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
Bermondsey.-Tooley Street, &c.
Bermondsey.-Tooley Street, &c.
| |
In a previous chapter of this volume we have considered the as the line of demarcation between the eastern and western portions of the southern suburbs of and ; here, then, we may fittingly separate their respective histories. The name Bermondsey--the as it has been called in our own day--is generally supposed to be derived from Beormund, the Saxon lord of the district, and , or , an descriptive of the locality, near the river-side, and intersected by numerous small streams and ditches; though antiquary has suggested, with more than ordinary rashness, that is Saxon for prince, and that signified security or peace, so that may be interpreted as Wilkinson, in his account of Abbey in states that the words , or , and the word still exists in the longer form of
| |
writes Charles Knight, Both here, and also in the adjoining parish of , extensive manufactures are carried on: in the tanners and ropemakers abound; at , timber merchants, sawyers, and boat-builders. It would not, perhaps, be far from the truth to say that may be regarded not only as a region of manufactures, but as a region of market gardens, as a region of wholesale dealers, or as a maritime region, according to the quarter where we take our stand. | |
Running east and west through the parish, parallel with the river Thames, and by , winding its way towards and Greenwich, is , a narrow and winding thoroughfare, which in some parts still bears many traces of its antiquity. would have liked out of sheer malice to have been here to see the little gossiping Secretary of the Admiralty, Samuel Pepys, and his friend and patron, Lord Sandwich, floundering about in these parts in -, when, owing to the bad weather, they could not find a boat to convey them by water, and in consequence they were forced to walk. The desolation and wintry chilliness of this picture is enough to make us shiver even in the dog-days. | |
Passing onward on our journey from the foot of , down the steep incline of , which bounds the north side of the approach to the railway station, we find ourselves in , whose name, we are told, is a strange corruption of the former appellation, Street, and whose shops exhibit a singular mixture of the features which are found separate in other parts of the district-wharfingers, merchants, salesmen, factors, and agents; outfitters, biscuit-bakers, store-shippers, ship-chandlers, slopsellers, block-makers, and rope-makers; engineers, and others, together with the usual varieties of retail tradesmen-all point to the diversified, and no less busy than diversified, traffic of this street. it has been said truly,
| |
The parish of St. Olave is bounded on the north by the river Thames, whence it extends in an irregular line towards the Dover Road, separating from and Deptford parishes; it enters by , and proceeds thence to (once called Savory) Dock. , like many other parishes in the suburbs of London, having been greatly increased in the number of its inhabitants, in of the new churches provided by the Act of Queen Anne was built for the district of , which was made a separate parish by an Act of Parliament passed in the following year, and to which was given the name of St. John. | |
The parish church of St. Olave stands on the north side of , near its western end; and with the exception of the south side, is concealed from public observation. St. Olave, or Olaf, in whose honour it is dedicated, was the son of Herald, Prince of Westford, in Norway, in which country he was celebrated for having expelled the Swedes, and for recovering Gothland. After performing these exploits he came to England, and remaining here for years as the ally of Ethelred, he expelled the Danes from several English cities, towns, and fortresses, and returned home laden with great spoils. He was recalled to England by Emma of Normandy, the surviving queen of his friend, in order to assist her against Knute; but finding that a treaty had been made between that king and the English, he withdrew, and was created king of Norway by the voice of the nation. To strengthen his throne, he married the daughter of the king of Sweden; but his zeal for the Christian faith caused him to be much troubled by domestic wars, as well as by the Danes abroad; yet these he regarded not, as he plainly declared that he would rather lose his life and his kingdom than his faith in Christ. Upon this, the men of Norway complained to Knute, king of Denmark, and afterwards of England, charging Olaf with altering their laws and customs; and he was murdered by a body of traitors and rebels near Drontheim, about A.D. . The Bishop of Drontheim, whom he had taken with him across the sea from England in order to assist him in establishing the Christian faith in Norway, commanded that he should be | |
102 | honoured as a martyr, and invoked as a saint. He was buried at Drontheim, where his body was found uncorrupted in , when the Lutherans plundered his shrine of its gold and jewels, for it was reckoned the greatest treasure of the Church in the north. His feast is commemorated on the . Such was St. Olaf, to whose memory no less than churches were built in London, and rightly so, for, says Newcourt,
|
