1. The most westerly, subscribed in golden characters, _Edvardus VI.
Rex_, _Anno Domini_ 1547. 2. _Maria Regina_, _Anno Domini_ 1553. 3.
_Elizabetha Regina_, _Anno Domini_ 1558. 4. Is subscribed _Serenissim &
Potentissim’ Princip’ Jacobo Primo_, _Mag._ _Brit’ Fran’ & Hibern’ Reg.
Fid. Defensori_, _Societas Pannitonsorum posuit_, _A.D._ 1684. 5. ΕΙΚΩΝ
ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ _Serenissimi & Religiosissimi Principis Caroli Primi_, _Angliæ_,
_Scotiæ_, _Franciæ Hiberniæ Regis_, _Fidei Defensoris_; _Bis Martyris_
(_in Corpore Effigie_) _Impiis Rebellium Manibus_, _ex hoc loco deturbata
confracta_, _Anno Dom._ 1647. _Restituta hic demum collocata_, _Anno
Dom._ 1683. _Gloria Martyrii qui te fregêre Rebelles non potuere ipsum
quem voluere Deum_. 6. _Carolus Secundus Rex_, _Anno Domini_ 1648. 7.
_Jacobus II. Rex_, _Anno Domini_ 1685.
On the east side five niches, one of which is vacant, the other filled,
viz.:—
1. The most northerly contains two statues, viz., of King William and
Queen Mary, subscribed _Gulielmus III. Rex_, _& Maria II. Regina_, _A.D._
1688. _S. P. Q. Londin’ Optim Principibus_, _P. C._ 1695. 2. _Anna
Regina Dei Gratia Mag. Britan’ Franciæ & Hiberniæ_, 1701. 3. George I.
inscribed _Georgius D. G. Magnæ Britan’ Franciæ & Hiberniæ Rex_, _Anno
Dom._ 1714. _S.P.Q.L._ 4. Southerly the statue of King George II. in
the habiliment of a Cæsar, wreathed on the head, and a battoon or
truncheon in his hand, little differing from that of Charles II. in the
centre of the area, only in looking northward; inscribed _Georgius II. D.
G. Mag. Brit. Fra. & Hib. Rex_, _Anno Dom._ 1727. _S.P.Q.L._
On the four sides of the piazza within the Exchange are twenty-eight
niches, which are all vacant yet, except one near the north-west angle,
where is the figure of Sir Thomas Gresham. The piazza itself is paved
with black and white marble, and the court, or area, pitched with
pebbles; in the middle whereof is the statue of King Charles II. in a
Roman habit, with a battoon in his hand, erected on a marble pedestal,
about eight feet high and looking southward; on which side of the
pedestal, under an imperial crown, wings, trumpet of fame, sceptre and
sword, palm branches, &c., are these words inscribed, viz.:—
_Carolo II. Cæsari Britannico_, _Patriæ Patri_, _Regum Optimo
Clementissimo Augustissimo_, _Generis Humani Deliciis_, _Utriusq_;
_Fortunæ Victori_, _Pacis Europæ Arbitro_, _Marium Domino_, _ac Vindici
Societatis Mercatorum Adventur’ Angliæ_, _quæ per CCCC jam prope Annos
Regia benignitate floret_, _Fidei Intemeratæ & Gratitudinis æternæ hoc
Testimonium venerabunda posuit_, _Anno Salutis Humanæ_ 1684.
On the west side of the pedestal is neatly cut in relievo the figure of a
Cupid reposing his right hand on a shield containing the arms of England
and France quartered, and in his left hand a rose.
On the north side are the arms of Ireland on a shield, supported by a
Cupid.
On the east side the arms of Scotland, with a Cupid holding a thistle all
in relievo.
The inner piazza and court are divided into several stations, or walks,
where the merchants of the respective nations, and those who have
business with them, assemble distinctly; so that any merchant or
commander of a vessel is readily found, if it be known to what country he
trades. The several walks are described in the following ground-plot of
the Exchange:—
[Picture: Ground plot of the Royal Exchange]
Near the south gate is a spacious staircase, and near the north gate
another, that lead up to the galleries, on each side whereof are shops
for milliners and other trades, to the number of near two hundred, which
brought in a good revenue at first, nothing being thought fashionable
that was not purchased there; but the milliners are now dispersed all
over the town, and the shops in the Exchange almost deserted.
8. Langbourn Ward, so called of a _bourne_, or brook, that had its
source in it, and run down Fenchurch Street, contains these principal
streets: part of Lombard Street, part of Fenchurch Street, part of Lime
Street, and part of Gracechurch Street, with part of the courts, lanes,
and alleys in them, particularly White Hart Court, Exchange Alley,
Sherbourne Lane, Abchurch Lane, St. Nicholas Lane, Mark Lane, Mincing
Lane, Rood Lane, Cullum Court, Philpot Lane, and Braben Court.
