east end of Fenchurch street, and ran with a swift current due west,
to Sherbourn lane, at the west end of St. Mary Woolnoth; then dividing
its stream into several rills, ran directly south, and was lost in the
Wall Brook, on Dowgate hill. _Maitland._
LANGBOURN WARD, took its name from the Langbourn, or rivulet
above-mentioned. It is bounded on the north by Aldgate and Lime street
wards; on the west, by Wallbrook ward; on the south, by Candlewick,
Bridge, Billingsgate, and Tower street wards; and on the east, by
Aldgate ward. Its principal streets are great part of Fenchurch
street, and Lombard street, Exchange alley, Birchinlane, &c.
The most remarkable buildings are, the churches of St. Mary Woolnoth,
St. Edmund the King, Allhallows Lombard street, and St. Dionis
Backchurch; the General Post office, Pewterers hall, and the hall
belonging to the Hudson’s Bay company.
This ward is governed by an Alderman, his Deputy, ten Common Council
men, seventeen wardmote inquest men, nine scavengers, fifteen
constables, and a beadle; and the jurors returned by the wardmote
inquest serve in the several courts of Guildhall in the month of
November.
LANGDON’S _rents_, Bett’s street.
LANGLEY PARK, near Langley Green, in Buckinghamshire, belongs to the
Duke of Marlborough. The late Duke began to build a new house of stone
in this park, but one of the wings is yet wanting to compleat the
design, which is more remarkable for its elegance than grandeur.
LANGLEY _street_, 1. Long Acre.† 2. Whitecross street.†
LANG’S _court_, St. Martin’s lane.†
LASSINGBY’S _court_, Conduit court, Long Acre.†
LAST _alley_, 1. Cow Cross, West Smithfield.* 2. Whitechapel.*
LAST AND BALL _court_, London Wall.*
LATIMERS, a hamlet with a chapel of ease to Chesham in Bucks, received
its name from its ancient Lords. In this hamlet lived Sir Edwyn Sands,
whose daughter having four sons and nine daughters by her husband Sir
Thomas Temple, ancestor of the present Earl Temple, lived to see 700
descended from her, and died in 1656. The Lord James Cavendish has
here a seat.
LAVENDER _street_, near Cuckold’s Point.
LAUGHTON’S _rents_, Cinnamon street.†
_St._ LAWRENCE _Jewry_, on the north side of Cateaton street, in Cheap
ward, is thus denominated from its being dedicated to St. Lawrence, a
native of Huesca in the kingdom of Arragon in Spain, who, after having
suffered the most dreadful torments under the Emperor Valerian, was
cruelly broiled alive upon a gridiron, with a slow fire, till he died:
and it received the additional epithet of Jewry, from its situation
among the Jews, who formerly resided in the streets near that church;
to distinguish it from St. Lawrence Poultney, now demolished.
_Maitland._
This church being burnt, with many others, in the dreadful fire of
London in 1666, was rebuilt at the parish expence, with a very
considerable benefaction by Sir John Langham.
It is eighty-one feet long, sixty-eight broad, forty feet high to the
roof, and the steeple 130 feet high. The body is enlightened by two
series of windows, the lower ones large and uniform, and the upper
small. At the east end is a pediment with niches supported by
Corinthian columns. The tower, which is lofty, is terminated by a
balustrade with plain pinnacles, and within this balustrade rises a
kind of lanthorn, which supports the base of the spire.
This church is a vicarage in the gift of the Master and Scholars of
Baliol college in Oxford, and the profits of the Incumbent are much
augmented by the parish of St. Mary Magdalen Milk street being annexed
to it: he receives 120_l._ a year from the parish, and 20_l._ from
Baliol college.
LAWRENCE _lane_, 1. From Cheapside to Cateaton street, near the above
church. 2. High street, St. Giles’s. 3. New street Lambeth.
_St._ LAWRENCE _Poultney_, on the west side of St. Lawrence Poultney’s
lane, was so denominated from the above saint, and Mr. John Poultney,
who founded a college there; but the church being consumed in the
general conflagration in 1666, and not rebuilt, the parish was united
to that of St. Mary Abchurch.
LAWRENCE POULTNEY _hill_, Canon street.†
LAWRENCE POULTNEY _lane_, Canon street.†
LEAD OFFICE, in Ingram’s court, Fenchurch street. This office belongs to
a company incorporated by letters patent granted by King William and
Queen Mary in the year 1692, under the title of _The Governor and
Company for melting down lead with pit and sea coal_. By this patent
they are empowered to raise a joint stock for the effectual carrying
on the business of smelting, or drawing lead from the ore with sea
coal instead of wood.
