Part 45

Now for the parish of St. Leonard at Soers ditch, the archdeacon of London is always parson thereof, and the cure is served by a vicar. In this church have been divers honourable persons buried, as appeareth by monuments yet remaining: Sir John Elrington, with Margaret his wife, daughter and heir to Thomas Lord Itchingham, widow to William Blount, son and heir to Walter Blount, the first Lord Mountjoy, which Margaret died 1481, Sir Humfrey Starkie, recorder of London, baron of the Exchequer; John Gadde, shereman of London, and Anne his wife, 1480; Sir Thomas Seymore, mayor of London, deceased 1535; Sir Thomas Ligh, doctor of law, 1545. Item, under one fair monument lieth buried the Lady Katherine, daughter to Edward, duke of Buckingham, wife to Ralph Nevell, Earl of Westmoreland, who died 1553; also Elianor, daughter to Sir William Paston, wife to Thomas Mannars, earl of Rutland, 1551; Margaret, daughter to Ralph Nevel, earl of Westmoreland, and wife to Henry Mannars, earl of Rutland, 1560; Katherine, daughter to Henry Nevel, earl of Westmoreland, and wife to Sir John Constable of Holderness, 1591; Anne, daughter to T. Mannars, earl of Rutland; Sir T. Mannars, fourth son to Thomas, earl of Rutland, 1591; Oliver Mannars, fifth son to Thomas, earl of Rutland, 1563, all under one monument; Richard and Harry Young, 1545.

Notwithstanding that of late one vicar there, for covetousness of the brass, which he converted into coined silver, plucking up many plates fixed on the graves, and left no memory of such as had been buried under them, a great injury both to the living and the dead, forbidden by public proclamation, in the reign of our sovereign lady Queen Elizabeth, but not forborne by many, that either of a preposterous zeal, or of a greedy mind, spare not to satisfy themselves by so wicked a means.

One note of Shoreditch, and so an end of that suburb. I read, that in the year 1440, the 18th of Henry VI. a fuller of Shoreditch appeached of treason many worthy esquires and gentlemen of Kent, but he being proved false, was attainted, condemned, and had judgment to be drawn, hanged, and quartered; which was done; his head set on London bridge, and his quarters on the gates. This justice was done according to the xvith of Deuteronomy: “The judges shall make diligent inquisition, and if the witness be found false, and to have given false witness against his brother, then shall they do unto him as he had thought to do unto his brother,” etc. I read of the King’s Manor vocatur Shoreditch-place, in the parish of Hackney, but how it took that name I know not, and therefore I will turn back from Shoreditch cross to Bethelem cross, and so pass through that hospital into the Morefield, which lieth without the postern called Moregate.

This field of old time was called the More, as appeareth by the charter of William the Conqueror to the college of St. Martin, declaring a running water to pass into the city from the same More. Also Fitzstephen writeth of this More, saying thus: “When the great fen, or moor, which watereth the walls on the north side, is frozen,” etc. This fen, or moor field, stretching from the wall of the city betwixt Bishopsgate and the postern called Cripples gate, to Fensbery and to Holy well, continued a waste and unprofitable ground a long time, so that the same was all letten for four marks the year, in the reign of Edward II.; but in the year 1415, the 3rd of Henry V., Thomas Fawconer, mayor, as I have showed, caused the wall of the city to be broken toward the said moor, and built the postern called Moregate, for the ease of the citizens to walk that way upon causeys towards Iseldon and Hoxton: moreover, he caused the ditches of the city, and other the ditches from Soers ditch to Deepe ditch, by Bethelem, into the More ditch, to be new cast and cleansed; by means whereof the said fen or moor was greatly drained and dried; but shortly after, to wit, in 1477, Ralph Joceline, mayor, for repairing of the wall of the city, caused the said moor to be searched for clay, and brick to be burnt there, etc.; by which means this field was made the worse for a long time.

In the year 1498, all the gardens, which had continued time out of mind without Moregate, to wit, about and beyond the lordship of Finsbury, were destroyed; and of them was made a plain field for archers to shoot in. And in the year 1512, Roger Archley, mayor, caused divers dikes to be cast, and made to drain the waters of the said Morefielde, with bridges arched over them, and the grounds about to be levelled, whereby the said field was made somewhat more commodious, but yet it stood full of noisome waters; whereupon, in the year 1527, Sir Thomas Semor, mayor, caused divers sluices to be made to convey the said waters over the Town ditch, into the course of Walbrooke, and so into the Thames; and by these degrees was this fen or moor at length made main and hard ground, which before being overgrown with flags, sedges, and rushes, served to no use; since the which time also the further grounds beyond Finsbury court have been so overheightened with lay-stalls of dung, that now three windmills are thereon set; the ditches be filled up, and the bridges overwhelmed.

