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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 'M^€^ri^
 
 /
 
 SUBURBAN RELIQUES OF OLD LONDON 
 
 NORTH OF THE THAMES
 
 This Edition consists of 280 Copies 
 
 (250 FOR sale), and the DRAWINGS HAVE 
 BEEN ERASED FROM THE STONES. TWENTY- 
 FIVE SETSOF PrOOFSOFTHE LITHOGRAPHS 
 HAVE ALSO BEEN TAKEN. 
 
 THE LITHOGRAPHS HAVE BEEN PRINTED 
 BY THOMAS WAY, 2 I, WELLINGTON STREET. 
 
 THIS COPY IS NO.
 
 
 
 ^- "^k: 
 
 /'/a/c 19
 
 RELIQUES OF OLD 
 LONDON SUBURBS 
 
 NORTH OF THE THAMES 
 
 DRAWN IN LITHOGRAPHY BY 
 
 T. R. WAY 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND DESCRIPTIONS BY 
 
 H. B. WHEATLEY, F.S.A. 
 
 LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS: MDCCCXCVIII
 
 CoMega 
 Library. 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE kindly reception accorded to my two previous 
 volumes of " Reliques " has encouraged me to 
 continue the series, and attempt to record a few of 
 the more important of the old houses in London suburbs. 
 Whilst searching for subjedls in not only the well-defined 
 suburbs of to-day, but in those parts of our present city 
 which at the beginning of this century were distinctly 
 suburban, I soon found that, owing to the amount of 
 material at my disposal, it would be impossible for me 
 to include them all in one volume. I have, therefore, 
 thought it advisable to divide the field, and in this present 
 volume to confine myself to the north side of the river 
 Thames. In a future volume, I shall record buildings on 
 the river banks and in the Surrey and Kentish suburbs. 
 
 The great danger of many of the fine houses now left 
 just outside the present city is in their large gardens, 
 which are an immense attraction to the small property 
 builder. Their surroundings soon render them uncon- 
 genial to the class of people for whom they were built, 
 
 6 
 
 /S ,0 i~ J-^ /-> t— <-v
 
 and they are either at once pulled down or converted into 
 private asylums or schools. A typical example of this 
 state of affairs is to be seen in the Great House at Leyton, 
 which at present stands in grounds of some five acres in 
 extent, but just outside are rows of houses whose rentals 
 average £2'^ °^ jC4°- ^^^ house itself has already passed 
 through the school and asylum stages, and now the boards 
 are up, offering the land for building purposes, 
 
 I have to thank many friends who have kindly in- 
 terested themselves in my work. To Mr. Gleeson White, 
 who guided me over the western distridt, and to Mr. 
 H. E. Morgan and Mr. A. T. Way for similar services in 
 the northern and eastern suburbs, and to Dr. Whistler for 
 his assistance in the note on Rossetti's house, I am more 
 particularly indebted. 
 
 In every case the drawings have been made diredtly 
 from the buildings themselves. 
 
 T. R. WAY. 
 
 P.S. — Whilst this volume has been passing through 
 the press, I have to lament the loss of a most kind friend, 
 through the sudden death of Mr. Gleeson White. It was 
 principally due to his advice and arrangement that these 
 lithographs were issued in their present form, with the 
 collaboration of Mr. Wheatley.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 General Introduction ...... 
 
 Map of London North of the Thames, 1815 
 
 The North-Western Suburbs ... 
 Hampstead : 
 
 Church Row ..... 
 
 Fenton House ..... 
 
 Jack Straw's Castle .... 
 Highgate : 
 
 The 'Grove ..... 
 
 Cromwell House .... 
 
 Lauderdale House .... 
 
 The Archway ..... 
 The Northern and Eastern Suburbs 
 Canonbury: 
 
 Canonbury Tower .... 
 Lower Clapton : 
 
 British Asylum for Deaf and Dumb Females 
 Leyton : 
 
 The Great House .... 
 
 West Ham : 
 
 The Angel Inn ..... 
 
 PLATE 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 4> 15 
 
 
 17 
 
 I 
 
 21 
 
 2 
 
 25 
 
 3 
 
 29 
 
 4 
 
 33 
 
 5 
 
 37 
 
 6 
 
 41 
 
 7 
 
 45 
 
 
 49 
 
 8 
 
 5^ 
 
 9 
 
 55 
 
 10 
 
 59 
 
 II 
 
 63
 
 Bow: 
 
 High Street ..... 
 
 Grove Hall ..... 
 
 Stepney : 
 
 Stepney Green, Nos. 37-39 
 The Western and South-Western Suburbs 
 Chelsea: 
 
 Cheyne Walk, No. 4, East End . 
 
 Queen's House, No. i6, Cheyne Walk 
 Parson's Green : 
 
 Belfield House ....... 
 
 Kensington : 
 
 Kensington Square, Nos. 1 1-12, South-East Corner 
 
 12 
 
 67 
 
 13 
 
 71 
 
 14 
 
 75 
 
 
 79 
 
 15 
 
 81 
 
 16 
 
 85 
 
 17 
 
 Frontispiece and 19 
 
 Holland House 
 Hammersmith : 
 
 The Red Cow 
 
 Kelmscott House and the Doves 
 Chiswick : 
 
 Walpole House, Chiswick Mall 
 
 The Burlington Arms . . . . . •. 23 
 
 Hogarth's House 24 
 
 20 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 89 
 
 93 
 97 
 
 99 
 103 
 
 107 
 1 1 1 
 "5
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 HAVING produced two volumes of Reliques of Old 
 London, Mr. Way now brings forward a seleftion 
 of interesting bits from the Northern, Eastern, and 
 Western Suburbs. As in London itself the old houses 
 have almost disappeared, so in the suburbs the fine old 
 buildings that the gentry of the past inhabited with some 
 pretension and state have many of them fallen to a low 
 estate, and are fast disappearing, to be replaced by streets 
 of commonplace houses or piles of high flats. 
 
 Before proceeding to describe more fully the houses 
 which are illustrated in this volume, it may be well to 
 make a few general remarks upon the suburbs of London, 
 and before doing this it seems almost necessary to ask the 
 preliminary question — What is a suburb ? 
 
 The suburbs of one age lose their rurality and become 
 part of the town in the next. With a County of London 
 of 75,000 acres, and a Greater London of 445,423 acres, it 
 is somewhat difficult to say what a suburb really is. 
 
 Mr. Way has, however, overcome this difficulty, and 
 chosen a series of piftures from localities which all will 
 agree were in the suburbs when the houses delineated were 
 built, even if now they are swallowed up by the ever- 
 onward growth of London. 
 
 I B
 
 In the early days of London, when the walls enclosed a 
 good deal of unbuilt-on ground, there was little or no 
 growth of suburban buildings, and the first suburbs grew 
 up about the roads outside the different gates. Whitechapel 
 and Mile End extended eastward from Aldgate; Shore- 
 ditch and Spitalfields northward from Bishopsgate ; Moor- 
 lields were built on outside Moorgate ; the village of 
 St. Giles's (with it Fore Street) grew up outside Cripplegate ; 
 Smithfield and Clerkenwell were built on outside Alders- 
 gate, and Holborn extended westward from Newgate, as 
 Fleet Street and the Strand did from Ludgate. Then 
 Fleet Street, Holborn, and Whitechapel, as well as other 
 districts, were added to the City, and bars were eredled to 
 mark the extent of the new Liberties. What a charmingly 
 countrified sound there is about the title of Tower hamlets ! 
 The present ad:ual appearance, however, of Wapping, 
 Limehouse, Bethnal Green, and the other members of the 
 group is quite sufficient to dispel any pleasant associations 
 that may arise in our mind as associated with the countrified 
 title of hamlet. When that curious character, William 
 Kemp, the famous Elizabethan clown, started on his morrice 
 dance to Norwich he considered Whitechapel as a suburb. 
 This is what he wrote as to his start on this eccentric 
 journey: 
 
 " Being past White Chappell, and having left faire 
 London with all that north-east suburb before named, 
 multitudes of Londoners left not me : but eyther to keepe 
 a custome which many holde, that Mile-end is no walke 
 without a recreation at Stratford Bow with creame and cakes, 
 
 2
 
 or else for love they beare toward me, or perhappes 
 to make them selves merry, if I should chance (as 
 many thought) to give over my morrice within a mile of 
 Mile-end. However, many a thousand brought me to 
 Bow, where I rested a while from dancing, but had 
 small rest with those that would have urg'd me to 
 drinking." ^ 
 
 In those Elizabethan days, just beyond the suburbs which 
 grew up around the gates, there was a distridl that may be 
 described as thorough country, and it is well to bear this 
 in mind when we consider the descriptions of country 
 sights and scenes that occur in Shakespeare's plays. It 
 is usually supposed by critics that in these references 
 Shakespeare was influenced by the surroundings of his 
 house at Stratford-on-Avon, but flowers grew in the houses 
 of the citizens within the walls, and in the neighbourhood 
 of the Theatre and the Curtain at Shoreditch country scenes 
 were almost as common as they were in Warwickshire. 
 The very same remark may be made in the case of Samuel 
 Pepys nearly a century later, for he could wander from his 
 house in Crutched Friars into the fields before breakfast, and 
 his wife and maid would rise very early in a spring morning, 
 and gather the May-dew which was supposed to be specially 
 good for the complexion. The Diarist's description of his 
 trips to Mile End give us much the same idea of the distridl 
 as we gather from the words of William Kemp. 
 
 On May 12, 1667, Pepys gives a pidlure of Kingsland 
 
 ' Kemp's "Nine Dales Wonder." London, 1600, sig. a 3 verso. 
 
 3
 
 which is vastly different from the present appearance of 
 that place : 
 
 " My wife and I away to Islington, it being a fine day, 
 and thence to Sir J. Whitmore's house [at Hoxton], where 
 we 'light and walked over the fields to Kingsland and back 
 again ; a walk I think I have not taken these twenty years, 
 but puts me in mind of my boy's time, when I boarded at 
 Kingsland, and went to shoot with my bow and arrows in 
 these fields." 
 
 When the restridiions, necessary to a walled city that 
 had its gates closed each night at a stated time, were in full 
 force the disorderly characters were pleased to unite the 
 liberty of living outside the walls with the privilege of 
 seeking a place of safety within the city whenever this 
 was desirable. Hence the word " suburbs" obtained a bad 
 name ; and this was particularly the case in the Elizabethan 
 period, when we find in the works of the Dramatists a 
 constant reference to the evil repute of the suburbs. 
 Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Massinger, Beaumont and 
 Fletcher, and their contemporaries are full of allusions 
 to this phase of the manners of the time. When Shakespeare, 
 in " Measure for Measure," says that " all houses in the 
 suburbs of Vienna must be pluck'd down," we have only 
 to understand that London was in the poet's mind when 
 he wrote the name Vienna. 
 
 Chettle, in his "Kind Harts Dreame," 1592, wrote: 
 " The suburbs of the citie are in many places no other but 
 dark dennes for adulterers, theeves, murderers, and every 
 mischief worker ; daily experience before the magistrates 
 
 4
 
 confirmes this for truth." He adds, however, " I would the 
 hart of the citie were whole." 
 
 The gardens and banqueting houses which some of the 
 citizens established in the suburbs were not always very 
 respectable resorts, and these, therefore, went to increase the 
 amount of obloquy that gathered round the name of the 
 suburbs. The hot-tempered reformer, Stubbs, found in 
 these garden houses a good subjeft for his severe censures. 
 He wrote in his " Anatomie of Abuses" : " In the fields and 
 suburbes of the cities, they have gardens either palled or 
 walled round about very high, with their barbers and 
 bowers fit for the purpose. And least they might be 
 espied in these open places, they have their banquetting 
 houses with galleries, turrets and what not, therein 
 sumptuously eredled ; wherein they may (and doubtless 
 do) many of them play the filthy persons," etc. 
 