The public buildings in this ward are, the Post Office, Ironmongers’
Hall, Pewterers’ Hall; the churches of Allhallows, Lombard Street, St.
Edmund’s, Lombard Street, St. Mary Woolnoth, St. Dionis Backchurch, and
St. Allhallows Staining.
The Post Office is situated on the south side of Lombard Street, near
Stocks Market. It was the dwelling-house of Sir Robert Vyner, in the
reign of King Charles II. The principal entrance is out of Lombard
Street, through a great gate and passage that leads into a handsome paved
court, about which are the several offices for receiving and distributing
letters, extremely well contrived.
Letters and packets are despatched from hence every Monday to France,
Italy, Spain, Portugal, Flanders, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Kent, and the
Downs.
Every Tuesday to the United Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and to
all parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Every Wednesday to Kent only, and the Downs.
Every Thursday to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and all parts of
England and Scotland.
Every Friday to the Austrian and United Netherlands, Germany, Sweden,
Denmark, and to Kent and the Downs.
Every Saturday to all parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
The post goes also every day to those places where the Court resides, as
also to the usual stations and rendezvous of His Majesty’s fleet, as the
Downs, Spithead, and to Tunbridge during the season for drinking waters,
&c.
Letters and packets are received from all parts of England and Scotland,
except Wales, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; from Wales every
Monday and Friday; and from Kent and the Downs every day.
His Majesty keeps constantly, for the transport of the said letters and
packets, in times of peace,
Between England and France, three packet-boats; Spain, one in a
fortnight; Portugal, one ditto; Flanders, two packet-boats; Holland,
three packet-boats; Ireland, three packet-boats.
And at Deal, two packet-boats for the Downs.
Not to mention the extraordinary packet-boats, in time of war with France
and Spain, to the Leeward Islands, &c.
A letter containing a whole sheet of paper is conveyed eighty miles for
3d., and two sheets 6d. and an ounce of letters but 1s. And above eighty
miles a single letter is 4d., a double letter 8d., and an ounce 1s. 4d.
9. Billingsgate Ward is bounded by Langbourn Ward towards the north, by
Tower Street Ward on the east, by the River Thames on the south, and by
Bridge Ward Within on the west. The principal streets and places in this
ward are, Thames Street, Little East Cheap, Pudding Lane, Botolph Lane,
Love Lane, St. Mary Hill, and Rood Lane.
The wharves, or quays, as they lie on the Thames side from east to west,
are, Smart’s Quay, Billings gate, Little Somer’s Quay, Great Somer’s
Quay, Botolph Wharf, Cox’s Quay, and Fresh Wharf which last is the next
quay to the bridge; of which Billingsgate is much the most resorted to.
It is a kind of square dock, or inlet, having quays on three sides of it,
to which the vessels lie close while they are unloading. By a statute of
the 10th and 11th of William III. it was enacted, “That Billingsgate
should be a free market for fish every day in the week, except Sundays.
That a fishing-vessel should pay no other toll or duty than the Act
prescribes, viz., every salt-fish vessel, for groundage, 8d. per day, and
20d. per voyage; a lobster boat 2d. per day groundage, and 13d. the
voyage; every dogger boat, or smack with sea-fish, 2d. per day groundage,
and 13d. the voyage; every oyster vessel, 2d. per day groundage, and a
halfpenny per bushel metage. And that it should be lawful for any person
who should buy fish in the said market to sell the same in any other
market or place in London, or elsewhere, by retail.” And because the
fishmongers used to buy up great part of the fish at Billingsgate, and
then divide the same among themselves, in order to set an extravagant
price upon them, it was enacted, “That no person should buy, or cause to
be bought, in the said market of Billingsgate, any quantity of fish, to
be divided by lot among the fishmongers, or other persons, with an intent
to sell them afterwards by retail; and that no fishmonger should buy any
more than for his own use, on pain of £20.” And by the 6th _Annæ_ it was
enacted, “That no person should buy fish at Billingsgate to sell again in
the same market; and that none but fishermen, their wives, or servants,
should sell fish by retail at Billingsgate; and that none should buy or
sell fish there before the ringing of the market bell.”
The public buildings in this ward are Butchers’ Hall, and the churches of
St. Mary Hill, St. Margaret Pattens, and St. George, in Botolph Lane.
10. Bridge Ward Within contains London Bridge, New Fish Street,
Gracechurch Street as far as Fenchurch Street, Thames Street from Fish
Street to the Old Swan, part of St. Martin’s Lane, part of St. Michael’s
Lane, and part of Crooked Lane.
The public buildings in this ward are London Bridge, the Monument,
Fishmongers’ Hall, and the churches of St. Magnus and St Bennet,
Gracechurch Street.
