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THE FASCINATION
OF LONDON
WESTMINSTER
_IN THIS SERIES._
Cloth, price 1s. 6d. net; leather, price 2s. net, each.
WESTMINSTER.
By Sir WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.
THE STRAND DISTRICT.
By Sir WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.
HAMPSTEAD.
By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT.
CHELSEA.
By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT.
[Illustration: WHITEHALL IN 1775.]
The Fascination of London
WESTMINSTER
BY
SIR WALTER BESANT
AND
G. E. MITTON
WITH A CHAPTER ON THE ABBEY BY MRS. A. MURRAY SMITH
LONDON
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK
1902
PREFATORY NOTE
A survey of London, a record of the greatest of all cities, that should
preserve her history, her historical and literary associations, her
mighty buildings, past and present, a book that should comprise all that
Londoners love, all that they ought to know of their heritage from the
past--this was the work on which Sir Walter Besant was engaged when he
died.
As he himself said of it: "This work fascinates me more than anything
else I've ever done. Nothing at all like it has ever been attempted
before. I've been walking about London for the last thirty years, and I
find something fresh in it every day."
He had seen one at least of his dreams realized in the People's Palace,
but he was not destined to see this mighty work on London take form. He
died when it was still incomplete. His scheme included several volumes
on the history of London as a whole. These he finished up to the end of
the eighteenth century, and they form a record of the great city
practically unique, and exceptionally interesting, compiled by one who
had the qualities both of novelist and historian, and who knew how to
make the dry bones live. The volume on the eighteenth century, which Sir
Walter called a "very big chapter indeed, and particularly interesting,"
will shortly be issued by Messrs. A. and C. Black, who had undertaken
the publication of the Survey.
Sir Walter's idea was that the next two volumes should be a regular and
systematic perambulation of London by different persons, so that the
history of each parish should be complete in itself. This was a very
original feature in the great scheme, and one in which he took the
keenest interest. Enough has been done of this section to warrant its
issue in the form originally intended, but in the meantime it is
proposed to select some of the most interesting of the districts and
publish them as a series of booklets, attractive alike to the local
inhabitant and the student of London, because much of the interest and
the history of London lie in these street associations. For this purpose
Chelsea, Westminster, the Strand, and Hampstead have been selected for
publication first, and have been revised and brought up to date.
The difficulty of finding a general title for the series was very great,
for the title desired was one that would express concisely the undying
charm of London--that is to say, the continuity of her past history
with the present times. In streets and stones, in names and palaces, her
history is written for those who can read it, and the object of the
series is to bring forward these associations, and to make them plain.
The solution of the difficulty was found in the words of the man who
loved London and planned the great scheme. The work "fascinated" him,
and it was because of these associations that it did so. These links
between past and present in themselves largely constitute The
Fascination of London.
G. E. M.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFATORY NOTE v
PART I
SOUTH OF VICTORIA STREET 1
PART II
NORTH OF VICTORIA STREET 24
PART III
THE HEART OF WESTMINSTER 40
INDEX 93
_Map at end of Volume._
WESTMINSTER
PART I
SOUTH OF VICTORIA STREET.
The word Westminster used in the title does not mean that city which has
its boundaries stretching from Oxford Street to the river, from the
Broad Walk, Kensington Gardens, to Temple Bar. A city which embraces the
parishes of St. George's, Hanover Square; St. James's, Piccadilly; St.
Anne's, Soho; St. Paul's, Covent Garden; St. Clement Danes; St. Mary le
Strand, etc.; and which claims to be older even than London, dating its
first charter from the reign of King Edgar. But, rather, Westminster in
its colloquial sense, that part of the city which lies within the
parishes of St. Margaret and St. John. When anyone says, 'I am going to
Westminster,' or, 'I am staying in Westminster,' it is this district
that he means to indicate.
The parishes of St. Margaret and St. John include the land bounded on
one side by the river; on another by a line running through the Horse
Guards and diagonally across St. James's Park to Buckingham Gate; and on
the third by an irregular line which crosses Victoria Street to the west
of Carlisle Place, and subsequently cuts across the Vauxhall Bridge Road
near Francis Street, and, continuing at a slight angle to the course of
the Bridge Road, strikes the river at a spot beyond the gasworks between
Pulford Terrace and Bessborough Place. There is also another piece of
land belonging to St. Margaret's parish; this lies detached, and
includes part of Kensington Gardens and the Round Pond; but it is only
mentioned to show it has not been overlooked, for the present account
will not deal with it. The triangular space roughly indicated above is
sufficient for one ramble.
