the lepers, and had afterwards granted the ward of the Hospital to the
citizens of London,[589] who appointed two persons to supervise the
Hospital. Certain of the citizens had given rents, etc., amounting to
upwards of £80 a year towards the maintenance of lepers of the City and
suburbs,[590] and an arrangement come to[591] in the reign of Edward
III. between the City and the Warden of the Hospital provided that,
apparently in accordance with the ancient custom, the whole of the
fourteen lepers should be taken from the City and suburbs and presented
by the Mayor and Commonalty, or that if there were not so many within
those limits, the County of Middlesex should be included, and that in
the event of further gifts to the Hospital by good men of the City, the
number of lepers should be increased in proportion. It will be seen,
therefore, that the Hospital of St. Giles was, in early times, a
peculiarly London institution, and very closely connected with the
governing body of the City.
On 4th April, 1299,[592] it was granted to the Hospital of Burton Lazars
in Leicestershire. It thus became a cell to that house, and a member of
the order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem. Except for a short intermission,
it remained under the control of the house of Burton Lazars until the
dissolution in 1539, but it must long before have ceased to serve its
original purpose. Its constitution during the later period of its
existence is obscure, but the place of the lepers was probably taken by
infirm persons, when leprosy became extinct. The hospital appears to
have been governed by a Warden, who was subordinate to the Master of
Burton Lazars.
The Precinct of the Hospital probably included the whole of the island
site now bounded by High Street, Charing Cross Road[593] and Shaftesbury
Avenue; it was entered by a Gatehouse in High Street. The Hospital
church is sufficiently represented by the present parish church, while
the other buildings of the hospital included the Master’s House
(subsequently called the Mansion House) to the west of the church, and
the Spittle Houses, which probably stood in the High Street to the east
of the church. There is no evidence of the internal arrangement of these
buildings, with the exception of the church, which survived till 1623,
and will be described below.
THE GATEHOUSE.
The position of The Gatehouse may be roughly gathered from a deed of
1618[594], which refers to “all that old decayed building or house
commonly called the Gatehouse, adjoyning next unto one small old
tenement or building set and being att or neare unto or uppon the
north-west corner of the brickwall inclosing the north and west parte of
the churchyard.”
MANSION HOUSE AND ADJACENT BUILDINGS.
A few years after the dissolution in 1539, the property of the Hospital
was divided between Lord Lisle and Katherine Legh[595], when there fell
to the share of the former the mansion place or capital house of the
Hospital; a messuage, part of the Hospital, with orchards and gardens,
in the tenure of Doctor Borde; and a messuage, part of the Hospital,
with orchard and garden, in the tenure of Master Densyle, formerly of
Master Wynter. Lisle transferred the property to Sir Wymonde Carew, who
at his death was found to be seized of and in “the capital mansion of
the Hospital of St. Giles-in-the-Fields and of and in certain parcels of
land with appurtenances in the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields.”[596]
Thomas Carew, his son, seems to have disposed of the whole of the
property, and in 1563 the above-mentioned, described as four messuages,
were in the possession of Francis Downes.
On 10th April, 1566, Robert and Edward Downes sold[597] to John Graunge
“all those messuages, tenements, houses, edyfices, barns, stables,
gardens, orchards, meadows, etc., with the appurtenances, now or late in
the several occupations of the Right Hon. Sir Willyam Herbert, knyght,
now Erell of Pembroke, —— Byrcke, Esq., Johan Wyse, wydowe, Anthony
Vuidele, Thomas More, Henrye Hye, and —— Troughton, —— Wylson, lyng and
being in St. Gyles in the Fieldes.”
