Part 2

The Sieve, close to Holy Trinity Church, Minories, was one of the oldest public-houses in London. Underneath, there were crypt-like cellars, the material used in their construction being of the nature of chalk. It is possible that originally they had some connection with the adjoining convent of nuns of St. Clare, for Mr. J. T. Smith, who in 1797 sketched the remains of the conventual buildings, then laid bare by a fire, and published the results in his "Ancient Topography of London," tells us that their walls were of chalk and Caen stone. The parish of Holy Trinity is all included within the ancient precincts of the convent, and in the early days of the Reformation the gates were still kept up. In the parish records, under date 1596, there is mention of the appointment of a "vitler to the parish." He was also to have the custody of the keys, and was to close the gate "in the sommer at night at tenne of the clocke, and in the winter at nyne, and at noe other hour, except the necessary and urgent occasions of the inhabitants of the said parish doe require the contrarie." Later extracts speak of vestry meetings at the Sieve; for instance, on February 13, 1705-6, "about agreeing to pull down the churchyard wall," when matters were facilitated by the expenditure of six shillings on refreshment. A seventeenth-century trade token issued from this house, of which a drawing is given, reads thus:—

O.—RICHARD . HARRIS . AT . YE SEV = a sieve. R.—IN . TRINITY . MINORIES = HIS HALF PENY. R. R. H.

It is mentioned among public-houses of note in the "Vade Mecum for Malt-worms" (1715?). The sign is a rare one; in 1669, however, there was also a Sieve in Aldermanbury, from which a trade token was issued. In the eighteenth century the Sieve in the Minories appears to have been much curtailed, for in a deed of 1762 it is described as "all that messuage or tenement now divided into three," and an old drawing shows adjoining shops similar in style, which no doubt originally formed part of it. For many years the house belonged to the Byng family, and at last came into the hands of the Metropolitan Railway Company, by whom it was closed in 1886, but not entirely destroyed until 1890. The parish of Holy Trinity is now annexed to that of St. Botolph, Aldgate. The church, within a few yards of the old Sieve, is a plain little structure, but has various interesting features and associations, which have been described in two publications, by the last vicar, the late Rev. Samuel Kinns. The previous incumbent, the Rev. E. M. Tomlinson, has also written an interesting book about it.

(7-1/8 × 5-1/4) D. 22-1896.

19. Old houses in Aldgate, 1886 (Black and white).

On the south side of Aldgate High Street a few seventeenth century houses still survive, chiefly butchers' shops, to remind us that even in Strype's time (1720) they plied their trade here, because, as he tells us, this region lies "conveniently for driving and carrying cattle from Rumford market." One of these shops is shown in the drawing, and to the right of it the Hoop and Grapes tavern, better known as Christopher Hill's. The posts at the door, handsomely carved, seem coeval with the house; and inside there is an archaic board for chalking up the score, with an inlaid frame.

(8-13/16 × 7-1/4) D. 23-1896.

20. Remains of the Bull Inn, 25, Aldgate High Street, 1886 (Black and white).

Aldgate and Whitechapel, being on the high road to Essex, had in old days several famous inns; among others the Three Nuns, the Crown, the Blue Boar, and the Black Bull. This last, afterwards known as the Bull, is the house a small part of which appears in the drawing. It was at its zenith shortly before the advent of railways, when Mrs. Anne Nelson, coach proprietor, was the landlady. It has been said that she could make up nearly 200 beds there, and she lodged and boarded about three dozen of her guards and coachmen. Most of her business was to Essex and Suffolk, but she also owned the Exeter coach. She must have been landlady on the memorable occasion when Mr. Pickwick arrived in a cab, after "two mile o' danger at eightpence," and it was through this very archway that he and his companions were driven by the elder Weller when they started on their adventurous journey to Ipswich. The house is now wholly destroyed, and the yard built over.

(9-7/8 × 5-5/16) D. 24-1896.

21. 5, 6, and 7, Aldgate High Street, formerly Saracen's Head Inn, 1887 (Black and white).

On the opposite side of the way, some distance west, just within the original limits of the City, an old block of buildings is still (1912) to be seen, which once formed the original front of another well-known coaching inn—the Saracen's Head. The name in 1887 could be dimly observed on the right-hand house, beneath the paint. The carved pilasters to the left must have been the work of an artist. The back of the inn was once galleried, and coaches plied from here to Norwich as long ago as 1681. In the yard, at the time of the drawing, there was still a carriers' booking office, but that came to an end many years ago.

(9-3/4 × 7-5/16) D. 25-1896.

22. Almshouses of the Skinners' Company, Mile End Road, 1892 (Sepia).

(6-13/16 × 10-9/16) D. 26-1896.

