Several of the Incorporated Companies originally possessed Halls for
holding their meetings and the celebration of their feasts: the former
have of late years been held at the Town Hall, and the latter at some of
the inns.
About the middle of the street, on the right, is the Unitarian Meeting
House (p. 95), where the poet Coleridge preached in 1798; {149} and a few
yards further is the “Sextry” passage, or (as it is called in our
provincialism) a “shut.” This originally communicated with St. Chad’s
church-yard by a covered passage, and derived its name from the sacristy
of the church, which is supposed to have stood within it. An old
building, now the “Golden Cross,” appears to have been a tavern as early
as the year 1495, for in the archives of the corporation is the charge of
13s. 2d. “for wine spent on the king’s gentlemen in the Sextrie.” Its
gloomy and confined situation proves how little our unpolished ancestors
regarded accommodation or prospect when they were enjoying the pleasure
of a jovial carouse.
The ancient stone building at the extremity of the street was in times
past occupied as the