Part 14
By the constitutions of this company, all boats and barges belonging to the several members thereof are obliged to be numbered and entered in the company’s register; and to prevent the citizens from being imposed upon, the following table of rates have been appointed by the court of Lord Mayor and Aldermen to be taken by the respective watermen rowing upon the river Thames, between Gravesend and Windsor.
_Rates of Watermen plying upon the river Thames, either with oars, or skullers._
Oars. | Skul. s. d. | s. d. From London Bridge to Limehouse, } | New Crane, Shadwell dock, } | Bell wharf, Ratcliff cross } 1 0 | 0 6
From London Bridge to Wapping } | dock, Wapping Old } | and New-stairs, the Hermitage, } | or Rotherhithe Church stairs } 0 6 | 0 3 | From St. Olave’s to Rotherhithe } | Church stairs, and Rotherhithe } | stairs } 0 6 | 0 3 | From Billingsgate and St. Olave’s } 0 6 | 0 3 to St. Saviour’s mill } | | From any stairs between London } | bridge and Westminster } 0 6 | 0 3 | From either side above London } | bridge to Lambeth, or Vauxhall } 1 0 | 0 6
From Whitehall to Lambeth, } | or Vauxhall } 0 6 | 0 3 | From the Temple, Dorset-stairs, } | Black Friars stairs, or } | Paul’s wharf, to Lambeth } 0 8 | 0 4 | Over the water directly, from } | any place between Vauxhall } | and Limehouse } 0 4 | 0 2
_Rates of oars up and down the river, as well for the whole fare as company._
Up the River. Fare. | Comp.
To Chelsea, Battersea, and } | Wandsworth } 1 6 | 0 3 | To Putney, Fulham, or Barnelms } 2 0 | 0 4 | To Hammersmith, Chiswick, } | or Mortlack } 2 6 | 0 6 | To Brentford, Isleworth, or } | Richmond } 3 6 | 0 6 | To Twickenham 4 0 | 0 6 | To Kingston 5 0 | 0 9 | To Hampton Court 6 0 | 1 0 | To Hampton Town, Sunbury, } | or Walton } 7 0 | 1 0 | To Weybridge, and Chertsey 10 0 | 1 0 | To Stanes 12 0 | 1 0 | To Windsor 14 0 | 1 0
Down the River. Fare. | Comp. s. d. | s. d. | From London to Gravesend 4 6 | 0 9 To Grays, or Greenhithe 4 0 | 0 8 To Purfleet, or Erith 3 0 | 0 6 To Woolwich 2 6 | 0 4 To Blackwall 2 0 | 0 4 To Greenwich, or Deptford 1 6 | 0 3
_Rates of carrying goods in the tilt-boat from London to Gravesend._
l. s. d.
For every single person in the } ordinary passage } 0 0 9 For a hogshead 0 2 0 For a whole firkin 0 0 2 For half a firkin 0 0 1 One hundred weight 0 0 4 One sack of corn, salt, _&c._ 0 0 6 An ordinary chest, or trunk 0 0 6 An ordinary hamper 0 0 6 The hire of the whole tilt-boat 1 2 6
Any waterman who takes more than the above rates is liable to forfeit 40_s._ and to suffer half a year’s imprisonment, and if he sets up a sail between Lambeth and London Bridge, upon complaint being made, as hereafter mentioned, forfeits 5_s._
However any person going by water, need not make any bargain with the waterman, but only let him know at what stairs he is to land him; then paying him according to the foregoing rates, if he refuses to accept the money, the best way is to offer him more money than he demands, and to charge him not to take more than his due: But be sure to remember the number of your waterman’s boat; for if he has taken more than his fare, and you have a mind to correct him for imposing upon you, you may go to Watermens hall, by the Old Swan-stairs, and acquaint the clerk with your business (giving him at the same time the number of the boat) who will summon the waterman to the hall, to answer to your complaint: And if he is found to have acted against the prescribed rules, he will be punished according to the nature of his crime, whether it relates to exaction, sauciness, or other misbehaviour towards you.