This corporation is under the direction of a Governor, Deputy
Governor, and twelve Assistants. _Maitland._
LEADENHALL, a very large building of great antiquity in Leadenhall
street, with flat battlements leaded at the top, and a spacious square
in the middle. In this edifice are the warehouse for the selling of
leather, the Colchester baize hall, the meal warehouse, and the wool
hall.
LEADENHALL MARKET, the largest market in the city of London, and perhaps
in Europe, consists of five considerable squares, or courts, the first
of which opens by a large Gothic gate into Leadenhall street. This
court, which is surrounded by the buildings called Leadenhall, is
surrounded with sheds for butchers, tanners, &c. As there is but
little meat sold here except beef, this is called the Beef market.
This square is on Tuesday a market for leather; on Thursdays the
waggons from Colchester, and other parts, come with baize, &c. and the
felmongers with wool; on Fridays it is a market for raw hides, and on
Saturdays for beef.
Behind this market are two others separated by a range of buildings of
a considerable length, with shops and rooms on each side. In both
these are principally sold small meat, as mutton, veal, lamb, and
pork, and some of the shops sell beef. In the easternmost of these
markets is a market house supported on pillars, with vaults
underneath, and rooms above, with a clock and a bell tower, and
underneath are sold various sorts of provision. Beyond these is a very
spacious market for fowl. There is another called the Herb-market,
which has an entrance into Leadenhall street, but this does not
succeed. The passages into the above markets from Lime street and
Gracechurch street, are filled with the dealers in provisions of
various kinds.
LEADENHALL _street_ extends from the end of Cornhill, at the corner of
Gracechurch street, to Aldgate street within.
LEATHER _lane_, Holborn.
LEATHERDRESSERS _yard_, Paul’s Alley.
LEATHERHEAD, or LETHERHEAD, a small town in Surry, situated about four
miles to the S. W. of Epsom. It had formerly a market, which has been
discontinued above an hundred years. Here is a bridge over the river
Mole, which having sunk into the earth near Mickleham, at the foot of
Boxhill, rises again near this town, and runs through Cobham, to the
Thames at Moulsey. ’Tis pleasantly situated on a rising bank by the
side of the river, and in as good a situation for riding or hunting as
most within twenty miles of London, it having a fine, open, dry,
champaign country almost all round it.
LEATHERSELLERS, a company incorporated by letters patent granted by
Henry VI. in the Year 1442. They are governed by a Prime, and three
Wardens, with twenty-six Assistants, and an hundred and fifty-six
liverymen, who at their admission pay a fine of 20_l._ each.
By a grant of Henry VII. the Wardens of this corporation, or their
deputies, were impowered to have the inspection of sheeps, lambs, and
calves leather throughout the kingdom, in order the more effectually
to prevent frauds in those commodities.
LEATHERSELLERS _hall_ in Little St. Helen’s, was part of the convent of
nuns dedicated to St. Helen, and considering the antiquity of its
building, has some of the best joiners and plaisterers work in the
kingdom. The entrance into the common hall is up a handsome flight of
stone steps from the court yard. The screen is magnificently adorned
with six columns of the Ionic order, enrichments, &c. and the ceiling
enriched with fretwork.
_Boyle’s_ LECTURE. See the article BOYLE’S LECTURE.
LEE’S _Almshouse_, upon the Narrow Wall, Lambeth, was erected by Gerard
Van Lee; and Valentine Van Lee, who was probably his son, gave the
eight poor inhabitants of this house, the sum of 5_l._ _per annum_,
for the term of five hundred Years. _Maitland._
LEE’S _court_, 1. St. Catharine’s lane.† 2. Hockley in the Hole.†
LEE’S _street_, Red Lion square, Holborn.†
LEG _alley_, 1. Barnaby street.* 2. Long Acre.* 3. Shoreditch.* 4.
Tooley street.*
LEG _court_, Peter street, Westminster.*
_St._ LEGER’S _wharf_, Tooley street.†
LEGGET’S _walk_, Upper Ground.†
LEICESTER _fields_, a very handsome square, the inner part of which is
enclosed with iron rails, and adorned with grass plats and gravel
walks, in the center of which is an equestrian statue of his present
majesty gilt. The buildings with which this square is surrounded, are
very good, especially the north side, where is Leicester house, once
the seat of the Earl of Leicester, and now inhabited by her Royal
Highness the Princess Dowager of Wales. This is a large brick
building, neat and commodious, though not magnificent. It has a
spacious court before, and a fine garden behind it; there is here a
good collection of pictures; and from this house the square is
denominated. Next to this edifice is the house of Sir George Savile,
Bart. in which his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales resides at
present.