 The frequenters of these suburbs gave the authorities a 
 good deal of trouble, especially when the sovereign 
 happened to be making a progress through them. This 
 is well illustrated by a remarkable letter which William 
 Fleetwood, the Recorder of London, wrote to Lord Burghley 
 upon the apprehending of a number of rogues and master- 
 less men at Islington, who endangered the progress of Queen 
 Elizabeth in January, 158 1-2. Fleetwood's description of 
 his proceedings is as follows : 
 
 ** My singular good Lord uppon Thursday at even, her 
 Majestic in her Cooche near Islyngton, taking of the aer, 
 her Highnes was environed with a number of Rooges. 
 One M"^ Stone a footeman cam in all hast to my Lord 
 
 5
 
 Maior, and after to me, and told us of the cause. I dyd 
 the same night send Warrants owt into the sayd quarters 
 and into Westminster and the Duchie ; and in the mornyng 
 I went a brood my selff, and I tooke that daye Ixxiiij roogs, 
 whereof some were blynd and yet great usurers, and very 
 riche ; and the same daye towards night I sent for M'' Harrys 
 and M^ Smithe and the governors of Bridwell, and tooke 
 all the names of the roogs and sent theym frome the Sessions 
 Hall unto Bridwell, where they remayned that night." 
 
 Fleetwood afted on the authority of the Lords of the 
 Council in these proceedings, but his a6tions appear to have 
 been very summary, for there is no description in the letter 
 ofany particular offences which these rogueshad committed. 
 Subsequently Fleetwood dined with the Dean of West- 
 minster, with whom he conferred touching Westminster 
 and the Duchy of Lancaster, " and then I tooke orders for 
 Southwarke, Lambeth and Newyngton, from whence I re- 
 ceyved a shooll of xl rooggs, men and women, and above. 
 I bestowed theym in Bridwell," 
 
 He had an interview with the Master of the Savoy, who 
 said he was sworn to lodge " claudicantes, egrotantes, et 
 peregrinantes;" so Fleetwood, after he had swept St. Paul's 
 of the rogues resorting there, sent the constables of the 
 Duchy to the Hospital, and they brought to Bridewell " vj 
 tall fellowes that were draymen unto bruers, and were 
 neither 'claudicantes, egrotantes' nor 'peregrinantes.' " He 
 adds that " the constables if they might have had theyr 
 owen wills wold have brought as many moo." 
 
 Of all these rogues the majority were given " substanciall 
 
 6
 
 payment," while " the rest wee desmyssed with a promise 
 of a double paye if we mett with theym agayne," It 
 appears that none of these rogues belonged to London, 
 Westminster, nor Southwark, nor more than twelve to 
 Middlesex and Surrey. The remainder came from Wales, 
 Shropshire, Cheshire, Somerset, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and 
 Essex. Fleetwood adds that " the chieff nurserie of all 
 these evell people is the Savoye and the brick kilnes nere 
 Islyngton. As for the brick kylnes we will take suche 
 order that they shall be reformed. And I trust by your 
 Lordship's help the Savoye shall be amended ; for suerlie, 
 as by experiens I fynd it, the same place, as it is used, not 
 converted to a good use or purpose." * 
 
 Respeftable people in course of time took to residing in 
 the suburbs, and thus raised their charafter. Accordingly 
 we find so staid and virtuous a man as Milton associated 
 with the garden houses of the suburbs. He was born in 
 the City, but in his later life he did not live within the City 
 walls by choice. When he returned from his continental 
 tour he lived in St. Bride's Churchyard. Then he took a 
 garden house in Aldersgate Street, situated at the end of an 
 entry, that he might avoid the noise and disturbance of 
 the street. It was while he was living here that his first 
 wife, Mary Powell, obtained his forgiveness by presenting 
 herself suddenly to him at a friend's house in Aldersgate 
 Street. In 1 644 Milton removed to a house in the Barbican, 
 
 11., 
 
 ' This letter is printed in Ellis's " Original Letters," First Series, vol. ■■., 
 p. 283. There are other letters by Fleetwood on the rogueries of London 
 in Ellis's work.
 
 where he only remained a short time. He took in 1647 ^ 
 small house in Holborn, "opening backwards into Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields." While Latin Secretary to Cromwell he was 
 lodged at " one Thompson's next door to the Bull Head 
 tavern at Charing Cross opening into Spring Gardens," 
 and then, when his official rooms were ready, in Scotland 
 Yard. Afterwards he took a "pretty garden house in Petty 
 France, Westminster," in which he lived for eight years. 
 This house, which looked into St. James's Park, was pulled 
 down in 1877. Its gardens now form part of the lawn of 
 Queen Anne Mansions. Jeremy Bentham bought the house 
 and added the garden to his own house in Queen Square 
 Place. He also placed a stone tablet on the front with this 
 inscription, " Sacred to Milton, Prince of Poets." William 
 Hazlitt rented the house from 18 12 to 18 19. 
 
 After the Restoration, Milton is said to have taken refuge 
 at a friend's house in Bartholomew Close. Then he rented 
 a house in Holborn near Red Lion Fields (now Red Lion 
 Square), and afterwards went to Jewin Street, Aldersgate. 
 His last residence was in Artillery Walk, Bunhill Fields, 
 where he died in 1674. Many attempts have been made 
 to fix the exa6l site of Milton's house. It was on the west 
 side of the present Bunhill Row, not far from Chiswell 
 Street. Although blind, he still loved to be among flowers, 
 and one of his visitors describes him as sitting at his door 
 in warm sunny weather to enjoy the fresh air. The suc- 
 cessive movements of few of our great men can be recorded 
 with the completeness that is possible in the case of one of 
 the greatest of Londoners. 
 
 8
 
 The evil associations of the suburbs had faded away in 
 the seventeenth century, and now the word " suburban " has 
 only to bear a slight suspicion of contempt as indicating a 
 certain amount of pretentiousness which is just the reverse 
 of its old meaning of want of respectability. 
 
 The large growth of the town, which has swallowed up 
 nearly all the suburbs, is chiefly the work of the present 
 century, and many parts of London which are now thickly 
 inhabited were rural places before 1850. 
 
 Hoxton, the distindtive charadter of which is now lost 
 in the map of London, was in Ben Jonson's time a country 
 place cut off from the City by Moorfields. Knowell's house, 
 described in "Every Man in his Humour," was at Hogsden, 
 which was then, according to Stow, a large street with 
 houses on both sides. Master Stephen describes his uncle's 
 property as " Middlesex land," and he himself is called a 
 country gull, in opposition to Master Matthew, the town gull. 
 Jonson had reason to remember Hoxton, for it was in the 
 fields close by that he fought and killed Gabriel Spenser. 
 
 These rural characteristics continued to modern times. 
 The late Mr. Hyde Clarke (who died in 1895 at the age 
 of eighty) told the writer of this that he had an uncle who 
 lived at Hoxton, and that when a boy (say about 1825) he 
 often went to spend Saturday to Monday at his uncle's 
 country house. On these occasions he proceeded as far as 
 Finsbury Square, where a party was gathered together, who 
 waited till they could be conducted across the open space 
 by the patrol provided to proteft them against the dan- 
 gerous characters in the neighbourhood. 
 
 9 C
 
 If we look over the list of places described in Lysons's 
 valuable work on the " Environs of London " (i8i i), we 
 find about one-third of the total number of those in Surrey 
 are now included in the London of to-day, while about 
 one-half of those in Middlesex are now an integral part of 
 the town. Lysons includes among his environs such places 
 as Chelsea, Hackney, Islington, Kensington, Limehouse, 
 Marybone, Paddington, Pancras, Stepney, etc. This 
 proves how great a change has taken place since the pub- 
 lication of his book. 
 
 In the last century highwaymen and footpads frequented 
 the suburbs, and roads which are now filled with tramcars 
 and omnibuses were then dark and dangerous. 
 
 The notorious James Dalton was taken prisoner at the 
 " Bull's Head," Tottenham Court Road, for stopping the 
 coach of Dr. Mead in Leather Lane, Holborn,in December, 
 1729, and robbing him. This man committed about fifty 
 robberies in and around London, and gave evidence against 
 Jonathan Wild and Blueskin, but at last he got his deserts, 
 and was hanged at Tyburn on May 12, 1730. 
 
 The " Rose of Normandy," tavern, gaming-house, and 
 bowling-green, was a very old place of entertainment joined 
 to the better known Marylebone Gardens. Long's bowling- 
 green at the " Rose " is mentioned in the *' London Gazette " 
 for January 11, 1691, as half a mile distant from London; 
 and in 1746 robberies were so frequent and thieves so 
 desperate that the proprietor of the gardens was obliged 
 to have a guard of soldiers to protedl the company to and 
 from London. Provision of the same kind had to be made 
 
 10
 
 by other proprietors, as those of Belsize House, and many 
 other suburban pleasure gardens. 
 
 Knightsbridge, as one of the chief entrances to London, 
 was well supplied with inns. These places were many of 
 them favourite resorts by day, but at night they were 
 frequented by highwaymen, and an old MS. annotator of 
 Norden's " Speculum Britannix " suggests that " no good 
 man walk there too late unless he can make his party 
 good." 
 
 The site of the Great Northern Station at King's Cross 
 was formerly a lonely spot. Near the " Red Lion," Battle 
 Bridge, John Everett of St. Pancras, the highwayman, 
 stopped Mrs. Manly's chariot, for which crime he was 
 hanged at Tyburn on February 29, 1730, Robert Beech, 
 the landlord, bearing evidence against him. Kentish Town 
 was tolerably well supplied with inns, but they did not add 
 to the safety of travellers. Those who now pass these houses 
 in a yellow omnibus or tramcar will find it difficult to realize 
 the state of things represented by the following particulars : 
 Opposite the " Bull and Gate," Squire Greenwood was 
 robbed by W. Yates, H. Morris, and B. Fink, who, after 
 frightening the village, got off safely, but they were after- 
 wards taken and hanged at Tyburn in May, 1736, The 
 "Bull and Last " was kept by John Young, who was hanged 
 at Kennington, for the robbery of Thomas Swinton, in May, 
 1730. 
 
 The " Dun Cow " at Holloway was built in 1604, and 
 on an old view of the house which the writer saw some 
 years ago, was the following MS. note relating to one of the 
 
 II
 
 notorious frequenters of the place : " In this house last year 
 the 2oth of Oftober I met a person whom I took for an honest 
 man ; his conversation was agreeable, and he was good- 
 looking. Since many times I have thought of my fortunate 
 escape, for he was no other than the notorious Turpin. A 
 little after he left me he stopped Lady Dolin's chariot, 
 and robbed her of ^12 and her watch and rings. This is 
 the last public inn in HoUoway. I find Turpin is staying 
 near Hackney. 8 May, 173 1." 
 
