History and Description of the Parish of Clerkenwell ... With numerous engravings, by J. & H. S. Storer. The historical department by T. Cromwell

Front matter

( from St JoWSt ) HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF TI1F. PARISH OF CLERKENWELL, EMBELLISHED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS, EY J. & H. S. STORER. THE HISTORICAL DEPARTMENT El T. CROMWELL, A ulliot of Oliver Cromwell and his Times, History of Colchester, &c. PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN ; 1IERVVOOD AN1> CO. PATERNOSTER ROW ; SIMPKIN AND MARSHALL, Sl ATIOT. KRs' COURT; AND J. AND U. S. STORERj CHAPEL STREET, PENTONVILLE TOE & UOOBE, PRINTERS, 27, OLD CHANGE, ST PAUL'S.

Preface

. "SStt* JLiie parish of Clerkenwell is one of the most inte resting and important of the suburban districts, presenting at every point copious matter for the con templation of the Antiquary and the Historian. Its monastic establishments have been extensive and magnificent ; and for a very considerable period it was the fashionable and courtly residence of worth and quality. In presenting this history to our fellow parishioners, and the public at large, we consider no apology will be required, especially by those who are aware, I hat the only descriptions of Clerkenwell wliich have hitherto appeared, are appended to those histories of London by Stow, and by later writers, the plan of whose works admitted only of the most summary account of the districts denominated out-parishes. We acknowledge that our labors in this under taking have been accompanied with a satisfaction that will readily be recognized by all who are sensible of the charm with which early associations affect thc mind through the subsequent stages of life. The district iu which our fathers have resided for nearly

PREFACE.

. IV a century presented peculiar claims to our attention ; and we received, with pleasure, frequent intimations that its history would constitute a desirable addition to the many works of a topographical character, which have of late been afforded to the admirers of that department of literature. We were, however, long deterred from the pursuit of this object by suggestions, that the project was by other hands actually commenced; however this might be, it has eventually been our lot to begin the work, which, at considerable charge, we have conducted to its completion. The large collections towards a history of Clerk enwell made by the late Abraham Rhodes, Esq , were by many regarded as a treasure which would finally be consolidated, and presented to the public ; much inquiry has been instituted relative to that gentleman's manuscript, without any satisfactory result.

Application being made to his grandson, (A. R. Rhodes, Esq.), he replied, " I have not been able to find any writings of my late grandfather relative to the parish of Clerkenwell. I have been applied to before on the same business." In proceeding with this history, a few moments of regret have been occasionally indulged, that we are cast upon these latter days, when almost even vestige of architectural magnificence, which once existed here, has given place to erections more consonant with the taste of modern times, and the

PREFACE.

. V occupations of a more enterprising age. Notwith standing these disadvantages, we have collected, from a variety of sources, subjects of prominent interest ; aud it having been our endeavour to enrich the work with every attainable and appropriate re presentation, we commit it to the public, anticipating its favourable reception. It would exceed our limits to name every indivi dual who has obligingly promoted our views, and aided our researches ; but to each we offer our sin cere and grateful thanks. We embrace this opportunity of acknowledging our obligations to the Marquis of Northampton, for the sanction of his name to this undertaking, and for the generous patronage which we have long experienced from his Lordship. We have, also, great pleasure in noticing onr personal obligations to several gentlemen, inhabitants of the parish.

Henry Carh, Esq., favored us with the loan of his late father's papers relating to the new church of St. James, together with ground plans, sections, &c, of the ancient Church of the Nunnery. We received similar attentions from James Fisher, Esq., who is in possession of documents referring to the estate now Newcastle Place. J. Calev, Esq., F.S.A. presented us with drawings of the Priory, and Nun nery seals. To Robert Pollard, Esq., we arc indebted for much valuable information; this gen tleman designed the appropriate sacramental symbols VI PREFACE, which adorn the eastern extremity of St. James's Church; without his judicious interference, the altar place of this Christian temple would have displayed (according to the original intention) emblems only of the Jewish economy. Wm. Cook, Esq., late of Woodbridge House, and many years the Vestry Clerk of our parish, obliged us in many particulars, especially relative to the Woodbridge estate.

