part of that acquired by William Short in 1590, for certain premises
which can be identified as occupying a site to the rear of the centre of
the frontage to Drury Lane between Short’s Gardens and Broad Street, are
stated to be bounded on the south by ground of Robert Clifton, “which
ground was heretofore the inheritance of William Short, deceased.”[516]
The fact that the property in Crown Court sold by Thomas Short in
1679[517] was also bounded on the south by land “late in the possession
of Robert Clifton” shows that the Short property originally extended
further westwards. It stretched, in fact, as far as the eastern boundary
of Marshland.[518]
The Subsidy Roll for 1646 gives three names between that of the Earl of
Downe, probably representing Lennox House, and Paviors Alley, afterwards
Ashlin Place. The first is that of “Mr. Edw. Smyth,” who was taxed 6s.
8d. for land, and 8s. for goods, and was evidently a person of much more
substance than his two neighbours, who figure each at 2s. for land only.
Mr. Smith had caused much concern by his building. As early as June,
1618, the Privy Council wrote[519] to the justices pointing out that
“there is a faire building now goeing up in Drury Lane, w^{ch} is by
credible information erected upon a new foundacion,” that the “said
building is under his Ma^{ties} eye as he passeth that way, and is
observed as a speciall marke of contempt amongst all the rest,” and
asking for particulars as to the date of the foundation, etc. As a
result it was found that Smith’s new building, which had been assigned
him by William Short,[520] was contrary to the proclamation as going
beyond the old foundations, and converting a stable into a dwelling
house,[521] and order was accordingly given for the demolition of that
part,[522] but Smith seems to have made a successful protest. Eighteen
years elapsed, and Smith was again in trouble. On 20th June, 1636, the
Earl of Dorset reported to the Privy Council that “one Smith hath lately
erected an house in or neare Drury Lane suddenly and for the most part
by stealth in the night, not onely contrary to His Ma^{ties}
proclamation, but after he was commanded by his Lo^{pp} to forbeare to
proceed in the building thereof.” Smith was thereupon committed to
prison until the house should be wholly demolished.[523]
The north-eastern angle of land formed by Drury Lane and Broad Street,
like the land on the opposite side of the way, is one of the very few
sites which can be identified with certainty in the book of grants to
the Hospital of St. Giles. In some unknown year, but apparently in the
reign of Henry III., John de Cruce demised to Hugh, the smith, “all that
his land situate at the angle or corner formed by the meeting of the two
streets, whereof the one comes from St. Giles and is called St. Giles
Street, and the other goes towards the Thames by the forge of the said
Hugh, and is called Aldewych. And which land begins on the east part of
the said corner, and stretches westwards towards the Hospital of St.
Giles; and again beginning at the said corner or forge, and facing the
spring,[524] extends southwards towards the Thames, in a line with the
street called Aldewych, by the garden of Roger, the son of Alan.”[525]
Before Elizabethan times the forge had disappeared, and the site in
question was occupied by _The Bear_ inn, and property connected
therewith.
In 1567 George Harrison purchased[526] from Lord and Lady Mountjoy,
_inter alia_, the messuage called _The Bear_, two messuages lying
between _The Bear_ on the east and the tenement of Godfrey Matthew
(_i.e._, _The Swan_) on the west, and all other houses, etc., lying
between Godfrey Matthew’s tenement on the west and the Queen’s highway
from the Strand to St. Giles on the east. Harrison sold the property in
1568 to John Walgrave who in the following year parted with it to
Johanna Wise, who subsequently married James Briscowe, and in 1582[527]
the property, including brewing vessels and other implements belonging
to the inn and the brewhouse, was acquired by James Mascall, brewer, who
was then actually in occupation of _The Bear_. The property continued in
the Mascall family, and in 1634, according to a deed[528] relating to
the marriage portion of Frances Godman, daughter of Olive Godman (_née_
Mascall) it included (i.) a messuage sometime in the tenure of John
Vavasour and then of Matthew Quire, (ii.) the messuage, inn or tenement
commonly called _The Black Bear_, sometime in the tenure of Richard
Robins and then of Matthew Quire, (iii.) ten messuages in Black Bear
Yard, (iv.) a number of other messuages,[529] and (v.) two gardens to
the rear of Black Bear Yard, one of them formerly in the tenure of John
Vavasour, and the other occupied with the inn. Vavasour’s house, it is
known, occupied the site of Ragged Staff Court,[530] which was situated
about 60 feet northwards from Paviors Alley,[531] and as no mention of
it occurs in the sale to Mascall, it may be taken for granted that it
was built either by the latter within the course of the next three
years,[532] or by John Vavasour, who married Mascall’s widow. The first
building on that spot therefore was erected some time between 1582 and
1608.[533]
To the west of _The Bear_ property was _The Swan_. In 1566 Lord and Lady
Mountjoy sold to Thomas Allen[534] all that messuage or tenement
“sometyme called ... _The Swanne_,” in the tenure of Geoffrey Matthew,
abutting to the east on _The Bear_, west on the tenement of Robert
Bromeley, “sometyme called _The Grayhounde_,” south-west on Matthew’s
stables, south on the Greyhound Close, and north on the Queen’s highway.