 The Ordinary of Newgate in 1720 describes a highway- 
 man who stopped the Earl of Harborough during broad day- 
 light in Piccadilly. One of the chairmen pulled out a pole 
 of the chair and knocked down one of the assailants, "while 
 the Earl came out, drew his sword, and put the rest to flight ; 
 but not before they had raised their wounded companion, 
 whom they took off with them." Nearly thirty years after 
 this outrage, in a principal thoroughfare of the town, Horace 
 Walpole was stopped in Hyde Park by highwaymen, one 
 being the notorious McLean. Walpole describes the 
 incident himself in his " Short Notes " : " One night in the 
 beginning of November, 1749, as I was returning from 
 Holland House by moonlight about ten at night, I was 
 attacked by two highwaymen [McLean and Plunket] in 
 Hyde Park, and the pistol of one of them [McLean] 
 going off accidentally razed the skin under my eye, left 
 some marks of shot on my face, and stunned me. The 
 ball went through the top of the chariot, and if I had sat 
 an inch nearer to the left side must have gone through my 
 head," 
 
 12
 
 ^ 
 
 Writing to Sir Horace Mann in the week after the 
 occurrence, Walpole says, " Pray don't be frightened ; the 
 danger, great as it was, was over before I had any notion 
 of it, and the event did not deserve mentioning. The rela- 
 tion [in the newspapers] is so near the truth that I need 
 not repeat it, and indeed the frequent repetition has been 
 much worse than the robbery."^ 
 
 When it became too dangerous to stop travellers in these 
 parts the highwaymen retreated further afield, to such places 
 as Finchley Common and Hounslow Heath. 
 
 It was the former custom to measure the milestones in the 
 northern suburbs from Hicks's Hall, which was the popular 
 name of the old Sessions House at Clerken well. Thus Isling- 
 ton Green was described as one mile from Hicks's Hall. 
 
 In the southern suburbs the miles were counted from the 
 Standard, Cornhill. There was a water standard at the east 
 end of Cornhill as early as the second year of Henry V.'s 
 reign. At Camden Town there was a milestone giving the 
 information that it marked two miles from St. Giles's 
 Pound, which was situated at the junftion of Tottenham 
 Court Road, Oxford Street, and High Street, St. Giles's. 
 
 Even now we have diversities in the fixing of final points 
 of measurement — Charing Cross and the Post Office being 
 the favourite points. In the preface to the " Population 
 Returns of 1 8 3 1 " there is a plan of a circle of eight miles, 
 which shows the environs of that day such as Marylebone, 
 Paddington, Chelsea, St. Pancras, Bermondsey, Camberwell, 
 Brixton, etc. 
 
 ' "Letters," ed. Cunningham, vol. ii., p. 185.
 
 MAP OF THE ENVIRONS OF LONDON. 
 
 In order to give the reader some idea of the appearance 
 of the suburbs north of the Thames at the beginning of 
 the nineteenth century, the above map of what were then 
 environs has been enlarged from an old guide book of 1 8 1 5. 
 
 This is not very different (although on a larger scale) 
 
 14
 
 T/te, rn^cmbers ftiitjs.l re^r do the^ P/ctffji 
 
 (Taken from " The Original Pidure of London," and dated 1815.) 
 
 from the eight-mile circle of 183 1 referred to on page 13. 
 Here Hoxton, Hackney and Clapton, Paddington, Belsize, 
 Kilburn, Camden Town, etc., are shown as situated in the 
 country. Some few of the places in Middlesex shown in 
 this plan, such as Kingsbury, are still in the country. 
 
 »5
 
 NORTH-WESTERN SUBURBS 
 
 HAMPSTEAD and Highgate are now joined to the town, 
 but the hills on their south sides have saved them from 
 losing those distindive charadleristics which make them the pride 
 of the Londoner as unquestionably the most beautiful suburbs of 
 London. 
 
 For centuries Hampstead and Highgate stood apart on sister 
 hills, but gradually the town encroached nearer and nearer to 
 them. Highgate was approached from the east earlier than 
 Hampstead. The road to Hampstead from the south-west existed 
 at an early period, but it was for long very sparsely inhabited. 
 
 In the last century Tottenham Court Road was a country road 
 to the manor of Tothill, Totenhall, or Tottenham Court, with 
 a farm on the east side, and at times a fair was held in its 
 roadway. The manor house stood at the north-west corner of 
 the present road, and is now represented by the public house 
 known as the " Adam and Eve," in the Hampstead Road. It 
 was in front of the tea gardens attached to this place of entertain- 
 ment that Hogarth laid the scene of his famous picture, " The 
 March to Finchley," which so greatly offended George II. 
 
 In the middle of the century the " Mother Red Cap " and the 
 Chalk Farm Tavern were wayside inns surrounded by fields, and 
 it is only within the present century that much building has taken 
 place to the north of the New Road (now the Marylebone and 
 Euston Roads). 
 
 The public house in Albany Street, with the odd sign of the 
 " Queen's Head and Artichoke," at the time that Mrs. Smith (the 
 mother of J. T. Smith, the antiquary, author of " A Book for a 
 
 17
 
 Rainy Day," etc.), took her morning walks from Rathbone Place, 
 was a little old tavern in a meadow, entered from the New Road 
 by a turnstile. The sign was a weather-beaten portrait of Queen 
 Elizabeth, and the report was that the house had been kept 
 originally by one of her Majesty's gardeners. 
 
 How greatly these north-western suburbs have grown within 
 the last thirty years or so is seen by the constant flow of yellow 
 omnibuses and tramcars that pass to all parts north of Camden 
 Town. Formerly the " Mother Red Cap " was the terminus, and 
 in the open space in front of it the omnibuses waited their turns 
 of departure. Now the routes have been extended in various 
 diretftions, and the front of the tavern has been rebuilt in order to 
 take in this open space. 
 
 In 1 729 " Galloway Races " were advertised to be run at Belsize 
 House for a ^^lo plate, and a few years later a handbill issued by 
 the proprietor informed the public that " twelve stout fellows 
 completely armed to patrole between Belsize and London" had 
 been engaged. When Belsize House became still more popular, it 
 was necessary to raise the patrol from " twelve stout fellows" to 
 thirty. 
 
 When Hampstead was a village quite unconneded with London, 
 except by the ordinary high road, it was a favourite place of residence 
 for many men of the greatest distindtion, such as the Chathams, 
 the Mansfields, and the Erskines. One cannot but admire the 
 courage of the men who were willing to encounter the dangers of 
 the unprotected roads in their outward and homeward journeys. 
 
 There are still among us those who when young travelled to and 
 fro by the Hampstead stage, 
 
 Highgate was earlier in complete communication with London 
 than Hampstead, and in 1363 we hear of a grant from 
 Edward III. to William Phelippe to the right of toll on the 
 highway between Highgate and Smithfield, which he had greatly 
 improved. At this time it was doubtless more convenient to 
 reach Hampstead by way of Highgate than by the more out-of- 
 the-way western road. 
 
 18
 
 Highgate Hill is associated in popular belief with the adventure 
 of Dick Whittington, when he heard the bells ring out the words — 
 
 " Turn again, Whittington, 
 
 Thrice Lord Mayor of London-town ; " 
 
 but, in spite of the Whittington Stone, there is no early authority 
 for associating Whittington with Highgate. It is palpably absurd 
 to suppose that Whittington could have heard Bow Bells at that 
 great distance, and from the earliest known chapbook version of 
 his history it appears that the original hill where he is supposed 
 to have stopped when leaving the city was Bone-hill, now known 
 as Bunhill. 
 
 This is a good instance of how history grows out of vague 
 tradition, for not only is there a brand-new Whittington's Stone, 
 but also the Whittington's Almshouses in the Archway Road, to 
 give life to a theory which has no kind of foundation in fad:. 
 
 19
 
 PLATE I 
 CHURCH ROW, HAMPSTEAD 
 
 HAMPSTEAD is a place of great antiquity, having been 
 built upon at an early period owing to the outcrop of 
 Bagshot sands on the hill, which made it a habitable spot in the 
 midst of a wild of London clay. Apart, however, from its charms 
 of scenery, which are of no period, its great interest to the lover 
 of old-fashioned things is its strong eighteenth-century charader. 
 
 All around Hampstead are relics of the time when Londoners 
 visited the village for change of air, and to enjoy the fashionable 
 frivolities of the Well Walk in the morning and of the Assembly 
 Room in the evening. The houses where the visitors lodged are 
 still standing, but their former glory is departed. All these re- 
 miniscences of the past seem to be concentrated in Church Row. 
 It is not that so very many distinguished men and women lived 
 here, but that it was the chief promenade of Hampstead, where 
 most of the inhabitants were in the habit of meeting at some time 
 in the day. 
 
 It is these associations that have endeared the place to Londoners, 
 and the least imaginative cannot walk in this open space without 
 conjuring up before his mind's eye the pi(5hure of those who con- 
 gregated there when it was at the height of its vogue. The whole 
 appearance of the place is completely in harmony with these me- 
 mories. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that its threatened 
 destrudiion has been deplored by all. Some houses might be re- 
 built with judgment, and the general effecft might remain much the 
 same, but the ereftion of a series of high flats which dwarfed the 
 houses near would entirely spoil the old-world appearance. Un- 
 fortunately the work of destrudtion has already commenced, and 
 
 21
 
 the houses at the beginning of the row on the right-hand side 
 looking towards the church have been pulled down. 
 
 The old church, as pictured in Park's " History of Hampstead," 
 is a much more interesting building than the present one, but in 
 spite of the general ugliness of its exterior, the latter (which was 
 ereded in 1747) harmonizes well with the avenue that leads up 
 to it. 
 
 Mr. J. J. Park, the historian of Hampstead, who died in 1833, 
 lived in Church Row. 
 
 Mrs. Barbauld, the popular writer of children's books in con- 
 junftion with her brother, Dr. John Aikin, was a lifelong resident 
 of Hampstead. Her husband, the Rev. Rochmount Barbauld, 
 was minister of the Unitarian Chapel on Rosslyn Hill, who resided 
 in Church Row, and had pupils there. Mrs. Barbauld lived in 
 No. 9 (now No. 2) for a time after her husband's death, but sub- 
 sequently she went to Rosslyn Hill. 
 
 Her niece, Lucy Aikin, went to live next door (then No. 8, 
 Church Row) with her mother after the death of Dr. Aikin. 
 
 Other inhabitants were Miss Meteyard, the authoress, and Miss 
 Gillies, the artist. The well-known painter, J. R. Herbert, R.A., 
 lived in Church Row before he removed to Elm Bank. The late 
 Mr. Edward Walford, the author of "Old and New London" 
 and " Greater London," also lived here for a considerable time. 
 
 22
 
 
 
 ri.Ue I
 
 PLATE II 
 FENTON HOUSE, HAMPSTEAD 
 
 THIS charming old house with its high-pitched roof is situated 
 in the Grove nearly opposite to Old Grove House and New 
 Grove House. In the latter house the late Mr. Du Maurier 
 resided for many years. 
 
 On the front of the house, over the doorway, was formerly a 
 clock face, which has been covered over, although its outline is still 
 to be seen. In the last century, the house was called after this — 
 " The Clock House." 
 
 At the back of the house there was a pond which was named 
 after the house. Clock House pond, and continued to be so called 
 until comparatively recent times. 
 
 On the authority of an old inhabitant it may be stated that 
 the pond was also known as Crockett's pond, and this gentleman 
 suggests that Crockett was probably the same man who gave his 
 name to Crockett's Court in the High Street, nearly opposite Flask 
 Walk, which he well remembers. The pond was filled up by 
 Mr. Wills (of Bristol), and a house and stabling were built on the 
 site in 1876. 
 
 At the beginning of the present century the Clock House was 
 inhabited by a Mr. Fenton, after whom it has since been named. 
 After Mr. Fenton, Mr. Hart Davis was the next resident, and he 
 was followed by Mr. Thomas Turner, the first Chairman of the 
 Hampstead Vestry. 
 
