Aldgate and Whitechapel, being on the high road to Essex, had in old days several famous inns; among others the Three Nuns, the Crown, the Blue Boar, and the Black Bull. This last, afterwards known as the Bull, is the house a small part of which appears in the drawing. It was at its zenith shortly before the advent of railways, when Mrs. Anne Nelson, coach proprietor, was the landlady. It has been said that she could make up nearly 200 beds there, and she lodged and boarded about three dozen of her guards and coachmen. Most of her business was to Essex and Suffolk, but she also owned the Exeter coach. She must have been landlady on the memorable occasion when Mr. Pickwick arrived in a cab, after "two mile o' danger at eightpence," and it was through this very archway that he and his companions were driven by the elder Weller when they started on their adventurous journey to Ipswich. The house is now wholly destroyed, and the yard built over.
(978 × 5516) D. 24-1896.
21. 5, 6, and 7, Aldgate High Street, formerly Saracen's Head Inn, 1887 (Black and white).
On the opposite side of the way, some distance west, just within the original limits of the City, an old block of buildings is still (1912) to be seen, which once formed the original front of another well-known coaching inn—the Saracen's Head. The name in 1887 could be dimly observed on the right-hand house, beneath the paint. The carved pilasters to the left must have been the work of an artist. The back of the inn was once galleried, and coaches plied from here to Norwich as long ago as 1681. In the yard, at the time of the drawing, there was still a carriers' booking office, but that came to an end many years ago.
(934 × 7516) D. 25-1896.
22. Almshouses of the Skinners' Company, Mile End Road, 1892 (Sepia).
(61316 × 10916) D. 26-1896.
23. Almshouses of the Skinners' Company, Mile End Road, from the Garden, 1892 (Water-colour).
They were immediately west of the famous Trinity Hospital, which was threatened with destruction some years ago. Their narrow frontage to the road did not prepare one for the picturesque view within. Over the gate were the Company's arms and two statuettes of cripples. There were also two inscriptions, one of them setting forth that these almshouses were founded in 1688 during the mastership of Benjamin Alexander; the other ran thus:—