The Survey of London

by John Stow

And so of other like buildings about the city by citizens, men have not letted to speak their pleasure.

From Fisher’s Folly up to the west end of Berward’s lane, of old time so called, but now Hogge lane, because it meeteth with Hogge lane, which cometh from the bars without Aldgate, as is afore showed, is a continual building of tenements, with alleys of cottages, pestered, etc. Then is there a large close, called Tasel close, sometime for that there were tassels planted for the use of cloth-workers, since letten to the cross-bow makers, wherein they used to shoot for games at the popinjay: now the same being inclosed with a brick wall, serveth to be an artillery yard, whereunto the gunners of the Tower do weekly repair, namely, every Thursday; and there levelling certain brass pieces of great artillery against a butt of earth, made for that purpose, they discharge them for their exercise.

Then have you the late dissolved priory and hospital,[152] commonly called St. Mary Spittle, founded by Walter Brune and Rosia his wife, for canons regular. Walter, archdeacon of London, laid the first stone in the year 1197, William, of St. Mary church, then bishop of London, dedicated to the honour of Jesus Christ and his mother, the perpetual Virgin Mary, by the name of Domus Dei, and Beatæ Mariæ, extra Bishopsgate, in the parish of St. Buttolph; the bounds whereof, as appeareth by composition betwixt the parson and prior of the said hospital concerning tithes, beginneth at Berward’s lane toward the south, and extendeth in breadth to the parish of St. Leonard of Shoreditch towards the north; and in length, from the King’s street on the west to the bishop of London’s field, called Lollesworth, on the east. The prior of this St. Mary Spittle, for the emortising and propriation of Bikenacar, in Essex, to his said house of St. Mary Spittle, gave to Henry VII. £400 in the 22nd of his reign. This hospital, surrendered to Henry VIII., was valued to dispend £478; wherein was found, besides ornaments of the church, and other goods pertaining to the hospital, one hundred and eighty beds, well furnished, for receipt of the poor; for it was an hospital of great relief. Sir Henry Plesington, knight, was buried there 1452.

In place of this hospital, and near adjoining, are now many fair houses built for receipt and lodging of worshipful persons. A part of the large churchyard pertaining to this hospital, and severed from the rest with a brick wall, yet remaineth as of old time, with a pulpit cross therein, somewhat like to that in Paules churchyard. And against the said pulpit on the south side, before the charnel and chapel of St. Edmond the Bishop and Mary Magdalen, which chapel was founded about the year 1391 by William Eneshan, citizen and paperer of London, who was there buried, remaineth also one fair built house, of two stories in height, for the mayor and other honourable persons, with the aldermen and sheriffs to sit in, there to hear the sermons preached in the Easter holidays. In the loft over them stood the bishop of London, and other prelates; now the ladies and aldermen’s wives do there stand at a fair window, or sit at their pleasure. And here is to be noted, that, time out of mind, it hath been a laudable custom, that on Good Friday, in the afternoon, some especial learned man, by appointment of the prelates, hath preached a sermon at Paules cross, treating of Christ’s Passion; and upon the three next Easter holidays, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the like learned men, by the like appointment, have used to preach on the forenoons at the said Spittle, to persuade the article of Christ’s Resurrection; and then on Low Sunday, one other learned man at Paules cross, to make rehearsal of those four former sermons, either commending or reproving them, as to him by judgment of the learned divines was thought convenient. And that done, he was to make a sermon of his own study, which in all were five sermons in one. At these sermons, so severally preached, the mayor, with his brethren the aldermen, were accustomed to be present in their violets at Paules on Good Friday, and in their scarlets at the Spittle in the holidays, except Wednesday in violet, and the mayor with his brethren on Low Sunday in scarlet, at Paules cross, continued until this day.