 25
 
 ( 
 
 1
 
 
 
 ^wii.3r^ 
 
 P/aU 1
 
 PLATE III 
 JACK STRAW'S CASTLE, HAMPSTEAD 
 
 JACK STRAW'S CASTLE (Castle Hotel), situated on the 
 summit of Hampstead Heath (443 feet above the sea level), 
 has been a favourite place of resort for many years, but it does 
 not date back far into the last century. The house was built at 
 the beginning of the eighteenth century, but it was occupied as a 
 private residence for many years. 
 
 Little is recorded of the early history of the house, but we know 
 that when the Middlesex parliamentary eleftions were held at 
 Hampstead, before they were transferred to Brentford, the Castle 
 Tavern was the chief rendezvous for candidates and voters. 
 
 It has been suggested that Jack Straw's Castle was a place of 
 resort when a racecourse was established behind the house, but we 
 learn that before the middle of the eighteenth century the races 
 run here had fallen in public favour, and had been suppressed on 
 account of the evils attendant on these meetings. Now at that 
 time there is no doubt that the house was occupied as a private 
 residence. 
 
 It is a far cry from the fourteenth century to the nineteenth, and, 
 in spite of romancers, there are no very good reasons for conne<5ling 
 Wat Tyler's right-hand man either with Hampstead in general or 
 with this house in particular. Therefore it is as difficult to decide 
 on the origin of the name as it is to find any information respecting 
 its early history. 
 
 Washington Irving was one of the first to draw attention to the 
 charms of Jack Straw's Castle in his " Tales of a Traveller" (first 
 published in 1824). 
 
 29
 
 Mr. Edward Walford quoted in his " Old and New London," 
 from the " Cabinet of Curiosities," published by Limbird in 1822, 
 the following lines on the repair of the tavern : 
 
 "With best of food — of beer and wines, 
 
 Here may you pass a merry day ; 
 So shall mine host, while Phcebus shines, 
 
 Instead of straw make good his hay." 
 
 Dickens was a constant frequenter of the house, and on one 
 occasion, when asking his biographer, John Forster, to accompany 
 him for a brisk walk over Hampstead Heath, he wrote, " I know 
 a good house there where we can have a red-hot chop for dinner, 
 and a glass of good wine." 
 
 Everyone who knows Hampstead knows how splendid is the 
 situation of Jack Straw's Castle, and the views from the windows, 
 back and front, cannot well be forgotten by those who have once 
 seen them. 
 
 30
 
 
 
 
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 /'/-;/,• J
 
 PLATE IV 
 THE GROVE, HIGHGATE 
 
 THE Grove is still one of the most charming positions in 
 Highgate, and it will ever be remembered for its associations 
 with the poet Coleridge. 
 
 The site was originally occupied by Dorchester House, the 
 mansion of the Marquis of Dorchester, the loyal adherent of 
 Charles I. During the Commonwealth it fell into decay, and was 
 bought by a woollen-draper in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, who 
 started a scheme for establishing a hospital for the education and 
 maintenance of about forty fatherless boys and girls, to be supported 
 by the voluntary subscriptions of ladies, and to be called the Ladies' 
 Hospital or Charity School. Blake was an interesting man, and 
 he published in furtherance of his scheme one of the most curious 
 little books ever printed, which was entitled, "Silver Drops, or 
 Serious Things." Blake lost his fortune; the ladies did not do 
 what was expedled of them, and the whole undertaking came to 
 naught. 
 
 Six houses in the Grove, and two at the side on West Hill, 
 appear to have been built as early as 1685, and one of the earliest 
 inhabitants was Sir Francis Pemberton, after whom the place was 
 first named Pemberton Row. It was also styled Quality Walk 
 before the modern name of the Grove was given to it. 
 
 The Grove has always been well let, but the residence of 
 Samuel Taylor Coleridge at No. 3 (in the drawing the third from 
 the right), the house of Mr. James Gillman, the surgeon, has quite 
 eclipsed the associations of other men with this row of red-brick 
 houses, and the mention of the Grove suggests Coleridge, as that 
 of Coleridge does the Grove. 
 
 33
 
 During the eighteen years that Coleridge lived under the roof 
 of Mr. Gillman, tenderly cared for by that worthy man and his 
 amiable wife, Highgate became a shrine of genius, to which all the 
 intelledt of the country instindtively turned. 
 
 The memoirs of the time are full of allusions to the magic power 
 of exposition exercised by this marvellous man, but the most 
 touching of all is the record of the tender friendship between 
 Coleridge and Charles Lamb. Lamb was a constant visitor at the 
 Gillmans, and after Coleridge's death he wrote : " He was my fifty- 
 year-old friend without a dissension. Never saw I his likeness, nor 
 probably the world can see it again." 
 
 The grandson of Coleridge's Gillman (Mr. Alexander W. 
 Gillman) has published a most interesting book on " The Gillmans 
 of Highgate," in which there is much fresh matter respecfting 
 Coleridge. 
 
 34
 
 riiiu 4
 
 PLATE V 
 CROMWELL HOUSE, HIGHGATE 
 
 THIS fine old house appears to have been built at the beginning 
 of the seventeenth century by Richard Sprignell, who was 
 created a baronet in 1641, and it is probable that an old stone, once 
 the boundary of the garden, inscribed "a.d. 16 14," really fixes 
 the exaft date of the building. The Sprignell family were long 
 connected with Highgate, and names of members of it are found 
 in the registers after they had ceased to reside at this house. 
 
 It is not known how the house came into the possession of Oliver 
 Cromwell, but he is supposed to have presented it to his eldest 
 daughter,Bridget, on her marriage, January 15, 1646-47, with Henry 
 Ireton. As General Ireton was soon after appointed Lieutenant- 
 General and Governor-General of Ireland under the title of Lord 
 Deputy, and died at Limerick on November 26, 1651, he could 
 not have resided long at this house, although its internal decoration 
 bears evidence of his military tastes. The handsome staircase is 
 ornamented with carved figures of soldiers of the army of the 
 Commonwealth, and the balustrades are filled with devices emblem- 
 atical of a soldier's occupation. 
 
 A fire on January 3, 1865, destroyed the upper floors and the 
 ceiling of the drawing-room, on which the arms of Ireton were dis- 
 played. Ireton was an afting Governor of the Highgate Grammar 
 School, and his signature appears three times in the records. This 
 is good evidence of his residence, and there can be little doubt but 
 that this building should be called Ireton House rather than 
 Cromwell House. Curiously enough, a similar misnaming of a 
 house in Nottinghamshire is recorded. 
 
 37
 
 The Iretons were a Derbyshire family, and held property at 
 Little Ireton, from which village they took their name. German 
 Ireton, the father of Henry and John, was living at Attenborough, 
 Notts, when his two sons were born. Henry was the future 
 general, and John became Lord Mayor of London and was knighted 
 by Cromwell. 
 
 A house now used as a farmhouse is either the original dwelling 
 of German Ireton modernized, or a later building on its site. It is 
 known among the villagers as Cromwell House, although there 
 is no evidence of Cromwell having had anything whatever to do 
 with it. 
 
 After General Ireton's death Major-General Harrison lived at 
 the Highgate house, and he was visited here by Ludlow after he 
 had fallen into disgrace with the Protedtor. 
 
 The turret covered with cement and crowned with a dome is a 
 modern addition, and replaces the old platform on the roof. 
 
 Early in the present century Cromwell House was occupied as 
 a boy's school. It is now the Convalescent Home in connexion 
 with that valuble institution, the Hospital for Sick Children in 
 Great Ormond Street. 
 
 38
 
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 PLATE VI 
 LAUDERDALE HOUSE, HIGHGATE 
 
 LAUDERDALE HOUSE, which, after many vicissitudes, 
 is now the refreshment house of Waterlow Park, is said to 
 have been built about 1607, but Httle or nothing is known of its 
 early history. During the Commonwealth period Sir John Ireton, 
 brother of General Ireton, seems to have obtained possession of 
 the house out of the hands of the Lauderdale family. After the 
 Restoration the second Earl and first Duke of Lauderdale got it 
 back into his own possession, and on the 28th of July, 1666, 
 Samuel Pepys came up with Lord Brouncker to Highgate in a 
 coach and six to visit him. 
 
 There is little to interest us in the occupancy of Lauderdale, 
 who was one of the worst of the courtiers at a bad court. There is 
 a tradition connefted with Lauderdale House that it was here that 
 Nell Gwyn induced Charles II. to acknowledge her son, who 
 was afterwards Duke of St. Albans. There are two forms of the 
 story: one is that Nell called her son "bastard," and when the 
 king remonstrated with her, she said that he had no other name ; 
 whereat Charles created him Earl of Burford. The other version is 
 that Nell held her son out of one of the windows, and threatened 
 to let him fall unless the king gave him a title. Taken by sur- 
 prise, Charles cried out, " Save the Earl of Burford ! " There is 
 no record of Nell Gwyn's occupancy of this house, but it has been 
 suggested that the king borrowed it for her from Lauderdale when 
 the latter was in Scotland. 
 
 Of modern residents, Richard Bethell, afterwards Lord West- 
 bury and Lord Chancellor, was the most distinguished. A later 
 inhabitant was Mr. James Yates, F.R.S., who paid particular 
 
 41
 
 attention to the grounds, and was in the habit of giving garden 
 parties which were well attended by the scientific and literary men 
 of his day. 
 
 The property came into the possession of Sir Sydney Waterlow, 
 who, after the death of Mr. Yates, devoted it to the use of St. 
 Bartholomew's Hospital, of which he was treasurer, as a con- 
 valescent home. 
 
 When Waterlow Park was formed by the munificence of Sir 
 Sydney, Lauderdale House was carefully and securely restored, 
 and devoted to the sale of refreshments for the frequenters of the 
 park. 
 
 42
 
 I'l.itc 6
 
 PLATE VII 
 HIGHGATE ARCHWAY 
 
 THE extreme steepness of Highgate Hill has always been a 
 terror to the coachman and a cause of great distress to his 
 horse, and various attempts were made in the last century to ease 
 this severe gradient. It was not, however, until the beginning of 
 the present century that, in order to make some improvement in 
 the roadway for the coaches travelling the great Northern Road, 
 the Archway Road was projedled. 
 
 It is worthy of note that the use of the word in this case was 
 not intended at first to express such an archway as that sub- 
 sequently erefted, but to denote the arch of a tunnel. 
 
 In 1809 a scheme was projedted by Robert Vazie for diverting 
 the road and forming a subterraneous arch or tunnel, 24 ft. wide, 
 18 ft. high, and 375 yds. long, through the body of the hill. 
 Some alterations in the plan were subsequently made under the 
 advice of the great engineer John Rennie, who recommended a 
 redudion in the length of the tunnel and the substitution of open 
 cuttings in certain places. A private aft was obtained in May, 
 1 8 10, 50 Geo. III., c. 88, incorporating the projedors of the 
 scheme as " The Highgate Archway Company," and authorizing 
 the direcflors to raise ^^ 40,000 by shares of ^^50 each, with an 
 additional sum of ^20,000 if necessary. The directors were em- 
 powered "to levy perpetual tolls, not exceeding sixpence for every 
 horse or other beast drawing a carriage ; not exceeding threepence 
 for every horse or mule not drawing a carriage ; not exceeding 
 twopence for every donkey, and not exceeding one penny for every 
 foot passenger." 
 