The Monument stands on the west side of Fish Street Hill, a little to the
northward of the bridge, and was erected by the legislative authority, in
memory of the Fire, anno 1666, and was designed by Sir Christopher Wren.
It has a fluted column, 202 feet high from the ground; the greatest
diameter of the shaft 15 feet, and the plinth, or lowest part of the
pedestal, 28 feet square, and 40 feet high; the whole being of Portland
stone, except the staircase within, which is of black marble, containing
345 steps, ten inches and a half broad, and six inches deep; and a
balcony on the outside 32 feet from the top, on which is a gilded flame.
The front of the pedestal, towards the west, contains a representation of
the Fire, and the resurrection of the present city out of the ruins of
the former.
11. Candlewick or Cannon Street Ward contains part of Great East Cheap,
part of Candlewick, now called Cannon Street, part of Abchurch Lane, St.
Nicholas Lane, St. Clement’s Lane, St. Michael’s Lane, Crooked Lane, St.
Martin’s Lane, St. Lawrence Poultney Lane, with the courts and alleys
that fall into them.
In Cannon Street is that remarkable stone called London Stone, which has
remained fixed in the ground many hundred years, but for what end is
uncertain, though supposed by some to be the place from whence the Romans
began to compute the number of miles anciently to any part of the
kingdom.
12. Walbrook Ward contains the best part of Walbrook, part of
Bucklersbury, the east end of Budge Row, the north end of Dowgate, part
of Cannon Street, most of Swithin’s Lane, most of Bearbinder Lane, part
of Bush Lane, part of Suffolk Lane, part of Green Lattice Lane, and part
of Abchurch Lane, with several courts and lanes that fall into them.
Stocks Market consists of a pretty large square, having Cornhill and
Lombard Street on the north-east, the Poultry on the north-west, and
Walbrook on the south-east. Before the Fire it was a market chiefly for
fish and flesh, and afterwards for fruit and garden stuff.
In this market Sir Robert Vyner, Bart. and Alderman, erected a marble
equestrian statue of King Charles II., standing on a pedestal eighteen
feet high, and trampling on his enemies.
The public buildings in this ward are Salters’ Hall, the churches of St.
Swithin and St. Stephen, Walbrook.
13. Dowgate, or Dowgate Ward, so called from the principal street, which
has a steep descent or fall into the Thames, contains part of Thames
Street, part of St. Lawrence-Poultney Hill, part of Duxford Lane, part of
Suffolk Lane, part of Bush Lane, part of Dowgate Hill, Checquer Yard,
Elbow Lane, and Cloak Lane; and the southward of Thames Street, Old Swan
Lane, Cole Harbour, Allhallows Lane, Campion Lane, Friars Lane, Cozens
Lane, Dowgate Dock, and the Steel Yard.
The public buildings in this ward are Tallow-chandlers’ Hall, Skinners’
Hall, Innholders’ Hall, Plumbers’ Hall, Joiners’ Hall, Watermen’s Hall,
and the church of Allhallows the Great.
14. Vintry Ward (which was so called from the wine merchants who landed
and sold their wines here) contains part of Thames Street, New Queen
Street, Garlick Hill, College Hill, and St. Thomas Apostles.
The public buildings in this ward are Vintners’ Hall, Cutlers’ Hall, the
churches of St. Michael Royal and St. James, Garlick Hill.
Vintners’ Hall is situated on the south side of Thames Street, between
Queen Street and Garlick Hill, being built on three sides of a quadrangle
fronting the street. The rooms are large, finely wainscoted and carved,
particularly the magnificent screen at the east end of the great hall,
which is adorned with two columns, their entablature and pediment; and on
acroters are placed the figure of Bacchus between several Fames, with
other embellishments; and they have a garden backwards towards the
Thames.
15. Cordwainers’ Street Ward, so called from the cordwainers
(shoemakers), curriers, and other dealers in leather, that inhabited that
part of the town anciently, includes Bow Lane, New Queen Street, Budge
Row, Tower Royal Street, Little St. Thomas Apostle’s, Pancras Lane, a
small part of Watling Street, a little part of Basing Lane, and St.
Sythe’s Lane.
The public buildings in this ward are the church of St. Anthony, St. Mary
Aldermary, and St. Mary-le-Bow.
16. Cheap Ward. The principal streets and places in this ward are
Cheapside, the Poultry, part of Honey Lane Market, part of the Old Jewry,
part of Bucklersbury, part of Pancras Lane, part of Queen Street, all
Ironmonger Lane, King Street, and St. Lawrence Lane, and part of Cateaton
Street, part of Bow Lane, and all Guildhall.
The public buildings in this ward are, Guildhall, Mercers’ Chapel and
Hall, Grocers’ Hall, the Poultry Compter, the churches of St. Mildred,
Poultry, and St. Lawrence Jewry.