There are no records by which the history of these several houses may be
traced, but at the beginning of the 17th century the property, having
then passed into the hands of Robert Lloyd[598] (Floyd, or Flood), seems
chiefly to have comprised five large houses.[599]
On 19th March, 1617–8, Robert Lloyd[600] sold to Isaac Bringhurst the
reversion of a house, formerly in the occupation of Jas. Bristowe and
then in that of Thomas Whitesaunder, situated “nere unto the west end of
the ... parish church” and to the south of Sir Edward Cope’s residence,
having an enclosure on its east side 45 feet wide by 17½ and 18 feet,
and gardens and ground on the west side, extending 288½ feet to Hog
Lane. Assuming a depth of from 30 to 40 feet for the house itself, it
will be seen that the premises stretched between the church and Hog Lane
for a distance of about 340 feet, and after making due allowance for the
fact that Hog Lane was much narrower than Charing Cross Road, its modern
representative, it will be apparent that the only possible course taken
by the above mentioned property was along the line of Little Denmark
Street, formerly Lloyd’s Court. Unfortunately the history of the house
in question cannot be definitely traced after 1629[601], but if the site
suggested above is correct, the premises subsequently came into the
possession of Elizabeth Saywell (_née_ Lloyd) who, by will dated 5th
January, 1712–3, gave all her real estate in St. Giles, after several
estates for life, to Benjamin Carter for his life, and devised a fourth
part of her estate to trustees for charitable purposes. Benjamin Carter
on 12th March, 1727, accordingly granted to trustees all that old
capital messuage or tenement wherein Mrs. Saywell had resided, “which
said capital messuage had been pulled down and several messuages, houses
or tenements, had been erected on the ground whereon the said capital
messuage stood situated in a certain place, commonly called Lloyd’s
Court.”[602]
Immediately to the north of the last mentioned house was the mansion of
Sir Edward Cope, described in 1612[603] as “with twoe litle gardens
before on the north side thereof impalled, and a large garden with a
pumpe and a banquetting house on the south side of the same tenement,
walled about with bricke, and a stable and the stable yard adjoyning to
the same garden.”
If the site ascribed to the previous house is correct, Sir Edward Cope’s
mansion must have been identical with that shown in the map in Strype’s
edition of Stow (Plate 5) as “Ld. Wharton’s,” situated between the
houses on the north side of Lloyd’s Court and on the south side of
Denmark Street. In 1652, the house was in the tenure of John Barkstead
or his assigns.[604] Philip, 4th Lord Wharton, was resident in St. Giles
in 1677,[605] probably at this house, and the “garden of Lord Wharton”
is in 1687 mentioned[606] as the southern boundary of premises in
Denmark Street. It seems a reasonable suggestion that this house was
originally the _capitalis mansio_, or master’s house.
The same deed of 1612 mentions(i) a house in the tenure of Tristram
Gibbs, with a stable towards the street on the north side, and a large
garden on the south, “walled on the east side and toward a lane of the
south side,” abutting west on the garden of Frances Varney’s house; and
(ii) a house “now or latelie in the tenure of Alice, the Lady Dudley,”
with a paved court on the north side before the door, a stable on the
north side towards the street, another paved court backwards towards the
south, walled with brick, and a large walled garden on the south side.
The position of Tristram Gibbs’s house can be roughly identified by the
fact that a parcel of ground abutting north on Denmark Street and south
on Lord Wharton’s garden and ground is stated[607] to have been formerly
“part of the garden belonging to the messuage in tenure of Tristram
Gibbs, Esq.” The house was therefore to the north of Lord Wharton’s
house, and its site probably extended over part of Denmark Street.
The position of Lady Dudley’s house may be roughly ascertained from the
particulars given in the deed of 1618,[608] which mentions the
Gatehouse. Therein reference is made to the site of a certain house
formerly adjoining the north part of the Gatehouse, “conteyninge in
length from the north part to the south part, viz., from the end or
corner of a certain stone wall, being the wall of the house or stable
there of the Lady Dudley unto the south-east corner post or utmost
lymittes of the said Gatehouse 39½ feet, and in breadth att the north
end, viz., from the uttermost side of the said stone wall att the south
east corner thereof to a certen little shed or building there called a
coach house of the said Lady Dudley, 19 feet; and in length from south
to north, viz., from the uttermost lymittes or south-west corner post of
the said Gatehouse to a certen old foundacion of a wall lying neare unto
the south side of the said coache house 28 feet, and in breadth from
east to west att the south end and so throughe all the full length of
the said 28 feet of the said soile or ground 28½ feet.” The above is not
as clear as it might be, but it certainly shows that Lady Dudley’s
stable was to the north of the Gatehouse, which, as has been shown, was
near the north-west angle of the churchyard. Lady Dudley’s house,
therefore, probably occupied a site to the north of Denmark Street.
The most northerly of the five large houses existing here at the
beginning of the 17th century was the White House. This was, in 1618,
when it was sold by Robert Lloyd to Isaac Bringhurst,[609] in the
occupation of Edmund Verney, and was then described as “all that one
messuage or tenement, with appurtenances, commonly known by the name of
the White House, and one yard, one garden and one long walke, and one
stable with a hay lofte over the same.” In 1631 it was purchased by Lady
Dudley,[610] who three years later transferred[611] it to trustees to be
used for the purposes of a parsonage. At the time a lease of the
premises for three lives was held by Edward Smith, and this was not
determined until 1681, when the house had become “very ruinous and
scarcely habitable.”[612] The Rector at once entered into an agreement
with John Boswell, a hatmaker of St. Dunstan’s West, for rebuilding, and
it was arranged that the houses to be erected on the site should be
built “with all materials and scantlings conformable to the third rate
buildings prescribed by the Act of Parliament for rebuilding the City of
London.” The result was presumably Dudley Court, now Denmark Place.
