DESCRIPTION.--This is the earliest map of London known to be in existence,
for though Wyngaerde's survey preceded it in date, as we have seen, that is
a panorama and not a map proper. The present map, which is known as that of
Ralph Agas, itself has a good deal more of the panoramic nature than would
be allowed in a modern one, and is on that account all the more
interesting. The first to connect Agas's name with this map was Vertue
(1648-1756), and he stated its date to be 1560; but, as will be seen in the
description of the next plate, Vertue's claims to strict veracity have now
been shaken, therefore his testimony must be accepted with caution.
DESIGNER.--Ralph Agas, land surveyor and engraver, died in 1621, and he is
described in the register as "an aged." Of course, it is possible that Agas
lived to the age of eighty-five or over, in which case he might not have
been too young to execute this work in 1560, and he himself says, in a
document dated 1606, which has been preserved, that he had been in work as
a surveyor for upwards of forty years. There are two branches into which
the enquiry now resolves itself. First, did Agas really make the map? And,
second, if he did, at what date did he make it? There is no conclusive
evidence on either hand. There is a survey of Oxford, similar in character,
signed by him, and though this is not dated, it is known to have been
completed in 1578, and published ten years later. On the original copy of
this, which is at the Bodleian, there are the following lines:
"Neare tenn yeares paste the author made a doubt
Whether to print or lay this worke aside
Untill he firste had London plotted out
Which still he craves, although he be denied
He thinkes the Citie now in hiest pride,
And would make showe how it was beste beseene
The thirtieth yeare of our moste noble queene."
ORIGINAL.--The two earliest known copies of the Agas map, which was first
engraved on wood, are both of the same issue; one is at the Pepysian
Library, Magdalen College, Oxford, and the other at the Guildhall. Edward
J. Francis made a careful reproduction of that at the Guildhall in 1874,
and it is from that our present plate is taken. It is, of course, reduced,
for the original is 6 feet and ½ inch long, by 2 feet 4½ inches wide. The
notes attached to this issue are by W. H. Overall, F.S.A., one of the
leading authorities on the question. He doubts Agas's connection with the
map, but thinks if he were the originator it could not have been done
before 1591. The arms in the corner on the two oldest extant maps are those
of James I., but as the arms on the royal barge in the river are those of
Elizabeth, it has been conjectured that the maps are themselves copies of a
later edition, wherein the arms were altered in conformity with
conventional opinion. The chief points which give data from internal
evidence are as follows: St. Paul's Cathedral is bereft of its spire. This
was struck by lightning in 1561, so the map must be subsequent to that
date. The Royal Exchange is apparently built. This was opened in 1570.
Northumberland House, built about 1605, has not been begun. We may take it,
therefore, generally that the original map, which was engraved on wooden
blocks, was made some time in the latter half of Elizabeth's reign, and it
is probable that it was done by Agas.
DETAILS.--The map abounds in interesting detail.
Beginning in the extreme left-hand lower corner, we see St. Margaret's
Church, St. Stephen's Chapel, and Westminster Hall. In the river are swans
of monstrous size. King Street, now merged in Whitehall, is very clearly
shown, also the two heavy gates barring the way. The most northern of
these, designed by Holbein, was called after him, and stood until the
middle of the eighteenth century. North of it, on the west, is the
tilting-ground; and stags browse in St. James's Park. Between the gates, on
the east, are the Privy Gardens, overlooked by the Palace of
Whitehall--most unpalatial in appearance.
Piccadilly is "the Waye to Redinge," and Oxford Street "the Waye to
Uxbridge." Near Whitcomb Lane and the Haymarket women are spreading clothes
in the fields to dry, while cows as large as houses graze around. St.
