London City

by Walter Besant

ST. KATHERINE CREE

St. Katherine Cree, in Leadenhall Street, is on the site of the cemetery of the Priory of Holy Trinity, whence it derives its name Creechurch or Christchurch. This priory is said to have been built in the same place where Siredus sometime began to erect a church in honour of the Cross and of St. Mary Magdalen. This ancient church contributed thirty shillings to the Dean and Chapter of Waltham. The abbey church here is also dedicated to the Holy Cross, and when Matilda founded Christ Church or Trinity she gave to the Church of Waltham a mill instead of this payment. But little is known of the building of Siredus; but Matilda’s Priory is said to have occupied parts of the parishes of St. Mary Magdalen, St. Michael, St. Katherine, and the Blessed Trinity, which now was made but one parish of the Holy Trinity, and was in old time of the Holy Cross or Holy Rood parish. At this time, therefore (1108), the old parish of the Holy Rood had disappeared, and four parishes appear on its site. In the perambulation of the old soke of the Priory we find the parishes of Coleman Church (St. Katherine), St. Michael, St. Andrew (Undershaft), and of the Trinity (now St. James’s, Duke’s Place), but St. Mary Magdalen and Holy Rood are not mentioned. This loss of St. Mary Magdalen is not easily explained. Could the Church of St. Andrew have been dedicated formerly to St. Mary Magdalen? Such changes in dedication are known, and, even in this ward or soke, Stow tells us that St. Katherine Coleman was called St. Katherine and All Saints.

This would make up all the parishes which are given at the several periods in this locality. The existence of St. Katherine Coleman and St. Katherine Cree as two distinct parishes adjoining is remarkable. The parish of St. Katherine Coleman belonged to the ancient establishment of St. Martin’s-le-Grand, and so remained until the Dissolution. Was it a part of this parish which was taken into the precinct of the Trinity? The inhabitants of the enclosed parish of Cree Church at first used the Priory church, but it was agreed afterwards that they should have a church erected, and use the Priory church only at certain times. This would be what we might expect of a part of a parish detached at the establishment of the Priory, but which desired to be released from the control of the prior, and to be a parish of itself, with its own church. We must not confound the parish of St. Mary Magdalen with a small parish of St. Mary the Virgin, St. Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins. This was on the west side of St. Mary Axe, and belonged to the Priory of St. Helen. The church was destroyed, and the parish united, by Edmund Grindal, Bishop of London, to St. Andrew, Undershaft, in the year 1561.

The parishioners had been allowed to worship at an altar in the Priory church, but this being inconvenient, St. Katherine’s was built through the agency of Richard de Gravesend, Bishop of London, 1280-1303. It was rebuilt in 1628-1630, possibly after the design of Inigo Jones. The steeple, which was built in the early sixteenth century, is still standing. The church was consecrated by Laud in 1631. In 1874 the parish of St. James’s, Duke’s Place, was annexed. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1436.

The patronage of which was in the hands of the Prior and Canons of Holy Trinity, London. Henry VIII. seized it in 1540, and soon after granted it to Sir Thomas Audley, who gave it, by his will dated April 19, 1544, to the Master and Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge, in whose successors it continued.

Houseling people in 1548 were 542.

The church is a mixture of the Gothic and classical styles. It contains two narrow aisles separated from the nave by Corinthian columns and round arches, above which is a clerestory. The roof is groined, and the arms of the City and several City Companies are displayed on it. The building is 94 feet long, 51 feet broad, and 37 feet high. It is larger than the original church, of which the sole relic now existing is a pillar at the south-west, less than three feet above ground, owing to the higher level of the new church. The stone steeple rises at the west and consists of a tower surmounted by a Tuscan colonnade with a cupola and vane; its total height is 75 feet.

A chantry was founded here at the Altar of St. Michael.

The church is not rich in historical monuments. It contains, however, the tomb of Nicholas Throckmorton, Chief Butler of England and intimate friend of Lady Jane Grey and Queen Elizabeth.

Tradition said that Hans Holbein was buried here, but there is no evidence for it except that he died in the vicinity.

There is a brass in the floor in front of the communion table, commemorating Sir John Gayer, Lord Mayor in 1646 and staunch adherent of Charles I., for which he suffered imprisonment.

At the west end there is a bas-relief to Samuel Thorpe (died 1791): this is only interesting as being the work of the elder Bacon.

Sir John Gayer bequeathed £200 for charitable purposes, amongst them a fee for a sermon to be preached on October 16 annually, and though the charity is now diverted, yet the “Lion sermon,” in commemoration of the donor’s delivery from a lion in Arabia, is still kept up.

