Chronicles of London Bridge

by Richard Thompson

‘Induat te Dominus Coronâ Gloriæ, Sceptro Clementiæ,
Gladio Justitiæ, Pallio Prudentiæ, Scuto Fidei,
Galiâ Salutis, et Vinculo Pacis.’

‘God the endue with a crowne of glorie,
And with a Sceptre of clennesse and pité;
And with a sheld of right and victorie,
And with a mantel of prudence clad thou be:
A shelde of feith for to defendé thee,
An helme of helthé wrought to thine encres,
Girt with a girdell of loue and perfect pees.’

These vij Virgynes of sight most heuenly
With herte, body, and handys reioysyng,
And of there cheres aperid murely,
For the Kynge’s gracious hom comyng:
And for gladnesse they be gan to synge
Most angelik, with heuenly armonye,
This same roundell which y shall now specifie.

‘Souerayne lord wolcome to zoure Citee,
Wolcome oure Joye, and our hertys plesaunce;
Wolcome, wolcome, right wolcome mote ye be,
Wolcome oure gladnes, wolcome oure suffisaunce:
Syngyng to fore thi Rialle mageste
We saye of herte with oughten variaunce
Souereign lord wolcome, wolcome oure Joye,
Wolcome you be, vnto your owne newe Troye.’
‘Mayr, Citezines, and al the commonté,
At zoure hom comyng newé out of Fraunce,
By grace releuyd of there olde greuaunce,
Synge this day with gret solempnyté.’

Thus resceyuyd, an esy paas rydyng
The King is entred in to yis Citee.’

“The King next passed on to the Conduit in Cornhill, where he was awaited by other Pageants equally sumptuous and interesting; but as these are out of our province, we shall mention them no farther.

“There seems to have gone abroad a singular conception, that the Chapel of St. Thomas on London Bridge did not exist beyond the time of King Henry the Sixth; in the 23rd year of whose reign,—1458,—there were four Chaplains serving in it; though it was originally founded but for two Priests, four Clerks, and their officers, independently of the several chantries, or revenues, left to the establishment, for the singing of daily mass for the souls of its benefactors. The income of the Chapel, however, more than ten years before that period, was considered as worthy of some inquiry on the part of a neighbouring ecclesiastic; for we find, in Newcourt’s ‘Repertorium,’ which I have already cited, volume i., page 396, the following particulars concerning it. ‘In the year 1433,’ says this Author, ‘Sir John Brockle, then Mayor of London, upon a controversie that was then like to arise, between the said Mayor and Commonalty of London, and the Bridge-Masters on the one part, and Richard Morysby, Archdeacon of London, and Rector of St. Magnus Church, on the other, about the oblations and other spiritual profits, which were made in a certain Chapel, called the Chapel of St. Thomas on the Bridge, within the precincts of this parish; there was a composition, or agreement, then made, and confirmed by Robert Fitzhugh, then Bishop of London, whereby (inter alia) it was agreed, that the Chaplains of the Chapel, and their successors, should receive all the profits of the Chapel to the use of the same, and the Bridge, and should pay yearly at Michaelmas the sum of xxd. to the said Church of St. Magnus, and to the Rector of the same, and to his successors for ever.’

“And now that we are speaking of the property appertaining to London Bridge, it will be a fit place to give you some idea whence it was in general derived; I say, in general, because the inquiry into all its sources would be not only difficult, but almost impossible. Stow tells you in his ‘Survey,’ volume i., page 59, that after the erection of buildings upon London Bridge, ‘many charitable men gave lands, tenements, or sums of money, towards the maintenance thereof: all which was sometimes noted, and in a table fair written for posterity remaining in the Chapel, till the same Chapel was turned to a dwelling-house, and then removed to the Bridge-House.’ The honest old Antiquary states, however, that he would willingly have given a copy of this table of benefactors, but that he could not procure a sight of it; for, as he was known to be a notable restorer of decayed and dormant charities, he was occasionally refused admission to such records as would have enabled him to compile a lasting register of all the pious gifts and benefactions in London. He never hesitated to reprove unfaithful Executors, whether Corporations, or private persons, some of which he caused to perform the testaments which they proved; whilst the dishonesty of others he left on record to futurity. It is then not to be wondered at, if he often-times met with a repulse instead of information; ignorance opposed him in one quarter, and interest in another; and he might very well have taken up the significant, though homely complaint of Ames, when he was composing his History of Printing, ‘Some of those persons treats folks, as if they came as spies into their affairs.’ We have, however, some particulars of the Bridge property, as well collected by Stow, as gathered since his time; and, firstly, I must notice to you, that at page 60 of his ‘Survey,’ he states that ‘John Feckenham, Civis et Bracciator,’—Citizen and Brewer, or perhaps, Corn-Meter, ‘by his will, dated May 11th, 1436, bequeathed to the Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London, a Tenement with a Shop and Garden, in the Parish of St. Augustine Pappey,’—that is to say in St. Mary at Axe,—‘between the tenement and lands of the Bridge of the City of London on the East, &c. To have to the Mayor and Commonalty of London, ad usum et sustentationem operis Pontis prædictis in perpetuum,’—for the use and support of the work of the aforesaid Bridge for ever,—‘on condition that the Chaplains of the Chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, on the Bridge, celebrating, have his soul, and also the souls of the late Lord Richard II., King of England, Edward Boteler, knight, and the Lady Anne his wife, Richard Storme, and Alice his wife, and the soul of Joan, his’—the said Feckenham’s—‘wife, perpetually recommended in their prayers.’ You may see both the original and an authentic copy of this Will, and that which I shall hereafter mention, in the Bishop of London’s Registry in St. Paul’s Cathedral. The Chamber in which they are kept, is entered through the Vestry on the Northern side of the nave; whence a flight of dark winding stairs, lighted only by loop-holes, leads you to a small square room, surrounded by oaken presses containing the original Wills tied up in bundles. The Calendar, or Index to the Register Books, extends from 1418 to 1599; all after that year being kept at the Bishop’s Consistory Court in Great Knight-Ryder Street. It is a small folio volume, having a parchment cover, anciently tied with strings, and is written in a small neat black text upon parchment, though now much soiled by time and the continual dust of the chamber. If ever you visit this Registry, however, I would not have you trust too much to this Calendar; for in referring to the Will which I have now quoted, its volume and page are called ‘Moore, prima pars, folio iiij.;’ though the true reference is ‘3 Moore, folio cccclxij a.’ This volume, Moore, is so called from the first Will entered in it, and it contains registers of Wills from the year 1418 to 1438, beautifully written in a small black text upon parchment, in a very thick square folio.

