.^^:i } xm -^;-^: -- ..- :if^ ■ •«*■■< a tf~- ^'■^- "«^< W^h j>l~ ^- ^. H-x^^ *.v \:J'^ ■^■f^ < - <^^,.. .%::^^ :%: > -' Jiftlhnn. PERAMBULATION ISLINGTON. BY THOMAS EDLYNE TOMLINS, Esquire. Joculare tibl videtur; Et sane ben^, Dum nihil habemus majus, Calamo ludimos. LONDON : JAMES S. HODSON, 22, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN'S INN ; K. J. FORD AND SON, 11, BARNSBURY PLACE, ISLINGTON. 1858. Lomdon: Frntted by J. S. NodMon^ 22, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Ini^. TO tZDge £^cmorp of tf)t late RICHARD PERCIVAL, Esq., OF HIGHBURY, MIDDLESEX, AS A SLIGHT MEMORIAL OF HIS GREAT WORTH, OF THE ESTIMATION IN WHICH HE WAS HELD BY HIS FELLOW PARISHIONERS AND NEIGHBOURS, AND IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THE INTEREST HE TOOK IN THE PROGRESS OF THESE PAGES, DEVELOPING THE ANTIQUITIES OF ISLINGTON, THIS WORK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. 1G9G72? ADVERTISEMENT. The Author of the present Topographical Essay, has endeavoured to take a different and more enlarged view of the Antiquities of Islington near London, than that which has been presented by his predecessors. How far such end has been obtained, he feels that it is not for him to predicate : he has endeavoured to dis- course upon his subject independent of his predecessors ; except only when he has to acknowledge any information derived trom them of which he has availed himself, few as those instances have been. The Author's main object, indeed, has been to supply what he conceives to be the leading defect in his prede- cessors' labours, abstaining from borrowing or copying from them what they may be deemed to have adequately performed. He trusts, therefore, that his present work will be read concurrently with theirs; more especially as he disclaims all rivalry with them, and seeks only to attract attention due to original and previously inedited information. The Author has to apologize for the length of time that has elapsed since the announcement and the publication of the early portion of this work and its conclusion, now both incorporated in the present volume, but as the VIU ADVERTISEMENT. motives of publication are wholly disinterested, and dis- connected from advantage to himself, he trusts the delay will be excused. He is the more emboldened to hope for this as the delay has been mainly prejudicial to himself, by reason that his original information of the earlier facts relating to the period of King yEthelbert has, in the mean time, been appropriated without the grace of acknowledg- ment by his immediate predecessor. The kindness of the late Mr. Palmer, of the Rolls Chaj)el, who imjiarted to the Author numerous references from his most valuable indices to the Patent Rolls, as well as that of Mr. Holden and of Mr. Sharpe. Assistant Keepers of Records, who also favoured him with assist- ance of a similar character, fall here to be, as they are, gratefully acknowledged. The kindness and condescension of a Venerable Digni- tary, who communicated some valuable information, has been already acknowledged in the body of the work. 3, Charles Street, Gibson Square, htington, 1th Nocember, 1857. 0eltion. A PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Islington is a town* within the Finsbury division of the hun- locahtt. dred of Ossulston, in the comity of Middlesex, distant from London on the north about one mile and a quarter, the church standing somewhat north-westward from the ends of Goswell Street and St. John Street. It lies chiefly in that parish to which it gives the name, but partly within the adjoining parish of Clerkenwell. The parish of Islington is one of the fourteen out-parishes within the bills of mortahty, and lies within the Hberties of Finsbury and Wenlocksbarn('), and is now included in the me- (a) Newcourt, tropolitan borough of Finsbury. It comprehends the town of Islington and various other places, viz. Ball's Pond, part of Battle Bridge, Canonbui'y, Highbury, Upper and Lower Hollo- way, Kingsland, three sides of Newington Green, part of Pen- tonville, the Rosemary Branch, Stroud Green, and Tollington.f * It should in strictness be termed an ' upland town,' being neither city or borough. — Co. Lytt. 1 10. b. -)■ "The parish of Islington contoins all that town (except from the Angel to against the Wheelwright's on the westerly side, and from his house to the next corner on the northerly side, which is in Clerkenwell parish) j also Tallington, Strand Green, Broacher's Ash, Upper and Lower Uollowny, three sides of Newington Green, Kingslnnd, and Rose- mary Branch; containing in all 325 dwelling-houses." — Mutton's New View of London, 1708, ii. 308. This parish (which is reckoned to be 16 miles in circumference) begins at the Turn- pike, and takes in all the town of Islington on the right hand going from London ; and on the left hand from the Nags Head comer ; also the Back Road, Upper and Lower HoUoway, the Devil's Lane and House, High-berry Barn, Canhiry House, Cream Halt, Stroud Green, the Boarded Ricer, part of Kingsland Root/, with the Chapel and Lock 1 PERAMBVLATION OF ISLINGTON. (b) MSS Cott. F>tul. H. U. p. 16. b. The name "Islington*" seems to be a vernacular corruption of Yseldon, anciently |)ronouncc(l and -written EyseUlon ; the name, however, lias been written Ifi/scli who paid rents and fm-nished, beyond their own services, a certain quota of agricultural labourers for ploughing, sowing, and harvest. The demesne lands of this prebend have been lately demised for 99 years on building leases. 2 10 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. It is perfectly clear that this exemption from the hishop's ju- (iiNciv.-<)urt,i.57, risdiction, iu favour of the dean and chapter (') is in respect of their prebend within this parish ; and it may be remarked, that a simihir exemption prevails in respect of other prebends or an- cient possessions of the said dean and chapter. GioLOGT. Witli regard to the soil. It is descril)ed by Lysons to be a (u) Lvjoiu' Env. gravelly loam, in some parts mixed with clay(°); and Nelson states that Islington is situated upon a rising but undulated sur- face of rich gravelly and loamy soil, in some parts mixed with (x) scbon, p. .. clay and sand('); but to describe the surface more accurately, it generally consists of dark-coloured mould about one foot in thickness, formed by the decomposition of decayed vegetable matter. Immediately beneath, in most parts, occurs either gravel, rich loam, or sand, graduating into the red brick-makers' clay, at a mean depth of from one to ten feet, which extends under great part of the metropolis and the country for several miles round it, and is occasionally accompanied by a bed of sand of considerable thickness, sometimes thirty feet and upwards. To this succeeds the great stratimi of blue clay, which geologists, from its local situation, designate as the " London clay ;" the average thickness in this particular locality may be computed at about one hundred feet. It may be here stated, that when gravel prevails it mostly covers the eminences to the depth of about twenty feet at the thickest parts, lying immediately over the red or brick-makers' clay. This red or brick-makers' clay is generally nothing more than the upper surface of the blue clay, which, abounding in pyrites, or sulphuret of iron, has un- dergone a partial decomposition from exposure to the agency of moisture and atmospheric causes, and converted the sulphuret of iron into a red oxide, imparting to the clay its red colom- as well as to the gravel under which it reposes. This blue clay is accompanied by a substratum called " plastic clay," with its variegated clays and sands, and rounded flint-pebbles resembling kidney-beans in shape ; on piercing this clay for water at the mean depth of about 200 feet, we arrive at the soft white chalk interspersed with flints, which wholly forms the biisis of this upper stratum throughout the parish. It must be further observed that in some few localities, such as the top of rentonnlle Hill, in the field near the Experimental Prison, and by the Caledonian School in the Caledonian or Chalk Road, the new reservoir by the Brecknock Arms in Maiden Lane, and the tunnel under Primrose Hill, the blue clay is jjerfcctly PERAllBTJLATION OF ISLINGTON. 11 denudated, and makes its appearance close to tlie surface, con- taining nodules of septaria, or Roman cement stones, but par- tially coloured with the red oxide of iron as before stated. iMost of the fossils and other organic remains discovered at different times in Islington have been procured from this clay, and by far the greater number from the northern confines of the parish, particularly in the neighbourhood of Highgate Archway and Upper HoUoway. The usual pump- water of the parish is obtained from wells speing wateb. about twenty feet in depth, sunk into the upper diluvial stratum of gravel and loam, which wells are supplied from the common land-springs lying above the before-mentioned blue clay, and is deemed sufficiently serviceable for culinary purposes ; but for the use of manufactories, and in places where a large quantity of pure soft water is required, it is necessary that the whole stra- tum of blue clay should be perforated and any of its infiltrations carefully stopped out, as the water is a chalybeate, and highly impregnated with hme, sulphur, and iron, and therefore wholly unfit for general purposes. The plastic sand and gravel which repose on the chalk is the chief depository from whence a pure and copious supply can be with certainty obtained ; but general- ly speaking, it is necessary to extend the borings some distance into the chalk itself, before this object can be obtained. The result of numerous borings for such wells in this parish and its vicinity, north of London, demonstrate a great variation in the depths at which a sufficiency of pure water can be pro- cured; for in most instances the chalk has to be perforated many feet, and that, too, at a depth of several hundred feet from the surface.* Islington, being situated on the Great North Road, has al- roads, &c. ways been a place of traffic and intercourse, and particularly a place of resort to the Londoners, who have been attracted hither by the pleasantness of the situation and the salubrity of the air; but its late increase in buildmgs and population is mainly attri- butable to the means of communication with the metropolis af- forded by the numerous and well-constructed roads on which IsUugton may be said to lie, and Avith which it is intersected from every point. • Mr. Lvell, in his " Elements of Geologj'," (speaking of this locality,) atates tliat the chalk exists every where below, after we have penetrated through these clays and sand to the depth of from 200 to GOO feet ; and if we proceed to the south of London, we find the chalk rising up to the surface, and forming the Surrey hills. The Editor is inbebted for these observations to the late Mr. Ed. Spencer, Sol' F.G.S. 12 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. RrtvET or B0AD9, 1715. (y) 3G«0. I. c. i. 8 Geo. I. c. 6. (Primlr.) A survey and measurement was made in May 1735 of the roads, lanes, and foot-ways iu the parish ; but this " survey and admeasurement" only relates to those roads whieh were under the management of the trustees eonstituted by the then Turn- pike Acts(7), and to those roads, lanes, and paths which the parish were then ealled upon to keep in repair, for Mead Lane and llagbusli Lane are not therein delineated. The followin" is THE REFERENCE. Roadt belonging to the Turnpike. M. F A B GoswELr, Sthhet Road, from the land murk at A to the turnpike 2 furlongs, and from the turnpike to the end of the Back Bead at B 30 pules ; is a party road, belonging half to Clorkenwell 1 CUE The High Road, from the end of the Back Road at B, through Islington Upper Street and both Ilolloways, to the landmark E, by the Black Dog at llighgate 3 2 IS B D The Back Road C F The LowEU Road, from its turning out of the Upper Road, througli the Lower Street, to Kingsland turnpike . '. . . l'i;o(i Lane, from the toll- gate at G to the limit of the parish ne.xt St Lake's, Old Street 1 4 10 26 Total repaired by the Trus- I tees of the Turnpike . . )' 6 2 3.') Roadt and Lanes behngtng to the Parish. a I) The Cross Street, from the Upper to the Lower Street .0 1 12 Gd Fhoo Lane, from the toll- gate at G to the Lower Road .0 4 32 «y River Lase, I gh Almsiiol'se Laxe, - i k Gcnter'8 Lane, I no Kettle Lane, | Im Batter's Lane, J- pq Barnsbcry La-ne, f H I Hopping Lane, Upper Road to the toll-gate at Ball's Pond 5 24 J K Road, from the toll-gate at Balls Pond to Mr. Wright's comer at Xewington Green .038 KL Road, from Mr. Wright's comer to Kingsland 5 furlongs ; from the .11. F. v. a party road belonging half to Newington 2 10 KM Boarded RiVERLANE,from Mr. Wright's comer to end of the Green Lane leading to Soutligatc, 5 furlongs and 14 poles O n M X Boarded River LANF.,frora the end of the Green Lane to tbe Boarded River 2 furlongs and 18 poles, and from thence to the end of Heame Lane on Stroud (Jreen 3 furlongs and 3 poles; a party lane belonging iialf to llomsey O 2 3ci N Stroud Green, from Ileame Lane to the Japan Houses 5 furlongs and 6 poles; a party road ditto 2 23 P The Lane, from Stroud Green to .Mount Pleasant .... 3 24 Dti Tali.ington LasFt alias De Vol's Lane, from Ring Cross to Ilorasey Lane 1 6 20 RN IIea.me LANE,from TaUing- ton Lane to Stroud Green . .0 4 20 ST RoFF's Lane, from Tailing- ton Lane to Lower Holliiway .0 2 12 EQ HoRNSEY Lane, from High- gate Road to Tallington Lane end, 5 furlongs, 32 poles ..000 EV Maid Lanic alia.^ Maiden Lane, from the Black Dog at Highgate to Battle Bridge near Pancras 2 miles, 7 furlongs and 1 2 poles ; a party lane, belong- ing half to tbe parish of Pan- eras 1 3 2G Total of tbe Roads and Lanes 8 2 24 Footpaths and Churchviayi belonging to the Parisfi. A I Causeway and Footpath, from the land [mark] in Gos- well Street Road to the Turn- pike, and from thence through the town on the cast side of the PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 13 Lower Street as far as Gunter's Lane 7 11 B E Causeway and Footpath, from the south end of the Back Road at B, along the Upper Road through both Hollowavs, to the Black Dog at Highgate 3 2 3 res Footpath, from the Upper Road by the side of Major Ryan's Walk, [Old Paradise Row] and the Lower Street to the end of the Church Lane .0 1 17 s ( The Church Lane, from the Lower Street to the Church- yard 20 uwx Footpath, from the corner of the Churchyard to Cannon- bury-house 3 Ditto, from (sc) in Cannon- bury Path to the Spring Gar- den at Newington Green . .0 29 Ditto, from the Spring Gar- den round Newington Green .0 2 10 F y Causeway at Kingsland, from the Turnpike to the end of Cock Lane 1 32 k W Footpath, from Frog Lane ' to Rosemary Branch . . .0 2 32 zb The Elder WALit, from Frog Lane to the Lower Street . .0 1 12 Footpath, from Frog Hall through the Provence [Pre- bend] Field to the posts on the east side of X 1 36 X f"")" Aldersgate to Islington has been made some time since the (c) Bagfora-s Let- Conquest, and I believe much about the same time that the AntiquiaesofLon- ground was taken in for building the Carthusian Monastery land's coue'ctanea, (now called the Charter House) by Sir Walter de Maney," anno 1371. So that it may be considered certain that the Gos- weU Street Road is of later date than either tlie Bridleway by Brick Lane, or the St. John Street Road. Indeed, with regard to the Bridleway, it seems till within a comparatively recent period to have been the most known way ; and I find from the segister of the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, that in the reign of Henry VI. this bridle-road was described as a public highway; for on 30th June, 1439, the prior and brethren of that hospital demisedC) to one John Grene "seven gardens ly- (d) mss cou. ing altogether, with two cottages built thereon, between the (Transiauon!)' lane which leads to Wellokesberne on the east side, and the King's Street [regium vicuni] called Olde Street, on the south side, and the King's highway [stratam regiarn] which leads to- wards Isclton on the west side, and land of Thomas Frowyke on the north side." At a much later period I find this same high- way alluded to, for in a grant to Wilham Tipper and Robert Dawe, in the year 1 590 of some concealed lands* occurs the * These grantees were great conccalors, and this grant, as all grants of concealment or concealed lands were, is very minute in the description of the parcels; for this in- formation I am indebted (as also upon other occasions) to the valuable and experienced communication of Mr. Palmer, late of the Rolls Chapel. 3 18 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. following, \'iz. : " And also all that our little piece of land lately occupied for a garden containing in length 62 feet and in breadth 57 feet and 10 poles of assise, together with a little stable thereon built lying in Okie Street or Pickchatch, near the Charter House, in the Parish of St. Giles without Cripple- gate, [since forming the modern parish of St. Luke] in the county of Middlesex, adjiiccut to a certain garden in the tenure of Robert Greene on the south side, and a bam in the tenure of John Stephens on the east side and the Queen's highway [re- liant viani] leading from the City of London to Islington on the west side and from the Charter House to Hoggesdon on the (c) Pat. 33. Eiiz. north side."(') p. 9. m. 2,S-3H. ^ ' (Trumiation.) It may wcll bc presumed, that in very early times conveni- ence suggested the present line of road from Smithfield and St. John Street to Islington, and from thence to Highgate, as will be noticed hereafter ; and also that the way which is now the Goswcll Street Road was the result of increasing traflSe and population. The date of the formation of this road has been already assigned by Mr. Bagford. ST. .louN STREer St. John Street Road appears to have been the earliest high- way from West Smithfield ; but although this road is very an- cient, it can hardly be referred to quite so remote a period as that by Aldersgate and Brick Lane. However, I find this road f) Resist. Clerk- mentioned in a Charter of Confirmation('), about the year 1170, cnwdL Mss. Colt. Faiut. made by Reginald dc GinKC, or Ginfrcs, and Emma his wife, B. U. p. 32. Jo O ' o > ' (another daughter of Jordan Brisct, the founder of the Nunnery as well as of the Priory of Clerkenwell,) of the same two acres of land which were alluded to at page 16; viz. Et dua.s acras terra in campo qui est proximus Londoniis, inter strutam qute vadit de barrti de Smethefelde versus yseldone, ac stratum qute vadit de barra de Aldredesgate, quoe acrm proximo sunt strata; qua vadit de harra de Aldredesgate versus yseldone, et extendunt juxta illain stratam secundum lonyitudinem a parte Australi versus Boream ; i. e. "And two acres of land in that field which is next to London, between that street which goeth from the bar of Smithfield towards Yseldon and the street which goeth from the bar of Aldersgate, which acres are next to the street which goeth from the bar of Aldersgate towards Yseldon, and extend along that street lengthwise from the south side towards the north." From the circumstance of this description compris- ing the street from Smithfield Bar, which is not alluded to in the original charter of Fobot some years earUer, it may be PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 19 reasonably presumed that this highway was not then formed or much used ; otherwise the lands would have been described in the original charter of Fohot, by the description they subse- quently obtained in the Charter of Confirmation. This road very soon became, as it has ever since continued, the great highway from West Smithfield, and its repair must have been a subject of importance ; for in the fourth year of Richard II. (anno 1380) a grant of paviage was obtained, that is, a royal licence was granted to two persons named in the patent, authorizing them to levy certain tolls therein named, which were to be applied in reparation of this road; a mode of procedure in those days amply sufficient in authority and effect for the purposes intended. The tenour of this paviage grantC') <^\^J'^\f'^-]^'- in English is as follows : ^ "^•^''■ " The King to his beloved William Stowe and Roger Bar- (Trmsmon.) nard sendeth greeting. Know ye, that in aid of the emenda- tion of the highway from Symthefelde Barre to Gore's Place in Iseldon, which in many places is destroyed and broken up, to the great damage and hurt of our people by the said way passing, to the emendation or reparation whereof no one is bound except it be of his own mere and proper will, as we understand ; We have granted to you of our special grace, that from the day of the execution of these presents unto the end of one year next ensuing, to be fully complete, that you may take by yourselves and by your deputies of articles for sale by the said way passing, the customs under written; that is to say. For every horse-load of corn, of whatsoever kind it be, or malt for sale, one farthing ; for every cart-load of corn for sale, one penny ; for every horse, mare, bullock, and cow for sale, one farthing; for ten sheep, goats, and hogs, one penny ; for every horse-load of cloth for sale, one farthing ; for every entire cloth for sale, one farthing ; for every hun- ■ dred of linen cloth, canvass, Irish Galway cloth and worsted for sale, one halfpenny ; for every tun of wine or ashes for sale, one penny ; for every cart-load of honey for sale, one penny ; for every truss of cloth for sale brought by cart, one penny ; for every cwt. of dead stock for sale, one penny ; for every weigh of tallow and fat for sale, one farthing ; for every quarter of woad for sale, one penny ; for every hundi-ed of alum, copperas, potter's clay, and verdigrise for sale, one far- ^ thing ; for every 2000 onions for sale, one farthing ; for every ten sheaves of garhc for sale, one farthing ; for every 1000 20 PERAMBULATION OP ISLINGTON. herrings for sale, one fai-thiug; for every horse-load of sea- fish for sale, one farthing ; for every hundred of hoards for sale, one halfpenny ; for every inill-stone for sale, one penny ; for every one hundred of faggots for sale, one penny; for every quarter of salt for sale, one farthing ; for every weigh of cheese or hutter for sale, one farthing ; for every cart-load of billet-wood or coals for sale, one penny ; for every quarter of tan for sale, one penny ; for every truss of whatsoever kind of wares exceeding the sum of 5s., one farthing ; for every cart laden with clay, sand, or gravel, always f»r the twelfth time, one penny ; and of every ju-ticle for sale of the value of 58. not here specified, by the aforesaid way passing, wool- skins and wool-fels only excepted, one farthing : And there- fore we command you, that you take the aforesaid customs until the end of the said year as is aforesaid ; so that the monies therefrom accruing be applied towards the reparation and emendation, and also the suj)port of the said way, and not for other purposes; but the term aforesaid being com- plete, the aforesaid customs shall wholly cease and be abolished. In witness whereof, &c. To last for the afore- said year. T. R. (Teste Rege) apud Westm. xxx. die Septembr'." It is very probable that this paviage grant was obtained by the Bishop of London and the Prior of St. John of Jcnisalcm, who had an equal interest in the reparation of this highway. Stow, who published his Survey of London in 1598, notices this road thus : " And without the bar of West Smithficld lieth a large street or way, called of the house of St. John there St. John's Street, and streteheth towards Islington." — " St. John's Street is also on both sides replenished with buildings up to ClerkenwcU." It seems that St. John Street Road* has always been the \m\^\^^'^' ™^"^ '■°''^'^ *° Islington (■■), for Oglcby describes the road from (^luncrariim^ Loudon to Ilolyhead as coming from Cheapside(') "through Blowbladder Street, Newgate Street, by Pye Corner, Smith- field, St. John's Street, and crossing the New River enter Is- lington, full of inns and other public houses, whence 3^ pass by Ring Cross to Lower and Upper Holloway," &e. This road also, till the year 1818, was known as the IsUngton * — the Streate called Sainctc John's Strete leading from the Barres of Smithfelde up to the Ponde at the corner of the Wall extending along the Ilighe waie leading to Islington.