THE SPITTLE HOUSES.
Among the properties which fell to the portion of Katherine Legh, after
the dissolution of the Hospital were “all those messuages, houses and
buyldinges, landes and tenements callyd the Spyttell howses, with all
the orchards and gardens thereunto adjoyning.” The only property
situated within the Precinct that can be traced as belonging to
Katherine, consists of (i.) four houses and gardens, immediately to the
east of the churchyard[613] and, between these and what is now
Shaftesbury Avenue, (ii.) a house, garden and orchard.[614] The
westernmost house of (i.) was probably _The Angel_, which is definitely
mentioned as having been transferred to Katherine, but the remaining
houses, etc., almost certainly were the Spittle houses, with their
orchards and gardens. They are shown distinctly on Agas’s Map (Plate 1).
PASTURE GROUND.
The whole of the remainder of the Precinct to the south of the Hospital
was, in the days of Elizabeth, pasture ground, and is probably to be
identified with the close lying within the Precinct, commonly called the
Pale Close, which is stated[615] to have formed part of the property
transferred to Lord Lisle. The first specific mention of the ground
occurs in 1564, when the jurors holding the _Inquisitionem Post Mortem_
on Francis Downes found[616] that he was seized, _inter alia_, of and in
four messuages and four acres of pasture in the parish of St.
Giles-in-the-Fields. Downes, it is stated, purchased the property from
Thomas Carew, son and heir of Sir Wymonde Carew, to whom it had been
sold by Lord Lisle.
The four acres subsequently passed to John Graunge, in 1566, whose son
sold them in 1611 to Robert Lloyd (otherwise called Floyd or Flood). On
the latter’s death in 1617, he was found to be seized of and in a house
with a garden on the east side, a barn and garden on the south of the
house, and a stable and two closes of pasture, containing four acres,
adjoining the barn and garden.[617] The next reference to the ground is
in 1622, when it is referred to[618] as “two closes, formerly pasture,
late converted into gardens and purchased ... by Abraham Speckard and
Dorothy his wife.” It next passed to Sir Richard Stydolph, for Charles
Tryon, his grandson, refers in his will,[619] signed 2nd November, 1705,
to “a piece or parcell of ground containing about four acres lying in
the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields ... near the church ... on which
said ground are now standing ... severall houses and other buildings
held by severall leases thereof granted by Sir Richard Stydolphe ... all
or most whereof will in few years expire.” With this fact is undoubtedly
to be connected the licence granted in July, 1671, to Sir Richard
Stydolph to continue building at the back of St. Giles’s church. The
licence[620] sets forth that Stydolph had let ground “on the backside of
St. Giles’ Church in the way to Pickadilly to severall poore men who
build hansome and uniforme houses, some whereof were quite covered and
the fundacions of the rest laid,” before the proclamation prohibiting
building on new foundations had been issued. In due course, “Christopher
Wren, Esq.,” viewed the place and made a report, approving generally of
the scheme and suggesting that it might “tend in some measure to cure
the noisomnesse of that part,” provided that the building was carried
out in accordance with a settled design. On this condition the necessary
permission was given, and it was provided that two copies of the
“designe, mapp or charte” should be made, neither of which,
unfortunately, is available at the present day. Stidwell Street
preserved for some time, in garbled form, the name of the owner of these
lands.
THE MANOR AND POSSESSIONS OF ST. GILES’ HOSPITAL.
Up to within a few years of its dissolution, the Hospital of St.
Giles, or rather that of Burton Lazars, in whose custody it was,
owned the greater portion of the present Parish of St. Giles,
together with large estates in other parishes.
On 2nd June, 1536, however, Henry VIII. effected an exchange[621]
with the Master of Burton Lazars, whereby the latter received
certain property in Leicestershire and transferred to the King the
undermentioned:—
Manors of Feltham and Heston.
Messuages, etc., in Feltham and Heston.
2 acres of meadow in the Fields of St. Martins.
25 acres of pasture lying in the village of St. Giles.[622]
5 acres of pasture near Colman’s Hedge.[622]
5 acres of pasture in Colmanhedge Field.[622]
A close called Conduit Close, of five acres.
A close called Marshland.