23. Almshouses of the Skinners' Company, Mile End Road, from the Garden, 1892 (Water-colour).

They were immediately west of the famous Trinity Hospital, which was threatened with destruction some years ago. Their narrow frontage to the road did not prepare one for the picturesque view within. Over the gate were the Company's arms and two statuettes of cripples. There were also two inscriptions, one of them setting forth that these almshouses were founded in 1688 during the mastership of Benjamin Alexander; the other ran thus:—

THE GIFT OF MR. LEWIS NEWBURY. BUILT BY THOMAS GLOVER ESQ., his Executor, committed to the management of the COMPANY OF SKINNERS, LONDON.

The houses, twelve in number, were for poor widows. There was a chapel and a garden at the further end. In 1892 the Skinners' Company invited tenders for the purchase of the property, and about two years afterwards the old buildings here represented were swept away.

(7-3/16 × 5-3/8) D. 27-1896.

24. The Old George Inn, Trinity Square, 1890 (Black and white).

This was a picturesque building, but with no special history. A drawing of it in the Crace collection shows trees in front and a horse-trough. To the gallery, people may have flocked to see executions on Tower Hill, for instance, those of the rebel lords in 1746 and '47. The house was burnt down early in 1894.

(8-5/8 × 11-3/8) D. 28-1896.

25. Gateways on the east side of College Hill, 1891 (Black and white).

College Hill is so named because Richard Whittington, the famous Mayor of London, here founded a College of St. Spirit and St. Mary. He was buried in St. Michael's Church hard by, which was destroyed in the Great Fire and rebuilt by Wren. A view of its tower is given in this drawing, and here in the foreground appear two gateways with sculptured pediments which are quite in the style of the same great architect. It is worthy of remark that on College Hill was the house and courtyard of "Zimri," the second and last Duke of Buckingham of the Villiers family, who, as Strype tells us, lived in this street for some time "upon a particular humour." Hatton in his "New View of London," 1708, says that this is "a spacious building on the east side of College Hill, now or late in the possession of Sir John Lethieullier," and as regards the position of the house he is followed by Peter Cunningham. However, in Ogilby and Morgan's map of 1677, and in the map attached to Strype's edition of Stow, the Duke's dwelling is distinctly shown on the west side of College Hill.

At present the gateways shown in the drawing are incorporated in a frontage which in old leases is always called "the stable"; they form the means of access to two houses joined together; that to the south—No. 21, College Hill, being a capital specimen of a merchant's dwelling of the early part of the eighteenth century, with a handsome staircase, carved over-doors, and a finely panelled room on the first floor. The other has been rebuilt of late years. They stand back some distance from the street, and have no special relation with the gateways, which are older in style. Underneath both houses run, or ran, very large cellars, connected, and within memory there was a small garden at the back of No. 21. In 1746 this house belonged to Charles Lethieullier, and was then tenanted by Sir Samuel Pennant, the previous occupant having been Sir Robert Godschall. The house afterwards passed by marriage to the Hulses; for many years it has been in the hands of the Wilde family, which has produced two eminent judges—Lord Truro and Lord Penzance.

Taking into consideration the fact of the property having belonged to the Lethieullier family, from its ground plan, and from the style of the gateways themselves and of the building to which they belong, it seems not improbable that here were the stables of Buckingham House with a garden at the back. The house between the gateways and the church was built for the Mercers' School, being opened by the Master and Wardens, June 6th, 1832, and is said to occupy the site of Whittington's dwelling. The school has of late years, in its turn, been removed to Barnard's Inn, of which there are drawings in this collection. The school building on College Hill at the time of writing remains.

(11-1/4 × 7-11/16) D. 30-1896.

26. Staircase of House in Botolph Lane, 1887 (Black and white).

This house stood in a quiet courtyard opening into Botolph Lane with a second entrance in Love Lane, and had been used since 1859 for the Billingsgate and Tower Ward School. The front, plain but well proportioned, was built of remarkably small bricks with stone facings. It had a projecting cornice and flat lead-covered roof. The doorway was approached by a double flight of steps, beneath which an opening had been left, once used as a dog kennel, to judge from the little hollow for water scooped out in front. Entering a hall which extended right through the house and was paved with alternate chequers of black and white marble, one saw in front a handsome staircase, part of which is shown; the date 1670 appeared on the plaster. Upstairs, the structure had been mutilated, the greater part of the landings on the first and second floors being latterly included in the schoolrooms, but a marble chimney-piece, fine cornices and plaster-work, evinced the taste of former possessors. Perhaps the most interesting part of the house was a small room immediately to the left of the main entrance. It was panelled throughout, and painted from ceiling to floor with strange designs, among which one could dimly discern the figures of Indians, a rhinoceros, antelopes, palm trees, and other signs of tropical life as it represented itself to the imagination or memory of the artist. According to some, the history of the tobacco plant was here depicted, but of this there was no sign. Fortunately we know the name of the painter of this curious series of pictures, one of the panels being signed "R. Robinson, 1696." The other decorations of the room were a carved mantelpiece and a panelled cupboard. The house is charmingly described in the late Mrs. Riddell's novel "Mitre Court," and she made it the home of her heroine. There is, however, no authority for her statement that Sir Christopher Wren was its architect and first inhabitant. This interesting old building was pulled down in 1905-6, although great efforts were made to induce its owners to preserve it.