Guildhall, the town house of this great City, stands at the north end of
King Street, and is a large handsome structure, built with stone, anno
1666, the old hall having been destroyed by the Fire in 1666. By a large
portico on the south side we enter the principal room, properly called
the hall, being 153 feet in length, 48 in breadth, and 55 in height. On
the right hand, at the upper end, is the ancient court of the hustings;
at the other end of the hall opposite to it are the Sheriff’s Courts.
The roof of the inside is flat, divided into panels; the walls on the
north and south sides adorned with four demy pillars of the Gothic order,
painted white, and veined with blue, the capitals gilt with gold, and the
arms finely depicted in their proper colour, viz., at the east the arms
of St. Edward the Confessor, and of the Kings of England the shield and
cross of St. George. At the west end the arms of the Confessor, those of
England and France quarterly, and the arms of England. On the fourteen
demy pillars (above the capital) are the king’s arms, the arms of London,
and the arms of the twelve companies. At the east end are the King’s
arms carved between the portraits of the late Queen, at the foot of an
arabathram, under a rich canopy northward, and those of King William and
Queen Mary southward, painted at full length. The inter-columns are
painted in imitation of porphyry, and embellished with the portraitures,
painted in full proportion, of eighteen judges, which were there put up
by the City, in gratitude for their signal service done in determining
differences between landlord and tenant (without the expense of lawsuits)
in rebuilding this City, pursuant to an Act of Parliament, after the
Fire, in 1666.
Those on the south side are, Sir Heneage Finch, Sir Orlando Bridgeman,
Sir Matthew Hale, Sir Richard Rainsford, Sir Edward Turner, Sir Thomas
Tyrrel, Sir John Archer, Sir William Morton.
On the north side are, Sir Robert Atkins, Sir John Vaughan, Sir Francis
North, Sir Thomas Twisden, Sir Christopher Turner, Sir William Wild, Sir
Hugh Windham.
At the west end, Sir William Ellis, Sir Edward Thurland, Sir Timothy
Littleton.
And in the Lord Mayor’s Court (which is adorned with fleak stone and
other painting and gilding, and also the figures of the four cardinal
virtues) are the portraits of Sir Samuel Brown, Sir John Kelynge, Sir
Edward Atkins, and Sir William Windham, all (as those above) painted in
full proportion in their scarlet robes as judges.
The late Queen Anne, in December, 1706, gave the City 26 standards, and
63 colours, to be put up in this hall, that were taken from the French
and Bavarians at the battle of Ramillies the preceding summer; but there
was found room only for 46 colours, 19 standards, and the trophy of a
kettle-drum of the Elector of Bavaria’s. The colours over the Queen’s
picture are most esteemed, on account of their being taken from the first
battalion of French guards.
From the hall we ascend by nine stone steps to the Mayor’s Court, Council
Chamber, and the rest of the apartments of the house, which,
notwithstanding it may not be equal to the grandeur of the City, is very
well adapted to the ends it was designed for, namely, for holding the
City courts, for the election of sheriffs and other officers, and for the
entertainment of princes, ministers of State, and foreign ambassadors, on
their grand festivals.
17. Coleman Street Ward. The principal streets in this ward are the Old
Jewry, part of Lothbury, Coleman Street, part of London Wall, and all the
lower part of Moorfields without the walls.
The public buildings are Bethlem or Bedlam Hospital, Founders’ Hall,
Armourers’ Hall, the churches of St. Olave Jewry, St. Margaret, Lothbury,
and St. Stephen, Coleman Street.
New Bethlem, or Bedlam, is situated at the south end of Moorfields, just
without the wall, the ground being formerly part of the town ditch, and
granted by the City to the governors of the hospital of Old Bethlem,
which had been appropriated for the reception of lunatics, but was found
too strait to contain the people brought thither, and the building in a
decaying condition.
The present edifice, called New Bedlam, was begun to be erected anno
1675, and finished the following year. It is built of brick and stone;
the wings at each end, and the portico, being each of them adorned with
four pilasters, entablature and circular pediment of the Corinthian
order. Under the pediment are the King’s arms, enriched with festoons;
and between the portico and each of the said wings is a triangular
pediment, with the arms of the City; and on a pediment over the gate the
figures of two lunatics, exquisitely carved. The front of this
magnificent hospital is reported to represent the _Escurial_ in Spain,
and in some respects exceeds every palace in or about London, being 528
feet in length, and regularly built. The inside, it is true, is not
answerable to the grand appearance it makes without, being but 30 feet
broad, and consisting chiefly of a long gallery in each of the two
storeys that runs from one end of the house to the other; on the south
side whereof are little cells, wherein the patients have their lodgings,
and on the north the windows that give light to the galleries, which are
divided in the middle by a handsome iron gate, to keep the men and women
asunder.
