Old and New London, A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places.Illustrated with Numerous Engravings from the Most Authentic Sources. vol 6
Walford, Edward
1872-78
Southwark (continued).-Winchester House, Barclay's Brewery, &c.
Southwark (continued).-Winchester House, Barclay's Brewery, &c.
| |
The site of the Priory of St. Mary Overy, and of Winchester House, the palace of the Bishops of Winchester, adjoins the north-west corner of the nave of , and extends towards ; it is now occupied by various wharves, warehouses, manufactories, and other buildings, among them being the new Bridge House Hotel, which opens on the main street, close by the foot of . Of the priory we have already spoken in the preceding chapter. Winchester House was built early in the century, by Walter Giffard, Bishop of Winchester, on land held of the prior of . Stow, in his mentions it as being in his time It was, in fact, a stately palace, with gardens, fountains, fish-ponds, and an extensive park-long known as Parkwhich reached back nearly as far, in the direction of , as , and which is still kept in remembrance by Street. In New is--or rather was--the chapel in which Mr. C. H. Spurgeon became known as a popular preacher. The congregation formerly assembling in the Baptist meeting-house in , , migrated to New Chapel in , on the demolition of their old chapel to make room for the approaches to new ; and here they continued till, under the pastorate of [extra_illustrations.6.29.2] , they migrated to tihe music-hall in the Surrey Gardens, , and finally to the [extra_illustrations.6.29.3] . The chapel in has since become converted to business purposes, and has been made to serve as a store-room or goods depot. | |
Winchester Yard, between and Messrs. Barclay and Co.'s brewery, in , occupies the place of the court-yard of the old palace; and Messrs. Potts's extensive vinegar works, on part of the site of the park, are, we believe, still held under lease direct from the see of Winchester. | |
Cardinal Beaufort lived here in the early part of the century, whilst holding the important see of Winchester. In his time the great hall of the palace, which ran east and west parallel with the river, was the scene of a splendid banquet, for here took place the marriage-feast on the occasion of the matrimonial alliance of James I. of Scotland with the Lady Joan Somerset, daughter of the Earl of Somerset, as stated in the previous chapter. But the palace witnessed at times other scenes besides those of festivity; for we read of great taking place between the cardinal's servants and the citizens at the Bridge Gate. Old Stow describes a disgraceful scene which took place in Winchester House, when the insurgents against the government of Queen Mary, under Sir Thomas Wyatt, had entered , on the . Wyatt's intention was to have entered the City by way of , as we have already seen; but notwithstanding that the citizens of London had cut down the drawbridge, | |
30 | the inhabitants of the borough received him well. Sir Thomas issued a proclamation that no soldier of his should take anything without paying for it; notwithstanding which, some of them attacked the Bishop of Winchester's house, made havoc of his goods, and cut to pieces all his books, Wyatt stayed here only or days, when the inhabitants, finding that the Governor of the had planted several pieces of ordnance against the foot of the bridge and on the steeples of St. Olave and St. Mary Overy, became alarmed, and desired Sir Thomas to leave them, which he did. |
The Swedish envoy, John, Duke of Finland, was lodged in the Bishop of Winchester's palace when he came to solicit the hand of Queen Elizabeth for his elder brother, Eric, the son and heir of the King of Sweden. He went in state to visit the Queen at Greenwich; but his father's death recalled him to Sweden. | |
Bishop Lancelot Andrewes, as we have already stated, died at Winchester House in , and was carried hence to his last resting-place in . years later, the Presbyterians | |
turned the episcopal palace into a prison for the royalists; and in it was sold for to Thomas Walker, of Camberwell. It was recovered by the Bishop of Winchester, at the Restoration, but was not again used as a residence. Until the time of the civil wars, the Bishops of Winchester resided here during the sitting of Parliament; but afterwards they removed to , where, as we have seen, they had another house provided for them under the sanction of an Act of Parliament in . A part of the palace was standing, occupied as tenements and warehouses, till within the last few years, a fire which occurred in August. , having destroyed some of the surrounding buildings, and brought to view a portion of the old hall, with a magnificent circular window. | |
Allen, in his published in , says, What little remained of the palace after the fire above mentioned was very soon considerably diminished. The great wall, which divided the hall from the other apartments, with the large circular window, some feet in diameter, was built against in the early part of . There was likewise remaining a doorway, in the spandrils of which appeared the arms of Bishop Gardiner, and the same impaling those of the see of Winchester. A correspondent of the , writing at the above period, observes that
| |