(11-9/16 × 9-5/8) D. 29-1896.

27. Staircase of No. 9, Great St. Helen's, 1891 (Black and white).

During the early part of the year 1892 a large mansion was destroyed on the south side of Great St. Helen's, Bishopsgate Street. Latterly divided into two, being numbered 8 and 9, it was of brick, having engaged pilasters, which were furnished with stone bases and capitals. They also had bands, on two of which appeared in relief the initials L/AI and the date 1646. The projecting sills or cornices and the deep keystones on the first floor windows gave a striking appearance to the house. It was also memorable as an early specimen of brickwork in London, and as dating from a period before the formal conclusion of the Civil War, when building operations were almost at a standstill. No. 9 had, in a room on the first floor, a wooden seventeenth century mantelpiece, behind which, on its removal, were found traces of an older mantelpiece of marble, and evidence of the former existence of a large open fireplace. The beautiful staircase, or portion of a staircase, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, of which a slight drawing is here given, may from its style be Elizabethan. A blocked-up window with wooden transoms for casements was also discovered; so it seems likely that, some years after the date of the original building, considerable alterations took place. The façade has been attributed to Inigo Jones, but it had not his classic symmetry, and looked like the work of a less instructed native genius. Besides Inigo Jones, a Royalist and Roman Catholic, was taken prisoner in October, 1645, at the storming of Basing House, having been there during the siege, which had lasted since August, 1643. He was apparently not free to return to his profession until July 2nd, 1646, when, after payment of a heavy fine, his estate, which had been sequestrated, was restored to him, and he received pardon by an ordinance of the House of Commons. It is hard to believe that whilst he was passing through such a crisis, or in the few months succeeding it, he would have been superintending a work in the Puritan City. At the time of his release the great architect was seventy-four years of age, and, as far as we know, he hardly practised his profession afterwards. The division of Nos. 8 and 9, Great St. Helen's, into two, took place in the course of the 18th century; probably about 1750, to judge from the style of the fanlights and projecting hoods to the front doors, and from the staircase of No. 8, the upper portion of which, however, was much more archaic, and might have served as part of the back-staircase to the original building.

The initials on this house have generally been considered to relate to Sir John Lawrence, who was Lord Mayor in the year of the Great Plague, and to Abigail, his wife, but they were really those of his uncle and aunt—Adam and Judith Lawrence, who were of Flemish or Dutch origin. From the former, Sir John inherited this house with other property in the parish. It does not, however, appear that he ever lived there. He kept his mayoralty in a house of totally different appearance, an illustration of which by T. Prattent, published in 1796, forms the frontispiece to Vol. XXIX. of the "European Magazine." As there shown, it had elaborate plaster decorations in front with the City arms and the arms of Lawrence, and last, not least, with the inscription Sr J L—K & A. 1662. That undoubted residence of Sir John Lawrence is marked by name in the map of Bishopsgate Street Ward accompanying Strype's edition of Stow's Survey, where a slight sketch of it is also given. The present Jewish synagogue in Great St. Helen's is rather west of the site.

(6-7/8 × 3-3/4) D. 34-1896.

28. Entrance to Great St. Helen's from Bishopsgate Street, 1891 (Black and white).

When this view was taken, the passage from Bishopsgate Street to Great St. Helen's passed under old buildings which had escaped the Great Fire. The structure on spectator's right was Sir Andrew Judd's almshouse, founded by him in 1551, and rebuilt by the Skinners' Company in 1729. Sir Andrew, who was Lord Mayor and belonged to the Skinners' Company, seems, in this benefaction, to have been merely acting as executor to his cousin Elizabeth, widow of Sir William Hollis. Stow, however, does not mention her name in connection with the charity. Sir Andrew also founded and endowed Tunbridge Grammar School. The almshouse was destroyed about the year 1892, and the old buildings by Bishopsgate Street did not long survive. The building on spectator's left was the modern part of Crosby Hall, swept away in 1907-8.

(11-1/2 × 8-3/16) D. 35-1896.

