Dr. Woodward, in the year 1707, had an opportunity of narrowly observing its fabrick and composition, by a part of the wall near Bishopsgate being pulled down, to make way for new buildings; and this learned antiquary observes, that “From the foundation, which lay eight feet below the present surface, quite up to the top of the oldest part, which was in all near ten feet, it was compiled alternately of layers of broad flat bricks and rag-stones. The bricks lay in double ranges, and each brick being but one inch and three tenths in thickness, the whole layer, with the mortar, exceeded not three inches. The layers of stone were not two feet thick of our measure. It is probable they were intended for two of the Roman, their rule being somewhat shorter than ours. To this height the workmanship was after the Roman manner, and these were the remains of the ancient wall. In this it was very observable, that the mortar was so very firm and hard, that the stone itself as easily broke. It was thus far, from the foundation upwards, nine feet in thickness. The above broad thin bricks were all of Roman make, and of the very sort we learn from Pliny, that were in common use among the Romans. Measuring some of these (says Mr. Woodward) I found them seventeen inches and four tenths in thickness, and eleven inches and six tenths in breadth.
“The old wall, on its being repaired, was carried up of the same thickness to eight or nine feet in height; or if higher, there was no more of that work now standing. All this was apparently additional, and of a make later than the other part underneath it, which was levelled and brought to a plane for the raising of this new work upon it. The outside, or that towards the suburbs, was faced with a coarse sort of stone, not compiled with any great care or skill, nor disposed into a regular method; but on the inside there appeared more marks of workmanship and art. At the bottom were five layers composed of flint and free stone; though they were not so in all parts, yet in some the squares were near equal, about five inches diameter, and ranged in a quincunx order. Over these were a layer of brick, then of hewn free stone, and so alternately brick and stone to the top. These bricks, of which there were four courses, were of the shape of those now in use, but much larger, being near eleven inches in length, five in breadth, and somewhat above two and a half in thickness. There was not one of the Roman bricks above mentioned in all this part, nor was the mortar here near so hard, as in that below; but from the description may be easily collected, that this part when first made, with so various and orderly a disposition of the materials, flint, stone, and brick, could not but carry a very handsome aspect. Whether this was done at the expence of the Barons in the reign of King John; or of the citizens in the reign of King Henry III. or of King Richard II. or at what other time, I cannot take upon me to ascertain, from accounts so defective and obscure as are those which at this day remain of this affair.
“Upon the additional work now described, was raised a wall wholly of brick, only that it terminating in battlements, these were topped with copings of stone. It was two feet four inches in thickness, and somewhat above eight feet in height. The bricks of these were of the same module and size with those of the part underneath, How long they have been in use is uncertain.” Woodward’s Roman Antiquities, and Present State of London.
A tower of the same construction, twenty-six feet in height, is still remaining, and is situated almost opposite the end of Gravel lane, on the west side of Houndsditch, tho’ much decayed. There is a door within the wall of this tower, in Shoemaker row, fronting the passage into Duke’s Place. Mr. Maitland observes, that in searching for this tower, about eighty paces south east, towards Aldgate, he discovered another of the same construction, twenty-one feet high, perfectly found, and much more beautiful than the former; the bricks being as found as if but newly laid, while the stones in most parts are become a sacrifice to time. Mr. Maitland also observes, that on the south of Aldgate, at the lower end of a street denominated the Vineyard, is the basis of another Roman tower, about eight feet high, which supports a new building of three stories in height. He conjectures, that the wall, when first erected, was about twenty-two feet high, and the towers about forty feet; and adds, that the ancients thought it so necessary to preserve them from ruin and all incumbrances, that they made an act, that no tenement should be erected nearer the walls, than the distance of sixteen feet.
The remains of the walls are at present much more extensive than is generally imagined. They still subsist in part between the houses on the east side of Poor Jewry lane, and the Minories, almost all the way along the back of Houndsditch, from Aldgate to Bishopsgate. The ruins of the wall are from thence visible to every passenger in the street, from where Little Moorgate lately stood to the end of Aldermanbury, and from thence extending behind the houses, it reaches to Cripplegate; from whence it extends on the back of St. Giles’s church, and runs along the back of the houses in Crowder’s well alley, where several lofty towers are still to be seen, and is visible almost to Aldersgate; from thence it extends along the back of the houses in Bull and Mouth street; but from thence little of it is to be seen till we come to Newgate; after which it in some places rises to a considerable height, and extends in a pretty regular line on the back of the houses in the Old Bailey almost to Ludgate.
London Wall, a long street, so called from its fronting the city wall; it having a range of houses on the south, and the ruins of the wall on the north. This street, which extends from Wormwood street to Cripplegate, is the only place where the wall is not concealed by buildings: but here the wall may be justly considered as a nuisance, it being little better than a disagreeable heap of rubbish, in which hardly any of the Roman structure is now to be seen.
London Workhouse, a large and commodious brick building, at the south east corner of Half Moon alley in Bishopsgate street, was founded by act of Parliament in the year 1649, for the relief and employment of the poor, and the punishing of vagrants and other disorderly persons, within the city and liberties of London. However, in the year 1662, the continual increase of the poor, and the defects in the laws relating to the settlement of them, occasioned another act, by which the Governors were constituted a body corporate with a common seal; the Lord Mayor for the time being was appointed President, and the President and Governors were allowed to purchase lands or tenements to the annual value of 300l. The Common Council were allowed to rate the several parishes of the city for the support of this workhouse, and on this account a considerable sum is paid by each parish, raised on the inhabitants by a regular assessment. Besides which, this charity has received many considerable benefactions.
However, it was agreed by the Governors, that no child should be received from any benefactor who gave a less sum than 50l. but whoever gave 70l. might put in a child from any place he thought fit. Account of this Corporation published in 1713.
The several parishes, besides their assessments, formerly paid 1s. a week for parish children; but in 1751 the Governors came to a resolution, that no more children paid for by the parishes to which they belong, should be taken into the house; and since that time it has been resolved, that only such children should be taken in, as were committed by the Magistrates of the city, found begging in the streets, pilfering on the keys, or lying about in glass houses and uninhabited places: the receptacles of the wretched and the wicked.
These once poor abandoned children are educated according to the usage of the church of England, and meet at six in the morning and evening in a large room, which serves them both for a chapel and dining room, where they hear prayers: they are taught the Catechism; have a Minister who attends upon them; and on Sundays they all go to church at Great St. Helen’s. A part of the day is appropriated to their learning to read, write, and to their obtaining some knowledge of arithmetic; the rest of their time is spent in weaving nets for the British fishery; and the girls are employed in sewing, knitting, and other labour, by which they are qualified for service. The boys making twenty-five yards of netting a week, at 1s. 6d. for twenty yards; and, as an encouragement to industry, every boy who makes above twenty-four yards, receives a penny a week. There are here seldom less than four hundred children thus employed, all of whom are dressed in russet cloth, and wear a round badge upon their breasts, representing a poor boy and a sheep, with the motto, God’s providence is our inheritance.