It is proper to add, that to prevent the losing the lives of persons passing on the river, it is enacted in a statute of the 10th of George II. that no tilt-boat, row-barge, or wherry, take at one time more than thirty-seven passengers, and three more by the way; nor in any other boat or wherry more than eight, and two more by the way; nor in any ferry-boat or wherry, allowed to work on Sundays, any more than eight passengers, on pain of forfeiting for the first offence 5_l._ for the second offence 10_l._ and for the third offence to be disfranchised for twelve months from working on the river, and from enjoying the privileges of the company: And in case any person shall be drowned, where a greater number of passengers is taken in than is allowed, the watermen shall be deemed guilty of felony, and transported as felons.
By the same statute it is also enacted, that every tilt-boat shall be of the burthen of fifteen tons, and any other boat or wherry three tons; and that no Gravesend boats or wherries with close decks or bails nailed down, and not moveable, be navigated, tilt-boats only excepted, on the penalty of 10_l._
Any watermen or wherrymen who wilfully or negligently lose their tide from Billingsgate to Gravesend, or from thence to Billingsgate, by putting ashore for other passengers, or by waiting or loitering by the way, so that the first passengers shall be set on shore two miles short of the place to which they are bound; such passengers shall be discharged from paying any thing for their passage.
The rulers of the watermens company are to appoint two or more officers to attend, one at Billingsgate, at every time of high-water at London Bridge, and the other at Gravesend at the first of flood; who shall publicly ring a bell for fifteen minutes, to give notice to the tilt-boats and wherries to put off. And if such wherrymen, _&c._ do not immediately put off on ringing the said bell; and do not effectually proceed on their voyage, but put on shore within two miles of Billingsgate or Gravesend, as the case may be; or if such boats are not navigated by two sufficient men, the youngest to be eighteen years old at least; in every such case the owners of such boats shall forfeit 5_l._ to be levied on the boats or goods of the owners of such boats.
And if the company of watermen neglect setting up the said bells, and appointing proper persons to ring them, they shall forfeit 50_l._ as shall such persons appointed to ring the said bells, forfeit 40_l._ for every neglect.
WATERMEN’S HALL near London Bridge, a handsome brick building situated with its front towards the Thames.
WATERSIDE _row_, Upper Ground street.
WATER _street_, 1. Arundel street: 2. Black Friars: 3. Bridewell Precinct.
WATFORD, a market town in Hertfordshire on the east side of Cashiobury, and seventeen miles from London, is situated upon the Colne, where it has two streams that run separately to Rickmansworth. The town is very long but consists of only one street, which is extremely dirty in winter, and the waters of the river at the entrance of the town, were frequently so much swelled by floods as to be impassable: But in the year 1750, the road at the entrance of Watford was raised by a voluntary contribution; by which means the river is now confined within its proper bounds. In the church are several handsome monuments; there are also a free-school and several almshouses belong to the town.
WATLING _street_, St. Paul’s church-yard; thus called from the Roman road of the same name, which ran through this street. _Maitland._
WAT’S _alley_, Long ditch.
WATSON’S ALMSHOUSE, in Old street, near Shoreditch, was erected chiefly at the expence of Mr. William Watson, citizen and weaver, for the widows of twelve weavers, who annually receive 20_s._ and twenty-four bushels of coals, with a gown every second year. _Maitland._
WATSON’S _rents_, Angel alley.†
WATTS’S _court_, Deadman’s place.†
WATTS’S _rents_, St. Catharine’s lane.†
WAX CHANDLERS, a company incorporated by letters patent granted by King Richard III. in the year 1483. This corporation is governed by a master, two wardens, and twenty assistants; with 113 liverymen, who upon their admission pay a fine of 5_l._ They have a handsome hall in Maiden lane, Wood street.
WEATHERBY’S _rents_, Whitecross street Cripplegate.†
WEAVER _alley_, near Spicer’s street, Spitalfields.