29. No. 10, Great St. Helen's, 1891 (Black and white).

At the corner of Great St. Helen's, opposite the pretty south porch of the church, by some attributed to Inigo Jones, which has on it the date 1633, stood a quaint old house constructed of wood and plaster, with projecting upper stories and massive timbering, which dated from long before the Great Fire, and at the time of this sketch was, perhaps, the oldest domestic building in the City except Crosby Hall; the inside, however, had been modernised. Tradition boldly asserts that Anne Boleyn's father, Sir Thomas, afterwards Viscount Rochford and Earl of Wiltshire, once lived here. It is an undoubted fact that a kinsman of his name, was intimately connected with St. Helen's, for "on the 24th December, 26th Hen. VIII., 1534, the Prioress and Convent appointed Sir James Bolleyne, Knt., to be steward of their lands and tenements in London and elsewhere, the duties to be performed either by himself or a sufficient deputy during the life of the said James, at a stipend of forty shillings a year, payable at Christmas. If in arrear for six weeks the said James might enter and distrain." This was most likely Sir Thomas Boleyn's elder brother. The house, No. 10, had been much shaken by the removal of Nos. 8 and 9 adjoining. It was propped up for some time, and destroyed in the course of 1894.

(12-5/16 × 5-5/16) D. 33-1896.

30. Old Houses, Great St. Helen's, Bishopsgate Street, 1862 (Black and white).

This drawing was made from the passage between Bishopsgate Street and St. Helen's, the view being the reverse of No. 28. The strip of building to the extreme right belonged to the modern part of Crosby Hall, a Gothic mansion unrivalled in its day; but its entrance—No. 1, St. Helen's, is not shown, nor is No. 2—a well-proportioned house with a pretty doorway, dating from the earlier part of the eighteenth century which has also disappeared. The three plastered houses adjoining were pulled down many years ago. The high brick house immediately to their left has so far been spared, and deserves a visit for the sake of its good Georgian staircase. Part of Nos. 8 and 9, already described, is dimly seen through the trees on the left. No. 10 is not visible, being chiefly round the corner, in the lane leading to St. Mary Axe. There was a right of way through here for the public from quite early times; for Dugdale tells us that in the Hundred Roll of 3rd Edward I. several entries occur relating to an attempt which the nuns made to stop up the lane or passage through the court of their priory from Bishopsgate Street to St. Mary Axe. Since 1862 a large piece has been taken from the churchyard, with no apparent advantage to the public.

(8-7/16 × 6-5/8) D. 89-1896.

31. Crosby Hall Chambers, Bishopsgate Street, 1891 (Prout's brown).

(7-7/16 × 4-3/8) D. 87-1896.

32. Mantelpiece in Crosby Hall Chambers, Bishopsgate Street, 1891 (Pen and ink).

At No. 25, Bishopsgate Street Within, until 1892-93, a house was standing which had been known for years as Crosby Hall Chambers. The front towards the street had no marks of antiquity except two carved festoons of flowers much blocked up by paint, between the first floor windows. The north side, as seen from a passage which is here depicted, appeared to be externally more or less in its original state. Its base was composed of rustic work, the wall being relieved by pilasters. There was a room on the first floor looking out on this passage, which was adorned by a very beautiful carved chimney-piece shown in the second drawing, and now in the Board room of the Bank of Scotland, which stands on the site. It bears the date 1633; the lower part is of stone, the overmantel of oak. Students of work of this period should compare it with a somewhat earlier chimney-piece now in the Guildhall Museum, which was removed from an old mansion in Lime Street now many years ago. There was also at Crosby Hall Chambers a fragment of decorative plaster ceiling. This was acquired by the authorities of the Victoria and Albert Museum. They also have a cast of the chimney-piece.

(11 × 9-7/16) D. 31-1896.

33. Garden of No. 4, Crosby Square, 1891 (Black and white).

Crosby Square, built about the year 1678, is on the site of the offices of Crosby Hall, which had been destroyed by fire. No. 3 was formerly a good specimen of a house of that date. It has been recased with brick, but the handsome doorway is preserved. No. 4 has a fine staircase; its chief distinction, however, was the charming garden at the back, with its fig trees, its thorns, and fountain—a veritable oasis in this wilderness of bricks and mortar. Unfortunately, soon after the removal of Crosby Hall, it was destroyed, and the garden built upon. The south wall of this was mediæval, being composed of good rubble, 3 feet thick, and extending from the present ground level to a depth of 14 feet of made earth. It was part of the original boundary wall of the Crosby precinct. Dr. Nathan Adler, Chief Rabbi, lived here for some years, from 1847 onwards; the garden and basin are marked distinctly in Strype's map of 1720.

(7 × 10-3/4) D. 32-1896.

34. Sir Paul Pindar's House, No. 169, Bishopsgate Street Without, 1890 (Black and white).