In order to procure a person to be admitted into the hospital, a petition
must be preferred to a committee of the governors, who sit at Bedlam
seven at a time weekly, which must be signed by the churchwardens, or
other reputable persons of the parish the lunatic belongs to, and also
recommended to the said committee by one of the governors; and this being
approved by the president and governors, and entered in a book, upon a
vacancy (in their turn) an order is granted for their being received into
the house, where the said lunatic is accommodated with a room, proper
physic and diet, gratis. The diet is very good and wholesome, being
commonly boiled beef, mutton, or veal, and broth, with bread, for dinners
on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, the other days bread, cheese, and
butter, or on Saturdays pease-pottage, rice-milk, furmity, or other
pottage, and for supper they have usually broth or milk pottage, always
with bread. And there is farther care taken, that some of the committee
go on a Saturday weekly to the said hospital to see the provisions
weighed, and that the same be good and rightly expended.
18. Basinghall, or Bassishaw Ward, consisteth only of Basinghall Street,
and a small part of the street along London Wall.
The public buildings of this ward are Blackwell Hall, Masons’ Hall,
Weavers’ Hall, Coopers’ Hall, Girdlers’ Hall, and St. Michael Bassishaw
Church.
Blackwell Hall is situated between Basinghall Street on the east, and
Guildhall Yard on the west, being formerly called Bakewell Hall, from the
family of the Bakewells, whose mansion-house stood here anno 1315, which
falling to the Crown, was purchased by the City of King Richard II., and
converted into a warehouse and market for woollen manufactures; and by an
act of common council anno 1516, it was appointed to be the only market
for woollen manufactures sold in the City, except baize, the profits
being settled on Christ’s Hospital, which arise from the lodging and
pitching of the cloth in the respective warehouses, there being one
assigned for the Devonshire cloths, and others for the Gloucester,
Worcester, Kentish, Medley, Spanish cloths, and blankets. The profits
also of the baize brought to Leadenhall are settled on the same hospital.
These cloths pay a penny a week each for pitching, and a halfpenny a week
resting; stockings and blankets pay by the pack, all which bring in a
considerable revenue, being under the direction of the governors of
Christ’s Hospital. This hall was destroyed by the Fire, and rebuilt by
Christ’s Hospital, anno 1672. The doorcase on the front towards
Guildhall is of stone, adorned with two columns, entablature, and
pediment of the Doric order. In the pediment are the King’s arms, and
the arms of London under them, enriched with Cupids, &c.
19. Cripplegate Ward is usually divided into two parts, viz.,
Cripplegate within the walls and Cripplegate without.
The principal streets and places in Cripplegate Ward within the walls are
Milk Street, great part of Honey Lane Market, part of Cateaton Street,
Lad Lane, Aldermanbury, Love Lane, Addle Street, London Wall Street, from
Little Wood Street to the postern, Philip Lane, most of Great Wood
Street, Little Wood Street, part of Hart Street, Mugwell Street, part of
Fell Street, part of Silver Street, the east part of Maiden Lane, and
some few houses in Cheapside to the eastward of Wood Street.
The principal streets and places in Cripplegate Ward Without are Fore
Street, and the Postern Street heading to Moorfields, Back Street in
Little Moorfields, Moor Lane, Grub Street, the south part to the posts
and chain, the fourth part of Whitecross Street as far as the posts and
chain, part of Redcross Street, Beach Lane, the south part of Golden Lane
as far as the posts and chain, the east part of Golden Lane, the east
part of Jewin Street, Bridgewater Square, Brackley Street, Bridgewater
Street, Silver Street, and Litton Street.
The public buildings in this ward are Sion College, Barber-Surgeons’
Hall, Plasterers’ Hall, Brewers’ Hall, Curriers’ Hall, the churches of
St. Mary Aldermanbury, St. Alphege, St. Alban, Wood Street, and St.
Giles, Cripplegate.
Sion College is situated against London Wall, a little to the eastward of
Cripplegate, where anciently stood a nunnery, and afterwards a hospital
founded for a hundred blind men, _anno_ 1320, by W. Elsing, mercer, and
called Elsing’s Spittal: he afterwards founded here a priory for canons
regular, which being surrendered to King Henry VIII. _anno_ 1530, it was
purchased by Dr. Thomas White, residentiary of St. Paul’s, and vicar of
St. Dunstan’s in the West, for the use of the London clergy, who were
incorporated by King Charles I., _anno_ 1631, by the name of the
president and fellows of Sion College, for the glory of God, the good of
His Church, redress of inconveniences, and maintaining of truth in
doctrine, and love in conversation with one another, pursuant to the
donor’s will; which college is governed by the president, two deans and
four assistants, who are yearly elected out of the London clergy, on the
third Tuesday after Easter; but none of them reside there, the whole
being left to the care of the librarian. The great gate against London
Wall is adorned with two columns, their entablature and pitched pediment
of the Tuscan order, whereon is this inscription in gold letters:—
_Collegium Sionis a Thoma White_, _S. T. P. Fundatum Anno Christi_ 1631,
_in Usum Clerici Lond_. _Bibliotheca a Johanne Simpson_, _S. T. B.