It has unfortunately not proved possible to trace the later history of
_The Swan_, but there can be no doubt that the property is identical
with that sold in 1723 by William Gyles to Peniston Lamb and Thos.
Hanson,[535] and which consisted of three houses in the main street with
the alley behind, formerly called Cock alley and then Gyles’ Court, and
is described as having a frontage to the street of 44½ feet and a depth
of 114 feet, and bounded on the south by the brewhouse late Mr.
Theedham’s,[536] on the east partly by messuages and lands in the
occupation of Theedham, and on the west by messuages and lands
“heretofore of one Short” (_i.e._, _The Greyhound_).
A comparison between the names of the occupiers of the three houses as
given in the deed of 1723, and the entries in various issues of the
sewer ratebook, shows that the houses in question corresponded with the
present Nos. 59 to 61 (formerly 56 to 58).
There does not seem any reason to doubt the identity of _The Swan_ of
the time of Elizabeth with _Le Swan on le Hop_,[537] demised by the
Hospital of St. Giles to John de Polton in 1360–61. It was then
described as standing south on land of the said Hospital and north on
the king’s highway. This description certainly does not warrant the
statement of Parton that the inn must “have been situate somewhat
eastward from Drury Lane end, and on the south side of Holborn.”[538]
Immediately to the west of _The Swan_ came _The Greyhound_.
Unfortunately no description of the inn or the property connected with
it has come down from Elizabethan times. In 1679, however, Thomas Short,
son and heir of Dudley Short, sold the whole to John Pery, and the
indenture[539] embodying the transaction gave a description of the
property as it then existed. It included two houses in the main
thoroughfare, both extending southward to Greyhound Court and one of
them being “commonly called ... or knowne by the name or signe of _The
Crowne_.” It would seem therefore that _The Greyhound_ had by now been
renamed _The Crown_, although the court still retained the old name. By
1704 the court had also been renamed Crown Court.[540] Included in the
sale was a quantity of land in the rear, with buildings, garden ground
and other ground, including the house in Greyhound Court where Thomas
Short had himself lived. The details given, though full, are not
sufficient to enable a plan to be drawn of the property. It certainly
included the eastern portion of the site of St. Giles’s Workhouse,[541]
and did not extend as far south as Short’s Gardens, as it is said to be
bounded in that direction by a “peice of ground commonly called the
mulberry garden, late in the possession of Robert Clifton.”
To the west of _The Greyhound_, were a number of houses, which in 1567
were sold[542] by Lord and Lady Mountjoy to Henry Ampthill.[543] They
are described as in eleven occupations, adjoining _The Greyhound_ on the
east, the highway on the north, and a close (probably Greyhound Close)
on the south. The western boundary, unfortunately, is not given. The
property was subsequently split up, about half coming into the hands of
a family named Hawkins,[544] and this in 1726 certainly included
property on either side of Lamb Alley,[545] probably as far as the site
of the present No. 45, Broad Street. How much further the Ampthill
property extended is not known.
In 1631 Ann Barber, widow, and her son Thomas, sold[546] to Henry Lambe
a tenement and two acres of land, the said two acres being garden ground
and adjoining on the west “a parcell of ground called Masslings,” on the
south “a parcell of ground in the occupation of one Master Smith,” on
the east a “parcell of ground in the occupation of Mistris Margarett
Hamlyn,” and on the north certain tenements and garden plots in the
occupation of Robert Johnson and others. In 1654 John Lambe sold the
property to Henry Stratton, who in the following year parted with it to
Thomas Blythe.[547] In the indenture accompanying the latter sale, the
two acres are stated to be “a garden or ground late in the occupation of
Samuel Bennet,” and the remainder of the property is described as 10
messuages late in the tenure of Edmund Lawrence, 4 small messuages also
late in Lawrence’s occupation, a chamber commonly called the Gate House,
a messuage called _The Bowl_, and a messuage called _The Black Lamb_.