In Alban Butler's will be found several interesting particulars of the life of this heroic and saintly prince. We meet with him under a variety of names, as Anlaf, Unlaf, Olaf Haraldson, Olaus, and Olaf Helge, or Olaf the Holy. The antiquity of his church in is proved by William Horn's (printed in Roger Twisden's ), who tells us that John,Earl of Warren, granted, about the year , to Nicholas, the then abbot, A still fuller account of St. Olave will be found in the of the Bollandists. | |
In , part of the old church having fallen down, and the rest being in an unsafe condition, owing to the graves having been dug too near the foundation, the parishioners applied to Parliament for power to rebuild it; which being granted, they were enabled to raise by granting annuities for lives, not exceeding on the whole; for payment of which a rate was to be made, not exceeding in the pound, -thirds to be paid by the landlord, and by the tenant, to cease on the determination of the annuities. The new church, constructed chiefly of Portland stone, was completed in . It has a nave, with side aisles, and a square tower, which was originally designed to be surmounted by a spire. In this church had a narrow escape from total destruction by fire. On the in that year, a conflagration broke out on the premises of an oilman, near the entrance of Topping's wharf (which is close by the church). which was totally destroyed, | |
103 104 | with a sacrifice of property to the amount of . The fire consumed the shot tower, then lately used as Watson's Telegraph, as stated at the close of the last chapter, and afterwards caught the roof of . The flames spread rapidly, and the interior of the structure, with all the bells, was destroyed, little more than the tower and the bare walls remaining. Fortunately, the church was insured, and was speedily rebuilt. |
The plan of the body of this church is a parallelogram, divided into nave and aisles. The columns, which separate these compartments from each other, are fluted, of the Ionic order, with sculptured capitals, in each range in number. Against the eastern and western walls are also pilasters, corresponding with the columns. The nave is prolonged eastwardly by a semi-circular apse, containing the altar. Over the entire nave extends a beautiful and highly-finished groined ceiling of divisions; in the perpendicular side of each compartment of the groining is a semi-circular headed window. The ceiling of the altar-apse is a semi-dome, forming a rich piece of gilt coffered work. The east window is of stained glass, with a central representation, in an oval, of the Lord's Supper, after Carlo Dolce. At the west end of the church is a large and handsome organ, remarkable for the richness of its tone. This instrument, designed by Dr. Gauntlett, organist of , was erected at an expense of ; it was commenced in , by Mr.. Lincoln, and completed in , by Messrs. Hill and Co., the builders of the great organs in York Minster, Worcester Cathedral, &c. | |
Eastward from the church is-or was till latelya quay, which in the year , by the licence of Simon Swanland, mayor of London, was built by Isabel, widow of Hammond Goodchepe. Adjoining this quay was says Stow, A wharf on the site keeps in remembrance the name of this knightly'family, although by the process of time it has become corrupted into Sellinger's Wharf. | |
The Abbot of Battle, an important personage as the superior of the monastery erected on the spot where the fate of Saxon England was decided, and especially patronised by the Conqueror, had a fine residence near the same spot, with well laid-out gardens, as an agreeable change from the natural beauties of hilly, leafy Sussex, adorned with parterres in Norman fashion, with a fish-pond and a curiously-contrived maze. The abbot has gone, and the palace and gardens are gone too; and Londoners of the century hurry through , at the back of , little thinking whence the dirty street derived its name. The --now an assemblage of small streets on the south side of the Railway Station--is stated by Mr. Charles Knight in his to have Aubrey, in his says, but Peter Cunningham in his says that is so called from the which formerly existed here. | |
Opposite [extra_illustrations.6.105.1] , and adjoining Church Alley, which has become absorbed in the Brighton and South-Eastern Railway terminus, says Allen in his
Strype, noticing , says, In Maitland's time it became converted into a cider-cellar, and is described as follows:-- continues Allen, All this, however, has now been removed, but is recorded here for the benefit of future antiquaries. | |
The school here referred to was originally styled the that queen having incorporated of the parishioners to be the governors. The school was founded in for In , Charles II., granted a further charter, enabling them (the governors) to hold revenues to the amount of a year, which were to be applied By order of the vestry of parish, the vestry-hall was fitted up for the purposes of the school, which was kept there until the year , soon after which period the building was pulled down for forming the approaches to new . After a succession of changes, the London and Company provided a piece of ground in on which a new school-house was erected. This building, which was completed in , was in the Tudor style of architecture; it was constructed of red brick with stone dressings, and formed sides of a quadrangle, which was cut diagonally by the roadway. In the centre of the building was an octagonal tower, containing, on the ground-floor, a porch open on sides, and leading to a corridor of general communication. On side of this octagonal tower