at the expence of Mr. William Watson, citizen and weaver, for the
widows of twelve weavers, who annually receive 20_s._ and twenty-four
bushels of coals, with a gown every second year. _Maitland._
WATSON’S _rents_, Angel alley.†
WATTS’S _court_, Deadman’s place.†
WATTS’S _rents_, St. Catharine’s lane.†
WAX CHANDLERS, a company incorporated by letters patent granted by
King Richard III. in the year 1483. This corporation is governed by a
master, two wardens, and twenty assistants; with 113 liverymen, who
upon their admission pay a fine of 5_l._ They have a handsome hall in
Maiden lane, Wood street.
WEATHERBY’S _rents_, Whitecross street Cripplegate.†
WEAVER _alley_, near Spicer’s street, Spitalfields.
WEAVERS, this company, which was anciently denominated _Thenarii_,
appears to have been the most ancient guild of this city, for in
the reign of Henry I. they paid 16_l._ a year to the crown for their
immunities. Their privileges were afterwards confirmed at Winchester by
letters patent granted by Henry II. which are still in the company’s
possession; but are without a date; and in these letters, the annual
sum payable to the crown is fixed at two marks of gold, to be paid
yearly at Michaelmas, on the penalty of 10_l._
This company originally consisted of the cloth, and tapestry weavers,
who in the seventh of Henry IV. were put under the management, and
authority of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the city.
They are now governed by two bailiffs, two wardens, and sixteen
assistants, with a livery of 279 members, whose fine upon their
admission is 6_l._
The weavers have a handsome hall in Basinghall street, adorned on
the inside with hangings, fretwork, and a screen of the Ionic order.
_Maitland._
WEAVERS ARMS _yard_, Booth street, Spitalfields.*
WEAVERS _lane_, Horselydown.†
WEAVERS _street_, Fleet street Spitalfields.
WEBB’S _court_, Red Lion alley.†
WEBB’S _square_, Shoreditch.†
WEBB’S _yard_, Vine yard, Old Horselydown lane.†
WEDDON _street_, Chancery lane, Fleet street.
WEIGH-HOUSE, at the north-west corner of Love lane, entering into
Little Eastcheap. This house stands on the ground where the church of
St. Andrew Hubbard stood before the fire of London, at which time the
weigh-house was in Cornhill. In the weigh-house were weighed, by the
King’s beam, foreign merchandize brought to London. It was under a
master, and four master porters, with labouring porters under them; who
used to have carts and horses to fetch the merchants goods to the beam,
and to carry them back.
The house belongs to the grocers company, who chose the several
porters, _&c._ but of late years little is done in this office, as a
compulsive power is wanting to oblige merchants to have their goods
weighed, they alledging it to be an unnecessary trouble and expence.
In a large room over the weigh-house is a commodious meeting-house used
by a congregation of Protestant dissenters.
WELCH COPPER OFFICE, in Philpot lane, Fenchurch street, is under the
government of a company first incorporated by letters patent granted by
King William III. in the year 1694, by the stile of the Governor and
company of copper miners of the principality of Wales: by which charter
they are allowed to purchase lands, tenements, _&c._ in mortmain,
without limitation. _Maitland._
WELL _alley_, 1. in the Minories: 2. near Tooley street, Southwark: 3.
Ropemakers fields, Limehouse.
WELL AND BUCKET _alley_, Old street.
WELL AND BUCKET _court_, Old street.
WELLBECK _street_, a handsome new street, by Marybone fields, built on
the estate of the late Earl of Oxford, and thus named from Wellbeck his
Lordship’s seat in Hertfordshire.
WELLBECK _mews_, a street of stables, coach-houses, _&c._ by Wellbeck
street.
WELLCLOSE _square_, by the upper end of Rosemary lane, by some called
_Marine square_, from the number of sea officers who live there. It is
a neat square of no great extent; its principal ornament is the Danes
church, situated in the centre, in the midst of a church-yard well
planted with trees, and surrounded by a handsome wall adorned at equal
distances with iron rails.
