miles above bridge, yet there are so many flats in that course, that
in the summer season the navigation westward would be entirely put a
stop to when the springs are low, were it not for a number of locks or
machines made of wood, placed quite across the river, and so contrived
as to confine the current of water as long as found convenient; that
is, till the water rises to such a height as to allow depth enough
for the barges to pass over the shallows; which being effected, the
confined water is set at liberty, and the loaded vessel proceeds on its
voyage, till another shoal requires the same contrivance to carry it
forward: but though this is a very great convenience yet it is attended
with considerable expence; for a barge passing from Lechlade to London
pays for passing through these locks 13_l._ 15_s._ 6_d._ and from Oxford
to London 12_l._ 18_s._ This charge is however only in summer when the
water is low: and there is no lock on this river from London Bridge to
Bolter’s lock, that is for the space of fifty-one miles and an half
above bridge.
THAMES _street_, is of a prodigious length, it extending from Black
Friars to Tower Dock. It is the first street that lies parallel to
the Thames, on its north bank, and is chiefly inhabited by wholesale
dealers.
THATCH’D _alley_, Chick lane.
THATCH’D HOUSE _alley_, in the Strand.
THATCH’D HOUSE _court_, St James’s street.
THAVIE’S INN, near the west end of St. Andrew’s church Holbourn,
is one of the inns of chancery, and is thus named from its founder
John Thavie, who liv’d in the reign of Edward III. It is a member of
Lincoln’s inn, and has been lately rebuilt in a very handsome manner.
This house is governed by a principal and eleven ancients, who, with
the other members, are to be ten days in commons in issuable terms, and
in each of the rest a week.
THAVIE’S INN _court_, Thavie’s inn.
THAVIE’S INN _passage_, Thavie’s inn.
THEATRES, there are only two theatres in this metropolis worthy of
notice, and these have no fronts to the street. They are both under
his Majesty’s companies of comedians, and no new play can be acted in
either without the approbation of the Lord Chamberlain, as well as
the managers. Drury Lane house appears to be best calculated for the
advantage of speaker and hearer, that of Covent Garden for splendor and
magnificence. Besides these there is also a theatre for the exhibition
of operas, call’d the Opera house, in the Haymarket.
THEATRE _court_, Vinegar yard, Drury lane.
THEOBALDS, a pleasant village in Cheshunt parish in Hertfordshire,
situated by the New River. Here the great Lord Burleigh built a
magnificent seat, the gallery, says Hentzner in his _Itinerarium_, was
painted with the genealogy of the Kings of England, and from thence was
a descent into the garden, which was encompassed with a ditch filled
with water, and large enough to have the pleasure of rowing in a boat
between the shrubs; it was adorned with a great variety of trees and
plants, labyrinths made with much labour, a jet d’eau with its bason
of white marble, and with columns and pyramids. In the summer house,
the lower part of which was built semicircularly, were the twelve Roman
Emperors in white marble, and a table of touchstone; the upper part of
it was set round with leaden cisterns, into which water was conveyed
through pipes. This seat the Lord Burleigh gave to his younger son Sir
Robert Cecil, in whose time King James I. staying there for one night’s
refreshment, as he was coming to take possession of the crown of
England, he was so delighted with the place that he gave him the manor
of Hatfield Regis in exchange for it, and afterwards enlarged the park,
and encompassed it with a wall ten miles round. This palace he often
visited, in order to enjoy the pleasure of hunting in Enfield Chase and
Epping Forest, and at last died there. In the civil wars it was however
plundered and defaced; it being the place from whence King Charles I.
set out to erect his standard at Nottingham: King Charles II. granted
the manor to George Monk, Duke of Albemarl; but it reverting again to
the crown, for want of heirs male, King William III. gave it to William
Bentinck, whom he created Earl of Portland, from whom it descended
to the Duke his grandson: the great park, a part of which was in
Hertfordshire, and a part in Middlesex, is now converted into farms.
Here are several houses belonging to persons of distinction, and in
this neighbourhood Richard Cromwell, who had been protector, but
abdicated, passed the last part of his life in a very private manner.
