Part 10

CORDWAINERS, or SHOEMAKERS. This company was incorporated by letters patent granted by King Henry IV. in the year 1410, by the name of _Cordwainers and Coblers_, the latter of which names was then far from being a despicable term, as it signified not only a shoemaker, but a dealer in shoes; and it does not appear that the word shoemaker was then in use.

Mr. Stow observes, that King Richard II. marrying the daughter of Wenceslaus King of Bohemia, the English by her example wore long peaked shoes tied to their knees with silk laces, or silver chains gilt. This preposterous fashion occasioned the passing of an act of parliament, in the reign of Edward IV. in which it was enacted, that no cordwainer or cobler within the city of London, or three miles of it, should make any shoes, galoshes or huseans, that is, boots or buskins, with any pyke or poleyn, exceeding the length of two inches, to be adjudged by the Wardens or Governors of the same mystery in London: nor should they presume to sell, or put upon the legs or feet of any person, any shoes, boots or buskins on Sundays, or on the feasts of the nativity and ascension of our Lord, or on _Corpus Christi_ day, on the penalty of paying twenty shillings for each offence.

By a late charter, this company is stiled, _The Master, Wardens and Commonalty of the mystery of Cordwainers of the city of London_. They are governed by a Master, four Wardens, and sixteen Assistants, and have 180 liverymen, whose fine on admission is 10_l._

CORDWAINERS _Hall_, is situated on the north side of Great Distaff lane, and is a handsome brick building. The large hall is adorned with the pictures of King William, and Queen Mary his consort.

CORDWAINERS _court_, Great Distaff lane.☐

CORDWAINERS STREET WARD, took its name from the employment of its principal inhabitants, who were cordwainers, or shoemakers, curriers, and other workers in leather. It is bounded on the north by Cheap ward; on the west by Bread street ward; on the south by Vintry ward, and on the east by Wallbrook ward.

The principal streets and lanes in this ward are, Bow lane, Queen street, Budge row, Little St. Thomas Apostle’s, Pancrass lane, with a small part of Watling street and Basing lane; and the most remarkable buildings are the parish churches of St. Antholin, St. Mary Aldermary, and St. Mary le Bow.

This ward has an Alderman, and nine Common Council men, fourteen wardmote inquest men, eight scavengers, eight constables, and a beadle. The jurymen returned by the wardmote inquest for this ward, serve in the courts in Guildhall in the month of December. _Maitland._

CORK _alley_, Turnmill street.

CORK _street_, Burlington Gardens.

CORKCUTTERS _alley_, Long ditch.

CORNER _court_, Spitalfields market.

CORN EXCHANGE, a very handsome building on the east side of Mark lane. Next the street is an ascent of three steps to a range of eight lofty Doric columns, those at the corners being coupled; between them are iron rails, and three iron gates. These columns, with two others on the inside, support a plain building two stories high, which contains two coffee houses, to which there are ascents by a flight of handsome stone steps on each hand underneath the edifice. On entering the iron gates you pass by these steps into a small square paved all over with broad stones; this is surrounded by a colonade, composed of six columns on each side, and four at the ends, reckoning the corners twice. Above the entablature is a handsome balustrade surrounding the whole square, with an elegant vase placed over each column. The space around within the colonade is very broad, with sash windows on the top, to give the greater light to the cornfactors who sit round the court below. Each has a kind of desk before him, on which are several handfuls of corn, and from these small samples, are every market day sold many thousand quarters.

CORNHILL, extends from the end of Bishopsgate street to the Mansion house.

CORNHILL WARD, is so called from the principal street in it, which was named Cornhill from the corn market anciently kept there. This ward is bounded on the north by Broad street ward; on the east by Bishopsgate ward; on the south by Langborne ward; and on the west by Cheap ward.

This ward contains only one principal street, which is Cornhill. Its most remarkable buildings are, the Royal Exchange, and the parish churches of St. Michael, and St. Peter.

It is governed by an Alderman and six Common Council men, including the Deputy; to which are added, sixteen wardmote inquest men, four scavengers, four constables, and a beadle. The jury returned by the wardmote inquest serve in the several courts of Guildhall in the month of January. _Maitland._

CORONER, an officer of great antiquity, who is to enquire into the causes of all sudden deaths, where there is the least suspicion of murder, and for that purpose he impannels a jury, to whom he gives a charge, and takes evidence upon oath. The Lord Mayor for the time being is coroner of the city; but he appoints a deputy for the discharge of that office. The coroner’s jury have a right to examine the body of the deceased, and to call in the assistance of physicians or surgeons. They are to try the supposed murderer; and if they acquit him of all guilt, and concern in the death of the deceased, he is set at liberty; but if they find him guilty, their sentence is not final; the supposed murderer being sent to prison to take his trial at the Old Bailey. The coroner is likewise to enquire into the escape of a murderer, and also concerning found treasure, deodands, and wrecks at sea.