The Rev. John Blackburn kindly contributed to the interest of this volume, by his useful commu nications. J. W. Griffiths, Esq., Churchwarden of St. John's, afforded us every facility in examining the ancient crypt, and other objects within his dis trict. His predecessor in office, Mr. A. Bartholo mew, gave us very considerable local information, and indulged us with the use of the vestry books, from which some interesting extracts were made. Wm. Chadwell Milne, Esq., George Palmer, Esq , of the Temple, Richard Baylis, Esq., and J. Booth, Esq., Architect, have claims upon our gratitude. J. & H. S. STORER. Pentonville, March 1, 1828. LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. The first column of figures shew the page where each subject is UencHbeit, the seeoiul that which the plates are to face. Described. To flee Frontispiece— Remains ot" St. John's Priory, as it appeared in 1661 page 123 St. Mark's Church 444 "J > 444 St. John's Church 138 -> Northampton House 272 "J Session House 176 J St. James's Church, South View 202 \ 2Q2 North View 202 / St. James's Old Church 180 1 g Cloisters of St. Mary's Nunnery 171 J St. James's Old Church looking South 184 1 East 184 J Ancient Mantle-piece, St. John's Lane 168 \ Remains of the Monument of Lady Owen . . 386 -* Islington Spa 352 \ „ Sadler's Wells 360 J Bass-relief of Charles 1 162 \ W2 St. John's Gate 126 J Angel Inn 388 1 OldYardDitto 388 / Bishop Burnett's House 156 \ l5f. Lady Owen's Grammar School 382 J Monument of Sir William Weston 188 188 Claremont Chapel 420 *» Spa Fields Chapel 294 J LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.

VIII Described. To fan New River Head in 1753 page 350 j MQ Ancient Houses, High Street 392 J Crypt, St. John's Church 146 Newcastle House 210 \ 2_q White Conduit House - 436 J Belvidere Gardens 414 1 414 Bagnigge Wells 322 J Seals of St. Mary's Nunnery 186 Fentonville Chapel . . 41u \ 410 Schools 41° -• Clerkenwell Schools 228 \ 22g Workhouse 256 J Bishop Burnett's Monument 192 New Prison 244 \ 211 Prison, Cold Bath Fields 310 J New River Head 332 "» 332 Engine House, Ditto 332 J Plan of the New River Head in 1753 348 348 Ancient Houses, St. John's Street 112 \ m Old House, Clerkenwell Close 218 / Seals of St. John's Priory 140 140 London Female Penitentiary 412 *» The Friends' School 394 / Cold Bath 308 > Boundary House, Muswell Hill 38 J Fragments of St. John's Gate 128 128 Woodbiidge House, and Plan of the Woodbridge Estate 446 446 Plan of the Parish of Clerkenwell HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF CLERKENWELL.

Part I. History Of The Site

THE SITE CONS1DEBED WITH REFERENCE TO DOMESDAY-BOOK — APPEAHANCE IN THE REIGN OF THE CONQUEROR, AND A.D. 1 190 — ETYMOLOGY OF CLERKENWELL — RISE OF ITS FIRST HAE1TATIONS— PICTURESQUE ASPECT IN THE MONKISH TIMES — CLERKENWELL IN THE REIGN OF ELIZARETH — WHJEN STOW WROTE— AND IN 1619 — ARBITRARY ATTEMPTS TO REPRESS BUILDING — AUGMENTATIONS OP THE HOUSES AND POPULATION TO THE EXISTING PERIOD — PBESENT GENERAL APPEARANCE — LANDED PROPRIETORSHIP AND MANORLAL HISTORY — PAROCHL_L BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT — RIVER FLEET— ROADS— SOIL AND CLIMATE- PART OF THE PARISH AT MUSWELL HILL. .Happy is the historian of any town or parish in England, who can commence his narrative with a transcript from its register in Domesday-Book ! For topographical details of unquestioned authenticity, he can quote no earlier record.

For proof of the existence of the place he has undertaken to describe, at or prior to the Conquest, he can produce no better authority. For a local sketch of the spot, that shall interest every reader by the contrarieties it will present between its former and existing features, he need pursue antiquity no farther. B The district, north of the metropolis, which it is the object of the present work to illustrate, is without the advantage, to the historian and topographer, alluded to. There is no name of a place iu that part of the Conqueror's Survey relating to " Midelsexe," which even antiquarian ingenuity can torture into a similarity to the appellation immemo rially borne by our parish. Neither are there any grounds for imagining that the spot is mentioned under another name, for which the present has been since substituted.