THEOBALD’S _court_, 1. in the Strand: 2. Theobald’s row.†
THEOBALD’S _row_, Red Lion street, Holbourn.†
THIEVING _lane_, King street, Westminster. So called from thieves
passing that way to the Gatehouse prison, during the continuance of the
sanctuary. _Maitland._
THISTLEWORTH, or ISLEWORTH. See ISLEWORTH. _Maitland._
_St._ THOMAS APOSTLES, a church which stood where the cemetry is now
in Queen street, Cheapside, and was of great antiquity, since we have
an account of the state thereof so early as the year 1181. It owes its
name to its dedication to St. Thomas the Apostle.
This church being destroyed by the dreadful fire of London in 1666, and
not rebuilt, the parish was by act of parliament united to the church
of St. Mary Aldermary, which is become the place of public worship for
both, whereby the incumbent’s profits are considerably increased.
_St._ THOMAS OF ACARS, or ACONS, an hospital formerly situated where
Mercers chapel now stands in Cheapside. This hospital was under this
name dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket archbishop of Canterbury,
probably upon the following occasion: when the city of Acars or Acon in
the Holy Land was besieged by the Christians, an Englishman, chaplain
to Radulphus de Diceto, dean of London, going to Jerusalem, bound
himself by a vow that if he should prosperously enter Acon he would
build a chapel to St. Thomas the Martyr at his own charge, and also
procure a church-yard to be consecrated there to the honour of that
supposed Martyr; this he actually performed, when many resorting to his
chapel, he took the character of prior, and employed himself sometimes
in fighting as a soldier, and at others, in burying the bodies of such
as died either naturally or were slain by the enemy. _Maitland._
Matthew Paris however says that the order of St. Thomas was instituted
by Richard surnamed Cœur de Lyon, after the surprisal of Acars, in
honour of Thomas a Becket; that they held the rule of St. Augustine,
and wore a white habit, and a full red cross, charged in the middle
with a white scallop, and that Peter de Rupibus, bishop of Winchester,
being in the Holy Land, caused the patriarch of Jerusalem to direct
that the brethren of this church should be under the order of the
Templars. _M. Paris in vita Hen._ III.
[Illustration:
_S. Wale delin._ _Elliot. sculp._
_S^t. Thomas’s Hospital._]
However it is evident, that as the Templars and other orders, formed
societies in England in imitation of those founded in Palestine,
so this in Cheapside was founded in imitation of that at Acon, and
therefore had the same name.
The revenue of this hospital, when it was surrendered to Henry VIII.
amounted to 277_l._ 3_s._ 4_d._ _per annum_. The edifice was soon after
purchased by the Mercer’s company. The image of Thomas a Becket
however stood over the gate, till the beginning of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, when somebody threw it down, broke it, and stuck up a
writing on the church door, reflecting on those who placed it there.
See the article MERCERS.
THOMAS _court_, 1. Benjamin street: 2. Tackle Block court, Wapping.
_St._ THOMAS’S HOSPITAL, on the east side of the street called the
Borough in Southwark, is a very noble and extensive charity, for the
reception of the necessitous sick and wounded.
As to the origin of this hospital, it is to be observed, that the
priory of St. Mary Overies being destroyed by fire in the year 1207,
the canons erected at a small distance an occasional edifice to answer
the same purpose, till their monastery could be rebuilt; which being
accomplished, Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester, for the greater
convenience of air and water, pulled it down in 1215, and erected it
in a place where the prior of Bermondsey had two years before built
an almonry, or almshouse, for the reception of indigent children, and
necessitous proselytes; and having dedicated the new structure to St.
Thomas the Apostle, he endowed it with land to the value of 343_l._ a
year: from which time it was held of the abbot of Bermondsey, and ever
since an hospital has continued in the same place.
In 1428, one of the abbots granted the foundation lands to Nicholas
Buckland, the master of the hospital, and in that condition they
remained, till at the dissolution of religious houses in the reign of
Henry VIII. this fell with the rest.