The antiquary Pennant, whilst pretending to do nothing of the kind, insinuates that the Bishops of Winchester and Rochester, and the Abbots of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, Lewes, Hyde, Waverley, and Battel, had their town residences here on account of their adjoining the Bordello or on the . These comprised nearly houses along the river-side, and were licensed under certain regulations confirmed by Act of Parliament. | |
The houses, which were indeed a most unsavoury adjunct to , were nothing more nor less than a collection of public brothels, leased from the Bishops of Winchester by various persons, of whom was no other than Sir William , who struck down Wat Tyler, and thus gave the dagger to the City arms. We read that, Thus wrote Stow, and the same story is told in other words by the old chronicler, Thomas of Walsingham. | |
As far back as , some Parliamentary were issued, the purpose of which seems to have been to restore the state of things there, These regulations were numerous; no single woman was to be kept against her will, and all were on Sundays and other holidays. When the ordinances were enjoined, the number of stewhouses was eighteen; but in the reign of Henry VII., when some fresh regulations were made, it was reduced to . of the houses, says Pennant, but he gives no authority for the statement, bore the sign of the Cardinal's Cap Alley is, however-or, at all events, was till lately--to be found in the neighbourhood. If the holders of the houses broke certain wholesome rules which wvere issued respecting them, they were committed to the episcopal prison of the Clink, at the corner of Maid Lane. This prison was removed in to Deadman's Place, (so named from the number buried there during the great plague), but was burnt down in the riots of , and no other prison has since taken its place. The poor women living in these houses, though licensed by the bishops, were not allowed Christian burial, but were thrown when dead into unconsecrated graves at a spot called the Cross Bones, at the corner of Redcross Street. Henry VII. closed these dens of infamy, but they were soon opened again, though his son and successor finally cleared them out, having issued a proclamation enjoining his subjects
| |
In , at the end of , near , was another notorious frequented by King James I. and his court; amongst others by the royal favourite, George Villiers, as we learn from a little tract entitled It is recorded that Thus wrote Charles Mackay, in his agreeable work, as lately as . Things, however, have much improved since that day; at all events, we may hope that such has been the case. | |
In Deadman's Place, on the south-west side of the Borough market, were almshouses for poor persons, which were founded in , by Thomas Cure, and called Cure's College. Thomas Cure was saddler to Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, and was also member of Parliament for the borough of . | |
Another cluster of almshouses close by, in Soap Yard, were built and endowed by the retired actor, Edward Alleyn, of whom we shall have more to say when we come to Dulwich College. Alleyn's almshouses have been rebuilt at Norwood. Alleyn directed by his will () that his executors should within years of his death erect almshouses in this parish for poor men and poor women, who should be drafted hence, as vacancies occurred, into his college at Dulwich. The almshouses were accordingly The College of the Poor was founded by letters patent of Queen Elizabeth in , and was largely endowed. It provided a home and sustenance for poor persons, of whom was to act as warden and read prayers | |
daily. In Henry Jackson founded almshouses in for women, with a week each; and sundry others of a like nature were founded in different parts of the parish. is, in fact, particularly rich in benefactions. According to the published in , it would appear that the annual income of the various charities of this parish amounted to nearly . | |
Between and , with its principal entrance in , is the renowned brewery of Messrs. Barclay and Perkins. held a reputation for strong ale from very early times. We have met somewhere with an old couplet- Chaucer's host at the Old Tabard drank it, doubtless; and so did the Knight and the Franklin, and perhaps the mincing herself. That there were breweries here as far back as the century we have reason to know, for Chaucer speaks of in his time; and readers of that poet will not have forgotten, among the inhabitants of this part-
| |
writes Boswell, in his
Brewing is of the oldest objects of industry among us; and in early ages the quantity of ale consumed was somewhat larger than is the case now, in proportion to the population and wealth of the nation. Little is known of the trading practices of the early brewers; but the process, so far as the malting and brewing is concerned, is, doubtless, essentially the same now as it was centuries ago, when hops were imported into this country from Flanders. By a liberal attention to the improvements of the age, Messrs. Barclay and Perkins have placed their large establishment in its present eminence among the breweries of the world. writes Mr. Brayley, in his
| |