WEAVERS, this company, which was anciently denominated _Thenarii_, appears to have been the most ancient guild of this city, for in the reign of Henry I. they paid 16_l._ a year to the crown for their immunities. Their privileges were afterwards confirmed at Winchester by letters patent granted by Henry II. which are still in the company’s possession; but are without a date; and in these letters, the annual sum payable to the crown is fixed at two marks of gold, to be paid yearly at Michaelmas, on the penalty of 10_l._
This company originally consisted of the cloth, and tapestry weavers, who in the seventh of Henry IV. were put under the management, and authority of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the city.
They are now governed by two bailiffs, two wardens, and sixteen assistants, with a livery of 279 members, whose fine upon their admission is 6_l._
The weavers have a handsome hall in Basinghall street, adorned on the inside with hangings, fretwork, and a screen of the Ionic order. _Maitland._
WEAVERS ARMS _yard_, Booth street, Spitalfields.*
WEAVERS _lane_, Horselydown.†
WEAVERS _street_, Fleet street Spitalfields.
WEBB’S _court_, Red Lion alley.†
WEBB’S _square_, Shoreditch.†
WEBB’S _yard_, Vine yard, Old Horselydown lane.†
WEDDON _street_, Chancery lane, Fleet street.
WEIGH-HOUSE, at the north-west corner of Love lane, entering into Little Eastcheap. This house stands on the ground where the church of St. Andrew Hubbard stood before the fire of London, at which time the weigh-house was in Cornhill. In the weigh-house were weighed, by the King’s beam, foreign merchandize brought to London. It was under a master, and four master porters, with labouring porters under them; who used to have carts and horses to fetch the merchants goods to the beam, and to carry them back.
The house belongs to the grocers company, who chose the several porters, _&c._ but of late years little is done in this office, as a compulsive power is wanting to oblige merchants to have their goods weighed, they alledging it to be an unnecessary trouble and expence.
In a large room over the weigh-house is a commodious meeting-house used by a congregation of Protestant dissenters.
WELCH COPPER OFFICE, in Philpot lane, Fenchurch street, is under the government of a company first incorporated by letters patent granted by King William III. in the year 1694, by the stile of the Governor and company of copper miners of the principality of Wales: by which charter they are allowed to purchase lands, tenements, _&c._ in mortmain, without limitation. _Maitland._
WELL _alley_, 1. in the Minories: 2. near Tooley street, Southwark: 3. Ropemakers fields, Limehouse.
WELL AND BUCKET _alley_, Old street.
WELL AND BUCKET _court_, Old street.
WELLBECK _street_, a handsome new street, by Marybone fields, built on the estate of the late Earl of Oxford, and thus named from Wellbeck his Lordship’s seat in Hertfordshire.
WELLBECK _mews_, a street of stables, coach-houses, _&c._ by Wellbeck street.
WELLCLOSE _square_, by the upper end of Rosemary lane, by some called _Marine square_, from the number of sea officers who live there. It is a neat square of no great extent; its principal ornament is the Danes church, situated in the centre, in the midst of a church-yard well planted with trees, and surrounded by a handsome wall adorned at equal distances with iron rails.
This church is a commodious and elegant structure. Though the architect appears to have understood ornaments, he has not been too lavish in the use of them. The edifice consists of a tall and handsome body, with a tower and turret. The body is divided by the projection of the middle part, into a fore front in the center, and two smaller: at the west end is the tower, and at the east it swells into the sweep of circle; the corners of the building are faced with rustic. The windows, which are large and well proportioned, are cased with stone with a cherub’s head at the top of the arch, and the roof is concealed by a blocking course. The tower has a considerable diminution in the upper stage, which has on each side, a pediment, and is covered by a dome, from which rises an elegant turret, supported by composite columns.
WELL _court_, 1. Glean alley, Tooley street: 2. Queen street, Cheapside: 3. Shoe lane, Fleet street.
