The History and Antiquities of London, Westminster, Southwark, and Parts Adjacent, vol. 3
Allen, Thomas
1827
Skinners' Hall.
The original Skinners'-hall, which Stow describes as was purchased by the company, together with several small tenements adjacent, as early as the reign of Henry III. and the Skinners afterwards held it | |
516 | under a licence of mortmain granted by that king. It was afterwards alienated, though by what means is uncertain; and in the of Edward II. was possessed by Ralph de Cobham, the brave Kentish warrior, who having made Edward III. his heir, was thus the cause of the Skinners being re-instated in their ancient purchase, which the monarch restored about the time of the legal incorporation of the company. |
The present Skinners'-hall, is a very handsome and convenient structure, standing on , on the site of the ancient building. The front, which includes the dwelling of the clerk, &c. has been new built within these years, from designs by the late Mr. Jupp, architect, who also made considerable alterations in the other parts. It is a regular building of the Ionic order, the basement part, to the level of the story, is of stone, and rusticated; from this rise pilasters, sustaining an entablature and pediment, all of the same material, and in the tympanum are the company's arms, the supporters being represented as couchant, in order to adapt them the better to the spaces they occupy: the frieze is ornamented with festoons, and lion's heads. A small paved court separates this front from the more ancient part of the fabric, which is of brick and neatly wrought. The hall is a light and elegant apartment, having an Ionic screen and music gallery, and other adornments proper to that order; it is also handsomely fitted up in the modern style, and is lighted by a sexagon lanthorn, from which depends a chandelier of gas lights. In the court room, which was formerly wainscotted with the red, or cedar, but is now altered, and neatly modernized, is a good head of sir Andrew Judde, knt. lord mayor in , who was a native of Tunbridge, in Kent, and founded the free grammar school there, of which the late very able and learned Dr. Vicesimus Knox was master. For the support of that establishment, sir Andrew, on his death in , directed by his will, that certain lands, of the annual value of and situated in the parishes of , All-Hallows, , St. Lawrence Poultney, St. Peter, and St. Helen, should be perpetually vested in the company of Skinners; and in consequence of this bequest the members visit the school every year, in May, at a great expense, attended as the statutes direct, by some eminent clergyman, whose business is to examine into the progress made by the different classes; alter the examination, which is conducted with much ceremony, honorary rewards are distributed to the best scholars. The rental of the lands bequeathed by the founder, as well as of other estates given by his son-in-law, sir Thomas Smith, knt. to augment the endowments, and establish exhibitions to the University, has been vastly increased, and is yet in a course of progressive augmentation; the land in parish having been covered with houses to a considerable extent, under the direction, and principally at the charge of Mr. Burton, the architect, who, a few | |
517 | years ago, obtained a lease of the ground from the company, for the purpose. |
In this apartment are neatly executed figures of sir A. Judde knt. and king Edward III.; they are enclosed in glass cases, ornamented with Ionic pilasters, and supported by rich scrolls gilt. In the tea room on the floor are some good carvings; attached to the hall is a small garden. | |
Against the wall of the private staircase is a full length portrait of sir Thomas Pilkington, in his robes of the office of mayoralty. This portrait has at corner, . The staircase displays some of the massy carving, and rich ornaments, in vogue at the time of the re-building of the hall after the great fire, the expense of which is said to have been l | |
Northward of the last mentioned edifice is | |
