THE JOINERS

Incorporated by Elizabeth in 1569 for a Master, 2 Wardens, and 24 Assistants, with a Livery of 323.

The work for which the Fraternity existed was a branch of carpentry. They made cabinets and carved work, doors, window-frames, and other kinds of work which required special skill and training. The subdivisions of carpentry were naturally difficult to arrange. An agreement was made between the Carpenters and the Joiners, by which the latter were allowed to take over bedsteads, chairs, stools, cabinets, picture-frames, windows, doors, pews, pulpits, and all sorts of work.

The overlapping of trades once, if not more than once, caused a riot. It was in the year 1327. On one side were the saddlers, and on the other side the joiners, loriners, and painters. They met in Chepe, and in the street of Cripplegate “strongly provided with an armed force, and manfully began to fight,” so that many were killed or mortally wounded, and the whole City was in alarm.

The Livery is now 102; the Corporate Income is £1300; there is no Trust Income.

Stow describes the Joiners’ Hall as one of several “fair houses” standing in Frier Lane. The Hall itself, but not the entrance into it from Joiners’ Hall Buildings, was in Dowgate Ward. It was destroyed in the Great Fire, but rebuilt. The post-Fire building is described as a large edifice of brick, with four noble windows in elegant frames, covered with pediments, and supported by consoles. The great Hall was all wainscotted, and was very remarkable for a magnificent and curious screen at its lower end. Upon this screen were “demi-savages and other enrichments, well carved in right wainscot.” It is said to have cost £130. The parlour was wainscotted with cedar, “with more curious artifice and embellishments.” The ceiling was fretted with wainscot work. The great Hall was destroyed by a fire in 1694, but the parlour, though slightly damaged, was saved by the energy of the clerk, Mr. Burroughs, who brought engines to play upon it from a window. It had already been occupied as a dwelling and warehouse at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and was afterwards pulled down, when a present large warehouse was erected on its site. In Strype’s map a long building appears to run down upon its western side in Joiners’ Hall Buildings. From Joiners’ Hall Buildings, Vintry Ward, leading into the warehouse yard, is the only remnant left of the Hall. The Company has now no Hall.