 The seal of the Company represented a cart drawn by twelve 
 
 45
 
 horses going up a steep hill, and a cart drawn by six horses on the 
 level preparing to pass through the tunnel. The inscription was 
 " Highgate Archway Company, 1810. Sicut talpa sub terram 
 vivimus." The work was commenced, and the tunnel constructed 
 to the length of about 130 yards, when the whole fell in with a 
 tremendous crash. The causes of the failure were the treacherous- 
 ness of the London clay through which the tunnel was carried, and 
 the insufficiency of the brick lining. 
 
 The tunnel was now abandoned, and in accordance with the 
 plans and recommendations of the architeft, John Nash, an open 
 road in the line of the intended tunnel was formed. A further 
 a6t was obtained in 1 8 1 2, enabling the Company to raise more 
 capital to the extent of ^70,000. 
 
 The road was formally opened on August 21st, 18 13, but it 
 was exposed to the frequent and sudden influx of water, and all 
 attempts to form a firm roadway failed. In 1829 the works were 
 placed temporarily under the management of the Holyhead Road 
 Commissioners, when by an extensive system of drainage and by 
 laying the road metal in a thick bed of Roman cement, Telford, 
 with his assistant, Macneil, brought the road into an excellent 
 state. 
 
 The foundation stone of the Highgate Archway was laid on 
 Ocflober 2ist, x8i2. It was built of brick, faced with stone, and 
 surmounted by three semi-arches supporting a bridge, along which 
 the roadway of Hornsey Lane is continued. 
 
 The extension of the system of the North London Tramways 
 has necessitated a new archway, and the present one will be super- 
 seded by a bridge of brick and stone designed by the surveyor to 
 the Hornsey Local Board. The new ereftion will allow of a road 
 50 ft. wide instead of 1 6 ft. as at present. 
 
 The fall of the tunnel in 181 2 was made the subjecft of a play, 
 entitled " The Highgate Tunnel, or the Secret Arch," produced 
 at one of the London theatres, and it is said that the experience 
 gained from this failure was of service to Stephenson in construct- 
 ing his early railway tunnels through the London clay. 
 
 46
 
 
 V<' 
 
 
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 i, -'~~ 
 
 /VrtA- 7
 
 THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN SUBURBS 
 
 THE Londoner of the Middle Ages who looked out to the 
 North from the battlements at Cripplegate or Moorgate or 
 Aldersgate, saw several small villages dotted about in the open 
 country before him. 
 
 Nearest to him was Clerkenwell, which took its name from the 
 holy well where the clerks of London used to repair for the per- 
 formance of plays on scriptural subjefts. The village grew up 
 about the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem, the site of which is still 
 marked by St. John's Gate. 
 
 Farther north was Islington, which continued to be a true village 
 even as late as the last century, when Londoners were in the 
 habit of visiting the place for change of air. The poet Cowley 
 wrote in his poem on "Solitude" of what was even to him " Monster 
 London" — 
 
 " Let but thy wicked men from out thcc go, 
 And all the fools that crowd thee so, 
 
 Even thou, who dost thy millions boast, 
 A village less than Islington will grow, 
 
 A solitude almost." 
 
 Later Addison wrote and fathered on Dryden a couplet in which 
 the far-offness of Islington is insisted on — 
 
 " Not only London echoes with thy fame. 
 But also Islington has heard the same." 
 
 Even in the first half of the present century Islington was still 
 a pleasant rural resort, and in the census of 1801 the number of 
 
 49
 
 inhabitants in the district: including Holloway, Highbury, Canon- 
 bury, Barnsbury, Kingsland, Ball's Pond, etc., scarcely exceeded 
 ten thousand. 
 
 A little nearer to the walls, but farther to the east, was to be seen 
 Hoxton, a manor mentioned in Domesday. 
 
 The cause of this northern expansion of London is due to the 
 geological formation of the distrid:. The great expanse of London 
 clay is covered by gravel over the area of central London. This 
 formation also runs up to the north of the City, and made it possible 
 to build there in early times ; whereas in the North-Western dis- 
 tridts the clay comes to the surface, and it was therefore impossible 
 for a general settlement to take place until the Water Companies 
 came into existence, and then building operations commenced, 
 because the inhabitants of the new houses could be supplied with 
 water. 
 
 Up to the beginning of the present century there were few 
 buildings in the North- West between central London and Hamp- 
 stead and Highgate, where there was a local outcrop of Bagshot 
 sand. 
 
 The growth of the Eastern has been more continuous than that 
 of the Northern suburbs. 
 
 The road from Aldgate to Whitechapel and Mile End was long 
 the principal outlet from the City, and it naturally grew to be 
 thickly inhabited, more particularly as it is level ground and there 
 are no impediments in the way of hills. 
 
 Bow, however, long continued to be a rural suburb, but now the 
 huge distri<5l of West Ham has been joined to London, and a walk 
 eastward shows us an uninterrupted succession of houses and streets 
 as crowded as is the heart of the town. 
 
 It is somewhat startling, in illustration'of the difficulty of dealing 
 with " monster London," to find that West Ham, which joins Bow, 
 is outside the County of London, while Hampstead and part of 
 Highgate, which still retain many of their rural charaderistics, are 
 included in it. 
 
 SO 
 
 \
 
 PLATE VIII 
 CANONBURY TOWER, ISLINGTON 
 
 THIS interesting relic is the only remaining portion of the 
 old manor house given to the Prior and Canons of St. 
 Bartholomew in Smithfield by Ralph de Berners. The date of gift 
 is not known, but the place is mentioned among the possessions of 
 the Priory in 1253. 
 
 The manor house was rebuilt by Prior Bolton in Henry VIII.'s 
 reign, and he marked it with his rebus — a bolt in a tun. 
 
 On the dissolution of the religious houses the place was granted 
 by Henry VIII. to Thomas, Lord Cromwell, but it reverted to the 
 King on Cromwell's attainder. Edward VI. exchanged it with 
 Dudley, Earl of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland, and 
 when it again reverted to the Crown, Mary gave it to Thomas, 
 Lord Wentworth. Wentworth sold it in i 570 to Sir John Spencer, 
 whose daughter, Elizabeth, married William, Lord Compton, after- 
 wards Earl of Northampton. It has been said that the present 
 tower was built by Spencer, who came to reside at the manor in 1599. 
 
 A quaint old story tells about this marriage, that Sir John, one 
 of the richest of London's merchants, not only objedled to the match, 
 but entirely refused his consent. Lord Compton, however, out- 
 witted him by disguising himself as a baker, and, after delivering 
 the loaves in a large basket, carried off his bride in the same re- 
 ceptacle. Sir John meeting and not recognizing him, rewarded him 
 with sixpence for being so early ! However, when he learned the 
 truth, he was so angry that he disinherited his daughter. Queen 
 Elizabeth after an interval invited Sir John to stand sponsor with 
 her for a baby, and he even promised to adopt it, and found it to 
 be his own grandson. 
 
 51
 
 Lord Compton was afterwards created Earl of Northampton, 
 and inherited through his wife Canonbury Tower and other great 
 estates at Islington. 
 
 Several distinguished persons have resided at the manor house 
 at different times. Lord Keeper Egerton was here in 1605, Bacon 
 in 16 1 6, when Attorney-General, and Lord Keeper Coventry in 
 1625. 
 
 In later times Canonbury Tower appears to have been let to 
 persons who wished to obtain change of air in a retired position 
 away from the town. Samuel Humphreys died here January 1 1, 
 1737, and Ephraim Chambers, theencyclopasdist, on May 15, 1740. 
 
 John Newbery, the publisher, rented the place for a time, and 
 Christopher Smart, the poet, was here under Newbery 's proteftion. 
 Oliver Goldsmith was also a lodger when the place was in the pos- 
 session of Newbery. A more important person in worldly position 
 who occasionally resided at Canonbury was the famous Speaker 
 Onslow. In the " London Chronicle" for May 12, 176 1, there is an 
 announcement that the Right Hon. Arthur Onslow, late Speaker, 
 had gone to Canonbury House for a few days, for the benefit of 
 the air. 
 
 The Priory of St. Bartholomew's was supplied with water from 
 Canonbury, and there was an absurd tradition that a subterranean 
 communication existed between Canonbury and Smithfield. 
 
 During this century much very fine woodwork has been removed 
 from Canonbury Tower to decorate some of the rooms at Compton 
 Wynyates, the Marquis of Northampton's country mansion. 
 
 52
 
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 /'/,(/,■ 8
 
 PLATE IX 
 
 BRITISH ASYLUM FOR DEAF AND DUMB 
 FEMALES, LOWER CLAPTON 
 
 HACKNEY was of old one of the most important suburbs of 
 London, and was also a stronghold of the Nonconformists. 
 It was full of handsome old mansions of the well-to-do merchants 
 of a past age, but time has not dealt kindly with the place, and 
 though it has increased in population most of its more prosperous 
 residents have left it, and in many instances the larger houses have 
 been negleded or pulled down. 
 
 Clapton (both Upper and Lower) grew out of the prosperity of 
 Hackney, and one of the most famous of the inhabitants of this 
 suburb was John Howard, the philanthropist. 
 
 The house shown in this picflure is a fine specimen of domestic 
 architedture, well proportioned and in excellent taste, with a hand- 
 some iron entrance gate. It is situated on the west side of Clapton, 
 opposite to and between Pond Lane and the Orphan Asylum. 
 There are no special points of interest about the various persons 
 who have inhabited this old mansion. These were men of sub- 
 stance, but they have not connefted their names in any particular 
 way with the history of Clapton or of the county. One of them 
 is said to have made a fortune out of the sale of a certain descrip- 
 tion of domestic crockery, from which certain frivolous persons 
 attached a popular name to the house. 
 
 The position of the house is marked on Starling's map of 
 Hackney, 1731, with a field behind backing upon Back Lane. 
 As the house was probably built about 1700, it must in 1731 
 have been a fairly recent addition to the suburb. It contains a 
 handsome carved staircase. 
 
 55
 
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 /"/«/(• 9
 
 PLATE X 
 THE GREAT HOUSE, LEYTON 
 
 THIS is one of the handsomest houses in the neighbourhood 
 of London, and it must have been the work of some architeft 
 of repute. It is said to have been built for Sir Fraser Tench. It 
 is now, however, of too grandiose a character for its surroundings, 
 and as it is for sale it cannot be long before it disappears and is 
 replaced by rows of small houses. The back of this mansion is also 
 architedlural in design, although it is not so elegant as the front 
 shown in the drawing. The marble-paved entrance hall and centre 
 staircase are very fine and palatial, the latter indeed being one of 
 the most beautiful specimens of its period in existence, and the 
 paintings on the ceilings are said to be the work of Sir James 
 Thornhill. 
 
 The parish of Leyton, including the hamlet of Leytonstone in 
 the confines of Epping Forest, extends from Waithamstow on the 
 north to Stratford on the south. As some Roman remains have 
 been found in the neighbourhood, a claim was set up for it by 
 Camden as the Roman station Durolitum, but this opinion is not 
 confirmed by later writers, who suppose the Latin name to represent 
 Romford. 
 
 The manor of Leyton belonged to the Abbey of Stratford 
 Langthorne from about the year i 200 to the dissolution of the 
 religious houses. In 1545 it was granted to Lord Chancellor 
 Wriothesley, who sold it immediately, and it has since been often 
 transferred and a good deal subdivided. 
 
 The manor and reftory were bought in 1649 jointly by Captain 
 George Swanley, Bernard Ostler, and Robert Allot. David Gansel 
 bought Ostler's third portion, and became lord of the manor and 
 
 59
 
 patron of the vicarage, which descended to his son, Major- 
 General William Gansel. 
 
 Mr. Gansel sold the manor house with paddock and some land 
 to John Strange, Solicitor-General, 1736, and Recorder of Lxjndon, 
 1739. Strange was knighted in 1740, and was subsequently 
 appointed Master of the Rolls. He improved the house by sundry 
 additions. 
 