It will not appear irrelevant to our subject, to inquire a little into the probable causes of this omission. The object of Domesday-Book was to present a register of lands, whose value, tenure, and services might be recorded in it, and appealed to, upon its authority, in future judgments. It, therefore, purposely omitted the mention of some cities and burghs, which, from their possessing charters of immunity from all services on condition of a composition in lieu, were without the sphere of its intention ; and it was silent with regard to forest land, because that was the undisputed property of the crown. It was silent also with regard to numerous parcels of land, which have long formed manors of themselves, but which at that time were merely parts of those manors whose appellations it records.* On one of these three grounds, the omission of our district must have been founded : it remains only to inquire on which.

The idea will scarcely arise, that this district was confounded with the metropolis itself in the age of the Conqueror; and that, in consequence, it passed * New manors continued to be created oat of the old one* until the statute of " Quia Eraptores," 18th Edw. I. HISTORY OP TUB SITE. 3 unnoticed along with London, Winchester, Abing don, and the other towns which were in possession of charters of immunity. It must, therefore, have been either forest land, or comprehended in some extensive manorial tract. If the latter, the Isendone of the Survey (the modern Islington) occurs as that most likely to have included it : but, perhaps, the notion that it was forest land will be found most probable. The term so rest had a wider import at that period than at present. It included desert not less than wooded land ; and land, which, though neither marked by more than the ordinary abundance of trees, nor by sterility, was yet unappropriated upon any terms of tenure and service.

Of this latter description may be imagined to have been the spot in question at the era of Domesday. Forming an original portion of that extensive tract, even long afterwards known as the Forest of Middlesex, it probably still afforded many traces of the old empire of the woods, although its vicinity to a city already of no inconsiderable size, had occa sioned much destruction of its trees for the purposes of fuel. London itself had risen to the importance and magnitude it then boasted, from a few huts built under the very shades of the ancient forest : its earliest spreadings must have been preceded by the walk of the woodman. And in like manner must have originated every town and village of the county, mentioned in the Domesday record : a circumstance, that perhaps explains why the names of places it notices in this county are comparatively few : all, including even a large proportion of the arable and b-2 pasture lands it describes, had been redeemed from forest dominion.

There is, however, authority for believing, that the royal rights were neither so preponderant nor exclusive with regard to this forest as the others : the numerical amount of the Loudon citizens, and the importance of their chief magistrate, having established customs in favour of both, beyond the usual privileges of the subject. Thus the monk Fitz-Stephen, who wrote his curious description of London not much more than a century afterwards, informs us of the delight of the citizens in hawks and hounds, and of their right to hunt in this forest and other large surrounding tracts : and they appear from the same writer to have pursued their recreations of every kind in this northern district at their discre tion. Add to which, the pasturage most immediately contiguous to the city, was used, we may rationally believe, by the nearest inhabitants, in the manner of common-land for grazing, &c. : a custom not sanctioned, perhaps, as in the instances of various old towns, by a certain and bounded right of common age, but growing, along with the practices just alluded to, out of that license to exceed the ordinary restrictions of authority, which, in proportion to their magnitude and wealth, was manifested bv most cities of the feudal times.

From considerations such as these, we may perhaps supply the omission of the great Survey, so far at least as to obtain a bird's-eye view of this spot in the reign of William the Conqueror. For this purpose we must imagine a tract, com mencing at a small distance from the most prominent of the several north-west angles of the city wall, and, as it extends along the north side of the same wall, diverging gradually from it. The space between this tract and the wall itself, we must suppose in great degree occupied by a continuation of that great moor, or morass, which, by the wording of its grant from AVilliam to the College of Sl. Martin-le-Grand, is proved at that period to have extended from the spot long since named from it Moorfields, beyond the termination of the city boundary in this direction.