In the year 1551 the Lord Mayor and Citizens having purchased of King
Edward VI. the manor of Southwark, with its appurtenances, for the
sum of 647_l._ 2_s._ 1_d._ a part whereof being this hospital, the city
immediately repaired and enlarged it at the expence of about 1100_l._
and in November following receiving into it two hundred and sixty poor
sick and helpless objects, the hospital still retained its antient
name, St. Thomas’s, and in 1553 the King incorporated a society
of persons for its government, in common with the two other great
charities, Bridewell and Christ’s Hospital.
Though the great fire of London in 1666 spared this hospital, it
destroyed a great part of its possessions, and two others which
happened a few years after in Southwark added to the distress. By these
accidents the hospital of St. Thomas was almost reduced to ruin. The
building was old, and wanted great repairs, and the funds that should
have supported it were exhausted; but the benevolence of the principal
persons in the city interposed for its preservation; the governors in
1699 set on foot a voluntary subscription, which they opened by large
donations from themselves and their friends, and the public followed
the example. The building was begun upon a larger and more commodious
plan, and erected at different times by the assistance of different
benefactors, till it became entirely completed, and consists in the
whole of three quadrangles or square courts.
Next the street is a handsome pair of large iron gates, with a door
of the same work on each side for the convenience of foot passengers.
These are fastened on the sides to a stone pier, on each of which is
a statue representing one of the patients. These gates open into a
very neat square court, encompassed on three sides with a colonade,
surrounded with benches next the wall, for people to sit down. On the
south under an empty niche is the following inscription,
This building on the south side of this court, containing three wards,
was erected at the charge of THOMAS FREDERICK of London, Esq; a worthy
governor and liberal benefactor to this hospital, _Anno 1708_.
Under the same kind of niche on the opposite side is this inscription,
This building on the north side of this court, containing three wards,
was erected at the charge of THOMAS GUY, Esq; Citizen and Stationer of
London, a worthy governor and bountiful benefactor to this hospital,
_Anno 1707_.
The centre of the principal front, which is on the west side, facing
the street, is of stone. On the top is a clock under a small circular
pediment, and beneath that a niche with a statue of Edward VI. holding
a gilt sceptre in his right hand, and the charter in his left. A little
lower in niches on each side is a man with a crutch, and a sick woman:
and under them, in other niches, a man with a wooden leg, and a woman
with her arm in a sling: over the niches are festoons, and between the
last mentioned figures the King’s arms in relievo. Under which is the
following inscription,
KING EDWARD the SIXTH, of pious memory, in the year of our Lord 1552
founded and endowed this HOSPITAL of St. THOMAS the Apostle, _together
with the Hospital of Christ and Bridewell in London_.
Underneath is a spacious passage down several steps into the second
court, which is by far the most elegant. It has colonades like the
former, except at the front of the chapel which is on the north side,
and is adorned with lofty pilasters of the Corinthian order, placed
on high pedestals which rise from the ground, and on the top is a
pediment, as there is also in the centre of the west and east sides:
and above the piazzas the fronts of the wards are ornamented with
handsome Ionic pilasters.
In the midst of this court is a good brass statue of King Edward VI.
by Mr. Scheemakers, and behind him is placed upon a kind of small
pedestal his crown laid upon a cushion. This statue is surrounded with
iron rails, and stands upon a lofty stone pedestal, upon which is the
following inscription in capitals:
This statue
Of King EDWARD the Sixth,
A most excellent Prince,
Of exemplary Piety and Wisdom
above his years;
The glory and ornament of his age,
and most munificent founder
Of this hospital,
Was erected at the expence
Of CHARLES JOYCE, Esquire,
in the year MDCCXXXVII.
On the opposite face of the pedestal is the same inscription in Latin.
In the middle of the east side of this court is a spacious passage
into the next, the structure above being supported by rows of columns.
