[74] Bruce, _Handbook to the Roman Wall_.
[75] See Price's _Bucklersbury_.
[76] _Making of England_, pp. 21, 105.
[77] Hermann, _De Mirac. S. Edmund_, p. 43; see _Eng. Hist. Rev._ vol.
xii. p. 49.
[78] _Home Counties Mag._ vol. i.
[79] Leland.
[80] Earle, _Land Charters_; and _Codex Dip._ No. 280.
[81] _Cal._ p. 25.
[82] _Archæologia_, lii.
[83] In the A.S. dictionaries _Crepel_ stands for an underground passage:
there is said to be a Cripplegate on the Wansdyke.
[84] _Archæologia_, lii.
[85] Loftie's _London_, and _London_ in "Historic Towns" series; maps in
Green's _Short History_, and in Miss Norgate's _Angevin Kings_.
[86] It seems necessary to notice these points in such excellent books, as
they are repeated in Sir W. Besant's _London_, p. 19, and more recent
works, as if they were settled. Mr. Loftie, in a still later book, _London
City_ (1891), writes: "We know that Aldgate was opened about sixty years
before FitzStephen's time. Aldersgate must have been made soon after the
Conquest, and Cripplegate, with its covered way to the Barbican, cannot
have been much later." In "Historic Towns" volume he says: "The
foundations of the North Gate were lately found in Camomile Street. The
massive masonry of the West Gate was also lately uncovered in Giltspur
Street." In his _London Afternoons_ Ludgate appears as probably the latest
of the gates. All this is conjecture and, as I have shown, contrary to the
evidence.
[87] _London and Middlesex Archæological Society Trans._ vol. iii.
[88] _Illustrations of Roman London._
[89] Thorpe's _Ancient Laws_.
[90] Earle, _Land Charter_.
[91] W. de G. Birch, _London Charters_.
[92] Kemble, _Codex Dip._ No. 1074.
[93] Leland, _Coll._ vol. i.
[94] J. H. Round, _Calendar of French Documents_.
[95] J. H. Round, _Feudal England_, p. 320.
[96] _London and the Kingdom._
[97] Pauli, _Pictures of Old London_.
[98] Price, _Hist. Guildhall_. In a deed, _temp._ Henry III., the Gildhall
of the Cologne Merchants is said to be near Hay Wharf, for which see Stow.
[99] J. H. Round, _Calendar of French Documents_. See also _Soc de
Waremanshaker_ and St. Peter Ghent in Dugdale, vol. ii. p. 384.
[100] _Calendar of St. Paul's Documents._
[101] Dugdale, vol. vi. p. 623.
[102] _Codex Dip._ ii. p. 3.
[103] _Heimskringla._
[104] C. F. Keary, _Vikings_, p. 125.
[105] J. Earle, _Saxon Chronicles_.
[106] It is true it has been shown by Mr. Round that about two centuries
later than this time _Arx_ was a technical word for a military tower, and
it is used by FitzStephen for the Tower of London itself: on the other
hand, passages cited in _Domesday and Beyond_, p. 187, show that earlier
it was convertible with _castrum_ or _burh_, and it is beginning to be
believed that _burh_ means a _castrum_ rather than a mound. Grants of
property run, "within Burh and without Burh, on Street and off Street."
Alfred himself writes of "Romeburh" and "Babylonburh."
[107] It is usually said that the members of the gild entered Holy Trinity
Monastery, but this Mr. Round has shown is a misconception.
[108] Alfred Memorial volume.
[109] _Journal British Archæological Association_, 1900.
[110] _Domesday and Beyond_, p. 192.
[111] "I have been in White Hill in the Court of Cynvelyn" (Taliessin).
According to a Triad it was Arthur who disinterred the head of Bran,
disdaining to be so protected.
[112] Dr. Maitland, _Domesday and Beyond_.
[113] The Anglo-Saxon chronicler under 878 tells how Alfred made a
_geweorc_ at Athelney.
[114] As to the Danes holding the burh with London, see above, p. 68. I
find London "and the Boro" mentioned together early in the thirteenth
century.
[115] See G. R. Corner, _Archæologia_, vol. xxv.
[116] Saxon Chronicle.
[117] On the boundary of Paris Gardens was an embankment called the Old
Broad Wall.
[118] See "House of Lewes Priory," _Archæologia_, vol. xxxviii.
[119] So well informed a guide as Baedeker says the Abbey was so named
with reference to Eastminster by the Tower, which was only founded in the
fourteenth century.
[120] See Sir J. H. Ramsay, vol. i. p. 422.
[121] See, for example, Hardy and Page, _London and Middlesex Fines_, p.
3. This volume also shows that Norton Folgate was formerly called Norton
Folyot from a well-known family.
[122] _Calendar of St. Paul's Documents_, p. 25.
[123] A sixteenth-century London document has "stoop or post."
