(834 × 414) D. 44-1896.
45. Royal Mail Tavern, from Fitchett's Court, Noble Street, 1889 (Black and white).
This house, on the south side of Noble Street, from the style of the brickwork must have been built in the early part of the eighteenth century, but little is known of its history. The sign was comparatively modern, suggested, no doubt, by the proximity of the General Post Office, which was moved from Lombard Street to St. Martin's-le-Grand in 1829. The Royal Mail Tavern was destroyed in May, 1897.
(834 × 538) D. 42-1896.
46. Reminiscence of the Oxford Arms, Warwick Lane, 1875 (Water-colour).
The structure, of which a small part is here shown, was approached by a passage from Warwick Lane, being bounded on the west by the old wall of the cathedral precinct and touching Amen Corner on the south. It was a fine example of its kind. As was said by a writer in the "Athenæum" of May 20th, 1876:—"Despite the confusion, the dirt, and the decay, he who stands in the yard of this ancient inn may get an excellent idea of what it was like in the days of its prosperity, when not only travellers in coach or saddle rode into or out of the yard, but poor players and mountebanks set up their stage for the entertainment of spectators who hung over the galleries or looked on from their rooms—a name by which the boxes of a theatre were first known." The house must have been rebuilt after the Great Fire, which raged over all this area. That it existed before, is proved by the following odd advertisement from the "London Gazette" for March, 1672-73:—"These are to give notice that Edward Bartlet, Oxford Carrier, hath removed his Inn in London from the Swan at Holborn Bridge to the Oxford Arms in Warwick Lane, where he did Inn before the Fire. His coaches and waggons going forth on their usual days, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He hath also a hearse and all things convenient to carry a corps to any part of England." In the palmy days of coaching, just before the advent of the railways, the Oxford Arms was in the hands of Mr. Edward Sherman, who carried on the chief coaching business at the Bull and Mouth, St. Martin's-le-Grand. After 1868 many of the rooms were let out in tenements, but the inn still did a good carriers' business, carts leaving daily for Oxford and other places. It was closed in 1875 and pulled down in the following year. Views of this house formed the first of a series issued by the Society for Photographing Relics of Old London. The late Mr. Alfred Marks, the accomplished secretary, wrote useful accompanying notes. Another old galleried house, which long lingered on the east side of Warwick Lane, was the Bell Inn, where Archbishop Leighton died in 1684. As Burnet tells us, he had often said that "if he were to choose a place to die in it should be an Inn; it looked like a pilgrim's going-home, to whom this world was all as an Inn, and who was weary of the noise and confusion in it." Thus his desire was fulfilled.
(10916 × 714) D. 43-1896.
47. Deanery of St. Paul's, 1891 (Black and white).
This house was built by Wren, after the Great Fire, on the site of the former Deanery, but shorn of the chief part of its garden stretching down to the river, which was portioned off in building leases to defray the cost of the new structure. In our drawing the high gates almost concealed the porch, which is ornamented with carved festoons of flowers. There is also a handsome staircase. Many years ago rooks used to build in the plane-trees in front. The drawing was taken from the steps of No. 5 Dean's Court, now destroyed, where was the Vicar-General's Office for Marriage Licences.
(814 × 1078) D. 45-1896.