— S(a(u< ... , , . Claud. E.vi.fo. 19. Wilderness Row] and uj gardens joynmg to the same, late in the holding of , with another little garden and a little house standing in the same, lying and bounding between the highway leading fro' Aldersgate toward Iseldon on the est parte; and a felde called the Nonnesfelde on the north parte; and the Charter House wall on the south parte ; and the way leading from St. John Street towards Iseldon on the west parte." This way, fi-om all we can learn, went over an open country, and united with the high road at the Clerkenwell end of IsHng- ton, at which point there was a cross set up. I find the junc- tion of these two roads, as well as this cross, both named in the collation by the Prior and brethren of St. John of Jerusalem of one Robert Baker to the hermitage, which |5e had then recently built and founded upon land hoklen of the said hospital, dated 10th June, ISllf") ; wherein the plot of such hermitage is des- (m) mss. cott. > \ I > i. o Claud. E.vi.fo.93. cribed to be " at the end of our field or pasture called Wood- (Tramiatwn.) mansfield, bounding towards the north, and towards the place where the two roads meet [bivium), and the cross which stands in the King's highway at the end of the town of Iseldon." This bivium (the place where the two roads meet) and the cross, are * Goswell Street takes its name from an ancient spring called Gotlewell, (i. e. Good- well,) afterwards corrupted to Godeswell, and Gosewell, and Goswell. The earliest mention I find of this well is in the Registruin de Clerkenwell, Cott. MSS., Faust. B. ii. fol. 27. a, a book written in the reign of King John, containing charters from the time of King Stephen, which Stow saw, and particularly mentions in his Survey of London ; but he, mistaking the form of the letter G, has called this well rodewcll, in which error he has, of course, been followed by others. In another MS. book of nearly as great anti- quity, also containing most ancient charters, viz. the Liber A. sine Pilosiis of the dean and chapter of St. Paul, fol. 25. a, 48. b, I find a charter which commences thus : " Uni- versis sancte matris Ecdesia; filijs presentibus & futuris Clemencia Priorissa & totns Con- ventus de Ilaliwell salutem. Noverit Universitas vestra nos concessisse & dimisisse & present! Carta confirmasse Ricardo de Humfravill quendam Gardinum nostrum extra barram de Aldredesgate cum omnibus pertinencijs suis scilicet ilium Gardinum qui fuit Walteri fil' Osberti qui jacet inter Gosewell & inter Gardinum qui fuit Thorn' Grand," &c. This must have been about the year 1200, or perhaps earlier, as Cleraence appears to have been Prioress at that time. 22 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. also mentioned in another place in the same register, where the said Prior and brethren, on 1 1th October, 1509, demised to one John Gowlde three fields by Iseldon, under the following des- (n) Mss. coiu cription(°): "Three fields of pastnrc land lying altogether, (Tnniiiaim,.) ' whereof one is called Woodmansfield centaining 7 acres, and two other fields called Lambart's Croft containing 1 acre, and Shepeeroft containing by estimation 3 roods, which said two fields are now inclosed in one field ; and all the three fields of pasture, now two fields, lying altogether, abut between the King's highway on the east and west sides, and abut towards the i)laee where the two ways meet and the cross which stands in the King's highway at the cud of the town of Iseldon afore- said on the north side, and towai'ds the great field of the Prioress and convent of the house of the Nuns of Clerkenwell on the south side." Goswell Street Road does not appear to have been in former times a road of much thoroughfai'c ; its origin also, as is before noticed, is of later date, and it seems that though gradually, yet very slowly, it superseded the ancient Bridle Road.* Strype (o)strype's Slew's e\-idently alludes to this road(°), viz. "Beyond Aldersgatc ]5ars, Sunoyll. .Ml. cd. ■' ^ ■' • Of "*^- leaving the Charter House on the left hand, stretches up to- wards Iseldon, commonly called Islinyton, a country town hard by, which in the former age was esteemed to be so pleasantly seated, that in 158lJQueen Elizabeth on an evening rode that way to take the air, where near the town she was enrironcd ■with a number of begging rogues (as beggars usually haunt such places), which gave the Queen much disturbance." The St. John Street Road is continued by the Great North Road, which is called in the Survey of 1 735 the High Road, and runs through the town of Islington, and Holloway, and High- gate. This High Road, from the Angel to the point where the Lower Road branches ofl' at Islington Green, is now called the High Street; and from the upper end of the Green to some 150 yards beyond the church, is called the Upper or Town Street. On the left hand side of the High Street is a raised causeway, which has immcmorially led from St. Jolm Street end to the church, and was, till the introduction of an uniform system of road-making made sucli a distinction pointless, called The Long * In 1619 Sir Henry Monntague, I^ord Chief Jnsticc, represented to the governors of the Charter House, that the ways next to Islington were very bad; a causeway 44 poles in length, with a ditch three feet board, was ordered at Wilderness Row. — Malcolm Land. Aed. i. 416. Tde Hiob Boas. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 23 Causeway* ; the construction of this causeway accounts for the elevated appearance which the High Street used to present and still preserves from the Turnpike to the Upper Street. From the High Street on the right-hand side at Islington loweb noAD. Greeu and nearly in the centre of the town^ diverges a road leading to Stoke Newington, Kingsland, and the Green Lanes, which is called the Lower Road and Lower Street. Both the Upper and Lower Road are connected at a point called Ball's Poudt by a road called the Hopping Lane, running westerly into the Great North Road at the end of the Upper Street, and may be said to form the base of a triangle, whereof the Upper and Lower Street are the sides, and wherein is included the manor of Canonbury, these three roads forming the exact boundary of such manor. It is therefore to be concluded that these roads are exceedingly ancient, for the manor of Canon- bury was created early in the thirteenth century, as will be noticed hereafter ; and these roads must have existed pre^dous to the creation of a manor or district whereof they distinguish the boundary. The Lower Road, also, at Ball's Pond diverges in an easterly direction to Eangsland, where it may be said to be continued by the Green Lanes, which commence at Kings- land ; and these Green Lanes, of which this part of the Lower Road now called the Ball's Pond Road, is a portion, are the most ancient roads of which we have intelligence. At the end of the Upper or Town Street, where the Hopping Lane (recently called Saint Paul's Road) is continued by the Great North Road, is Highbury ; to the upper part of High- bury a carriage-way has been made from Hopping Lane, but • This " Long Causeway," which extended below Sadler's Well, must have been of very ancient construction, for Richard Cloudeslej-, by his will dated 13th January, 1517, does thereby gice and bequeath to tlie repuiriiiij and amending of the Camewa'j heticeen my house that I now dwell in and IsUnrjton Church, lx«. The dwelling of Cloudesley is pointed out by a lease from the Prior and brethren of St. John of Jerusalem, dated 24th of April, 1516, whereby they demised to Richard Cloudesley of Iseldon in the County of Middlesex, Gent., that their one tenement there, with the gardens and croft adjacent, late in the tenuie of John llantell, butcher; and also one house called the Shepecote, with a little close adjoining, late in the tenure of the said John Mantell : all which aforesaid premises are situate and lie between the King's highway on the east side, and our Qelds called the Commaunders Mantells on the west and south sides, and tlie tenement of the aforesaid Richard Cloudesly wherein he now dwells, on the north side thereof. By which I recollect, that Cloudesley dwelt much about where the Angel now stands or perhaps a little lower down : he appears also to have held some fields, parcel of the Commandry Mantells, of which I shall speak hereafter.— See MSS. CotL Claud., E. vi., fol. 16S. b. t The road leading from the Lower Street, Islimgton, to Ball's Pond, which went in a curved hne by the bank on the east side, as it appears in Baker's Plan, was in May 1800 thrown into its present course by order of the Highgate and Uampstead Trust. — kelson, 192, ed. 1811. 24 PERAMBULATION- OF ISLINGTON. Back Laks or LirUPOOL ROAS. llAGBCSB Lane. (p) lUncrarlum, «, S. cd. 1776. such carriage-way does not at present go further than the valley below Highbury, although there is the Stroud Green Lane leading on the right to the Green Lanes and Stoke Newington, and on the left to Stroud Green.* We must now go back to the road called the Liverpool Road, but which till rather recently was better known by the names of the Back Lane and Back l{«ad. This road branches from the left-hand or west side of the High Street, and running behind the whole extent of the houses on the west side of the Upper Street, falls into the Great North or llighgatc Road at a place called Ring Cross, a little below the turnpike at Lower Hollo- way. t I have no doubt but that it was originally a portion of ToUington Lane or Devil's Lane now called Hornscy Road, and crossed the site of the Great North Road, which is of later formation ; indeed the boundary line of the manor of Highbury rather confirms me in this point, for roads and water-courses are the most ancient, as being the most natural boundary marks. This Back Lane, near the point of its termination at Ring Cross, opened on the westerly side into an ancient lane called Hagbush Lane. This Lane proceeded from the upper part of the Back Lane in a winding direction westerly to the fields by Copenhagen House; from whence, at the north-west corucr of the Builpiece field, it proceeded northerly in a zig-zag course to Crouch End and Homsey, crossing Devil's Lane, which there is great reason to believe, although a very ancient way, was of later date than this. Hagbush Lane, indeed, appears to have been the most an- cient road from London to the north. Dr. Stukcley('') observes * This way is noted in the Survey of 1735 as MX, and appears to have been formerly open as the ancient road from the Green Lanes to Stroud Ureen, (post. p. .32.) It seems that this road was closed by a sate long before 1784, about whiili time some attempts were made to remove the obstruction to the passage as a bridle-way ; and one Jennings, accompanied by Richard Holland, a leathcrseller, who had a villa at Hornsey, cut down tlic gate which Mr. Colebrooke maintained at that point where the posts now stand in the pathway over the New River, and where fonnerly tlie road wont utul«r the Boarded Trough conveying the channel of the New River across the valley ; but these persons who were sued for the trespass did not defend the action, and one Glass- cock, a servant of the New Iliver Company, being examined swore that he had long dwelt at the Boarded River House, and that there had always been a bar there ; where- upon a verdict was returned for the plaintiff, one Wallbank ; and the way is now no more than a foot-way. — See Gent's Mag., Nov. 1784. On looking at Rocque's map 1746-8, it appears that the way from Hopping Lane to the Boarded River was an open drift-way. ■f The Back Road, which formerly passed in a direct line from the south to the front, of the Workhouse, and thence turned olT east to the top of Bamsbury Street, (see Baker's Plan,) was changed into its present course in August 1796 ; by which alteration two very dangerous angles, and which had been the occasion of frequent accidents, were removed.— .Yciron, 91, 92. ed. I8II. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 25 that the road from the city originally went alongside the brook by Bagnigge* ; the way to Highgate being at first by Copen- hagen House, •which is a straight road thither from Gray's Inn Lane. Whether this road communicated with Madan Lane or the road by Bagnigge Wash it is hard now to determine, yet Dr. Stukeley seems to think that it communicated with the road by Bagnigge. The course of this ancient way from the Back Lane or Liver- pool Road can be easily discerned and traced, although laid open, and in many places obstructed. Should the reader desire to do this by personal investigation, he must take up his peram- bulation at the end of that lane which falls into the Back Lane or Liverpool Road, by the "Adam and Eve," at the hither end of Paradise Row, and from thence follow the winding course of the lane which crosses a street called Grove Cottages, at the end of George Street, Lower Holloway, and winding, passes at the back of those cottages, and crosses the Caledonian or Battle Bridge and HoUoway Road to another short lane, which opens by a gate into an oblong square field of four acres, called the BuUpiece Held ; by crossing this field diagonally to the furthest and north-west comer thereof, the terminus of that part of Hagbush Lane, which in the old maps is called Copenhagen Lane, will appear. At this point the first obstruction pre- sents itself, the entrance being plashed and hedged up; but the site of the lane can be easily enough traced, as running by the side of the hedge due northwards to Mead Lane, now converted into the Camden Town Road. This portion also of Hagbush Lane can be easily identified by the present ap- pearance of the ground, and of the ends of the banks, of those fields by which the lane passes, and whereon it abuts : at this point, and from thence to Mead Lane, this ancient road was thirty, and in some places forty feet wide. The great Map of London and its En\irons by Rocque, 1746-8, plainly shows the coui-se of this lane onwards; as does also the Survey of 1806, and the reduced map of the same by Starling already noticed. « * That part of the road which followed the course of the river of Wells from Clerken- well to Kentish Town, and lay in the valley between Clerkenwell and Battle Bridge, was called Bagttiffffe, the river there being called "Bagnigge Wash," and the wall of Bag- nigge House, " Bagnigge 'Wall." This description must have existed from very early times, for 1 find in a charter of William de Ewell, Prebendary of Vinesbury otherwise Haliwell, without date but made in the thirteenth century, Domino Thoma de Basnigge, one of the attesting witnesses.— Lift. A. sive PUoms penes, Dec' o. li:.c. ' ' • ^ ' 40; repealed h>- 1 repairing the roads Icadiui' from Iligligatc Gate House and and i Ueo. IV. c. ' o ^ " ° 110. The terms of this burlesque oath arc, " You must not eat brown bread while yon can get white, except you like brown better; you must not drink small beer while you can get strong, except you like small beer butter ; you must not kiss the maid while you can kiss the mistress, except you like the maid bettor, but sooner than lose a chance you may kiss them both." This sictarinff-in is usually accompanied with a lilmtiun, and is . the relic of the jovial spirit of our forefathers, who, so long as they could liod a subject of merriment or festivity, did not care to be over scrupulous as to the wlii/ or tbo ichertjore. Mr. Hone, in his Kvcry-Datj Book for 1826, pp. 81 — 87, enumerates nineteen bouses of entertainment in Highgate where this burlesque oath was administered, noting very carefully (as the importance of the matter scemeil to him to demand) those " houses " where stag's horns were used in this ceremony, where bullock's horns, and where ram's boms. Bullock's horns were only used at the Ked Lion and Sun, the other " hosts," being pretty equally divided in opinion as to the efficacy of the antlers and ram's horns in drawing customers to their " houses." Drunken Bamaby, who travelled and fuddled, and then journalized bis so^/u'A jollities, in the lime of James the First, has left us a memorial of his arrival at this place, where it appears he drank from the " crumpled bom." Veni Uighijiite quo prospexi Thence to IJighijate, where I viewed Urbem perdit^ quam dilexi City 1 so dearly lo'ed. Hie tyronibus exosum And i' th' horn of matriculation Uausi cornu tortiiosum, lirank to the p'reshmen of our nation, I'^us memorans salutem, To his memory saluted, Cujus caput tit coniutum. Whose branched head was last corautcd. BamabcB Harrington's Itinerarium^ 1623, pp. 59, 60. Mr. Daniel of Canonbury, in his Mtrrie Englaml, i. pp. 62-7, alludes to the gestes of the brethren of fiuU-Fcatber Hull ; indeed he, amongst other typographical curiosities, is possessor of a most scarce tract, intituled, BULL-FEATHER HALL, OB, THE ANTIQUITY AND DIUNITV OP HORNS AMPLY sbown; AS ALSO A DKSCEIPTION OF THE MANNEBS, RITES, CUSTOMS, AND REVENOES Belonging to that ingenious and numerous Society of TOt.ETUKil WITU An exact Relation of their Manner of going to Highgate with Trumpets and IIom-Musick, and their I'ioneers intended for the levelling of the Hill. LONDOH; Printed for the Society of Bull- Feathers Hall, 1664. This Club (as the tract informs us) used to meet in Chequer Yard in Whitechapel, their President being arrayed in a crimson satin gown, and a furred cap surmounted by a pair of antlers, (a skit upon the right worshipful magistrate of London,) and on a cushion lay a comuted sceptre and crown; the brethren of this "solempne and grete frateniiti? " drank out of born cups, and were sworn, on admission, upon a blank horn- book; but let the chronicler of this fraternity speak for himself: "As yet the revetiuea of Bull-Feathers Hall are but small, and what dutb appertain to it Is dispersed. As Horn Fair, the toll of all the gravel carried up Higbgate Hill ; they have some pro- priety [property] in Homsey and Cow Lane, a considerable quantity of plate the Homers owe them. Beyond the seas, of Crookhorn, Leghorn, and Oxmantown in Irelanil, pay them constant tribute; nay, the Great Turk acknowledgeth himself in- PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 41 stead, &c., but is at present classed as one of the metropolis roads north of the Thames, under an Act(') which consolidated <2iiJ,^°JJdb^ the trusts of the several turnpike-roads in the neighbourhood of ,'^g^- ^- «• s" the metropolis north of the River Thames*, and placed such debted to them for his demy-luncs. And truly would every brother that is so, or merits adoption into the Fraternity, leave but a small legacy to this Society, their horn of plenty would exceed all others. " The manner of their going from Busby's Folly to Highgate — On Monday, being the second of May, some part of the Fraternity met at Busby's Folly in Islington, where, after they had set all things in order, they thus marched out, ordine quisque suo : — First, a set of Trumpets ; then the Controller or Captain of the Pioneers, with thirty or fourty following him with pickaxes and spades to level the hill, and baskets withall to carry gravel. — After them another set of Trumpeters, and also four that did wind the Horn ; after them followed the Standard, tiUas an exceeding largo pair of horns fixed on a pole, which three men carried, with pennants on each tip, the Master of the Cere- monies attending it witli other officers. Then followed the flag, with the arms of the society, with horned bea.sts drawn thereon, with this motto, 'To have and not to use the same. Is not their glory but their shame.' After these came the Mace-bearer, then the Herauld at arms with the arms of the society. The coat I cannot rightly blazon, but I remember the supporters were, on the one side a woman with a whip in her hand, besides that of her tongue, with a menacing look, and underneath the motto, Ut volo, sic jubeo ; on the other side a man in woful plight, and underneath him, Patientia patimur. "In this equipage they marched, and in very good order, attended by multitudes of people, [who, by our chronicler's account, seemed to have been highly c.Kcited with this procession.] Approaching near the gate, the Vice-Roy of the Gravel Pits came out to meet them with his mace and cap. — After they had gone through the gate, they came back, and so round the pond, and then came up to the gate again, where one made a speech." The oath administered on adopting a brother seems not to have materially differed from that later in use. There is at Finchley Common an ancient house, in old maps of Middlesex, called " Cuckold's Haven," and there is also " Cuckold's Point," near Charl- ton in Kent, where a Uoi-n Fair still continues to be held; these places seem by their proximity to the Horns, to have been associated with that " word of fear, nnpleasing to a married ear," but which our ancestors thought contained the elements of a most di- verting jest. However, the Horns at Homchurch, the Homs at Kennington, the Horn Fair at Charlton, and the Homs at Highgate, all evidently have reference to an ancient passage-toll levied upon horned cattle, and gathered by some park-keeper or manor- bailifl", who showed his authority by a staff surmounted with a sign not to be misun- derstood. The mock regalities of the brethren of Bull Feathers Hall also point to the gravel pit and the pond too plainly to admit of the origin of the Highgate oath being any longer a subject of doubt. Also, the places alluded to are all upon the sites of roads within manors formerly possessing regalities and liberties. Hornchurch was part of the Royal Forest of Essex; Kennington has for centuries been parcel of the possessions of the Princes Dukes of Cornwall, and the Lord of Charlton may have enforced a passage-toll in right of the road through that manor. A "Cuckoo Hall" in Church Street Ward, Edmonton, may it its nomenclature have reference to some such origin as the foregoing. In conclusion, Mr. Hone adds a statement made to him by the Kindlady of the Red Lion and Sun (who, the reader will remember, exhibited ittH-/eaea.sons humbly otl'er'd by the Inhabitants and Landholders of the Parish of St. Mary Islington, in the County of Jliddlese.v, to the consideration of the Honourable House of Commons, to induce them to give some assistance and relief to the said Inha- bitanu and Landholders by an ea.sy loll, or otherwise, for the repairing the ruinous High-ways of the said Parish. I. There is no good Gravel or Ballast to be found in the said Parish, (the Soil thereof being naturally of a loomy substance.) II. The said High-ways extend not only near to the top of U!r/lii/ale Ilill, but also by several parallel Koads. seven miles iu length and upwards. III. The saul Highways are the great and common Koad from all the Xorthern p.irts to the City of /.omlou and Suhurbg thereof, which being lately in Buildings so much inlargcd. not only great drilts of all sorts of Cattel to Siiiillifidil-MnHil and elsewhere, but a contiimal passing of heavy Carriages through the same are to the great decay thereof more and more occasioned. IV. Xot- Tm New Rou>. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 43 SO that although IsHugton was nearly joined to London by a line of houses and a good causeway in St. John Street Road, yet in all other respects it was a mere country town, chiefly fre- quented by graziers and Sunday \'isitors, and with regard to facilities of communication with the western end of the metro- polis, stood much in the same situation as Tottenham Court, Marybone, and Paddington, places of the utmost insignificance as compared with their present population. However, in 1755 a great road of communication C") was proiected "to reach from w oe"'- Mag. " V / r J ,755^ Sup. p. 577. the Great Edgware Road at Paddington, across the several northern roads through Bell Lane to the north end of St. Mary- lebon ; from thence to Tottenham Court and Battle Bridge, and thence to Islington and Old Street ; also from the north end of Portland Street, Cavendish Square, across the Farthing Pye House Field, in the parish of Marylebon, to the intended road, to open an entire communication between the great eastern, western, and northern roads, and between the different parts of the City." And in the year 1757 this "new road" from Pad- dington to Islington was formed in the line originally projected, under the provisions of a local Act('), intituled "An Act to (i)29Gco.u.c.8s. enable the respective Trustees of the turnpike- roads leading to Highgate Gate House and Hampstead, and from St. Giles' Pound to Kilbourne Bridge, in the county of Middlesex, to make a new road from the Great Northern Road at Islington, to the Edg- ware Road near Paddington, and also from the north end of Portland Street, across the Farthing Pije House fields into the said new road ; and for enlarging the terms and powers granted by two several Acts for repairing the said road from St. Ones' Pound to Kilbourne Bridge." But the plan of carrying this road to the City, by connecting citt koad. the southern extremity of Islington with the Dog House Bar at the end of Old Street, and thereby completing the plan commu- nication between the City and west-cud of the town by that part of the road then already formed, called the " New Road," was not completed till 29th June, 1761, when such road was withstanding the said Inhabitants and Landholders have done the utmost they can, or the Law doth require, and heavy Fines have been from time to time levyed upon them, for tlie repairing the said High-ways : Yet for the reasons aforesaid, the same have been altogether insufficient for the amendment thereof, whereby many able Inhabitants have, and do leave the said Parish, and the same is much impoverished and depopulated, and the said High-ways thereof scarce passable without great danger and damage to the said Cattel and Carriages. jY«(t'. — If the said High-ways are not repaired, the other High-ways circumjacent will consequently be so too, by reason the same will (as usually) be by all avoided. The' there be a Toll already at High-gate, yet the said Parish has no benefit thereby." 