[124] _Athenæum_, 8th July 1899.
[125] Compare "portmeadows" and lands belonging to citizens elsewhere. At
Colchester in 1086 there was a strip eight perches wide surrounding the
town wall. As late as 1833 the borough of Bedford _included_ "a broad belt
of land." For a full account of the commonable fields of Cambridge and a
discussion of the subject generally, see Maitland's _Township and
Borough_. The London boundary was called the Line of Separation.
[126] The common pasturage of Westminster is mentioned in a charter.
[127] _London and Middlesex Archæological Society Trans._, vol. v. See
also for these documents Dr. Sharpe's _Letter Book C_.
[128] See also Stow's account of the alienation of common lands. Mile-End,
according to Froissart, was "a fair plain place where the people of the
city did sport them in summer."
[129] Fenchurch also seems to have been connected with this land, or at
least the eastern suburb.
[130] The Friday fair of horses still lasted when Froissart wrote his
account of Wat Tyler.
[131] _Township and Borough and Village Community._
[132] Hudson Turner.
[133] _Making of England._
[134] See Green's _Conquest of England_.
[135] In the summary of reigns at the end of Florence's Chronicle he
speaks more than once of "London and the adjacent country" as going
together.
[136] See L. Gomme, _Village Community_, p. 212.
[137] Munday. Loftie says there was another Romeland at Dowgate.
[138] _Calendar of Ancient Deeds._
[139] See J. H. Round, _Commune of London_, p. 99.
[140] Riley, Sharpe, Loftie's two books, _French Chronicle of London_,
notes.
[141] Or Langbourne and Fenny-about, as the east and west halves of this
ward seem to have been sometimes called.
[142] Sharpe's _Calendar of Wills_, vol. i.
[143] _Calendar of Ancient Deeds_, vol. iii.
[144] _Riley's Memorials._
[145] The _Liber Trinitatis_ states that the precinct of Holy Trinity
Aldgate was "of old" (pre-Conquest) one parish of Holy Rood. Two adjoining
parishes are mentioned in a twelfth century charter (_Commune of Lond._ p.
253)--St. Laurence de Judaismo and St. Marie de Aldermanebury.
[146] _Judicia civitatis Londoniæ._
[147] _Liber Albus_, p. 80.
[148] A document of about 1120-30 at St. Paul's gives us the name of
"Salidus, Bedellus Warde."
[149] _Liber Albus_, p. 32.
[150] _Archæological Journal_, vol. iv. p. 278.
[151] Kemble, _Codex Dip._ 685.
[152] See Dugdale, who is wrong, however, in saying it was called a
"Palatine tower." Stow applies this grant to Bridewell by mistake.
[153] See the genealogy as given by Mr. Round. It is interesting to find
that the arms of Fitzwalter, the banner-bearer of London, a fess between
two cheverons, is but a difference from the three cheverons of Clare.
[154] The arms of the Munfichets were similar to the arms of Clare, with
the difference only of a label of five points. From this fact we may
suppose that the families were allied. Munfichet Castle afterwards fell
into the hands of the Fitzwalters.
[155] Howell's _Londinopolis_, 1657.
[156] Dr. H. J. Nicholson, _History of the Abbey of St. Albans_, Newcourt,
and Maitland's _London_, vol. ii. p. 1051.
[157] Dr. Sharpe considers that the Royal was the name of a street near
Dowgate, so called from La Reole, near Bordeaux.
[158] T. E. Price, _Safe Deposit_, p. 29.
[159] _Archæol._ xxix.
[160] J. Kempe, _Archæologia_, vol. xxiv.
[161] A large open Cheap is put in various parts by different writers. Mr.
Joseph Jacobs, in an interesting inquiry as to the Jewry, makes the ground
south of the Guildhall an open market.
[162] _Codex Dip._ i. p. 133. The Wilton Domesday gives a _Magnus Vicus_
at Winchester.
[163] _Parentalia._
[164] _London and Middlesex Transactions_, vol. ii.
[165] See J. E. Price, _Safe Deposit_. Price claims that the crypt found
by Wren at Bow Church and described as Roman by him is not the now
existing crypt. But the text and index of _Parentalia_ plainly prove that
the present church was built _on_ it, and therefore it was the existing
Norman structure.
Price says that remains of a bridge were found in Bucklersbury, and that a
Roman road, possibly a continuation of that by Bow Church, passed here.
[166] Hudson Turner's _Domestic Archr._, vol. i. App.; _Calendar of St.
Paul's Documents_, Sharpe's _Calendar of Wills_, _Calendar of Ancient
Deeds_, etc. In the last it is called Aphelingestrate in 1232.
[167] Dr. Sharpe's _Calendar of Wills_.
[168] Sharon Turner, _History of the Anglo-Saxons_.
[169] Alfred Memorial volume, 1899.