The property had formerly belonged to William Barber,[548] Ann’s
husband. There is nothing to show how he became possessed of it, but it
is possible that the property is identical with the “one messuage, one
garden and two acres of land with appurtenances” sold by John Vavasour
in 1590 to Thomas Young.[549]
The eastern limits of the property above described may be fixed within a
little, as it is known that a portion of it was utilised in the 18th
century for the building of the original workhouse, and is described in
a deed quoted by Parton[550] as bounded on the east by the backs of
houses in Crown Court. It may be regarded therefore as including the
site of the central portion of the present workhouse. The “parcel of
ground in the occupation of one Master Smith” described as the southern
boundary, and referred to in a deed of 1680[551] as the garden and
grounds of William Short, is obviously the strip of ground on the north
side of Short’s Gardens, leased by Short to Edward Smith.[552] The
western boundary, “Masslings,” has been strangely misconstrued. Parton
read it as “Noselings,”[553] which he regarded as a corruption of
“Newlands,”[554] and located the ground on the east side of Neal Street.
Blott copied the error and, in a highly imaginative paragraph, connected
it with Noseley, in Leicestershire.[555] As a matter of fact, there is
not the slightest doubt that “Masslings”[556] is “Marshlands,” between
which the form “Marshlins” appearing in a deed of 1615[557] is evidently
a connecting link.
The boundary between Marshland and _The Bowl_ property is shown on Plate
39.
By 1680[558] a considerable portion of _The Bowl_ property had been
built on and Bowl Yard had been formed. In the first instance, the
latter led by a narrow passage into Short’s Gardens, but afterwards the
entrance was widened, and the southern part of the thoroughfare was
named New Belton Street, Belton Street proper being distinguished as Old
Belton Street. About 1846 both were widened on the east side to form
Endell Street, and the still remaining portion of Bowl Yard at the
northern end was swept away. Bowl Yard obviously derived its name from
_The Bowl_ inn, which, together with _The Black Lamb_, is mentioned in
the deed of 1655, above referred to. The sign had no doubt reference to
the custom mentioned by Stow[559] that criminals on their way to
execution at Tyburn were, at St. Giles’s Hospital, presented with a
great bowl of ale “thereof to drinke at theyr pleasure, as to be theyr
last refreshing in this life.” The inn itself probably fronted Broad
Street, and the brewhouse attached to it was situated behind, on the
west side of Bowl Yard.
Plate 38 shows the west front of _The Bowl_ Brewery in 1846, and the
houses at the northern end of Belton Street.
IN THE COUNCIL’S COLLECTION ARE:—
[560] _The Bowl_ Brewery in 1846 (photograph).
Nos. 7 and 9, Broad Street. Exterior (photograph).
LI.—SITE OF MARSHLAND (SEVEN DIALS.)
Included in the property transferred to Henry VIII. in 1537 was “one
close called Marshland.”[561] In 1594, Queen Elizabeth farmed the close
to Thomas Stydolph, his wife, and his son, Francis, for the life of the
longest liver, and in 1598 she farmed it for the sixty years following
the death of the longest lived of the three to Nicholas Morgan and
Thomas Horne. The latter immediately conveyed their interest to James
White, and subsequently it came into the hands of Sir Francis Stydolph,
who thus held a lease for the length of his own life and for sixty years
afterwards. In 1650, while he was still in possession of the close, it
was surveyed by Commissioners appointed by Parliament[562]. In their
report, the close is described as “all y^t peice or parcell of pasture
ground comonly called ... Marsh close _alias_ Marshland ... on the north
side of Longe Acre,[563] and ... betwene a way leadinge from Drury Lane
to St. Martin’s Lane on the north;[564] and a way leadinge from St.
Gyles to Knightsbridge, and a way leadinge from Hogg Lane into St.
Martin’s Lane on the west;[565] and Bennet’s Garden[566] and Sir John
Bromley[567] and Mr. Short on the east.” These boundaries are in accord
with the plan showing the design for laying out (Plate 39), and with
Faithorne’s Map of 1658 (Plate 4). The extension of Marshland to the
east of Neal Street (formerly King Street) has never been noticed, but
the fact is quite clear. One proof will suffice. On 23rd September,
1728, James Joye sold to trustees of the charity schools of St. Giles,
Cripplegate, property specified as “part of the Marshlands in St.