 The famous John Strype, the ecclesiastical historian and con- 
 tinuator of Stow's "Survey of London," was vicar of Leyton for 
 many years. 
 
 60
 
 Plate
 
 PLATE XI 
 THE ANGEL INN, WEST HAM 
 
 THE parish of West Ham is very extensive, and includes four 
 wards, viz., Church Street, Stratford Langthorne, Plaistow, 
 and Upton. It was populous in the time of Morant, the historian 
 of Essex (1768), and he describes the place as "the residence of 
 several considerable merchants, dealers and industrious artists." 
 
 It is greatly changed since then, and although a few interesting 
 houses still remain, the place has lost whatever attradtions it may 
 once have possessed. West Ham is now a borough, and has 
 become the home of manufactures which have been driven away 
 from London itself. 
 
 This view shows the village street of West Ham with the church 
 tower in the distance. The church is dedicated to All Saints, and 
 was given to the Abbey of Stratford Langthorne by Gilbert de 
 Montfichet, son of the founder. It is a large building, and although 
 it has been badly repaired at times, it contains some interesting 
 features. I n the restoration of 1 866 a transition Norman clerestory 
 was discovered. The church contains several interesting monu- 
 ments. 
 
 A little nearer to the front of the pidlure is the curious old 
 village inn, the "Angel," and on the opposite side of the street 
 are shown some solidly-built and handsome houses. 
 
 In the foreground of the pidure, where the spedlator may be 
 supposed to stand, there was, some thirty years ago, an old- 
 fashioned house where Thomas Carpenter, the author of the once- 
 famous Spelling Book, lived in the forties. At the back of the 
 house was a large garden, from which there was an uninterrupted 
 view of the house in Upton Lane where Mrs. Elizabeth Fry lived 
 
 63
 
 for many years. Ham House and park, where Samuel Gurney 
 lived, was purchased for ^T 2 5,000 and vested in the Corporation of 
 London for the use of the public. Of this amount the Gurney 
 family contributed ^^ 10,000 and the Corporation the same amount. 
 The remaining ;^ 5,000 was collefted from the inhabitants of West 
 Ham. 
 
 West Ham Park was formally opened for public use by the 
 Lord Mayor on the 20th of July, 1874. 
 
 64
 
 Plate 1 1 
 
 ^'^(^L 
 
 ^^^, ji-.
 
 PLATE XII 
 HIGH STREET, BOW 
 
 THE village of Stratford-le-Bow is described in the "Beauties 
 of England and Wales" (1816) as situated two miles from 
 London. The name originated early in the twelfth century, when 
 Queen Matilda caused the Roman road from Colchester to be 
 diverted from Old Ford to this place, and built an arched bridge 
 here. The designation " atte bowe " was added to the name 
 Stratford on account of the form of the bridge. Further east is 
 another Stratford, which for distinction's sake was styled Stratford 
 Langthorne. Now " Stratford atte bowe " has come to be called 
 Bow, and the other Stratford has lost its distinguishing title of 
 Langthorne. Leland describes what happened in the following 
 passage : 
 
 " Matilda, wife of Henry I., having herself been well washed 
 in the water, caused two bridges to be builded in a place one mile 
 distant from the Old Ford, of the which one was situated over 
 Lee at the head of the town of Stratford now called Bowe, because 
 the bridge was arched like unto a bowe, a rare piece of work, for 
 before that time the like had never been seen in England. The 
 other over the little brooke, commonly called Chanelse Bridge." 
 
 The church was built as a chapel of ease to Stepney early in the 
 fourteenth century, and was founded by Edward IV. on a piece of 
 ground that was " part of the king's highway." It is this which 
 gives the old church such a picturesque effedl, standing as it does 
 in the middle of the road, and every lover of the antiquities of 
 London must be pleased that the efforts to save this old landmark 
 from destruction have been successful. 
 
 The church was consecrated as the parish church of Bow on the 
 
 67
 
 26th of March, 17 19. Of late years it has been allowed to fall 
 into a rather dilapidated state, but it is now being restored. 
 
 This view gives an excellent idea of the old church, with the road 
 and interesting old houses on the north side looking London- 
 wards, 
 
 68
 
 Plate 12
 
 PLATE XIII 
 GROVE HALL LUNATIC ASYLUM, BOW 
 
 THE visitor to this interesting old house has a surprise in store 
 for him. He passes out of the Bow Road into Fairfield 
 Road, and, after walking by some small suburban houses, he comes 
 to a high wall on the right-hand side of the road. He rings the 
 bell and is admitted at the gate. He then sees a large lawn and 
 garden with shady trees, and in the far distance the imposing out- 
 line of Grove Hall. 
 
 When he comes up to the front, he finds a handsome specimen 
 of a late seventeenth-century house, whose wings have been added 
 in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. 
 
 On entering the house he comes into a hall which fills the whole 
 depth of the building, and he finds that the original front was that 
 which is seen in the drawing and looks upon the river Lea. This 
 front is certainly superior to the other in architectural efFedl. 
 
 Within there is a fine old wooden staircase, but this has been 
 placed at the side of the house, and is not made a feature of the 
 interior. 
 
 There is much good oak carving and handsome mantelpieces in 
 the different rooms, but the oak has been thickly painted over and 
 grained in imitation of oak. The oak panelling has also been spoiled 
 by having wall-paper pasted over it. 
 
 This is a fine specimen of a merchant's mansion, when Bow was 
 a highly appreciated residential neighbourhood. 
 
 71
 
 I 
 
 J
 
 
 Plait 13
 
 PLATE XIV 
 HOME FOR AGED JEWS, STEPNEY GREEN 
 
 STEPNEY was originally the mother-parish of the whole of 
 what is now called " East London," and included Stratford- 
 le-Bow, Whitechapel, Shadwell, Mile End, Poplar, Blackwall, 
 Spitalfields, Ratcliff, Limehouse, and Bethnal Green, some of which 
 places with others now form the Tower Hamlets. 
 
 The manor was originally held by the Bishops of London, who 
 had a residence here called Bishop's Hall, but this was alienated by 
 Bishop Ridley, and now the Bishops of London have no residence 
 either in the City of London or in the East End. 
 
 In Domesday the manor is styled Stibenhede. The name has 
 also been written as Stevenhethe, Stebenhethe and Stebenhythe, and 
 probably means St. Stephen's haven. 
 
 This place suffered very severely from the great Plague in 1665, 
 and Lord Clarendon, referring to the difficulty of obtaining seamen 
 in the following year, wrote, "Stepney and the places adjacent, 
 which were their common habitations, were almost depopulated." 
 
 There is a Synagogue and Jews' burial-ground at Stepney, and 
 this fine old house at 37 and 39, Stepney Green, with its wrought- 
 iron gate and railing, is occupied as a Home for aged Jews. 
 
 75
 
 I 
 
 I
 
 I'lalc 14
 
 THE WESTERN SUBURBS 
 
 THE Western Suburbs of London are those which are 
 specially rich in associations of a literary and historical 
 charaefter. 
 
 The town naturally grew along the course of the river, partly 
 because the gravel followed this course, and partly because the 
 river itself was the great silent highway which joined the villages 
 on its banks with the City. It was thus easy and convenient for 
 the Londoner to reach Chelsea and Fulham, and Hammersmith 
 and Chiswick, by boat. 
 
 When London was confined to the City proper, the citizens 
 were naturally more inclined to settle in the suburbs in the north 
 and in the east, which were situated nearer to their doors. 
 
 The great western road along the Strand of the river was at 
 first occupied by the mansions of bishops and great nobles who 
 wished to take advantage of the river, and to be between the City 
 on the one side, and the Parliament house and the King's palace at 
 Westminster on the other. When the West End had grown to a 
 considerable size, those who wished to go further afield for pure 
 air, sought the seclusion of the pretty villages by the river-side. 
 
 Chelsea is mentioned in Domesday, and a John de Chelse is 
 entered in the City books in 1283. Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of 
 Warwick, who fought at Crecy and Poitiers, lived at Chelsea, and 
 his will was dated from here in 1369, and William, Marquis of 
 Berkeley, who died in 1491, left his house at Chelsea to John 
 Whiting and his heirs. The most famous resident of Chelsea 
 was Sir Thomas More, whose house was on the site of what is 
 now Beaufort Row. 
 
 79
 
 The manor was alienated in 1536 to Henry VIII., from whom 
 it passed to Katharine Parr as part of her marriage jointure. It 
 subsequently passed through many hands till it was bought by 
 Sir Hans Sloane from William, Lord Cheyne, in 171 2. Charles, 
 second Lord Cadogan, married Sir Hans Sloane's daughter, and 
 thus obtained the manor, which has remained in his family to the 
 present time. 
 
 Fulham is also mentioned in Domesday, and the manor house 
 has been occupied by the Bishops of London. The entrance 
 to this is by an arched gateway which leads into the great 
 quadrangle. It was built in the reign of Henry VII. by Bishop 
 Fitzjames, whose arms are on the wall and over the gateway. 
 
 Kensington is registered in Domesday, but it did not become a 
 popular place of residence till the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries. 
 
 Hammersmith began to be a summer retreat for the nobility 
 and wealthy citizens in the seventeenth century. The most 
 pleasant part of Hammersmith is the Mall, and from this we pass 
 on to Chiswick Mall, which, although much altered, retains 
 still many of its old charadleristics. Several of the fine houses 
 have been pulled down. One of these was Chiswick Hall 
 (formerly College House), which was a country residence of the 
 masters of Westminster School and a retreat for the scholars in 
 visitations of plague and sickness. It was situated a little to the 
 east of the " Red Lion." Dr. Busby resided here with some of 
 his scholars in 1657, "on account of the hot and sickly season of 
 the year;" and again in 1665, when the plague made a desert of 
 London and its vicinity, the great schoolmaster and his scholars 
 fled from Westminster to Chiswick. The house was occupied in 
 the present century by Mr. Charles Whittingham, who established 
 here the Chiswick Press. 
 
 Of all the western suburbs Chiswick has kept its rural charadler 
 longest, and even now there still remains much to conned it with 
 the past. 
 
 80
 
 PLATE XV 
 No. 4, CHEYNE WALK, CHELSEA 
 
 THIS terrace of houses by the river-side, with its red-brick 
 buildings and row of trees in front, is a veritable relic of the 
 Queen Anne period. It has always been a favourite resort of 
 artists, and the story of Turner's sojourn during the last days of 
 his life at the small house (No. 119) is too well known to be 
 repeated here. 
 
 Cheyne Walk (as also Cheyne Row, the residence of Carlyle for 
 nearly fifty years) is named after Charles, Lord Cheyne, lord of 
 the manor of Chelsea, who died in 1698. The name is always 
 pronounced as a dissyllable, and in some old writings is spelt — 
 Cheyney. 
 
 The original embankment of the river was completed about the 
 end of the seventeenth century, and Faulkner, the historian of 
 Chelsea and other western suburbs, says that the manorial records 
 show how the keeping of it in repair and good order was a con- 
 stant subjedt of vexatious dispute between the lord of the manor 
 and the tenants. The present Chelsea embankment, which has 
 done so much to improve Chelsea, was opened in 1874. The 
 ornamental gardens were formed on the space gained from the 
 muddy foreshore of the river. 
 