And now concerning the inclosures of common grounds about this city, whereof I mind not much to argue, Edward Hall setteth down a note of his time, to wit, in the 5th, or rather 6th of Henry VIII. “Before this time,” saith he, “the inhabitants of the towns about London, as Iseldon, Hoxton, Shoreditch, and others, had so inclosed the common fields with hedges and ditches, that neither the young men of the city might shoot, nor the ancient persons walk for their pleasures in those fields, but that either their bows and arrows were taken away or broken, or the honest persons arrested or indicted; saying, ‘that no Londoner ought to go out of the city, but in the highways.’ This saying so grieved the Londoners, that suddenly this year a great number of the city assembled themselves in a morning, and a turner, in a fool’s coat, came crying through the city, ‘Shovels and spades! shovels and spades!’ so many of the people followed, that it was a wonder to behold; and within a short space all the hedges about the city were cast down, and the ditches filled up, and every thing made plain, such was the diligence of these workmen. The king’s council hearing of this assembly, came to the Gray Friars and sent for the mayor and council of the city to know the cause, which declared to them the injury and annoying done to the citizens and to their liberties, which though they would not seek disorderly to redress, yet the commonalty and young persons could not be stayed thus to remedy the same. When the king’s council had heard their answer, they dissimuled the matter, and commanded the mayor to see that no other thing were attempted, but that they should forthwith call home the younger sort; who having speedily achieved their desire, returned home before the king’s council, and the mayor departed without more harm: after which time (saith Hall) these fields were never hedged, but now we see the thing in worse case than ever, by means of inclosure for gardens, wherein are built many fair summer-houses;[284] and, as in other places of the suburbs, some of them like Midsummer pageants, with towers, turrets, and chimney-tops, not so much for use of profit as for show and pleasure, betraying the vanity of men’s minds, much unlike to the disposition of the ancient citizens, who delighted in the building of hospitals and alms-houses for the poor, and therein both employed their wits, and spent their wealths in preferment of the common commodity of this our city.”

But to come back again to Moregate, and from thence west through a narrow lane called the Postern, because it hath at either end a door to be shut in the night season, betwixt the More ditch inclosed with brick for tenter-yards, and the gardens of the said More field, to More lane; a part of the suburb without Cripplegate, without this postern, called Cripplegate, also lay a part of the said More even to the river of the Wells, as in another place I have showed; and no houses were there built till the latter end of the reign of William the Conqueror, and of his son William Rufus; about which times some few houses being there built along east and west, thwart before the said gate, one Alfune built for the inhabitants a parish church, which is of St. Giles, somewhat west from the said gate, and is now on the bank of the town ditch; and so was there a street, since called Fore street, as standing before the gate.

This Alfune, in the reign of Henry I., became the first hospitaller of St. Bartlemewe’s hospital in Smithfield, as in another place I have noted. And this parish church of St. Giles being at the first a small thing, stood in place where now standeth the vicarage-house, but hath been since at divers times much enlarged, according as the parish hath increased, and was at the length newly built in place where now it standeth. But the same new church being large, strongly built, and richly furnished with ornaments, was in the year 1545, by casualty of fire, sore burnt and consumed, notwithstanding it was again within a short space of time repaired, as now it showeth.

Some little distance from the east end of this church standeth a fair conduit, castellated, in Fore street. Then have ye a boss of sweet water in the wall of the churchyard, lately made a pump, but already decayed.

Then have ye a fair pool of sweet water near to the church of St. Giles, wherein Anne of Lodbery was drowned, as I have before declared.

In the east end of Fore street is More lane: then next is Grub street; of late years inhabited, for the most part, by bowyers, fletchers, bow-string makers, and such like occupations, now little occupied; archery giving place to a number of bowling-alleys and dicing-houses, which in all places are increased, and too much frequented.

This street stretcheth north to Guerades Well street, which thwarteth it to White cross street; the next from Fore street north is White cross street, likewise extending itself up to the west end of Guerades Well street, and from the end thereof to Eald street.

From the west end of Fore street lieth Red cross street; from the which cross on the right hand east lieth Beech lane, and reacheth to the White cross street. From Red cross north lieth Golding lane, which stretcheth up to a cross in Ealde street, which Golding lane on both the sides is replenished with many tenements of poor people.

On the left hand, and west of the Red cross, lieth a street of old time called Houndes ditch, and of later time named Barbican, of such cause as I have before noted. And thus have you all the suburb without Cripplegate, being almost altogether in the parish of St. Giles, which hath more than eighteen hundred householders, and above four thousand communicants.

Without Aldersgate on the left hand is the parish church of St. Buttolph; on the north side of the which church lieth a way called Little Britane street, towards the priory of St. Bartholomew in Smithfield; but the highway without Aldersgate runneth straight north from the said gate unto Houndes ditch, or Barbican street, on the right hand, and Long lane on the left hand, which runneth into Smithfield.