6* t-t PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. thrown opeu to the public; the object thus attained is suffi- (m) I (Wo. III., c. ciently explained by the title of the statute 1 Geo. III. c. 2f)("), 102; « (iTO III.; intituled " An Act for makin'', widcuin^r, and rcpairiiiK a road c. htvlil., n-pealwl id ^ s owj. IV., c. from the north-east side of the Goswell Street Road next Isling- ton, and near to the road called the New Road, over the fields to Old Street, and from the Dot/ House Bar to the end of Chis- well Street by the Artillery Ground." Tlie idea of a communicatiou from this point, although pro- jected by Charles Dingley in 1756, seems always to have been a desideratum ; for Stow informs us that Sir Thomas Falconer, Lord Mayor of London in the year 1415, "caused the wall of the City to bee broken towards the Moore Field, and buildcd the postern called Moore Gate, for case of the citizens to walk that way upon causies [causeways] towards Iscldon and Hox- ton," which is evidently the origin of the highway from Moor- gate to the Dog House Bar. The Dog House Bar was the name given to a turnpike in Old Street, close by the site of a dog-house, or place for keeping the city hounds, at a time when the vicinity of London aflTorded ample opportunities for the recreation of hunting. I find this Dog House, which stood in Old Street, opposite the east end of St. Luke's Hospital, alluded to (anno IS-tS) in a grant from the Crown to Sir Martin Bowes, of some pieces of land " near Morefeld, and some gardens in (n) Cat. 3s iicn. Fyusbury Field near the aforesaid Dog House;" dcscribed(°) as ['*J " all that our piece of land or garden situate and being in Fyns- bury beside the Dog House, [juwta domum caninam, anylici vocat' a doff-house,] near our City of London," and, as I shall have occasion hereafter to observe, from Finsbury to Hoxton, and from thence to the end of Islington Common, was a way through open fields devoted to the practice of archery. The more modem high roads and intersections are, first, the New North Road ; second, the Seven Sisters' Road ; third, the road leading from Holloway to Camden To\vn; fourth, the Battle Bridge and Holloway Road ; fifth, the Highgatc Archway Road, with the Kentish Town and Upper Holloway Road, jitwNoMBRoiD. 1. The New North Road: This road was constructed pur- (0) 52 o«a ni, c. suant to a local Act of Parliamcnt("), intituled "An Act for iv.,'cUxiT. ■ making a public carriage-road from the present turnpike-road near the south end of Highbury Place, Islington, to Haber- dashers' Walk in the parish of Saint Leonard, Shorcditch, in the county of Middlesex," by a company of shareholders, who by this means proposed to shorten the travelling distance be- PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 45 tween the Upper Street and the eastern parts of the City. This road commences its route at the end of Hopping Lane opposite to the soutli-end of the Mews, or back of Highbury Place, crosses Cauonbury Square, over the New River, and proceeds down Shepperton Street, and over the Regent's Canal to Hox- ton, which may thus be said to be united with Islington by an almost continuous line of buildings.* 2. The Seven Sisters' Road : This road forms a continuation se^n smttr^ of the Camden Town Road, at the point where it is continued upon the site of Mead Lane to the King's Head at Holloway, and crossing the Great North Road at Holloway Terrace adopts the course of Heame Lane, and passes thence forward to Tottenham. It was formed under the provisions of a public Actlp), intituled "An Act to amend an Act of the seventh year (^p) '0J2)'''^^'^ of his present Majesty, for consoUdating the Trusts of the several Turnpike-roads in the neighbourhood of the Metropolis north of the River Thames, and to make and maintain two New Roads or Branch Roads to communicate with the said Metro- pohs Roads," whereby the Commissioners were empowered to make three new or branch roads ; the first of which is the pre- sent road, and described as " a new Road from the Stamford Hill Road in the parish of Tottenham, nearly opposite to certain trees called the Seve7i Sisters, passing across Ha7iger Lane, across the Green Lanes Road near to the termination of Manor Road and Hornsey Wood Lane, across Stroud Green Lane, along Heame Lane, across Duval's Lane now called Hornsey Road, passing at Holloway across the road from London to Highgate, and termi- nating in the Camden Town Road in the parish of Islington, in the county of Middlesex." 3. The road leading from Holloway to Camden Town : This CA^„=^Towj';;i'| road is formed upon the course of Mead Lane, (which ran east- ward from Hagbush Lane into the Great North Road at Hollo- way, opposite the King's Head,) and dividing Hagbush Lane, proceeds in a south-westerly direction to Camden Town. The object of this road is denoted by its title(i), viz., "An Act for (^^g^°- "'• c. making a Road from the Hampstead Road, in Camden Town, to the North Road at Holloway, in the parish of St. Mary * There was a way leading in this direction over the Prebendal fields called Great Coleman's from a very early period, which the tenants were bound to repair, as appears from another extract, "26 El'iz. (1584) from KUclim on Courts, p. 106, (ftWe ante, p. 14, note,') where the following appears: "Also it is ordered that J. F. make and maintain (Trantlalion.) the bridge in his close called Great Coleniaus, in the way leading from Islington to Hoggesden, under the pain of forfeiting to the Lord 10s." 46 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Islin'Ttoii." This ro.id is under tlic care iiud niaiiaf^cmcnt of the Comaiissioncrs of the Aletrojjolis Koads iiortli of the Tliames. lUTTLt beimi 4. The Battle Bridge and Ilollowav Road : This road is a KoAD, ..rCitEBo- cut from Battle Bridge running in a nortlierlv direction from thence to the last-mentioned road, near the point of its junc- tion at Ilolloway. This road, from its being constructed upon a substratum of chalk, is frequently called the Chalk Road ; but has lately obtained the name of 'tiic Caledonian Road' which it is most probable will be permanently retained from the cir- cumstance that the Caledonian Asylum situated on the east side of this Road close to and above the Model Prison, is one of the most prominent as well as pleasing objects to view of the (D 6 Goo. IV., c. passers by. The Act for forming this road(') was obtained by a com])any of pro])rietors styled the Battle Bridge and IloUoway Road Company, and intituled " An Act for making and main- taining a public Carriage-road from Battle Bridge in the parish of St. Pancras, to Ilolloway in the parish of St. Mary IsUngton, in the county of Middlesex." iiiGHOATi! akoh- 5. The Ilighgate Archway Road: The steepness of the North Road over the summit of Ilighgate Hill, coupled with its other imperfections, (which, notwithstanding the great sums expended upon it by the Ilighgate and llampstcad Trust, were irremedia- ble,) originated a project of changing the course of the road. For this purpose Mr. Vazie, an engiuccr, proposed to form a sub- terraneous arched tunnel, 21- feet wide, 18 feet high, and about 300 yards in length, as a carriage-road through the hill ; and a ^») 50G0O. iii.c. private Act(') intituled, " An Act for making and maintaining III., ccxivi.; u a Road partly by an Archway through the east side of Hiyhijate CtOo. rV*. c. 75. . . . * (Pub.) Adduiomu Hill, communicating with the present Turnpike-road from Lon- don to Barnet at Ujrpvr HoUotvay, in the ])arish of St. Mury IsUngton, and near the Brook below the fifth mile-stone in the parish of Homsey in the county of Middlesex," was in 1810 obtained by the jjrojeetors, who were thereby incorporated liy the name of the Highijate Archwuy Company, with the usual powers to raise .€60,000 by shares of jESO. The coustruetioii of this proposed tunnel was commenced with ; but from some un- foreseen cause the excavation, which had been already carried 130 yards, fell in early on the morning of the 13th Ajiril, 1812. This accident (wliieh occasioned no loss of life) obliged the Company to abandon the idea of tunnelling, and to form a cut- ting, with an archway for the continuation of llornsey Lane. This new road, by means whereof a distance of upwards of 100 PERAMBULATIOM OF ISLINGTON. 47 yards is savcdj and the acclivity entirely avoided, was opened to the public on the 21st August, 1813, and may be said to have answered all the objects contemplated. At the point where the archway crosses this road it is 60 feet from the top, whereon runs the continuation of Hornsey Lane, although the arch is not more than 36 feet high, the intervening space being occu- pied by three semi-circular arches, forming a bridge for Horn- sey Lane. The foundation-stone was laid October 31, 1812. Kentish Town and Upper HoUoway Road : This road was kentisb town 1 •! 1 ■ /^nyr-ir- -■ "'"*' UPPER Hoi.- also projected upon the suggestions or Mr. Vazie as a junction ioivai i!..ad. road to Kentish Town, and as continuation of the preceding road, thereby effecting a considerable saving of distance to per- sons travelling to the western parts of the metropolis. The title of the private Aet(') (" An Act for making a public Carriage- road from Kentish Town to Upper HoUoway,") sufficiently demonstrates its route, being the same proposed in the map accorapanyiug Mr. A^azie's proposal to the subscribers, and forming the basis of the plan of its construction.* This road crosses Maiden Lane(°), a little above the point where the an- do Amo, p 31. (t) 1 Geo. in., c. 15G; 52 Geo. in, c, cxx., repcilptl and rn-enaoled 3 .iiiil i Win. IV., c. * " To the Committee 0/ Subscribers to the Kentish Town Junction Road. " Gentlemen, — During the last session of Parliament an Act was passed to authorize the forming of a road through the cast side of Higligatc llill, in part by means of an archway, the execution of which is already in a cousidcrahlo state of forwardness. IJy the completion of that design, which I had the honour of planning .and submitting to the consideration of Parliament, the laborious ascent and dangerous descent of the pas- sage over the summit of Highgate Hill will bo avoided, so far as relates to the Hollo- way line of road. Thoroughly assured that a great advantage will arise from a junction being formed with that road from the Assembly House in Kentish Town, nearly in a direct line with the united road leading from Tottenham Court Road and Gray's Inn Lane, I have this season made an accurate survey of the grounds through whicli the intended line will pass, agreeably to my original design; and I have the satisfaction to report, that the prospect of the adjacent fertile countr)-; the evenness of the surface- level ; the natural firmness and dryness of the soil ; ami, pariicuhirli/, the great advan- tage ofannidiiiff the sleep ascent of the present line of road, concur in rendering the de- sign an object of considerable jiublic importance, and one which cannot fail amply to remunerate those who may be desirous of embarking in the undertaking. "The length of the Junction Koad is one mile; the ascents will in no case exceed one inch in the yard; and the whole distance from the Assembly House in Kentish Town to the brook below the fifth mile-stone from London, is precisely the same as that of the present road; upon which line the ascent for a considerable length is up- wards of four inches in every yard. To demonstrate the existing evil which the present design is calculated to remedy, it is deemed proper to observe, that the Com- mittee of the House of Commons appointed Mo examine into the state of the roads and highways of the kingdom ' in the year 1808, rejiorted, ' That among tlie various lines of communication extending from the metropolis to other parts of the kingdom, that which is conducted ovek tiuc .summit ot' Higiiuate Hili. is perhaps the most im- perfect.' Upon forming an estimate of the design, I find, that it will require the sum of twenty thousand pounds to carry the jilan into eflect, which I recommend to be raised by shares of fifty pounds each; this sum, I am of opinion, will prove fully ade- quate to the purchase of the ground and other property necessary to the construction of the road, including every other expense whicli uifiy attend the final completion of the design. I am with the greatest respect, Genllemen, your most obedient and faith- ful humble Servant, " Upper Ilullotcay, October 15, 1810. Kobkut Vazik." 48 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINOTON. cient road from Kentish Town entered it, and also the upper (X) Auicp. J7. cud of Hagbusli Lanc('), as I have ah-cady noticed. So much, therefore, concerning the ways aud roads, as mcU ancient and modern, which, with some private cross-roads, streets, and com- munications, I shall have again occasion to notice when I des- cribe the present state and appearance of Islington. itEOEdi CiHAi. Islington is traversed by the Regent's Canal, an undertaking (J) 52Gea UI..C. formed under the powers of a local Act('), intituled "An Act uKi altered by 53 for uiakiug aud maintaining a navigable Canal from the Grand D6 Gfo. ni.,^ c. Junction Canal in the parisli ot Fadaington to tlic Kivcr Thames III., t'uvi.; 1 A iu the parish of Limchouse, with a collateral cut in the parish 2 Uoc. IV., c. xllU. . c, V 1 oi 1- I II mi ■ 1 1 • 1 • of St. Leonard, ohorcditch. Ihis canal, which, it may be rc- mai'kcd, follows the course of a similar line from Marylebonc projected in 1772, after crossing the Hampstead and Kentish Town Roads and Maiden Lane, supplies a large basin there, called Ilorsfall's Basin, iu its way to White Conduit. Here it passes through a tunnel, 970 yards in length, under the town of Islington and the New River, aud emerges into what was lately the field adjoining the City Gardens. At this place the water is received into a basin 1600 feet long by 110 feet wide, cover- ing with its wharfs an area of twenty-five acres. After supply- ing this basin with water, it continues its course by the south- easterly side of the parish boundary line at the Prebend Field to the Rosemary Branch, where it turns oft' and crosses the Kingsland and Ilaekncy Roads, aud then by Stepney Fields to Limchouse. spv HivKi The New River enters the parish from Hornsey by the Boarded River Lane at Highbury Yale, and runs through New- ingtou and Cauonbury to the Lower Road by the Thatched House, from whence the current is directed under a brick arch to tlie top of River Lane, from whence it flows in frout of Cole- brook Row and Duncan Terrace to the New River Head. r.»E»T No»TUE«!< The Great Northern Railway, an undertaking formed under (z) 9&iovict.,c. the powers of a local Act(') for "making a Railway from Lon- eniJ^powcrebj' dou to York," cutcrs the parish at Maiden Lane, opposite a mitaoqacot cu). g^^^jj onc-sidcd strcet there, called Black Lane that forms the northern boundary of gi'ouiid occupied by Randall's Tile Kilns, and is thence carried northward in a diagonal line in a cutting and through a timnell southward of Copenhagen House from whence it is continued below the level of the Caledonian Road in a continuous cutting and thence upon embankments and viaducts across the Highgate Road, (13.2 yards above the Turn- PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 49 pike, at Holloway,) Hornsey Road, and the Seven Sisters Road, at the hither end of Stroud Green Lane ; from whence it is con- tinued by a short cutting to Hornsey and Barnet. The Camden Town Junction Railway,— a branch of "The Camden to,v» London and Blackwall Railway," originally " The Commercial JJ--^"^"-- Railway (•),"— also enters the parish in Maiden Lane, about <^^.4*,y^endld two hundred yards higher up from the bridge over the cutting ^^J^^^^^^iil. where the Great Northern Railway commences its route, and a ^Senaea/"" ""d few yards below the Horse-slaughtering premises and Manufac- "^^g^^T^£''l tories at Belle Isle, (behuid which Adam's Tile Kilns are situate) '2^^„a, ^cnaea! and is carried by viaducts over Maiden Lane, at Vale Royal, by fargea by 4 & .■> the side of the " Fortune of War" Alehouse, thence upon an em- victa's^'v-ami « « , ^^ , ,, . ,,. subsequent Acts). bankment south of Copenhagen House, and thence m a cutting to WeUs Row (under the High Road at the entrance to High- bury Place) past the " Weaver's Arms," at the entrance to New- ington Green, in an easterly direction to Kingsland, where it leaves the parish, and is then carried across under the Hertford Road in its course to Hackney and Bow. The formation of the parish of Islington may perhaps be re- o^g^^ot the ferred to the time of the seventh century, which is generally named as the commencement of parishes* ; yet many circum- stances point to a later period, viz., a short time before the Con- quest, when a division of the lands of the Church of St. Paul in London among the bishop, chapter, and prebends took place ; for the boundaries of those manors lying within the parish, which ori- ginally formed part of the possessions of that church, are co-ex- tensive with the portion allotted to the canons of Saint Paul in re- spect of the Prebend of Iseldon, and are either bounded by other * Parishes were first ordained in England by Honorius V., archbishop of Canterbury, about 636 ; prior to which period the clergy lived in common, cveiy clerk receiving his pruportion out of the common stock for his maintenance. These parishes appear, how- ever, to have been bishopricks, or at least comprehended a greater portion of territory or district than is consistent with the ordinarj- extent of a parish or parochial cure of souls ; when the distribution into smaller districts took place, it seems difficult to ascer- tain. Blackstone says, that the boundaries of parishes were first ascertained by those of a manor or manors, because it very seldom happens that a manor extends itself over more than one parish, though there are often many manors in one parish. The lords, be adds, as Christianity spread, began to build churches upon their own demesnes or wastes, in order to accommodate their tenants in one or two adjoining lordships ; and that they might have divine sa'vice regularly performed therein, obliged all their tenants to appropriate their tithes to the maintenance of the one officiating minister, instead of leaving them .it libertv to distribute them among the clergj- of the diocese in general; and this tract of land,' the tithes of which were so appropriated, formed a distinct parish, which accounts for the freciueiit intermixture of pai-ishes one with another. For if a lord had a parcel of land detached from the main of his estate, but not sufficient to form a parish of itself, it was natural for him to endow his newly-erected church with the tithes of such lands. Hence the parochial division of England in the Taxatio Ecck- siastica, compiled in the time of Edward I., A.D. 1288-92, appears to have been nearly the same aa now established. — Blacht. Comm. i. 112. 50 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. prebends or by the manors and possessions of the Bishop of Lon- don. I have no doubt but that Iseldon, at the time of the compilation of " Domesday-Book," included great part of that tract north-westward of London, now constituting the parish of Clerkcnwcll ; for in " Domesday-Book," the land of Geoffrey de Mandeville, afterwards called the Commaudry Mautclls, is stated to be in " Isendon." Indeed all that part of the manor of St. John of Jerusalem, which lies in Clerkcnwcll, and forms the greater part of what is now the parish of St. James, Clcrkenwell, may be said to belong to Islington ; for the scite of that manor, which also extends itself over a great part of Ishugton parish, originally formed part of those prebendal possessions which seem to have been granted by the dean and chapter to Kalph de Berners, and subsequently by him to the Priorj' of St. John and other religious communities, as will be shown in its place. It it also evident that what now forms the parish of St. James, Clerkenwell, was first so claimed or created in respect of the possessions in Clerkcnwcll formerly belonging to the dissolved Nunnery, for Muswcll Hill, on the north-west side of llornscy, is claimed as a detached portion of what has been called, before as well as since the Reformation, the parish of St. James, Clerkenwell; as also that portion of land which lies in Hol- loway*, and is called Clerkenwell Manor, as well as what now forms the nucleus of the parish of St. James, Clerkenwell, can be traced very distinctly as having been part of the possessions of the Nunnery, as will be noticed hereafter when I treat of the original state and ownership of this manor. Besides all this, in the Patent Rolls a distinction appears to be made in describing the land which belonged to the two dissolved monasteries, viz., the Priory of St. John's, and the Nunnery of St. Mary ; for the land which belonged to the former is described as being situate within the parishes of Iseldon and Clerkcnwcll, and the land which belonged to the latter or dissolved Nunnery is always stated to be in the parish of St. James, Clerkenwell, insomuch as that land adjoining westerly the site of St. John's (now form- • By indenture dated 3rd of April, 36 Hen. VIII., George Blagg, son and heir of Bobert Blagg, one of the Barons of tlie Exchequer, mortgaged to Thomas Malbye, citizen and fishmonger of London, " all and singular his custumary or copyhold lands, tene- ments, and hereditaments. &c., sett, lying, and being in the town, parish, and feylds of Holoway, within the lordship or manor of Clerkenwell in the county of Middx'." — Rot. Clam' 37 Hen. VIII. p. 1, no. 2. Also I observe, concerning Muswell chapel and farm, Pat. 35 H. VIII. p. 8, m. 14 [10] ; Pal. 3 Ed. VI. p. 8. CVniw 3 Ed. VI. p. .0, no. 13, 14 ; Pnt. 22 Eliz. p. 12 ; Put. 7 Jac. p. 39, m. 12. And concerning the manor of Mus- well [in Muswcll and Uomsey], Pat. 19 Eliz. p. 3; Pat. 33 Eliz. p. 1. Claas' 3 Jac. p. 7. Ciaus' 9 Car. " Claus' 39, n. 20. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 51 ing part of the site of Red Lion Street) in described as being in the parishes of Iseldon and Clerkenwell.* The only feasible mode of accounting for the encroachment on the parochial boundary of Islington, which must originally have extended to the further end of St. John's Street, is that the inhabitants of Clerkenwell having obtained the nunnery church with the rectory and vicarage, which had existed from the most ancient times, and wherein divine offices had been constantly performed by the vicar appointed by the nunsf, in trust for themselvesC'), rated the persons frequenting the church ('^> ^^^^^?33''|-i,^- as parishioners; and as the land in that quarter, which had been the possessions of St. John's, chiefly consisting of the fjs^p"^!; fields alluded to at page 21, and the great fields called the Com- ^l^fi'^'^' ''■" maudry MantellsJ, extending from St. John's Street to Islington * Part of what is now Red Lion Street, Clerkenwell, was the Bocher Close, otherwise But Close, and in a grant from the crown to Sir Thomas Heneage or Hennege, Knight, anno 1548, is described thus: "Totam illam clausuram pasture vocat' Bocher Close, alias But Close, jacen' et e.'cisten' in parochiis de Iselden et Clerkenwell in Com' Midd', ex occidentali pai-te nuper Prioratus sive Hospitalls S" Joh'is Jerusalem nuper existen- tem."— Pat. 2 £d. VI. p. 7, m. 27, (ad finem) ; Cott. MSS. Claud. E. VI., fo. 224, b. (See Cromwell's HUt. of Clerkenwell, 1828, pp. 171, 172.) — And many other instances will be observed. " Regina 12° Marcij concessit ad iirmam Xforo Smyth, totum clausum pasture voc' Famefield, [which had belonged to the Nunnery from the 12th century,] cum pertin' jacen' infra parocli' S" Jaeohi de Clerkenwell, in Com' Midd' pro termino XXI annorum." — Pat. 4 Eliz. p. 1. t Women were not allowed to administer the rites of the church, therefore a priest was appointed by them, and where they had appropriated a rectory, a vicar. The knights of St. John of Jerusalem, as being a military order and " Hospitallers," could not ad- minister to the public divine service ; besides in Clerkenwell there was a cure of souls existing, for the nuns had the rectory. But on one occasion the Hospitallers celebrated a marriage which, more as a matter of contract than .as a religious ceremony, they caused to be entered in one of their register-books; viz., "Memorandum. The iij''' day of Novembre, the xviij yere of Kmge Henry the Eight, within the howse of Sancte John's Clerkenwell, in the Buttery of the same, my lord S'' Thomas Docwra, Priour, ther be. ng the same tyme present John Docwra son and heire of Thomas Docwra of Kyrkeby-Ken- dall in the'countie of Westm'land, gentUman, beyng of the age of xviij yeres and more, and Margaret Turpyn, second doughter and heire of Edward Turpyn late departed of the countie of Leyceytour, gentilwoman, being of the full age of xiij yeres di. and more, of ther mere free will and mynde, w'oute fere, drede, or compulsion of any man, the seid John toke unto his wiff the forseid Margaret, And the seid Margaret toke unto hire husbond the forseid John, and thereunto either to other plighte and gave ther feyth and trewthe, desir}'ng and requjn-ynge witnesse for the same Dame Elizabeth Chomley, Rowland Brugh, Thomas Chichele_v, John Docwra, Thomas Darke, and Wil- lyam Bardesey, with dyv'se other at that tyme beyng present. — J/5. Lansd. 2U0, Qm thejirst leaf). J These fields were first so called, to dbtinguish them from fields in the same neigh- bourhood given to the Nunnery by Emiegard Mantel, widow of Adam de MandeviUe or Mantel. I read in the register of Clerkenwell Nunnery, — " Sciant &c Quod ego Adam de Mandawilla dedi et concessi consilio et petitione Ermegard uxoris meae — terram quam Osmundus tenuit de me in Reddewell." And again, " Quod ego Hermegard Mantel, quse fui uxor Ada; de Mandevilla, &c," being a confirmation of her husband's gift, [fo. 38, 39]. The three fields of "the Commandry " were s.iid to lie proxime ad locum Sci' Johannis prope Land, {Colt. MSS. Claud. E. VI., fo. 168, 6), and extended over the scite of the New River Head and northwards, and had originally belonged to another MandeviUe, from whom they came to Gilbert Foliot, who in the reign of Hen. II. gave them to the Hospitallers. Gerard notices them as "the fields called the Man- tels on the back side of Islington," and "the great field by Islington called the Mantels." —Herbal, pp. 179, 842, ed. Juhns. 