There was a charity school at the end of Cree Church Lane, in which forty boys were clothed and taught, by subscriptions from the inhabitants of the ward.

Roger Maynwaring (1590-1653), Bishop of St. David’s, was a perpetual curate here; also Nicholas Brady (1659-1726), joint author of Tate and Brady’s version of the Psalter.

The north of Leadenhall Street between St. Katherine Cree and Aldgate, from the year 1130 and the suppression of the Religious Houses, was covered with the buildings of the Priory of the Holy Trinity already described (see Mediæval London, vol. ii. p. 241).

The buildings of the Priory were given by the King to Sir Thomas Audley in 1531 after the surrender.

The Earl of Suffolk, son of the Duke who was beheaded in 1572, sold the house and precinct to the City of London, and built Audley End in Essex. The City seems to have pulled down the mansion and laid out the grounds in streets and courts. The disposition of these seems to preserve, to a certain extent, that of the old Priory.

When the people began to settle in the precinct, they found themselves, although so close to St. Katherine Cree, without a parish church. They therefore petitioned the Archbishop of Canterbury, who obtained permission of the King to build a new church here, and to erect a new parish. The church was finished and dedicated to St. James in 1622. The memory of the consecration is described at length by Strype. This quarter was assigned to the Jews by Oliver Cromwell in 1650. Here is the Great Synagogue of the German Jews.

St. James’s was one of the most notorious of the many places for irregular marriages, those without licence, because as standing in the ancient precinct of the Priory it was without the jurisdiction of the bishop.

St. James’s, Duke’s Place, escaped the Great Fire of 1666.

In 1873 the church was pulled down and its parish united with that of St. Katherine Cree Church. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1622.

This church was in the gift of the Lord Mayor and Commonalty of London from 1622.

Few monuments, and none of much note, are recorded by Stow. Booker, an astrologer, was commemorated by a stone inscription.

Sir Edward Barkham is the only benefactor whose name is recorded by Stow.

The modern Leadenhall Street is at the west end full of fine, well-executed Chambers. Of these, New Zealand Chambers are the most noticeable. The building is by R. Norman Shaw in the pseudo-ancient style. It was erected in 1872, and is carried out in red brick. The bayed windows on either side of the entrance are placed in wide recesses which run right up the frontage. Africa House is in a commonplace style, but has rather good stone panels on the front. On the north Leadenhall House is solidly faced in granite, with granite columns on the frontage. West India House is neatly built in white stone.

Farther eastward the street is singularly dull; it is lined at first by dreary blocks of imitation stone buildings. These are succeeded by brick buildings all turned out of the same mould. The north side is better than the south, and is chiefly made up of solid, well-built houses on various designs.

At No. 153 the ground-floor is occupied by a bric-à-brac shop. Below the parapet there is a curious triangular pediment let into the brickwork. This encloses a round stone with an inscription on it, of which the first word seems to be “incendio”; on either side is a small shelf.

The London Joint Stock Bank is a few doors off. No. 140, an Aerated Bread Shop, is fantastically built, in imitation of an old style. The Peninsular & Oriental Steamship Company is in a stone and terra-cotta building, with well-designed figures in slight relief in the corners of the windows.

Aldgate, spelt otherwise Alegate or Algate, was probably, but not certainly, opened and constructed by Queen Matilda, Consort of Henry I., who is also said to have built the bridge over the Lea at Bow. There seems no reason for doubting the story.

On the spelling of the name Professor Skeat writes, September 18, 1897:

“It occurs to me to say that in any case of interpreting spellings, the date of the spelling is of the greatest service. We now know the meanings of all the vowel symbols at all dates. If we can obtain a few early spellings of Aldgate, with approximate dates, we ought to be able to decide it. We have to remember that all, in composition meant ‘wholly,’ and was adverbial as in Al-mighty, and ‘wholly gate’ gives no sense. If ‘for all’ were intended, it would be alra, aller, or alder, the genitive of plural. This is not a question of etymology but of grammar. On the other hand, if the M.E. Ald [now spelt Old] were meant, I have proof that a Norman scribe would be apt to omit the d; so that Alegate would, in fact, be quite regular. And it would not necessarily become Oldgate in course of time; just as Acton, though it means Oaktown, is called Acton still. This is due to what we call the preservation of a short or shortened vowel, owing to stress.”