Giles-in-the-Fields,”[568] and situated on the _east_ side of King
Street. Part of the property has since been thrown into the public way,
but part can still be identified as No. 82, Neal Street,[569] on the
_east_ side.
In 1650 the buildings on the Close were:—
(i.) _The Cock and Pye_ inn, a brick building of two storeys and a
garret, standing on ground 117 feet from north to south, with a breadth
of 48 feet at the north end. This is probably the building shown on
Hollar’s Plan of 1658 (Plate 3), at the southern angle of the close.
From it the close was sometimes known as Cock and Pye Fields.
(ii.) A house with wheelwright’s shop and shed attached, covering with
yards, gardens, etc., 3 roods.
(iii.) A shed of timber and Flemish wall, with tiled roof, containing
two small dwelling rooms, occupying, with a garden, half an acre.
(iv.) A piece of ground, half an acre in extent, “late converted into a
garden, beinge very well planted w^{th} rootes.”
(v.) Three tenements of timber and Flemish wall, with thatched roof, on
the north side of what was afterwards Castle Street, occupying, with
gardens, etc., half an acre.
(vi.) “All that conduit scituate and adjoyninge to the aforesaid 3
tenements, and standeth on the southest corner of the aforesaid Marsh
Close, consistinge of one roome heirtofore used to convey water to the
Excheq^r. Office, but of late not used.”
Sir Francis Stydolph died on 12th March, 1655–6, and his successor, Sir
Richard, at once entered on the remaining 60 years’ term and in 1672
obtained an extension of this for 15 years.[570] Morden and Lea’s Map of
1682 shows that by that date a considerable amount of building had taken
place on the close, though the details are not clear.[571] This is
probably to be connected with the lease which James Kendricke obtained
for 31 years as from Michaelmas, 1660.[572] In 1693 Thomas Neale,
“intending to improve the said premisses by building”[573], obtained a
lease of the close until 10th March, 1731–2, undertaking to build within
two years sufficient houses to form ground rents amounting to £1,200,
the ground rents to be calculated at from 5s. to 8s. a foot frontage,
except in the case of houses fronting King Street (now Neal Street),
Monmouth Street (now Shaftesbury Avenue), St. Andrew Street and Earl
Street, where the amount was to be from 8s. to 12s. a foot. Building
operations were apparently started immediately,[574] but do not seem to
have been completed until well into the 18th century.[575]
Neale’s plan was one which excited considerable notice at the time, the
streets all radiating from a common centre. Evelyn records in his Diary
under date of 5th October, 1694: “I went to see the building neere St.
Giles’s, where 7 streets make a star from a Doric pillar plac’d in the
middle of a circular area.” From the fact that on the summit of the
column were dials, each facing one of the streets, the district obtained
the name of Seven Dials. The top part of the pillar, however, has only
six faces, a fact which has worried antiquaries. In explanation Mr. W.
A. Taylor, the Holborn Librarian, has pointed out[576] that the plan
(Plate 39) now at the Holborn Public Library, of the proposed laying out
shows only six streets, Little White Lion Street not being provided
for.[577]
The pillar was taken down in July, 1773, on the supposition that a
considerable sum of money was lodged at the base. “But the search was
ineffectual, and the pillar was removed to Sayes Court, Addlestone, with
a view to its erection in the park. This, however, was not done, and it
lay there neglected until the death of Frederica, Duchess of York, in
1820, when the inhabitants of Weybridge, desiring to commemorate her
thirty years’ residence at Oatlands and her active benevolence to the
poor of the neighbourhood, bethought them of the prostrate column,
purchased it, placed a coronet instead of the dials on the summit, and a
suitable inscription on the base, and erected it, August, 1822, on the
green. The stone on which were the dials, not being required, was
utilised as the horseblock at a neighbouring inn, but has been removed
and now reposes on the edge of the green, opposite the column.”[578]
Plate 40 shows the column as at present.
[Illustration]
Little of architectural interest now remains in the district of Seven
Dials. Plate 41 is a view of Little Earl Street at the present day.
Suspended from No. 56, Castle Street is a wooden key used as a street
sign and trade mark, probably dating from the reign of George III., at
which time the predecessors of the present firm carried on a locksmith’s
business at the premises. The exterior retains an 18th-century
appearance, and a small Georgian coat of arms remains over the doorway.