1633. 52 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. town, and comprising great part, if not all, of what is now called Pentonville, were exempt from tithe by the Pope's privilege as well as by statute : neither the \'icar or parish of Islington had any motive for claiming a district which imparted no benefit to the one, and imposed a burden on the other. The intermixture also of lands belonging to the Priory and Nunnery, has also tended to confound the boundary. So that, in conclusion, it may be said that all that part of the manor of Saint John of Jerusalem which lies in Clerkcnwcll anciently belonged to Islington*, as never having formed part of tlie ancient manor of Clerkcnwcll, wliich belonged to Jordan Brisct, the founder, and from him came to the nunnery together with the rectory. Stow notices that the church of the nunnery served as a church not only for Clcrkeuwell, but all up to Highgate, Mus- well, &c. ; which seems to show tiiat the site of the manor of Clerkenwell in Islington was then considered as part of Clerken- well, as in strictness it was, upon the same principle that Mus- well is claimed as a detached portion of the same parish; in- deed, upon this principle all other land in Islington which had belonged to the nunnery, ought to belong to Clerkcnwcll. f I (c)Cromw. Clerk- jjave Said the more on this subject, as the Rev. Mr. Cromwell('), cnw. 5 2, p. 72. J > \ l> in his History of Clerkenwell, seems to me to have totally mis- apprehended this portion of the history of his parish, so closely connected with that of Islington. The lands anciently comprising the prebends of Finsbury, "VVenlocksbarn, Eald Street, More, Ho.\ton, Islington, Browns- * From some expressions of Mr. Cromwell it is evident that he considers that this parish of St, James did not take such name till upon or after the dissolution ; but it is vay apparent that the church of St. James existed previously, for Richard Cloudeslev, by his will, anno 1517, gave to the high altar of the church of St. James, Clerkenwell, 3s. 4rf. St. James is also named by Cloudesley in conjunction with other parish churches and parish priests, who were to receive legacies for divine services to be per- formed for his soul. In the Minister's Accounts mention is made of the parish as St. Mary, and also as St. James, Clerkenwell. In very ancient times there was a manor of Clerkenwell at Clerkenwell j for in the reign of Henry II. Ilenrj- Foliot confirmed (amongst other things) " Deo et Ecclesie, S" Marie de Clerekenwell et monialibus ibidem xx" denariatas terre in Manerio de Clerekenwelle. There was also a parish of St. Mary of Clerkenwell." — Jicgislrum Cler- kenw. MSS. Cott. Faustina, B. ii. pp. 16, 93, 103. Both that parish and manor are now extinct, for the present manor of Clerkenwell in Islington has no foundation but as formerly belonging to the Nunnery, of which it forms the only material relic. t In 1836 an assize was brought for a corody of seven conventual loavea and seven measures of conventual ale containing five gallons and sixpence a week, brought against a Prioress; the plaintiff thereupon complained that he was disseised of his freehold m Iseldim; by which it seems that in common reputation, Clerkenwell was in Islington, or that the houses of the two great conventual bodies in Clerkenwell were said to lie in Islington. Fitzherbert in his Afiridgmer.t puts the case as of a Prior, which certainly would refer to the House of the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem, and their house was generallv never said to lie in Clerkenwell or in any place but " near London.*' — Lib. At3. 40 Ed. 3, pi. 12. Eitdi. tit. Pleint., pi. 20. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 53 wood, and Stoke Newington, and stretching up to and bounded by the Bishop of London's manor of Hornsey, was long before the Conquest part of the possessions of the dean and chapter of St. Paul, this church being founded by King ^thelbert about the the year 600, after the metropolitan see was translated by Augustin the monk from London to Canterbury. To this church, or monastery as it was then termed. King ^thelbert gave xxiiij hidas terra juxta muros civitatis London. The church consisted, at the beginning, of a bishop, thirty major canons, twelve minor canons, and thirty vicars, whereof the major canons were perpetually resident in the church, and dis- patched, by their vicar or deputy, the affairs of the church. But these major canons in the process of time were non- residents, and became canons secular, contenting themselves with the bare title of canon and a prebend assigned to them, whereto some portion of land was annexed. This is presumed to have taken place between the time of King Edward the Confessor and the Conquest C), and at this period it is said the (d) ms. i.aiBd. general division of all the lands belonging to the church amongst the bishop, chapter, and prebends, which in effect subsists to this day, took place. * It seems that in course of time some of the possessions of the church were lost by encroachment or oppression, and eight cassats or hides at Isendon are named in the charter of King Wniiam the Conqueror ("), given on the day of his coronation, as (e)Lit)er a sive •- 1^ 11/. Pilosus penes, Dec' part 01 the land whercoi restitution was granted* ; and he after- et cap' s' Pauii, wards, as did his son, specially confirmed to "the Church of * " Ego Williemns Angloram Rex Dei gratia, unk cum Matilda regina cam principi- bus meis coram conventu Dei reverendis, scilicet Archiepiscopis Aldredo et Stigando Note.— A similar ceterisnue Episcopis et abbatibus huius patriae, terra monasterii Sancti Pauli Apostoli, que '■<'*5"'.''°" j Tv* * '^ ' , ., Ti . 1 ■ ■,_ 1 1 . I. ... made towards the m tempore antecessorum nostrorum a quibuslibet hommibus ablatie fuerant injustc, end of the Con- omnes, in die primi diadematis coronacionis meaj, Deo ejusque Apostolo Paulo in queror's reifm to Luudonia et eorum servitoribus in perpetuum possidendas restituti, et eas ex parte V\t '^,*'^^'^/ ^^' omni liberas esse concessi, exceptis tribus, expeditione pontis, et arcis constructione, et n'sntrtf. ii. Tl3 e.'cercitu; id est, quindecim cassatas ad Nesingestol?, et quatuor ad Lagefara, et tres ad ed. I8'2fi.' Cochamstede, et se.K ad Runwelle, et octo ad Isendon, et duas ad Lilleston. Et quicun- que banc donacionem a me concessam in aliquo augere velit, ipse et omnia sua ii Domino augeantur et in eternum benedicantur ; si quis vero ea qure decrevinus in aliquo mutare aut irrita facte voluerit, & comraunione Saiictx Ecclesiaj et a consorcio omnium electorum Die, hicet in futuro segregatus, et cum Juda et omnibus iniquis condempnatus." Lvsons cites the ancient MS., book L. fo. \2. to shew that the Conqueror made resti- tution of nine cassats or bides. See his Eni'iroiu^. tit. Islington, p. 474. in n. 2nd edition. There is also a a similar charter or grant of restitution entered in ii6er C, with some slight differences in reading, but no mention is therein made of Isendon. Neither Dugdale nor Sir Henry Ellis seem to have observed that copy which is entered in the Liber A sire Pilosus, although they both refer to it. — See Dugdale's History of St. Paul's Cathedral, edited by Sir H. EUis, 1818, p. 297, and 2nd Edition, 1726, p. 14, in appendice. 54 PERAMBULATION OP ISLINGTON. (I) Mae. Hot. Plponic»]a>--Boolc, I. fol. ISH.col. 1. III. TERRA EP'I LUNDONIENSIS. lit. LAND OF THE BISHOP OF LONDON. n« OSULVKSTASE IIUND . IN OS8UL9TON HUNDRED. In Isendone h'nt canon' S' Pauli II. hid'. T'ra. i. car' 7 dim'. Ibi. c' i. car' 7 dim' potest fieri. Ibi. iii. vill'i de. i. virg'. Past'a ad pecun' vill'. H' t'ra val' 7 valuit xl. sol'. H' jacuit 7 jacet in d'nio S' Pauli. In Isendone the canons of St. Paul liave two hides. Tlic arable land is one plough-land and a half. At that place is one plough-land, and a half wore can be made. At the same place are three villaus to one yard-land. Pasture for the cattle of the vill. The land is noiv worth and was worth 10s. This has formed and now is parcel of the demeuse of the church of St. Paul. In ead' villa h'nt ipsi canon'. II. h' t'. Ad. II. car' 7 dim' e t'ra ibi. 7 in sunt. Ibi. mi. vill'i q' tencnt sub canon' hanc t'ra'. 7 ini. bord' 7 xiii. cot', ir t'ra valet xxx. sol', q'do reccp. similit'. T. R. E. '. xl. sol'. Ha2c jacuit 7 jacet in d'nio accl'ffi S' Pauli'. In the same vill the said canons have two hides of ar- able land. The arable land is enough for two ploughs a half, and so now. In that j)Iace are four villans who hold un- der the canons this land, and tliere are four bordars and thir- teen cottars. This land is worth 20.V., when they received it the like. In the time of King Edward 10*. This has formed and now is parcel of the dc- PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 55 mesne of the church of St. Paul. In Stanestaple h'nt canon', nil. hid'. Tra. e' ad ii. car'. 7 ibi sunt m . 7 vii. vill'i q' ten' hanc t'ra sub canon'. 7 ii. cot'. Past'a ad pecun' villse. Silva. CL. pore'. 7 X. sol'. In totis valentiis val'. l. sol', q'do recep' simUit'. T. E. R. i lx. sol'. H' t'ra jacuit 7 jacet in seccl'a S' Pauli. In Stanestaple the canons have four hides. The arable land is the two plough-lands, and so now, and there are seven villans who hold this land un- der the canons, and two cot- tars. Pasture for the cat- tle of the vill. Wood to feed one liundred and fifty swine, and ten shillings rent. In total value it is worth 505. when they received it the Hke. In the time of King Edward 60s. This land has formed and now is parcel of the demesne of the church of St. Paul. IX. TERR' GOISFR' DE MANEVILLE OnLVESTANE HD'. * • ♦ * In Isendone ten Gulb't' de Goisf. dim' hid'. T'ra. e' dim' car'. 7 ibi est. 7 i. vill'us 7 i. bord'. H' t'ra val' xii. sol' Q'do recep'. similit'. T. R. E. '. XX. sol'. Hane tenuit Grim ho'. R. E. 7 vend'e potuit. IX. LAND OF GEOFFREY DE MANDEVILLE* OSSULSTON HUNDRED. In Isendone, Gilbert holds of Geoffrey a half hide. The arable land is half a plough land, and it is there, and there is also one villan and and one bordar. This land is worth 12s. When taken the like. In the time of King Edward, 20s. Grim,t a man of King Edward, held this land and might sell it. • This man held several manors of the Conqueror as a reward for having assisted him in the acquisition of this kingdom. t 'Tis observable that where a man is written in Domesday-Book, Homo Regis Ed- ward), or Ifotiw Alestani de Boscumb, or the like; these men held of their Lords in Socage ;— This is the observation of Sir Henry Chauncy, Knt., Serjeant-at-Law, Author of " The Historical Antiquities of Hertfordshire," a man very learned in his profession, and whose remarks upon Domesday -Book, although not very numerous, are valuable and pertinent. I may take upon myself to advise the reader that those who are pro- fessed lawyers are more competent to translate and expound this record than others, and this may account for many strange misinterpretations of passages therein, that are to be met with in topographical works, whereof the editors have not been bred to the Law. Domesday-Book, 1. 129, b. coL I. 56 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. lJonie«day-Book L 130 b, col. 3. XXII. TERRA RAXN' FRIS ILGEUIJ. OSULVKSTANE BUND*. Ranuulf fr' Ilgerij, ten' de rcgc ToLENTONE. p. II. bid'. T'ra. c. II. car*. In d'nio. i. hid'. 7 ibi. e'. I. car'. ViU'i h'nt. ii. car'. Ibi. v. vill'i q'sq ; de dim' virg'. 7 II. bord'. de. ix. ac'. 7 I. cot' 7 I. servTis. Past'a ad pec' villae. Silva. lx. pore'. 7 V. solid'. H' t'ra val'. xl. sol'. Q'do recep'f lx. sol'. T. R. Ef XL. sol'. Hanc tenuit Edduin' h'o regis. E. 7 vend'e potuit. LA.ND OF RANULF [OR RALPH] BROTHER OF ILGER. OSSt'LSTO."? HU.NDKKD. Ealph, Ilgcr's brother, holds of the king Tolentone for two hides. The arable land is two plough lands. In demesne one hide, and at that place is one plough land. The villans have two plough lands. At that place are five villans each of tlicm to one half yard-land, and two bordars to nine acres, and one cottar and one bondman. Pas- ture for the cattle of the vill. wood to feed sixty swine, and five shillings rent. This land is noio worth 40*., when taken 60«. In tho time of King Edward 10*. This land a* man of King Edward held, and he might sell it. .\XIII. TERRA DERMAN LUNDOX'. OSWLVBSTANE HUNd". LAND OF DERMANt OF LONDON. Dcrman' ten' de regc in IsELDoNE dim hid'. T'ra. e' dim' car'. Ibi. e' un' vill's. IV t'ra val' 7 valuit. x. sol'. Hanc t'ra' tenuit Algar h'o regis. E. 7 vend'e 7 dare potuit. Derman holds of the King in IsELDONE a half hide. The arable land is half a plough- land. At that place is one villan. This land is now worth and has been worth 10*.^ This land Algar a man of King Edward held, and he might sell it and give it away. From this record it is to be observed that Isendone and Isel- dotie are one, and that the canons or dean and chapter of St. Paul held under the Bishop of London, their superior lord. * This man held other land of the king than what is recorded here, and in Domesd. i. fol. 138, Herlf., he is also described as lianulfus t rater Ilgerij. t This /''ernuin is described q/' Z^7i0 WSRAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. With regard to the half liydc described in Domesday Book as belonging to Derman of London ; that land appears to have descended to his son Tierric or Theodoric, wliose son Bertram of Barrow, bestowed forty acres thereout, together with twenty acres of land of his own possession at Ncwington, and twenty acres parcel of Tolcsdon, places wherein his lauded property lay. The Charter is preserved in the Cartulary of the Nunnery. The remainder of the hyde, or more strictly speaking the half hyde, appears to have been, at the same early period, in the possession of one Goddard, who, like Bertram, took his name from his inheritance, and was styled Godard of the Ilydc, as Thomas the son of Bertram, in one of the charters preserved in the Liber A. sive Pilosiis of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's styles himself* of Barowe, or of the Barrow. The son of this Godard appears to have surrendered his land to the then newly founded nunnery, whieli he at that time held of them, for 10*. of sterling money : the charters by which the memory of these transactions is preserved, are also to be found in the register or cartulary of the nunnery, and are as follows. * That the descendants of Dereman of London took the name of Barow from the name of their chief possession at the Barrow in Newington, is very clearly shewn by the following entry in that ancient book called J.ibtr A.sive Pilosus, to which I have liefore referred. Omnibus Sancte matris Ecclesio), filiis ad qucs presens Scriptum pcrvcnerit Thomas de Barwe filij bertrami de Barwo Salt'. Notum sit omnibus tain prescntibus quam futuris quod Kgo Thomas do Barwe dedi et concessi et quietuui clamavi de nie ot hercdibus nieis Will'm lilium Kegin' de Barwe cum omnibus catallis suis et cum tota sequela sua in puram etperpetuam elemosinam Deo et saucto Paulo et conventui Ktclesia:, Sc'i I'auli Lond' ibidem Ueo servientibus. Habendum et possidendum p'dcum Will'm sicut liberum hominem libere quiete integre et in perpetuo honore pro una libra ccr.-o, rpiam predictus W. tenetur reddere annuatim predicte ecclesia; Sc'i Pauli ad convcrsionem Sc'i I'auli pro omnibus rebus ad luminare faciendum coram magno altari. — Fo. xxvi. (b.) iTrantlalion.) To all the Sons of Ilohj Mother Church to whom this present writing shall come, Thomas of Barowe, Son of Bertram of Barowe, Greetinr/. Be it hiown to all, both present and to come, that I Thomas of Barowe have given, and granted, and tjuit claimed from me and my heirs William the son of Reginald of Barroic, with oU his chattels and with all his sequele in pure and perpetual almoignc to God and Saint Paul and the convent of the Church of St Paul, Londnn, serving God there. To have ami to possess the aforesaid William as a free man, fredij, quietly, wholly, and in perpetual worship ; for one pound of wax, which the aforesaid William is bound to render yearly to the aforesaid Church of St. Paul, at the Conversion of St. Paul for all things, for making a light before the high altar. — (J'c. — / The subsequent part of this deed, which is evidently of the time of King Henry II., or, perhaps, the early part of the reign of Richard, shews that Dereman's descendants lield Newington Barrow, and, there is little doubt, bad long before held it as a manor, and that Thomas of Barrow, or of the Barrow, was the then Lord thereof, for he parts with one of his villans by tenure for the purpose of ensuring payment to the high altar of St. Paul's of a pound of wax towards maintaining the light that was, in those days of dark- ness and popish superstition, constantly kept burning there. There existed close rela- tions between the cathedral and Dereman's descendants, for Algar, the earliest Dean of St. Paul's of whom we have record, was described as Algarus filius Dermanni. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 61 Ex registro de Clerkenwell in Bibl. Cottoniana, in Musao Briian- cott Mss.^Faus- nico asservato. Faustina B. 11. i^.i.xxv.B,ffoL EX BONO BERTRAMI FILII TERRICI FILII DERE5IANNI DE TERRA DE LA HYDE ET DE NEWENTON. Omnibus filiis sanctte matricis Ecclesise clericis et laicis tarn presentibus quam futuris Bertramus filius Terrici filii Dermanni Salutem j Sciatis me dedisse et concessiosse ethac mea carta con- firmasse Deo et Ecclesise Sanctse Mariffifontis Clericorum et monialibus ibidem Deo servientibus in liberam et puram et perpetuam eleemosinam pro salute animse mea et uxoris mea et pro salute anima mea et uxoris mese et pro salute hsredum meorum et proanimabus antecessorum meorum quatuor irginti acras terrae scilicet quadraginta acras de Newetone in terra ilia quffi dicitur la Hyde, et viginti acrasde Newetone in Daue- botine et viginti acras de Tolesdon'. Quare volo et firmiter concedo quod prescriptaj sanctimoniales habeant et teneant prte- nominatas terras bene et in pace libere quiete honorifice et integre sicut liberam et perpetuam eleemosinam. Testibus hiis Reinero filio Berengeri: Michaele filio Radulphi: Willielmo filio Briedmar de Haverliull : Vitale clerico : Joseph : Hugone : capellanis de fonte clericorum. DE CONFIRMACIONE THOM^ FILII BERTRAMI DE HTDA. Omnibus filiis Sanctffi Matricis Ecclesise Clericis et Laicis tam prfesentibus quam futuris Thomas filius Bcrtrami salutem; Sciatis me concessisse et hac prsesenti carta nostras confirmasse donacionem quam pater meus Bertramus donavit Deo et Eccl- siai Sanctaj Mariae de Clerkenwell et monialibus ibidem Deo servientibus in liberam et puram et perpetuam eleemosniam pro salute animte mese, patris et matris mea; hsercdum et ante- cessorum nostrorum quatuor viginti acras terra? scilicet, quad- raginta acras de Niweton in terra ilia quEe dicitur la Hyde et viginiti acras de Toleduna. Quare volo et firmiter concedo quod proedictEe moniales habeant et teneant preenominatam tcrram bene et in pace libere et quiete honorifice et integre sicut liberam et perpetuam eleemosinam Hiis Testibus, Rocc- lino Huse : Ernaldo Capellano : Ricardo Capellano : Waltero CapcUano. DE CONFIRMACIONE BERTRAMI FILII THEODORICI DE HTDA. Ricardo Episcopo Londonicnsi ct Archidiaconis et Decauis tocius Episcopatus omuibusquc filiis francigenis et angligcuis sanctje Ecclcsitc, Bertramus filius Theodorici fihi Derman et 62 peramhulation ok Islington. mater ejus Matildis salutcm; Notum vobiscumquc uos dcdissc in eleraosinaiu quatuor \iginti acras dc Newyton pro auima patris mei Tlicodorici pro nostra, oiuniuiu atquc pareiitum nos- trorum salute ct pro animabus cciam parcntum ct aniicorum nostrorum dcfunctorum banc clcniossinam damus ct conccdiinus in honorc Domini nostri Jliesu Christi, Ecclcsiaj Sancta; Marise de ClcrkcnwcU ct toti convcntui illius loci ut banc tcncant ct habcant dc nobis ct de nostris bicri'dil)ns, Ijcnc ct in pace et quiete ab omni servicio ; et si quis super hac pra;dictis monia- libus injuriam fcccrit, Dei bcncdictionc et Sancta; Marire matris ejus, omniumque Sanctorum et nostra carcat. Testibus, Wil- licmo Archidiacono et Waltero fratre ejus: Henrico de Essexia: Williclmo filio Richold. ii'id, foi. 101. DE VENDITIOXE WALTERI DE HYDA. Paroch' de ) Sciant praiscntcs et ftituri quod Ego Waltcrus filius Yseldon. j Godardi de Hyda, sui-sum reddidi et quictum clamaoi pro me et haircdibus meis Domui Sanctae Marite de Clerkcnwelle et monialibus ibidem Deo servientibus totam terram cum suis per- tinentijs quam de esidem monialibus tenui in Hyda. Ita quod Ego vcl bseredcs mei nullum jus vel clamiura in dicta terra de cetero habere possumus vel uide aliquid csigcre ; pro hac antem quieta clamacione dederunt mihi praedictaj moniales dcaim solidos sterlingorum. In cujus rei testimonium huic scripto sigillum meum apposui. Hiis Testibus. Domino R. de Pur- lett magistro dicta Domus. Radulpho Canun. Willielmo monacho. (TVowWion.) Of the gift of Bertram the son of Terric the son of Dereman*, of the land of Hyde and Newenton. To all the sons of holy mother church, clerk and lay, as well as present and to come, Bertram the son of Terric the son of Dermau sendeth greeting, know ye that I have given and granted, and by this my charter confirmed, to God and the church of Saint Mary, Clerkenwell, and the nuns serving God there, in free and pure and perpetual almoigne for the health of my soul and that of my wife, and for the souls health of my heirs, and for the souls of my ancestors, four score acres of land, to wit. Forty acres of Newetone, in that land which is called * This man's name appears upon the Pipe Roll of the !il Hen. I., Land' and llfidiU, containing the Accounts of the Koyal Revenue collected by the Sheriffs, ending Sept. 2'J, 1 130, and is entered thus TierricofiV Dermanni xxs. & vjrf. [p. 148, printed copy."] b PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. the Hyde ; and twenty acres of Newetone in Danebotine* ; and twenty acres of Tolesdone. Wherefore I will and strictly grant that the afore written holy nuns, have and hold the aforenamed lands, well and in peace, freely and quietly, worshipfully and wholly, as pure and perpetual almoigne. Witness these, Reiner fitz Bcrenger. Michael fitz Ralph. William fitz Briedmar of Haverhill. Vital Clerk, Joseph, Hugh, Chaplains of Clcrkenweli. Of the Confirmation of Thomas the son of Bertram, of the Hyde. To all the sons of holy mother church, clerk and lay, as well present as to come, Thomas the son of Bertram, sendeth greeting; Know ye, that I have granted, and by this our present charter confirmed, the gift that my father Bertram offered to God and the church of Saint Mary of Clerkcnwell, and the nuns serving God there, in free and pure and per- petual almoigne, for the souls health of myself, my father and mother, oui- heirs and ancestors, four score acres of land, to wit. Forty acres of Niweton, in that land which is called the Hyde ; and twenty acres of Niweton in Danebotine ; and twenty acres of Tolesdone. Wherefore I will and strictly grant, that the aforesaid nuns have and hold the aforenamed land, well and in grace, freely and quietly, worshipfully and whoUy, as free and perpetual almoigne. These being witnesses. Rocelin Huse. Ernald Chaplain. Richard Chaplain. Walter Chaplain. Of the Confirmation of Bertram the son of Theodoric, of the Hyde. To Richard, Bishop of London, and to the archdeacon and deans of the whole bishopric, as to the sons of holy church French born and English born, Bertram the son of Theodoric, the son of Derman and his mother Matilda, sendeth greeting. Be it known to every of you, that we have given in almoigne, four score acres of Newyton, for the soul of my father Theodoric, for the health of our own and of all our relatives alike, and for the souls also of all our relatives and friends departed, this almoigne do give and grant, for the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the church of St. Mary of Clcrkenweli, and to the whole convent of that place, that they may hold and have the same * This land it will be acen was afterwards called Danebotbam and Danebottom, but as the first minim in the cartulai-y is by the transcriber from the charter, distinguished by a hair stroke, although other minims standing for the letter i are not so marked, I have thought it more proper to follow the cartulary, but I shall hereafter shew that the word is Danebottme or Danebottom, — the vowel o being omitted as in Barwe for Barowe. 