Within this space stand, and have stood, so many magnificent buildings
closely connected with the annals of England that Westminster may well
claim to occupy a unique place in the history of the nation. The effects
of two such buildings as the Abbey and Palace upon its population were
striking and unique.
The right of sanctuary possessed by the Abbey drew thieves, villains,
and rogues of all kinds to its precincts. The Court drew to the Palace a
crowd of hangers-on, attendants, artificers, work-people, etc. When the
Court was migratory this great horde swept over Westminster at
intervals like a wave, and made a floating population. In the days of
"touching" for "King's evil," when the Court was held at Whitehall, vast
crowds of diseased persons gathered to Westminster to be touched. In
Charles II.'s time weekly sittings were appointed at which the number of
applicants was not to exceed 200. Between 1660-64, 23,601 persons were
"touched." Later, when the roads were still too bad to be traversed
without danger, many of the members of Parliament lodged in Westminster
while the House was sitting. Therefore, from the earliest date, when
bands of travellers and merchants came down the great north road, and
passed through the marshes of Westminster to the ferry, until the
beginning of the present century, there has always been a floating
element mingling with the stationary inhabitants of the parishes.
The history of Westminster itself is entwined with these two great
foundations, the Abbey and the Palace, which will be found described in
detail respectively at pp. 45 and 71.
DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT.
The perambulation of Westminster, undertaken street by street, differs
from that made at Chelsea or elsewhere by reason of the great buildings
aforementioned, which are centres of interest and require particular
notice. These will be dealt with as they occur, and so interesting are
they that they cause the street associations to sink into a position of
secondary importance.
Beginning at the least interesting end of Westminster--that is to say,
the west end of Victoria Street--there are not many objects of interest
apparent. Victoria Street was in 1852 cut through nests of alleys and
dirty courts, including a colony of almshouses, cottages, chapel, and
school, known as Palmer's Village. The solid uniform buildings on either
side of the street have a very sombre aspect; they are mainly used for
offices. There is still some waste ground lying to the south of Victoria
Street, in spite of the great Roman Catholic Cathedral, begun in 1895,
which covers a vast area. The material is red brick with facings of
stone, and the style Byzantine, the model set being the "early Christian
basilica in its plenitude." The high campanile tower, which is already
seen all over London, is a striking feature in a building quite
dissimilar from those to which we in England are accustomed. The great
entrance at the west end has an arch of forty feet span, and encloses
three doorways, of which the central one is only to be used on solemn
occasions by the Archbishop. One feature of the interior decoration will
be the mosaic pictures in the marble panels. The building is still
incomplete, and not open to the public. It stands on the site of Tothill
Fields Prison, which was considered to be one of the finest specimens of
brickwork in the country, and cost the nation £200,000, but has now
completely vanished. It resembled a fortress; the entrance, which stood
in Francis Street, was composed of massive granite blocks, and had a
portcullis. The prison took the place of a Bridewell or House of
Correction near, built in 1622; but in spite of the vast sum of money
spent upon it, it lasted only twenty years (1834-54).
The fire-station and Western District Post-Office also occupy part of
the same site. The extension of the Army and Navy Stores stands on the
site of the Greencoat School, demolished in 1877. Certain gentlemen
founded this school; in Charles I.'s reign it was constituted "a body
politic and corporate," and the seal bears date 1636. The lads wore a
long green skirt, bound round with a red girdle. In 1874, when the
United Westminster Schools were formed from the amalgamation of the
various school charities of Westminster, the work was begun here, but
three years later the boys were removed to the new buildings in Palace
Street. The old school buildings were very picturesque. They stood round
a quadrangle, and the Master's house faced the entrance, and was
decorated with a bust of King Charles and the royal arms. In the
wainscoted board-room hung portraits of King Charles I. by Vandyck, and
King Charles II. by Lely.
