ST. MICHAEL, CORNHILL
The body of St. Michael’s Church was destroyed in the Great Fire and rebuilt by Wren in 1672; the tower was injured and pulled down in 1722, when the present tower, also the work of Wren, was erected. In 1858 it was greatly altered by Sir Gilbert Scott. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1287.
The patronage of the church was in the hands of: Alnoth the priest, before 1133, who granted it to the Abbot and Convent of Evesham, who gave it in 1133 to Sparling the priest; the Abbot and Convent of Evesham, who granted it in 1505 to Simon Hogan, who bequeathed it to the Drapers’ Company, who presented to it in 1515, and in whose successors it continued.
The church measures 87 feet in length, 60 feet in breadth, and 35 feet in height, and contains two aisles divided from the nave by Doric columns. The church was originally in the Italian style, but the alterations in 1858-60 by Sir Gilbert Scott give the appearance of a nineteenth-century imitation of mediævalism. The tower is Gothic in architecture, and contains three stories crowned by a parapet from the angles of which four pinnacles rise up. The total height is 130 feet. The church has always been famous for its bells, of which it possesses 12.
Chantries were founded here by: Walter de Bullingham, to which John de Bourge was admitted chaplain, August 22, 1390; Thomas Baker augmented the endowment by £2 : 18 : 8; Ralph More was chaplain in 1548, “a man of 50 yrs. who hath lyen bedridden this 18 years”; Simon Smith; William Comerton at the Altar of Blessed Virgin Mary; Hamo Box, for which the King granted his licence, July 28, 1321; William Rus, whose endowment for this and other purposes fetched £27 : 13 : 4 in 1548, when William Penne was priest “of the age of 38 years, and of indifferent learning and hath none other living but this his yearly stipend of £8”; Andrew Smythe, who endowed it with lands, etc., which fetched £12 in 1548, when John Paddye was priest “of the age of 26 years, indifferently learned, having no other living or promotion over and above his stipend of £7 : 6 : 7”; Simon Mordonne, mayor, 1368, who left tenements valued at £9 in 1548, when John Campyon was priest, “of the age of 66 years, a good singer and indifferently well learned, having none other living besides this his stipend of £6 : 18 : 4”; John Langhorne, who endowed it with tenements which yielded £10 : 8s. in 1548, when Abail Mortcock was priest, “of the age of 36 years, whose qualities, conversation, and learning is as the other and hath none other living but this his stipend of £6 : 13 : 4.” The King granted his licence to Peter Smart and others to found a guild in honour of St. Anne and Our Lady, September 27, 1397, which was valued at £17 : 13 : 4 in 1548, when Sir William Bryck was chaplain “of the age of 33 years, moderately well learned.” John Shopman and others have licence to found a guild in honour of Blessed Virgin Mary with special devotion to St. Michael the Archangel, October 4, 1442.
CONFECTIONER’S SHOP, CORNHILL
Alderman Robert Fabian (d. 1513) was buried here in 1513; he compiled an elaborate chronicle, The Concordance of Histories, dealing with France as well as England. This church is specially connected with the antiquary John Stow, and both his father and grandfather were buried here. Against the north walk there is a monument in memory of John Vernon, erected in place of one consumed by the Fire, by the Merchant Taylors in 1609; he was a donor of several large legacies. In 1609 John Cowper was buried here—founder of a family whose memory is still preserved in connection with Cowper’s Court, Cornhill. To this family the poet Cowper belonged.
The parish was extremely rich in charitable gifts. Brass tablets are affixed to the sides of the tower recording the dates, etc., of repairs, and the benefactors in connection, amongst whom are the following: Sir John Langham, £500; Sir Edward Riccard, £100; James Clotheroe, £50. Other benefactors were Robert Drope, donor of £30, and his wife Jane, afterwards Viscountess Lisle, of £90.
William Brough (d. 1671), Dean of Gloucester, and author of several religious works, was rector here; also Robert Poole-Finch (1724-1803), chaplain of Guy’s Hospital and a preacher of some eminence.
No. 15 Cornhill is the oldest shop of its class in the Metropolis. The window is set in a carved wooden framework, painted green, which encloses the small glass panes in three arches. It was established as a confectioner’s shop in the time of George I., and it is a confectioner’s still. Within, the low roof and thick woodwork testify its age. It might easily be overlooked, as the brick house rising above it presents no noticeable feature.
Of Change Alley one has to note that Jonathan’s Coffee-house was the resort of those who dealt and dabbled in stocks.
GARRAWAY’S COFFEE-HOUSE
Why did ‘Change Alley waste thy precious hours,
Among the fools who gap’d for golden show’rs?
No wonder if we found some poets there,
Who live on fancy and can feed on air;
No wonder they were caught by South-Sea schemes,
Who ne’er enjoyed a guinea but in dreams.
Here also were Garraway’s and Robins’ Coffee-houses. In 1722 “the better sort,” according to Defoe, who carried on business as a hosier in Freemason’s Court, met at these coffee-houses before going to the Exchange.