Before proceeding to describe the brewery in its various details, it will be as well, perhaps, to speak of the firm to which it belongs. As early as the middle of the last century, or a years or so after the Theatre had passed away, there stood upon this site a small brewery, owned by a certain Mr. Edmund Halsey, whose daughter had married the Lord Cobham of that time. Having made a fortune out of the establishment, Mr. Halsey sold the brewery to the elder Mr. Thrale, who eventually became member of Parliament for , and being a landowner at Streatham, served as high sheriff of Surrey. Dr. Johnson used to give the following account of the rise of this gentleman:-- On his death, in , his son, Mr. Henry Thrale, succeeded him, and found the brewery so profitable a concern, that, although he had been educated to other tastes and habits, he determined not to part with it. This Mr. Thrale was a handsome man of fashion, and was wedded to a pretty and clever girl, Miss Hester Lynch Salusbury, of good Welsh extraction, and, as Boswell informs us, The lady, we may add, was short, plump, and brisk. She has herself given us a lively view of the idea which Dr. Johnson had of her person, on her appearing before him in a dark-coloured gown: [extra_illustrations.6.34.1] was destined, nevertheless, as the mistress of [extra_illustrations.6.34.2] , the friend of Johnson, and the wife of Piozzi, to become a shining light in English literature. Boswell tells us, in his that the great doctor's introduction into Mr. Thrale's family, which contributed so much to the happiness of his life, was owing to her desire for his conversation, is very probable and the general supposition; he adds, Boswell continues,
| |
says Mrs. Piozzi,
| |
Dr. Johnson had a very sincere esteem for Mr. Thrale, as a man of excellent principles, a good scholar, well skilled in trade, of a sound understanding, and of manners such as presented the character of a plain independent English squire. said he,
| |
Thrale, it has been stated, married Miss Salusbury
| |
Mr. Thrale resided in a house adjoining the brewery, and here he entertained his friends as well as at his country seat at Streatham. For some reason or other he appears to have been unpopular with the mob, for Boswell tells us that in the Gordon Riots his house and stock were in great danger: It will be remembered that Dr. Johnson helped Mr. Thrale in his contests for the representation of , writing for him advertisements, letters, and addresses; of these, dated , is preserved by Boswell. | |
After Mr. Thrale's death, in , the brewery was put up for sale by auction, and Johnson, of course, was present as of the executors. Lord Lucan (writes Boswell) tells a very good story, which, if not precisely exact, is at least characteristic--that while the sale was going on, Johnson appeared bustling about, with an ink-horn and a pen in his button-hole, like an exciseman; and on being asked what he considered to be the value of the property which was to be disposed of, answered,
| |
The brewery was bought by Mr. David Barclay, junior, then the head of the banking firm of Barclay and Co., for the sum of . This gentleman placed in the brewing firm his nephew, from America, Mr. Robert Barclay, who afterwards settled at Bury Hill, and Mr. Perkins, who had been in Thrale's establishment as manager or superintendent; so that while Mr. Barclay brought the money to carry on the business, Mr. Perkins may be said to have contributed the hence the firm of
| |
So far and so wide are the joint names of Barclay and Perkins known upon the sign-boards of wayside inns, in London and the country, that Mr. G. A. Sala, in his suggests that
| |
But we have not yet quite done with the beautiful Mrs. Thrale. After the death of her husband, as we have already intimated, she became-contrary to the wishes and advice of Dr. Johnson--the wife of a Mr. Piozzi, and spent much of her time in her charming abode at Streatham, in the enjoyment of a select circle of literary acquaintances. Rogers was very intimate with the Piozzis, and often visited them at Streatham. He says, (in which Dr. Johnson was, of course, included)
| |
Tom Moore, who breakfasted with her after she was turned , speaks of her as still a with all the quickness and intelligence of a gay young woman: Madame D'Arblay speaks of her as Miss Seward said that and even Dr. Johnson, who did not think very highly of the female sex, owned that Indeed, he used to dwell on her praises with a peculiar delight and a paternal fondness, which showed that he was quite proud and vain of being so intimately acquainted with her. Macaulay commends her as Add to this the words of Sir Nathaniel Wraxall: She was also a butt of the satirists; thus Gifford writes :
| |
Mrs. Thrale left daughters. of them was a Mrs. Mostyn; her collection of curiosities and relics of Mr. Thrale and Dr. Johnson was sold at Silwood Lodge, Brighton, in the autumn of , soon after Mrs. Mostyn's death. | |
The brewery of Messrs. Barclay and Perkins, of the greatest establishments of the kind in the world, occupies some or acres of ground; the present building dates its erection from , the old brewery having been in that | |