Extracta_, _a diversis Benefactor_, _Libris locupletata_, _& in posterum
locupletanda_. _Vade & fac similiter_.
The college consists of a handsome hall, the president’s lodgings,
chambers for students, and a well-disposed library, one hundred and
twenty feet in length, and thirty in breadth, which is at this day very
well replenished with books, notwithstanding both library and college
were burnt down _anno_ 1666. It was rebuilt and furnished by
contributions from the London clergy and their friends. The library is
kept in exact order, and there are all imaginable conveniences for those
who desire to consult their books.
20. Aldersgate Ward. The principal streets and places in this ward are,
Foster Lane, Maiden Lane, Noble Street, St. Martin’s-le-Grand, Dean’s
Court, Round Court, Angel Street, Bull-and-Mouth Street, St. Anne’s Lane,
Aldersgate Street, Goswell Street, Barbican, Long Lane, and Little
Britain.
St. Martin’s-le-Grand was anciently a magnificent college, founded by
Jugelricus and Edwardus his brother, _anno_ 1056, and confirmed by
William the Conqueror, by his charter, dated _anno_ 1068, in the second
year of his reign, who also gave all the moorlands without Cripplegate to
this college, exempting the dean and canons from the jurisdiction of the
bishop, and from all legal services, granting them soc and sac, toll and
theam, with all liberties and franchises that any church in the kingdom
enjoyed.
This college was surrendered to King Edward VI. in the second year of his
reign, anno 1548, and the same year the church pulled down, and the
ground leased out to persons to build upon, being highly valued on
account of the privileges annexed to it, for it still remains a separate
jurisdiction. The sheriffs and magistrates of London have no authority
in this liberty, but it is esteemed part of Westminster, and subject only
to the dean and chapter of that abbey.
The public buildings in this ward are, Goldsmiths’ Hall, Coachmakers’
Hall, London House, Thanet House, Cooks’ Hall, the church of St. Anne
within Aldersgate, St. Leonard, Foster Lane, and St. Botolph, Aldersgate.
21. Farringdon Ward within the walls, so called to distinguish it from
Farringdon Ward without, was anciently but one ward, and governed by one
alderman, receiving its name of William Farendon, goldsmith, alderman
thereof, and one of the sheriffs of London who purchased the aldermanry
of John le Feure, 7 Edward I., _anno_ 1279. It afterwards descended to
Nicholas Farendon, son of the said William, who was four times mayor (and
his heirs), from whence some infer that the aldermanries of London were
formerly hereditary.
Farringdon Ward Within contains St. Paul’s Churchyard, Ludgate Street,
Blackfriars, the east side of Fleet Ditch, from Ludgate Street to the
Thames, Creed Lane, Ave Mary Lane, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, Newgate
Street and Market, Greyfriars, part of Warwick Lane, Ivy Lane, part of
Cheapside, part of Foster Lane, part of Wood Street, part of Friday
Street, and part of the Old Change, with several courts and alleys
falling into them.
The public buildings in this ward are, the Cathedral of St. Paul, St.
Paul’s School, the King’s Printing House, the Scotch Hall, Apothecaries’
Hall, Stationers’ Hall, the College of Physicians, Butchers’ Hall,
Saddlers’ Hall, Embroiderers’ Hall, the church of St. Martin Ludgate,
Christ’s Church and Hospital, the church of St. Matthew, Friday Street,
St. Austin’s Church, the church of St Vedast, and the Chapter House.
Austin the monk was sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great, to
endeavour the conversion of the Saxons, about the year 596, and being
favourably received by Ethelbert, then King of Kent, who soon after
became his proselyte, was by the authority of the Roman see constituted
Archbishop of Canterbury, the capital of King Ethelbert’s dominions. The
archbishop being thus established in Kent, sent his missionaries into
other parts of England, making Melitus, one of his assistants, Bishop of
London; and King Ethelbert, to encourage that city to embrace
Christianity, it is said, founded the Cathedral of St. Paul about the
year 604.