 The old house shown in the picture was the residence of the 
 great painter, Daniel Maclise, R.A., and here he died on April 1 5th, 
 1870. After him the well-known Oriental scholar and numis- 
 matist, W. S. W. Vaux, Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society, 
 lived here for a time. Mr. Vaux subsequently resided at the 
 Society's house in Albemarle Street, and No. 4 was taken by 
 Mr. John Walter Cross, who married the great novelist, " George 
 
 81
 
 Eliot," on May 6th, 1880, but Mrs. Cross's residence in this house J 
 
 was short, for on December 22nd of the same year she died here, ^ 
 
 and was buried in Highgate Cemetery. 
 
 The Rev. A. G. L'Estrange, in his" Village of Palaces," records 
 a peculiarity in this house. There is a shoot or opening from the 
 top of the house to the basement, and Mr. Vaux surmised that it 
 was intended for throwing down stolen goods in case of surprise, as 
 such shoots have been found in houses where highwaymen and 
 other thieves have resided. 
 
 82 
 
 I
 
 
 Plate I :
 
 PLATE XVI 
 QUEEN'S HOUSE, No. i6, CHEYNE WALK 
 
 THIS very fine house was previously called Tudor House, there 
 being a legend that it had been lived in by the Princess 
 Elizabeth Tudor, but this can hardly have been founded on fa6t. 
 Henry VIII. built a large mansion which stood on Cheyne Walk, 
 and extended from Winchester House on the west to Don Saltero's 
 Coffee House on the east ; the latter building is said to have been 
 No. 1 8, so that it is quite possible that Tudor House may have 
 been built on part of the gardens of the king's mansion, and, also 
 that the very fine mulberry tree which stood in its garden may 
 have been the same which Elizabeth is said to have planted. In 
 the king's building Queen Anne of Cleves died, and it has been 
 suggested that the present name is due to this incident. The 
 present building is probably not much older than the reign of 
 Charles II., and his queen, Catherine of Braganza, is said to have 
 resided in it. It has also been understood to be the house which 
 Thackeray describes as the residence of the old Countess of Chelsea 
 in " Esmond." 
 
 But it was during its occupation by Dante Gabriel Rossetti 
 from 1862 that Queen's House reached the great point in its 
 history. Few houses in London have had gathered together 
 within their walls such a group of artistic talent as this one. Mr. 
 George Meredith, Mr. Algernon Charles Swinburne, Mr. W. M. 
 Rossetti, and Mr. Frederick Sandys lived in it for a time with 
 Rossetti. Himself a king amongst men, a pioneer and leader in 
 painting and poetry, he gathered a most brilliant company round 
 his table, men who excelled in many walks of life, and the meetings, 
 although not to be described exaftly as Bohemian, were marked by 
 
 85
 
 the most genial conviviality. At the back of the house was a great 
 garden (now much curtailed), overlooked by his studio, which gave 
 suggestions for the charming vistas seen in mirrors in the back- 
 ground of his pidtures. In this garden was at times eredted a 
 great tent, sometimes used as a dining chamber, sometimes as a 
 place to adjourn to after dinner to spend the summer evenings. 
 At other times, one has a pidture of Rossetti curled up on a great 
 sofa in the splendid drawing-room overlooking the river, whilst 
 G. A. Sala spun yarns, and gathered round would be Ford Madox 
 Brown, William Morris, Burne-Jones, and Mr. Whistler; Mr. 
 Philip Webb and Jekyll the architects ; J. E. Boehm, then prince 
 of sculptors ; Mr. Stillman, and Mr. Val Prinsep, and his father- 
 in-law, F. R. Leyland, merchant-prince and patron of them all ; 
 whilst over them presided a brilliant and sympathetic mind draw- 
 ing the best from each. 
 
 Such is an inadequate account of the picture Dr. Whistler has 
 described to me of his frequent personal experiences of the life 
 in Queen's House before Rossetti's health broke down. 
 
 After his death in 1882 the house was tenanted for some years 
 by the Rev. H. R. Haweis, who put the small flying Mercury on 
 the top. 
 
 T. R. W. 
 
 86
 
 4SJ - v.-^.-f^-^V - > 
 
 
 i ^-'Hw&^^rj*'. 4^;j. 
 
 
 /'/,r,V 1 6
 
 PLATE XVII 
 BELFIELD HOUSE, PARSON'S GREEN 
 
 PARSON'S GREEN takes its name from the reftory house of 
 the parish of Fulham, which once stood on the west side of 
 the green, and was pulled down about the year 1740. Formerly 
 a fair was held annually on August 17th in the open space. This, 
 Faulkner tells us, was held from time immemorial. 
 
 One of the most distinguished residents on Parson's Green was 
 Sir Thomas Bodley, the founder of the Bodleian Library ; another 
 was that erratic genius, the great Earl of Peterborough, who lived 
 at Peterborough House, the most important mansion on the green. 
 
 But a greater than these two great men is believed to have lived 
 in the house represented in this pidture — and that was Francis 
 Bacon. Lysons wrote: " When the great Lord Chancellor Bacon 
 fell into disgrace, and was restrained from coming within the verge 
 of the court, he procured a licence, dated September 13th, 1 621, to 
 retire for six weeks to the house of his friend. Lord Chief Justice 
 Vaughan, at Parson's Green." Faulkner, commenting upon this, 
 wrote : " This could not be the Sir John Vaughan who was Lord 
 Chief Justice in 1661. We know of no other who was Lord 
 Chief Justice. In the parish books the person to whose house 
 Lord Bacon retired is called ' The Lord Vaughan,' who probably 
 resided in the house now (18 13) occupied by Mr. Maxwell as a 
 boarding school, and called Albion House, a spacious mansion 
 built in that style of architefture which prevailed at the commence- 
 ment of the reign of James 1." 
 
 Belfield House was formerly known as Albion House, and it is 
 an excellent specimen of a good seventeenth-century mansion. It 
 has been put into a state of good repair by the present proprietor, 
 
 89
 
 Mr. Theodore Roussell, who has disinterred from countless coats 
 of paint a splendid oak staircase and much delightful carved wood- 
 work through the house. 
 
 Local tradition reports that Belfield House was inhabited by 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert and also by Mrs. Jordan, but there is probably 
 some mistake here, for Mrs. Fitzherbert is known to have lived in 
 the first house on the east side of Parson's Green, which was built 
 by Sir Francis Child, Lord Mayor of London in 1699, and was 
 known as East End House. 
 
 Samuel Richardson lived at Parson's Green when he removed 
 from North End in 1755, and here he died on July 4th, 1761. 
 His house was formerly the residence of Sir Edward Saunders, 
 Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in 1682. 
 
 90
 
 ^ .^v^^- - i- 
 
 ¥ •-'.' 
 
 
 
 
 '^•ift?- 
 
 -1 . 
 
 4 ■ C^^il ^1 
 
 
 
 /"/rt/f 17
 
 PLATE XVIII 
 Nos. II AND 12, KENSINGTON SQUARE 
 
 KENSINGTON was a suburb which early became a favourite 
 among men of taste. In the Domesday Survey the manor 
 of Kensington is described as having been in the possession of one 
 Edwin. Soon afterwards it belonged to Albericus de Ver, who 
 held it under the Bishop of Coutances. In course of time the De 
 Veres managed to turn their property into freehold. One of the 
 De Veres being under obligations to the Abbot of Abingdon, 
 obtained permission of his father and the next heir to cut off a 
 part of the manor as a gift to the Abbots of Abingdon. All this is 
 recorded in such names as Earl's Court and St. Mary Abbots. 
 
 Sir Walter Cope purchased the manor of St. Mary Abbots, 
 and was one of the earliest residents of importance in Kensington. 
 It was, however, William III. who brought the place into fashion 
 when he purchased Nottingham House in 1689. Kensington 
 Square (first called King's Square), however, was commenced before 
 this time, and the south side was called King's Parade. Mr. Loftie 
 says that there is an old tradition how King Street and James Street 
 were named after James II., and Charles Street after Charles 
 Harmston, the son of the carpenter who built it, and not after 
 Charles II. 
 
 Thomas Young, who gave his name to Young Street, built a 
 large part of the square. (He died in 17 13.) 
 
 In George II. 's reign Kensington Square was at the height of 
 its popularity, and it was then difficult to obtain houses or apart- 
 ments. It is said that an ambassador, a bishop, and a physician 
 were found at one time in the same house. It was here that Colonel 
 Esmond entertained the Old Pretender. Thackeray's presence, in 
 
 93
 
 fad, pervades the whole place. The whole aspeft of the houses tells 
 us of a time which the great novelist had made entirely his own. In 
 Young Street, Thackeray lived from i 847 to 1 853. His house, No. 
 13 (now 16), with its bow windows, looks into the square, and seems 
 almost a part of it. Here he wrote " Vanity Fair," " Pendennis," 
 " Esmond," and portions of the " The Newcomes." 
 
 The square is full of old-world houses, but the two in the pidture, 
 which are situated in the south-west corner, are of special interest. 
 The left-hand one has a handsome canopy over the door, and probably 
 the right-hand house had a similar one, which was taken away in the 
 early part of this century, when a debased taste prevailed. 
 
 94
 
 M 
 
 % 
 
 ~\'i - N 
 
 5t' o 
 
 
 --r 
 
 
 ^?^'" 
 
 
 
 "..- f. 
 
 \. J^!»*:'i 
 
 f 1^^ , iff: ii, J|*^ . ^-^ 
 
 
 /•/Vr/e" 1 8
 
 PLATE XIX 
 HOLLAND HOUSE, KENSINGTON 
 
 HOLLAND HOUSE is by far the most interesting old 
 mansion in the immediate neighbourhood of London, not 
 only because it is a charming specimen of a style of building of 
 which very few examples remain to us, but also on account of the 
 endless series of historical and literary associations connedted with 
 it. Macaulay wrote that its "turrets and gardens are associated 
 with so much that is interesting and noble," and that it " was the 
 favourite resort of wits and beauties, of painters and poets, of 
 scholars, philosophers, and statesmen." He prophesied that its 
 site would be covered by streets, and he lived almost within the 
 shadow of the house. We may, therefore, be grateful that it still 
 stands, and we may fervently hope that it may stand for many 
 years. 
 
 The house was built in 1607 by Sir Walter Cope, Gentleman of 
 the Bedchamber to James I., and one of the Chamberlains of the 
 Exchequer. It is said to be the work of John Thorpe, the famous 
 archite6t, of whom so little is known, and it was known originally 
 as Cope Castle. 
 
 Cope's daughter, Isabel, married Henry Rich, created Baron 
 Kensington and Earl of Holland, who came into possession of the 
 house and named it after his title. He built the wings and 
 arcades in 1622-24, ^"^ in 1649 he was beheaded. 
 
 During the Civil Wars the Parliament men got hold of the place, 
 but Lady Holland managed to obtain possession of her house again, 
 and she set to work at once to build a new wall. An inscription 
 on a stone to this efFedl — " This side done by y" La. Holland 
 A.D. 1654" — was discovered in the year 1806 and was placed on 
 
 91
 
 the wall of the arcade. Plays were adted here in the later years of the 
 Commonwealth, and Cavaliers and others were invited to see them. 
 
 The widow of Edward Rich, third Earl of Holland and sixth 
 Earl of Warwick, married Addison in 1716, and for three years 
 the essayist was a resident at Holland House. His enemies said 
 that the tedium of his walks in the long library were relieved by 
 reason of a glass of brandy and water being provided for him at 
 each end of the room. 
 
 William Edwardes (after whom Edwardes Square was named), 
 who was created Lord Kensington in 1776, sold the house to the 
 statesman Henry Fox, who took the title of Holland from the 
 name of his mansion. 
 
