Bygone London

by Frederick Ross

Allen, in his History of London, intimates that he sat in the Guildhall, in a clerical capacity, to look after the interests of the church, which was not correct, his position there being the representative of the temporalities of the Ward.

Prior Norman appears to have been entrusted with the superintendence of the building of the priory, and, like others not trained in commercial pursuits, to have been somewhat unthrifty in the expenditure of money, for we find that when he had built up his refectory, kitchen, and larder, his funds were exhausted, and he had not the wherewithal to supply the necessary food for his hungry canons; but the matrons and maidens of the city passing by, and seeing the tables laid out without the necessary appliances, brought them loaves of bread every Sunday for the week's consumption, until the rents began to come in and they were able to provide for themselves.

After the destruction of the four churches it became necessary to celebrate mass in two parts of the new church at the same time, which caused a great deal of confusion and discord, until at length a separate church was built for the St. Catherine's parishioners in the priory churchyard, where mass was performed by one of the canons; but the people were required to attend the conventual church at festivals and fasts, and to have their children baptised there. This gave rise to some ill-feeling and disputes, the people wishing to have all the services and sacraments of religion celebrated in their own church; and in 1414, when William Haradon was prior, the matter was referred to the Bishop of London for arbitration, and he decreed that St. Catherine's should have a baptismal font, and be allowed to ring their bells on Easter day; that they should celebrate the feast of the dedication of their own church within its walls, but should attend at the festival of the dedication of the conventual church, and then and there "give their pence, halfpence, and farthings in token of submission;" and that the Sacrament in St. Catherine's Church should be administered by a canon of the Priory, "but that the Priory should be at no other charges for the chapel." All this the bishop, "out of his paternal affections, yielded unto."

The church was denominated St. Catherine Cree, the word Cree being an ancient method of spelling the name of Christ, as pronounced by the French, and was added as being an adjunct of the conventual or Christ Church. A bell tower was built 1504, Lord Mayor Sir John Perceval having left money for that purpose. The present church was built 1630, and escaped the fire of 1666. It was at its dedication that Laud indulged in Popish ceremonials, which aroused the indignation of the Puritans, and assisted in paving the way of the Archbishop to the block. The churchyard of St. Catherine was a popular place for the performance of moralities and miracle plays, which took place on Sundays. There is an entry in the parish books—"Received of Hugh Grymes, for licence given to certain players to play their interludes in the churchyard from the feast of Easter An. D'ni. 1565, until the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, next coming, every holyday, to the use of the parish, 27s. 8d." Hans Holbein is supposed to have been buried in the church.

The Priory had not been built twenty ears when it ran a great risk of being destroyed by the fire of 1136, second only to the great conflagration of 1666, which broke out near London stone, and destroyed the City westward to Clement's Danes, and eastward to Aldgate, the flames sweeping up to the walls of the Priory, northward to St. Paul's Cathedral, which was partially, or, as Matthew Paris states, entirely, consumed, and by London Bridge, which was of wood, and entirely burnt, into Southwark.

Ralph the Prior, circa 1145, with the consent of the Canons, exchanged a plot of land near the river, in the outer-soken, and "all the mills there in the shambles," with Maud, Stephen's queen, for land in Hertfordshire, where she built and endowed the Hospital of St. Katherine, which was repaired and enlarged by Queen Eleanor in 1273. It was removed to Regent's Park in the present century to make way for St. Katherine's Docks.

King Henry II. having debased the coin of the realm, Stephen, the Prior, 1180, demanded £25 12s. 6d. from the city of Exeter, as the then value of the £25 per annum granted out of the city revenues. The citizens refused to pay the additional 12s. 6d., but were compelled by a mandate from the King.

In the year 1215, when King John was at feud with his Barons, Matthew Paris informs us that, after the siege of Northampton, the Barons came, by way of Bedford and Ware, to London, entering the City by Aldgate, and that "as they passed along, they spoiled the Fryars' Houses and searched their coffers," on which occasion, doubtless, the Brethren of Holy Trinity, lying so near the gate, would have black-mail levied on them. At the same time they repaired the ruined gate and put it in a state of defence, obtaining the materials from the houses of the Jews.

Eustacius, the eighth Prior, 1264, appointed Theobald Fitz-James as his deputy in the Aldermanship, he deeming it inconsistent with his spiritual vocation to perform secular duties.

William Rising became Prior in 1377, when there is a record of his taking the oaths as Alderman.