This Cathedral stands upon an eminence in the middle of the town,
disengaged from all other buildings, so that its beauties may be viewed
on every side; whereas we see only one front of St. Peter’s at Rome, the
palace of the Vatican, and other buildings contiguous to it, rendering
the rest invisible; and though the riches and furniture of the several
chapels in St. Peter’s are the admiration of all that view them, yet they
spoil the prospect of the fabric. If we regard only the building,
divested of the rich materials and furniture which hide the beauties of
the structure, St. Paul’s, in the opinion of many travellers, makes a
better appearance than St. Peter’s: nor does the white Portland stone, of
which St. Paul’s is built, at all give place to the marble St. Peter’s is
lined or incrusted with; for the numerous lamps and candles that are
burnt before the altars at St. Peter’s so blacken and tarnish the marble,
that it is not easy to distinguish it from common stone.
As to the outside of St. Paul’s, it is adorned by two ranges of
pilasters, one above the other; the lower consist of 120 pilasters at
least, with their entablature of the Corinthian order, and the upper of
as many with entablament of the Composite order, besides twenty columns
at the west and four at the east end, and those of the porticoes and
spaces between the arches of the windows; and the architrave of the lower
order, &c., are filled with great variety of curious enrichments,
consisting of cherubims, festoons, volutas, fruit, leaves, car-touches,
ensigns of fame, as swords and trumpets in saltier crosses, with chaplets
of laurel, also books displayed, bishops’ caps, the dean’s arms, and, at
the east end, the cypher of W.R. within a garter, on which are the words
_Honi soit qui mal y pense_, and this within a fine compartment of
palm-branches, and placed under an imperial crown, &c., all finely carved
in stone.
The intercolumns of the lower range of pilasters are thirty-three
ornamental windows and six niches, and of the upper range thirty-seven
windows and about thirty niches, many whereof are adorned with columns,
entablature, and pediments; and at the east end is a sweep, or circular
space, adorned with columns and pilasters, and enriched with festoons,
fruit, incense-pots, &c., and at the upper part is a window between four
pieddroits and a single cornice, and those between two large cartouches.
The ascent to the north portico is by twelve steps of black marble; the
dome of the portico is supported and adorned with six very spacious
columns (forty-eight inches diameter) of the Corinthian order. Above the
doorcase is a large urn, with festoons, &c. Over this (belonging to the
upper range of pilasters) is a spacious pediment, where are the king’s
arms with the regalia, supported by two angels, with each a palm-branch
in their hands, under whose feet appear the figures of the lion and
unicorn.
You ascend to the fourth portico (the ground here being low) by
twenty-five steps. It is in all other respects like the north, and above
this a pediment, as the other, belonging to the upper order, where is a
proper emblem of this incomparable structure, raised, as it were, out of
the ruins of the old church, viz., a phoenix, with her wings expanded, in
flames, under which is the word RESURGAM insculped in capital characters.
The west portico is adorned and supported with twelve columns below and
eight above, fluted, of the respective orders as the two ranges, the
twelve lower adorned with architrave, marble frieze, and a cornice, and
the eight upper with an entablature and a spacious triangular pediment,
where the history of St. Paul’s conversion is represented, with the rays
of a glory and the figures of several men and horses boldly carved in
relievo by Mr. Bird. The doorcase is white marble, and over the entrance
is cut in relieve the history of St. Paul’s preaching to the Bereans (as
in Acts xvii. 2). It consists of a group of nine figures, besides that
of St. Paul, with books, &c., lively represented by the same hand as “The
Conversion.”
On the south side of the church, near the west end, is a forum or portal,
the doorcase being enriched with cartouches, volutas, and fruit, very
excellently carved under a pediment, and opposite to this on the north
side is the like doorcase. And, in brief, all the apertures are not only
judiciously disposed for commodiousness, illumination of the fabric, &c.,
but are very ornamental.
At the west end is an acroteria of the figures of the twelve apostles,
each about eleven feet high, with that of St. Paul on the angle of the
pediment, and those of the four evangelists, two of each cumbent between
as many angles on a circular pediment. Over the dials of the clock on
the fronts of the two towers, also an entablature and circles of
enrichment, where twelve stones compose the aperture, answering to the
twelve hours.
The said towers are adorned with circular ranges of columns of the
Corinthian order, with domes upon the upper part, and at the vertex of
each a curious pineapple.
The choir has its roof supported with six spacious pillars, and the
church with six more, besides which there are eight that support the
cupola and two very spacious ones at the west end. All which pillars are
adorned with pilasters of the Corinthian and Composite orders, and also
with columns fronting the cross-aisle, or ambulatory, between the
consistory and morning prayer chapel, which have each a very beautiful
screen of curious wainscot, and adorned each with twelve columns, their
entablatures arched pediments, and the king’s arms, enriched with
cherubims, and each pediment between four vases, all curiously carved.
These screens are fenced with ironwork, as is also the cornice at the
west end of the church, and so eastward beyond the first arch.