[170] Riley's _Memorials_.
[171] Issac.
[172] Godefroi's _Dictionary_.
[173] It is designed on the pattern of the famous monogram of Justinian,
having for basis the letter N.
[174] Still more recent finds at St. Albans seem to show that here also
the forum was an important building in the centre of the city.
[175] See account of Saxon Winchester in Hudson Turner's _Domestic
Archr._, vol. i., and of _Canterbury before the Conquest_, by Geoff.
Faussett.
[176] Winton Domesday mentions Fishmongers' Street, Tanner Street, and
Gold Street.
[177] _The Golden Legend._
[178] Right through the Middle Ages the close of St. Paul's is called
_Atrium S. Pauli_.
[179] _Parentalia._
[180] Thorpes' _Analecta_.
[181] _Cotton Charters_, 11 Aug. 85.
[182] Richard of Cirencester, also Stow.
[183] See W. Maitland's _London_, and Green's _Conquest of England_.
[184] _London and Middlesex Archæological Society's Trans._ vol. ii.
[185] Sir H. Ellis, _Introduction to Domesday_.
[186] See _Eng. Hist. Rev._ vol. xvi.
[187] For the last see Round, _Geoffrey de Mandeville_.
[188] For many other churches mentioned in the twelfth century see
_Calendar of St. Paul's Documents, Historical MSS. Reports_, which I have
not drawn upon in this place. Several other churches may be presumed to be
ancient from their dedication, such as St. Pancras (destroyed at the great
fire). Green (_Conquest of England_) attributes St. Augustine, St.
Gregory, St. Benet, and St. Faith, to Bishop Erkenwald.
[189] For Strand churches see Sanders in _Archæologia_, vol. xxvi. Gibbs
found work which he thought was Roman under St. Martin's-in-the-Fields.
For an early foundation at Smithfield see Malcolm.
[190] Dugdale, under Bermondsey.
[191] The "Pedlar of Swaffham" and some Welsh stories refer to the bridge
in the same way. See Rhys, _Celtic Folklore_.
[192] _Hist. MSS. Report of St. Paul's Documents_, p. 49.
[193] See T. H. Round, _Commune of London_.
[194] _Geoffrey de Mandeville_, p. 436.
[195] Thorpe, pp. 97-103.
[196] _London and the Kingdom._ In Winton Domesday is written _Chenictes
tenebat la chenictehalla ubi potabant gildam suam_.
[197] Does this mean the lost charter constituting the mayor?
[198] _Camden Society._
[199] Lick up the penny--Howell writes, "Some call London a Lickpenny, as
Paris is called a Pick-purse, because of feastings and other occasions of
expense."
[200] Book now disappeared. See for this and Stone generally, Price's
_Roman Pavement in Bucklersbury_. It is not necessary that the note should
be as old as the book.
[201] _London and Middlesex Archæological Society_, vol. v.
[202] _Parentalia._
[203] This must be just the meaning of Berefridam--Burhfrid--Town-peace.
[204] _Domesday and Beyond_, p. 192.
[205] _Ibid._ p. 184.
[206] Lincoln also had a gerefa in the seventh century (Bede, ii. 6).
[207] _Geoffrey de Mandeville._
[208] Maitland's _London_ speaks of a list amongst the British Museum MSS.
[209] See Round in _Dict. Nat. Biog._ and _Commune of London_.
[210] F. Palgrave, _Rotuli Curiæ Regis_, vol. i. p. 12.
[211] Skeat says the weight was called from Troyes, but gives no
conclusive reasons. See also _Notes and Queries_, 1871. Cripp's _English
Plate_ seems to prove this point.
[212] In Rolls Series.
[213] _Illus. Rom. Lond._ and valuable article, _Archæol._ xxix.
[214] There may have been a tower on the Bush Lane site: I am speaking of
a large walled castrum.
[215] Like the one which has left us its bath in Essex Street, Strand. The
1681 Catalogue of objects in the Museum of the Royal Society describes a
mosaic pavement found in Holborn near St. Andrew's.
[216] At Bucklersbury, described by Price.
[217] As many discoveries of walls and pavements have shown; as, for
instance, at the south end of Bishopsgate Street, in Threadneedle Street,
Lombard Street, at the Bank, the Royal Exchange, Bucklersbury, Cannon
Street, and the north side of Thames Street.
[218] Roach Smith in _London and Middlesex Archæological Trans._ vol i.
[219] I may say here that the drawing of the Roman pavement (Fig. 35) was
originally made for Roach Smith by Fairholt.
[220] The mark P. LON. is first found on a coin of Diocletian.
[221] Other plans by A. Ryther, Norden, and Porter are small, and of
little use except for giving the extent of suburban building at the moment
of the execution of each.
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End of Project Gutenberg's London Before the Conquest, by W. R. Lethaby