The buildings in the third court are older than the others, and are
entirely surrounded with a colonade, above which they are adorned with
a kind of long slender Ionic pilasters, with very small capitals. In
the centre is a stone statue of Robert Clayton, Esq; dressed in his
robes as Lord Mayor, surrounded with iron rails, upon the west side
of the pedestal is his arms in relievo, and on the south side the
following inscription:
To Sir ROBERT CLAYTON, knight, born in Northamptonshire, Citizen and
Lord Mayor of London, president of this hospital, and vice president
of the new work-house, and a bountiful benefactor to it; a just
magistrate, and brave defender of the liberty and religion of his
country. Who (besides many other instances of his charity to the
poor) built the girls ward in Christ’s hospital, gave first toward
the rebuilding of this house 600_l._ and left by his last will 2300_l._
to the poor of it. This statue was erected in his life time by the
governors, _An. Dom._ MDCCI. as a monument of their esteem of so much
worth; and to preserve his memory after death, was by them beautified
_Anno Dom._ MDCCXIV.
By this noble charity many hundred thousand of the poor have since
its foundation received relief, and been cured of the various
disorders to which human nature is subject; and though the estates at
first belonging to this foundation were ruined, yet by the liberal
munificence of the citizens since that time, the annual disbursements
have of late amounted to near 8000_l._ The house contains nineteen
wards, and 474 beds, which are constantly kept filled, and they have
always a considerable number of out-patients.
The number of governors in this and the other city hospitals are
unlimited, and therefore uncertain. They chuse their own officers and
servants, both men and women: these are a president, a treasurer,
an hospitaller or chaplain, four physicians, three surgeons, an
apothecary, a clerk, a steward, a matron, a brewer and butcher, a cook,
assistant and servant, an assistant clerk in the compting house, two
porters, four beadles, nineteen sisters, nineteen nurses, nineteen
watch-women, a chapel clerk and sexton, and one watchman.
_St._ THOMAS’S _lane_, Drury lane.*
THOMAS’S _rents_, Fore street, Limehouse.
_St._ THOMAS’S _Southwark_, on the north side of St. Thomas’s street
was erected for the use of the above hospital, from which it is
denominated; but the number of houses and inhabitants having greatly
increased in the precinct of that hospital, it was judged necessary to
make the church parochial for the use of the inhabitants, and to erect
a chapel in the hospital for the use of the patients. This church is
therefore neither a rectory, vicarage, nor donative, but a sort of
impropriation in the gift of the hospital.
This church is a plain brick building enlightened by one series of
large windows, and the corners strengthened and adorned with rustic,
as is the corners of the tower. The principal door has a cornice
supported by scrolls and a circular pediment, and the tower, instead of
a balustrade, is crowned with a blocking course of the Attic kind.
_St._ THOMAS’S _street_, near St. Thomas’s hospital, in the Borough,
Southwark.
THOMAS _street_, 1. Coverleads Fields, Spitalfields. 2. Gainsford
street, Horselydown lane: 3. Shoreditch Fields: 4. Virginia row, East
Smithfield.
THOMPSON’S _rents_, 1. Halfmoon alley.† 2. London Wall.†
THOMPSON’S _yard_, upper ground, Southwark.†
THRALL _street_, Spitalfields.
THREADNEEDLE _alley_, Little Moorfields.
THREADNEEDLE _street_, extends from Princes street opposite the Lord
Mayor’s mansion-house, and running by the back of the Royal Exchange,
reaches into Bishopsgate street.
THREE ANCHOR _alley_, Shoe lane, Fleet street.*
THREE BELL _alley_, Whitechapel.*
THREE BOWL _alley_, Moorfields.*
THREE BOWL _court_, Houndsditch.*
THREE CCC _court_, Garlick hill, Thames street.*
THREE COLTS _alley_, 1. near Bishopsgate street within.* 2. Cinnamon
street.*
THREE COLTS _court_, Three Colts street Limehouse.*
THREE COLTS _corner_, St. John street.*
THREE COLTS _lane_, Air street, Spitalfields.*
THREE COLTS _street_, Limehouse.*
THREE COLTS _yard_, 1. Crutched Friars, near Tower Hill.* 2. London
Wall.* 3. Mile-end.* 4. Three Colts street.*
THREE COMPASSES _alley_, East Smithfield.*
THREE COMPASSES _court_, near Brook street.*
THREE CONEY _walk_, Butt’s street, Lambeth.*
THREE CRANE _court_, Southwark.*
THREE CRANE _lane_, Thames street.*
THREE CRANE _stairs_, at the bottom of Queen street, Cheapside.*
THREE CRANES, a street by Thames street.
