ST. MARY-AT-HILL
We pass on to St. Mary-at-Hill; a church well known on account of the energetic work of its rector, Rev. W. Carlile, founder of the Church Army, who popularises church work among his poor parishioners by lantern services and other devices. The date of the foundation of the original church is not known, but there is evidence of its existence in the middle of the fourteenth century. In 1616 it was thoroughly repaired, but the body of it was destroyed by the Great Fire and rebuilt by Wren, 1672-77. The stone tower remained standing till 1780, when it was considered insecure and pulled down, when it was replaced by the present one. In 1892 the church was closed for two years, while 3000 bodies were removed from beneath the flooring to Norwood Cemetery. The parish of St. Andrew Hubbard was not rebuilt after the Fire, and was annexed to this. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1337.
The patronage of the church was in the hands of Richard Hackney, sheriff of London, who presented to it in 1337, and so on; it remained in private persons up to 1640, when the parishioners presented to it, up to 1666, when the parish of St. Andrew Hubbard was annexed to it, the patronage now being alternate, Sir Henry Peek having presented last in right of St. Andrew Hubbard in 1891.
Houseling people in 1548 were 400.
The church measures 96 feet in length and 60 feet in breadth, and is crowned by a cupola which rises to the height of 38 feet. The cupola is divided into panels and is supported by four Doric columns, forming two side aisles. The ceiling to the east and west of this is arched, as well as that of the side aisles between the columns, so that the appearance of the roof is thus rendered cruciform. There is a great quantity of carving in the church, but of a late date, being the work of Mr. W. Gibbs Rogers, who executed it in 1848-49 when the church was remodelled.
Chantries were founded here: By Rose Wrytell, at the Altar of St. Edmund the King, before 1336. She left six marks for an endowment, and Michael de Leek was licensed as chaplain, November 5, 1365. The value was £8 : 2 : 6 in 1548, when Christopher Burley was priest at the age of 43 years, “a good singer and well learned.” By John Weston, whose endowment fetched £8 : 13 : 4 in 1548. By John Nasing, at the Altar of St. Katherine. Harry Yorkflete the chaplain exchanged it with John atte Welle, February 20, 1395-96; Thomas Lewes was priest in 1548, “of the age of 42 years, a good singer and player on the organ and prettily learned.” By William Cambridge, whose endowment fetched £10 : 6 : 8 in 1548, when Matthew Berye was priest, “of the age of 40 years, a good singer and indifferently well learned.” By John Cawston, whose endowment yielded £20 : 17 : 8 in 1548, when Edmond Alston was priest, “of 36 years, a good singer and handsomely learned.” By Richard Gosselinge, whose endowment produced £9 in 1548, when John Sherpyn was priest, “of the age of 44 years, a teacher of children.” By John Bodman, whose endowment fetched £14 : 6 : 8 in 1548.
The church formerly contained a considerable number of monuments, but the persons commemorated are of comparatively little eminence. Sir John Hampson, Knight and alderman, was buried here in 1607. Within the communion rails of the present building the body of the Rev. John Brand lies interred, who died in 1806; he was Fellow and Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries, and rector here for some years. Edward Young, the poet, was married here to Lady Elizabeth Lee, in 1731.
£10 or £11 per annum were given to the poor by several benefactors, to be expended on bread. Other gifts recorded by Stow are: £40, from Sir William Leman, for the maintenance of a Divinity Lecture; from Jane Revel; £4 : 10s. to be paid every tenth year, from Bernard Hyde.
Andrew Snape, D.D., Master of Eton College, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge 1721-23, was rector here.
At the south-eastern corner of St. Mary-at-Hill stands the mighty building of the Coal Exchange. The material used is Portland stone, and the great tower and cupola which rises above the street still retains its whiteness. The Exchange was opened in 1849. Monday is the principal market day, but markets are also held on Wednesdays and Fridays. Under the Exchange are the remains of an old Roman bath, which was discovered when the foundations were being made. Strype says that above the stairs at Billingsgate “the coalmen and woodmongers meet every morning about eight or nine o’clock, this place being their Exchange, for the coal trade which brings a great resort of people and occasions a great trade to the inhabitants. And this place is now more frequented than in ancient time, when Greenhithe was made use of for the same purpose, this being more commodious. And therefore it was ordained to be the only port for all such sorts of merchandise.”
Pictorial Agency.
THE COAL EXCHANGE
Up to 1846 Billingsgate Fish-market contained only sheds and squalid buildings in which the fish trade was carried on. But in that year J. B. Bunning, the City architect, was employed to build a regular market. In 1872 the great increase of the trade and the necessity for further accommodation induced the Corporation to pull down this building and rebuild on a larger scale. Old Darkhouse Lane and Billingsgate Stairs were utilised to gain an increased site as the great bulk of the Custom House prevented any expansion eastward.
Sir Horace Jones was the architect. The building is of an Italian design and is of Portland stone with facings of yellow brick and polished grey granite plinths and wall linings. A long arcade faces Thames Street, and at each end there are pavilion buildings. Within, the basement has an area of about 20,000 superficial feet. On the ground floor the area is 39,000 square feet. The roof is on the Louvre glass principle carried on lattice girders of 60 feet span. There is a gallery with an area of 4000 feet; this is utilised for the sale of haddocks and dried fish.
St. Botolph, Billingsgate, stood against St. Botolph’s Lane, on the south side of Thames Street. It was repaired in 1624, but burnt down by the Great Fire and not rebuilt, its parish being annexed to St. George, Botolph Lane. It stood against the Bridge Gate of the first London Bridge, just as the other three churches of St. Botolph stood at Aldgate, Aldersgate, and Bishopsgate. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1343.
