have been taken about this time, or at least _before_ the year 1561,
since it shews the Cathedral of St. Paul surmounted by its famous
spire, which was then destroyed. The picture, itself, is a prospect
of London, taken from St. Catherine’s, below the Tower, over the
gate of which are two turrets, since gone, and behind the Tower is a
view of Grace Dieu Abbey in the Minories, with the spires and tops
of several other Churches and buildings. Mr. Gough, in his ‘_British
Topography_,’ volume i., page 748, esteems this to be the oldest view
of London extant; and states that it was a painting in the possession
of Mr. John Grove, of Richmond, who had it engraven in Nov. 1754, by
J. Wood, and dedicated to the Right Honourable Philip, Lord Hardwicke,
Lord Chancellor, &c. This view consists of a whole-sheet folio plate,
executed in the line-manner; the Bridge is shewn in the distance,
having fifteen arches only, with three separate piles of buildings and
towers above: and in the front are several ancient vessels and boats.
Though Mr. Gough states that the plate has been mislaid, impressions
from it are by no means exceedingly rare, excepting when they are in
fine preservation, as to colour and margin; and, it should be remarked,
that there is also a quarto copy of it in the second number of a
singular, but unfinished work, published by Messrs. Boydell and Co. in
1818, entitled ‘_London before the Great Fire_.’ This view of London
Bridge is, however, much too distant for _our_ purpose; even if its
authority were less apocryphal, than it is generally supposed to be.
“The year 1564 was remarkable, inasmuch as it concerned London
Bridge, for a severe frost upon the Thames, which began on Thursday,
December the 21st, and of which Stow, in his ‘_Annals_,’ page 658, and
Holinshed in his ‘_Chronicle_,’ volume iii., page 1208, give you some
particulars. It is there stated, that the frost continued to such an
extremity, that on New-Year’s Eve ‘people went ouer and alongst the
Thames on the ise from London Bridge to Westminster. Some plaied at the
football as boldlie there, as if it had beene on the drie land: diuerse
of the Court being then at Westminster, shot dailie at prickes set vpon
the Thames; and the people, both men and women, went on the Thames in
greater numbers, than in anie street of the Citie of London. On the
third daie of January at night, it began to thaw, and on the fift there
was no ise to be seene betweene London Bridge and Lambeth, which sudden
thaw caused great floods and high waters, that bare downe bridges and
houses, and drowned manie people in England: especiallie in Yorkshire,
Owes Bridge was borne awaie with others.’
“Stow relates in his ‘_Survey_,’ volume i., page 64, that in April,
1577, the Tower which stood at the Northern end of the Draw-Bridge on
London Bridge, was become so decayed as to require taking down and
removing. A new building was consequently then commenced, and the
heads of the traitors which had formerly stood upon it were re-erected
on the Tower over the Gate at the Bridge foot, Southwark; which was
subsequently known by the name of TRAITORS’ GATE.
[Illustration]
“Whilst I am speaking to you of the removal of these heads to the South
end of London Bridge,--though it comes a little out of the order
of time,--I must not forget to notice the increase of their number,
by those of several persons who were executed for not acknowledging
King Henry VIII. as Supreme Head of the Church of England. The Act,
by which he was so constituted, was passed in the 27th year of his
reign,--1535,--and it ordained that all who refused to take the Oath
of the King’s Ecclesiastical Supremacy, and renounce that of the Pope,
whether Clergyman or layman, should be considered as guilty of High
Treason. The first who suffered under this Act were several of the
Carthusian Monks of the Charter-house,--preceded by their Prior, John
Houghton, on Tuesday, May the 4th,--whose heads were then set up on
the Bridge: but two of the most eminent and remarkable instances, were
those of Bishop Fisher, and Sir Thomas More, to which I shall request
your attention whilst I give you a few particulars.