year burnt to the ground, with the exception of a very small portion ot the walls. As it is of the of the metropolis, and indeed of Europe, our readers may be interested with a somewhat detailed account of the establishment, and of the various processes of malting, brewing, &c., as here carried on. To begin at the beginning, then, we will commence with a description of the process of malting, the object of which is-by forced vegetation of the grain, and then checking that tendency, by gradually and slowly increasing heat from to degrees--to separate the particles of starch, and render the saccharine matter formed easily soluble in hot water. For this purpose, the barley is steeped for about days, in which time it imbibes nearly half its weight of water. It nest | |
37 | lies, a few inches deep, on a floor for a fortnight, during which time it is repeatedly stirred to prevent its heating. When the grain is sprouted, its roots extending about half an inch in length, it is kilndried on an iron floor heated by coke, gradually and slowly, commencing at degrees, and not exceeding at last degrees, an operation of or days; after this the sprouts are separated by sifting from the malt, which is then fit for the brewer or distiller. In describing the process of brewing, the author above quoted says:
|
At the brewery of Messrs. Barclay and Perkins all these operations are to be seen in the utmost perfection, and on the most magnificent scale. The brewhouse, or mashing stage, is feet long, by feet in width, and very lofty, with an ingenious and elaborate iron roof. Within this large space are complete sets of brewing apparatus, perfectly distinct in themselves, but directly connected with the great supply of malt from the floor above, of water-cisterns from below, and of motive force from the steam-engine behind, as well as the vast coolers, fermenting vats, &c. Each of the copper boilers cost nearly £, (about altogether); each consists of a furnace, a globular copper that holds barrels, a pan or covering boiler that contains barrels, and a cylindrical cistern that will contain barrels, on arrangements equally beautiful and useful, from its compactness and the economy of heat. The hot water is drawn from of these copper boilers to the corresponding mash-tun underneath, which measures about feet in diameter, and holds quarters of malt. It is supplied with machinery that works from a centre on a cog-rail which extends over the circumference of the tun, and stirs the malt. The mash-tun has a false bottom, which in due time lets off the through small holes to an under-back, whence it is pumped back to the emptied copper, from which it received the hot water, and there mixed with hops, to be boiled, and again run off into a cistern feet each way, where, passing through a perforated bottom, it leaves the hops, and is pumped through the cooling tubes, or refrigerator, into an open cooler, and thence to the fermenting squares, which are coffers about or feet deep, and feet square, in which the fermentation by yeast is carried on for some days; from these it is drawn off into pontoons, where the fermentation acquires a fresh activity for a few days longer, when it gradually ceases, and the liquor becomes clearer: it is then put into the large vat, where it remains till required for use. The vats at Barclay and Perkins' establishment are nearly in number, the smallest containing barrels of beer, and the largest barrels, measuring feet in diameter at top, feet at the bottom (or feet in circumference), and feet in height. Altogether, they must hold more than barrels; and the number of casks (butts or barrels), many of them filled, amount to something over . | |
We have stated that the brewery contains magnificent boilers with corresponding mash-tuns, and every adjunct. So far the arrangement and explanation are simple enough, and so is, to the eye of an experienced engineer, the machinery that connects and keeps in motion every part of these stupendous operations. It is otherwise to persons unaccustomed to the variety and multiplicity of cog-wheels working at different angles, which communicate action in different and opposite directions from end of the premises to the other, in what may be denominated a maze of systematic order. The malt is conveyed from building to another, even across a street, entirely by machinery, and again to the crushing rollers and mash-tun; the cold and the hot water, and the wort and the beer, are pumped in various directions, almost to the exclusion of human exertions, nearly every portion of the heavy toil being accomplished by the steam-engine. Of all the combinations, none is more complete than what is called the this consists of an endless chain working on rollers at a considerable distance from each other. Along this chain buckets are fastened close to each other; these buckets dipping into a heap of malt near extremity of the chain, carry it on to the other end, where, revolving on the other roller, they are capsized, and thus emptied; they, of course, return to the roller, where a inversion places them again in the position required for filling by their own progress through the heap of malt to be removed. There are no less than lofts, each capable of containing quarters of malt. The and the refrigerators are among the greatest improvements achieved: the saves immense labour, simplifies and perfects the work, and, of course, reduces the expenses, and concentrates the operations; the other economises time, and improves the beverage. More space and more hands can be applied to those portions of the | |
39 | business that require them; and hence a remarkable degree of method, neatness, cleanliness, and quiet are observable throughout the establishment. |