Taking the wall, then, for the station of our imagi nary view, we shall see the tract in question swelling into pleasing undulations as we pursue it northwards, and still increasing in eminence till the eye has reached its extremity ; there losing itself in that " large forest, in which are woody groves of wild beasts, in the coverts whereof do lurk bucks and does, wild boars, and bulls."* The surface of our tract, unincumbered by habitations, presents a sue-' cession of green pastures, intermingled with copses, and smaller groupes of trees, betwixt which we will imagine a citizen's horse or cow to be here and there quietly grazing. On the right, it is terminated by the moor, and the adjoining low lands ; but on the left, it stretches widely as it proceeds, taking for its boundary a clear and rapid stream, which long now, alas ! has exchanged its ancient honours and character for the offices of a common sewer, and the name by which the Conqueror designated it in the grant before mentioned, the River of Wells, — " departing the moor from the wall" — for the vulgar appellation of Fleet Ditch. !

Fitz-Stephen, At the period to which we advert, this stream, since so degraded, must have made, with the accompaniments which nature gave it, an appearance remarkably picturesque. Even yet, from a point in our parochial boundary line, its banks are seen to jut into little wild crags, and break into miniature precipices.* But in the olden time, these banks were but the first risings from the water's bed towards acclivities, that were alternately gentle and abrupt, and that, winding with the rivet's course, presented the most pleasing intermixture of green slopes with steep ascents crowned by luxuriant forest trees. -J- Near where it joined the city wall, the view of the western bank must have been particularly pleasing : that boldly rising spot, now proverbial for its congregated abodes of filth and wretchedness, being then divided between meadows and romantic vineyards.

Domesday mentions a vineyard on this site, namely, the banks of the Holeburne ; where a brook (or burn) descending the hill, and falling into the River of Wells, has bequeathed its name to the street formed over where it flowed. We will now pass to the era of the " Descriptio Nobilissimæ Civitatis Londiniæ," by the monk of Canterbury, (but native of London) Fitz-Stephen. The date of this interesting sketch is A.D. 1190. * Since tbis was written, even these remnants of former rural appearances, wliich might until then be seen from the west wall ofthe County Prison, have vanished through tbe erection of tbe capacious sewer, which now receives tbe river Fleet near this spot, diverting its ancient course, and, most desirably, biding still more of its muddy current from the public view. t A remarkable eminence of the latter character was levelled within the memory of numerous inhabitants ; ils site is now marked by Coppice Row, and the adjoining buildings.

Speaking of thc immediate environs of the city, it says, " ou the north side are fields for pasture, and open meadows, very pleasant ; among which the river waters do flow, and the wheels of the mills are turned about with a delightful noise." It may be interesting to examine a little particularly into the facts thus briefly narrated. The " very pleasant" " fields for pasture, and open meadows," seem to indicate that the disaffo resting of the northern tract, (through the vicinage of a populous city much rather than by regal allow ance) had gone on as successfully as naturally during the century that had elapsed from the Survey: The meadows now merited the epithet open : and the predilections of a people who regarded with pride and triumph each successive rescue of the soil from that wild state in which it was almost always appro priated solely to the sporting pleasures of their lords, would alone suffice to render such meadows pleasant.

But our district, doubtless, was not without its features that were extremely agreeable in themselves, quite independently of such predilections ; in which, indeed, we have seen that the Londoners, from their partaking the forest rights of the sovereign, were less likely to indulge than the majority of the humbled English. Among these agremens of the spot, we must next notice " the river waters" ; by which we are to understand, principally, the River of Wells, before mentioned, and that more eastward stream, until a comparatively recent period, called Walbrook. We have then mention of the " mills," whose wheels were " turned about," by the waters of these rivers, " with a delightful noise :" and we may conceive of such sounds as very pleasing accompaniments to a scene, in general characterized by rural retiredness.

If these Mills existed at the time of the Survey, it is certain that, as the property of the citizens, they were exempt from mention for the same reason that London itself was so : for Domesday appears to notice all mills properly coming under its cognizance with minute exactness. The ground for which scrupulo sity undoubtedly was, that mills, almost universally in those times, belonged to lords of manors, and that so strictly, that tenants were permitted to grind only atthe lord's mill. They were, therefore, prime sources of profit to the landholders, and worthy of all the distinction they obtained. But the mills in question might be either the common property of the citizens, and their profits farmed to individuals on condition of their appropriation to the general use 3 or indivi dual citizens themselves, (of whom many we find were styled barons on account of their riches), might be wealthy enough, and consequently powerful enough, to retain them in their own right, and for the com mon benefit.

