Rotherhith Water Works, situated at the upper end of Rotherhith Wall, and the lower end of Mill street, where the engine is wrought by water from the river Thames, which being brought in by the tide is contained in the canals in the neighbouring streets. By this engine a sufficient quantity of water is raised to supply two main pipes of a six inch bore, whereby the neighbourhood is plentifully supplied with Thames water.
Rotten row, Goswell street.
Round court, 1. Black Friars. 2. Black Lion yard. 3. Blue Boar’s Head court, Barbican. 4. Butler’s alley. 5. Jewin street. 6. St. Martin’s le Grand. 7. Moses and Aaron alley, Whitechapel. 8. Old Bethlem. 9. Onslow street, Vine street, Hatton Wall. 10. Sharp’s alley, Cow Cross. 11. In the Strand.
Round About alley, Wapping dock.
Round Hoop court, Whitecross street, Cripplegate.*
Royal Exchange, Cornhill. This edifice, which is dedicated to the service of commerce, was founded by Sir Thomas Gresham, a merchant distinguished by his abilities and great success in trade, who proposed, that if the city would prepare a proper spot, he would erect the building at his own expence. This proposal was accepted by the Lord Mayor and citizens, who purchased some houses between Cornhill and Threadneedle street, and having caused them to be pulled down and cleared away, the foundation of the new building was laid on the 7th of June 1566, and carried on with such expedition, that it was finished in November 1567.
This edifice was called the Bourse, but it soon after changed its name; for on the 23d of January 1570, Queen Elizabeth, attended by a great number of the nobility, came from Somerset house, her palace in the Strand, and passing through Threadneedle street, dined with Sir Thomas Gresham at his house in Bishopsgate street, and after dinner returning through Cornhill, entered the Bourse on the south side, where having viewed every part except the vaults, especially the gallery above stairs, which extended round the whole building, and was furnished with shops, in which were sold all sorts of the finest wares in the city, her Majesty caused this edifice to be proclaimed in her presence, by a herald and trumpet, The Royal Exchange.
Sir Thomas Gresham, at his death, left the building to his Lady, and after her decease to the Lord Mayor and citizens, and to the Mercers company, directing the rents to support, under their inspection, lectures on the sciences, at his dwelling house, now Gresham College, and some charities to the prisons.
The original building stood till the fire of London in 1666, when it perished amidst the general havoc: but it soon arose with greater splendor than before. The model of the present structure was first shewn to King Charles II. who was well pleased with it, it was however debated whether they should build after that model or not; for fear of launching out into too great an expence: but the majority desiring to have it a magnificent structure, and imagining, that the shops above and below stairs would in time reimburse them, had the present edifice erected at the expence of 80,000l.
The ground plat of this building is 203 feet in length; 171 feet in breadth, and the area in the middle is 61 square perches. This area is surrounded with a substantial and regular stone building, wrought in rustic. In each of the principal fronts is a piazza, and in the center are the grand entrances into the area, under an arch which is extremely lofty and noble; on each side that of the principal front which is in Cornhill, are Corinthian demi-columns supporting a compass pediment; and in the intercolumniation on each side, in the front next the street, is a niche with the figures of King Charles I. and his son Charles II. in Roman habits, and well executed. Over the aperture on the cornice between the two pediments are the King’s arms in relievo. On each side of this entrance is a range of windows placed between demi-columns and pilasters of the Composite order, above which runs a balustrade. The height of the building is fifty-six feet, and from the center of this side rises a lantern and turret, 178 feet high, on the top of which is a fane in the form of a grasshopper of polished brass, esteemed a very fine piece of workmanship: a grasshopper being the crest of Sir Thomas Gresham’s arms.