The portions of the brewery which we have described above lie on either side of , being connected by a bridge, which is reached from the upper storeys. On leaving these parts of the establishment, we pass through the engineroom, on the ground-floor, and emerging into the yard, notice the well from which the great supply of water is drawn for consumption in the brewery. In connection with this well, we may state a curious geological fact. This brewery, as we have shown above, is situated near the south bank of the Thames; that of the City of London Brewery Company is in , on the opposite side of the river. It is not a little singular that when the pump of the well at Messrs. Barclay's is worked, the level of the water in the well of the City brewery is visibly affected, thus proving that the watery stratum passes clean under the Thames, just as it would under dry land, without being in any way connected with the water of the river. | |
The long ranges of building on the north side of the brewery are used as the carpenters' shops, the cooperage, &c. In the former a very large amount of work is done in connection with fittings for the various public-houses belonging to the firm, besides other work which may be required in the brewery. On the south side of the yard is another range of buildings, separated from the other by an avenue, over which a large pipe crosses to convey the beer from the --as the huge tanks which contained it are called--to the store-vats. These vats are contained in a series of store-rooms, apparently almost interminable. Long galleries, branching off north, south, east, and west, are crammed as full of vats as the circular form of the vessels will permit, some larger than others, but all, nevertheless, of gigantic proportions. Some idea may be formed of the extent of the vatgalleries when we state that there are nearly zoo vats, the average capacity of which, large and small together, is upwards of gallons. of the vats are each capable of containing barrels of gallons each, and the weight, when full of porter, is stated to be about tons. By the aid of a guide we ascend of the steep ladders, and mounting to the top, obtain a kind of bird's-eye view of these mighty monsters, and then emerging through a small doorway in the roof, obtain a good view not only of the whole range of buildings forming the brewery, but also of and other places round about. The store-rooms in front of us, as we look down on the north side, we were informed, had gradually and completely enclosed a small graveyard, which has at last been partially built upon, and all traces of its previous uses swept away, As this grave-yard does not appear to have been parochial, or attached to any church, it was, in all probability, the same as that which we have mentioned above as having been formerly used as the burial-place of the unfortunate victims of the plague in . On the south side of the brewery is an extensive range of stabling, spacious enough to afford proper accommodation for dray-horses. | |
Messrs. Barclay and Perkins, down to a comparatively recent period, stood quite at the head of the principal porter and ale brewers of London; but latterly Messrs. Hanbury and Co. seem to have taken the lead. Nevertheless, a very large business is done annually by Messrs. Barclay and Perkins, not only in the way of home consumption, but also for shipment abroad, and the average quantity of malt consumed by them amounts to about quarters annually, or about quarters every working day throughout the year, besides a proportionably large quantity of hops. The brewery is a great attraction for visitors to London, and more especially foreigners, and the will be found to contain the names of many eminent personages. of the bestremembered visitors, perhaps, is Marshal Haynau, who was speedily and unceremoniously ejected by the draymen some years ago, in consequence of his alleged ill-treatment of Polish or Hungarian women, which had come to the knowledge of Messrs. Barclay'and Perkins' draymen. | |
Marshal Haynau, during the sanguinary war in against the Hungarians, had gained considerable notoriety from his excessive cruelty towards the Magyars, particularly the women. The following year, having fallen into disgrace with the Imperial Court of Vienna, and losing his military command, he occupied himself in a tour through Europe, visiting London in due course. On the , he paid a visit to , and complied with the customary practice of signing the visitors' book on entering the brewery. In less than minutes the word was passed throughout the establishment that the notorious Hungarian woman-flogger was then in the building. A number of the men quickly gathered round him as he was viewing the large vat, and commenced showing signs of hostility. Finding that his presence was so decidedly objectionable, the marshal was about to retire, but this he was not permitted to do without receiving | |
40 | some marks of violence from the draymen and workmen employed in the brewery. A truss of straw was dropped on his head as he was passing through the stables, his hat was then beaten over his eyes, his clothes torn off his back, and he was almost dragged along by his beard and moustaches, which were of enormous length. Some of the carters employed in the brewery and labourers from the Borough Market commenced lashing him with their whips, accompanied with the cry,
