The guilds or companies of Fullers and Sheermen were united and reincorporated under the name and style of “The Master Wardens and Commonalty of Freemen of the Art or Mystery of Clothworkers of the City of London,” 18th January, 19 Henry VIII.
A freeman or woman of the Company is entitled, if well accounted and continuing of good name and fame, and having fallen into poverty or necessity, to be refreshed weekly, monthly, or quarterly towards his or her sustentation and living, out of the corporate funds of the Company, as well as out of the trust funds specifically left for that purpose by benefactors; also to be decently buried on their decease at the costs of the Company. There are a limited number of almshouses for freemen and women, founded by members of the Company, and there are trust funds likewise left by former benefactors for the relief and sustentation of decayed or worn-out members.
The livery is 180 in number; the Corporate Income is £42,000; the Trust Income is £18,000. The hall is at 41 Mincing Lane. Stow merely mentions the existence of the hall. The original hall was burned down in the Fire, rebuilt, taken down in 1856, and rebuilt by Samuel Angell, architect. Among the most distinguished members of this Company were Samuel Pepys, President of the Royal Society, and Master of the Company in 1677; and Lord Kelvin, who filled similar positions.
This rich Company has long been remarkable even among the other wealthy Companies of the City for the encouragement and advancement of technical education. It has either wholly or in part endowed technical and scientific schools at Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield, Keighley, Bristol, and other places. It has contributed to the City and Guilds of London Technical Institute sums amounting to £118,350, and in addition gives an annual subsidy of £3300.
Mark Lane, once Mart Lane, is mentioned in the thirteenth century; in 1276, Robert le Chaloner had a house in Mark Lane in the ward of William de Hadestocke, i.e. Town Ward. And the Calendar of Wills mentions the lane a little later and has many references to it. In 1750 it contained “divers large houses for merchants, though some of them are old timber houses.” The street escaped the Fire.
Milton’s friend Cyriack Skinner lived here. Isaac Watts was assistant preacher in a meeting-house in this street.
Mark Lane is of the same general character as Mincing Lane, but possesses a point of distinction in the Corn Exchange. The new building is on the east side, a little to the south of the old one. This is a fine building, erected 1881 by Edward l’Anson. The high glass roof is supported in the interior by rows of light stone columns. The old Corn Exchange, rebuilt 1747 by J. Woods, has a heavy colonnade of fluted Doric columns which attracts attention in the line of the street. In a small court opposite the new building is a fine doorway, and passing down the entry we find ourselves facing a splendid old red-brick City mansion in good repair. Brick pilasters ending in ornate stuccoed capitals run up to a frieze or cornice above the first floor. The elaborate pediment over the doorway is supported by fluted columns and encloses a design of cherubs and foliage.
On the east side of Mark Lane we have Nos. 69 and 70 of rather unusual design, and the remainder of the street is one uniform sweep of buildings in an unobtrusive and useful style.
On the west side near the north end was the church of Allhallows Staining.
Allhallows Staining was so called from its having been built of stone and not of timber. It was not burnt down in the Great Fire, but fell down suddenly in 1669, and was rebuilt in 1694. The building was taken down in 1870. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1258.