The name of Artillery Row is connected with the artillery practice at
the butts, which stood near here in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. At the
end, if we turn to the left, we come into Old Rochester Row, and so to
Greycoat Place, in which stands the Greycoat Hospital. This building,
one of the few old ones left in the parish, has a red-tiled roof and
dormer windows, projecting eaves and heavy window-frames. Two wings
enclose a courtyard, which is below the level of the road. Above the
central porch, in niches, are the figures of a boy and girl in the
old-fashioned Greycoat garb. In the centre are the Royal arms of Queen
Anne, and a turret with clock and vane surmounts the roof.
This hospital was founded in 1698 for the education of seventy poor boys
and forty poor girls. In 1706, by letters patent of Queen Anne, the
trustees were constituted a body 'politic and corporate.' In this year
also the school was established in the present quaint building, which
had been a workhouse, perhaps that referred to in the vestry reports of
1664 as the "new workhouse in Tuttle ffields."
The boys then wore a long gray skirt and girdle, something similar to
the Christ's Hospital uniform, and the girls a dress of gray. The
hospital originated in the charity of the parishioners. Various
additions have since been made to the building, and class-rooms have
been added. The older class-rooms and board-room are wainscoted. In the
latter are oil-paintings of Queen Anne, Bishops Compton and Smalridge
(of Bristol), and various governors. The corporate seal represents two
male figures tending a young sapling, a reference to 1 Cor. vii. 8. An
old organ, contemporary with the date of the establishment, and a
massive Bible and Prayer-Book, are among the most interesting relics.
The latter, dated 1706, contains the "Prayer for the Healing" at the
King's touch.
The hospital is a very wealthy foundation, and is able to support the
strain of its immense expenses without difficulty. The governors have
recently erected a row of red-brick flats to the west of the garden,
which will further augment the income. The garden is charming with
flower-beds and grass plots, while the vine and the ampelopsis climb
over the old building.
Rochester Row owes its name to the connection of the See of Rochester
with the Deanery of Westminster, which continued through nine successive
incumbencies. The row was considered by the Dean and Chapter as a
private thoroughfare until the beginning of the present century, but
they had no reason to be proud of it. A filthy ditch caused much
complaint; even in 1837 the state of the row was described as "shameful
and dangerous." At the north-east end stood the parish pound-house. St.
Stephen's Church and Schools are handsome, in a decorated Gothic style,
and were built in 1847 by Ferrey, at the cost of the Baroness
Burdett-Coutts. The spire rises to a height of 200 feet.
Immediately opposite, two neat rows of almshouses, in red brick, face
one another; on the exterior wall of each wing is the half-length effigy
of a man in a niche. Beneath that on the northern wing is the
inscription: "Mr. Emery Hill, late of the parish of St. Margaret's,
Westminster, founded these almshouses Anno Domini 1708. Christian
Reader, in Hopes of thy Assistance." On each side similar inscriptions
commemorate donations.
On the southern wing the slab beneath the figure bears the words: "Rev.
James Palmer founded almshouses in Palmer's Passage for six poor old men
and six poor old women Anno Domini 1856; re-erected here, 1881"; and a
further record: "Mr. Nicholas Butler founded the almshouses in Little
Chapel Street, near Palmer's Passage, for two of the most ancient
couples of the best repute, Anno Domini 1675; re-erected here 1881."
These are the Westminster United Almshouses. They were consolidated by
an order of the Charity Commission, dated July 11, 1879. The Grenadier
Guards Hospital is further down the row on the same side.
Vincent Square is the Westminster School playground. This space, of
about ten acres of land, has been the subject of much dispute between
the Dean and Chapter and the parish. It was first marked out as a
playground in 1810, but not enclosed by railings until 1842. Dr.
Vincent, Headmaster of the school and formerly Dean of Westminster, took
the lead in the matter, and the enclosure is therefore named after him.
The ground is now levelled, and forms magnificent playing-fields; from
the south end there is a fine view of many-towered Westminster. The
hospital of the Coldstream Guards is in one corner of the Square, and
next to it the Westminster Police Court. St. Mary's Church and Schools
are on the south side. The Grosvenor Hospital for Women and Children is
in Douglas Street close by. This originated in a dispensary in 1865.
The ground in the parish already traversed corresponds roughly with that
occupied by the once well-known Tothill Fields. Older writers call this
indifferently Tuthill, Totehill, Tootehill, but more generally Tuttle.