This church is a commodious and elegant structure. Though the architect
appears to have understood ornaments, he has not been too lavish in the
use of them. The edifice consists of a tall and handsome body, with a
tower and turret. The body is divided by the projection of the middle
part, into a fore front in the center, and two smaller: at the west end
is the tower, and at the east it swells into the sweep of circle; the
corners of the building are faced with rustic. The windows, which are
large and well proportioned, are cased with stone with a cherub’s head
at the top of the arch, and the roof is concealed by a blocking course.
The tower has a considerable diminution in the upper stage, which has
on each side, a pediment, and is covered by a dome, from which rises an
elegant turret, supported by composite columns.
WELL _court_, 1. Glean alley, Tooley street: 2. Queen street,
Cheapside: 3. Shoe lane, Fleet street.
WELL _yard_, 1. Church-yard alley, Rosemary lane: 2. Little Britain.
WELLS, a rivulet which anciently ran through a part of this metropolis,
and was called the river of Wells, and was thus named from its having
many springs uniting to supply its current. It afterwards obtained the
name of Turnmill brook, from certain mills erected upon it, by the
Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, which appellation is still preserved
in a street of that name called Turnmill street, through part of which
this water took its course, towards the bottom of Holbourn hill, and
thence into the Thames. _Maitland._
WELLS _row_, Islington.
WELLS _street_, 1. Coverlid’s fields, East Smithfield.† 2. Great
Jermain street.† 3. Hackney.†
WELLS _yard_, 1. Mainhard street, near St. Giles’s Pound.† 2.
Wells row, Islington.
WENCHES _yard_, in the Minories.║
WENTWORTH _street_, Petticoat lane, Spitalfields.†
WERE’S _row_, Whitechapel.†
WESTBURY _street_, Wheeler street, Spitalfields.†
WEST _court_, Spitalfields market.
WESTBY’S ALMSHOUSE, on Hoxton causeway, was founded by Mrs. Mary Westby
of Bocking in Essex, widow, in the year 1749, for ten poor women.
_Maitland._
WESTERHAM or WESTRAM, a neat well built market town, on the western
borders of Kent, situated about eight miles to the west of Sevenoaks.
Near this place, a very noble seat was begun to be built by a private
gentleman; but it was finished by the late Earl of Jersey, and called
Squirries. The house stands on a small eminence with respect to the
front; but on the back of the edifice the ground rises very high, and
is divided into several steep slopes; near the house are some woods,
through which are cut several ridings. On the other side the hill
behind the house arise nine springs, which, uniting their streams, form
the river Dart, or Darent.
WEST HAM, a pleasant village, about a mile from Stratford in the Essex
Road; thus named from another Ham on the east called East Ham. Here are
the country houses of several wealthy citizens.
WEST HARDING _street_, Fetter lane, Fleet street.
WEST _lane_, Rotherhith wall.
WEST _lane stairs_, Rotherhith.
WESTMINSTER, had its name from its abbey or minster situated to the
westward of the city of London; which according to several modern
historians was thus denominated to distinguish it from the Abbey of
Grace on Tower Hill, called Eastminster: but Maitland proves this to
be a mistake, by shewing that the former is called Westminster in a
charter of sanctuary granted by Edward the Confessor in the year 1066,
and that the latter was not founded till 1359; he therefore supposes
that the appellation of Westminster was given to distinguish it from
St. Paul’s church in the city of London. In early times, this noble
part of the great metropolis of the kingdom, was a little, mean,
unhealthy place, with nothing worthy of notice but its minster or
abbey, situated in a marshy island, surrounded on one side by the
Thames, and on the others by what was called Long ditch; a branch of
the river which began near the east end of the place, where Manchester
court is now situated, intersected King street, and running along where
Gardener’s lane now is, to the place called from thence Long ditch,
crossed Tothill street, a little to the west of the Gatehouse, and
continued its course along the south wall of the abbey garden, where a
common sewer is erected over it. The island thus formed was in a manner
a waste over grown with thorns and briars, and was thence called Thorny
Island.
In this situation was the abbey, minster, or monastery founded; for
the convenience of which a few houses were probably first erected, and
these at length grew into a small town, in ancient books called the
town of Westminster.