THREE CRANE _wharf_, three Crane stairs.
THREE CROWN _court_, 1. in the Borough.* 2. Castle street.* 3. Foster
lane, Cheapside.* 4. Garlick hill, Thames street. 5. In the Minories.*
6. Poor Jewry lane, Aldgate.* 7. Wheeler street, Spitalfields.* 8.
White’s alley, Little Moorfields.*
THREE CROWN _yard_, Bride lane, Fleet street.
THREE CUP _alley_, 1. Dean street.* 2. Shoreditch.*
THREE CUP _yard_, Bedford street.*
THREE DAGGER _court_, 1. Fore street, Crippelgate.* 2. Old Change.*
THREE DIAMONDS _court_, Hosier lane, Smithfield.
THREE FALCONS _alley_, St. Margaret’s hill.*
THREE FALCONS _court_, 1. Fleet street.* 2. St. Margaret’s hill.*
THREE FOX _court_, 1. Clements lane.* 2. Long Acre.* 3. Long lane,
Smithfield.* 4. Narrow street, Ratcliff.* 5. Three Fox yard.*
THREE FOX _yard_, Ratcliff.*
THREE GRIFFIN _yard_, Aldgate street.*
THREE GUN _lane_, Three Colts street, Lambeth.*
THREE HAMMER _alley_, Green alley, Tooley street.*
THREE HATS _alley_, Horselydown lane.*
THREE HERRINGS _court_, 1. Creechurch lane, Leadenhall street.* 2.
Long Acre.* 3. Redcross street, Crippelgate.* 4. St. Thomas’s in the
Borough.*
THREE HOOP _yard_, Holiwell street.*
THREE HORSESHOE _alley_, Old street, Upper Moorfields.*
THREE HORSESHOE _court_, 1. Chick lane, Smithfield.* 2. Giltspur
street, without Newgate.* 3. Long lane, Smithfield.* 4. Whitecross
street, Cripplegate.*
THREE HORSESHOE _yard_, James’s street.*
THREE KING’S _court_, 1. Chandois street.* 2. Clement’s lane.* 3. Fleet
street.* 4. King street, Covent Garden.* 5. Lombard street.* 6. in the
Minories.* 7. Whitecross street, Cripplegate.*
THREE KING’S _yard_, David street, Grosvenor square.*
THREE LEG _alley_, East Harding street, by Shoe lane, Fleet street.*
THREE LEG _court_, Whitecross street, Cripplegate.*
THREE LINK _alley_, Fashion street, Spitalfields.*
THREE MARINERS _court_, Fleet street, Spitalfields.*
THREE MARINERS _stairs_, Rotherhith.*
THREE MOULDS _court_, Cherry-tree alley.*
THREE NEEDLE _alley_, Moorfields.*
THREE NUNS _alley_, Threadneedle street.*
THREE NUNS _court_, Threadneedle street.*
THREE NUNS _yard_, Whitechapel.*
THREE OAKS _lane_, Horselydown.*
THREE PIGEONS _alley_, Hockley in the Hole.*
THREE PIGEONS _court_, 1. Barbican, Aldersgate street.* 2. Jewin
street, Aldersgate street.* 3. Moorfields.*
THREE SISTERS _court_, St. Catharine’s court, by the Tower.*
THREE SLIPPER _court_, Bishopsgate street.*
THREE STEP _alley_, Rotherhith.
THREE STILLS _court_, Bishopsgate without.*
THREE TUNS _alley_, 1. Bishopsgate street without.* 2. Cowcross,
Smithfield.* 3. London wall.* 4. St. Margaret’s hill, Southwark.* 5.