There are several other coroners, who hold courts out of the liberties of the city, as for Westminster, the Tower Hamlets, &c.

CORONER’S _court_, Cross lane.

CORPORATION _lane_, Bridewell walk, Clerkenwell.

CORTEN’S _yard_, New North street.†

CORTES’S _gardens_, Shoreditch.†

COTE’S _yard_, Skinner street, Bishopsgate street without.†

COTTERELL’S _Almshouse_, situated in Chapel yard, Hog lane, Soho, was endowed by Sir Charles Cotterell, with a perpetual annuity of 20_l._ a year, towards the support of eight poor women.

COTTON LIBRARY, consisting of a curious collection of valuable manuscripts, relating to the antiquities of Great Britain and Ireland, &c. was collected by that excellent antiquary Sir Robert Cotton, who left it to his son Sir Thomas, and after his decease to Sir John Cotton, his grandson, who giving it to the public, an act of parliament was passed in the year 1701, for securing it, for the benefit of the public. Pursuant to which the library, together with the coins, medals and other rarities, were, upon the death of Sir John Cotton, vested in trustees, who appointed a librarian, well read in antiquities; but on the 23d of October 1731, this valuable collection suffered greatly by fire; by which ninety nine volumes were destroyed, and an hundred and eleven much damaged.

Before this misfortune, the Cotton library consisted of 958 volumes of original charters, grants, instruments, registers of monasteries, remains of Saxon laws; the letters of Sovereign Princes, transactions between this and other kingdoms and states, the book of Genesis, said to have been written by Origen, in the second century, and to be the most ancient Greek copy extant; and the curious Alexandrean manuscript of the Old and New Testament, in Greek capitals, said to have been written in the third century.

For the care of this library, seven trustees were appointed, viz. the Lord Chancellor, or Keeper, the Speaker of the house of Commons, and the Lord Chief Justice of the court of King’s Bench, for the time being; with four others, nominated by the heir male of the Cotton family. The books were deposited in the Old Dormitory at Westminster, but agreeably to a late act of parliament they are now placed with Sir Hans Sloane’s Museum in Montague House, Bloomsbury. See the article BRITISH MUSEUM.

COTTON’S _Wharf_, Bridge yard passage, Southwark.†

COVELY’S _alley_, Grey Eagle street, Spitalfields.†

COVENT GARDEN, received its name from its being formerly a garden belonging to the Abbot and Monks of the convent of Westminster, whence it was called Convent Garden, of which the present name is a corruption. At the dissolution of religious houses it fell to the Crown, and was given first to Edward Duke of Somerset; but soon after, upon his attainder, it reverted again to the Crown, and Edward VI. granted it in 1552 to John Earl of Bedford, together with a field, named the Seven Acres, which being now built into a street, is from its length called Long Acre.

Covent Garden would have been without dispute one of the finest squares in Europe, had it been finished on the plan designed for it, by that excellent architect Inigo Jones. The piazza is grand and noble; besides the convenience of walking dry under it in wet weather, the superstructure it supports is light and elegant. In the middle is a handsome column supporting four sun dials, and on the west side of the square, is the church, erected by Inigo Jones, and esteemed by the best judges one of the most simple, and at the same time most perfect pieces of architecture, that the art of man can produce. But the market before it diminishes the beauty of the square.

COVENT GARDEN _Church_, was erected in the year 1640, as a chapel of ease to St. Martin’s in the Fields, at the expence of Francis Earl of Bedford, for the convenience of his tenants, who were then vastly increased.

This church is remarkable for its majestic simplicity, and the gates on each side are suitable to the structure and very elegant. This church never fails to attract the eye of the most incurious, and, as we observed before, if Inigo Jones’s original design had been compleated, it would have had a most noble effect.

In 1645, the precinct of Covent Garden was separated from St. Martin’s, and constituted an independent parish, which was confirmed after the restoration in 1660, by the appellation of St. Paul’s Covent Garden, when the patronage was vested in the Earl of Bedford: and as it escaped the fire in 1666, which did not reach so far, it remains as it came from the hands of the great architect.

