The History and Antiquities of London, Westminster, Southwark, and Parts Adjacent, vol. 3
Allen, Thomas
1827
Foundation Stone St. Mary Woolchurch-haw.
In digging the foundation of the Mansion-house, on the site of the above church, the foundation stone was found in . | |
Adjoining to the church--yard of St. Stephen, was Walbrook-house, the old mansion of the family of Pollexfen, which sharing the common fate of the general conflagration in , was rebuilt in the following year by sir Henry Pollexfen, chief justice of the court of Common Pleas in the reign of Charles II. It stood on lofty brick arches, of exquisite workmanship and great antiquity; and was supposed to have been the town residence of the abbot of Tortington. It was an elegant brick building, of the Corinthian order, with double windows. | |
In was the residence of the notorious colleagues of Henry the , Empson and Dudley. | |
At the south east corner of was a conduit, new built in the year , at the charge of the corporation, but not rebuilt after the fire of London. | |
On the east side of is the church-yard of St. Mary Bothaw. This church took its additional name from its vicinity to a boat-haw, or boat-builder's-yard, in that neighbourhood, and was of great antiquity; for, in the year , Wibert, the prior, and the convent of Christ-church, in Canterbury, granted certain lands and houses, on the north side of it, to Ernis, and his heirs, in consideration of an annual payment of in money, a towel, of the value of , pitchers, at pieces of money, and a salt-seller at ; which were to be delivered to the prior's steward, for the use of his house. | |
The site of this church is now a small vacant piece of ground in front of the rectory house, and is used as the burying-ground of the united parishes. The east wall of the church still remains, and a large arch in it was evidently the east window of the chancel. The form of the arch is semicircular, and it is turned on brick, the aperture being walled up with ancient masonry, apparently as old as the wall in which the arch is formed. The circumstance of the brick arch is worthy of attention, as many Roman arches exist in this country formed of the same material, and although there is no positive evidence of the present fragment being entitled to such high antiquity, it is worthy of attention from the probability that it may actually be a vestige of a building as old as the time of the Romans, a supposition which is considerably strengthened by the existence of the adjacent London stone, in the neighbourhood of which Roman remains may be looked for with greater probability than any other part of the metropolis. | |
In formerly stood a large mansion, called the Herber, probably a corruption of Harbour-inn. The origin of this palace is not known; but it belonged to Edward III. then to the noble family of the Scropes; after them to the Nevilles; and here the earl of Salisbury, brother-in-law to the great earl of Warwick, on the , lodged with men at the famous | |
774 | congress of the barons. It very often changed masters; from the Nevilles, it came to George, duke of Clarence. At length, by attainder, it came to the crown. Richard III. repaired it, and called it Henry VIII. gave it to John earl of Oxford; the following year, , it was bestowed on sir Thomas Boleyn; and, in , the arbitrary monarch restored the whole, by letters patent, to Margaret Plantagenet, countess of Salisbury, whom he afterwards beheaded; and with her ended the royal line of the Plantagenets. The Herber then once more came to the crown, and the king gave it to sir Philip Hoby, who, for years afterwards, sold it to a Mr. Doulphin, a draper. The company of drapers purchased of him, in the year ; but it appears to have been re-sold to sir Thomas Pallison, lord mayor in , who rebuilt the entire premises, which were subsequently the residence of the celebrated circumnavigator sir Francis Drake: the great fire put an end to these migrations to and from the Herber, and it was not rebuilt. |
On the west side of is the church-yard of St. John upon ; attached to the wall is the following inscription:--
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The patronage of this church was anciently in the dean and chapter of , who, it seems, granted the same to the prioress and convent of St. Helen, in whom it continued till the suppression of their priory, when it came to the crown, in which it still remains; but in ecclesiastical affairs it is subject to the archdeacon. | |
This church was destroyed in the fire of London , and not rebuilt. | |
On the west side of is | |