In Timbs' "London and Westminster" we read: "The name of Tot is the old
British word Tent (the German Tulsio), god of wayfarers and
merchants.... Sacred stones were set up on heights, hence called
Tothills." If ever there were a hill at Tothill Fields, it must have
been a very slight one, and in this case it may have been carted away to
raise the level elsewhere. We know that St. John's burial-ground was
twice covered with three feet of soil, and in the parish accounts we
read of gravel being carted from Tothill. The greater part of the ground
in any case can have been only low-lying, for large marshy pools
remained until comparatively recent times, one of which was known as the
Scholars' Pond. Dean Stanley has aptly termed these fields the
Smithfield of West London. Here everything took place which required an
open space--combats, tournaments, and fairs.
In a map of the middle of the eighteenth century we see a few scattered
houses lying to the south of Horseferry Road just below the bend, and
Rochester Row stretching like an arm out into the open ground. Two of
the great marshy pools are also marked. If all accounts are to be
believed, this spot was noted for its fertility and the beauty of its
wild-flowers. From Strype's Survey we learn that the fields supplied
London and Westminster with "asparagus, artichokes, cauliflowers and
musk melons." The author of "Parochial Memorials" says that the names of
Orchard Street, Pear Street and Vine Street are reminiscent of the
cultivation of fruit in Westminster, but these names more probably have
reference to the Abbot's garden. Walcott says that Tothill Fields,
before the Statute of Restraints, was considered to be within the limits
of the sanctuary of the Abbey. Stow gives a long and minute account of a
trial by battle held here. One of the earliest recorded tournaments held
in these fields was at the coronation of Queen Eleanor in 1226.
A great fair held in the fields in 1248 was a failure. All the shops and
places of merchandise were shut during the fifteen days that it lasted,
by the King's command, but the wind and rain ruined the project.
In 1256 John Mansell, the King's Counsellor and a priest, entertained
the Kings and Queens of England and Scotland and so many Dukes, Lords,
and Barons, at Westminster that he had not room for them in his own
house, but set up tents and pavilions in Tothill.
In 1441 "was the fighting at the Tothill between two thefes, a pelour
and a defendant; the pelour hadde the field, and victory of the
defendour withinne three strokes."
Both the armies of the Royalists and the Commonwealth were at different
times paraded in these fields; of the latter, 14,000 men were here at
one time. During 1851-52 Scottish prisoners were brought to Tothill, and
many died there, as the churchwardens' accounts show. In the latter
year we read the entry: "Paid to Thomas Wright for 67 load of soyle laid
on the graves in Tuthill Fields wherein 1,200 Scotch prisoners (taken at
the fight at Worcester) were buried."
It was fifteen years later, in the time of the Great Plague, that the
pesthouses came into full use, for we read in the parish records July
14, 1665, "that the Churchwardens doe forthwith proceed to the making of
an additional Provision for the reception of the Poore visited of the
Plague, at the Pesthouse in Tuttle ffieldes." The first two cases of
this terrible visitation occurred in Westminster, and during the
sorrowful months that followed, in place of feasting and pageantry, the
fields were the theatre for scenes of horror and death. The pesthouses
were still standing in 1832.
There was formerly a "maze" in Tothill Fields, which is shown in a print
from an engraving by Hollar taken about 1650.
Vauxhall Bridge Road was cut through part of the site belonging to the
old Millbank Penitentiary. The traffic to the famous Vauxhall Gardens on
the other side of the river once made this a very crowded thoroughfare;
at present it is extremely dreary. The Scots Guards Hospital is on the
west side.
Turning to the left at the end in the Grosvenor Road, we soon come to
the Tate Gallery of British Art, the magnificent gift of Sir Henry Tate
to the nation. Besides the building, the founder gave sixty-five
pictures to form the nucleus of a collection. This is said to be the
first picture-gallery erected in England complete in itself; the
architect is Sydney Smith, F.R.I.B.A., and the style adopted is a Free
Classic, Roman with Greek feeling in the mouldings and decorations.