were the school-rooms, large and well-lighted apartments, and on the other side were the head-master's house, and also the court-room in which the governors met to transact business, and which also served as the school library. The building is said to have been highly creditable to all concerned in its erection; but it was unfortunate with regard to its situation. It could be seen, and then to great disadvantage, only from the school-yard, or from the railway, which intersected the school-yard diagonally, at a height of about feet above the level of the ground. The entrance to the school was from , through of the arches of the railway. The location of the school in this spot was not destined to be of long duration; for on the widening of the railway, in consequence of the formation of the South-Eastern and London and Brighton Railways, its site was wanted, and the school was once more transferred farther eastward, at the end of , where we shall have more to say of it when speaking of the new building. | |
We have already, in our notice of the , , spoken of the Mint which was established there by Henry VIII.; but it appears that there was a Mint on this side of the river as far back as the Saxon times. It is supposed to have occupied the spot where afterwards was the house of the Prior of Lewes, and under the Norman kings there was a Mint nearly on the same spot. | |
The wharves and buildings near have been the scene of some extensive conflagrations. of these took place in , in which was consumed. Another fire broke out on the same spot on the , and during the time it raged several of the buildings in its vicinity were almost totally destroyed. Among these, as we have previously stated, were , Topping's Wharf, Watson's telegraph, and other adjacent buildings. It was stated at the time that the church might have been saved, but Mr. Braidwood, the superintendent of the London Fire Brigade, considered it advisable to direct his attention to preventing the fire reaching the valuable surrounding property, amounting to upwards of in value. A few years later, on the , a most destruc. tive fire, said to have been caused by spontaneous combustion, broke out at [extra_illustrations.6.106.1] , Tooley | |
106 | Street, a little to the east of , and continued smouldering for several days. In his endeavours to check the ravages of this fire, Mr. Braidwood lost his life. He was buried, as we have already seen, at Abney Park Cemetery, and a tablet has been inserted in the wall near the entrance to the wharf to mark the spot where he fell. The damage caused by this fire amounted to . In some of these conflagrations, considerable damage has been done to the shipping on the river, by the burning oil and pitch overspreading the surface of the river. In the we read that in , a large number of vessels were burnt on the Thames through the overturning of a pot of boiling pitch! Verily there is, after all, some truth in the old saying about
|
To return to , we may add that there is-or, at all events, was in -an inn here called the no doubt a corruption of the
| |
The Borough Compter, formerly situated in this lane, was of the prisons visited and described by John Howard. He pictures it as in a deplorable condition, The Compter was removed hither from Hill, as stated in a previous chapter. Till a comparatively recent period (), prisoners accused of felonies were here detained, and debtors were imprisoned here. If they could pay sixpence a day, they could have the luxury of a room feet square. They were allowed a twopenny loaf a day, but neither straw for bedding, fire, medical or religious attention; and a man might be imprisoned on this regimen for a debt of a guinea for days without being able to change his clothes or wash his face or hands during the period of his imprisonment. This miserable state of things was strongly represented to the Lord Mayor in , but no answer was received to the expostulation. | |
In a narrow turning out of , near the back of , is a small inn, much frequented by seafaring persons, called the The sign may allude to the shovels used in taking out ballast, or cargoes in bulk, or it may refer to the gallant but unfortunate Sir Cloudesley Shovel, whose wreck and death at the Scilly Islands we mentioned in our account of the monuments in . | |
In , a turning out of , near , stood, till , when it was pulled down to make room for the approaches of the new , the meeting-house of the Anabaptist congregation, under the pastorate successively of Dr. Gill and Dr. Rippon. This chapel, an ugly structure, erected in , deserves mention here from the fact that the congregations assembling successively within its walls during several generations, after migrating to New , are now located at , in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, under Mr. Spurgeon. The connection of this body with dates back to the time of the Commonwealth. Benjamin Keach, author of some controversial works, was the minister from to . In his time the congregation met in a small chapel in Goat's Yard Passage, . It must not be overlooked that centuries back Dissenting congregations did not aim at attracting notice either in the architectural details of their chapels, or in placing them in conspicuous places, as we see in modern times. This fact will explain the circumstance that Dissenting meeting-houses were formerly to be met with in back streets and courts. Dr. Gill's ministry extended from to ; and he in turn was succeeded