It was thus for many ages a place entirely distinct from London, and
there was a large space between them. The Strand was the road which led
from London to that town, and it was open on either side to the Thames
and to the fields. In 1385 we find that this road was paved as far
as the Savoy; and many years after Sir Robert Cecil building a house
at Ivy bridge, his interest brought the pavement of the road to be
extended thither; and many of the houses of the nobility were erected
in the Strand.
Westminster owed its most distinguished privileges to Henry VIII. for
in the 37th year of his reign an act was passed to authorize him by
either letters patent or proclamation, to make it an honour, a title
of distinction which he was impowered by the same act to confer upon
Kingston upon Hull, St. Osyth’s in Essex, and Donnington in Berkshire;
and after the dissolution of the monastery, he converted it into a
bishoprick, in the year 1541, with a dean and twelve prebendaries,
and appointed the whole county of Middlesex, except Fulham, which was
still to belong to the bishoprick of London, as its diocese. Upon
this occasion Westminster became a city, for the making of which,
according to the Lord Chief Justice Coke, nothing more is required
than the appellation of a bishop’s see. It had many years before been
the seat of the royal palace, the high court of parliament, and of
our law tribunals; most of our Sovereigns had been crowned, and had
their sepulchres in the abbey church, and the ancient palace, being
almost destroyed by fire, the last mentioned Prince had here his palace
of Whitehall, which he purchased of Cardinal Wolsey. He also built
the palace of St. James’s, inclosed a fine spot of ground which he
converted into a park, for the accommodation of both palaces, and this
was no sooner finished, than he erected the stately gate lately near
the banquetting house, and added to it a magnificent gallery for the
accommodation of the royal family, the nobility and gentry, to sit in,
in order to see the justings and other military exercises in the tilt
yard; and soon after the same Prince erected, contiguous to the said
gate, a tennis-court, cock-pit, and places for bowling.
From that time the buildings about Westminster began to extend on every
side; though it did not long enjoy the honour of being a city, and even
the palace was some time after burnt; for it never had but one bishop,
and he being translated to the see of Norwich, by Edward VI. in 1550,
the new bishoprick was dissolved by that Prince; and its right to the
epithet of city was thereby lost, though by public complaisance it has
retained that name ever since: but yet Westminster had not any arms
till the year 1601. For a more particular account of the antiquities of
Westminster, see the articles ABBEY, WESTMINSTER HALL, WHITEHALL, _&c._
The city of Westminster at present consists but of two parishes, St.
Margaret’s and St. John the Evangelist; but the liberties contain seven
parishes, which are as follow: St. Martin’s in the fields, St. James’s,
St. Anne’s, St. Paul’s Covent Garden, St. Mary le Strand, St. Clement’s
Danes, and St. George’s Hanover square; and the precinct of the Savoy.
Each of the above parishes is of such a prodigious extent, considering
the number of houses they contain; that it would be impossible for one
tenth part of the inhabitants to attend divine worship at one and the
same time, there are therefore many chapels of ease for the convenience
of those who could not be so well accommodated in their parish churches.
The government of both the city and liberties are under the
jurisdiction of the dean and chapter of Westminster, in civil as well
as ecclesiastical affairs, and their authority also extends to the
precinct of St. Martin’s le Grand, by Newgate street, and in some towns
of Essex, that are exempted from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of
London, and the Archbishopric of Canterbury: but the management of the
civil part has ever since the reformation been in the hands of laymen,
elected from time to time, and confirmed by the dean and chapter.
Of these magistrates, the principal is the High Steward, who is usually
one of the prime nobility: this great officer is chosen by the dean and
chapter; his post is not unlike that of chancellor of an University,
and he holds it during life: but upon his death or resignation, a
chapter is called for the election of another, in which the dean sits
as high steward, till the election be over.
The next great officer is the Deputy Steward, who is chosen by the
high steward, and confirmed by the dean and chapter. This officer, who
also holds his post during life, supplies the place of a sheriff, for
he keeps the court leet, with the other magistrates, and is always
chairman at the quarter sessions.
The High Bailiff, who is the next in rank, is nominated by the dean,
and confirmed by the high steward. He likewise holds his office for
life, and has the chief management in the election of members of
parliament for Westminster, and all the other bailiffs are subordinate
to him. He summons juries, and in the court leet sits next to the
deputy steward. To him all fines, forfeitures and strays belong, which
renders his place very beneficial; but it is commonly executed by a
deputy well versed in the laws.