Both himself and his companions endeavoured to defend themselves against the mob of workmen, now swelled to upwards of . In his attempts to escape from his pursuers he rushed along , and entered the public-house, close by, followed by the throng. Several rooms were entered by the mob, but in vain. At last the marshal was discovered crouching in a dust-bin attached to the house. In the meantime the police having been sent for, appeared on the scene, and with some difficulty the crowd was dispersed and the marshal conveyed through a back-door to a police galley which happened to be near at hand. He was then rowed to , and conveyed to Morley's Hotel. |
writes Charles Knight, he adds, He might have added that it sets at defiance topography also; for it is well known that the dictionary was compiled, as shown by us in our volume, in the neighbourhood of . | |
The site of the Globe Theatre, of which we shall speak in the following chapter, is believed to be covered by part of the premises of Messrs. Barclay and Perkins' brewery, at a short distance from the spot on which once stood the town-house of Mr. Thrale. | |
Deadman's Place, according to tradition, took its name from the number of dead interred there in the great plague, soon after the Restoration. Elmes, in his says it is the turning on the left in , going from the Borough Market; as shown above, it has now become partly absorbed in Messrs. Barclay and Perkins' brewery. Pike tells us that little more than years ago there existed in Park a burial-ground in which many of the Nonconformist worthies were interred. This cemetery was called Deadman's Place, and was situated not far from New Chapel. | |
Not far from the brewery, in , there stood formerly a timber edifice, where Mr. Wadsworth's congregation was accustomed to assemble, and where Richard Baxter was wont occasionally to preach. says Baxter, Baxter died in the Charterhouse in . | |
At a short distance westward, in , an obscure part of the Borough, close by , which forms the western boundary of , there is, or, at all events, there was till very lately, an old Dissenting meeting-house, but now converted into a carpenter's shop, which tradition affirms to have been used by John Bunyan for religious worship. says Mr. R. Chambers, in his (vol. ii., p. ), of its ministers was John Chester, the ejected minister of Wetherby, in Leicestershire. When Bunyan preached in this chapel, thousands of people were attracted by the charm of his magic eloquence. It mattered not whether the service was held on the Sunday, or In this congregation removed to Deadman's Place, and about years later they migrated to . The old chapel in was subsequently used by the Wesleyans, and at last became a brewery and a factory. A view of the chapel, as it appeared in , has been engraved for the standard edition of Bunyan's works; and another view of the edifice, as it was in , will be found in the at the page quoted above. | |
It was in at time that poor Oliver Goldsmith was practising medicine on his own account, though without much success. This was in the interval after he had been engaged as an assistant ;n a chemist's shop near , | |
41 | and before he became a schoolmaster at Peckham. Goldsmith's strong passion for dress, at this period of his checkered career, we are told, exhibited itself in a -hand suit of green and gold, which made him a rather conspicuous personage in the thoroughfares of the Borough; while a want of neatness, and of money to pay the washerwoman, was clearly betrayed in his shirt and neckcloth, often of a fortnight's wear. But contentment or pride provided a covering for his poverty, and he told a friend that suit was afterwards changed for a black , with a patch on the left breast, which he ingeniously concealed by holding up his cocked hat when he was conversing with his patients. A polite person once endeavoured to relieve him from this apparent incumbrance,
|
is described in the published in , as lying The thoroughfare now bearing the name extends from westward nearly to . Not far from there was a , near Barnaby (now and , which, with Cardinal's Hat Court, seem to have been so named as belonging at some distant period to the old religious house of St. Mary Overies. | |
A little to the west of is , which ran down to the water-side, nearly opposite to Dowgate, and probably was the continuation of the road. says Pennant, Marks of the ancient causeway have been discovered on the London side. Of this the name evinces the origin. The Saxons always gave the name of Street to the Roman roads, and here they gave it the addition of Stoney, from the pavement they found it composed of. | |
Between and the southern end of is , which marks the site of the ancient moated manor-house, called Holland's Leaguer, of which we have spoken above. All vestiges of the house have long been swept away. In , on the spot where once stood the tide-mill of the old manor of , are the Falcon Glass Works, of the most important manufactories in . It may be mentioned here, in passing, that old was noted for its artists in glass, who are known to have glazed the windows of Chapel, Cambridge, in the reign of Henry VIII. The Falcon Works have existed here for more than a century. as we learn from Brayley's (), Since the repeal of the excise duty on glass the quantity worked has been very largely increased, and the quality improved. Mr. Apsley Pellatt, who was for some years M.P. for , died in . | |