“John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, was executed on St. Alban’s day,
Tuesday, the 22nd of June, 1535, about ten in the morning; and his head
was to have been erected upon Traitors’ Gate the same night, but that
it was delayed to be exhibited to Queen Anne Boleyn. We gather these
particulars from that most curious little duodecimo, written by Hall,
but attributed to Dr. Thomas Baily, entitled ‘_The Life and Death of
that renowned John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester_,’ London, 1655; in
which also, at page 211, there is the following interesting passage
concerning London Bridge. ‘The next day after his burying, the head,
being parboyled, was pricked upon a pole, and set on high upon London
Bridge, among the rest of the holy Carthusians’ heads that suffered
death lately before him. And here I cannot omit to declare unto you the
miraculous sight of this head, which, after it had stood up the space
of fourteen dayes upon the Bridge, could not be perceived to wast nor
consume: neither for the weather, which then was very hot, neither for
the parboyling in hot water, but grew daily fresher and fresher, so
that in his life-time he never looked so well; for his cheeks being
beautified with a comely red, the face looked as though it had beholden
the people passing by, and would have spoken to them, which many took
for a miracle, that Almighty God was pleased to shew above the course
of Nature, in this preserving the fresh and lively colour in his face,
surpassing the colour he had being alive, whereby was noted to the
world the innocence and holinesse of this blessed father, that thus
innocently was content to lose his head in defence of his Mother, the
Holy Catholique Church of Christ. Wherefore the people coming daily to
see this strange sight, the passage over the Bridge was so stopped with
their going and coming, that almost neither cart nor horse could passe:
and, therefore, at the end of fourteen daies, the executioner was
commanded to throw downe the head, in the night time, into the River of
Thames, and, in the place thereof, was set the head of the most blessed
and constant martyr, Sir Thomas More, his companion, and fellow in all
his troubles, who suffered his passion’--on Tuesday,--‘the 6th of July
next following,’ about nine o’clock in the morning.
“The circumstances attendant upon the relique of this most eminent
man, were but little less singular than the preceding; and Thomas
More, his great-grandson, in his very interesting Life of him, printed
at London, in octavo, 1726, pages 276, 277, says, ‘his head was putt
vpon London Bridge, where as trayters’ heads are sett vpon poles:--and
hauing remained some moneths there, being to be cast into the Thames,
because roome should be made for diuerse others, who, in plentiful
sorte, suffered martyrdome for the same Supremacie, shortly after it
was bought by his daughter Margarett, least,--as she stoutly affirmed
before the Councell, being called before them for the same matter--it
should be foode for fishes; which she buried where she thought fittest.
It was very well to be knowen, as well by the liuelie fauour of him,
which was not all this while in anie thing almost diminished; as also
by reason of one tooth which he wanted whilst he liued: herein it was
to be admired, that the hayres of his head being almost gray, before
his martyrdome, they seemed now, as it were, readish or yellow.’
The pious daughter of this most celebrated Chancellor, is said to
have preserved this relique in a leaden case, and to have ordered
its interment, with her own body, in the Roper vault, under a chapel
adjoining St. Dunstan’s, Canterbury, where it was seen in the year
1715; and again very recently.
“About the time of removing the black and decaying fragments of
these heads, there seem to have been several other alterations and
improvements effected upon London Bridge; for Stow tells us that,
to replace the Tower which was taken down, ‘a new foundation was
drawn, and Sir John Langley, the Lord Mayor, laid the first stone of
another building, in presence of the Sheriffs, and Bridge Masters, on
Wednesday, the 28th of August, 1577. In September, 1579, the Tower was
finished, being a beautiful and chargeable piece of work, and having
all its fabric above the Bridge formed of timber.’ This erection, then,
formed a second SOUTHWARK GATE AND TOWER.
[Illustration]
The structure consisted of four circular turrets, connected by
curtains, and surmounted by battlements, containing a great number of
transom casements; within which, having their roofs and chimneys rising
above the Tower, were several small habitations, whilst beneath, was a
broad covered passage; the building itself projecting considerably over
each side of the Bridge, the width of the carriage-way, at this part,
being about 40 feet. Perhaps, however, the most splendid and curious
building which adorned London Bridge at this time, was the famous
NONESUCH HOUSE;
[Illustration]
so called, because it was constructed in Holland, entirely of wood,
and, being brought over in pieces, was erected in this place with
wooden pegs only, not a single nail being used in the whole fabric. It
stood at some distance beyond the edifice which I last described to
you, nearer the City, at the Northern entrance of the Drawbridge; and
its situation is even yet pointed out to you, by the 7th and 8th Arches
of London Bridge, from the Southwark end, being still called the Draw
Lock, and the Nonesuch Lock. On the London side of the Bridge, the
Nonesuch House was partly joined to numerous small wooden dwellings,
of about 27 feet in depth, which hung over the parapet on each side,
leaving, however, a clear space of 20 feet in the centre; though, over
all these, its carved gables, cupolas, and gilded vanes, majestically
towered. Two Sun-dials, declining East and West, also crowned the top
on the South side; on the former of which was painted the old and
appropriate admonition of ‘_Time and Tide stay for no man_;’ though
these ornaments do not appear to have been erected until the year
1681, in the Mayoralty of Sir Patience Ward. This we learn from Edward
Hatton’s ‘_New View of London_,’ volume ii., page 791.