LEICESTER _street_, 1. By Leicester fields.☐ 2. Liquorpond street. 3.
Warwick street, Haymarket.
LEIGH’S _court_, St. Catharine’s lane.†
LEITH HILL, near Boxhill in Surry, admired for affording one of the
noblest prospects in all Europe, of which Mr. Dennis gives a lively
description in his Letters familiar, moral and critical; we shall
therefore transcribe his words. “In a late journey,” says he, “which I
took into the Wild of Sussex, I passed over an hill which shewed me a
more transporting sight than ever the country had shewn me before,
either in England or Italy. The prospects which in Italy pleased me
most, were that of the Valdarno from the Apennines; that of Rome, and
the Mediterranean from the mountains of Viterbo; of Rome at forty, and
the Mediterranean at fifty miles distance from it; and that of the
Campagne of Rome from Tivoli and Frescati; from which two places you
see every foot of that famous Campagne, even from the bottom of Tivoli
and Frescati to the very foot of the mountain of Viterbo, without any
thing to intercept your sight. But from an hill which I passed in my
late journey into Sussex, I had a prospect more extensive than any of
these, and which surpassed them at once in rural charms, in pomp, and
in magnificence. The hill which I speak of, is called Leith Hill, and
is about five miles southward from Darking, about six from Box Hill,
and near twelve from Epsom. It juts itself out about two miles beyond
that range of hills which terminate the north downs to the south. When
I saw from one of these hills, at about two miles distance that side
of Leith Hill which faces the northern downs, it appeared the
beautifullest prospect I had ever seen: but after we had conquered the
hill itself, I saw a sight that would transport a stoic; a sight that
looked like enchantment and vision. Beneath us lay open to our view
all the wilds of Surry and Sussex, and a great part of that of Kent,
admirably diversified in every part of them with woods, and fields of
corn and pastures, every where adorned with stately rows of trees.
“This beautiful vale is about thirty miles in breadth, and about sixty
in length, and is terminated to the south by the majestic range of the
southern hills, and the sea: and it is no easy matter to decide,
whether these hills, which appear at thirty, forty, fifty miles
distance, with their tops in the sky, seem more aweful and venerable,
or the delicious vale between you and them more inviting. About noon,
in a serene day, you may at thirty miles distance, see the very water
of the sea through a chasm of the mountains. And that which above all
makes it a noble and a wonderful prospect, is, that at the same time
that, at thirty miles distance, you behold the very water of the sea;
at the same time that you behold to the south, the most delicious
rural prospect in the world; at that very time, by a little turn of
your head towards the north, you look full over Box Hill, and see the
country beyond it, between that and London; and, over the very
stomacher of it, see St. Paul’s at twenty-five miles distance, and
London beneath it, and Highgate and Hampstead beyond it.”
LEMON _street_, 1. Goodman’s fields.† 2. Lowman’s Pond row, Southwark.†
LEMONTREE _yard_, Bedfordsbury.*
_St._ LEONARD’S _Eastcheap_, was dedicated to Leonard, a French saint,
and mighty miracle-monger, and stood on the east side of Fish street
hill, near Little Eastcheap; but being destroyed by the fire of London
in 1666, and not rebuilt, the parish is annexed to that of St.
Bennet’s Gracechurch street. _Maitland._
_St._ LEONARD’S _Foster lane_, was dedicated to the above-mentioned
saint, and stood on the west side of Foster lane, Cheapside; but
suffering in the fatal catastrophe of 1666, and not being rebuilt, the
parish is annexed to that of Christ’s Church.
_St._ LEONARD’S _Shoreditch_. There was a church in this place dedicated
to the same saint in very early times, and there are records of a
dispute concerning itz in the reign of Henry II. The last structure,
which was a very mean heavy pile, stood till the year 1735, when the
inhabitants having the year before applied to parliament, it was
pulled down, and the present light and elegant edifice was soon after
erected in its room. _Strype’s edit. of Stow._
To this church there is an ascent by a double flight of plain steps,
which lead to a portico of the angular kind supported by four Doric
columns, and bearing an angular pediment. The body of the edifice is
plain, but well enlightened, and the steeple light, elegant and lofty.
The tower at a proper height has a series of Ionic columns, and on
their entablature are scrolls which support as many Corinthian columns
placed on pedestals, and supporting a dome, from whose crown rises a
series of columns of the Composite order, on whose entablature rests
the spire standing upon four balls, which give it an additional air of
lightness; and on the top, as usual, is a ball and fane.