A messuage called _The White Hart_, and 18 acres of pasture
thereto belonging.
A messuage called _The Rose_, and a pasture thereto belonging.
A messuage called _The Vine_.
[Illustration:
_Dudley._
]
Reserved were the church and rectory of Feltham, and all glebes,
tithes, etc., belonging thereto.
Of the lands and houses above-mentioned, only the last four were
in the parish of St. Giles, and three of them have already been
dealt with. _The Vine_ was on the north side of High Holborn, and
its site, with that of the close behind, is now marked by Grape
Street, formerly Vine Street.
Very shortly afterwards, Sir Thomas Legh, the notorious visitor of
the monasteries, made a determined effort to gain possession of
the Hospital of Burton Lazars,[623] and obtained from Thomas
Radclyff, then master, the next advowson of the Hospital for his
life. This was confirmed in March, 1536–7, by Letters Patent.[624]
In 1539 the Hospital was dissolved, and its possessions reverted
to the Crown. Legh, however, for several years continued to hold
the property, and enjoy the profits, spiritual and temporal, until
on 6th May, 1544, the King granted to Sir John Dudley, Viscount
Lisle, the Hospital with all its possessions in Leicestershire,
St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and elsewhere. Very naturally, this
resulted in “contencion, varyence and stryfe” being “reysed,
stirred and dependyng betweene the said Viscount Lisle ... and the
said Sir Thomas Legh ... of for and aboute the right, tytle,
interest, occupation and possession of the seyd late Hospytall,”
and the Lord Chancellor, Lord Wriothesley, was appointed
arbitrator to settle the matter.
In the course of the same year (1544) Wriothesley gave his award,
dividing the property between the two claimants, but as the
arrangement was never completed it is not necessary to give
details here.[625]
It appears that when the award in question was being obtained,
Lord Lisle was absent from the country, “beinge occupied in the
parties beyond the see in and aboute the Kynges Majesties affaires
concernynge his warres,” and on his return refused to carry out
the decree, claiming that “the veray trewe and hoole tytle of the
seyde Viscounte of and in the premysses” had not been disclosed.
On 24th November, 1545, Sir Thomas Legh died,[626] leaving as his
sole heir a daughter, Katherine, aged five years. His widow, Joan,
pressed for the execution of the award, and eventually on 8th
March, 1545–6, a further decree[627] was made modifying the
former. In accordance therewith an indenture[628] was on 24th
March drawn up between Lord Lisle and Dame Joan Legh, providing
for the transfer to the latter during her life, with remainder to
Katherine, of the undermentioned property.
“All those messuages, houses, and buyldinges, landes and tenements
callyd the Spyttell howses, with all the orchards, gardens
thereunto adjoyning.”
A close called St. Giles’ Wood.[629]
_The Chequer._[630]
4 cottages in the occupation of John Baron.
11 cottages in the occupation of William Wilkinson.
_The Maidenhead_,[703] with a garden.
_The Bear_ and 2 cottages adjoining.
Bear Close and Aldwych Close.
_The George._[703]
A “mese” in the occupation of John Smith.
_The Angel._
6 cottages in the occupation of William Hosyer.
_The King’s Head._[703]
2 cottages near _The Greyhound_.
Rents from _The Crown_ and a brewhouse.
The tithe of two fields[631] in Bloomsbury.
13 cottages in St. Andrew’s, Holborn.
The Round Rents[632] and other tenements and cottages in St.
Andrew’s, Holborn.
Lands in Essex, Sussex, Northampton, York, Northumberland and
Norfolk.
Rents from a large number of properties in the City of London, St.
Clement Danes, etc.
In Lord Lisle’s hands remained:—
“The capitall house of the seyd late Hospitall of Seynte Gyles in
the feldes and all the stables, barnes, orchards and gardeyns
thereunto adjoyninge.”
Two “meses” parcels of the same site, with orchards and gardens,
etc., late in the tenure of Dr. Borde and Master Densyll.
A close of 16 acres lying before the Great Gate, in the occupation
of Master Magnus.
A close lying within the precinct, commonly called the Pale Close.
A close of 20 acres called The Newlands.[633]
A piece of ground called The Lane.[633]
Certain lands in Norfolk.
Lisle retained the property only for a few months, selling it in
the same year[634] (1546) to John Wymond Carew, (afterwards Sir
Wymond). Sir Wymond died on 23rd August, 1549, when he was
found[635] to be seized of “and in the capital mansion of the
Hospital of St. Giles-in-the-Fields and of and in certain
parcels of land with appurtenances in the parish of St.