“Like most of those other buildings, this celebrated edifice also
overhung the East and West sides of the Bridge; and there presented to
the Thames two fronts, of scarcely less magnificence than it exhibited
to Southwark and the City; the columns, windows, and carving, being
similarly splendid; and, thus, equally curious and interesting, was the
NONESUCH HOUSE ON LONDON BRIDGE, SEEN FROM THE WATER.
[Illustration]
Its Southern front only, however, stood perfectly unconnected with
other erections, that being entirely free for about fifty feet before
it, and presenting the appearance of a large building projecting beyond
the Bridge on either side; having a square tower at each extremity,
crowned by short domes, or Kremlin spires, whilst an antiquely-carved
gable arose in each centre. The whole of the front, too, was ornamented
with a profusion of transom casement windows, with carved wooden
galleries before them; and richly sculptured wooden panels and gilded
columns were to be found in every part of it. In the centre was an
arch, of the width of the Drawbridge, leading over the Bridge; and
above it, on the South side, were carved the Arms of St. George, of the
City of London, and those of Elizabeth, France and England quarterly,
supported by the Lion and Dragon; from which circumstance, only, can we
estimate the time when the Nonesuch House was erected.”
“Allow me, however, to observe at this place,” said I, as Mr. Postern
pronounced these last words, “that we have another, and a very curious
piece of evidence too, for believing that the Nonesuch House on
London Bridge was placed there about this very period: inasmuch as
that excellent and indefatigable antiquary, Mr. Sharp, of the most
ancient City of Coventry, has discovered, in the manuscript accounts
of that place, a memorandum which certainly has reference to this
very building; and which, as he has favoured me with a copy, I shall
repeat to you.--‘1585. Paid to Durram, the paynter, to bye Coulors to
paynt the _Vawte_ at the Maior’s palace, in parte of payment of xxx
_s._, to ley the vawte in oyle Colers substancially, the greate posts
in jasper Collur, as _the newe house on London Bridge ys_: all the
rayles in stone Coulo^r, the smale pillors in white leade Coulors, the
great pillars in perfect greene Coullo^r xiij._s._ iiij._d._’--‘The
_Vawte_,’--he adds,--‘was a balcony, or colonnade, in front of the
Mayor’s Parlour, supported by large pillars, and having a ballustrade
of smaller pillars round the flat-leaded roof of it.’ This, Mr.
Barnaby, it must be confessed, is very like the features of the
Nonesuch House on London Bridge: and it is not at all improbable but
what we have here almost the very year of its erection.”
“You are right, worthy Mr. Barbican, you are right,” said the old
Historian of the Bridge; “and I would to Heaven, that no Antiquarian
discussion ever demanded a heavier concession. But now let us return
for a while from the buildings on London Bridge, to the scattered
events which illustrate its history; for I purpose again speaking of
its appearance when we arrive at the close of this century, and of then
mentioning all the ancient prospects of it, whence I have drawn my
descriptions of its edifices.