in by Dr. Rippon, whose pastorate extended to , so that in the long period of years, the congregation and their successors had but ministers. Dr. Gill was of the most learned men whom his denomination ever produced, and some account of him may be given here. He was born at Kettering, in Northamptonshire, in . He was educated at the grammarschool of his native town, and at an early age was famed for his acquaintance with the classic writers. His zeal for knowledge was so great that he was accustomed to spend a few hours every week in the shop of a bookseller in Kettering on market days, when only it was opened, and there he saw the learned works of various writers in Biblical lore, in which he afterwards became so greatly distinguished. So constant was his attendance at this shop, that the market people, speaking proverbially, were wont to say, An attempt on the part of the schoolmaster to enforce on Gill a regular attendance at the parish church led to his withdrawal from the school. With a view to enable him to enter the Nonconformist ministry, application was made for his admission into the Mile End Academy, but his precocity in learning seemed to the principals of that institution a sufficient bar to his reception by them. He was now compelled to work at the loom, but found time to study the Greek Testament, and to obtain a little insight | |
107 | into Hebrew. Becoming a preacher of his own denomination in his native county, his fame as a scholar in due time led to an invitation to come to London to supply the pulpit at Goat's Yard, then vacant by the death of Mr. Benjamin Stinton, the son-in-law of Keach. Soon after his arrival in London, Gill became acquainted with Mr. John Skepp, a Hebrew scholar, and minister of a congregation in Cripplegate. At Skepp's death, many of his books in divinity and Rabbinical literature were purchased by Gill, to whom they proved a valuable acquisition. He was soon able to read the Talmud and the Targums in the original, as well as the ancient commentators thereon. Even amidst these severe studies, he still found time to study the Fathers of the Church; and the fruits of these labours soon began to appear in the learned works he subsequently published. In he issued proposals for printing an in folio volumes, which was completed in . For this undertaking Gill received the degree of Doctor of Divinity, from Marischal College, Aberdeen. When his friends congratulated him on this token of respect, he remarked, Between and he published in volumes, which Robert Hall considered to be while John Ryland characterised it as He also published
and other learned works. |
He was at times keenly engaged in controversy, and contended in turn with Whitby, Wesley, and other opponents of the Calvinistic school of theology. How he managed to prepare for publication such an array of learned literary matter surprised many of his friends. He was accustomed to rise as soon as it was light in the winter, and usually before in the summer; and by this Disposal of his time, to say nothing of the duties of his pastorate, and the frequent demands on the preaching services of such an eminent scholar, he was able to send forth to the world some ponderous tomes, the preparation of which, and its subsequent correction for the press, must have been no ordinary undertaking. It is stated that although his folio volumes would be sufficient to fill printed quarto pages, he never employed an amanuensis in preparing his copy for the press. He died at Camberwell on the . As a proof that are still held in honour among Protestants, it may be added that the pulpit in which Dr. Gill preached is now used by the students in the college attached to the Metropolitan Tabernacle; aid the chair once used by the doctor in his study has been transferred to the vestry of the Tabernacle of Mr. Spurgeon. | |
Among the anecdotes related of Dr. Gill, may be given, as it throws some light upon the a century or more back. In his days the psalmody in many of the Dissenting Chapels was at the lowest possible ebb, and the stock of hymn-tunes possessed by Dr. Gill's clerk must have been very small; for on occasion an aged dame waited on the doctor to complain that the clerk, in about years, had introduced new tunes. Not that he was a famous singer, or able to conduct a great variety of song, but he did his best. The young people of the congregation, naturally enough, were pleased with the new tunes; but the good woman could not bear the innovation. The doctor, after patiently listening, asked her whether she understood singing. she replied. She confessed that she was no singer, nor her aged father before her; and though they had had about a years between them to learn the Old Hundreth Psalm, they could not sing it nor any other tune. The doctor did not hurt her feelings by telling her that people who did not understand singing were the last who ought to complain; but he meekly said,
she replied,
said he, It need scarcely be added that in Dr. Gill's meetinghouse at the duty of leading the psalmody devolved on the clerk, whose salary, it appears, was half the sum paid to the pew-opener, or only per annum! | |
Whiston, the translator of intended to hear Dr. Gill preach, and would have done so had he not learned the fact that the doctor had written a volume on the Song of Solomon, which, in Whiston's opinion, did not form any part of the canonical Scriptures. For this reason Whiston declined to enter Gill's chapel. | |