There is a fine portico of six Corinthian columns terminating in a
pediment, with the figure of Britannia at the central apex, and the lion
and unicorn at each end. The basement, of rusticated stone, ten feet
high, runs round the principal elevation. A broad flight of steps leads
to the central entrance. The front elevation is about 290 feet in
length. The vestibule immediately within the principal door leads into
an octagonal sculpture hall, top-lighted by a glass dome. There are
besides five picture-galleries, also top-lighted. The pictures, which
include the work of the most famous British artists, are nearly all
labelled with the titles and artists' names, so a catalogue is
superfluous. The collection includes the pictures purchased by the
Chantrey Bequest, also a gift from G. F. Watts, R.A., of twenty-three of
his own works. The gallery is open from ten to six, and on Sundays in
summer after two o'clock. Thursdays and Fridays are students' days.
The gallery stands on the site of the old Millbank Penitentiary, for the
scheme of which Howard the reformer was originally responsible. He was
annoyed by the rejection of the site he advocated, however, and
afterwards withdrew from the project altogether. Wandsworth Fields and
Battersea Rise were both discussed as possible sites, but were
eventually abandoned in favour of Millbank. Jeremy Bentham, who
advocated new methods in the treatment of prisoners, gained a contract
from the Government for the erection and management of the new prison.
He, however, greatly exceeded the terms of his contract, and finally
withdrew, and supervisors were appointed. The prison was a six-rayed
building with a chapel in the centre. Each ray was pentagonal in shape,
and had three towers on its exterior angles. The whole was surrounded by
an octagonal wall overlooking a moat. At the closing of the prison in
Tothill Fields it became the sole Metropolitan prison for females, "just
as," says Major Griffiths, "it was the sole reformatory for promising
criminals, the first receptacle for military prisoners, the great depot
for convicts _en route_ for the antipodes."
In 1843 it was called a penitentiary instead of a prison. Gradually, as
new methods of prison architecture were evolved, Millbank was recognised
as cumbersome and inadequate. It was doomed for many years before its
demolition, and now, like the prison of Tothill Fields, has vanished.
Even the convicts' burial-ground at the back of the Tate Gallery is
nearly covered with County Council industrial dwellings.
Further northward in the Grosvenor Road, Peterborough House once stood,
facing the river, and this was at one time called "the last house in
Westminster." It was built by the first Earl of Peterborough, and
retained his name until 1735, when it passed to Alexander Davis of
Ebury, whose only daughter and heiress had married Sir Thomas Grosvenor.
It was by this marriage that the great London property came into the
possession of the Grosvenor (Westminster) family. The house was rebuilt,
and renamed Grosvenor House. Strype says: "The Earl of Peterborough's
house with a large courtyard before it, and a fine garden behind, but
its situation is but bleak in winter and not over healthful, as being
too near the low meadows on the south and west parts." The house was
finally demolished in 1809.
Beyond, in the direction of the Houses of Parliament, there are several
interesting old houses, of which the best specimens are Nos. 8 and 9,
offices of the London Road Car Company, and No. 10. In the first a
well-furnished ceiling proclaims an ancient drawing-room; in the second
panelled walls and a spiral staircase set off a fine hall. This house
has a beautiful doorway of the old scallop-shell pattern, with cherubs'
heads and ornamental brackets decorating it. In the third house a
ceiling is handsomely finished with dental mouldings, and the edges of
the panels are all carved. A mantelpiece of white marble is very fine,
and of great height and solidity, with a female face as the keystone.
From Lambeth Bridge the Horseferry Road leads westward. This was the
main track to the ferry in ancient days, and as the ferry was the only
one on the Thames at London, it was consequently of great importance. It
was here that James II. crossed after escaping from Whitehall by night,
and from his boat he threw the Great Seal into the river. Horseferry
Road is strictly utilitarian, and not beautiful; it passes by gasworks,
a Roman Catholic church, Wesleyan chapel, Normal Institute and Training
College, all of the present century. North of it Grosvenor Road becomes
Millbank Street. The Abbot's watermill stood at the end of College
Street (further north), and was turned by the stream which still flows
beneath the roadway. In an old survey a mill is marked on this spot, and
is supposed to have been built by the same Abbot Litlington who built
the wall in College Street (1362-1386). It was still standing in 1644,
and mention is made of it at that date in the parish books. The bank was
a long strip of raised earth, extending from here to the site of
Peterborough House. Strype mentions "the Millbank" as a "certain parcel
of land valued in Edward VI.'s time at 58 shillings, and given in the
third of his reign" to one Joanna Smith for "services rendered."