The present Stock Exchange was not erected till the year 1801.
Strype thus speaks of the Alley as it was after improvements:
“Exchange Alley, that lies next eastward, hath two passages out of Cornhill; one into Lombard Street, and another bending east into Birchin Lane. It is a large Place vastly improved, chiefly out of an house of Alderman Backwall’s, a Goldsmith, before the Great Fire, well built, inhabited by tradesmen; especially that passage into Lombard Street against the Exchange, and is a place of a very considerable concourse of Merchants, seafaring men and other traders, occasioned by the great Coffee houses, Jonathan’s and Garraway’s, that stand there. Chiefly now brokers, and such as deal in buying and selling of Stocks, frequent it. The Alley is broad and well paved with free-stones, neatly kept. The Fleece Tavern, seated in Cornhill, hath a passage into this Alley, being a very large house and of great resort.” At No. 41 Thomas Gray the poet was born on December 24, 1716.
Change Alley is at present a winding and tortuous thoroughfare. It bears the date 1886 over the western entry, and contains many red and glazed white brick houses. Close by this entry is the Bakers’ Chop House, a curious little old building with projecting windows of dark wood.
In the next portion of Change Alley is a well-built red brick building by R. Norman Shaw, with a slab on the north-east corner bearing the inscription:
The site of Garraway’s Coffee House, rebuilt 1874;
and beneath is a large stone grasshopper.
Gracechurch Street, called also Grass church, Garscherche, and Gracious Street, was formerly a market for hay, corn, malt, cheese, etc. There was uncertainty about the name, for in 1329 we find it written Grescherche Street, in 1333 Grascherche Street, a form of the name which is afterwards repeated.
In 1275 there is a will by one Martin de Garscherche bequeathing property to his sons and daughters; in 1294, 1311, and 1324, we hear of tenements in Garscherche, which seems as if the place was then an open market, not yet settled down to a street; perhaps, however, the dignity of a street was sometimes conferred upon it, for in 1296 there is mention of Leadenhall in Garscherch Street, and in 1342 it is also named as a street.
In 1320 one of the supervisors of shoes was Richard le Cordewaner of “Gras cherche”; in 1347 a jury of “Graschirche,” consisting of a butcher and eleven others, accused John de Burstalle of selling corn at more than the legal price, and he was sent to prison for forty days; in 1372 it was ordained that the blacksmiths should send their work either to “Graschirche” or to the “Pavement” by St. Nicholas Fleshambles, or by the Tun on Cornhill, and should stand by their work openly. Therefore the market here was not confined to hay and corn. In 1386 one Thomas Stokes was in trouble for pretending to be an officer and taker of ale for the household of the King, under which pretence he marked with an arrowhead several barrels in the brewery of William Roke of Graschirche. There was therefore a brewery in the market. One finds so many breweries scattered about the City that one asks how they got the water; it must certainly have been drawn up from a local well. Another case of personating an officer of the King was that of William Redhede in 1417, who tried to carry off certain bushels of wheat at Graschirche pretending that they were for the King. He was clapped into prison and then put in pillory. “Upon the three market days ensuing he was to be taken each day from the Prison of Newgate to the Market called ‘le Cornmarket’ opposite to the Friars Minors and there the cause of the judgment aforesaid was to be proclaimed: and after that he was to be taken through the middle of the high street of Chepe to the Pillory on Cornhille; and upon that he was to be placed on each of those three days there to stand for one hour each day, the reason of his sentence being then and there proclaimed, and after that he was to be taken from thence through the middle of the high street of Cornhill to the Market of Graschirche aforesaid, where like proclamation was to be made: and from thence back to prison.”
Roman remains, such as vases, bronzes, coffins, have been found in this street.
In 1654 Brethmer, citizen of London, gave to the Church at Canterbury his messuage at “Gerscherche” as also the Church of Allhallows, Lombard Street.
The street is continually mentioned in connection with tenements, messuages, houses, and rents.
In more modern times Richard Tarleton the actor lived in Gracechurch Street, at the sign of the Saber. Probably he acted in the courtyard of the Cross Keys in the same street, licensed in 1570, but only for that year. Many pageants and processions were conducted through Gracechurch Street.
In Gracechurch Street at the corner of Fenchurch Street was St. Benet’s Church.
St. Benet, Grasschurch, was so called after St. Benedict. The date of its foundation is unknown. It was burnt down in the Great Fire, rebuilt and finished in 1685. In 1868 the building was pulled down, and in 1869 and 1870 the site was occupied by offices. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1170.
The patronage of the church was in the hands of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, who granted it about 1142 to Algarus the priest, for his life.
Houseling people in 1548 were 223.
A chantry was founded here in the chapel of St. Mary and St. Katherine for Lady Joan Rose; the endowment fetched £14 : 3 : 4 in 1548.