“It was in 1582 that the idea was first formed of erecting Water-works
against the Arches of London Bridge; and of adapting the violence of
the torrent, as it rushed through its narrow locks, to some purpose of
general utility. As a good account of these original works is given
in Stow’s ‘_Annals_,’ page 696, and in Holinshed’s ‘_Chronicle_,’
volume iii., page 1348, I shall give you the very words, as conveying
the best illustration of them. ‘This year,’--says Abraham Fleming,
Holinshed’s continuator,--‘Peter Moris, a Dutchman, but a Free-Denizen,
having made an engine for that purpose, conueied Thames water in
pipes of lead ouer the steeple of St. Magnus Church, at the North end
of London Bridge, and so into diuerse men’s houses in Thames Street,
New Fish Street, and Grasse-street, vp vnto the North-west corner of
Leadenhall,--the highest ground of the Citie of London,--where the
waste of the first maine pipe ran first this yeare, one thousand five
hundred eightie and two, on Christmasse eeuen; which maine pipe, being
since at the charges of the Citie brought vp into a standard there made
for that purpose, and diuided there into foure severall spouts, ranne
foure waies, plentifullie seruing to the vse of the inhabitants neere
adioining, that will fetch the same into their houses, and also clensed
the chanels of the streets, North towards Bishopsgate, East towards
Aldgate, South towards the Bridge, and West towards the Stocks Market.
No doubt a great commoditie to that part of the Citie, and would be
farre greater, if the said water were mainteined to run continuallie,
or at the least at euerie tide some reasonable quantitie, as at the
first it did; but since is much aslaked, thorough whose default I know
not, sith the engine is sufficient to conueie water plentifullie:
which, being well considered by Bernard Randolph, Esquier, Common
Sergeant of the Citie of London, he, being aliue, gaue and deliuered
to the Company of Fishmongers, in London, a round sum to be imploied
towards conducting the Thames water, for the good seruice of the
Commonwealth, in conuenient order.’ It was probably the success of this
engine which occasioned another of four pumps, worked by horses, to be
erected at Broken-Wharf, near Queenhithe; invented, as Stow observes
in his ‘_Annals_,’ page 769, by Bevis Bulmar, ‘a most ingenious
gentleman.’ It was at first intended to convey the Thames water, by
leaden pipes, to the whole Western part of London; but after working
it for a short time, it was laid aside, on account of its great charge
both to the tenants and the proprietors.
“After this I meet with but little to notice in our Bridge Annals, for
several years, excepting, that in 1583, Sir Edward Osborne, being then
Lord Mayor, is said to have introduced the custom of drinking to the
new Sheriffs, although there is a ludicrous instance of such a ceremony
in 1487; and that Stow’s ‘_Annals_’ inform us, at page 698, that on
the conclusion of the Irish rebellion, James, Earl of Desmond, a
principal leader, ‘secretly wandering without any succour, being taken
in his cabine by one of the Irish, his head was cut off and sent into
England, where the same,--as the head of an arch-rebell,--was set on
London-Bridge on the thirteene of December.’
“It was on December the 4th, 1586, that the Commissioners appointed to
try the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots, issued their sentence against
her from Richmond; which, on the 6th, was openly read in London, by
William Sebright, the Town-Clerk. This proclamation, as Stow relates
in his ‘_Annals_,’ page 741, was made with the Serjeants at Arms,
and by sound of trumpets, about ten o’clock in the morning, at four
places in the City; namely, at the end of Chancery lane; at the Cross
in Cheapside; at the corner of Leadenhall; and also at St. Magnus,
London Bridge. It was witnessed by several of the Nobility; the Lord
Mayor, and Aldermen, in their scarlet dresses; the City Officers; the
principal part of the gentry of London, and the most eminent Citizens
habited in velvet with gold chains; all mounted on horseback. The
tidings which were thus made known, were received by the people with
every kind of rejoicing; ‘as manifestly appeared,’--says Stow,--‘by
ringing of bells, making of bonfires, and singing of psalmes in euery
of the streetes and lanes of the Citie.’
“I do not find, in the preparations for defending London against the
Spaniards, in 1588, any orders concerning the guarding of the Bridge;
though in the scheme for marshalling the City, then drawn up by Edmund
York, and printed in volume ii. of Stow’s ‘_Survey_,’ page 569, it is
observed that the Bridge is to be one of the places watched as a gate
of London. This, however, was not the first time that the Citizens had
been under military discipline, for Stow relates, in the same volume,
page 567, that in September, 1586, when so much danger was anticipated
from the conspiracies of the Papists, a series of orders was drawn up
for their instruction. In these regulations it was stated, that the
gates should be shut every night, and the Portcullises put in order;
and that one of the stations of the watch by the water-side, should
be by the engine which supplied the City with water, which was at the
North-West corner of London Bridge, and almost adjoining to the present
site of Fishmongers’ Hall. Both these anticipated dangers, however,
passed away without any other effect upon London, than that of evincing
the courage of the Citizens; and, after the notable defeat of the
Armada, eleven of the captured standards were hung upon London-Bridge,
towards Southwark, on Monday, September the 9th, the day of the Fair in
that place, to the great rejoicing of all who saw them.