WELL _yard_, 1. Church-yard alley, Rosemary lane: 2. Little Britain.
WELLS, a rivulet which anciently ran through a part of this metropolis, and was called the river of Wells, and was thus named from its having many springs uniting to supply its current. It afterwards obtained the name of Turnmill brook, from certain mills erected upon it, by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, which appellation is still preserved in a street of that name called Turnmill street, through part of which this water took its course, towards the bottom of Holbourn hill, and thence into the Thames. _Maitland._
WELLS _row_, Islington.
WELLS _street_, 1. Coverlid’s fields, East Smithfield.† 2. Great Jermain street.† 3. Hackney.†
WELLS _yard_, 1. Mainhard street, near St. Giles’s Pound.† 2. Wells row, Islington.
WENCHES _yard_, in the Minories.║
WENTWORTH _street_, Petticoat lane, Spitalfields.†
WERE’S _row_, Whitechapel.†
WESTBURY _street_, Wheeler street, Spitalfields.†
WEST _court_, Spitalfields market.
WESTBY’S ALMSHOUSE, on Hoxton causeway, was founded by Mrs. Mary Westby of Bocking in Essex, widow, in the year 1749, for ten poor women. _Maitland._
WESTERHAM or WESTRAM, a neat well built market town, on the western borders of Kent, situated about eight miles to the west of Sevenoaks. Near this place, a very noble seat was begun to be built by a private gentleman; but it was finished by the late Earl of Jersey, and called Squirries. The house stands on a small eminence with respect to the front; but on the back of the edifice the ground rises very high, and is divided into several steep slopes; near the house are some woods, through which are cut several ridings. On the other side the hill behind the house arise nine springs, which, uniting their streams, form the river Dart, or Darent.
WEST HAM, a pleasant village, about a mile from Stratford in the Essex Road; thus named from another Ham on the east called East Ham. Here are the country houses of several wealthy citizens.
WEST HARDING _street_, Fetter lane, Fleet street.
WEST _lane_, Rotherhith wall.
WEST _lane stairs_, Rotherhith.
WESTMINSTER, had its name from its abbey or minster situated to the westward of the city of London; which according to several modern historians was thus denominated to distinguish it from the Abbey of Grace on Tower Hill, called Eastminster: but Maitland proves this to be a mistake, by shewing that the former is called Westminster in a charter of sanctuary granted by Edward the Confessor in the year 1066, and that the latter was not founded till 1359; he therefore supposes that the appellation of Westminster was given to distinguish it from St. Paul’s church in the city of London. In early times, this noble part of the great metropolis of the kingdom, was a little, mean, unhealthy place, with nothing worthy of notice but its minster or abbey, situated in a marshy island, surrounded on one side by the Thames, and on the others by what was called Long ditch; a branch of the river which began near the east end of the place, where Manchester court is now situated, intersected King street, and running along where Gardener’s lane now is, to the place called from thence Long ditch, crossed Tothill street, a little to the west of the Gatehouse, and continued its course along the south wall of the abbey garden, where a common sewer is erected over it. The island thus formed was in a manner a waste over grown with thorns and briars, and was thence called Thorny Island.
In this situation was the abbey, minster, or monastery founded; for the convenience of which a few houses were probably first erected, and these at length grew into a small town, in ancient books called the town of Westminster.
It was thus for many ages a place entirely distinct from London, and there was a large space between them. The Strand was the road which led from London to that town, and it was open on either side to the Thames and to the fields. In 1385 we find that this road was paved as far as the Savoy; and many years after Sir Robert Cecil building a house at Ivy bridge, his interest brought the pavement of the road to be extended thither; and many of the houses of the nobility were erected in the Strand.
