It is difficult to put this problem in a clear light without over
stating the case. But the following notes may be taken for
what they are worth:-
1. The earliest division of the city was into sokes, estates or
holdings, and these holdings developed on the one hand into
parishes, and on the other into wards.
2. But, though the ward of Bassishaw is nearly the same as the
parish of St. Michael, no other parish is conterminous with a ward.
3. The boundaries of parishes are determined by the backs of
the houses. The boundaries of the wards are determined by the
direction of main lines of thoroughfare.
4. The wards were defined after the main thoroughfares had been
opened. Thus the boundary between the wards of Cripplegate and
Bread Street runs along Cheapside, and cuts off portions of the
two adjacent parishes of St. Peter's and St. Mary Magdalene. The
boundary between Bread Street and Queenhithe, again, runs along
the course of Old Fish Street, and crosses the parishes of
St. Nicholas Cole Abbey and St. Mildred.
5. The date of the fixture of the present ward boundaries must
be near the end of the thirteenth century. It was made after the
old Guildhall in Aldermanbury was abandoned for the present site,
and in fixing the boundary of the ward of Cheap it was made to
include the Guildhall, which was then only 130 feet long. The
modern Guildhall is 153 feet long, and its eastern end is not in the
ward of Cheap but in that of Bassishaw, and not in the parish of
St. Lawrence but in that of St. Michael. We know that the Guildhall was on the present site before
1294
, because the Guildhall
yard is described as being on the eastern side of St. Lawrence's
church in the deed of that year by which the advowson was given
to Balliol College.
See Historical MSS. Commission, Fourth Report, p. 449.
But the ward of Cheap was not defined as it
is now in
1273
, because Walter Hervey, who was alderman of
Cheap, assembled his supporters in the church of St. Peter. This
church, which apparently was then in his ward, is now in that of
Bread Street. There are other reasons, some of which are stated
in the text, for choosing
1290
for the definition of the modern ward
boundaries, and probably many facts might be found of the same
character as these relating to St. Peter's and the Guildhall, all
tending to confirm the correctness of this date.
6. Some parishes are in no fewer than three wards. St. Mary
Magdalene, Old Fish Street, for example, is in Castle Baynard,
Queenhithe, and Bread Street. St. Peter's, referred to above, is
now in Farringdon Within, Cripplegate, and Bread Street.
7. The Watling Street, running diagonally through the market
place from St. Mary Aldermary to St. Michael le Querne, seems to
have been wholly obliterated and abandoned by the arrangement
of the booths. This may have been in consequence of the great fire
of
1136
, but Mr. T. Godfrey Faussett observed a similar abandonment of Roman lines at Canterbury: and the fact has been adduced
to prove that
London
and Canterbury lay vacant after the Saxon
invasion. The old line is, however, preserved along Budge Row,
before the market place is entered, and in Newgate Street, after it
has been passed. From the parochial boundaries on the south
side of Newgate Street it will be evident that the houses were built
along a line which went diagonally from Cheap to Newgate, and
was, in fact, the line of Watling Street. In Cheap itself, on the
contrary, the parochial boundaries seem rather to respect the main
roads north and south which lead to Cripplegate and Aldersgate
from Queenhithe, of which Bread Street is an example. It follows,
therefore, that at the time the parochial boundaries were settled,
the original Watling Street was still in use at Newgate, but had
been lost in Cheap. This accords very well with what we know of
the parochial history of Cheap. As long as it was covered with
booths or other temporary structures, or was wholly open, as at the
Standard, it was probably reckoned only in the two parishes of
St. Peter and St. Mary Aldermary. Subsequently smaller parishes
were formed. St. Mary le Bow was built in the middle of the
market place: and from its name evidently dates after the introduction of stone buildings and of vaulting. St. Mary Colechurch
was also cut off, and St. Mary Abchurch. St. Mildred's must also
be reckoned a late dedication-late that is, as compared with such
dedications as St. Peter's or St. Mary's, and St. Pancras is probably
the same. I should, in fact, be disposed to think the original
parish of St. Mary reached as far north as St. Mary Aldermanbury,
and St. Mary Staining; the latter, if "staining" refers to stone
building, being probably late, and the intervening parish of
St. Alban being undoubtedly of an ascertained age, and dating after
the grant of the parish to St. Alban's Abbey by Offa. We thus find
a great parish of St. Mary, the parish church of which appropriately
still bears the name of Aldermary, containing within its limits,
besides later foundations dedicated to other saints--one of them
being to St. Mary Magdalene-no fewer than six dedications of the
same name as that of the mother church. On the opposite side of
the Wallbrook is another great parish of St. Mary similarly broken
up into St. Mary Woolchurch, St. Mary Woolnoth, and St. Mary
Bothaw. Which of these was the mother church is unknown.
St. Mary Woolchurch was, we know (Newcourt, i. 459), built after
the Conquest: and it is very possible that these three parishes were
also part of St. Mary Aldermary at the other side of the Wallbrook,
for St. Mildred's parish was on both sides, as was St. Stephens.
8. The thirteen peculiars of the archbishop of Canterbury seem
in most cases to have been late foundations. Does this point to any
interference of an archbishop to build additional churches after,
say, a fire? These peculiars are:-St. Mary le Bow, All Hallows
Lombard Street, St. Mary Aldermary, St. Pancras Soper Lane,
All Hallows Bread Street, St. John the Baptist, St. Dunstan in
the East, St. Mary Bothaw, St. Vedast, St. Dionis, St. Michael
Crooked Lane, St. Leonard Eastcheap, and St. Michael Paternoster.
Several are in and about Cheap. The dedications of St. Dunstan's,
St. Dionis, and St. Vedast are comparatively modern.
9. It is interesting to find examples in which the boundaries of
wards or of parishes, as at Guildhall, are made to take in or leave
out certain buildings or holdings. The parish of St. Leonard in
its rectangular irregularity gives us the ground plan of the old
monastery of St. Martin le Grand. Therefore St. Martin was
already founded when the parochial boundaries were settled. So,
too, there is a " bulge " in the ward boundary to take in the outwork
of the fortified gate: but no corresponding "bulge " at Ludgate,
where the gate itself was inconsiderable. The parish boundary of
St. Peter le Poor takes in Drapers' Hall and garden, but excludes
those of the Carpenters. I venture to suggest that a complete
study of the ward and parish boundaries would repay the
investigator.
10. The modern Watling Street is old enough for us to have lost
all trace of its documentary history. But as it does not form a
boundary, I venture to think we should be justified in concluding
that, comparatively speaking, it is a new street, at least in the
western part of its course. The Roman road of that name must
have emerged from Cheap near the south gate of St. Martin le
Grand. The new Watling Street may have been diverted into its
present course when the east end of Old St. Paul's was built,
perhaps in the early part of the thirteenth century. Documentary
evidence only begins with the end of that century.