The patronage of the church was in the hands of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, who received it from Orgarus about 1181.
Houseling people in 1548 were 300.
Chantries were founded here: By and for Thomas Snodyland, late rector, who died 1349, in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of which Nicholas de Wansyngdon was chaplain, and exchanged it April 11, 1163—the King granted a licence for it December 15, 1371; by John Pickman, at the Altar of Our Lady, whose endowment fetched £10 in 1548, when Thomas Serle was priest, “of the age of 50 years, of good consideration and learning touching ordinary things”; by Thomas Aubrey, whose endowment fetched £8 : 6 : 8 in 1548, when Thomas Baynton was priest, “of the age of 60 years, of good consideration and learning”; by Roger Smallwood. Here was founded the Fraternity of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist. The endowment fetched £14 in 1548, when William Lucay was priest, “of the age of 50 years, a man of good conversation and small learning.”
The church originally contained many monuments, but most of them had disappeared by 1633. John Rainwell, mayor, 1426, had been buried in it; also Stephen Forster, mayor in 1454.
Some of the donors of charitable gifts to the parish were: Robert Fellows, of £25; William Fellows, of £25; Thomas Barber, of £6 : 18 : 6, and others of small amounts.
The parishes of St. George, Botolph Lane, and St. Botolph, Billingsgate, in conjunction with the other part of Billingsgate ward, maintained forty boys by subscription.
Laurence Bothe, rector here, became Bishop of Durham, 1457; of York, 1476-80 (died): also William Sherlock (d. 1707), Dean of St. Paul’s.
Billingsgate, like Queenhithe, is an artificial port, constructed with great ease by digging out the foreshore of mud and shingle, and protecting the square harbour thus formed by piles of timber, on which beams were laid to form a quay, and sheds were built up for the protection of the merchandise.
The port was close to the north end of the first bridge, so that goods landed here might be easily carried into the Roman fort, while the port itself was protected by the fort. After the desertion of London by the Romans, the occupation by the Saxons, and the revival of trade, Billingsgate remained the principal port, though a large share of the trade went to Queenhithe. The mouth of the Walbrook seems to have ceased very early in the history of London to be a port. Billingsgate robbed Queenhithe of its trade in spite of all injunctions of restraint.
Pictorial Agency, Photo.
BILLINGSGATE MARKET
The fish-market has long since overwhelmed every other kind of merchandise. The language and manners, the rough customs, and the drinking habits of the Billingsgate fish-wives are proverbial. They have now, however, all vanished, and the market is as quiet and decorous as any other. A curious custom is noted by Cunningham. The porters who plied at Billingsgate used to invite the passengers to stop and salute a certain post. If one complied, and paid down sixpence, they gave him a name, and pretended to be his sponsors. If one refused, they laid hold of him and bumped him against the post. The custom reminds one of the same bumping practised in walking the bounds of the parish; it had probably the same origin, in keeping alive the memory of something by the infliction of pain. The custom remained when the cause and reason had long been forgotten.
This end of Thames Street was called Petty Wales. Stow has an interesting note on this subject:
“Towards the east end thereof, namely, over against Galley key, Wool key, and the Custom House, there have been of old time some large buildings of stone, the ruins thereof do yet remain, but the first builders and owners of them are worn out of memory, wherefore the common people affirm Julius Cæsar to be the builder thereof, as also of the Tower itself. But thereof I have spoken already. Some are of another opinion, and that a more likely, that this great stone building was sometime the lodging appointed for princes of Wales, when they repaired to this city, and that, therefore, the street in that part is called Petty Wales, which name remaineth there most commonly until this day, even as where the kings of Scotland were used to be lodged betwixt Charing Cross and White Hall, it is likewise called Scotland, and where the earls of Britons were lodged without Aldersgate, the street is called Britain Street, etc.
“The said building might of old time pertain to the princes of Wales, as is aforesaid, but is since turned to other use.”
The Custom House itself, with its magnificent frontage and fine quay, is the fifth built upon the same spot. The first was built in 1385. The second, third, and fourth were all destroyed by fire. No doubt the Custom officers could tell fine tales of exciting adventure, of ruin or fortune, of clever evasions and despicable tricks; but these things are secret. The House itself, with the ships, the busy wharfingers, the boatmen, and the general liveliness of the scene, are all that are apparent. Yet it requires little imagination to see the enormous importance of the business done in this solid building of Smirke’s. A great source of our national income, a large part of the nation’s wealth, comes from this house. Tons of goods—ranging from hemp, honey, leeches, tobacco, to manufactured goods, marble, sugar, and spirits—are daily surveyed by the Customs officers. Our total imports for 1901 were worth nearly £522,000,000.
Beyond the Custom House is Wool Wharf, then several small quays, of which one, Galley Quay, carries a history in its name. It was so called because the Venetian and Genoese galleys here discharged their cargoes. There is a tradition of some religious house having stood here also. Hear what Stow says:
“In this Lane of old time dwelt divers strangers, born of Genoa and those parts; these were commonly called galley men, as men that came up in the galleys brought up wines and other merchandises, which they landed in Thames Street, at a place called Galley key; they had a certain coin of silver amongst themselves, which were halfpence of Genoa, and were called Galley halfpence; these halfpence were forbidden in the 13th of Henry IV., and again by parliament in the 4th of Henry V. And it was enacted that if any person bring into this realm Galley halfpence, suskins, or dodkins, he should be punished as a thief; and he that taketh or payeth such money shall lose a hundred shillings, whereof the king shall have the one half, and he that will sue the other half. Notwithstanding, in my youth, I have seen them pass current, but with some difficulty, for that the English halfpence were then, though not so broad, somewhat thicker and stronger.”