This church is both a rectory and a vicarage; but the distinct rights
of the Rector and Vicar are said to be not thoroughly ascertained;
however the profits of the vicarage amount to about 350_l._ a year.
LEOPARD _alley_, Saffron hill.*
LEOPARD’S _court_, Baldwin’s Gardens.
LESTER’S _yard_, Bluegate fields.†
LEVERIDGE’S _yard_, Nightingale lane.†
LEWISHAM, a town in Kent, situated on the river Ravensburn, between
Blackheath and Surry. Here are two free schools, of which the
Leathersellers company in London are Governors.
LEWIS’S _yard_, 1. Greenbank, Wapping.† 2. Saffron hill.†
LEYDON _street_, Shadwell market.†
LIDIER’S _court_, Saltpetre bank.†
LIFEGUARD _yard_, Oxford street.
LILLEY’S _alley_, Saffron hill.†
LILLIPOT _lane_, Noble street, Foster lane.†
LIMEHOUSE, was anciently a village above two miles distant from the city
of London, though it is now joined by a continued chain of buildings:
its original name was Limehurst, which has been corrupted to
Limehouse, This, according to Mr. Stow, is a Saxon word signifying a
grove of lime trees, and it was given to this village, on account of
the number of those trees anciently in that neighbourhood.
LIMEHOUSE _bridge_, Limehouse.
LIMEHOUSE _causeway_, Limehouse.
LIMEHOUSE _corner_, Limehouse.
LIMEHOUSE _dock_, Narrow street, Limehouse.
LIMEHOUSE _Fore street_, at the end of Ratcliff Narrow street.
LIMEHOUSE HOLE, Limehouse.
LIMEHOUSE HOLE _stairs_, Limehouse.
LIMEHOUSE HOLE _street_, Limehouse.
LIMEHOUSE _road_, White Horse street.
LIMEKILN _dock_, Limehouse.
LIMEKILN _hill_, Limehouse.
LIMEKILN _yard_, Limehouse.
LIME _street_, extends from Leadenhall street into Fenchurch street, and
is thus called from its being anciently a place where lime was either
made or sold. _Maitland._
LIME STREET _square_, Lime street.
LIME STREET WARD, is very small, and is bounded on the north and east by
Aldgate ward; on the south by Langbourn ward; and on the west, by
Bishopsgate ward. It is observable that there is no church, nor whole
street in this ward, though it runs through several parishes. Its
principal buildings are the East India House, and Leadenhall.
To this ward belong an Alderman and four Common Council men, including
the Deputy, four constables, two scavengers, sixteen wardmote inquest
men, and a beadle. The jurymen returned by the wardmote inquest serve
as jurors in the several courts in Guildhall, in the month of
November.
LIME TREE _court_, Narrow wall, Southwark.‡
LIMPSFIELD, a village near Croydon in Surry, in the Kent road.
LINCOLN’S INN, one of the four Inns of Court, is situated on the west
side of Chancery lane, where formerly stood the houses of the Bishop
of Chichester and of the Black Friars, the latter erected about the
year 1222, and the former about 1226; but both of them coming to Henry
Lacey, Earl of Lincoln, he built in their room a stately mansion for
his city residence. It however afterwards reverted to the bishopric of
Chichester, and was demised by Robert Sherbourn, Bishop of that see,
to Mr. William Syliard, a student there, for a term of years; after
the expiration of which Dr. Richard Sampson, his successor, in the
year 1536 passed the inheritance thereof to the said Syliard and
Eustace his brother; and the latter, in 1579, in consideration of the
sum of 500_l._ conveyed the house and gardens in fee to Richard
Kingsmill and the rest of the benchers.
The charge of admission into this house, including fees, amount to
5_l._ and every student, after studying there seven years, is admitted
to the bar. The members are obliged to be a fortnight in commons every
term, on the penalty of paying 18_s._ in case of absence. _Stow._
_Maitland._
Lincoln’s Inn principally consists of three rows of good buildings,
all taken up by gentlemen of the society. These form three sides of
the square, and here the buildings are all new and uniform, the north
side lying open to the gardens, which are greatly improved with gravel
walks, grass plats, rows of trees, and a very long terrace walk, which
affords a fine prospect of Lincoln’s Inn Fields. In the middle of the
square is a neat fluted Corinthian column in a small bason surrounded
with iron bars. This column supports a handsome sun dial, which has
four sides, and on the corners of the pedestal are four naked boys
spouting water out of Tritons’ shells. This is one of the neatest
squares in town, and tho’ it is imperfect on one side, that very
defect produces a beauty by giving a prospect of the gardens, which
are only separated from it by iron rails, and fill the space to
abundantly more advantage. No area is kept in better order for
cleanliness and beauty by day, or illuminations and decorum by night.