Giles-in-the-Fields ... in his demesne as of fee.”
In December, 1561, his widow, Dame Martha Carew, gave up, in
return for an annuity, to his son Thomas “all those lands,
tenements, rents, hereditaments, etc., lieing and being in St.
Gyles and Maribone, nere London, late belonging to Burton Lazar,
which she holds by way of jointure”;[636] and Thomas sold them to
Francis Downes. On the latter’s death in 1564 they were
particularised[637] as four messuages, and four acres of pasture
in St. Giles, and 20 acres of pasture in St. Marylebone.
[Illustration:
_Blount._
]
Although the manor of St. Giles is not mentioned, it must have
been included in the portion assigned to Katherine Legh, for it is
found afterwards in her possession. Sir Thomas’s widow died on 5th
January, 1555–6[638] (having previously remarried[639]), leaving
Katherine in her sixteenth year. Such a desirable prize was not
likely to remain long in the matrimonial market, and a husband was
soon found in the person of Sir James Blount, Lord Mountjoy.
Blount’s life seems to have been one of continual financial worry,
and his mortgages and recognisances figure very prominently in the
Close Rolls of the period.[640]
The date of his marriage with Katherine Legh is not known
precisely, but it was certainly within 13 months of the death of
her mother.[641] By degrees the greater portion of Lady
Katherine’s inheritance was converted into ready money, and among
other transactions, the manor of St. Giles was on 18th July, 1565,
mortgaged to Robert Browne, citizen and goldsmith of London, and
Thomas his son.[642] The mortgage was never redeemed,[643] and on
20th June, 1579, Thomas Browne parted with the manor to Thos.
Harris, who in turn sold it on 12th February, 1582–3, to John
Blomeson. Blomeson retained it for nine years, and on 3rd May,
1592, sold it to “Walter Cope, of the Strand, Esq.,”[644]
afterwards Sir Walter Cope.[645] On his death in 1614, the manor
came into the possession of his daughter and sole heiress,
Isabella, who married Sir Henry Rich, and on 2nd April, 1616, it
was sold to Philip Gifford and Thos. Risley, in trust for Henry,
third Earl of Southampton.[646]
[Illustration:
_Russell._
]
On the death of the fourth earl in 1668, it became the property of
his daughter, Lady Rachel Russell, from whom it descended to the
Dukes of Bedford, who now hold it.
LIV.—THE CHURCH OF ST. GILES-IN-THE-FIELDS.
FIRST CHURCH.
In a book,[647] now in the possession of the Holborn Metropolitan
Borough Council, containing a number of extracts apparently copied from
an earlier volume, is the copy of a document dated 26th January,
1630–31, in which it is stated that Queen Maud, about the year 1110,
here built a church “pulchram satis et magnificam,” and called it by the
name of St. Giles-in-the-Fields. It is possible that the statement is
merely based on the fact of the foundation of the hospital, including
the church, at about that date.
Although there is no record of any presentation to the living before the
Hospital was suppressed in 1539, the fact that the parish of St. Giles
was in existence at least as early as 1222[648] necessitates the
assumption that the church was partially used for parochial purposes.
After the suppression of the Hospital the whole fabric became parochial.
The earliest institution that has been found to[649] this church is
dated 20th April, 1547, and was at the presentation of Sir Wymond Carew.
On the next occasion (1571) the privilege was exercised by Queen
Elizabeth, and since that time the patronage has always been in the
hands of the Crown.
Very little information remains as to the architectural character of the
church (whether the original structure or not) at the time of the
dissolution.[650]
Besides the high altar there must have been an altar to the patron
saint, St. Giles. There is also evidence of the existence of a chapel of
St. Michael, for in the 46th year of Henry III. Robert of Portpool
bequeathed certain rents to provide for the maintenance of a chaplain
“to celebrate perpetually divine service in the chapel of St. Michael,
within the hospital church of S. Giles.”[651]
According to an order of the Vestry of 8th August, 1623, there then
existed a nave and a chancel, both with pillars, clerestory walls over,
and aisles on either side.
The Vestry minutes of 21st April, 1617, record the erection of a steeple
with a peal of bells, but from the fact that “casting the bells” is
mentioned as well as the buying of new bells, and from the reference to
it in the following year (9th September, 1618) as “the new steeple,” it
seems probable that something of the kind had existed before.
Parton[652] says that there was in early times a small round bell tower,
with a conical top, at the western end of the church, but his authority
for the statement is very doubtful.
The size of the church, measured within the walls, was 153 feet by 65
feet.[653]
SECOND CHURCH.