Crayford, a town near Dartford in Kent, is 14 miles from London, and obtained its name from its having anciently a ford over the river Cray, or Crouch, a little above its influx into the Thames. In the adjacent heath and fields are several caves, supposed to have been formed by the Saxons as places of security and shelter for their wives, children, and effects, during their wars with the Britons.
Creechurch court, Creechurch lane.☐ See St. Catharine Creechurch.
Creechurch lane, Leadenhall street.☐
Creed lane, Ludgate street. See Paternoster Row.
Cripplegate, so named from some cripples who anciently begged there, appears to have been one of the original gates of the city, and is situated 1032 feet to the west of Moorgate. It has been many times rebuilt, but the present structure, which was repaired in 1663, seems to have stood between two and three hundred years. It is a very plain solid edifice, void of all ornament. It has only one postern, and has more the appearance of a fortification than any of the others.
Cripplegate Ward, is very large, and consists of two parts, one lying within Cripplegate and London Wall, and the other reaching to the extent of the city liberties. The whole ward extends from Cheapside on the south, to beyond Bridgewater square in the north; and from Jewin street in the west, to Back street, Moorfields, in the east; it being bounded on the north by the parish of St. Luke, without the freedom; on the west by Aldersgate ward; on the south by Cheap ward; and on the east, by little Moorfields, part of Coleman street ward, Bassishaw ward, and Cheap ward.
The principal streets, &c. within the walls are, Milk street, Aldermanbury, Love lane, Wood street, Silver street, Addle street, and a very small part of Cheapside, containing 170 feet eastward from Wood street. The chief places without the walls are, Fore street, Moor lane, Whitecross street to beyond Beech lane, Redcross street, Beech lane, part of Barbican, and all Bridgewater square.
The principal buildings in this ward are the parish churches of St. Giles Cripplegate, St. Alphage, St. Alban’s Wood street, St. Michael’s Woodstreet, and St. Mary Aldermanbury; Lamb’s chapel, Sion college, Dr. Williams’s Library; and the halls of the Haberdashers, Waxchandlers, Plaisterers, Brewers, Curriers, Bowyers, and Loriners companies.
This ward is governed by an Alderman, and within the gate are eight Common Council men, fifteen wardmote inquest men, twelve scavengers, nine constables, and a beadle. Without the gate there are four Common Council, seventeen wardmote inquest men, four scavengers, two constables, and a beadle. The jurymen returned by the wardmote inquest serve in the several courts in Guildhall in the month of March.
Crispin’s alley, Holiwell street.*