The Spittle Houses.
Among the properties which fell to the portion of Katherine Legh, after the dissolution of the Hospital were “all those messuages, houses and buyldinges, landes and tenements callyd the Spyttell howses, with all the orchards and gardens thereunto adjoyning.” The only property situated within the Precinct that can be traced as belonging to Katherine, consists of (i.) four houses and gardens, immediately to the east of the churchyard[[613]] and, between these and what is now Shaftesbury Avenue, (ii.) a house, garden and orchard.[[614]] The westernmost house of (i.) was probably The Angel, which is definitely mentioned as having been transferred to Katherine, but the remaining houses, etc., almost certainly were the Spittle houses, with their orchards and gardens. They are shown distinctly on Agas’s Map (Plate 1).