There are also sixteen burgesses and their assistants, whose office in
all respects resembles that of the Aldermen’s deputies of the city of
London, each having his proper ward under his jurisdiction; and out of
these are elected two head burgesses, one for the city, and the other
for the liberties, who take place in the court leet, next to the head
bailiff.
There is also a High Constable, who is also chosen by the court leet,
and has all the other constables under his direction.
Thus the government of Westminster has but little resemblance to
that of an opulent and noble city; it being much more like that of
a little country borough, since its representatives are chosen by
its householders, and it has not the power of making freemen; has no
trading companies; nor any other courts, besides those of the leet, the
sessions, and a court of requests lately erected, and yet, according
to Maitland, it contains 15,445 houses; many of which are laid out in
handsome streets and squares, and pays annually 11,870_l._ 8_s._ 9_d._ on
account of the church; and 20,723_l._ 17_s._ 3_d._ on account of the poor.
Besides the above officers, there are in Westminster, and its
liberties, 52 inquestmen, 12 surveyors of the highways, 55 constables,
31 beadles, 236 watch-men, and 80 scavengers, who pay to the rakers
4127_l._ _per annum_ for cleaning the streets.
WESTMINSTER BRIDGE. The horse-ferry at Westminster was perhaps one of
the most frequented passages over the river of Thames, ever since the
building of London Bridge, and laying aside the ancient ferry there.
From the multitude of coaches, carriages and horses continually passing
and repassing at all hours, times, and seasons, many inconveniences
and accidents unavoidably happened, and in a course of time many lives
were lost. To prevent these inconveniences and dangers the Archbishop
of Canterbury and several other noblemen, in the year 1736, procured
an act of parliament for building a bridge across the Thames, from New
Palace yard, to the opposite shore in the county of Surry: but this act
was not obtained without great opposition from the people of London and
Southwark, and some fainter efforts used by the bargemen and watermen
of the Thames; but private interest was obliged to give way to the
public advantage, and preparations were made for carrying on this great
work under the sanction of the legislature.
At length the ballastmen of Trinity house were employed to open a large
hole for the foundation of the first pier to the depth of five feet
under the bed of the river, and this being finished and levelled at the
bottom, it was kept to a level by a proper inclosure of strong piles.
Mean while, a strong case of oak, secured and strengthened with large
beams, was prepared of the form and dimensions of the intended pier in
the clear; this was made water proof and being brought over the place,
was secured within the piles.
In this wooden case the first stone was laid on the 29th of January,
1738–9, by the late Earl of Pembroke; the case of boards was above
the high-water mark, and it sinking gradually by the weight of the
prodigious blocks of stone strongly cemented to its bottom, the men
continued to work as on dry ground, though at a great depth under
water. Thus the western middle pier was first formed, and in the same
manner were all the other piers erected, and when finished, the planks
on the sides being taken off, the stone work appeared entire. The
superstructure was added in the common method, and the whole finished
in the most neat and elegant manner, and with such simplicity and
grandeur, that whether viewed from the water, or more closely examined
by the passenger who goes over it, it fills the mind with an agreeable
surprise.
This bridge is universally allowed to be one of the finest in the
world. It is adorned and secured on each side by a very lofty and noble
balustrade, there are recesses over every pier, which is a semioctogan.
Twelve of them are covered with half domes, _viz._, four at each end,
and four in the middle. Between these in the middle are pedestals on
which was intended a group of figures; this would greatly add to the
magnificence by making the centre more principal (which it ought to be)
and giving it an air of magnificence and grandeur suitable to the city
to which it belongs; a great number of lamps are so agreeably disposed
on the top of the recesses as at once to contribute to the purposes of
use and beauty. This magnificent structure is 1223 feet in length, and
above three hundred feet longer than London Bridge. The ascent at the
top is extremely well managed, and the room allowed for passengers,
consists of a commodious foot way seven feet broad on each side, paved
with broad Moor stone, and raised above the road allowed for carriages.
This last is thirty feet wide, and is sufficient to admit the passage
of three carriages and two horses on a breast, without the least danger.