Close by the glass works, on the site of the Falcon drawing-dock, was situated the famous for its connection with the name of William Shakespeare. Here the great and his companions would refresh themselves after the fatigue of the afternoon performances at the Globe hard by. says, Mr. Larwood, The name, as shown above, is still preserved in the Falcon Glass Works, and also in the . A house is still standing, or was till lately, which is considered to have been part of the original tavern, and, at all events, occupies its site and immortalises his name. | |
In the rear of the Falcon Glass Works, opening upon Holland Street-or that part of it which was till lately called the --is a small cluster of almshouses, founded in , by a Mr. Hopton, for the purpose of affording shelter for together with a yearly pension of to each inmate. | |
Previous to the erection of , in , , from London to Blackfriars Bridges, presented a comparatively uninteresting succession of wharves and warehouses, together with irregular-built dwelling-houses; but upon the formation of the viaduct to the new bridge, extensive improvements were planned on each side, the most important of which was the erection of | |
42 | a huge pile of building westward, by the Messrs. Pott, upon a tract of ground which, for upwards of centuries, has been used for manufacturing purposes. These premises were occupied as vinegar-works by a Mr. Rush, so long ago as , and continued in his family till , when they came into the possession of the Messrs. Pott, whose family had carried on a manufactory of the same kind for years in Mansel Street, Whitechapel. The ground here, as we have already shown, originally formed a portion of the park of the ancient palace of the Bishops of Winchester. The property, as we have stated, is still held of the see of Winchester, by Messrs. Pott, who, conjointly with the Bishop of Winchester, in -, gave a portion of the grounds for the site of the new parish church of , and of the new grammar-school of . |
The church and school stand on the north side of Sumner Street-so named after Dr. Sumner, late Bishop of Winchester--which connects with . The church is a neat building, in imitation of the Pointed style, and is constructed of fine light brick, with stone dressings. At the western end rises an embattled tower, with square turrets at the angles; the eastern gable is surmounted with an enriched cross, turrets, &c.; the principal entrances are at the west end, and at the south side, under an enriched stone headway, beneath the central window. The cost of building was contributed by the trustees of being a portion of the donation of devoted, in fulfilment of the | |
wish of a certain Miss Hyndman, to the erection of churches in populous districts. A further sum of about was raised by subscription, among the parishioners, for the enclosure, decoration, and furniture of the edifice. | |
Since the annexation of to London, as stated in a previous chapter, its ecclesiastical divisions have gradually been increased by subdivisions. The parishes of and , indeed, as we have already shown, have been united, the old church of being made to do duty for both; but the parish of , as nearly as possible co-extensive with the Manor of , has been formed out of , as also has the still more modern parish of , of which we have spoken above. The parish of , , has in like manner been taken out of ; and the hospital church of St. Thomas has been made parochial. Of the churches belonging to the last-named parishes, and also of , , we shall speak in due course. | |
, as we have already had occasion to state, stood originally on the south side of ; it was founded by Queen Elizabeth in , for the use of the parishioners, It was burnt down a few years after its establishment, but was rebuilt. In the school was removed to a more convenient site in , where the present school and schoolhouse were built about the year . At the same time the statutes | |
43 | were revised by the Court of Chancery, and the education now given is that of a public school, while the endowment is sufficient to allow of the charges being reduced to a most moderate scale. The school was reformed in under a scheme approved by the Court of Chancery, the usual classical and commercial course being prescribed. The visitor is the Bishop of Winchester, under the shadow of whose palace the old school had grown up. By the statutes it is provided that the master shall be
|
The school and master's house, &c., which nearly adjoins the western end of , are built of brick, with stone dressings, in the Elizabethan Domestic style, from the designs of Mr. Christopher Edmonds, architect. By the charter of incorporation, the original endowment amounted to per annum; governors were appointed, who were to be advised in the appointment and government of the master and usher by | |