In the front is a plain, but noble portico of the Tuscan order, executed in the most masterly manner; the columns are massy, and the intercolumniation large, which has an air of noble simplicity, that if compared with the most ornamented Gothic structures, shews the superiority of the Roman architecture in its plainest form, over the finest barbarism. The building, tho’ as plain as possible, is happily proportioned; the walls are of brick covered with plaister, and the corners of stone; the roof is flat, and though of great extent, is supported by the walls alone, without columns. The pavement is stone; the windows are of the Tuscan form like the portico, and the altar piece is adorned with eight fluted columns of the Corinthian order, painted in imitation of porphyry. But this by some is thought a defect, the lightness of the altar piece in their opinion giving the church an air of heaviness.

COVENT GARDEN _Market_, Covent Garden.

COVENTRY _court_, Coventry street.

COVENTRY _street_, Hay Market.

COVERLEAD _fields_ Spitalfields.

COULSDON, a village in Surry, near Croydon, which anciently belonged to the abbey of Chertsey.

COUNCIL _Office_, in the Cock-pit. See the article PRIVY COUNCIL.

COUNSELLORS _alley_, Great Pearl street.

COUNTER _alley_, 1. Grocer’s alley, in the Poultry.☐ 2. Southwark.

COUNTER _lane_, St. Margaret’s hill.

COUNTINGHOUSE _yard_, Christ’s hospital.

COURTS. See the several courts held in London under their respective names; those of the government, under the articles ADMIRALTY, ARCHES, CHANCERY, COMMON PLEAS, DELEGATES, _Dutchy of_ LANCASTER, KING’S BENCH, &c. and those of the corporation under the articles CHAMBERLAIN, COMMON COUNCIL, CONSCIENCE, CONSERVACY, CORONER, ESCHEATOR, HUSTINGS, &c.

COURT _street_, Whitechapel.

COUZEN’S _lane_, Thames street.†

COUZEN’S _rents_, Rosemary lane.†

COUZEN’S _yard_, Blue Anchor alley, Rosemary lane.†

COW _alley_, Freeschool street.*

COW _court_, 1. Jamaica street.* 2. Old street.* 3. Rotherhith wall.

COW _cross_, near West Smithfield.*

COW _lane_, 1. Cow yard, Artichoke lane.* 2. Liquorpond street, Leather lane.* 3. New Gravel lane.* 4. Snow hill.* 5. Trinity street, Rotherhith.*

COWDEN’S _rents_, Little Trinity lane.†

COWLEY _street_, by Wood street, Westminster.†

COWLEY’S _rents_, Long alley, Moorfields.†

COWLING _street_, behind the Abbey, Westminster.†

COWPER’S _bridge_, Old Horselydown.†

COWPER’S _court_, 1. East Smithfield.† 2. Portpool lane.†

COWPER’S _rents_, East Smithfield.†

COWPER’S _square_, Goodman’s fields.†

COX’S _alley_, Leather lane, Holborn.†

COX _hole_, Spring street.†

COX’S _court_. 1. Aldersgate street.† 2. Kent street.† 3. Shore ditch.†

COX’S _entry_, Leather lane.†

COX’S _garden_, Wapping Wall.†

COX’S _key_, near Thames street.†

COX’S _key entry_, Thames street.†

COX’S _rents_, 1. St. Catharine’s.† Crow alley, Whitecross street.†

COX’S _square_, Spitalfields.†

COX’S _wharf_, Tooley street.†

COX’S _yard_, Pennington street.†

COXAN _court_, Dorset street, Shoreditch.†

CRAB _court_, 1. New Gravel lane. 2. Ratcliff Highway. 3. Woolpack alley, Houndsditch.

CRABTREE _lane_, Castle street. ‡

CRABTREE _orchard_, Clare market.

CRACKBRAIN _court_, Rosemary lane.║

CRADLE _alley_, 1. Cow Cross.* 2. Cut-throat lane, Shadwell.* 3. Drury lane.* 4. Golden lane.* 5. Gray’s Inn lane.*

CRADLE _court_, 1. Aldersgate street.* 2. Cow Cross.* 3. Fenchurch street.* 4. Fore street, Moorgate.* 5. Golden lane.* 6. St Mary Ax.* 7. Redcross street, Cripplegate.*

CRAIG’S _court_. Charing Cross.†

CRANBURN LODGE, a fine house in Berkshire in the middle of Windsor Forest. It was built by the late Earl of Ranelagh; and is now in possession of his granddaughter the Countess of Coventry. As it is seated on a hill, it commands a most delightful prospect.

CRANE _alley_, 1. Chancery lane.* 2. Old Change, Cheapside.*

CRANEBOURN _alley_, Little Newport street, Leicester fields.†

CRANEBOURN _passage_, Cranebourn alley.†

CRANE _court_, 1. Aldersgate street. 2. Fleet street. 3. Lambeth hill. 4. Old Change.