“Another benefactor to London Bridge mentioned by Stow, was one John Edwards, Citizen and Butcher, who ‘gave by his Will, dated the 8th of November, 1442, to John Hatherle, Mayor of the City of London, and to John Herst and Thomas Cook, Masters of the work of the Bridge of London, for ever, his tenement, with a garden, in the Parish of St. Botolph, Aldgate, situate between the tenement lately John Cornwallys’s on the South, &c., and extending from the King’s Street leading from Aldgate towards the Tower on the West, &c. towards the sustaining and reparation of the said Bridge.’ You will find this Will in the Register called 4 Stacy, now Prowet, folio ciiij b, which extends from 1438 to 1449; though the Calendar marks it as entered at folio xxv. Both of these Wills are in Latin.

“Without, at present, referring to the multitudes of books and records of Bridge property, which must exist in the office of the Comptroller of its Estates, I will give you an abstract of one of these volumes, of which a Manuscript copy is to be found in the Harleian Collection in the British Museum, No. 6016, folio 152. This book is entitled ‘A Repertory by way of Survey, of all the forren landes belonging to London Bridge, to geather with all the quitt rents due to, and other rents due from the same:’ and the industrious mortal who copied it out has added, ‘Borrowed the booke 21°. ffebr. 1653 of Captaine Richard Lee, Clarke of the Bridge-house.’ The Survey is written in corrupt and abbreviated Latin, which, from the expressions which are made use of, would appear like the language of the fifteenth century; and it contains many curious particulars of the names of persons and places, not elsewhere to be found. I purpose, however, giving you only a general statement of the amount of Bridge property in different places, with a few notices and extracts from the more interesting parts; reminding you, that these abstracts have never yet been printed.—In the Parish of St. Andrew the Bishop, London Bridge possessed 20 huts or cabins, occupied by the Brotherhood of Friars Minors, which were valued at £12. 3s. 4d. Then follows an entry of ‘Lands and Meadows belonging to the Bridge of London without the bar of Southwark, at Le Loke, in Hattesham, Camerwelle, Lewesham, and Stratford.’ In Lambeth field without Southwark, or St. George’s bar, 19 acres of land, lying towards Newington and Lambeth, held of the Prior of Bermondsey, for the yearly rent of 14s. 10d. At Le Loke,—that is to say, partly on the site of the New Kent Road, and on part of which was, doubtless, built that row of houses in Blackman Street, now called Bridge-house-Place,—4 acres of arable land, called Longland, and 2½ acres and 1 rood of meadow land, held by the yearly rent of 5s. 10d., payable at the Feast of St. Michael. Also, on the South part of King Street, 2 acres of arable, and 2 acres of meadow land, called Carpenterishawe, held of the Archbishop of Canterbury, at the yearly rent of 6d., payable at the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. Also near St. Thomas Wateringgs, on the South part of King’s Street, 7 acres of arable, and 2 acres of meadow land, called Fourecrofts, by the yearly rent of 4s. 8d., payable at the Feast of St. Michael, and at Easter; another piece of land lying towards Hattesham,—perhaps Hatcham Manor,—containing 10 acres of arable, and 2½ acres and 1 rood of meadow land, called Tevatree, was held for the same sum. At Le Steerte, near the wall of Bermondsey, one acre of meadow ground, for the rent of 2d. per annum; and at Hattesham, at the entrance of the Marsh, 6 acres of arable land enclosed by a ditch, were held of the heirs of Simon de Kyme, for the rent of one penny per annum. In Lewisham, London Bridge seems to have had large possessions, since they were let out to farm at the immense rent of £3. 4s.; and to the property of the Manor was attached the ancient feudal rights of heriot,—taking of the best beast, when a new tenant came on the estate; wardship,—the holding and enjoying the profits of a tenant’s land, who was a minor; marriage,—claiming assistance from all the tenants once, to furnish a dowry for the Lord’s eldest daughter; Reliefs and Escheats,—the payment of a certain sum on the entry of a new tenant, and the return of forfeited estates. The land itself was divided, and the original rents were as follow.