 In his day, and more particularly in that of his grandson, Henry 
 Richard, Lord Holland, Holland House was the resort of one of 
 the most brilliant circles that has ever been gathered together in 
 one house. From 1799 to 1840 Holland House was at the 
 height of its brilliancy. In the latter year the third Lord Holland 
 died, and just before his death he wrote those lines which were 
 inscribed upon his statue : 
 
 "Nephew of Fox, and friend of Grey, 
 
 Sufficient for my fame, 
 If those who knew me best shall say 
 
 I tarnished neither name." 
 
 It has been said that there was hardly a distinguished man in 
 politics, science, or literature, who had not been a guest at 
 Holland House. The names of Macaulay and Sydney Smith, 
 Luttrell and Moore, Lord Brougham and Sir James Mackintosh, 
 Talleyrand and Madame de Stael will occur to everyone as those 
 of the most constant visitors to the house of the genial lord and 
 the caustic and clever lady who scattered " Kensington nettles " 
 around her. 
 
 Lady Holland, widow of Henry Edward, fourth and last lord, 
 who died at Naples in 1859, ^°^^ '■^^ reversion of the property to 
 the Earl of Ilchester, who now owns it, and by whose kind 
 permission the drawing for the frontispiece to this volume was 
 made. 
 
 98
 
 PLATE XX 
 THE RED COW, HAMMERSMITH 
 
 THIS was a wayside inn that recalled to us the charms of a 
 former day, when the Hammersmith Road was a pleasant 
 suburban thoroughfare. Now that it has become a thronged high- 
 way, it is futile to regret that a relic of a day when there was some 
 poetry in life should be replaced by a building respedting which 
 the less that is said the better. 
 
 Mr. Way has brought the old inn before us as it appeared 
 yesterday, for he has introduced into his pidture a young lady on 
 a bicycle. To-day, the Hammersmith Road is a great hunting- 
 ground for the cyclist, who has added a new terror to life for the 
 middle-aged and the old. 
 
 Tradition reports that the " Red Cow " is the oldest licensed 
 house in the neighbourhood of London, but for the truth of this 
 tradition it is not perhaps safe to vouch. 
 
 It is also said to have been the first stage in the coaching journeys 
 westwards, the place where the smart teams which had started out 
 from London were replaced by the less showy teams which did 
 the greater part of the work. 
 
 99
 
 ' 'I V' 
 
 
 ■v:/fM.^^ 
 
 /'/'if/i- 20
 
 i 

 
 PLATE XXI 
 
 KELMSCOTT HOUSE AND "THE DOVES," 
 UPPER MALL, HAMMERSMITH 
 
 THE roadway along the river front at Hammersmith has been 
 known for some centuries as the Upper and Lower Malls. 
 Many fine mansions have stood there in the past, and not a few 
 still remain. 
 
 The very charming view of the river and delightful air seem 
 always to have been an attradlion. The two Malls are divided by 
 a small but navigable stream, which at one time ran for a con- 
 siderable distance inland, and a group of very mean cottages known 
 as " Little Wapping," occupied in the past by fishermen. 
 
 *' The Doves " public-house stands at about the west end of 
 this dividing group ; it is shown on the right of the drawing. 
 There are some historical interests attaching to it besides its present 
 boating associations. Faulkner, in his " History of Hammer- 
 smith," says, " In a room in the Dove Coffee House, situated 
 facing the water- side between the two Malls, Thomson wrote 
 part of his 'Winter.' He was in the habit of frequenting this 
 house during the winter, when the Thames was frozen and the 
 surrounding country covered with snow." Just beyond "The 
 Doves " was a little cottage used by the Duke of Sussex as a 
 " smoking-box." 
 
 On the Upper Mall, very near to the site of Kelmscott House, 
 stood what seems to have been from the old description a very 
 fine mansion, in which Queen Catherine, dowager of Charles II., 
 lived for some years. During her residence the frontage of the 
 Mall was carried out into the river in the form of a bastion, and 
 planted with elms, doubtless the trees still standing, which are 
 magnificent specimens. Later on, during the reign of Queen Anne, 
 
 103
 
 Dr. RadclifFe bought the Queen's house — a very famous man in 
 his day both for his wit and his prescriptions. 
 
 ' Kelmscott House is a Georgian building with a very plain front, 
 relieved by a handsome doorway. The back has rather more 
 architeflural features, with a very large bay overlooking an immense 
 garden. In 1 8 16 Sir Francis Ronalds, the distinguished eledtrician, 
 came to live there, and made many experiments in telegraphy ; 
 indeed, he construded what was doubtless the first eledric telegraph, 
 some eight miles in length, supported on poles in the garden, 
 through which he sent messages very much on the same principles 
 as those now in use. He was knighted in 1870, "in acknowledg- 
 ment of his remarkable labours in telegraphic investigation," at 
 the age of eighty -two ! 
 
 Dr. George Macdonald is said to have also lived here. 
 
 William Morris, who took it some time towards the end of the 
 seventies, has, however, given the greatest interest to it. It was 
 he who gave it the name of Kelmscott House, after his country 
 home, Kelmscott Manor, near Lechlade. Here this indefatig- 
 able worker and mighty genius perfected his lifework, and 
 must have rejoiced to see the amazing growth of his influence, 
 the extraordinary power which the principles he had taught so 
 long were showing. The results of the revolution in arts of 
 every kind which he led is even now not easy to realize, for 
 his influence over men was very great, and where he has shown 
 the way an army of younger men are carrying on the tradition. 
 In a beautiful old house close adjoining and opposite " The Doves," 
 he established the Kelmscott Press, and taught how books should 
 be decorated by printing a miost superb series of volumes. A 
 great poet, a great artist, and an incomparable decorator, he died 
 at Kelmscott House, Odober 3rd, 1896, one of the leading spirits 
 of the century, 
 
 T. R. W. 
 
 104
 
 
 
 
 l^^tf*^ 
 
 
 /•/,;/,■ 2 1
 
 PLATE XXII 
 WALPOLE HOUSE, CHISWICK MALL 
 
 HAMMERSMITH and Chiswick Malls form together one 
 of the most beautiful of walks along the banks of the river. 
 The walk is well supplied with handsome trees, and in its prime 
 was well inhabited. A few years ago it fell on evil times, and 
 some of the houses decayed and others were taken down. Lately, 
 however, there has been a revival, and the place is now rated at its 
 true value. 
 
 This picture shows Walpole House, which is situated opposite 
 to Chiswick Eyot. The building is very handsome and very quaint, 
 and the fine old doorway is worthy of special notice. 
 
 Walpole House takes its name from several members of the 
 great family of Walpole who originally lived in it, but it was not 
 at any time the residence of Horace Walpole, as might be supposed 
 by the name of Strawberry Hill attached to the next house. 
 
 Some of the Walpoles were buried in Chiswick Church, and 
 have had monuments ereded to their memory there. 
 
 Like so many of these houses, it has been occupied as a school, 
 and it has had a distinguished resident in Daniel O'Connell, who 
 lived here while he was reading for the bar. 
 
 Mr. Edward Walford supposes that Barbara, Duchess of Cleve- 
 land, who died on Odober 9th, 1709, and was buried in the 
 chancel of Chiswick Church, lived at Walpole House. 
 
 107
 
 Plate 22
 
 PLATE XXIII 
 BURLINGTON ARMS, CHISWICK 
 
 THIS view of the village street of Chiswick shows the pidlu- 
 resque old lath-and-plaster building occupied by the Burling- 
 ton Arms. In conne<5tion with the name, it will be remembered that 
 the original Chiswick. House belonging to the Earl of Somerset was 
 purchased by the Earl of Burlington at the end of the seventeenth 
 century, and was rebuilt (1730-36) by the architeft earl, who was 
 pelted with epigrams on the contrast between its inconvenient interior 
 and elegant exterior. 
 
 In the distance is seen the " Lamb " tap. 
 
 Although Chiswick has been greatly altered of late years, it still 
 retains some flavour of its rural charafter, and there are several 
 " bits " of interest to be seen, such as Chiswick Square, which is a 
 very quaint place. 
 
 On the west side of Chiswick Lane is a row of five red-brick 
 houses, now called Mawson's Row (formerly Mawson's Buildings), 
 which is interesting in itself, but has the added interest of having 
 been for a short time the residence of the poet Pope. Pope's father 
 died here in 1717, and was buried in Chiswick churchyard. In the 
 British Museum are portions of the original drafts of the translation 
 of the "Iliad," written on the backs of letters addressed "To Mr. 
 Pope, at his house in y" New Buildings, Chiswick." 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 1
 
 
 
 
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 /'/«/,• 23
 
 PLATE XXIV 
 HOGARTH'S HOUSE, CHISWICK 
 
 THE connexion of Hogarth with Chiswick continued for 
 several years, and when he died on Ocftober 25th, 1764, his 
 body was buried in Chiswick churchyard, where the marble tomb 
 ereded in 1771 is a prominent objeft. On the tomb is inscribed 
 Garrick's well-known lines, which were reduced from five stanzas 
 under the advice of Dr. Johnson : 
 
 " Farewell, great painter of mankind! 
 
 Who reach'd the noblest point of art; 
 Whose piftured morals charm the eye, 
 
 And through the eye correft the heart r 
 
 "If genius fire thee, reader, stay; 
 
 If nature touch thee, drop a tear; 
 If neither move thee, turn away. 
 
 For Hogarth's honoured dust lies here." 
 
 The first four lines are infinitely superior to the last four. 
 Johnson was very severe in his criticism on Garrick's original 
 verses, but he specially praised "piftured morals" as a beautiful 
 expression. The revised version follows Johnson's form, for the 
 dodlor wrote : " Suppose you worked upon something like this : 
 
 " ' The hand of art here torpid lies 
 
 That traced the essential form of grace; 
 
 Here death has closed the curious eyes 
 That saw the manners in the face. 
 
 "'If genius warm thee, reader, stay; 
 
 If merit touch thee, shed a tear; 
 Be vice and dulness far away! 
 
 Great Hogarth's honoured dust is here.'"
 
 This old-fashioned red-brick house in Hogarth Lane was used 
 as a summer residence by Hogarth from the year 1748. It is 
 said that it was previously the residence of his father-in-law. Sir 
 James Thornhill. 
 
 The principal room on the first floor has a projecting bow 
 window of three lights, which the late Mr, Tom Taylor believed 
 was added by Hogarth. His painting-room, however, was over 
 the stable at the end of the garden. 
 
 Hogarth had many pets, and tablets to the memory of his birds 
 and dogs were let into the garden wall, but they have now 
 disappeared. Of his habits at Chiswick Tom Taylor wrote in his 
 little book on " Leicester Square " (1874) : " Besides his favourite 
 amusement of riding, he used to occupy himself in painting and 
 superintending the engravers whom he often had down from 
 London, and to his Chiswick cottage he now came after his bitter 
 bout with Wilkes and Churchill, bringing some plates for 
 retouching. He was cheerful but weak, and must have felt the 
 end was not far off, when in February, 1764, he put the last 
 touches to his ' Bathos.' " 
 
 On Oftober 25th he travelled from Chiswick to Leicester- 
 fields, and arrived there in a very weak condition. In the same 
 night he died, after two hours' struggle. His widow continued to 
 live in the Chiswick house till her death in 1789. 
 
 The house with its large garden and high wall still remains, 
 and is in the occupation of a gardener, but it is hemmed in by 
 small houses, and is very different in appearance from what it 
 must have been when Hogarth inhabited it. 
 
 A later resident was the Rev. H. F. Cary, the translator of 
 Dante. 
 
 V 
 
 116
 
 Plate 24
 
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