CRANFORD, a village on the north west side of Hounslow. It has a charity school, and a bridge over the river Crane; and here the Earl of Berkley has a seat.

CRAVEN _buildings_, Drury lane, from the house of the noble family of Craven at the end of Drury lane.

CRAVEN _court_, Craven street.†

CRAVEN _mews_, Drury lane.† See MEWS.

CRAVEN _street_, in the Strand.†

CRAVEN _wood yard_, May-pole alley, Wych street.

CRAVEN _yard_, Drury lane.†

CRAWFORD’S _court_, Rosemary lane.†

CRAY. There are several villages of this name in Kent, situated on the small river Cray, from which they take their names. This stream rises a little to the south west of St. Mary Cray, runs by that town, and passing by Paul’s Cray, Foot’s Cray, and North Cray, runs into the Darent, near its conflux with the Thames at Dartford creek, opposite to Purfleet. The principal of these places is St. Mary Cray, about which are many woods of birch, from which the broom-makers in Kent street, Southwark, are supplied.

CRAYFORD, a town near Dartford in Kent, is 14 miles from London, and obtained its name from its having anciently a ford over the river Cray, or Crouch, a little above its influx into the Thames. In the adjacent heath and fields are several caves, supposed to have been formed by the Saxons as places of security and shelter for their wives, children, and effects, during their wars with the Britons.

CREECHURCH _court_, Creechurch lane.☐ See ST. CATHARINE _Creechurch_.

CREECHURCH _lane_, Leadenhall street.☐

CREED _lane_, Ludgate street. See PATERNOSTER ROW.

CRIPPLEGATE, so named from some cripples who anciently begged there, appears to have been one of the original gates of the city, and is situated 1032 feet to the west of Moorgate. It has been many times rebuilt, but the present structure, which was repaired in 1663, seems to have stood between two and three hundred years. It is a very plain solid edifice, void of all ornament. It has only one postern, and has more the appearance of a fortification than any of the others.

CRIPPLEGATE WARD, is very large, and consists of two parts, one lying within Cripplegate and London Wall, and the other reaching to the extent of the city liberties. The whole ward extends from Cheapside on the south, to beyond Bridgewater square in the north; and from Jewin street in the west, to Back street, Moorfields, in the east; it being bounded on the north by the parish of St. Luke, without the freedom; on the west by Aldersgate ward; on the south by Cheap ward; and on the east, by little Moorfields, part of Coleman street ward, Bassishaw ward, and Cheap ward.

The principal streets, &c. within the walls are, Milk street, Aldermanbury, Love lane, Wood street, Silver street, Addle street, and a very small part of Cheapside, containing 170 feet eastward from Wood street. The chief places without the walls are, Fore street, Moor lane, Whitecross street to beyond Beech lane, Redcross street, Beech lane, part of Barbican, and all Bridgewater square.

The principal buildings in this ward are the parish churches of St. Giles Cripplegate, St. Alphage, St. Alban’s Wood street, St. Michael’s Woodstreet, and St. Mary Aldermanbury; Lamb’s chapel, Sion college, Dr. Williams’s Library; and the halls of the Haberdashers, Waxchandlers, Plaisterers, Brewers, Curriers, Bowyers, and Loriners companies.

This ward is governed by an Alderman, and within the gate are eight Common Council men, fifteen wardmote inquest men, twelve scavengers, nine constables, and a beadle. Without the gate there are four Common Council, seventeen wardmote inquest men, four scavengers, two constables, and a beadle. The jurymen returned by the wardmote inquest serve in the several courts in Guildhall in the month of March.

CRISPIN’S _alley_, Holiwell street.*

CRISPIN _street_, Smock alley, Spitalfields.*

CROFT’S _yard_, East Smithfield.†

CROOKED BILLET _court_, Long alley, Moorfields.*

CROOKED BILLET _wharf_, Millbank.*

CROOKED _lane_, 1. Mint street. 2. New Fish street.

CROPP’S _alley_, Back street, Lambeth.†

CROPP’S _yard_, Back lane, Lambeth.†

CROSBY’S _court_, Charterhouse street.†

CROSBY’S _square_, Bishopsgate street. Here was anciently a very large house, built by Sir John Crosby, grocer and woolman, called _Crosby Place_.

CROSBY SQUARE _passage_, St. Mary Ax.☐ Crosby street, 1. Free School street. 2. St. Mary Ax.

CROSS _alley_, 1. George alley, Shoe lane. 2. Marigold street. 3. One Gun alley, Wapping. 4. Upper Well alley, Wapping.§

CROSS _court_, 1. Beaufort Buildings in the Strand, 2. Carnaby street. 3. London Wall. 4. Russel street.