Westminster owed its most distinguished privileges to Henry VIII. for in the 37th year of his reign an act was passed to authorize him by either letters patent or proclamation, to make it an honour, a title of distinction which he was impowered by the same act to confer upon Kingston upon Hull, St. Osyth’s in Essex, and Donnington in Berkshire; and after the dissolution of the monastery, he converted it into a bishoprick, in the year 1541, with a dean and twelve prebendaries, and appointed the whole county of Middlesex, except Fulham, which was still to belong to the bishoprick of London, as its diocese. Upon this occasion Westminster became a city, for the making of which, according to the Lord Chief Justice Coke, nothing more is required than the appellation of a bishop’s see. It had many years before been the seat of the royal palace, the high court of parliament, and of our law tribunals; most of our Sovereigns had been crowned, and had their sepulchres in the abbey church, and the ancient palace, being almost destroyed by fire, the last mentioned Prince had here his palace of Whitehall, which he purchased of Cardinal Wolsey. He also built the palace of St. James’s, inclosed a fine spot of ground which he converted into a park, for the accommodation of both palaces, and this was no sooner finished, than he erected the stately gate lately near the banquetting house, and added to it a magnificent gallery for the accommodation of the royal family, the nobility and gentry, to sit in, in order to see the justings and other military exercises in the tilt yard; and soon after the same Prince erected, contiguous to the said gate, a tennis-court, cock-pit, and places for bowling.
From that time the buildings about Westminster began to extend on every side; though it did not long enjoy the honour of being a city, and even the palace was some time after burnt; for it never had but one bishop, and he being translated to the see of Norwich, by Edward VI. in 1550, the new bishoprick was dissolved by that Prince; and its right to the epithet of city was thereby lost, though by public complaisance it has retained that name ever since: but yet Westminster had not any arms till the year 1601. For a more particular account of the antiquities of Westminster, see the articles ABBEY, WESTMINSTER HALL, WHITEHALL, _&c._
The city of Westminster at present consists but of two parishes, St. Margaret’s and St. John the Evangelist; but the liberties contain seven parishes, which are as follow: St. Martin’s in the fields, St. James’s, St. Anne’s, St. Paul’s Covent Garden, St. Mary le Strand, St. Clement’s Danes, and St. George’s Hanover square; and the precinct of the Savoy. Each of the above parishes is of such a prodigious extent, considering the number of houses they contain; that it would be impossible for one tenth part of the inhabitants to attend divine worship at one and the same time, there are therefore many chapels of ease for the convenience of those who could not be so well accommodated in their parish churches.
The government of both the city and liberties are under the jurisdiction of the dean and chapter of Westminster, in civil as well as ecclesiastical affairs, and their authority also extends to the precinct of St. Martin’s le Grand, by Newgate street, and in some towns of Essex, that are exempted from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, and the Archbishopric of Canterbury: but the management of the civil part has ever since the reformation been in the hands of laymen, elected from time to time, and confirmed by the dean and chapter.
Of these magistrates, the principal is the High Steward, who is usually one of the prime nobility: this great officer is chosen by the dean and chapter; his post is not unlike that of chancellor of an University, and he holds it during life: but upon his death or resignation, a chapter is called for the election of another, in which the dean sits as high steward, till the election be over.
The next great officer is the Deputy Steward, who is chosen by the high steward, and confirmed by the dean and chapter. This officer, who also holds his post during life, supplies the place of a sheriff, for he keeps the court leet, with the other magistrates, and is always chairman at the quarter sessions.
The High Bailiff, who is the next in rank, is nominated by the dean, and confirmed by the high steward. He likewise holds his office for life, and has the chief management in the election of members of parliament for Westminster, and all the other bailiffs are subordinate to him. He summons juries, and in the court leet sits next to the deputy steward. To him all fines, forfeitures and strays belong, which renders his place very beneficial; but it is commonly executed by a deputy well versed in the laws.
There are also sixteen burgesses and their assistants, whose office in all respects resembles that of the Aldermen’s deputies of the city of London, each having his proper ward under his jurisdiction; and out of these are elected two head burgesses, one for the city, and the other for the liberties, who take place in the court leet, next to the head bailiff.
There is also a High Constable, who is also chosen by the court leet, and has all the other constables under his direction.