Church Street (left) leads into Smith Square. Here stands the Church of
St. John the Evangelist. This was the second of Queen Anne's fifty
churches built by imposing a duty on coals and culm brought into the
Port of London. The new district was formed in 1723, but the
consecration ceremony did not take place until June 20, 1728. The
architect was Archer, a pupil of Sir John Vanbrugh's, and the style,
which is very peculiar, has been described as Doric. The chief features
of the church are its four angle belfries, which were not included in
the original scheme of the architect, but were added later to insure an
equal pressure on the foundations. Owing to these the church has been
unkindly compared to an elephant with its four legs up in the air!
Another story has it that Queen Anne, being troubled in mind by much
wearisome detail, kicked over her wooden footstool, and said, "Go, build
me a church like that"; but this sounds apocryphal, especially in view
of the fact that the towers were a later addition. The church is
undoubtedly cumbrous, but has the merit of originality. In 1742 it was
gutted by fire, and was not rebuilt for some time owing to lack of
funds. In 1773 the roof was slightly damaged by lightning, and
subsequently repairs and alterations have taken place. The building
seats 1,400 persons, and a canonry of Westminster Abbey is attached to
the living.
The churchwardens of St. John's possess an interesting memento in the
form of a snuff-box, presented in 1801 by "Thomas Gayfere, Esq., Father
of the Vestry of St. John the Evangelist." This has been handed down to
the succeeding office-bearers, who have enriched and enlarged it by
successive silver plates and cases.
Smith Square shows, like so much of Westminster, an odd mixture of old
brick houses, with heavily-tiled roofs, and new brick flats of great
height. In the south-west corner stands the Rectory. Romney and Marsham
Streets were called after Charles Marsham, Earl of Romney. Tufton Street
was named after Sir Richard Tufton. One of the cockpits in Westminster
was here as late as 1815, long after the more fashionable one in St.
James's Park had vanished. The northern part of the street between Great
Peter and Great College Streets was formerly known as Bowling Alley.
Here the notorious Colonel Blood lived.
Near the corner of Little Smith Street stands an architectural museum;
it is not a very large building, but the frontage is rendered
interesting by several statues and reliefs in stone. This, to give it
its full title, is "The Royal Architectural Museum and School of Art in
connection with the Science and Art Department." The gallery is open
free from ten to four daily, and in the rooms opening off its corridors
art classes for students of both sexes are held; the walls are
absolutely covered with ancient fragments of architecture and sculpture.
The row of houses opposite to the museum is doomed to demolition, a
process which has begun already at the north end. The house third from
the south end, a small grocer's shop, is the one in which the great
composer and musician Purcell lived. He was born in Great St. Ann's Lane
near the Almonry, and his mother, as a widow, lived in Tothill Street.
The boy at the very early age of six was admitted to the choir of the
Chapel Royal, and was appointed organist to Westminster Abbey when only
two-and-twenty, a place he very nearly lost by refusing to give up to
the Dean and Chapter the proceeds of letting the seats in the organ-loft
to view the coronation of James II., a windfall he considered as a
perquisite. He is buried beneath the great organ, which had so often
throbbed out his emotions in the sounds in which he had clothed them. On
leaving Tufton Street he went to Marsham Street, where he died in 1695.
The art students from the gallery now patronize the little room behind
the shop for lunch and tea, running across in paint-covered pinafore or
blouse, making the scene veritably Bohemian.
At the north end of Tufton Street is Great College Street. Here
dignified houses face the old wall built by Abbot Litlington. They are
not large; some are overgrown by creepers; the street seems bathed in
the peace of a perpetual Sunday. The stream bounding Thorney Island
flowed over this site, and its waters still run beneath the roadway. The
street has been associated with some names of interest. Gibbon's aunt
had here a boarding-house for Westminster boys, in which her famous
nephew lived for some time. Mr. Thorne, antiquary, and originator of
_Notes and Queries_, lived here. Some of Keats' letters to Fanny Brawne
are dated from 25 Great College Street, where he came on October 16,
1820, to lodgings, in order to conquer his great passion by absence; but
apparently absence had only the proverbial effect. Walcott lived here,
and his History of St. Margaret's Church and Memorials of Westminster
are dated from here in 1847 and 1849 respectively. Little College Street
contains a few small, irregular houses brightened by window-boxes. A
slab informs us that the date of Barton Street was 1722, but the row of
quiet, flat-casemented houses looks older than that. At the west end of
Great College Street stood the King's slaughter-house for supplying meat
to the palace; the foundations of this were extant in 1807. The end of
Great College Street opens out opposite the smooth lawns of the Victoria
Public Garden, near the House of Lords.