Touching the antiquity of this custom, I find, that in the year 1398, King Richard having procured from Rome confirmation of such statutes and ordinances as were made in the parliament, begun at Westminster and ended at Shrewsbury, he caused the same confirmation to be read and pronounced at Paules cross, and at St. Mary Spittle, in the sermons before all the people. Philip Malpas, one of the sheriffs in the year 1439, gave twenty shillings by the year to the three preachers at the Spittle. Stephen Forster, mayor in the year 1454, gave forty pounds to the preachers at Paules cross and Spittle. I find also that the aforesaid house, wherein the mayor and aldermen do sit at the Spittle, was built for that purpose of the goods and by the executors of Richard Lawson, alderman, and Isabell his wife, in the year 1488. In the year 1594, this pulpit being old was taken down, and a new set up; the preacher’s face turned towards the south, which was before toward the west; also a large house, on the east side of the said pulpit, was then built for the governors and children of Christ’s hospital to sit in, and this was done of the goods of William Elkens, alderman, late deceased; but within the first year the same house decaying, and like to have fallen, was again with great cost repaired at the city’s charge.

On the east side of this churchyard lieth a large field, of old time called Lolesworth, now Spittle field; which about the year 1576 was broken up for clay to make brick; in the digging whereof many earthen pots, called urnæ, were found full of ashes, and burnt bones of men, to wit, of the Romans that inhabited here; for it was the custom of the Romans to burn their dead, to put their ashes in an urn, and then bury the same, with certain ceremonies, in some field appointed for that purpose near unto their city. Every of these pots had in them with the ashes of the dead one piece of copper money, with the inscription of the emperor then reigning: some of them were of Claudius, some of Vespasian, some of Nero, of Anthoninus Pius, of Trajanus, and others. Besides those urns, many other pots were there found, made of a white earth with long necks and handles, like to our stone jugs: these were empty, but seemed to be buried full of some liquid matter long since consumed and soked through; for there were found divers phials and other fashioned glasses, some most cunningly wrought, such as I have not seen the like, and some of crystal; all which had water in them, nothing differing in clearness, taste, or savour from common spring water, whatsoever it was at the first: some of these glasses had oil in them very thick, and earthy in savour; some were supposed to have balm in them, but had lost the virtue; many of those pots and glasses were broken in cutting of the clay, so that few were taken up whole. There were also found divers dishes and cups of a fine red-coloured earth, which showed outwardly such a shining smoothness as if they had been of coral; those had in the bottoms Roman letters printed: there were also lamps of white earth and red, artificially wrought with divers antiques about them, some three or four images made of white earth, about a span long each of them: one I remember was of Pallas, the rest I have forgotten. I myself have reserved, among divers of those antiquities there, one urn, with the ashes and bones, and one pot of white earth very small, not exceeding the quantity of a quarter of a wine pint, made in shape of a hare squatted upon her legs, and between her ears is the mouth of the pot. There hath also been found in the same field divers coffins of stone, containing the bones of men: these I suppose to be the burials of some especial persons in time of the Britons or Saxons, after that the Romans had left to govern here. Moreover, there were also found the skulls and bones of men without coffins, or rather whose coffins (being of great timber) were consumed. Divers great nails of iron were there found, such as are used in the wheels of shod carts, being each of them as big as a man’s finger, and a quarter of a yard long, the heads two inches over; those nails were more wondered at than the rest of things there found, and many opinions of men were there uttered of them; namely, that the men there buried were murdered by driving those nails into their heads; a thing unlikely, for a smaller nail would more aptly serve to so bad a purpose, and a more secret place would likely be employed for their burial. But to set down what I have observed concerning this matter, I there beheld the bones of a man lying (as I noted), the head north, the feet south, and round about him, as thwart his head, along both his sides, and thwart his feet, such nails were found, wherefore I conceived them to be the nails of his coffin, which had been a trough cut out of some great tree, and the same covered with a plank, of a great thickness, fastened with such nails; and therefore I caused some of the nails to be reached up to me, and found under the broad heads of them the old wood, skant turned into earth, but still retaining both the grain and proper colour: of these nails, with the wood under the head thereof, I reserved one, as also the nether jaw-bone of the man, the teeth being great, sound, and fast fixed, which, among other many monuments there found, I have yet to show; but the nail lying dry, is by scaling greatly wasted. And thus much for this part of Bishopsgate ward, without the gate; for I have in another place spoken of the gate, and therefore I am to speak of that other part of this ward which lieth within the gate.