The fountain in the middle is a pretty decoration. The print
represents as much of the square as could be taken in the visual angle
at one view, with the fountain in the middle, as it appears coming
into it from Portugal row. This is one of the most considerable Inns
of Court possessed by the gentlemen of the law. Here is a good hall
and chapel of Gothic architecture. The latter was built by Inigo
Jones, who notwithstanding his skill and reputation in architecture,
could not persuade them to have it in any other stile.
The above gardens, which are extremely pleasant and commodious, are,
like those of Gray’s Inn, laid open for public use; the greatest part
of the west side of the square is taken up with the offices belonging
to the stamp duty. See STAMP OFFICE.
A little behind the north east side of the square is the above chapel,
which was built about the year 1622 or 1623, on pillars, with an
ambulatory or walk underneath, paved with broad stones. This walk,
particularly when illuminated by the lamps, inspires the mind with a
kind of melancholy pleasure, that may be better felt than described.
The outside of the chapel is a good piece of Gothic architecture, and
the windows are painted with the figures at full length of the
principal personages mentioned in the sacred Scriptures. On the twelve
windows on the north side, are Abraham, Moses, Eli, David, and the
prophets Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Zachariah, with
John the Baptist, and St. Paul, and on the south side are the rest of
the Apostles. Under these figures are the arms of a great number of
the gentlemen belonging to this society. The colours in these
paintings being extremely bright and beautiful, it is not at all
surprizing that these pictures on glass should be much admired, though
the designs are in reality but poor, and there is little expression in
the faces.
In the old buildings fronting the garden beyond the square, is the
library, which consists of a good collection of books in several
languages and faculties.
[Illustration:
_S. Wale delin._ _J. Fougeron sculp._
_Lincoln’s Inn._
]
LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS, is universally allowed to be the largest, and one
of the most beautiful squares in London, if not in Europe. It is
encompassed on three sides by houses, and on the east by the wall of
the terrace of Lincoln’s Inn garden. The north side is called Newman’s
row, the west side Arch row, the south side Portugal row, and the east
side Lincoln’s Inn wall. This square was originally laid out by the
masterly hand of Inigo Jones, and it is said that the sides of it are
the exact measure of the great Pyramid of Egypt. It was intended to
have been built all in the same stile; but there were not a sufficient
number of people of taste, to accomplish so great a work. The house
which was late the Duke of Ancaster’s, is built on this model; but
elevated and improved so as to make it more suitable to the quality of
the owner. It has that simple grandeur which characterises all the
designs of the celebrated Inigo Jones. The print here given of it may
serve to convey some idea not only of this particular house, but of
the noble appearance which the whole square would have made had it
been all built after this fine design.
Some of the houses however in this square are grand and noble, but
they are far from having that beauty which arises from uniformity. The
square is now adorned with a fine bason in the middle, well supplied
with water; and with grass plats and gravel walks, encompassed with an
iron pallisade fixed upon a stone plinth, at a proper distance from
the buildings.
LINCOLN’S INN _gate_, on the south side of Lincoln’s Inn square.
LINCOLN’S INN _passage_, on the west side of Lincoln’s Inn square.
LINTON’S _court_, Near New Gravel lane.†
LINTON’S _lane_, Newington Butts.†
LINTON’S _yard_, Milk yard, Shadwell.†
LION AND LAMB _alley_, Golden lane.*
LION’S _court_, Lutener’s Lane.†
LION’S INN, anciently a common Inn, with the sign of the Lion, is one of
the Inns in Chancery, and is situated between Holiwell street and Wych
street. It is a member of the Inner Temple, and is governed by a
Treasurer and twelve Ancients, who with the other members are to be
three weeks in commons in Michaelmas term, and a fortnight in each of
the rest. _Chamberlain’s Present State._ _Maitland._
LION’S INN _court_, Lion’s Inn.*
LION’S _key_, Thames street.†
LION’S _street_, Bloomsbury.†
LION’S _yard_, Whitecross street.†
LIQUORPOND _street_, Leather lane.
LISLE _street_, Prince’s street, Soho.†
LISSHAM _Green_, a pleasant village near Paddington.
LITCHFIELD _street_, Soho.
LITTLE ALMONRY, by the Great Almonry, Westminster; so named from the
alms given there. See the next article.