From the passage in Fitz-Stephen next to be semarked, it would appear that part at least of the s*pace betwixt the wall and the object of our re searches was now occupied by buildings, erected perhaps on ground recovered from the morass, or that had been originally elevated above it ; but such buildings, there is sufficient reason to believe, did not extend to the tract with which we are principallv concerned. The passage alluded to runs thus. — " There are also, about London, on the north of the suburbs, choice fountains of water, sweet, wholesome, and clear, streaming forth from among the glittering pebble stones : of which Holy-well, Clerken-ivell, and St. Clemens s-well, are of most note, and frequented above the rest, when the scholars, and youth of the city, do take the air abroad in the summer evenings."

This passage itself, in which we have the first recorded mention of the spot from which our parish has been since named, makes apparent that the northern suburbs must have been truly inconsiderable when it was written ; for most of the " choice foun tains," to which it alludes, and to which it appears was the common resort, " lo take the air in the summer evenings," were even nearer to the city than the Well in which we are chiefly interested. Stow gives the names of the other wells thus : " Skinners' well, Fag' s-well, near Smithfield, Tode-well, Loder's well, and Radwell (otherwise Lad-ioell, and Rede well) ;" adding, that they were, in his time, "all decayed, and so filled up, that the places where they were are not now to be discerned." From these wells, as appears from the same historian, the River of Wells obtained its name : for, '.' having the fall of their overflowings into the aforesaid river, they much increased its stream, and in that place gave it the name of Wells."

How our parisii came to be designated from the chief fountain, we shall gather from a brief consideration of the etymology of the appellation; and may acquire, by an easy deduction thence, some notion of the era of its first use. The term which we have chosen to translate Clerkenwell, is " Fons Clericorum" in the original c Latin of Fitz-Stephen ; and Stow, taking up the literal meaning of his author, renders it Clerks' Well. Custom, however, in spite of Stow's authority, has been rather singularly pertinacious in continuing the ancient English Clerken, (as the plural of Clerk), in the composition of this word, to the present period : and Clerken, upon the most modern not less than the most ancient grounds, is, consequently, the more correct orthography. For the etymology of Clerk, few may be disposed to go farther than to the French Clere, which it so nearly resembles : from confining it to which, it would follow that the appellation, Clerkenwell, was modelled by our ancestors subsequently to the introduction of that numerous class of words from the Norman French which took place at the Conquest.

But in our own, as well as ia the French language, may not the term have come without intervention from the Latin Clericus ? — and Clerkenwell, its first particle excepted, would then be pure old English, with scarcely a change from the more ancient Anglo-Saxon. This supposition allowed, the historical fact in which the name so formed orio-i nated, — namely, that the Parisk Clerks of London were accustomed to assemble at the Well to perform their sacred plays, — may be referred, without entire improbability, to an Anglo-Saxon date • as will be again remarked in the Ecclesiastical History of the Parish, to follow this portion of our work. The next author who mentions Clerkenwell is Dugdale, in his truly valuable " Monasticon." He gives the origin of a nunnery in the vicinity of the Well, as from a grant of land made by Jordan Brisel and Muriel his wife, a little subsequently to the year 1100: and we find that, not long after, the contiguous Priory of St. John arose from the religious zeal of the same Briset and Muriel.

On the subject of these establishments, it is proper at present only to remark, that the names' of their pious founders are Norman ; and that, as the first mentioned, if not the last, took place in little more than fifteen years from the conclusion of the Survey, it is probable that the lands cm* which they were erected, had been bestowed in the interim (by William Rufus) upon these faithful upholders of religion and the conquest. ■'The right in William to make such donatives, must have beeu similar to that by which his predecessor gave *'* all the land and the moore," extending along the wall of the city from the River of Wells to Walbrook, to the College of St. Martin le Grand ; that is to say, it must have been grounded on the assumption, that this entire northern district was forest. And the public uses to which, as we have found from Fitz-Stephen, this district was put nearly ninety years afterwards by the citizens, sufficiently prove that it was even then far from wholly appropriated.