63 64 PEUAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. of US find of our heirs, well and in peace, and quit from all service, and if any one shall hereupon do wrong to the aforesaid nuns, may he want the blessing of God and of St. Mary his mother, and of all the Saints, and our own. Witnesses, William Archdeacon and Walter his brother. Henry of Essex. William Fitz Richold. Of the Sale of Walter of the Hyde. Know present and to come, that I, Walter son of Godard of the Hyde, have surrendered and quit claimed for me and my heirs, to the said house of Saint ]\Iary of Clerkcnwell and the nuns serving God there, all that land 'with its appurtenances which 1 of the said nuns held in the Hyde. So that neither 1 or my heirs from henceforth may be able to have any right or claim in the said land, or demand any part thereof, but for this quit-claim the above said nuns have given to me 10». sterling. In witness whereof I to this writing put my seal. These being witnesses. Sir Richard of Purlctt, master of the said house. Ralph, canon. William, monk. However, all that the descendants of Beremau possessed was not then departed with, for Alice of Barowe, in Hilary Term in the 55th year of King Henry the Third, (1271) levied a fine to the Prioress of Clcrkenwell, of seven marks* of rent, with the appurtenances in Newton (now called Newington,) charged upon a tenement which the Priory of Saint John of Jerusalem held of her in the same vill, wherefore it was agreed in the fine that the Prioress of Clerkeuwcll admitted her to the benefit of the prayers of the nunnery, this gift being also expressed to have been made in pure and perpetual almoignc. The Prior of Saint John also engaged to pay the rent as holdcn of Alice of Barowe, of the tenement so charged. This Alice of Barowe, the last known descendant of Derman, subsequently gave the entire Lordship of Highbury and Newton to the Priory of St. John, as appears by the following entry in one of the Cartularies of that house, also cited in the Monasticon (ii. 543. ed. 1661.) Domina * Xrtoton BarrotD. Hec est finalis Concordia facta in Curia ilomini Regis apud VVestmonasterium in erastino purificacionis beatc Marie Anno rcgni Regis Henrici filii Regis Johannis (\\i\n- quagesimo quinto, coram JIartino Litleburj-, Slagistro Rogero de Seyton et Johanne de Cobham .lustic', et aliis dni Regis fidelibus tunc ib'm presentibus ; inter Aliciam priorissam sancte Marie de Clerisenwell querentem et Aliciam de Barowe impedientem de Septcm marcatis redditus cum pertinenciis in Newton, unde placitum &c. — Coll. .V5S. Xera, LVI./o. 62. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 65 Alicia de Barowe dedit dominium totum de Highbury ei Newton cum pertineniiis. But to return to the early acquired pos- sessions of Clerkenwell Nunnery, through the descendants of Derman. The date of Bertram of Barowe's gift is not stated in his charter, but from the circumstance of his certifying his gi'ft to Richard, Bishop of London, the time can be referred to between the years 1151 and llGl during which period Richard was Bishop. In the Charter of Henry II. confirming to the nuns of Clerkenwell the gifts they had received, the preceding dona- tion of Bertram is thus recited. " Ex dono Bertrami filii Theo- dorici et matris ejus Matildis* quater viginti acras de Newetona." The date of this confirmation, as of most instruments of that time, can only be ascertained, and that not very precisely, by the names of the attesting witnesses, but from thence it may be collected, in the present instance, that the Royal Confirmation was obtained about 1170. Allusion has been made to another very ancient possession of the Nunnery (j), which, as I assume, was subsequently called O) Ante p. 59. Weering's lands, situate near Hopping Lane : the earliest notice I can find is in the register of the Nunnery, wherein is given the confirmation of Henry Foliot and Lecia his wife (daughter of the Founder), whereby among other possessions is specified, " Et to- tam terram quam Wigar Kitte tenuit defeodo nostra in Newenton," and this gift among others was confirmed by another and later Charter of King Hen. XL, wherein it is thus described, " Ex concessu Murielis de Muntinni (Munteigni) Wigar Kitte cum toto tenemento suo quod tenet de ilia in Neutona de mari- tagio suo." — Of the grant of Muriel de Munteigni Wigar Kitte {TransiaUon.) with all his tenement {or holding) which he holds of her in New- ington of her [land given her in} marriage. The date of this confirmation charter may be referred to about the year 1180. These last named possessions are now, as I have already ob- served, within the ambit of the Manor of Highbury, but there are possessions formerly of this Nunnery still impressed with its conventual character, and now constituting the scite of the pre- sent Manor of Clerkenwell : I mean those one hundred and six acres, stretching from near the top of Maiden Lane across to Holloway, by Saint John's Church, the Kentish Town Road, and the Mother Red-cap, and higher up in front of the road to- * So that it seems that tbe twenty acres of Tollington having been annexed to the Newington domain as being adjacent, had in the interval between the grant and the roval continuation taken the name of Newington. 9 66 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. wards Highgatc, which I shall have occasion to notice once more when I conic to speak of the Manors in Islington. The possession of the remainder of the territories enumerated in Domesday, in reference to Iseldon, can be traced with toler- able accuracy. What at this present time constitutes the Pre- bend Manor, the Manor of Bemersbury, and the Manor of Canonbury, are clearly identical with those four hydes the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's arc described to have holden of the superior lord the Bishop of London. The land estimated at two hydcs, and holden of the King l)y Ralph Ilger's brother, may be satisfactorily referred to that part of the parish known as Tol- lington, while some portion of the Dean and Chapter's four hydes at Stanestaple and Stapleton Hall may, with every pro- bability, be said to have been the same ^vith what has long since been called Stroud Green, or its immediate vicinity northward. Wih regard to the half-hyde, holden by one Gilbert of Geoffrey (k) EnviroMboi fie Mandevillc, Lvson'sfM is of opinion that a certain half of London, il. 475. ' * *■ ' ' e.1. i»io./.;inyron. qj^q knight's fee, holden by the licirs of Ralph Bcrners, under the Bohuns Earls of Hereford, is the same estate as that de- scribed in Domesday as being holden of (Jcoffrcy de Mandevillc, whose heirs the Bohuns were ; but to this I do not altogether assent, for upon investigating the matter further I come to the conclusion that what the Bcrners' held of the Bohuns was part and parcel of the Manor of Iseldon-Berners, now known as Bernersbury ; and that the half-hyde mentioned in Domesday as being holden under Geoffrey de !Mandeville subsequently passed to the Foliots, from one of whom, ^^z., Henry Foliot, it came to the Hospitallers of Clerkenwell, or Knights of St. John of Jeru- salem, and was by them distinguished by the name of the Com- mandry Mantells, the scite whereof is now occupied by the New River Head and Pentou\ille-proper.* KsiGBT's kem in This allusion to Knight's fees brings me to the consideration of those censual records, known as the Books of Knight's Fees, containing the scutages and aids levied upon the laity, wherefrom it is to be collected as follows : — The Bishops of London as chief lords of the fee, in right of their barony and bishoprick, at a very early period after King William's survey infeudated several of their great Tenants with portions of their barony; and these gentlemen held by mihtary service so much land as constituted one or more Knight's fees, and in some instances a lesser pro- • Strictly speaking, Pentonville is confined to what was the estate of the late Harry Penton, Esq., lying entirely in the parish of Clerkenwell, bounded northward by Islington parish. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. portion ; and with regard to several of these their Knight's fees in the Hundred of Ossulston, as well as in the county of Hert- ford*j the tenures and services became annexed to the Bishop's Castle of Stortford('), in that county, which castle as an honor or 0) see cimimcy's chief manor had several manors and services dependant there- 's^c. upon, and by the certificates or returns from the barons or great servants in capite of the knight's fees liolden of them, returned into the exchequer upon the collection of that aid levied in 12 Hen. II. for the marriage of the king's daughter, and recorded in the Black Book of the Exchequer, it appears that the then Bishop of London certified that, amongst others, Symon Bald, or Baud, held of him three knight's fees ; and that Ralph de Bernieresf held the half-part of one knight's fee. No place is named wherein these knight's fees were said to lye, but from subsequent Books of Knight's Fees it is sufficiently collected that they lay in Islington, and the date of their creation must be referred to the reign of Henry I., and, in fact, in that com- pilation of knight's fees, contained in the book known as Testa de Nevil, and having reference to the times of John, Heni-y III. and Edward I., the knight's fees(°') in Islington as they subsisted g^\^''™^"'^.^Ju' at a period of less than a century after the compilation of the Midd.(6i3)p.36o, Black Book are thus described : — ScutageJ of the county of Middlesex. * ****** Also of the bishoprick of London. ♦ **»♦«* Alan le Baud one-half fee in Iseldon. * W. Dei gra' Rex Anglorura L[anfranco] Archiepo' et omnibus Ep'is et Baronibus et fidelibus siiis francigenis et Ang)igenis Salt'. Scitote q'd ego concede Deo et Sc'o Paulo de Lundonia et Mauricio Epo' et successoribus ejus castellum de Storteford et omnia que ad illud pertinent et nominatim terras quas anteccssores mei Regca Sc'o Paulo dederunt. T. Osmundo Epo' et Will'o Dunelmensi Epo'. — Charter of William II. Liber A. sive Pilosus peiies Decanuni tf- Cap. 5c'i PauU, LondoUt fol. ii. t See Chauncy's Eistori/ of Hertfordshire, i. 304—306, ed. 1826, where, citing Fuller's Worthies, he gives an account of this honourable family, of whom the first of any note in this country was the Simon Baud in the text, who died in the holy land, 20 Hen. II., A.D. 1174." The Sir William Baud, Knt., who is named in Stowe's Survey if London (Tit. Farringdon Wai'd \\itliin) as holding land in Essex by the service of paying a Fee Buck and Doe in their seasons to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul, (see Liher A. sive Pilosus, fo. TSb and 99b) London, was a descendant of Simon Band. This family also held the manor of Hadham Hall, in Hertfordshire, of the Bishop of London, as of his castle of Stortford by the sers'ice of Castleguard, &c., in the same manner as the Berners' held their manor of Islington, indeed the latter family had holden of the Bishop of London lands in Esse.x, Middlesex, and Hertfordshire from the time of the great survey. X This, I take it, was the first scutage granted to Eung Henry III. by the Parliament anno 1220, in the 5th year of his reign, viz., two marks of silver of every knight's fee: the second scutage was granted in the 36th year of his reign, anno 1252, for his voyage to the Holy Land, (whither he never went, and for all we can learn never intended to have 68 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. GeoflFrcy of Sarpcimllc and Nicholas of Osschaye, the King's Collectors, account for the aid granted to the Lord the King in this County to marry his Sister to the Emperor of the Romans, of every Knight's fee two marks. Id. (619) p. 361, printed c<^]l. The Citizens of London, Robert fitz John and Ralph Aswy, goldsmith, render account on their behalf of the aforesaid aid* granted in this County, to wit of £2\. Ss. 4d. for the fourth part of one fee of Nicholas of Bassing-Hom, in Ilaregodeston, (Haggerston) of the Barony of Richard of Mumfichet Id. (620) p. 362, printed copy. And for the further fourth part one fee of William de Vere, in Stebenheth (Stepney) of the Barony of the Bishop of Londou. And for the half fee of Ralph de Berners in Iseldon. EnTiroiu of Lond. I(. 480, ed. 1810. fshngton. So that Alan Baud, the descendant of Symon Baud, held but a portion, (viz., the half of one Knight's fee,) of what his ancestor held in Islington, and Ralph Berners, the descendant of the first Ralph Berners, held precisely what his ancestor had holden. Lysons says, that " The Prior of St. John of Jerusalem held in the reign of Henry VI., the half of one Knight's fee in Islington which had formerly belonged to William de Vere," but the authority he cites, viz., a Book of Knights Fees of that period, demonstrates that the moiety, or half part of a knight's fee to which he alludes, lay in Stepnej' ; — an oversight to which I reluctantly di-aw the reader's attention, as Mr. Lysons may generally be depended upon for the correctness of his references gone.) three marks of every knight's fee. Scntage was paid by the tenant in chief, by his finding so many men at arms (milites) according to the quantity of his land, or by making fine to the king in lieu thereof. When the tenant in chief had satisfied his superior lord, the King, he was entitled to purchase a writ to compel the inferior tenants or those who held of him by military service, to repay him by way of contribution, this is known in law books as Escuarie, but the law-latin for both payments is, Smtagium. This payment, wliich could be levied upon the laity only, and was payable by those tenants who held of the crown in chief, was revived, together with 8hii)-money and other lawful, although odious, projects, by the prerogative lawyers in the reign of Charles I., for a Commission was then issued to the Bishop of London, the Lord Trea- surer, and others, " to treat with and make composition for the fines of such persons as hold lands of the king by knight's service, or escuage, and desire to be exempted from going to the wars with the King against the Scotts." — In dorf Hot. Pat. 16 Car. p. 3, n. 20. * This was the aid raised by King Henry III. to the marriage of his sister Isabel! witli the Emperor Frederick the Second, successor to Otho, and grandson to Frederick Barbarossa. The assessment was two marks upon everj- hyde of land. This was in the 20th year of his reign, anno 123.'). The Emperor's hereditary kingdoms of Naples and Sicily were the occasion of his being constantly embroiled with the Pope,s, to whom, at one time, he paid eleven thousand marks of gold, extorted from him under the terrors of a threatened escommunication. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 69 to public records, as well as for the inferences to be deduced from those sources of information. However, to continue the history of the assessment upon the knight's fees in Islington, I have next to notice an inquisition, taken at the commence- ment of the reign of Edward II., at West Smithfield, before the Sheriffs of London and certain Jurors, states the number and particulars of the knights fees in the hundred of Ossulston, with the names of those who are liable to the scutages and aids assessed or to be assessed thereon ; the record being brief and explanatory of the preceding citations, I ask the reader's in- dulgence for thus adding to this dry collection of records, a translation thereof, with the omission of the juror's names, viz. "An inquisition made at the Priory of St. Bartholomew, Lon- cin! MisSJL"voi. don, before the sheriffs and John of Litleton, concerning sin- SenSiion' ^e gular the knight's fees in the hundred of Ossulston, being, by '^ the oath of — (here follow the juror's names,) who being sworn upon their oath say, That the Master of the Knights Templars in England, holds in Hackney of the honor of Stortford, by the service of the moiety of one knight's fee. Also they say. That Robert le Veer holds in Hackney, of the Honor of Stortford, by the service of a fourth part of one knight's fee. Also Uichard Bishop of London holds in Hackney of the honor of Stortford, by the service of a fourth part of a knight's fee. Also they say, That John Able holds in Stibenhuth (Stepney), of the Honor of Stortford, by the service of the third part of one knight's fee. Also, Thomas TaiUard holds in Acton, of the honor afore- said, by the service of the moiety of one knight's fee. Edmund de Berners holds in Iseldon of the honor aforesaid, by the service of the moiety of one knight's fee. Also, the Hospital- lers of Clerkenwell, hold in Iseldon, of the honor aforesaid, by the service of the moiety of one knight's fee. Also Richard, Bishop of London, holds in Finchesley, (Finehley) of the afore- said honor by the service of the fourth part of one knight's fee. Also they say, that Richard of Gloucester holds the Soke Blemond', (Bloomsbury) of the Lord the King, by the service of one knight's fee, together with Secheverell's land of the Hos- pital of St. Giles and other its members. Also they say, that the dean and chapter of St. Paul hold in Hergodeston, (Hag- gerston) of the heirs of Nicholas of Bassyngburn, by the service of the fourth part of one knight's fee. In witness whereof &c. (Indorsed.) Registered." The intelligent reader will observe that the foregoing inquisi- 70 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. tion points to the date of the acquisition by the Hospitallers or Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, of what in all probability forms a great portion of the manor still bearing their name, namely, "that part of the manor of St. John of Jerusalem which lies within the parish of Islington, between Tallington- Lane and the western extremity of the parish," to adapt the (n) EnvironBor words of Mr. Lysons (°) to an hypothesis different from his own, Lond. D. 480, cd. . . . . """• for he refers this portion of the parish to an ancient possession of William de Vera, which I consider erroneous for the reasons just now stated. ^"''^fn*^'',^^ lu the reign of Edward III. the collectors (°) of an aid granted 20 Ed. 3, o \ / Himd^-m d/osui- answcrcd for twenty shillings, in respect of a half knight's fee "■"''"■ in Iscldon, which the wife of John of Bcrncrs theretofore held, and which John her son then held of the Bishop of London. And the same collectors answered for ten shillings in respect of the fourth part of a knight's fee in Iseldon and West Smithfield, London, then holden by the Prior of St. Bartholomew, and in the 40tli Edward III., a similar assessment was made in precisely the same terms. The latter of these assessments evidently has relation to these possessions of the priory of St. Bartholomew, lying in Iseldon, that were acquired from Ralph Berners, now constituting the present manor of Canonbury. (p) Transiaiioii.— Quc othcr Tccord of a late date and similar character C) Book conwlnlng , a^ , , . Subsidies and alludcs to tlic mauor ot Berncrsbury and Lanonbury, as subiect Knlglifs Fees In . . several counties ^0 the assessment of scutages and aids, but omits all mention taken by Inqulsl- " uon tempore Hen. of thc mauor of St. Jolm of Jerusalem. — vizt : — VI. (cited by Ly- sons OS " Records in the £xche4)uer, "",• Ji"; ^'' ,„ Hundred of Ossulston. Knight's fees), lo. ifeOm/ra/o'n) "'''' Thomas Fcryby holds the moiety of one knight's fee in Isel- don which formerly belonged to Elizabeth, who was thc wife of John Berners, and which John Bcrncrs his son, lately held of the Bishop of London. The piior of St Bartholomew, Loudon, in Smythfeld, holds the moiety of one knight's fee, which he holds in Acton of the Bishop of London. For the fourth part of one knight's fee which he holds in Iseldon and West Smythfeld, London. These records are not to be depended upon for verifications of pedigree, being mere assessments upon thc land ; in the present instance the pedigree is erroneously given, for thc son of John Berners was James, as \vill hereafter be shewn by the Escaets, — records of the highest authenticity in such eases. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 71 This class of records viz : — The escaets or inquisitions taken and returned by a jury before the escheator, after the decease of those who held in capitc or in chief, make mention of one half of a knight's fee holden by the Berners of the Bohuns and forming a parcel of the manor of Bernersbury, and which it is possible may have come to them from the Mandevilles, accord- ing to Mr. Lyson's supposition, as that manor abuts southward upon the ancient possessions of the Mandevilles, viz : the great fields called the Commandry Mantells ; and it may well have happened that what the Berners had acquired from the dean and chapter of St. Paul's was enlarged by a further acquisition of a part of what the Mandevilles had possessed in Iseldon at the time of the great sun'ey. But I only offer this as conjecture, for there is no evidence whatever to enable us to judge with certainty; should the reader agree in my conjectures, my dissent from Mr. Lysons upon this subject, previously expressed, must be taken with considerable qualifications. By inquisition C) taken after the death of Humphrey Bohim, '^^I'^f^"^'^^^ Earl of Hereford and Esses, who died anno 1373 : it was found lo (arsi'mimuci-i. that he had holden in the county of Middlesex one-half part of a knight's fee in Stykiclyndon, Yseldon, and Haddon juxta Houndeslowe, which the heirs of Robert of Northampton held, which theretofore belonged to Richard of Northampton, and was worth by the year, when it shall fall due, fifty shillings : Also, that he had holden one knight's fee which the heirs of Berners held in the manor of Yseldon, with the appui-tenances, and which was worth by the year, when it shoidd fall due, one hundred shillings. By inquisition (') taken 4 February, 1 Hen. IV. [a.d. 1400,] S^^ifrHen.^.^; after the death of Alianor, or Eleanor, wife of Thomas, Duke of ^"^ "'• Gloucester, one of the daughters and heirs of Humphrey de Bohun, late Earl of Hereford, and which said Eleanor died 3rd of October, 1 Hen. IV, [a.d. 1309,] it was found that she held one knight's fee, with the appurtenances, which the heirs of Jobn de Berners held in the manor of Iseldon, and which was worth by the year, when it fell in, one hundred shillings. The same return in the very same words was also made to a writ of extendi facias{'), which issued after the deaths of the same Lond- 1 Hen. iv, Eleanor, who was the wife of Thomas late Duke of Gloucester and of Joan, one of the daughters and heirs of the same Eleanor deceased, which the writ of extent stated " were held of us in chief, and which, by the death of the said Eleanor and Joan, /~ PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. and by reason of the minority of Isabella, the other of the daugliters and heirs of the aforesaid Eleanor, and the other sister and heir of the same Joan who lately, while she was under age and was in our ward, had taken the habit of religion in which she was professed, as we have been informed, are now in our hand." The date of such return is 27th of April, 1 Henry IV. [a.d. 1-400]. (t)EscaefinTuiT- Bv inquisition (') taken after the death of Edward Earl of Lond' 4 Hen. IV., „ /i" i • Na4i. Staiiord, it was found that he held in right of his wife, Aunc, amongst other knights' fees in the county of IMiddlesex, the moiety of one knight's fee, with the appurtenances, in Stikelen- don, IsELDON, and Haddou juxta Ilundeslowc, which the heirs of Robert of Northampton held, and which once belonged to Richard of Northampton, and was worth, when it fell in, fifty shillings. Also, one knight's fee, with the appurtenances, in the manor of Iseldon, which the heirs of John de IJerners held and was worth by the year, when it should fall in, one hundred shillings. The date of this return is " the day of St. ^Michael the apostle*, 4th Hen. IV. [2- -■ Customary Ten- ■ Robert Fostcr for the works of the customary ' tenants of Ilolewey Hampstall, payable at the feast of St. Michael the Archangel only, yearly : And for 13s. 4d. from Thomas Pymme for the works of the customary tenants of Ropkynhampstall, payable at the feast aforesaid, yearly : And for lis. 6d. from John Colyus for the works of the custom- ary tenants of Stalworthhampstall at the feast of St. Michael the Archangel only, yearly: And for lis. 6d. from Robert Fos- ter for the works of the customary tenants of Puichellhamp- stall, payable yearly, as above: And for lis. 6d. from Robert Hanks, gentleman, the assign of William Fdgare, for the works of the customary tenants of Gerardshempstall, payable at the feast aforesaid only, yearly : And for 6s. 6d. fi'om Robert Foster for the works of the customary tenants [ ] for their lands there, payable yearly, as above: And for lis. 6d. from William Browne, the husband of the Relict of Alexander Plymley, for the works of the customary tenants of Rolft'ehampstall, payable at the feast aforesaid only, by the year : And for 7s. Gd. from Stephen Pccocke, Knight, for the works of the customary tenants of Smyth-hampstall, payable at the feast aforesaid only, by the year. The sura £4. 11. 2. 80 PEKAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Till- Priory of 8t. One field panel, johnofjoruMiem ^f j,,,^^ g^,^^ ^rj,^^ accountant returned that there were no ar- callcd the Com- • rears, because the present was the first account after the dissolution of the said late priory.] aundrve Mao- tell3,iiithecouD- ty aforesaid. ) But he renders raccountl for 9/. [)s. from the aforc- Farm. } '- -" ) named Henry Lodesman for the ftirm of that field parcel of certain fields, called the Comaundrc Mantclls lyinjj; on the south side of the fields appertaining to the Manor of Bar- nardsburye, and abutting upon two fields called the Comaundrye Mantclls, late in the tenure of John Burton, on the south side, together with the tythes of the same field, with all profits and commodities to the aforesaid field appertaining or belonging, the moiety of aU waifs and estrays and also escheats only ex- cepted and reserved ; so demised to him by indenture under the common seal of the late priory and brethren of Saint John of Jerusalem, in England, dated the 22nd day of November, in the 29th year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, to hold to him and his assigns from the feast of the Anuuntiation of the Blessed Virgin Mary next ensuing the date of the same inden- ture, until the end and for the term of twenty-nine years from thence next following and fully to be completed. Yielding therefor yearly at the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Michael the Archangel, in equal payments, as above. And the aforesaid Farmer and his assigns shall bear all ordinary and ex- traordiuary charges and also all manner of reparations of the hedges, ditches, and closures of the said field, whensoever need shall be during the term aforesaid, towards wliich said repara- tions the aforesaid Farmer and his assigns shall take and perceive sufficient wood growing round about the borders of the said field at all times, whensoever need shall be during the said term. Moreover, that the finnar and his assigns may dig and take gravel in the said field to his own use, and the same gravel from thence to carry away duiing the aforesaid term, as in the same indenture appeareth. The two fie!d8,T called the Com- I The account of Johu Prest Firmar there. [No telis,inthecouD- [arrears for the same reason as in the last account.] ty aforesaid. J I But he renders [account] for 14/. 