CROSS _lane_, 1. Bush lane. 2. Cartwright street. 3. St. Dunstan’s hill. 4. Hartshorn lane in the Strand, 5. Long Acre. 6. Love lane, Little Eastcheap, 7. Marigold street. 8. St. Mary hill. 9. Parker’s lane, Drury lane. 10. Shad Thames.

CROSS _row_, Islington.

CROSS _street_, 1. Carnaby street. 2. Essex street in the Strand. 3. Hatton Garden, 4. Islington. 5. King’s street, Oxford street. 6. Lukener’s lane. 7. Rotherhith.

CROSS DAGGERS _court_, Grub street, near Moorfields.*

CROSSED GUNS _court_, Rosemary lane.*

CROSS HARPER’S _court_, Whitecross street.

CROSS KEYS _alley_, 1. Barnaby street.*. 2. Blackman street.* 3. Norton Falgate.* 4. Without Temple Bar.* 5. Watling street.* 6. Whitechapel.* 7. Whitecross street, Cripplegate.*

CROSS KEYS _court_, 1. Chick lane.* 2. Grape street.* 3. Little Britain.* 4. London Wall.* 5. Queen street, Cheapside.* 6. Watling street.* 7. Whitechapel.* 8. Whitecross street, Cripplegate.*

CROSS KEYS _yard_, Whitecross street, Cripplegate.*

CROSS KEYS _Inn yard_, Whitecross street, Cripplegate.*

CROSS SHOVEL _alley_, Blackman street.*

CROW _alley_, Whitecross street, Cripplegate.*

CROWD _alley_, Salisbury court, Fleet street.

CROWDER’S _rents_, Narrow street, Ratcliff.†

CROWDER’S WELL, a spring of clear water admired for its medicinal virtues. It is on the back of the church yard of St. Giles’s Cripplegate.

CROWDER’S WELL _alley_, Jewin street.☐

CROWFOOT’S _court_, Rosemary lane.

CROWN _alley_, 1. Back side.* 2. Broad St. Giles’s.* 3. Dorset street, Fleet street.* 4. King Tudor street.* 5. In the Minories.* 6. Petticoat lane.* 7. Tooley street.* 8. Upper Moorfields.* 9. Whitecross street, Old street.* 10. White street, Horselydown.* 11. White’s yard.*

CROWN _court_, 1. Aldersgate street.* 2. Angel hill.* 3. Bank side.* 4. Back lane.* 5. Broad street, Moorfields. 6. Butcherhall lane.* 7. Butcher row, Temple Bar.* 8. St. Catharine’s lane.* 9. Chancery lane.* 10. Cheapside.* 11. Chick lane.* 12. Church lane, Rag Fair.* 14. Cock lane, Shoreditch.* 15. Cow lane, West Smithfield.* 16. Crown alley. 17. Dancing Bridge lane.* 18. Dean’s street, Soho.* 19. Dorset Gardens.* 20. Duke street, Westminster.* 21. Dunning’s alley, Bishopsgate street.* 22. East Smithfield.* 23. Fleet street.* 24. French alley.* 25. Gerrard street.* 26. St. Giles’s Broadway.* 27. Golden lane.* 28. Gracechurch street.* 29. Grub street.* 30. Horselydown.* 31. King John’s court.* 32. King street, St. James’s.* 33. King’s street, Tooley street.* 34. Knaves Acre.* 35. Little Moorfields.* 36. Little Pearl street.* 37. Little Russel street, Drury lane.* 38. Long Acre.* 39. Long Walk, Christ’s Hospital.* 40. Narrow Wall, Deadman’s place. 41. Newgate street.* 42. New Gravel lane.* 43. Newington Butts.* 44. Old Change.* 45. Petticoat lane.* 46. Pickleherring street.* 47. Portpool lane.* 48. Princess street, Soho.* 49. Quaker street.* 50. Rosemary lane.* 51. Seething lane.* 52. Sherwood street.* 53. Ship street.* 54. Sun Tavern fields.* 55. Thieving lane. 56. Threadneedle street.* 57. Tower ditch.* 58. Trinity lane.* 59. Turnagain lane.* 60. Warwick lane, Newgate street.* 61. White’s alley.* 62. Whitecross street.* 63. White Friars, Fleet street.* 64. Worcester street.*

CROWN AND CUSHION _court_, West Smithfield.*

CROWN AND SCEPTRE _court_, St. James’s street, Pall Mall.*

CROWN AND SHEERS _court_, Rosemary lane.*