But, however such points as these may be decided by the curious antiquary, the probability is apparent, that to the establishment of the religious foundations just mentioned, must be attributed the gradual rise of other habitations upon the space now included within the parochial limits of Clerkenwell. Still, the increase of such habitations was so gradual, that we must remain in doubt, from the manner in which c "2 Fitz-Stephen speaks of the wells and meadows as places of open resort, if more than 'the monastic buildings were in his time erected. We may enter tain more assurance of the fact, that a Vineyard was in cultivation here (upon the sloping spot yet bearing the name of Vineyard Gardens) at an early period after the rise of the neighbouring cloister. Few of the monkish iustitutions of the Norman times, were long without their vineyards : perhaps we may say none, whose lands possessed a soil and aspect favourable to their culture.

Here all circum stances were eminently propitious, and we cannot doubt that they were properly improved.* * Not many years since, some lovers of controversy took upon themselves to deny that wine of native growth was ever in com mon use in England. A doubt was ingeniously started, whether by the vineœ of Domesday, and other ancient records, we were not to understand orchards. But Vopiscus carries tbe antiquity of tbe vine in Britain to A. D. 280 ; and informs us that the Emperor Probus, towards the close of bis reign, restored tbe privilege of the vineyard to most of tbe northern and western provinces. "We have also the authority of Bede for the existence of the vine with us in the 8th century : and vineyards are noticed in tbe laws of Alfred. With regard to Domesday, it furnishes in the whole nearly forty entries of vineyards ; including three in this county, oneof whioh was at Clicneton, another at Holebtirne, and the third at the Village of Westminster.

The question why, if our island was once capable of prodccino its own wine, it does not continue to produce it, is easily answered. The Increase of commercial intercourse with the continent, became tbe source of a gradual introduction of wines, which it was found profitable to receive in barter from foreign nations, rather than, under less favourable circumstances of climate than were enjoyed by those nations, to continue the cultivation of the vine ourselves. The compiler ofthe life of Bulleyn, in the last edition of the Biograpbia Britannica, gives tbis reason, in connexion with others, more curious, but less probable. He says, " it is affirmed we have still upon record some treaty of peace between France and England, in which it is stipulated that we shonld root up our vineyards, and be their customers for all our wine.

If the extir- HISTORY OF TIIE SITE. Possibly, England hardly offered a scene of monastic seclusion more rich in picturesque situation and rural accompaniments, than was presented by these religious houses, at the period of complete and prosperous establishment to which we will now suppose them arrived. On every side but that towards the city, they had the prospect of wooded hills and uplands, intermingled with vales of luxuriant verdure : contiguous, was the well-dressed, and, we will doubt not, richly productive vineyard : and at unequal distances from their precincts, towards the west, the ground fell into those romantic steeps and secluded dells, amongst which the river took its course, and created, as it rushed through the nume rous mills erected over it, the " delightful" sounds which enkindled the descriptive enthusiasm of Fitz- Stephen.

In the contemplation of such a scene, we could for the moment forego all the advantages resulting from that altered state of things which has closed the view of it for ever ; and almost sigh for the return of times, when the spread of com merce, and the improvements of civilization, had not deprived our suburb of natural beauties of so rich an order. In the long interval between the rise of these monasteries and their dissolution, great part of the present parochial land, there can be no doubt, be came the property either of those monasteries or of individuals : but of the manner in which the several pation ofthe English vineyards was not owing to this, it might be to t_.e falling of Gascony into the hands of the English, whence wine was imported cheaper and better than we could make it." Biogr.

Brit. vol. iii. p. 2. HISTORV OF THE SITE. parcels were acquired, there are no existing records. In the same interval, the progress of building upon this tract was more slow than we might have expected : and Maitland is certainly wrong in the observation, " 'tis manifest from the church of this parish (St. James's) being made parochia] soon after the dissolution, that Clerkenwell at that time must have been a considerable village ." The contrary plainly appears from a very curious plan and view of London, entitled " Civitas Londinum," made by Ralph or Radulphus Aggas, soon after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, (A. D. 1563), which is yet extant, and from which a variety of interesting particulars of the state of the capital and its environs at that period may be derived. Clerkenwell, it is shewn by this plan, (with the exception of what buildings had been erected in the streets then, as now, called St. John's Street and Cow Cross), was little otherwise occupied than by the precincts and remains of the late monasteries.