And first to begin on the left hand of Bishopsgate street, from the gate you have certain tenements of old time pertaining to a brotherhood of St. Nicholas, granted to the parish clerks of London, for two chaplains, to be kept in the chapel of St. Mary Magdalen, near unto the Guildhall of London, in the 27th of Henry VI. The first of these houses towards the north, and against the wall of the city, was sometime a large inn or court called the Wrestlers, of such a sign, and the last in the high street towards the south was sometime also a fair inn called the Angel, of such a sign. Among these said tenements was on the same street side a fair entry, or court, to the common hall of the said parish clerks, with proper alms houses, seven in number, adjoining, for poor parish clerks, and their wives and their widows, such as were in great years not able to labour. One of these, by the said brotherhood of parish clerks, was allowed sixteen pence the week; the other six had each of them nine pence the week, according to the patent thereof granted. This brotherhood, amongst other, being suppressed, in the reign of Edward VI. the said hall, with the other buildings there, was given to Sir Robert Chester, a knight of Cambridgeshire; against whom the parish clerks commencing suit, in the reign of Queen Mary, and being like to have prevailed, the said Sir Robert Chester pulled down the hall, sold the timber, stone, and lead, and thereupon the suit was ended. The alms houses remain in the queen’s hands, and people are there placed, such as can make best friends; some of them, taking the pension appointed, have let forth their houses for great rent, giving occasion to the parson of the parish to challenge tithes of the poor, etc.

Next unto this is the small parish church of St. Ethelburge Virgin, and from thence some small distance is a large court called Little St. Helen’s, because it pertained to the nuns of St. Helen’s, and was their house: there are seven alms rooms or houses for the poor, belonging to the company of Leathersellers. Then, somewhat more west, is another court with a winding lane, which cometh out against the west end of St. Andrew Undershaft church. In this court standeth the church of St. Helen, sometime a priory of black nuns, and in the same a parish church of St. Helen.

This priory was founded before the reign of Henry III. William Basing, dean of Paules, was the first founder, and was there buried; and William Basing, one of the sheriffs of London, in the 2nd year of Edward II. was holden also to be a founder, or rather a helper there. This priory being valued at £314 2s. 6d. was surrendered the 25th of November, the 30th of Henry VIII.; the whole church, the partition betwixt the nuns’ church and parish church being taken down, remaineth now to the parish, and is a fair parish church, but wanteth such a steeple as Sir Thomas Gresham promised to have built, in recompense of ground in their church filled up with his monument. The nuns’ hall, and other houses thereunto appertaining, was since purchased by the company of the Leathersellers, and is their common hall; which company was incorporate in the 21st year of Richard II.

In the church of St. Helen have you these monuments of the dead:—Thomas Langton, chaplain, buried in the choir 1350; Adam Frances, mayor, 1354; Elizabeth Vennar, wife to William Vennar, alderman, one of the sheriffs of London, 1401; Joan, daughter to Henry Seamer, wife to Richard, son and heir to Robert Lord Poynings, died a virgin 1420; John Swinflat, 1420; Nicholas Marshall, ironmonger, alderman, 1474; Sir John Crosby, alderman, 1475, and Ann his wife; Thomas Williams, gentleman, 1495; Joan Cocken, wife to John Cocken, esquire, 1509; Marie Orrell, wife to Sir Lewes Orrell, knight; Henry Sommer, and Katherine his wife; Walter Huntington, esquire; John Langthorpe, esquire, 1510; John Gower, steward of St. Helen’s, 1512; Robert Rochester, esquire, sergeant of the pantry to Henry VIII.; Sir William Sanctlo, and Sir William Sanctlo, father and son; Eleanor, daughter to Sir Thomas Butler; Lord Sudley; John Southworth; Nicholas Harpsfield, esquire; Thomas Sanderford, or Sommerford, alderman; Alexander Cheyney; Walter Dawbeney; George Fastolph, son to Hugh Fastolph; Robert Liade; Thomas Benolt, alias Clarenciaulx, king at arms, 1534; William Hollis, mayor, 1540; John Fauconbridge, esquire, 1545; Hacket, gentleman of the king’s chapel; Sir Andrew Jud, mayor, 1551; Sir William Pickering, and Sir William Pickering, father and son; William Bond, alderman, 1567; Sir Thomas Gresham, mercer, 1579; William Skegges, sergeant poulter; Richard Gresham, son to Sir Thomas Gresham, 1564.