Few notable monuments in this church are recorded by Stow. It originally contained Queen Elizabeth’s monument. The parish was rich in charitable gifts, some of the donors of which were: Mrs. Doxie of £50, for the better maintenance of the parson; Lady Elizabeth Newton £40, and many others whose names are not recorded.
In modern Gracechurch Street, at the corner of Eastcheap, is a fine new building of the National Provident Institution for Mutual Life Assurance. The courts opening out of the street are lined with countless window reflectors and are very monotonous. The Russian Bank is fine and of great height; on the west there is a long line of brick and stucco buildings which can boast no style at all. The street is given over to merchants, solicitors, bankers, agents, etc. The great building at the corner of Lombard Street is the City Linen Company Bank, and is conspicuous by reason of its stone ornamentation.
The northern portion of the street is not remarkable for architectural beauty. The street consists chiefly of great square blocks of buildings interspersed with dull early nineteenth-century brick boxes. In Bell Yard there is an almost unbroken line of old houses on the south side, and at the end the half-embedded gilt bell over a public-house points to the name-derivation. On the east of Gracechurch Street a high arch of rusticated stone leads to Leadenhall market (see p. [160]). Gracechurch Buildings follow, and Bull’s Head Passage, leading to Skinner’s Place, is lined by open stalls. The flat end of St. Peter’s, Cornhill, faces Leadenhall Buildings.
Lombard Street.—Shops and tenements are mentioned belonging to Lombard Street in the fourteenth century. The Calendar of Wills has a reference in the year 1327. Riley’s earliest reference is 1382.
When the street first received its name is not known. Stow ventures back no further than Edward II., but there were Italian merchants before that time:
“Then have ye Lombard Street, so called of the Longobards, and other merchants, strangers of divers nations assembling there twice every day, of what original or continuance I have not read of record, more than that Edward II., in the 12th of his reign, confirmed a messuage, sometime belonging to Robert Turke, abutting on Lombard Street, toward the south, and toward Cornehill on the north, for the merchants of Florence, which proveth that street to have had the name of Lombard Street before the reign of Edward II. The meeting of which merchants and others there continued until the 22nd of December, in the year 1568; on the which day the said merchants began to make their meetings at the burse, a place then new built for that purpose in the ward of Cornhill, and was since by her majesty, Queen Elizabeth, named the Royal Exchange.”
The Lombards came over at first as collectors of the papal revenue; but they did much more than this: they opened up trade between the Italian towns and London—every year the fleets of Genoa and Venice brought goods from the East and from the Mediterranean. Moreover, the Italians in England sent wool from England instead of precious metals by way of Florence, if not other cities. Their wealth enabled them to take the place of the Jews in their expulsion; if the City was suddenly and heavily taxed they made advances to the merchant who could not immediately realise. Of course they charged heavy interest—as heavy as the necessities of the case permitted—and they became unpopular. The lending of money, forbidden and held in abhorrence, was absolutely necessary for the conduct of business: those who carried on this trade naturally lived together, if only to be kept in knowledge of what was going on. And as the progress of trade went on, their power increased year by year. Lombard Street, where they lived, was the daily mart of the London merchants before the erection of the Exchange.
POPE’S HOUSE IN PLOUGH COURT
“Jane Shore’s husband was a goldsmith in this street; so at least the old ballad, printed in Percy’s Reliques, would lead us to believe. No. 68, now Messrs. Martin, Stones and Martin’s (bankers), occupies the site of the house of business of Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of the Royal Exchange. When Pennant wrote, the Messrs. Martin still possessed the original grasshopper that distinguished his house. ‘How the Exchange passeth in Lombard Street’ is a phrase of frequent occurrence in Sir Thomas Gresham’s early letters. No. 67, now in the occupation of Messrs. Glyn and Co. (bankers), belongs to the Goldsmiths’ Company, to whom it was left by Sir Martin Bowes, an eminent goldsmith in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Guy, the founder of Guy’s Hospital, was a bookseller in this street. The father of Pope, the poet, was a linendraper in Lombard Street; and here, in 1688, his celebrated son was born. Opposite the old-fashioned gate of the Church of St. Edmund the Martyr is a narrow court, leading to a Quakers’ Meeting-house where Penn and Fox frequently preached” (Cunningham’s Handbook).
The house in which Pope is said to have been born is that at the end of Plough Court.
Between the Church of St. Edmund and the west end of the street were two mansions formerly belonging, one to William de la Pole, Knight Banneret, and “King’s Merchant” in the reign of Edward III., and afterwards to his son, Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, and the other to Sir Martin Bowes, mayor, 1545. Here also was the Cardinal’s Hat Tavern, one of the oldest of the City taverns, mentioned in 1492.
The modern street gives a general impression similar to that of Cornhill. Everywhere we are confronted by solid banks and insurance offices, which seem to divide the ground between them.
George Yard contains the imposing building of the Deutsche Bank in London, as well as a couple of large houses let in flats, and presents a decidedly dignified appearance. The Bank is an immense building, with a granite-columned portico, and rusticated stonework round it.
Of the two churches now remaining in this street, one is