Dr. Rippon, who succeeded Dr. Gill at in , and continued the minister of the congregation after their removal to New , died in , in the year of his age, his pastorate having extended through the long period of years. His name does not shine in the literary world with such splendour as his predecessor, neither was he to be compared with Dr. Gill in theological and Oriental attainments. He compiled a selection of hymns for the use of Dissenting congregations, by whom it was | |
108 | extensively used as a supplement to Dr. Watts's hymn-book. Besides editing he projected, in , a in volumes, which did not meet with sufficient encouragement to enable him to carry out the intention, although years had been occupied in the preparation of the materials for the undertaking. In his time the singing had improved considerably, for a tune-book once used in many Dissenting congregations bears his name. |
An anecdote, which gives us an insight into the character of Dr. Rippon, has been related of him. On a special occasion he was deputed to read an address from the Dissenters to George III., congratulating him on his recovery from sickness. The doctor read on with his usual clear utterance till he came to a passage in which there was a special reference to the goodness of God, when he paused and said, and then proceeded with his usual cool dignity to repeat the sentence with emphasis. No other man in the denomination would have thought of doing such a thing; but from Rippon it came so naturally that no censured him, or if they did, it would have had no effect upon him. | |
says Peter Cunningham,
| |
The name of has not always been spelt in the same way. For instance, to a notice put forth in Cromwell's time by Thoras Garway, the founder of Garraway's Coffee-house, in the City, are appended the following words:--
| |
On the south side, near the middle of the street, according to the published in the reign of Queen Anne, was a place called the but little or nothing is now known either of its history, or of its exact situation. | |
The streets branching off on the south side of , especially those near the western end, such as Joiners' Street, , , and (which, Northouck says, is corruptly called Barnaby Street), pass immediately under the railway station, and therefore appear like so many underground tunnels, in which long rows of gas-lamps are continually burning. In spite of this light, however, they are unknown to history. | |
, Webbe Street, and , all modern thoroughfares in the neighbourhood of the , keep in remembrance the names of the late Mr. John Webbe Weston, who owned much of the land hereabouts. Winding southwest- wards across some of these streets from the eastern end of , are , which have now anything but a verdant aspect. It is true that from this thoroughfare--for it is nothing more nor less than a narrow street--a glimpse is caught of some green and flourishing foliage in the rear of ; but all traces of garden grounds are fast disappearing. John Timbs has a word or to say about this spot in his Speaking of his boyhood, he observes:
| |
says Mr. Charles Knight, in his
| |
Passing from , under the railway arches, by way of , a name which savours of we enter , , or, as it was formerly called, Horsey Down. The parish of having greatly increased both in houses and population, the commissioners for erecting new churches within the purchased a site for a church and cemetery, consisting of a field, which was walled in and called the from the fact that the train-bands of used to practise therein. The church was accordingly built, and dedicated to St. John, | |
and, agreeably to an Act of the Geo. II. , Elmes observes, very absurdly: In speaking of the derivation of the name of , the author of (), remarks: Near it, as we further learn from the same work, was , described as a considerable street, between , , and Foot Lane, . | |
110 | |
Thomas Guy, the founder of the famous hospital bearing his name, was born in this street. His birthplace is thus accurately fixed by Maitland:--
says Charles Knight, in his
| |
The church, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, was finished in ; it is a plain stone building, lighted by ranges of windows, and has an apsidal termination at the eastern end. tower, containing bells, is surmounted with a spire in the form of a fluted Ionic pillar. The church is seen to the northward from the London and . | |
In Goat's Yard, , was the meetinghouse of the celebrated Benjamin Keach, who, from to , was the minister of a Nonconformist congregation assembling there, of the oldest of such congregations in and , and the precursor of the congregation now assembling in the Metropolitan Tabernacle. For very excellent reasons, the Dissenters of those stirring times in English history were not anxious to attract notice in the style of architecture of their meeting-houses, nor did they erect them in conspicuous situations, for during the reign of Charles II. they almost met by stealth, much in the same way as the Roman Catholics were wont to do a century or so later. When Charles II. issued his declaration of indulgence in , Keach, among others, took advantage of it, and his congregation erected their meeting-house in Goat's Yard. This chapel no longer exists, for a century later, the lease having run out, it became a cooperage, and afterwards a blacksmith's forge. In front of the chapel was a court, bounded by a brick wall, and a peep through the iron gates would have