“Besides the before-mentioned engines for supplying the City with
water, there were, however, also Corn Mills erected near London Bridge,
at a very early period in the sixteenth century: for Stow, in volume
i. of his ‘_Survey_,’ page 42, observes that they were built on the
Thames, about the year 1508. These were, however, not the most ancient
machines of that nature erected about this place; for in the year
1197, in an exchange of the Manor of Lambethe for the Manor of Darent,
made between Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Monks
of Rochester, there is a notice of a Mill which ‘the aforesaid Monks
have without Southwark on the Thames, towards the East, against the
Tower of London.’ You may see the original instrument in the third
volume of Dugdale’s ‘_Monasticon Anglicanum_,’ London, ‘In the Savoy,’
1673, folio, page 4. It was therefore, upon these precedents, for the
better supply of the City, in consequence of the dearth and scarcity
of corn which had extended for several miles round London, and also on
account of the difficulty of grinding meal for the poor, that in March
1588, the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty, petitioned Queen Elizabeth
that they might erect four Corn Mills under two roofs on the Thames,
near the Bridge, in parts where they could not occasion any injury.
On the 1st of April, therefore, a commission was addressed from the
Court, at Greenwich, to Mr. Rokesby, Master of St. Katherine’s, Mr.
Fanshaw, Master of the Requests, and Mr. Peter Osborn, Remembrancer of
the Exchequer, to call before them such persons as should be appointed
by the City to manage their cause; some of the principal Officers
of the Navy, and certain Masters of the Trinity-House, to consult
with them whether the erection of such Mills would be beneficial, or
inconvenient; and to consider in what places they should be set up, in
order that the Queen might be moved to grant the City’s petition. After
this consultation, a certificate, dated May the 16th, was returned by
all the parties summoned, and the eight Masters and Overseers of the
River, and others of the Assistants of the Company of Watermen, that
the erecting of such Mills could not in any way be hurtful to the
Thames. But as Stow has left on record the Trinity-House Certificate, I
shall give it you in the original form and words.
“‘Whereas it hath pleased the Lords of Her Majesty’s most Honourable
Privy Council to direct their letter to the Worshipful Mr. Rookesby,
Master of St. Katherine’s, Mr. Fanshaw, Mr. Osborn, Commissioners
for the building of certain Mills on the South side of Thames upon
the starlings above the Bridge: and the Commissioners above-named,
have sent for us, the Master and Assistants of the Trinity-House of
Deptford-Strand in Kent, that we should make the survey, whether the
erecting of those Mills might be prejudicial, or hurtful, to the said
River; We whose names are hereunder written, with others, have taken
a view of the said place, and do find, as far as we can judge and
foresee, it will not be hurtful, nor prejudicial, to the said River in
any way. April 4th, 1588.
John Hawkins. William Holstock.
Richard Gibs, _Master._ _By me_, Edw. Wilkinson.
_By me_, Will. Harris. _By me_, Peter Hills.’
_By me_, Tho. Andros.
“In Stow’s same work and volume, page 62, he states, that as soon
as these Mills were set up, complaint was made to the Court, which
produced the foregoing enquiry; and that it was then ordered, that the
water should have free course through the arches of the Bridge, and
that the parts of the Mills which stood nearest to the stone-work of
the edifice, should still be twelve feet distant from any part of it.
The intent of these Mills was to provide a remedy for times of dearth,
when the common people paid from 4_d._ to 6_d._ the bushel for grinding
their corn, and often, for a considerable time, could not get it ground
at all; to supply which they were constrained to buy meal at the
meal-sellers’ own prices, which they increased at their pleasure.
“We have no very perfect idea left us of the appearance of either the
Mills, or the ancient Waterworks erected against London Bridge. Gough,
in his ‘_British Topography_,’ volume i., page 735, states on the
authority of Bagford, that in the Pepysian Library, at Cambridge, there
is ‘a draught of London Bridge, expressing the Mill at the end;--as
also a very old drawing of this Bridge on Fire, on vellum.’”