Martin's Lane leads up to St. Giles, more particularly dealt with in the
description of the next plate. The irregular buildings of St. Mary
Rouncevall, a religious house, had not yet been taken down to make way for
Northumberland House, itself to be replaced by Northumberland Avenue. The
houses of great nobles, with their magnificent gardens stretching down to
the waterside, are still in evidence. North of the well-laid-out Covent
Garden, owned by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, are nothing but trees
and fields. Passing on quickly down the Strand, we find Temple Bar blocking
the way to the City. This is the old Temple Bar, replaced after the Great
Fire by the one much more familiar to us, which stood until 1878. A very
fine illustration of the old one is given in Sir Walter Besant's _London in
the Time of the Tudors_, p. 245. This book should certainly be studied by
anyone desirous of understanding the map. From Temple Bar past the back of
St. Clement's Church runs a broad road roughly corresponding with our new
Kingsway. Further eastward the Fleet River still flows strongly down from
its northern heights, crossed by many bridges, and just where it joins the
Thames is Bridewell Prison. Further along, on the other side, is Baynard's
Castle, and in front of it, in the river, the Queen's barge, with the royal
arms of Elizabeth in the centre. Some way back from Baynard's Castle a
bridge crosses a street, and is marked "The Wardrop." This was in very
truth the wardrobe or repository of the royal clothes! Drawing a line
northward for some way, we come to Smithfield, where tilting is represented
as in animated progress. Not far northward is St. John's, Clerkenwell, and
its neighbouring nunnery; to the west is the Charterhouse. Turning south
again, past St. Bartholomew's Church, we see the building of Christ's
Hospital, founded by Edward VI. This, it may be noted, is one of the
buildings erected since Wyngaerde's time. Then we come to St. Paul's, shorn
of its spire, with St. Gregory's Church, quite recognizable, in front of
it. There were continual edicts against building in the Tudor and Stuart
reigns, for it was feared London would grow out of hand; but, in spite of
this, houses have enormously increased since Wyngaerde made his survey. The
battlemented wall still encloses the City, but hamlets have sprung up
outside, notably at Cripplegate.
But within the wall there are still some fine gardens and open spaces, one
of which remains to this day in Finsbury Circus. Many roads meet in the
heart of London, where now the Bank, Mansion House, and Royal Exchange
stare across at each other. It is difficult to make out from the medley of
buildings in the map if Gresham's first Royal Exchange is there or not, but
it seems to be so. This was opened in 1570 by the Queen in person. St.
Christopher le Stock's square tower may be seen on the ground now absorbed
by the Bank of England.
Crossing over now to the Surrey side, we see conspicuously the two round
pens for bull- and bear-baiting respectively. There are many
pleasure-gardens, for the Surrey side was for long the recreation-ground of
the Londoner. On the river there are innumerable wherries, and below the
bridge at Billingsgate many ships cluster; one has even managed to get
above the bridge. Off the Steelyard and at the Tower are men and horses in
the water. This is a most interesting point. In those at the Tower it may
be clearly seen that the man is filling the water-casks on the animals'
backs with a ladle. This gives a glimpse into the discomforts endured by
our ancestors before water-pipes were laid on as a matter of course to all
houses. In the eighteenth-century reproductions of this map, oddly enough,
in one instance this detail has disappeared, and in the other it is turned
into a man driving cows into the water with a whip; thus doing away with
all its significance. Far to the north in Spitalfields men are practising
archery; while Aldgate, for long the home of Geoffrey Chaucer, is
conspicuous a little north of the Tower.
As became a man living in days of the Reformation, Agas does not point out
the religious houses then falling into decay or occupied by laymen, yet
what a number of them must have been still in existence! Standing on the
White Tower, and looking north and to the right hand, there must have been
visible outside the wall St. Katherine's by the Tower, Eastminster, and the
Sorores Minores, whose name still remains in the Minories, here marked.
Within the City was Holy Trinity, close to Aldgate--of this a couple of
most rare and interesting plans and a full account may be found in
_Mediæval London_, vol. ii.--and not far off was St. Helen's Nunnery; also
Crutched Friars, Austin Friars, Grey Friars, and, in the extreme west, near
the Fleet, Blackfriars. Of these and many others full accounts may be found
in the volume indicated above.
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