The construction and distance of the piers from each other are so
managed, that the vacancies under the arches allowed for the water-way,
are four times as much as at London Bridge, and in consequence of this,
there is no fall, nor can the least danger arrive to boats in passing
through the arches. The piers, which are fourteen, have thirteen large
and two small arches, all semicircular. These with two abutments
constitute the bridge, whose strength is not inferior to its elegance.
The length of every pier is seventy feet, and each end is terminated
with a saliant angle against either stream. The breadth of the two
middle piers is seventeen feet at the springing of the arches, and
contain three thousand cubic feet, or near two hundred tons of solid
stone; and the others on each side, regularly decrease one foot in
breadth, so that the two next to the largest are each sixteen feet, and
so on to the two least next the sides, which are no more than twelve
feet wide at the springing of the arches.
The centre arch is seventy-six feet wide, and the others decrease in
width four feet on each side, so that the two next to the centre arch
are seventy-two feet wide, and so on to the least of the large arches,
which are each fifty-two feet wide, and the two small ones in the
abutments close to the shore, are about twenty feet in width.
The foundation of the bridge is laid on a solid and firm mass of gravel
which lies at the bottom of the bed of the river; but at a much greater
depth on the Surry, than the Westminster side; and this inequality
of the ground, required the heights of the several piers to be very
different; as some have their foundations laid at five feet, and others
at fourteen feet under the bed of the river. The piers are all four
feet wider at their foundation than at the top, and are founded on
the bottoms of the above mentioned wooden cases formed of the most
substantial work, eighty feet in length, twenty-eight in breadth, and
these timbers are two feet in thickness. The caisson or wooden case, in
which the first pier was built, contained an hundred and fifty loads of
timber; and forty thousand pound weight is computed to be always under
water in stone and timber.
[Illustration:
_Westminster Bridge._ ]
[Illustration:
_S. Wale delin._ _B. Green sc. Oxon._
_Walton Bridge._]
The materials are much superior to those commonly used on such
occasions: the inside is usually filled up with chalk, small stones, or
rubbish; but here all the piers are the same on the inside as without,
of solid blocks of Portland stone, many of which are four or five
tons weight, and none less than a ton, except the closers, or smaller
ones, intended for fastening the others, one of which has its place
between every four of the large ones. These vast blocks are perfectly
well wrought for uniting; they are laid in Dutch terrace, and also
fastened together with iron cramps run in with lead. All this iron work
is however entirely concealed, and so placed that none of them can be
affected by the water.
It is also worthy of remark, that the soffit of every arch is turned
and built quite through with blocks of Portland stone, over which
is built and bonded in with it, another arch of Purbeck stone, four
or five times thicker on the reins than over the key; and by this
secondary arch, together with the incumbent load of materials, all the
parts of every arch are in equilibrio, and the whole weight so happily
adjusted, that each arch can stand single, without affecting, or being
affected by the other arches. In short, between every two arches a
drain is contrived to carry off the water and filth, that might in time
penetrate and accumulate in those places, to the great detriment of the
arches.
Though the greatest care was taken in laying the foundation deep in
the gravel, and using every probable method to prevent the sinking
of the piers, yet all this was in some degree ineffectual, for one
of them sunk so considerably when the work was very near compleated,
as to retard the finishing it a considerable time. This gave the
highest satisfaction to those who had opposed this noble work: but the
commissioners for building the bridge, immediately ordered the arch
supported by that pier, on the side where it had sunk, to be taken
down, and then caused the base of the pier to be loaded with incredible
weights, till all the settlement that could be forced was made. After
this the arch was rebuilt, and has ever since been as secure as the
rest.
In short the last stone was laid in November 1747, eleven years and
nine months from the beginning of the construction; a very short
period, considering the vastness of the undertaking, the prodigious
quantity of stone made use of, hewn out of the quarry, and brought by
sea; the interruptions of winter, the damage frequently done by the
ice to the piles and scaffolding, and the unavoidable interruptions
occasioned twice a day by the tide, which for two years together,
reduced the time of labour to only five hours a day. The expence of
erecting this bridge, and of procuring all the requisite conveniences
was defrayed by parliament, and amounted to 389,000_l._ which was raised
by several lotteries.