The two chief residences thus formed were evidently the house occupied by Weld himself and the ambassadorial house, immediately adjoining on the south. The former was the scene of a wild riot in 1671, when, Humphrey Weld having attempted to arrest the ringleaders in a tumult close by, the rabble, in a fury, attacked his house.[[477]]
The Portuguese Ambassador seems to have taken up his residence at Weld House in 1659, for on 9th July in that year he (Francisco de Mello) wrote from “Wild Street” to William Lenthall, announcing the arrival of his credentials, and asking for an audience.[[478]] The extracts from the Hearth Tax Rolls given above show that he was still there in 1665, gone in 1666, that the French Ambassador was there in 1673,[[479]] and the Spanish Ambassador in 1675. Numerous references to the residence of the last mentioned occur.[[480]] On the flight of James II. in December, 1688, the mob sacked the ambassador’s house.
Shortly afterwards Weld House and the ground belonging to it were purchased by Isaac Foxcroft, who let out the property on building lease.[[481]] The house, or a portion of it, was however, still standing in 1694.[[482]]
In the Council’s Collection is:—
North-east side of Great Wild Street, in 1906, looking south-east (photograph).
XLII.–XLIII.—Nos. 6 and 7, WILD COURT.
The Society for the Improvement of the Condition of the Labouring Classes are the ground landlords of these houses.
The only objects of interest which the premises contain are four 18th-century hob grates, illustrated below.