shown an avenue of limes leading to the principal entrance. It must have been thought a building of some magnitude at that epoch, seeing that it accommodated as many as persons. curious fact connected with Keach's chapel may here be mentioned, as it throws some light upon the manners and customs of centuries ago. In many of the Dissenting chapels of the times of the later Stuarts there was no singing-not, as some persons have erroneously supposed, lest their sounds might be heard by their enemies; but from the idea that only the really spiritual persons ought to sing, and not the unconverted. There was a great controversy about this question among the Nonconformists, and many pamphlets were written on both sides of the question. Keach contended that all the congregation ought to sing, and he fought zealously for this practice for many years, and lived to see his ideas make way. At time there was a sort of drawn battle between Keach and some of his people, and an understanding was at length come to that at period of the service, during the psalmody, those who objected to the singing should leave the chapel and walk about the chapel-yard, among the graves of the dead, and then come in again after what they objected to was over! Keach was the author of
and some controversial pamphlets. At time he found it necessary to reply to some persons who had contrived to unsettle the minds of the young people and apprentices of the congregation, by arguing that Saturday was the true Sabbath. For the publication of a series of discourses on this subject, under the title of in which he treated the subject controversially, Keach was complimented by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The death of Keach was thus celebrated by of his congregation in the following lines :
| |
, as is generally known, was a famous rendezvous of the Nonconformists centuries ago, and such it has continued to be down to our own day. In the time of Charles II., and even earlier, the Anabaptists were accustomed to practise immersion in the river, and at that date several quiet spots existed on the banks of the Thames | |
111 | not far eastward from , suitable for that purpose. But the increase of dwellings in the neighbourhood of the river soon rendered this practice impossible. A building for this particular object, Mr. Pike tells us, existed in in the century. It was called the Baptisterion, and attached to it were dressing-rooms. It was the common place of adult immersion for southern London. A conference, which assembled in , provided funds for the rebuilding of the structure. The chapel never appears to have had any regular congregation associated with it, but elderly persons were living at the commencement of the present century who remembered the place being used as a preaching station. The passage leading to the meeting-house was called
|
Near the north-east corner of churchyard, and at the eastern end of , stands the new Free of the united parishes of and , of which we have spoken above. The building, like its predecessor in , is in the Tudor style of architecture, and is altogether an ornament to the neighbourhood. It comprises a residence for the master and the usual school buildings; but the chief architectural feature is the central tower, over the doorway of which is a statue of the founder, Queen Elizabeth. | |
says Mr. Corner, in his account of the above seminary, in the , ,
| |
In this institution provision is made for a commercial as well as a classical education. The ancient seal of the school bears the date of . It represents the master seated in the school-room, with boys standing near him. The rod is a prominent object, as in other school seals, which may be seen in Carlisle's some of which are also inscribed with the wellknown maxim of King Solomon, then strictly maintained, but now nearly exploded, ( ). A fac-simile of the seal, in cast iron or carved in stone, is placed in front of most of the houses belonging to the school. Robert Browne, a Puritan minister, and founder of the sect of Brownists, was master of from till . | |
The following particulars of this locality, of which but scant notices are found in any local history or topographical work, were given by the late Mr. G. R. Corner, F.S.A., at a special general meeting of the Surrey Archeological Society, held at Branch School-house, in . he said,
| |
It is not known whether Fair was | |
113 | ever held on but it is worthy of remark that when the down came to be built over, about the middle of the century, the principal street across it, from west to east, was, and is to the present day, called ; and a street of houses, running from north to south, near to , is called Oak Lane, traditionally from oaks formerly standing there. In Evelyn's time, however ( ), the fair appears to have been held at Hill, in the Borough, as we have already seen. |
The old Artillery Hall of the stood on the site of the present workhouse in , a little to the west of . It was erected in the year , when the governors of the school granted a lease to Cornelius Cooke and others, of a piece of ground forming part of Horseydown, and enclosed with a brick wall, to be employed for a Martial Yard, in which the Artillery Hall was built. In the governors granted the churchwardens a lease of part of the Martial Yard for years for a burialground; but they reserved all the ground whereon the Artillery House then stood, and The election for was held at the Artillery Hall in ; and at the following sessions-then held at the Bridge House-Slingsby Bethell, Esq., sheriff of London, who had been a losing candidate at the election, was indicted for and, convicted of an assault on Robert Mason, a waterman, from , who was standing on the steps of the hall with others, and obstructing Mr. Bethell's friends. Mr. Bethell was fined . | |