The pillars of the church that support the roof are two ranges, with
their entablature and beautiful arches, whereby the body of the church
and choir are divided into three parts or aisles. The roof of each is
adorned with arches and spacious peripheries of enrichments, as shields,
leaves, chaplets, &c. (the spaces included being somewhat concave),
admirably carved in stone; and there is a large cross aisle between the
north and south porticoes, and two ambulatories, the one a little
eastward, the other westward from the said cross-aisle, and running
parallel therewith. The floor of the whole is paved with marble, but
under the cupola and within the rail of the altar with fine porphyry,
polished and laid in several geometrical figures.
The altar-piece is adorned with four noble fluted pilasters, finely
painted and veined with gold, in imitation of _lapis lazuli_, with their
entablature, where the enrichments, and also the capitals of the
pilasters, are double gilt with gold. These intercolumns are twenty-one
panels of figured crimson velvet, and above them six windows, viz., in
each intercolumniation seven panels and two windows, one above the other;
at the greatest altitude above all which is a glory finely done. The
aperture north and south into the choir are (ascending up three steps of
black marble) by two iron folding-doors, being, as that under the
organ-gallery, &c., exquisitely wrought into divers figures, spiral
branches, and other flourishes. There are two others at the west end of
the choir, the one opening into the south aisle, the other in the north,
done by the celebrated artist in this way, M. Tijan.
And what contributes to the beauty of this choir are the galleries, the
bishop’s throne, Lord Mayor’s seat, with the stalls, all which being
contiguous, compose one vast body of carved work of the finest wainscot,
constituting three sides of a quadrangle.
The cupola (within the church) appears erected and elevated on eight
pillars of a large magnitude, adorned with pilasters, entablature,
circular pediments, and arches of the Corinthian order, and each pillar
enriched with a spacious festoon. Here are also as many alcoves fronted
with curious ironwork, and over the arches, at a great height from the
ground, is an entablature, and on the cornice an ambulatory, fronted or
fenced in with handsome ironwork, extending round the inside of the
cupola, above which is a range of thirty-two pilasters of the Corinthian
order, where every fourth intercolumn is adorned with a niche and some
enrichments; and it said that in every foot of altitude the diameter of
this decreaseth one inch.
On the outside of the dome, about twenty feet above the outer roof of the
church, is a range of thirty-two columns, with niches of the same
altitude, and directly counter to those aforesaid within the cupola. To
these columns there is entablament, and above that a gallery with
acroteria, where are placed very spacious and ornamental vases all round
the cupola. At twelve feet above the tops of these vases (which space is
adorned with pilasters and entablament, and the intercolumns are windows)
the diameter is taken in (as appears outwardly) five feet, and two feet
higher it decreases five feet, and a foot above that it is still five
feet less, where the dome outwardly begins to arch, which arches meet
about fifty-two feet higher in perpendicular altitude, on the vertex of
which dome is a neat balcony, and above this a large and beautiful
lantern, adorned with columns of the Corinthian order, with a ball and
cross at the top.
Christ’s Hospital is situated between Newgate Street and St.
Bartholomew’s Hospital in Smithfield. Here, as has been observed
already, was anciently a monastery of grey friars, founded about the year
1325, which, upon the dissolution of monasteries, was surrendered to King
Henry VIII., anno 1538, who, in the last year of his reign, transferred
it to the City of London for the use of the poor. King Edward VI.
endowed this hospital—together with those of Bridewell and St. Thomas’s
Hospital in Southwark—with large revenues, of which the City were made
trustees, and incorporated by the name of the mayor, commonalty, and
citizens of the City of London, governors of the possessions, revenues,
and goods of the hospitals of Christ, Bridewell, and St. Thomas the
Apostle, to whom the king granted £3,266 13s. 4d. per annum.
It was opened in the year 1552, in the month of November, and a good
writing-school was added to this foundation in the year 1694 by Sir John
More, Kt., and alderman.
The children admitted into this hospital are presented every year by the
Lord Mayor and aldermen and the other governors in their turns, a list of
whom is printed yearly and set up at the counting-house, and a letter is
sent to each of the said governors, some days before the admission,
reminding him of the day of choosing, and how those he presents should be
qualified, wherein is enclosed a blank certificate from the minister and
churchwardens, a blank petition to the president and governors, and a
paper of the rules and qualifications of the child to be presented. Upon
this the governor, having made choice of a child to present, the friends
of the said child come to the counting-house on the admission-day,
bringing the said petition and certificates, rules, and letter along with
him, and on the back side of the said petition the governor who presents
endorseth words to this effect.
“I present the child mentioned in the certificate on the other side, and
believe the same to be a true certificate.
“Witness my hand . . . the day . . . of 17.” Which the said governor
signeth, and the child is admitted.
The said rules and qualifications are as follows:
1. That no child be taken in but such as are the children of freemen of
London.