And again, writing on 21st September, he says:

“The list of spellings which you send me is most interesting, but it is not easy to explain it. I can remember a time when I should have drawn the conclusion that they are very much against connecting the word with the Old Mercian ald, which we now spell old. But my recent investigations tell the other way; not only were perfectly common words persistently (but regularly) mis-spelt in Domesday and early charters, from the time of the Conquest till about 1350, but in many instances (as would likely be the case in official documents) such habits became stereotyped. The early scribes were nearly all Norman, and they brought in Norman spelling to that extent that the whole of modern English is pervaded by it; indeed, no one who does not know the phonetic laws of Anglo-French can explain why the word house is spelt with ou, or the word build with ui.... The explanation of the spelling Ald in 1270 is probably simply this: that this particular charter (contrary to practice) was entrusted to an English scribe. It is a simple supposition—English spellings began to prevail in these matters in the period from 1350-1400, and it is just here that we get two instances. The Normans learnt Latin easily: to an English scribe it was a foreign language. This is why the French scribes were preferred for writing Latin documents. After 1400 such French spellings as affect the true sound are rare; this is why, after that the E. form prevails. But we must remember that many Englishmen do not fully pronounce the d in Aldgate even now, but slur it over; and in days of phonetic spelling such things were reproduced. I should say the evidence can only be explained, on the whole, from the supposition that the English word was Ald, preserved in composition instead of being turned into old (as it did when standing alone); and this will explain eald also, as eald is the Wessex form of Ald, adopted in 1598 as a mere bit of pedantry, but at the same time showing that the belief then prevailed. This is all I have to say about Aldgate.”

The gate was rebuilt by Norman, first Prior of Holy Trinity. The weigh-house for weighing corn was in the gateway.

After the Fire, Aldgate was used for the prisoners who had been confined in the Poultry Compter.

In 1374 the gate was let on lease to Geoffrey Chaucer. Here followeth the lease itself:

“To all persons to whom this present writing indented shall come, Adam de Bury, Mayor, the Aldermen, and the Commonalty of the City of London, greeting. Know ye that we, with unanimous will and assent, have granted and released by these presents unto Geoffrey Chaucer the whole of the dwelling-house above the gate of Algate, with the rooms built over, and a certain cellar beneath, the same gate, on the South side of that gate, and the appurtenances thereof; to have and to hold the whole of the house aforesaid, with the rooms so built over, and the said cellar, and the appurtenances thereof, unto the aforesaid Geoffrey, for the whole life of him, the said Geoffrey. And the said Geoffrey shall maintain and repair the whole of the house aforesaid, and the rooms thereof, so often as shall be requisite, in all things necessary thereto, competently and sufficiently, at the expense of the same Geoffrey, throughout the whole life of him, the same Geoffrey. And it shall be lawful for the Chamberlain of the Guildhall of London, for the time being, so often as he shall see fit, to enter the house and rooms aforesaid, with their appurtenances, to see that the same are well and competently, and sufficiently, maintained and repaired, as aforesaid. And if the said Geoffrey shall not have maintained or repaired the aforesaid house and rooms competently and sufficiently, as is before stated, within forty days after the time when by the same Chamberlain he shall have been required so to do, it shall be lawful for the said Chamberlain wholly to oust the before-named Geoffrey therefrom, and to re-seise and resume the same house, rooms, and cellar, with their appurtenances, into the hand of the City, to the use of the Commonalty aforesaid; and to hold the same in their former state to the use of the same Commonalty, without any gainsaying whatsoever thereof. And it shall not be lawful for the said Geoffrey to let the house, rooms, and cellar, aforesaid, or any part thereof, or his interest therein, to any person whatsoever. And we, the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty aforesaid, will not cause any gaol to be made thereof, for the safekeeping of prisoners therein, during the life of the said Geoffrey; but we and our successors will warrant the same house, rooms, and cellar, with their appurtenances, unto the before-named Geoffrey, for the whole life of him, the same Geoffrey, in form aforesaid: this however excepted, that in time of defence of the city aforesaid, so often as it shall be necessary, it shall be lawful for us and our successors to enter the said house and rooms, and to order and dispose of the same, for such time, and in such manner, as shall then seem to us to be most expedient. And after the decease of the same Geoffrey, the house, rooms, and cellar aforesaid, with their appurtenances, shall wholly revert unto us and our successors. In witness whereof, as well the Common Seal of the City aforesaid as the seal of the said Geoffrey, have been to these present indentures interchangeably appended. Given in the Chamber of the Guildhall of the City aforesaid, the 10th day of May, in the 48th year of the reign of King Edward, after the Conquest the Third” (Riley’s Memorials, pp. 377-378).