In the year the Artillery Hall was converted by the governors into a workhouse for the parish, and in the parish church of St. John, , as stated above, was built on part of the martial ground. The hall was entirely demolished about the year . Messrs. Courage and Donaldson's brewery, at the corner of , stands, as we have already stated, on the site of the manor-house of St. John of Jerusalem, which formerly belonged to Hospital, in Clerkenwell. This estate, and that of the governors of the , and another estate belonging to Magdalen College, Oxford, called the Isle of Ducks, mentioned above, comprehend almost the whole of this parish. It has been conjectured that the name of the street running along the river-side, and from to , and called , may be an abbreviation of , and, indeed, the whole river-side, contain extensive granaries and storehouses for the supply of the metropolis. Indeed, from Morgan's Lane--a turning about the middle of , on the north side, to (once called Savory) Dock, the whole line of streetcalled in part Pickle Herring Street, and in another Shad Thames-exhibits an uninterrupted series of wharves, warehouses, mills, and factories, on both sides of the narrow and crowded roadway. The buildings on the northern side are contiguous to the river, and through gateways and openings in these we witness the busy scenes and the mazes of shipping which pertain to such a spot. The part of upon which we are now entering is as remarkable for its appearance as for its importance, in past times at least, seeing that it was connected with the manufactures of . | |
The waterside division of , or that part of the parish situate east of , and adjoining the parish of , .s intersected by several streams or watercourses. Upon the south bank of of these, between and , stand-or stood till very recently--a number of very ancient houses, called . All Londoners have heard of the --or, as it was more universally called, the --which formerly existed in ; and of the of Somers Town, which we have already described. Charles Dickens, in his speaks of another over the Surrey side of , Little, perhaps, was known of Jacob's Island, in , until it was rendered familiar to the public in the pages of of Dickens's most popular works, where the features which this spot presented a few years ago-and in part exhibit at the present time--are described so vividly, and with such close accuracy, that we cannot do better than quote the passage. He speaks of the ditch itself and the houses exterior to the island. This is the scene in the narrow passages near the Island, of which are known by the humble names of Halfpenny Alley and Farthing Alley. In Jacob's Island itself the
| |
Rough and wild as the spot appears when the ditch is filled at high tide, yet, if we visit it hours afterwards, when mud usurps the place of water, more than organ of sense is strongly and unpleasantly appealed to. Wilkinson gave a view of this spot in the in the early part of the present century, and the interval of time does not seem to have produced much change in the appearance of the scene. In the plate here alluded to, the spectator is supposed to be standing on Jacob's Island, and looking across the Folly Ditch, to the crazy, ancient houses of . | |
says Charles Knight in his
| |
A writer in the , some years ago, alluding to this particular locality, remarks: The same writer observes that
| |
Dickens's graphic picture of the filth, wretchedness, and misery of Jacob's Island, at the time it was written--some years ago--was by no means overdrawn. A vast deal has been done, however, towards removing its worst evils, although more remains to be done. of the missionaries of the London City Mission, in , furnished a report on the district as it was when he entered it years ago, and as it now exists. Many of the horrors. he admits, have passed away :-- | |
continues the writer,
| |
For some considerable time past an agitation has been going on as to the desirability of having a bridge or subway near this spot, as a means of affording more direct communication between the sides of the river than at present exist. In , a meeting of the Court of Common Council was held, when the question was discussed, and the plans and estimates which had been prepared were carefully examined and considered. The site for a bridge which appeared to be most eligible to the court was that approached from Little and Irongate Stairs on the north side, and from Stairs on the south side of the river. Among the plans submitted was for a low-level bridge, the centre of which would consist of swing bridges on turntables in the centre, at each end of a pier, leaving waterway on each side for large vessels when the swings were open. This great undertaking, if carried out, will doubtless be the means of effecting a vast improvement in the locality above described. | |
Footnotes: [extra_illustrations.6.105.1] St. Olave's Church, in Tooley Street [extra_illustrations.6.106.1] Cotton's Wharf [] See ante, p. 58. [] See Vol. III., p. 420. [] See Ellis's Letters (Second Series), vol. iv. [] See ante, p. 58. [] See Vol. V., p. 368. |