Then from the farther end of Aldersgate street, straight north to the bar, is called Goswell street, replenished with small tenements, cottages, and alleys, gardens, banqueting-houses, and bowling-places.

Beyond these bars, leaving the Charter-house on the left hand, or the west side, the way stretcheth up towards Iseldon, and on the right hand, or east side, at a Red cross, turneth into Eald street, so called, for that it was the old highway from Aldersgate, for the north-east parts of England, before Bishopsgate was built, which street runneth east to a smith’s forge, sometime a cross before Shoreditch church, from whence the passengers and carriages were to turn north to King’s land, Tottenham, Waltham, Ware, etc.

There was sometime in this suburb without Aldersgate an hospital for the poor, but an alien of Clunie, a French order, and therefore suppressed by King Henry V., who gave the house, with lands and goods, to the parish of St. Buttolph, and a brotherhood of the Trinity was there founded, which was afterward suppressed by Henry VIII. or Edward VI.

There is at the farthest north corner of this suburb a windmill, which was sometime by a tempest of wind overthrown, and in place thereof a chapel was built by Queen Katherine (first wife to Henry VIII.), who named it the Mount of Calvary, because it was of Christ’s passion, and was in the end of Henry VIII. pulled down, and a windmill newly set up as afore.

Without Newgate lieth the west and by north suburb; on the right hand, or north side whereof, betwixt the said gate and the parish of St. Sepulchre, turneth a way towards West Smithfield, called, as I have showed, Giltspurre street, or Knightriders street; then is Smithfield itself compassed about with buildings, as I have before declared, in Faringdon ward without.

And without the bar of West Smithfield lieth a large street or way, called of the house of St. John there St. John’s street, and stretcheth toward Iseldon, on the right hand whereof stood the late dissolved monastery called the Charterhouse, founded by Sir Walter Manny, knight, a stranger born, lord of the town of Manny, in the diocese of Cambrey, beyond the seas, who for service done to King Edward III. was made knight of the garter: so his house he founded upon this occasion. A great pestilence entering this island, began first in Dorsetshire, then proceeded into Devonshire, Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, and Oxfordshire, and at length came to London, and overspread all England, so wasting the people, that scarce the tenth person of all sorts was left alive, and churchyards were not sufficient to receive the dead, but men were forced to choose out certain fields for burials; whereupon Ralph Stratford, bishop of London, in the year 1348, bought a piece of ground called No Man’s Land, which he inclosed with a wall of brick, and dedicated for burial of the dead, building thereupon a proper chapel, which is now enlarged and made a dwelling-house; and this burying plot is become a fair garden, retaining the old name of Pardon churchyard.

About this, in the year 1349, the said Sir Walter Manny, in respect of danger that might befall in this time of so great a plague and infection, purchased thirteen acres and a rod of ground adjoining to the said No Man’s Land, and lying in a place called Spittle cross, because it belonged to St, Bartilmewe’s hospital, since that called the New church haw, and caused it to be consecrated by the said bishop of London to the use of burials.

In this plot of ground there were in that year more than fifty thousand persons buried, as I have read in the charters of Edward III.: also, I have seen and read an inscription fixed on a stone cross, sometime standing in the same churchyard, and having these words:--“_Anno Domini 1349, regnante magna pestilentia consecratum fuit hoc Cœmiterium, in quo et infra septa presentis monasterii, sepulta fuerunt mortuorum corpora plusquam quinquaginta millia, præter alia multa abhinc usque ad presens, quorum animabus propitietur Deus. Amen._”

In consideration of the number of Christian people here buried, the said Sir Walter Manny caused first a chapel to be built, where for the space of twenty-three years offerings were made; and it is to be noted, that above one hundred thousand bodies of Christian people had in that churchyard been buried; for the said knight had purchased that place for the burial of poor people, travellers, and other that were deceased, to remain for ever; whereupon an order was taken for the avoiding of contention between the parsons of churches and that house; to wit, that the bodies should be had unto the church where they were parishioners, or died, and, after the funeral service done, had to the place where they should be buried. And in the year 1371 he caused there to be founded a house of Carthusian monks, which he willed to be called the Salutation, and that one of the monks should be called prior; and he gave them the said place of thirteen acres and a rod of land, with the chapel and houses there built, for their habitation: he also gave them the three acres of land lying without the walls on the north part, betwixt the lands of the abbot of Westminster and the lands of the prior of St. John (which three acres were purchased, inclosed, and dedicated by Ralph Stratford, bishop of London, as is afore showed), and remained till our time by the name of Pardon churchyard, and served for burying of such as desperately ended their lives, or were executed for felonies, who were fetched thither usually in a close cart, bailed over and covered with black, having a plain white cross thwarting, and at the fore end a St. John’s cross without, and within a bell ringing by shaking of the cart, whereby the same might be heard when it passed; and this was called the friary cart, which belonged to St. John’s, and had the privilege of sanctuary.