The interior has been many times reconstructed, and does not now contain
anything of architectural interest.
IN THE COUNCIL’S COLLECTION ARE:—
No. 54, Neal Street. Exterior (photograph).
No. 54, Neal Street. Detail of staircase (measured drawing).
Nos. 54, 56 and 58, Castle Street. Exterior (photograph).
[579]No. 56, Castle Street. Street sign (photograph).
No. 50, Castle Street. Exterior (photograph).
Nos. 1–6, Little White Lion Street. General view (photograph).
No. 10, Lumber Court. Exterior of ground floor (photograph).
[579]Little Earl Street. General view looking east (photograph).
Little Earl Street. General view and No. 15 (photograph).
No. 15, Little Earl Street. Exterior (photograph).
Nos. 12–16, Great White Lion Street. General view of exteriors
(photograph).
LII.—THE CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS, WEST STREET.
[Illustration: Wesley’s Chapel, West S^t., Seven Dials]
GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND DATE OF STRUCTURE.
On 20th February, 1699–1700, John Ardowin obtained a lease of a plot of
Marshland, 73 feet long, by 46 feet deep, abutting south on West Street
and north on Tower Street, “as the same was laid out and designed for a
chapel.”[580] The chapel in question, which was for the use of the
little colony of Huguenots lately settled in the district, was duly
built, and received the title of “La Pyramide de la Tremblade.” The
following inscription, however, which occurs on two chalices in the
possession of the West London Mission, shows that the congregation had
for more than two years had a temporary place of worship on this spot.
“Hi duo Calices dono dati sunt ab Honesto Viro Petro FENOWILLET die
octavo Julii MDCIIIC in usum Congregationis Gallicae quae habetur in via
vulgo dicta West Street de Parochia S. Ægidii. Si vero dissolvitur
Congregatio in usum Pauperum venundabuntur.” In 1742 the congregation
removed elsewhere, and in the following year John Wesley took a seven
years’ lease of the building, holding his first service there on Trinity
Sunday, 1743. His house, which stood immediately to the west of the
chapel, was demolished in 1902. The lease of the chapel was renewed from
time to time until Wesley’s death in 1791, after which the premises were
used for various religious purposes until 1888, when they were purchased
for the use of the Seven Dials Mission.[581]
The exterior is of stock brick with large semi-circular headed windows,
as shown on the previous page.
The interior has three large galleries supported on panelled square wood
pillars. The ceiling and roof are carried by Ionic columns. Over the bay
of the nave next to the chancel is a large square lantern with flat
ceiling; in each side of the lantern are three light windows.
The chancel is the full width of the nave between the galleries. The end
wall had a window, known in Wesley’s time as the “Nicodemus Window.” It
connected with Wesley’s house, and by its means many of his secret
admirers could take part in the service without being observed by the
congregation. It was filled in after Wesley’s death and was not found
again until 1901, when the wall was pulled down and rebuilt. Vestries
with rooms over now occupy the sides of the chancel, but formerly these
were a portion of the church.
[Illustration]
The top part of the pulpit, formerly a “three decker,” occupied by
Wesley, is still in use as the reading desk. The present pulpit, of
18th-century oak, was a gift from the church of St. George, Bloomsbury,
and the white marble font, dated 1810, came from the parish church of
St. Giles.
IN THE COUNCIL’S COLLECTION ARE:—
[582]Church of All Saints, West Street. Exterior in 1901
(photograph).
General view of interior (photograph).
[582]Top part of Wesley’s pulpit (photograph).
LIII.—SITE OF THE HOSPITAL OF ST. GILES.
The Hospital of St. Giles-in-the-Fields was founded by Maud,[583] Henry
I.’s Queen, probably in 1117 or 1118.[584] Stow[585] giving, on unknown
authority, the date as “about the yeare 1117,” and the Cottonian MS.
_Nero_ C.V.[586] placing the event in 1118. The number of lepers to be
maintained in the Hospital was stated, in the course of the suit between
the Abbot of St. Mary Graces and the Master of Burton Lazars in the
fourth year of Henry IV.’s reign, to be fourteen,[587] and this is to a
certain extent confirmed by a petition[588] from the brethren of the
Hospital, dating from the end of Edward I.’s reign, which gives the
number as “xiij,” apparently a clerical error. On the other hand, the
jury who were sworn to give evidence at the above-mentioned suit,
declared that from time immemorial it had not been the custom to
maintain fourteen, but that sometimes there had been only three, four or
five.