In Great Smith Street there was a turnpike at the beginning of the last
century. Sir Richard Steele and Keats both dated letters from this
address, and Thomas Southerne, the dramatist, died here. The northern
part of the street was known as Dean Street until 1865; the old
workhouse of the united parish used to stand in it. The Free Library is
in this street. Westminster was the first Metropolitan parish to adopt
the Library Acts. The Commissioners purchased the lease of a house,
together with furniture, books, etc., from a Literary, Scientific, and
Mechanics' Institute which stood on the east side of the road, a little
to the north of the present library building, and the library was opened
there in 1857. In 1888 the present site was purchased, and the building
was designed by J. F. Smith, F.R.I.B.A.
Dean Stanley presented 2,000 volumes of standard works in 1883, to which
others were added by his sister, Mrs. Vaughan, to whom they had been
left for her lifetime. The library also contains 449 valuable volumes
published by the Record Office. These consist of Calendars of State
Papers, Reports of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office,
Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle
Ages, and Records of Great Britain from the Reign of Edward the
Confessor to Henry VIII. The Westminster Public Baths and Wash-houses,
designed by the same architect are next door to the library. The Church
House opposite is a very handsome building in a Perpendicular style; it
is of red brick with stone dressings. The interior is very well
furnished with fine stone and wood carving. The great hall holds 1,500
people, and runs the whole length of the building from Smith Street to
Tufton Street. The roof is an open timber structure of the hammer-beam
type, typical of fourteenth-century work. Near the north end of Great
Smith Street is Queen Anne's Bounty Office, rebuilt 1900.
Orchard Street is so named from the Abbot's Orchard. John Wesley once
lived here. In Old Pye Street a few squalid houses with low doorways
remain to contrast with the immense flats known as Peabody's Buildings,
which have sprung up recently. In 1862 George Peabody gave £150,000 for
the erection of dwellings for the working classes, and to this he
subsequently added £500,000. The first block of buildings was opened in
Spitalfields, 1864. These in the neighbourhood of Old Pye Street were
erected in 1882. Pye Street derives its name from Sir Robert Pye, member
for Westminster in the time of Charles I., who married a daughter of
John Hampden. St. Matthew Street was Duck Lane until 1864, and was a
very malodorous quarter. Swift says it was renowned for second-hand
bookshops. The Westminster Bluecoat School was first founded here.
St. Ann's Street and Lane are poor and wretched quarters. The name is
derived from a chapel which formerly stood on the spot (see p. 37).
Herrick lodged in the street when, ejected from his living in the
country in 1647, he returned with anything but reluctance to his beloved
London. He had resumed lay dress, but was restored to his living in 1662
in reward for his devoted loyalty to the Stuarts. The great musician,
Henry Purcell, was born in St. Ann's Lane. Seymour, writing in 1735,
says: "Great St. Ann's Lane, a pretty, handsome, well-built and
well-inhabited place." St. Matthew's Church and Schools were built by
Sir G. A. Scott in 1849-57.
Great Peter Street is a dirty thoroughfare with some very old houses. On
one is a stone slab with the words, "This is Sant Peter Street, 1624. R
[a heart] W." This and its neighbour, Little Peter Street, obviously
derive their names from the patron saint of the Abbey. Strype describes
Great Peter Street pithily as "very long and indifferent broad." Great
Peter Street runs at its west end into Strutton Ground, a quaint place
which recalls bygone days by other things than its name, which is a
corruption of Stourton, from Stourton House. The street is thickly lined
by costers' barrows, and on Saturday nights there is no room to pass in
the roadway.
Before examining in detail the part that may be called the core and
centre of Westminster, that part lying around the Abbey and Houses of
Parliament, it is advisable to begin once more at the west end of
Victoria Street, and, traversing the part of the parish on the north
side, gather there what we may of history and romance.