10*. from the j aforenamed John Prest assign of John Burton for the farm of those two fields, parcel of three fields, called the PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 81 Commaundre Mantells, lying next to the place of Saint John, Thcpnoo-ofst. T 1 iiip /I 11 'n John of Jerusalem near London, the half-part of all waifs and estrays and escheats only excepted and reserved, so demised to him by indenture under the common seal of the late Priory and Brethren of Saint John of Jerusalem, in England, dated the 24th day of April, iu the eighth year of the reign of King Henry the Eight, to hold [&c.] for 30 years from thence next following [&e.] , yielding therefor yearly, at the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Michael the Archangel, in equal portions as above [the same conclusion as in the last recital of lease] . The Manor of Newenton Bar- rowe, otherwise Highbury, in the county a- foresaid. The account of Christopher Newton Bailiff. No arrears. Rents of assisel But he renders [account] for 20«. 4^d. from Robert .and of custom- I -n . « /. . . ary Tenants in f- i' orster tor a tree rent issuing out of 121 acres and ™^^edon and 3 ^oods of land, parcel of divers Hampstalls called Purcell Hampstall, Priors Hampstall, Brambles Hampstall, Brokerste Hampstall, Pottoks Hampstall, Adams Hampstall, Wolvereges Hampstall, Goldestones Hampstall, Bailese Hampstall, Sharpecrofte Hampstall, Molens Hampstall, and Knotts Hampstall, lying in Tollyngdon and Strowde afore- said, payable at the feast of St. Michael the Archangel only, yearly. And for 4s. from Lady Pecoke for a free rent issuing out of 24 acres of land, called John Williams Hampstall and Knotts Hampstall, payable there yearly as above. And for 10s. from Richard Harryyonge for a free rent issuing out of five acres of land called ToUington's Hampstall, payable there yearly as above. And for 5s. 4cl. from Master Lewson for a rent issu- ing out of 28 acres of land there, payable yearly as above. And for 106?. from Thomas Pymme for a free rent issuing out of five acres of land there called Malgorj'cke Hampstall Crofte, pay- able yearly as above. And for 4s. from Master Marley for the rent of 24 acres of land, parcel of Hobbesate Hampstall, Lanes Hampstall, Stertes Hampstall, and Stewardfeld Hampstall, payable there yearly as above. And for 7s. 3d. of Alexander Plomley and William Browne for the rent of 18 and a half acres of land, called Deademan's Crofte otherwise Hampstall, and Mayse Hampstall, payable there yearly as above. And for 16d. 11 82 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Thf Priory of Bt from Ilcnrv Polstcd for a free rent issning out of 8 aercs of land there, called Brokestc Ilampstallj payable yearly as above. And for 8d. from [ ] Noodcs, for a free rent issuing out of three acres of land there parcel of [ ] payable yearly as above. And for 6d. from AVilliam Jamys, for a free rent issuing out of one acre of laud there, parcel of Tolyudon llamp- stall, payable yearly as above. And for 3s. l^d. from Robert Warner, for a free rent issuing out of 18 acres and 3 roods of land there, parcel of Gerards Harapstall and Salmon Prior Hampstall, payable yearly as above. And for 2d. from William Rigelcy for a free rent issuing out of one croft, called Cristian Gills, containing by estimation one acre lying in Strowde, pay- able yearly as above. The Sum 148«. Rents as well of| And [hc renders account] for 15s. 9d. of [ ] ternary tenants (' Callard, for a free rent issuing out of 31 and a half in iseidon. j acres parcel of land, called Robert at Hides Hamp- stall, William at Hydcs Hampstall, Janeshampstall, Stouers- hampstall, and Curlyngs Hampstall, lying in Iseidon aforesaid, payable at the feast of St. ]\Iichael the Archangel only, yearly. And for 15rf. from Richard Harryyongc, for a free rent issuing out of two acres and a half of land there, parcel of Hides Hamp- stall, payable yearly as above. And for 9d. from the heirs of William Harryyonge and Thomas Armorar, for a free rent issu- ing out of one acre and a half of land there, parcel of [ ] Hampstall, payable yearly as above. And for I2d. from John Sherey, for a free rent issuing out of two acres of land there, parcel of Storys Hampstall, payable yearly as above. And for 13rf. from the heirs of [ ] Champney, for a free rent issuing out of two acres and a half of land there, parcel of [ ] Hampstall, payable yearly as above. And for 4s. 9d. from Robert White, for the rent of nine acres and a half of land there, parcel of Purschampstall, payable yearly as above. And for 5d. from Robert Ynglaud, for a free rent issuing out of one messuage and one bam there, called Payneshampstall, payable yearly as above. And for 6s. 6d. from Robert Sharpe and Adam Wyntropc, for the rent of 13 acres of land there, parcel of Lambardeshampstall and Stoureshampstall payable as above. The Sum 31s. 6d. Rents as well of assise as of cus- tomary tenants in Newenton Grene. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. **" And [he reiidcrs account] for 2s. Sd. from [ 5SL''ofJ?rSl<2e» ] for the rent of eight acres of land there, parcel of certain land called Bromeshampstall, Crouchereshampstall, and Olde Adams Hampstall, payable at the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel only, yearly. And for IG^^. from John Heron, for the rent of four acres of land there, parcel of the said [ ] Hampstall, payable yearly as above. And for 2*. Sd. from John Stoker, Jeweller, for the rent of eight other acres of land there, parcel of the aforesaid Hamp- stall, payable yearly as above. And for 4d. from [ ] for a free rent issumg out of one acre of land there, parcel of [ ], payable yearly as above. And for 2s. Qd. from Alexander Plomley, for a free rent issuing out of six acres of land there, parcel of Gluttershampstall, payable yearly as above. And for 2s. 6d. from Robert Meredythe, for a free rent issuing out of five acres of land there, parcel of Penyshampstall and Smytheslond Hampstall, payable yearly as above. And for 2s. from Robert Fermore, for a free rent issuing out of four acres of land there, parcel of Dukeshampstall, payable yearly as above. And for Ud. from John Rychardson, for a free rent issuing out of three acres and a half of land there, parcel of certain land called Hattereshampstall, payable yearly as above. And for 12d. from William Browne and Robert Meredythe, for a free rent issuing out of three acres of land there, parcel of [ ] Hampstall, payable yearly as above. And for 2». 8rf. from Robert Meredythe, for a free rent issuing out of eight acres of land there, parcel of [ ] Hampstall, payable yearly as above. And for 2s. from Robert Laurence, for a free rent issuing out of 6 acres of land there, called S.almon Priours Hampstall, other- wise Westecrofte, payable yearly as above. And for 22d. from George Bruges, for a free rent issuing out of five acres and a half of land there, called Goodmanshampstall, payable yearly as above. And for 4s. 8^/. from Robert Meredythe and Sampson Thomas, for a free reut issuing out of 13 acres and a half of land there, payable yearly as above. The Sum 27s. 7d. Customs. ) And [he renders account] for 41. 19s. from the rent \ of the works of the customary tenants aforesaid, that is to say, in Tollyngton, Ik. llf/.; Strowde, IGs. Gd.; Newenton, 16s. 4d.; Iscldon, lis. llrf.; and also 39s. 4rf. re- ceivable of the aforesaid customary tenants aforesaid for the frl PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. jXilrfjS^^ mowing and making of hay, — at the feast of St. Michael the Arehangel yearly, as by the rental of the aforesaid Priory in the [ ] year of the reign of the said now King Ilcniy, shewn and examined, doth appear. And for lis. 9r/. for the price of 47 hens, receivable from the aforesaid customary tenants of the Manor aforesaid, that is to say, for every hen 3d., payable at the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, yearly, as by the rental aforesaid upon this account shewn and examined doth appear. The Farm of [And [hc also renders account] for 12/. from Pasture. j Leonard Holme, for the farm of one closure of pasture called Pyttsfcld, containing by estimation 41 acres ; and also of two closures of land and pasture called Newenton Feld and Huswellshotte, containing by estimation 36 acres, thus at this time demised to the aforenamed Leonard, from year to year, yielding therefor yearly at the feasts of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin ]\Iary and of St. Micliael the Ai-changcl, in equal payments as above. And for 11/. 13*. -Id. from Robert Middleton for the farm of one close of pasture called Castelhill and ]\Iaresden containing 2 acres; of one other field called Cokshottfcld, containing 3 acres ; of one other field called Snorefeld, contauiing by estimation C. acres; and also of one other close of land containing by estimation 1 acre, adjoininjj to the barn* there so demised to him, from year payable at the feasts aforesaid, in equal payments yearly as above. And for 41/. 13». 4:d. from John Yngland, gentleman, for the farm of two closures calledf Mylefeld, formerly in one field, containing by estimation 40 acres, demised to him, from year to year pay- able at the feasts aforesaid, in equal payments yearly as above. And for 1.")/. 6s. 8d. from Robert Grubbe, for the farm of four fields there, whereof is called JCundicke Feld otherwise Hill Field, Thisteld Feld and the field called 20 acres, so at this time demised to the aforesaid Robert Grubbe, from year to year, payable at the feasts aforesaid, in equal payments yearly as above. And for 6/. from the farm of one field called Dane Bottom, containing by estimation 14 acres, and one close of meadow called Longmeade, containing by estimation 18 acres, in the hands of the said late Prior for the first moiety of one year, and afterwards in the tenure of Henry Kuevett, Knight, which he demised to John Ferror of Islyngtou, until the feast of * Highbury Baru. t Millfield. X Conduit Field, the field opposite Highbury Place. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 85 St. Michael the Archangel, from thence next ensuing, falling in within the time of this account for 61. Therefore in charge as above. The Sum 64^. 13«. M. Perquisites of ( For any profit coming or increasing from the pleas Court. I and perquisites of the Court holden there this year, he doth not answer, for that there hath been no Court holden there since the dissolution of the said late Priory. The Sura. None. The Sum of the charge G91. lls.ld. out of which. Fees aud j The same doth account in the fees of the said wages. j accountant by reason of the exercising and occupy- ing of his office, aforesaid, to 40«. yearly; over and above 10s. for his livery, so granted to him by Letters Patent under the Com- mon Seal of the late Prior and Brethren of St. John of Jeru- salem in England, for terra of his life, dated the seventh day of July, in the sixteenth year of the reign of king Hemy the Eighth, to be perceived at the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and St. Michael the Archangel, in even payments by the year, that is to say, in such allowance for the last moiety of this year 20s. And in the fee of Christopher Newton, the keeper of the two woods of our Lord the King, of Highbury aforesaid with 20s. yearly, that is to say, in such allowance for the half-moiety of this year 10s. The Sum, 30s. MINISTER'S ACCOUNTS OF St. BARTHOLOMEW OR GREAT St. BARTHOLO- The^Pe^oet^ot MEW'S, LONDON, from Michaelmas, 31 Henby VIII. to Michaelmas, 32 mew, London Henky VIII. Lands and pos-"] sessions of the | SaTnt BartYoio-*^ i Tlic accouut of John Archer, the Receiver of our mew, in West- Sniitlitield, be- side the City of London. The Manor of) For 34/. 16fi. Ud. for the farm of the Manor afore- Canbury. j gaid, with all and singular its appurtenances, that is to say, within the time of this account, he doth not answer, because it is granted to Thomas Cromwell, Knight, late Earl of Essex, attainted of high treason by a certain act of par- liament, amongst other things, for the manor aforesaid, with Lord the King there, for the time aforesaid. 86 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. it8 appurtenances, latterly enacted and provided : concerning which said manor, with all its appurtenances, it was accounted for to the King before the Sui'veyor General of Lauds, to wit, by reason of the attainder of the late Lord Cromwell, by virtue of a certain act of parliament thereupon, amongst other things enacted and provided, &c. The Sum. None. The Abbet op MINISTER'S ACCOUNT OF THE MONASTERY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN Vaie Koiau jjARY in the VALE ROYAL, CHESHIRE, 33 and 34 HENRY VIII. The Crown BailiflF answered for 40s. for the farm, cottage, rent, and garden, and a vacant place in Sho Lane, in the parish of St. Bridgets otherwise St. Brides, Loudon ; and also of one pasture or close in the parish of Islyngton ; and five acres of meadow or pasture lying in the parish of St. Martiu-in-le-feld, to wit, in a certain field called St. Martin's field, in the County of Middlesex, let together to Hugh Lee, gent., for one pound of pepper. The acquisition was, comparatively speaking, of a late date for the inquisition or return to the writ of ad quod damnum, issued at the instance of the Abbey to procure license from the Crown allowing the gift in mortmain, is of the 27th yesir of the reign of Edward I. (1299.) This close or pasture consisted of twelve acres, abuting upon Maiden Lane, and was parcel of Barnesbury Manor. This possession, together with the five acres of meadow in St. Martin's field remained vested in the Abbey until the dissolution, but the " Vale Royal Close," as it was called, was not disposed of to a purchaser until the sixteenth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, (1574) when, it may be presumed, upon the expiring of the lease referred to in the minister's account, it was granted out with otherf parcels of • Inq. 27, E. 1 , No. 99. Ricanlus ik Ilali-rsetf prn A bhate de Vulle RiijdU. Writ of ad fjiiod damnum directed to tlie ShcritV of Midtilesex, commanding him tliat he inquire, &c., whether it be to tlie damage of any one, if Richard of Hederscte should grant and render into t!)e King's iiand, seventeen acres of land and six sliillings and eiglit pence of rent, with the appurtenances in the town of Westminster, Iseldon, and the parisli of Saint Mary of the Stronde, in order that the same might be given to tlie Ablxit and Convent of Vale Uoval and their successors for ever: The Inquisition taken by twelve Jurors before the Sherilf of Middlesex, on the Sunday next after the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the 27th year of King Edward, states that it was not to the damage of any one that this should be done so that the said grant should be made to the Convent, and in stating the tenure of each parcel of land, the Jurors said, that " the twelve acres of land in Iseldon are holden of the heirs of Lord Ralph de Bemcrs by the service of two shillings and six pence by the year." t The Stony Field, othencise called the ticelve acres, devised by Richard Cloudesley for ail obit mass and suck like, passed by this same grant to John Mershe and William ilcrsbe, who were great eoncealors and dealt largely with the Crown for such property. PERAMBtTLATION OF ISLINGTON, 87 Abbey Land and Chantry Land, by the description of " totam illam clausuram pasturai ovcatam le Vale Royal Close jacentem in parochia de Iseldon, alias Islington prope Ecclesiam Sancti Pancracij ibidem inter terras modo vel imper Domini Sands vocatas Barnesburye ex parte orientali, et quandam venellara vocatam Longhedge Lane ex parte occidentali et terras nuper Domini Cromwell ex parte Boreali — continentem per estima- cionem duodecem acras — nuper monasterio Beataj Marise Virginis in Valle Regali in comitatu Cestrice quondam spectan- tem, &c.(') All that closure of pasture called the Vale Royal (w) Pat ic eiiz. Close, lying in the parish of Iseldon, otherwise Islington, near the (jramiaikm.) Church of St. Pancras there, between the lands now or late of the iMrd Sands* called Barnesburye, on the east side, and a certain lane called Longhedge Lane, on the west side, and lands of the late Lord Cromwell on the north — containing, by estimation, twelve acres — lately to the Monastery of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the Vale Royal in the County of Chester formerly belonging. The words " Vale Royal/' affixed to some small houses(») front- (^) ^^ p- <» ing Maiden Lane, which, as I have before apprised the reader, was anciently called Longhedge and Longwich Lane,('') point out (y) ■*"'« p- so, in to the pedestrian, as well as to the traveller by the North Lon- don Railway, the site of this quondam monastic possession. MINISTER'S ACCOUNTS OF THE PRIORY OR HOSPITAL OF THE BLESSED Si. Maky Bmu. MART, OTHERWISE NEW HOSPITAL, WITHOUT BISHOPSGATE, LON- DON, from Michaelmas, 3 1 Henry VIII., to Michaelmas, 32 Henry VIII. Farm of lands [And [the account renders account] for 3^. from the in Iseldon. | farm of two crofts of land called Spettell Felds, with theii' appurtenances, containing by estimation twenty acres and one rood of land, lying altogether in the parish aforesaid, that is to say, between the King's highway, called Seveney Streate, on the west side, and the King's highway, called Longacre, on the Ante p. 33. south side ; and land belonging to the Cathedi-al Church of St. Paul, London, called Seveney Grove, on the north side; and land lately belonging to the Priory of Clcrkcnwell, called Minchiugefeld, in the hide on the south side, let on farm to Christopher Austyn and Agnes his wife by indenture, dated the 10th February, in the 23rd year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, from the feast of St. Michael the Ai'changel, from * Lord Sands was not at tliat time Lord of Barnsburv Manor, he sold the Manor to Robert Fowler In 31 Honry VIU. (1539). 88 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 8L Mniy spitai thcncc ncxt coming unto the end of the term of twenty-three years from thence next ensuing, and fully to be completed. Yielding therefor as iibove, payable at four terms of the year in equal payments yearly. Reparations as in parting and clos- ing of hedges and walls, with the scouring of ditches to all the said farmers and their assigns during the term aforesaid : never- theless, all rents and services from the said lands iu any manner issuing at the charge of the Lord the King, &c., as iu the same indentures among the memoranda of this ofi&ce, and found en- rolled, is contained in this the 9th year of his term. The Sum 41. The history of this Monastic property belongs to the account of the land and house anciently called Yveney, and latterly Even Grove. With respect to this portion of that laud, forming the stdjject of the above account, its history may, hke the lastly stated monastic possession, be summarily related, as the ac- quisition was also of comparatively later times, was inconsider- able, and is not like the preceding accounts, referrible to any one of the manors in Islington. William of Cranho, iu the fortieth year of King Henry III., sold and released to Peter of Newport, Archdeacon of London, all the tenement that fonnerly belonged to Master Thomas, of Stortford his father, at Ivcney iu Middlesex, near or beside London : the purchase money was one mark of silver : and this same Peter of Newport afterwards gave and released tlie same to the House of God and the Blessed Mary, without Bishopsgate, and to the Lord Prior and Brethren of the said House, describing it as " all that field at Yveueyc, lying on the south side of the mes- suage of the Prior and Brethren of the Blessed Mary, of Mount Carmel, in breadth between the new ditch of the said Prior and Brethren of Carmel, on the one side, and bind of the Prioress and Nuns of Clcrkenwell, on the other, and in the length hav- ing one head upon the King's highway, and another upon the common pasture ; to the aforesaid Prior and Brethren of the said House, of Bishopsgate, and their successors — in free and perpetual alinoigue, for the health of my soul and the souls of Robert, my father, and Saburge, my mother, and all my ances- tors and successors, and all faithful deceased, to make the beds of the infirm in the said house from the straw that shall yearly issue from the said field, and bread and gruel for the use of the same infirm from the corn that shall be had yearly from 89 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. the said field rendering therefor yearly to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul, London, one mark on the Vigil of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary (14th August) at Saint Paul's and to the Chief Lords due service according to that which is contained m the Superior Charters which I delivered to to the aforesaid Prior and brethren of Bishopsgate in lieu of warranty." {Translation.) This piece of land remained with this House of God or Hos- pital until the dissolution thereof, when it was, on 25 June 1553, granted out to Wilham Earl of Pembroke^) by the description <% .^^'- .'e. Vnte of those two closes, crofts of land, and pasture, containing by esti- p-33. mation twenty acres and one rood with the appurtenances, now or late in the tenure of Christopher Austyne, lying or being in the parish of Islington, in the county of Middlesex,-and concludmg exactly in the words of the Minister's Acconnt,— which said two closes and crofts of land and pasture were formerly parcel of the possessions of the late Priory or Hospital of the Blessed Mary, otherwise called the New Hospital, without Bishopsgate, London. This land afterwards came to Sir Thomas Leigh, knight ; after _^,^^^^ whose decease (17 Nov., 1572) it was found by mqmsition( ) „,„ that he died seised {inter alia) of two closes of ground contain- ing tioenty acres of pasture with the appurtenances, called the Spittell Field, in Islington. Which concludes aU that I can learn at present concerning this land, the proceeds of which had, since the reign of Henry III. up to the time of the disso- lution of this Hospital, been devoted to the charitable purposes designed by the pious Archdeacon of London, Peter of Newport.* The remaining portion of Iveney remains with the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul to this day, as I shall notice in its place. The scite of this land, by its description of the Spittle Field, is also aUuded to in the conveyance made by the Parliamentary Trustees 28th September, 1649('), as abutting upon the remain- f^',?'-',-,!"^- ing portion of Yveuey therein described by the name of "Egen crrove alias Bromeficld," which lies nearly opposite the district church of St. Paul, Ball's Pond, near the corner of the Kingsland Road • but, as I have already remarked, the further history of this locality is refcrrible to Yveney, Egengrove, Even grove or Broomfield, of which hereafter. The reader will recollect, that long before the conquest the ^^^^ tract that now forms IsHiigton parish, was with the adjacent two Ante p. 58. * 1 l,«ve to acknowledge the renewed kindness and condescension of the Venerable Archdeuon Hale, who liberallv furnished me with transcripts of the above-c.ted Charters alid some other documents dlustvatms this portion of my Topographical Essay. 