the Bishop of Winchester, Immediately after the charter, the governors ordered that the schoolmaster's wages should be yearly; that children of the parish should be taught free, paying entrance, and per annum towards brooms and . The whole number of scholars was not to exceed ; the head-master taking for his own advantage; in he was allowed a dwellinghouse in the parish, rent-free; and the governors had the discretion of increasing his stipend, and taking children of other parishes and places. In the above year also, John Bingham, of the governors of the school, founded an endowment for poor scholars at Cambridge or Oxford- According to the Parliamentary Report, in , the annual income of this school amounted to At that time there were sixtyeight boys upon the foundation; each paid entrance, and a quarter to the writing-school, and the like to the classical school. The above report states, The average number of children is now about , and the school is thrown entirely open. There are several valuable scholarships; and the pupils are prepared for the Universities, Civil Service, and other public examinations, combined with a thorough commercial education. | |
To the south of , and connecting the great thoroughfares of the Borough and , is a broad roadway, called . It was formed about the year , and its sides are lined with some lofty and handsome warehouses, offices, and other places of business, which present a marked improvement on the ordinary street architecture of old . In the formation of this street a large number of courts and alleys were swept away, and a great alteration was made in the west side of the , by the removal of the , of which we shall presently speak. The preparations for the erection of had cleared away several narrow streets on the Surrey side of the river, and materially altered the appearance of the neighbourhood. Bandyleg Walk, a dirty lane between Maid Lane (now New ) and (now ), are on the spot where formerly was a waste piece of ground. The Dyers' Field, with a filthy pond in the centre, became ; and the name of was conferred upon the thoroughfare between the end of and the Borough. The district between the and Bandyleg Walk had an unsavoury reputation in the last century. , , and the adjacent courts and alleys, were the of , inhabited by a dense colony of Irish, whose frequent drunken bouts and faction fights were, in those days of the old sufficiently desperate to warn off steady-going people from the locality. On the north side of the street, westward of , are some extensive blocks of model lodging-houses, erected by the Peabody trustees. The range of buildings covers a large extent of ground; and the houses themselves, which are constructed of brick, and upon the most improved principles, are several storeys in height. | |
At the eastern end of , near its junction with the , and close by the Borough Market, stands the Hop Exchange, which was built about , from the designs of Mr. Moore. This is a large and magnificent range of buildings, several storeys in height, in which are offices, &c., used by hop merchants and others, and enclosing a lofty hall, in which the business of the exchange is carried on. The hall, which is approached from the street by a short flight of steps, and a vestibule, in which are some handsome iron gates, is surrounded by galleries, which serve as means of communication to the various offices. In the rear are some extensive warehouses and stowage for hops, &c. The railings of the galleries are appropriately decorated, and the hall itself is covered in with a glass roof. | |
It has been said of St. Petersburg that more labour is expended in the foundations of the houses than on the houses themselves; and so it is with . The subway which runs along its centre, as stated in a previous part of this work, is a piece of building which will last for many generations. Underneath that subway, which is feet high in the centre, is the sewer; the gas and water pipes are laid in the subway. There is a communication from it for gas and water to every house, the repair of the pipes will not necessitate the opening of the streets, and passengers are saved the disagreeable intelligence of when driving in a cab to catch a train. This subway, indeed, is a most excellent piece of building, and has been finished in a masterly manner; and the same degree of excellent workmanship may be said to have been bestowed upon the fronts of the houses on either side of the street. Altogether, is more like an old Roman street, especially in its subway, than anything of modern times. In architecture it may be called Parisian, for the style of the houses is borrowed from that which dominates in Paris, and is identified with the period of Louis XIV. Near the eastern end of the street the roadway is crossed by a railway arch, over which passes the lines connecting and Stations with Waterloo and ; whilst the other end of the street passes under the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, close by Station. In the middle of the roadway, at either end of the street, are ornamental shafts, surrounded by lamps, for the ventilation of the subway. | |
Altogether, the of to-day is a notably different place from the of theatres and pleasure-gardens as it appeared centuries agog and which we shall now proceed to describe. | |
45 | |
Footnotes: [extra_illustrations.6.29.2] Mr. Spurgeon [extra_illustrations.6.29.3] Metropolitan Tabernacle [] See Vol. V., p. 53. [extra_illustrations.6.34.1] Mrs. Thrale [extra_illustrations.6.34.2] Streatham Villa [] See Vol. I., p. 112. [] See Vol. V., p. 239. |