Petticoat lane, Whitechapel.* 6. Thames street.* 7. Tothill street,
Westminster.* 8. White street by Kent street, Southwark.*
THREE TUNS _court_, 1. Crooked lane.* 2. Brown’s street.* 3. Halfmoon
alley.* 4. Hart street, Mark lane.* 5. Ivy lane, Newgate street.*
6. St. Margaret’s hill, Southwark.* 7. St Michael’s lane, Great
Eastcheap.* 8. Moorfields.* 9. Nightingale lane East Smithfield.*
10. Old Castle street, Wentworth street.* 11. Redcross street,
Cripplegate.* 12. Threadneedle street.*
THREE TUNS _yard_, Cloth fair, Smithfield.*
THREE TWISTERS _alley_, Bunhill row.*
THRIFT _street_, Soho.†
THRIFT’S _alley_, Spring street.†
THROGMORTON _street_, extends from Broad street to the end of
Bartholomew lane.
THROWSTERS _yard_, Lamb alley.
THRUM _street_, King street, Cheapside.
THRUM _yard_, Sutton street.
THUNDERBOLT _alley_, Windmill row. Upper Moorfields.
THWAIT’S _rents_, Newington Causeway.†
TICHBOURN _court_, 1. Holbourn.† 2. Vine yard, Drury lane.†
TICHFIELD _street_, 1. Chapel street: 2. Margaret street.†
TIDEWAITERS _court_, Little Minories.
TILBURY, or WEST TILBURY, a very ancient town in Essex, situated near
the Thames; here the four proconsular ways made by the Romans, crossed
each other, and in the year 630, this was the see of a bishop named
Ceadda, who converted the East Saxons, In the reigns of Edward I.
Edward II. and Edward III. it was held of the crown by the family of
the Tilburies, and from them probably took its name. It is situated by
level unhealthy marshes called the Three Hundreds, which are rented by
the farmers, salesmen and grazing butchers of London, who generally
stock them with Lincolnshire and Leicestershire weathers, which are
sent hither from Smithfield in September and October, and fed here till
Christmas or Candlemas; and this is what the butchers call right marsh
mutton.
TILBURY _fort_, is situated in the marsh on the bank of the Thames, at
some distance from the above town, from which it took its name, and
is placed opposite to Gravesend. It is a regular fortification, and
may justly be termed the key of the city of London. The plan was laid
by Sir Martin Beckman, chief engineer to King Charles II. who also
designed the works at Sheerness. It was intended to be a pentagon, but
the water bastion was never built.
The foundation is laid upon piles driven down in two ranges, one
over the other, which reach below the channel of the river, and the
lowermost being pointed with iron, enter the solid chalk rock, which
extends under the Thames and joins to the chalk hills on the other
side. The esplanade of the sort is very large, and the bastions which
are faced with brick are said to be the largest of any in England. It
has a double moat, the innermost of which is 180 feet broad; with a
good counterscarp, a covered way, ravelins, and terails. On the land
side are also two small redoubts of brick; but its chief strength on
that side consists in its being able to lay the whole level under
water, and by that means to render it impossible for an enemy to carry
on approaches that way.
On the side next the river is a very strong curtain, with a noble gate,
called the water-gate in the middle, and the ditch is palisadoed.
Before this curtain is a platform in the place of a counterscarp, on
which are planted 106 cannon, carrying from 24 to 46 pounds each,
besides smaller ones planted between them; and the bastions and
curtains are also planted with guns. Here likewise is a high tower
called the blockhouse, which is said to have been built in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth.
TILERS and BRICKLAYERS, a fraternity of considerable antiquity, though
it was not incorporated till the year 1568, when Queen Elizabeth
granted them letters patent.
This company consists of a master, two wardens, thirty-eight
assistants, and 103 liverymen, who, upon their admission, pay a fine of
12_l._
They have a convenient hall in a court in Leadenhall street. _Maitland._
TILT _yard_, Whitehall. So called from the tilts and tournaments
formerly used there. _Maitland._
TIN PLATE WORKERS, a company incorporated by letters patent granted by
King Charles II. in the year 1670; by the name of _the master, wardens,
assistants and commonalty of the art and mystery of Tin_ _Plate
Workers_, alias _Wire Workers of the city of London_.