1/W 90 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. TUB i-miDiND prebends of St. Paul's Cathedral, part of the possessions of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul; and that what the Dean and Chapter actually possessed in 108(5 was described in Domesday Book, and formed the corpus of their prebend of Iseldon, which they afterwards held and enjoyed as a Manor, comprehending the greatest portion of the parish, but siuce tlie twelfth centuiy the Prebend of Iseldon has been gradually diminished by the grants the Bishop of Loudon, with the cousent of the Dean and Chapter, and the Dean and Chapter themselves, have from time to time made, the subjects of which grants are mainly repre- sented by the Manor of Barnsbury (out of which Canonbury was carved) and the Manors of St. John of Jerusalem and High- bury or Newington Barrow, the tenants of those Manors being compellable to do suit at the Court Leet of the Bishop of Lon- don, he being Chief Lord* : in point of fact, for some centuries past this Manor has not extended much beyond the limits of the town of Islington, which anciently was confined to the Lower Street, and over ninety-eight acres of pasture landf in addition to what was represented by the tenements of the free tenants and copyholders, homesteads, gardens, roads, and waste. The scitc of the Prebend Manor is on the south-east, co-ex- tensive with the parochial boundary line, that is to say, from Macclesfield Street, in the City Road, to the Lead Mills at the Rosemary Branch, when the boundary line of the manor turns off westerly at the back of the Rosemary Branch, where it meets the boundary line of Highbury Manor ; then passing up about the middle of, and across Rotherficld Street, over the south side of Shepperton Street, following the course of Frog Lane south- * See an(« p. 7, in note. By Indenture dated the last day of March, 1648, made between Sir .John Woollaston, Kniglit, and otliers, being " persons trusted by several ordinances, — witli the laiuls ami possessions of Archbisliops and Bishops, and witii the sale thereof, for the use of the Conimoinvcaltii, in such sort as therein mentioned, of tlic one part, and Sir Thomas Fowler, of Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Knight and Baronet, of the other part," the said Trustees granted and sold to the said Sir Thomas Fowler " All that rent resolute of sceven shillings and four pence yearly, issuing out of the Manor of Bamesbury, payable to the late Bishop of London, at the feast of St. Michael, yearly ; and all that fyne being half of a Knight's fee, payable to the said late bishop or bis Assignes, by the Lord of the said Manor of Bamesbury, upon death or alienation, mentioned in the particular thereof to be the yearly v,ilue of ten shillings. And all that right and benefit accrewing out of the said Manor to the said late Bishop, by his late rights of wards and marriages, with the perquisites thereof, mentioned in the said particular to be communibus annis of the yearlie value of thirtie and si.x shillings. And all tJutt Court Leete to be kept vpon the said Manor of JlarTiesbury, views of frank pledge, fynes, issues and amerciaments, common fynes, wayfes, estraies, felon's goods, dcodands, escheats, reliefs, herriotts, perquisites, and profits of court, — and late were parcel of the possessions of the late Bislioprick of London. Claus' 1648, p. 19, No. 42. t This pasture comprehended (tn/ec o/ia). Great Colemans, Little Colemans, Holme Field, The Great Prebend Field, The Prebend Field, The Longfield in Frog Lane, and Crab-tree close. Iseldon aVs Islington. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 91 east to the Barlcymow, then up to the Lower Road, taking in '^^^^'^"'^ both sides of Paradise Place, and so following the course of the Lower Road to PulKn's Row.* Dm-ing the usurpation of Oliver Cromwell this Manor, as part of the possessions of a Dean and Chapter, was disposed of by thet " Trustees " appointed to this work of sacrilegious devasta- tion, as attested by the following survey : — Middix V' A Survey of the Manor of the Prebend of Iseldon Prebendarf ° yal's Islington, with the rights, members, and ap- purtenances thereof, lying and being in the county of Midd'x, late parcel of the possessions of the late Prebend of Islington, made and taken by Us, whose names are hereunto subscribed, in the month of October, 1649, by virtue of a Commission to Us granted (grounded upon an Act of the Commons of England, assembled in Parliament, for the abolish- ing of Deans, Deans and Chapters, Canons, Prebends, and all other offices and titles of, or belonging to, any Cathedral or Col- legiate Church or Chapel within England and Wales,) under the hands and Seals of five or more of the Trustees in the said Act named and appointed, (viz.) — The rents of assize due to the Lord of the said Manno', by the several tenants being copyholders of inheritance at fines certaine, are per annum, fower pounds, fourteene shillings, and fower pence iiij xiiij iiij We are informed that there will be three years rent due to the Lord of the said Manno' the five and twentieth day of March next. Memorandum. All the customary tenants hold together in the said Manno' as followeth, viz : — Messuages or tenements in all fourty-six and • Pullin's Row, which seems to have been built on the waste, is within the Prebend Manor, although the ground behind the same is a detached portion of the Manor of Highbury ; this detached portion is of a quadrangular form, and comprises the ground within a straight line drawn from the north east end or corner of Pullin's Row, at the back of Charlton Crescent, down to Frog Lane, and thence south-west to the City Gardens, and taking in all within the parochial boundary line there, to the Blue-coat Boy, and thence, north, following the line of the High Street, up to the end of the back of Pullin's Row. Pierpoint's Row, Camden Place, Camden Street, Little Camden Row, also stand upon what was the waste of the Manor, as does the large building opposite Pullin's Place and RufforJ's Buildings, recently a Bazaar, but now occupied as an Upholsterer's Show Room ; forty years since the ground behiiui Pullin's Row was occupied as a grass farm for cows, a business that had been long previous successihlly carried on by one PuUin and his descendants. t And Rooks Committee-men and Trustees. — Hudibras, part I., canto I., 1. 76. 92 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. The Piebeod filanor. ninety-eight acres of pasture or meadow ground, be it more or less. Memorandum. The aforesaid tenants pay to the Lord of the said Manno' a fine certain upon every alienation or descent, viz., — 6s. 8^/. for every mes- suage or tenement, and 68. %d. for every acre of land. Only the Company of Clotlnvorkers pay their fine once in every twentj' years, being 11/. Is. %d., which will become due 1660. At the Court Leet the tenants of the Manno' of Canbury do service. Perquisites belonging to the said INIannO' are waiftes, strayes, and felons goods. Memo. Tt the fower pounds ^ The Courts Baron and Courts Leet, fines fourteen shillinics and fewer , . ,/./-,./• and amerciaments ol Courts, fanes upon descent or alienation, waiftes, strayes, and felons goods, and all other profits and per- quisites within the said Manno' to the Royaltie thereof belonging or appertain- ing, we estimate to be worth, communibus annis .... xj'- ' Memorandum, The customary tenants of the said Manno' are copyholders of inheritance, and theire rents of assize, due to the Lord of the said I\Ianno', payable once every yeare, viz., the five and twentieth day of March, are as followeth : — pence. Rents of Assize, be- fore-mentioned, is included in the said sum of Eleavea pounds beings intended by Us for the whole yearly value of the said Manno', 18 Dec, 1649. Kich''. Rocke, Joseph Hutchinson, Ben. Warden. Yearly Rents. /. s. d. William Nicholls 'J Benjamin Pierson . J i'j The Widd' Pitts . ^j Robert Pierson J "j John Harvey j iij John Smith . ij ^ George Carleton ix The Company of Clothworkers . j 'ti'.i ix Maurice Gething ij xj Sir John Miller xvij vij Sir Edmond Fowler xi "j Thomas Tomlinson xiij Henry Swinnerton V Total iiij xiiij iii.i n' per Will" Webb, Sur )rv' Gen"", 164 [).'" PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 93 By Indenture dated 23rd March, 1649-50, made between Ti.ePrcbeud •' ^ ' . ' Manor. Sir John Woollaston, Kut., and others, being by two several Acts of that present Parliament, the one intituled. An Act of the Commons of England, in Parliament assembled, for the abolishing of Deans, Deans and Chapters, Canon Prebends, and other Offices and Titles belonging to any Cathedral or Collegiate Church, Chapel, &c., of the one part, and Maurice Gethin, Citizen, and Merchant-Taylor, of London, on the other part, the said Sir John Woollaston and others, in consideration of £275., did grant, alien, bargain, and sell unto the said Maurice Gethin, his heirs and assigns, the Prebend or late Prebend, the Manor or reputed Manor and Seigniory of Iseldon, alias Isling- ton, with the rights, members, and appurtenances thereof, in the County of Middlesex. And also all rents of assize, free rents, copyhold and customary rents, rents-secke and rents- service, common grounds used for common ways, and waste grounds to the said Prebend or late Prebend Manor or reputed Manor, and Seigniory, belonging or in any wise appertaining, the Court Baron, or Copyhold Court, and also the Court Leet, or View of Frank pledge, to. be holden and kept within the same, and whatsoever the Court Leet and View of Frank pledge . doth or may appertain, all fynes, issues, and amerciaments of the said Courts, or either of them. And also all waifs, estrays, deodands, goods, and chattels, debts, rights, and credits of felons, and of felons of themselves, and of all persons put in exigent, and of aU other franchises, possessions, and heridita- ments of what nature or quality soever they were, which the late Prebendary of the said late prebend or any other person or persons, by, from, or under the estate of any such Prebendary at any time within the space often years before the beginning of that present Parliament, &c., &c. — Claus' 1650, juar* 45, No. 19. Upon the Restoration, the Cliui'ch regained what had been taken from it during the Usurpation, and at the next Court day after the Restoration, the Prebendary held a Court of Sur- vey on 25th March, 1661, when a declaration of the ancient customs of the Manor was made in the following form. " The Prebend I " The Court Baron and Survey of William Hall, oflaiington. j Doctor of Divinity, Prebendary of the Prebend aforesaid there, holden on Monday on the feast of the Annun- ciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the thirteenth year of the reign of our Lord Charles the Second, by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland King, De- 94 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. The Prebend Manor. Customs of the Manor. fender of the Faith, &c.; and in the year of our Lord 1661. Before John Smythe, Esquire, Steward of the Court of the Manor aforesaid, and from thence adjourned to the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord next ensuing. Essoins. None. fJohu Holland, Esq. The Homage. < John Smith, Gent. (^William Procter, Gent. Jurors. {George Carlton, Gent. Philip Pierson, Gent. Robert Pierson, Gent. Jurors. Default of Tenants. In the first place the Homage aforesaid, 6d. 6rf. say upon their oath, that Nicholas Lisle, Gent.; Thomas Webb, Gd. 6d. 6d. Thomas Hall, Gent.; Robert Masey, Gent.; Maurice Gething, 6d. Esq. ; Sir Thomas Draper, Knight and Baronet; Reginald 6d. Peckham, in right of his late wife, and relict of Nicholas Fowler, Gentleman, deceased ; and in right of the heir of the aforesaid Nicholas, are tenants of this Manor, and owe Suit of Court, and at this day have made default ; therefore every one of them is in mercy, as appears over each of their names respectively. Customs of (he Manor. Also they present upon their oath aforesaid, that the underwritten Customs from time whereof the memory of man is not to the contrary, are and liavc been the Customs of this Manor, and in so far as they, or any, or either of them hath or have had any knowledge of the same Customs, or any of them the said Customs, within the Manor aforesaid, from time to time have been reasonably used, — (that is to say.) In the first place, That after the decease of every customiiry tenant of this Manor, the Lord of this Manor ought to have and perceive for a fine certain for every acre of customary land, holden of the Lord of this Manor, six shillings and eight pence of lawful money of England, and a like fine for the admission of every new tenant, upon surrender or alienation of their cus- tomary lands made or to be made according to the customs of this Manor. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 95 Also that after the decease of every customary tenant, as also The pretrena for the admission of every new tenant by death, surrender, or alienation, the Lord ought to have and perceive for every cus- tomary messuage or tenement holden of the Lord of this Manor, six shillings and eight pence of lawful money of England, for a fine certain for every customary messuage or tenement accord- ing to the custom of this Manor. Also, that the Lord of this Manor yearly ought to have and perceive for every acre of land within this Manor, as well from free lands as from customary lands, a yearly rent of twelve pence, at the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel only, accord- ing to the custom of this Manor. Also, that the Lord of this Manor yearly ought to have and perceive from every messuage or tenement within this Manor of the yearly value of twenty shillings, one hen, or three pence, at the feast of the Annimciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, according to the custom of this Manor. Also, that all and singular lands and tenements within this Manor by and after the death of the tenants of the same accord- ing to the custom of this Manor, ought to descend to the right heirs of the deceased according to the course of the Common Law of England, unless by surrender thereof before then made or had, it shall have been otherwise provided. Also, that the wives of the customary tenants of this Manor, by any custom of this Manor, are not dowable, nor dower can they claim of the customary lands or tenements within this Manor, which were of their husbands in their lifetimes. Also, that the customary tenants of this Manor, their cus- tomary lands and tenements, may at their pleasure surrender into the hands of the Lord to the use and behoof of their wills according to the custom of this Manor. Also, that the customary tenants of this Manor may surrender their customary lands and tenements into the hands of the Lord by the Rod by the hands and acceptance of two of the customary tenants of the aforesaid Manor, in the presence of the Bailiff for the time being ; and in absence of the said Bailiff, in the pre- sence of any other customary tenant of the Manor aforesaid, filling the place of the Bailiff for that turn, according to the custom of the Manor aforesaid. Also, that every surrender of customary lands or tenements within this Manor ought to be presented and proffered in Court at the next court after the taking thereof, or by the Lord him- 96 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Ttao Prebend Mauor. self by his Steward, or by those customary tenants who shall have taken such surrender; Unless such surrender be condi- tional, and also by the assent of the parties before such Court, before the Lord, or before his Bailiff", or before the said tenants by whom taken it shall have been revoked. And that if the Lord shall liave intermitted his Court by tlie space of three years, the tenants for default of presenting such sun-cnder shall not forfeit their own tenements. Also, that the customary tenements within this Manor are not heriotable. Also, that the customary tenants of this Manor, their cus- tomary lands and tenements within this Manor, may well and lawfully can set and to farm leat for the whole term of three years without any licence from the Lord in that behalf to be obtained. Also, that for every licence to lease for any further term, the Lord ought to have and perceive for every year four pence of lawful money of England for a fine for the grant of every such licence, according to the custom of the ilanor aforesaid. Also, that the customary tenants of this Manor ought to pay to the Steward three shillings and four pence for every license granted by the Lord for tiic leasing of their tenements. Also, that upon every surrender and admission of a new tenant, the Steward of the Manor aforesaid ought to have and perceive for his fee six shillings and eight pence. And for the enrolment or entering of every conditional surrender and of every surrender made to the use of the testament or will of the tenants aforesaid, three shillings and four pence, according to the custom of the Manor aforesaid. Also, that the customary tenants of this Manor, may at their pleasure fall, lop, or top whatsoever trees growing on their lands; and also, that they may top and lop tiie branches of the trees growing in the wastes of the Lord before the doors of their tenements, and convert the same to their proper use without any license to be obtained from the Lord in that behalf, according to the custom of the Manor aforesaid." {Translation.) The style of this Manor is " The Manor of the Prebend of Islington, otherwise Iseldon, in the County of Middlesex." The present Lord thereof, in right of his Prebend, is the Venerable William Hale Hale, Archdeacon of London. A Survey of this Manor was made by Richard Dent, in the PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 97 year 1824, and is in the custody of the Deputy Steward, Mr. Car veil. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England, in pursuance of an Act passed in the 6th and 7th years of Her present ]\Ia- jesty's reign, intituled, "An Act to make better provision for the Spiritual Care of Populous Parishes," having prepared a scheme for authorising the sale of certain lands and heredita- ments, among which are enumerated " the Prebends of Ishngton and Oxgate in the Cathedral Church of London," the schedule whereto was dated 8 August, 1850; an Order in Council dated the 14th August, 1850(''), ratified the said scheme, so that it is <^lJ°"f "*""!• ct ' \ ^' ' 1850,vol. 2,p.2296 highly probable that this ancient Manor, which of late years has chiefly consisted of small quit rents, due upon a tenure highly beneficial to the owners, (as is the case with most Eccle- siastical property,) will in a short time cease to subsist, except in the name of Iseldon inscribed over the Prebendal Stall in St. Paul's Cathedral. Barnsbury Manor takes its name from a very ancient, and sub- ^^'^'^'^ sequently ennobled, family of the name of Bernieres, Berneres or Berners by a corruption of speech. Earners and Barnes : its ad- junct of bury seems to denote an ancient manerial residence situated on an elevation, as is observable with respect to Canon- bury and Highbury, but this Manor has also been styled in Records, Iseldon Berners. The scite of this Manor was originally derived as a gift or infeudation from the Bishop of London in right of his Cathedral Church of St. Paul, with the concurrence (it may be assumed) of the Dean and Chapter, to the first or second Ralph de Ber- ners, or to Hugh de Berners, who is said to have come over with William the Conqueror. Indeed, this family of de Bernieres or Berners had, previous to the reign of Henry II. (when the name of Ralph de Bernieres occurs in the Black-book of the Ex- chequer as the tenant of the one-half of a Knight's fee under the Bishop of Loudon (")), maintained relations of tenure with ^'^> Ante p. 67, os. the Bishop of London and the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul.* * Domesday, Middlesex, vol. i., 1276. Terra Episcopi Lundoniensis. In OsuLVESTAN Hund' tenet Ep'us Lundoniensis STiBENnKDE * ♦ * * ******* In eadem villa tenet Hugo de Berneres sub Ep'o V. hidas & I. virgatani terrffi. — T.R.E. Canonici S' Paul! tenuenint II. hidas et dimidiani de dominico victu sue. Liber A. sive Pilosus penes Dec' et Cap' S'ci Pauli, folio xxij. b. — ., Anno ab incar- nations dominicfB (sic) MClvj. Nonas Julij liadulphus de Bemeriis reddidit super altare S'ci Pauli terram quam Bernardus Collumboris dedit Canonicis S'ci Pauli [&c.] : — 13 98 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Bwiubary Manor. rpjjjg ^^]f qj- ^^^ Knight's fcc was holclen of the Bishop of London, as of his castle of Stortford, (now Bishop's Stortford,) " Barony of Umirrs. " Of this family, because very ancient though not then noble, I shall take notice of what I have seen from our Publio Records; notwithstanding it is but little. " In the time of King William the Conqueror, Hugh de Beniers possessed E\Tesdon tn Com. Cantab. And in 6 R. I. Robert de lierners gave a fine of 200 marks for ob- taining the King's favour and restitution of his land.s. In 8 Henry 111. the King sent his precept to the Sheriff of Sussex, to make livery unto John of all the goods and chattels of Raphe de Bernera then being in his Manners of Uromfield, Black-Nuttelegb, and Neweuton, to distribute for the lieallb of his soul. " After that there was another llaphe de Berners, who in 49 Henry III. took part with the rebellious Barons of that age (Kse. 4'J II. 3, m. 3), and departed this life in 25th Edward I., being then seised of the Manor of Yseluon (ru/yo Islington) m Com. iliilJ.; West-Horslegh in Com. Siirr. (of the Inheritance of Christian bis wife) ; Ikeling- hani in Com. Stiff.; and of the Manors of Bemcstone, Kothings, and Berwyke, an Com. Essex; leaving Edmund his .son and heir twenty-six years of age, then in Gascoigne." Thus far Dugdale (Bar. ii. 196); but the Pedigree of this great family is given in Sir Henry Chauncy's Hisloincal Aniiquilies of Ihrtforthhire, fo. Lond., 1700, p. IGO and 850, Bishop Stortford, 1826, p. 316, and correctly deduced up to Edmund de Berners; where the learned antiquary from some misinformation he received, states a John de Ber- ners to have been the ancestor of Ednumd de Berners's posterity, for which reason I have cited the Inquisitions and Placita hereafter in this note more fully than I otherwise should have done, and as the descent of this Manor of Bamcsbury is identified with the Barony 1 give the lineal ancestors of Edmund de Berners, with some verification of Chauncy and correction of misprinted references as follows ; — Hugh de Berners, Domesday. (Midd. and Cantab.) I Ralph de Berners, married NesUi, sister and ultimately ln-'lr of Pay no Buniel. Also, see Llbcr A. sivo Filusua xxlj b. was living U5G. I Hugh de Berners, son and heir, held one Kiii^'lit's fee In the county of Berks, married Bawlse, died S. I>. Balph de Beniers, next heir to his uncle Piiyue Bumcl, — see Placita temps nic. I. Wills, (Abb. Plac. p. \\b.^ printed copD), — married Isold de Say, whose hroilier Jeffrey con- firmed to William de Berners, ne- phew to Isold, the Service of John of SamforJ in SnwtirldKCWorth, Com. Ihrt.f. Also, see Liber Niger Scaccarij. Mldd. Alice, the wife Sir William de Berners, of Benierg of Jetfrey de Itothlng, Com. Eaejr. Knt, married Baddie. Beatrix of Cokeflcld, who is also said to have been the daughter of lialpb Swyueboumc, of Hockley Parva, near Colchester, Knt. "Wlniar, married de Langhton. Stephen do Langton, son and heir of Wl- mar, ttmpi H. 1. Roger de Lang- ton, sun aud heir of Stephen. Slinoa. I Stephen, Archbp. of Cant.liCO, aftcnvards Cardinal. I sir William do Berners, son and heir of Sir Kalph de Bcmcrs, died S. P. [Cliauncy considered him el- der brother of the next Sir Ralph.] Sir Ralph de Berners, of Kothlng and Bernston, Knt., 12 H. 3. He married Maud, daughter of Walter Barrow, of Fltzwaltcr. Sir Balph dc Berners, 32 Henry 3. [Chaimcy makes no mention of tills Ralph.] Sir Ralph dc Bcmcrs, of Berners Rothlni^ and Bemston, Knt., Lord of West-Horsley, Surr. In rlglit of his wife: Custosof London, 17 E. 1, 1289, died 2.') E. 1, burleU In Christ Church, London. Sir Edmund de Berners, son and heir to Sir Ralph dc Berners. Et- caet. 25 E. I. PERAMBtlLATION OF ISLINGTON. 99 in the County of Hertford, by homage fealty and certain rent for Ba™bury Manor, castle-guard, payable at the feast of St. Michael the Archangel. AVhether the scite of this manor (which anciently included the Sir Edmund de Berners had a son Ralph, who had a son John. The descent of this branch of the family, which in Channcy's Hist. Uertf. i. 316, ed. 1826, is not deduced through the descendants of Edmund Berners, but from his brother John, is vouched by Escaet. 50 Edward III., which states that John Berners (son of Ralph ihe son of Edmund), died 25 August, 35 Edward 3, (anno 1361), and that James Berners, was his heir, then fourteen years of age: and particularly by Placita of 14 Richard 2, No. 131, and Kscaet. 15 Richard 2, No. 181, p. 2. Whereby it was found that Edmund de Traverse of office Berners lately held the Manor of Iseldon, in the county afore.said, of the Bishoprick of ''o'lnd. London as of the Castle of Storteford in the county of Hertford, by Knight's service, that is to say, by homage, fealty, and escuage, and by the service of rendering 7sAd. yearly at the fea^t of Easter and St. Michael, 5sAd. by even portions, and at the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle two shillings for the ward of the Castle aforesaid, and doing suit at the Court of the same Castle from three weeks to three weeks, and by the ser- vice of the moiety of one Knight's fee, as of the right of the Bishoprick aforesaid; and that afterwards a certain fine was levied in the Court of our Lord the King, [here the fine at page 101 is recited]. By virtue of which fine the said Edmund and Amice were seised thereof, the said Edmund in his demesne as of fee-tail and the aforesaid Amice aa of freehold; and afterwards the said Amice died. And from the aforesaid Edmund the aforesaid Manor descended to one Ralph as the son and heir of the same Edmund ; and frc/m the same Ralph the said Manor descended to John, son and heir of the same Ralph : and from the same John the aforesaid Manor descended to James, son and heir of the same John which s:iid James was seised of the same Manor of Iseldon in his demesne, as of fee-tail by form of the said fine, and of such estate was seised at the time of the judgment pronounced against the same James in the Parliament, holden at Westminster on the morrow of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the eleventh year of the reign of the now King, and of such estate died seised; which said Manor bv reason of the forfeiture aforesaid, and by virtue of the judgment aforesaid, was seised into our hands. Then from the same James the right of the same Manor of Iseldon descended by form of the fine aforesaid to Richard, son and heir of the same James, at this time being under age, that is to say. of the age of ten years and upwards. That the afore- said James at the time of the forfeiture aforesaid, and at the time of his death, held the aforesaid Manor of Iseldon of Robert Bishop of London, as of the Castle aforesaid by Knight service, and for that cause the U'ardship of the said Richard, son of James, and of the aforesaid Jlanor of Iseldon, by reason of the minority of the same Richard, be- longs to the same Bishop and pertained to him from the death of the aforesaid James. [The next recital is that the King had seized the Manor after the judgment and he averred that he ought to have the Wardship.] Mature and diligent deliberation being had upon the premises with the Justices of our Lord the King and his Serjeants-at- Law, and others of his learned Counsel in the Chancery aforesaid, as by advisament : It is considered that the hands of the said Lord the King, from the Wardship of the aforesaid Manor as also of the body of the same heir be amoved ; and the same Ward- ship be delivered to the aforenamed Bishop, until the lawful age of the said heir [&c.]