“This,” says Stow, “is one and the first of the four principal gates, and also one of the seven double gates, mentioned by Fitzstephen. It hath had two pair of gates, though now but one; the hooks remaineth yet. Also there hath been two portcloses; the one of them remaineth, the other wanteth, but the place of letting down is manifest.”

“This gate being very ruinous, was pulled down Anno 1606; when, in digging for a new foundation, divers Roman coins were discovered, two of which Mr. Bond, the Surveyor, caused to be cut in stone, and placed in the east front on each side the passage. The first stone of this edifice was laid Anno 1607, at the depth of sixteen feet, and finished Anno 1609.

“Here was only one postern, and that on the north side, for foot-passengers; and a water-conduit at the south-east angle thereof; but the last being disused for many years, two houses were erected in lieu of it, in the year 1734, and a postern made on the south side of the gate. The apartments over this gate are appropriated to the use of one of the Lord Mayor’s Carvers, and at present are lett to the Charity School founded by Sir John Cash” (Maitland, vol. i. pp. 22-23).

The gate was taken down in 1761.

Drawn by Thos. H. Shepherd.
ALDGATE IN 1830

In 1291, Thomas de Alegate leaves to his wife Eleanor, his houses within Alegate (Calendar of Wills). The street is often mentioned afterwards.

The ward of Aldgate in the year 1276 was called the ward of John of Northampton, the then alderman. There was a hermitage on the south side of the gate within a garden; the garden was let, in 1325, to one Peter a “blader,” or corn merchant. It is not stated whether the hermitage was then occupied. There were houses beside the gate in 1354. The Prior of Holy Trinity, Aldgate, was alderman ex officio of Portsoken Ward; in 1378 we find him sworn to fill the office “and faithfully to do all things touching that office.”

In 1349, the Calendar of Wills speaks of tenements in “Algate Street.” Roman remains have been found in Aldgate; at the gate there was a “Roomland”; without the gate was a great pit for the burial of those who died of the plague. In 1315 Sir John de Sandale, leaving London on business of the King, put the Great Seal into the custody of Sir William de Ayremynn at his inn near Aldgate. In the same year he received at his inn Edward de Baliol, newly returned from beyond the sea.

At the east end of the street, under a house facing the pump, was still to be seen, until 1868, a crypt formerly supposed to have been that of an ancient church, dedicated to St. Michael and taken down when the Priory of the Holy Trinity was first founded.

This handsome Gothic structure, which is situated between the east end of Leadenhall and Fenchurch Streets, under the houses fronting the pump at Aldgate, is still remaining entire, exhibiting a most beautiful specimen of ancient architecture.

It is shown (L. & M. Archæological Journal, iv. p. 223 et seq.) that the crypt could not have been that of St. Michael’s Church. The paper referred to proved that the Church of St. Michael was not on that site at all. It quotes from the Liber Dunthorne the boundaries of the soke of the monastery of the Trinity, which are very nearly the same as those of Aldgate ward.

It concludes that it was more likely the crypt of a great house, perhaps the ward house.

Rowland Taylor, before being burned for heresy, was taken to the Woolpack, an inn without Aldgate, and kept there.

A curious story is told concerning the Duke of Buckingham in 1663. “When the Duke came from Newmarket he stayed at an Inn by Aldgate. Here a fellow told him his fortune, saying that he would die unfortunately, as his father did, or that a similar attempt would be made upon him by the 1st of April. On the Tuesday prior to the date of the letter, the usher of the duke’s hall went to bed about 9 at night and rose again about one in the morning and came up at the back and private way to the duke’s chamber where only he, his lady, and a maid were talking. The maid opened the door at his knock and the usher rushed in with a naked sword, at which the maid squeaking gave my lord an alarm and he turning back snatched up a knife and by his boldness daunted the fellow so that he got within him, became master of his sword, and by that time company came in. The duke sent after the fortune-teller but the writer did not know whether he had heard of him.”

Northward of Aldgate, Mitre Street leads to Mitre Square which is surrounded by large new buildings belonging to merchants. The ward school is reached through a rounded tunnel-like entry and proves a pleasant surprise. In itself it is only a square old brick house without an atom of style or ornament, but before it is a garden plot where lilac bushes grow, and over the blackened bricks of the house and adjoining wall climb big trees, hiding the dinginess. From here we get a view of the old red-tiled roofs of the houses in Duke Street. In the school there is free education, and 110 children are clothed at the expense of the charity.

At the back of the ward school stood, until 1874, St. James’s, Duke’s Place (see p. [165]).