In this charter-house were the monuments of the said Sir Walter Manny, and Margaret his wife; Marmaduke Lumley; Laurence Brumley, knight; Sir Edward Hederset, knight; Sir William Manny, knight; Dame Joan Borough; John Dore; Want Water, knight; Robert Olney, esquire; Katherine, daughter to Sir William Babington, knight; Blanch, daughter to Hugh Waterton; Katherine, wife to John at Poote, daughter and heir to Richard de Lacie; William Rawlin; Sir John Lenthaine, and Dame Margaret his wife, daughter to John Fray; John Peake, esquire; William Baron, and William Baron, esquire; Sir Thomas Thawites, knight; Philip Morgan, bishop of Ely, 1434.

In the cloister:--Bartholomew Rede, knight, mayor of London, buried 1505; Sir John Popham, etc.

This monastery, at the suppression in the 29th of Henry VIII., was valued at six hundred and forty-two pounds and four pence halfpenny yearly.

A little without the bars of West Smithfield is Charterhouse lane, so called, for that it leadeth to the said plot of the late dissolved monastery; in place whereof, first the Lord North, but since Thomas Howard, late Duke of Norfolk, have made large and sumptuous buildings both for lodging and pleasure. At the gate of this Charter-house is a fair water conduit, with two cocks, serving the use of the neighbours to their great commodity.

St. John’s street, from the entering this lane, is also on both the sides replenished with buildings up to Clerkenwell. On the left hand of which street lieth a lane called Cow cross, of a cross sometime standing there; which lane turneth down to another lane called Turnemill street, which stretcheth up to the west of Clerkenwell, and was called Turnemill street, for such cause as is afore declared.

One other lane there is called St. Peter’s lane, which turneth from St. John’s street to Cow cross.

On the left hand also stood the late dissolved priory of St. John of Jerusalem in England, founded about the year of Christ 1100 by Jorden Briset, baron, and Muriell his wife, near unto Clarkes well besides West Smithfield; which Jorden having first founded the priory of nuns at Clarkes well, bought of them ten acres of land, giving them in exchange ten acres of land in his lordship of Welling hall, in the county of Kent. St. John’s church was dedicated by Eraclius, patriarch of the holy resurrection of Christ at Jerusalem, in the year 1185, and was the chief seat in England of the religious knights of St. John of Jerusalem; whose profession was, besides their daily service of God, to defend Christians against pagans, and to fight for the church, using for their habit a black upper garment, with a white cross on the fore part thereof; and for their good service was so highly esteemed, that when the order of Templars was dissolved, their lands and possessions were by parliament granted unto these, who after the loss of Jerusalem recovered the isle of Rhodes from the Turks, and there placed themselves, being called thereof for many years knights of the Rhodes; but after the loss thereof, 1523, they removed to the isle of Malta, manfully opposing themselves against the Turkish invasions.

The rebels of Essex and of Kent, 1381, set fire on this house, causing it to burn by the space of seven days together, not suffering any to quench it; since the which time the priors of that house have new built both the church and houses thereunto appertaining; which church was finished by Thomas Docwrey, late lord prior there, about the year 1504, as appeareth by the inscription over the gate-house, yet remaining. This house, at the suppression in the 32nd of Henry VIII., was valued to dispend in lands three thousand three hundred and eighty-five pounds nineteen shillings and eight pence yearly. Sir W. Weston being then lord prior, died on the same seventh of May, on which the house was suppressed; so that great yearly pensions being granted to the knights by the king, and namely to the lord prior during his life one thousand pounds, he never received a penny.

The king took into his hands all the lands that belonged to that house and that order, wheresoever in England and Ireland, for the augmentation of his crown.

This priory church and house of St. John was preserved from spoil or down pulling, so long as King Henry VIII. reigned, and was employed as a store-house for the king’s toils and tents, for hunting, and for the wars, etc.; but in the 3rd of King Edward VI., the church, for the most part, to wit, the body and side aisles, with the great bell tower (a most curious piece of workmanship, graven, gilt, and enamelled, to the great beautifying of the city, and passing all other that I have seen), was undermined and blown up with gunpowder; the stone thereof was employed in building of the lord protector’s house at the Strand. That part of the choir which remaineth, with some side chapels, was by cardinal Pole, in the reign of Queen Mary, closed up at the west end, and otherwise repaired; and Sir Thomas Tresham, knight, was then made lord prior there, with restitution of some lands, but the same was again suppressed in the first year of Queen Elizabeth.