. — Pkas before the King in his Chancery at Westminster on the Octaves of St, Michael, in the fourteenth year of the reign of Kiny Richard the Second, (anno 1390). Escaet., 5 Benry V., No. 8. An Inquisition taken at Iseldon 4th March, 5 Hen. V. (anno 1418), — That Richard Berners bold, on the day he died, in his deme.^ne as of fee the Manor of Bernerabury, with the appurtenances, in Iseldon aforesaid, by the service of the fourth part of one Knight's fee. That the said Manor is worth yearly in all issues near the true value of the same, beyond reprises, 12/. That Thomas Lenknore, Chevakr, and Philippa, his wife, who was the wife of the said Richard Berners, occu- pied the third part of the Manor in Iseldon of the endowment of the said Richard her late husband, and that the Bishop of London has occupied the other two parts since the decease of the said Richard Berners : and that the said Richard Berners died on 6 August, 14 Henry IV., and that Margery, the daughter of the same Richard Berners, was his next heir, and that the said Margery on the 24th October then last past, was of the age of seven years and upwards. Escaet., '.) Henry V., Xo. 24. An Inquisition taken at Iseldon 4 December, 9 Henry v. (anno 1421). — That Philippa, who was the wife of Thomas Lewknore, Knight, held on the day she died, for term of her life the third part of the Manor of Berners, in Iseldon, of the endowment of Richard Berners, Esquire, formerly her husband, of the jiiheritOBce of Margeii-, daughter and heir of the same Kicliard and Ph'a, the wife of 100 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. (f) E8C«ct.25E.l JJo. 39. Bsrnsbury Manor, scite of CanoiibuiT manor) is co-extensive with the original infeudation I am imablc to discover. However, an inquisition of the lands and tenements of the fifth Sir Ralpli de Bcrners, {Domini Radu/phi de Berners Militis,) in Middlesex, after his decease, taken the 25th January, 25th Edward I. (1297) states,(') " That the aforesaid Sir Ralph de Berners, on the day he died, held nothing in his demesne as of fee of the Lord the King, in the county aforesaid. Nevertheless the same Sir Ralph {Dominus liadulphus) on the day he died, held his manor of Yseldon with the appurtenances of the Lord Bishop of London, by the service of half a Knight's fee and two shillings rent*, payable by the year on the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, at the castle of the same Bishop of Storteford, and making there suit of court from three weeks to three weeks. And there is at that place a certain capital messuage, which, with the garden and curtilage, is worth by the year 18^. There is also at that place, one hundred and foiu" score acres of arable land, and they are worth by the year 30*., by the acre 2d. Also five acres of meadow, and they are worth by the year 7s. 6d., by the acre I8d. Also there are at that place, of rents of assise of the free tenants, that is to say: — At the Feast of St. Michael, 8s. frf. At the Feast of the Birth of our Lord, 5*. ^d. At the Feast of Easter, 8*. f rf., and at the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the John Feriby. After stating the third part of the land and rents and tenants' dayworks which are particularly specified, the Jury stated that there was in the said third part, 3s. 5Jrf. of a certain customary rent, called le larder silver, payable at the feast of St. Martin, in the winter only ; the tenure is found as in the former inquisition, and that the aforesaid Margery, the wife of John Feriby, the daughter of the aforesaid Richard Berners, and the aforesaid Ph'a was her next heir, and waa of the age of thirteen years and upwards. 1 have not continued the pedigree of Berners beyond the period that the family pos- sessed this Manor, but the reader is referred to Collins's Claims on Baronies, where he will find sub lit. Barony of Berners, the subsequent history of that Baronage. There is also a statement of lineal ancestry, deducing the title to the Barony up to the time of Henrj' VII., from a document written at that time, given at length in Arthur Collins's Proceedings, Precedents, and Arguments on CUiims concerning Baronies, ^c, folio, London, 1734, p. 333, (Barony of Berners), as follows, viz. : (Translation') " Maeoekv, wife ok John hkst Lord Berseiis. — Be it remembered that there was a certain Giles de Berners, Knight, in the time of King Richard the First, who had Ralph de Berners, Knight, in the time of King John, who had Ralph dc Berners, Knight, who married Christine, the sister of the Lord Hugh of Windsor, Lord of Stanwell, and of Westhorsley, in the time of Henry, the son of King John ; and he gave to the said lialph de Berners and Christine, his wife, and the heirs of them the Manor of Wcat- Horsley; and they had issue between them lawfully begotten, Edmund de Berners, Knight, in the time of King Edward, the son of King Henry, and the said Edmund de Berners had John do Bernersi, Knight, in the time of King Edward the son of King Edward, who married Elizabeth, the daughter of John Stoner, Knight, Chief Justice of our Lord the King, who entailed the Manors of Westhorsley, Iseldon, and Iclyngham to them and the heirs between them lawfully begotten." The intelligent reader will note how this account differs from the preceding. ' The rents and services are not always stated with precision. The rents anciently payable, appear by the documents recited in the preceding note ; also note at p. 90. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 101 Baptist, 5*. ^d. Tlie sum by the year 36s. Sd. Also there is Bamsbury Manor, at that place, of foreign rent by the year, at the feast of Easter, from the tenement of Sir Thomas of the Meuse of East Smith- field, Knight, one pair of gilt spurs or 6d. Also of rent of the ('ustomary [Tenants] at the feast of St Michael I7s. ll^d. At the feast of the Birth of our Lord, 17*. lid. At the feast of Easter, I7s. lid. And at the feast of St. John the Baptist, 17s. lid. The sum by the year, 71s. 8|rf. Also of rent of Customary [Tenants] by the year, at the feast of the Birth of our Lord, 48 hens, and are worth by the year, 4s., the price of a hen, Id. Also there are at that place 48 Customary [Tenants] and they ought [to perform] in the Autumn 144 works [or days works] and are worth by the year 18s., the price of a work, l^d. Also the aforesaid Customary [Tenants] ought to reap in the Autumn 48 acres of corn, and is worth by the year, 13s., by the acre, 3d. Also the said Customary [Tenants] ought to carry hay in the meadow for one day, and that work is worth by the year, 2s., the price of a work a halfpenny. Also the said Customary [Tenants] ought to hoe the corn for one day, and is worth by the year, 2s., the price of a work a halfpenny. That the pleas and perquisites [of court] there, are worth by the year, 6s. 8d. The Jurors also on their oath said that Edmund de Berners was the son and nest heir of the aforesaid Ralph de Berners, who was in parts of Gascony, (in partibus Vasconice) and was of the age of twenty-six years and upwards. The sum total £.9. 2s. 1 it?. "Thereout they pay to the castle of the said Bishop of Storteford, 2s. And so the said Manor is worth by the year, £9. Os. l^d." This Edmund de Berners on the Octavesfs) of the Holv Trinity, (g) piacuam in the 31st year of King Edward the First, le\'ied a fine in the no. isi. King's Court [then] at York, wherein he with his wife Amice, [or Amy] were plaintifl's, and Roger Berners and John de Neville were deforciants, of the Manor of Ikelyngham with the advowson of the church of the same IManor in the coiuity of Suffolk, and the Manor of Iseldon, with the appurtenances, in the county of Middlesex ; whereby the said Roger and John granted to the said Edmund and Amice the said manors and advowson to have to the same Edmund and Amice and the heirs of the said Edmund, of his body begotten, to hold of the chief Lords of that fee. Aud if it should happen that the aforesaid Edmund should die without heir of his body begotten, then after the decease of them the said Edmund and Amice, the ion PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Barnsbuiy Manor, aforcsaid manors and advowsou were to remain to Richard de Berners and his heirs. Continuing the genealogy in the words of Dugdale from the point where my citation from him termi- nates in the last preceding note, p. 98. (h)^Dagd. Bar. u. (k^ " From whom {i.e. Edmund de Berners) descended Sir James de Berners, Knight, a great favourite to King Richard the Second, who was beheaded as a traitor by the judgment of parliament. To whom succeeded Richard his son and heir, wliich Richard had the reputation of a Baron of this realm, though nothing of his creation or summons to parliament (that I could ever see) doth appear thereof. And married Philippa the daughter of Edmund Dahugrig, but departed this life in 9 Henry V., leaving issue Margery his daughter and heir, first married to John Feriby, Esquire, and afterwards to John Bourehier, fourth son to William Bourchier, Earl of Ewe," (i) Dugd. Bar. iL who {')"had summons to parliament in 33 Henry VI. (and afterwards) by the title of Lord Berners. And departed this life 16 May, 14 Edward IV. (anno 1474) leaving John his grandson, viz., the son of Humphry his eldest son, (slain at Barnet Field on King Edward the Fourth's part) his next heir, at that time seven years of age, and Margerie his wife sur- v-iving, who died on Monday next after the Nativity of our Lord, the ensuing year, viz., 15th Edward IV., (Anno. 1475) being then seised of the Manor of West-Horsley in Com. Surr. ; Bernersbury in Iseldon, in Com. Midd.; Berners in Ikelingham, in Com. Suff. ; Estley ; Chigenhale-Tany ; Chigenhale-Zoyne ; Norton; Southorpe ; Northorpe; Berner-Mershe; Pole-Mershe; Berners-lloding ; Beamont-Crippinge ; Berners-Bcrwyke ; and Springfield, in Com. Essex." Sir John Bourchier, Lord Berners' grandson, and also heir to Margery whose second husband we have seen was John Lord Berners, was the last of this family who possessed this Manor, (k) cfai/risH.7. for by (^indenture of bargain and sale, dated the 20th pan uxtka. So. 58. "^ September, 18th Henry VII. (Anno. 1502) he bargained and sold " All the Manor called Beruersbnry in the county of Middlesex, and all the other lands, tenements, rents, rever- sions, services, and hereditaments to Sir Reynold Bray, Knight, for the sum of six hundred pounds." Ami by another deed of ->8i Bar. a person not a little eminent for his learning," and gives a list of the works of which he was author and translator. He died 16th March, 1532, being then Lieutenant of Calais and the Marches. From Sir Reginald or Eeynold Bray this Manor came with other property to Sir William Lord Sandys or Sands, whose family, as Dugdale(°) in his Baronage informs us, were "persons Sk"*"*^ ^"' "^ of superior rank amongst the gentry in Hantshire. The prin- cipal seat of this family having been anciently at The Vine near Basingstoke, i7i Com. Sutht., was for a time possessed by that of Brocas in marriage : but this Sir William Sands recovering it, new built the Manor-house, and by the marriage of Margerie the only child of John Bray, brother and heir to Reginald Bray, (of whom our historians make mention with no little account for his eminent services to King Henry VII. [also sec Dugd. Bar. ii. 311.],) much increased his estate. Sir Reginald going to Blackheath Field (in 12 Henry VIL), left this Sands as his heir; and after that battle purchased a thousand marks per annum lands more, whereof he made no disposition, so that they fell to him in her right. Whereupon great controversy arising betwixt Edmund Lord Bray and this Sir William Sands, who claimed by vii-tue of the will, and Bray as his nephew and heir male ; a determination therein was at length made by the King and the Lords of the Council, that they should part them equally. — In 14 Henry VIII. he was Treasurer of Calais. 27th April, 15 Henry VIII. he was advanced to the degree of a Baron of this Realm by the title of Lord Sands. He died 34 Henry VIII. leaving Thomas, his son and heir." From Lord Sands this Manor next came to Robert Fowler, for by indenture of bargain and sale " made the first day of July, 31 Henry VIII. (anno 1539), between The Right Honour- able Lord William Sandys Lord Chamberlayn, and Thomas Sandys son and heir apparent unto the said Lord Sandys and heir both in deede and right unto Lady Margery Sands, late wife of the Lord Sandys which Lady is now deceased, on the one party, and Robart Fowler, Esquire, Vice Treasurer of Calais, on the other party," it was witnessed " that the said Lord Wil- liam Sandys Lord Chamberlain, and Thomas Sandys, and every of them, for the some of eight hundred pounds lawful money of 104 PEKAMBULATIOif OF ISLINGTON. iMmsbur, Manor. England" bargained and sold "for them and every of them, their heirs and assigns, and the heirs and assigns of every of them, unto the said Kobart Fowler, his heirs and assigns, for evermore all that his or their Manor or capitall messuage or Lordship ealled Iseldon Berners, otherwise called Bernehs- BURY, set, lying, and being in Islington, in the county of Mid- dlesex, unto the said Robart Fowler, to his heirs and assigns for ever, unto the only use and proper behouff of the said Robart his heir and assigns for evermore." p"V*^"'i?^ ^ *' Robert Fowler {") was not very long Lord of this Manor, for on the 4th November, 34 Henry VIIL (anno 1542), WiUiara Fowler, of Stepyng parva in the county of Lincoln, Gentleman, cousin and heir of Robert Fowler, late of Islington in the county of Middlesex, Esquire, deceased, for five hundred and seventy pounds sterling, by Thomas Fowler, of the town of Calais, Esquire, to him in hand paid, &c., gave, granted, and by that his charter confirmed to the same Thomas Fowler his Manor of Barnorsbury with all lands, tenements, &c., belonging, situate, lying, and being in Islington aforesaid, which said manor, lands, and tenements, and other the premises the said Thomas Fowler lately bought and purchased of him the aforesaid William Fowler, to have and to hold the said manor, lands, &c., to the aforesaid Thomas Fowler, his heirs and assigns, to the use and behoof of the same Thomas Fowler, his heirs and assigns for ever, of the chief Lords of that fee, by the services therefor due and of right accustomed. This Thomas Fowler died at Calais in or shortly after the year 1555, and left, by his wife Alice, an only son, Edmund, upon whom the Manor was entailed and who in 1552 had married ]\Iary, one of the daughters of Thomas Heudley of Ottham, in the county of Kent, Esquire, and died IGth Feb- ruary, 1560, leaving Thomas Fowler, afterwards Sir Thomas Fowler, his son and next heir, and who was at the time of the taking of the Inquisition post mortem of 3rd June, 2 Eliz. (p) Escaet2Eiiz. (loGO) C) of the age of three years, five months and five days, p. 1, na. 126, (.K ^ . . . J ' J > Marc!.). him suTYiving, who thereupon became seised* of this Manor EscacL 2 Eliz. p. 2, ° ^ nu. 21, <3 June). Eltz. b" nd.°6,°nu. * ^' '^^ found by Inquisition dated the 25th March, 2 Eliz. anno 1560, that Edmund at ' Fowler, Esquire, died on the 16th February, preceding: and that Thomas Fowler was his son and next heir at tlie time of talcing of that Inquisition of the age of three years and eleven weeks. The Manor of Uarnanlsbury i>therwise Bernerdesbury, within the parish of IseUlon, was therein found to be holdcii of the Lady the Queen, as of her Manor of Stortford then in the hands of the said Lady the Queen by re^oa of the Bishoprick of London being vacant. Sy another Inquisition, dated the 3rd of June, in the same year, it waa found that PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 105 and died January 14th, 1624, leaving his son Thomas, who was BarnsburyMaaor. created a Baronet 21 May, 1628, and who enjoyed this Manor Edmund Fowler, Esquire, died, as in the last recited inquisition is mentioned, that Thomas Fowler was his son and next heir, who was at the time of taking that inquisi- tion of the age of three years five months and five days, and the tenure was found in the same form with the addition that the Manor was holden by the service of a moiety of one Knight's fee. Plms in Chancery, Trinity Term, 2nd Eliz. (1560), after reciting the firstly recited inquisition, state as follows : "And now at this day, that is to say, on the 17th day of June, in this term of the Holy Trinity, in the 2nd year of the reign of the said Lady the Queen tliat now is, before the same Lady the Queen in her Chancery comes Alice Fowler, widow, late the wife of Thomas Fowler, Esquire, deceased, father of the afore- said Edmund, by li. G. her Attorney, and demands oyer of the aforesaid inquisition, and it is read to her, which being read and by her heard and understood, the same Alice complains that she by colour of the inquisition aforesaid is grievously vexed and dis- quieted, and this unjustly; because by protestation she saith that the inquisition and the matter in the same inquisition contained and specified are not sufficient for law, &c.; yet for plea^ nevertheless, she saith that the aforesaid Thomas Fowler, Esquire, deceased, long before the decease of the aforesaid Edmund was seised in his demesne as of fee of and in the aforesaid Manor of Bamerdsburie, otherwise called Baruerdisburie, within the parish of Iseldon otherwise called Islington, with its rights, members, and appurten- ances, in the said county of Midd'x : and so being thereof seised he, by his certain writing bearing date the 3rd November in the 6th year of Edward the Sixth, late King of England, in consideration of the marriage to be solemnized between the aforesaid Edmund Fowler abovenamed, the son and heir apparent of the aforesaid Thomas, of the one part, and Mary Hendley, one of the daughters of Thomas Hendley, of Otthame, in the county of Kent, Esquire, of the other part ; gave and granted to the aforesaid Edmund and Mary a certain annuity or yearly rent of 40^. issuing out of his said Manor of Bernerdsburie otherwise called Iseldon Earners. To have and perceive the said annuity to the said Edmund and Mary during the life of the said Mary : and if the said Mary should have any issue of her body, &c., at the time of her death surviving, that then the said annuity should be further continued, and shoidd be to the said Edmund for life, and after his decease to the next heir begotten of the body of the said Mary by the said Edmund, and to the heirs of the body of the said next heir lawfully begotten, until the said Manor should descend or fall to the possession of the heir of the said Edmund; and afterwards the said Thomas Fowler so, of the Manor aforesaid, with the appurtenances, being seised, at Islington aforesaid, made his last will in writing bearing date the 20th March, 1555, as follows, in these words in English : ' Item, I gyve unto Alice, my wife, out of my Manor of Bemersberie the hole overjjlus of rente which shall growe to be dewe unto Thomas Fowler from the feast of Saynt Michael Tharch- angel next for to coome which shall be over and above three score poundes yerelie, which my soone Edmund Fowler must receyve to his owen use, which is accordinge to my promyse with hym made appering by indentures, which I will that she shall have and enjoye during her life natural, and during ten years next after my decease; and after my decease and my wyfe's, and the ten years being ended, I will that the hole of my Manor of Barnsburie shall remain fully and holie to my soone Edmande Fowler if God so sende him so long lyfe or elles to the heyres of his bodie lawfulUe begotten, ac- cording to my promise made imto Mr. Thomas Hendley appering by indenture; and for lacke of such heyres of his bodie lawfullie begotten then I will that Jane Fysher, my daughter, shall have and enjoy the same Manor of Barnersburie to her and to her heyres of her bodie lawfully begotten for ever, and for lacke of such issue to remayne to the rlghte heyres of me Thomas Fowler for ever. Item, 1 will that Alice, my wyfe, shall have and enjoye her dower of all my lands within the Marches Calles [Calais], and of all my copieliolde landes or freholde being or lying within London or Islington. And I will that Edmonde Fowler, my soon, shall suffer Alice, my wife, after my de- cease to inhabitt and dwell in the howso in Islington during her naturall lyfe, vdlh. the garden and orcharde withoute painge of any manner of rente for the same.' And re- citing tht: decease of the said Thomas Fowler at Calais, and the descent of the Manor to his son Edmund Fowler as his son and heir and his seisin thereof in fee-tail, and the leases he made, viz. : "24 Oct., 3 & 4 Phil. & Mary. Lease to William Iremonger and Lawrence Shales of one field, called The Thistell field, by Northe Little Kynges Leas, containing 15^ acres; another field, called Meaden Knowles, containing 16 acres and 70 perches; and also another field, called The Great Barnesberie field, G3^ acres aud 2 perches, for ten years. 14 106 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON, Barnsbury Manor, until liis dppcasc in 1656, whcu ill default of issue male this Manor came to his daughter and heir, Sarah, the wife of Sir Thomas PHsher, Baronet : upon her decease this Manor passed to their daughter Ursula, the second wife of Sir William Ilalton, Baronet, in whose male heirs this Manor remained till the decease of Sir William Halton, the fourth Baronet, Februaiy 12, 175t, when pursuant to the devise contained in his will dated 13th January, 171)3, William Tufnell (who afterwards as- sumed the name of Joliffc) entered into possession of this Manor and enjoyed the same till the year 1797, when he died unmar- ried and without issue, leaving his brother George Forster Tufuell, who entered, and died in 1798, leaving his eldest son William Tufuell his heir in tail male and three younger sons. The entail created by Sir William Ilalton's will was barred by a recovery suffered by Mr. Tufnell who, dying 26 April, 1809, left issue at the time of his decease, two sons and one daughter, viz., Henry Tufuell, Edward Carleton Tufnell, and Maria Tuf- nell. By his will dated 30 July, 1805, and proved in the Pre- " Same date. Lease to Michael Wrighte of one field, called the Oakfield, 5 acres, 1 rood, and 20 perches, and one other field, called the Thistle field, 12 acres, for ten years. " Same date. Lease to Richard Thornton of one field, called The Mote field, 5 acres ; another field, called AVhite Ajiron field, 7 acres, 2U ])ercbcs; another field, caUcd the Little field by West, 2 J acres and 44 perches ; another field, called Howlettes field, 7 acres 08 perches ; for ten years. "4th April. G Edward 6lh. Lease to said Richard Thornton all that field called Pynfolde field lying and beinf; in Islinf^ton, for seven years. *' And reciting that the said Edmund Fowler so being seised of the reversion of all and singular the premises for the dower of the aforesaid Alice his mother, coming to her of all the hinds and tenements, late of the aforesaid Thomas Fowler, her husband, be the same Edmund by his deed indented, dated 3rd November, 3 & 4 Phil. & Mary, assigned, limited, and moreover gave and granted to the aforesaid Alice, his mother, the reversion of the before-mentioned demised premises, and also one meadow, called tlie Long Meadow the Greater, containing 8 acres in the tenure of Thomas Wilkes, lying in Iseldon afore- said, parcel of the said Manor of Banierdsburie, to have and to hold the said reversions and the meadow aforesaid to the said Alice for life ; — and reciting that the lessees had attorned — by virtue whereof the aforesaid Alice at the date of the inquisition aforesaid was seised of the premises demised and the aforesaid meadow with tlie appurtenances in her demesne as of freehold, until the same Alice by colour of the inc|uisition afore- said bad been amoved and expollccl from her possession of the lands, tenements, and hereditaments aforesaid, and tliis unjustly. Without this that there can l)e had any other record besides the record of the inquisition aforesaid, by which it can be made evident that the said Edmund Fowler died seised in his demesne as of fee of and in the said Manor, and other the premises witli the appurtenances, in manner and form as by the inquisition aforesaid it is found, and without this that the aforesaid firemises as is aforesaid severally demised and afterwards to the same Alice for her, her dower assigned and appointed, or the afores.aid Meadow called Long Meadow, or any parcel of the same at the time of the death of the aforesaid Edmund were or was parcel of the said Manor of Barnesburie aforesaid : or that the same Edmund on the day of his decease was seised in his demesne as of fee of the same Manor and the said premises and members or parcels of the .same Manor as by that inquisition and this unjustly is above supposed. All whicli the said Alice was ready to verify, &c. — [The pleadings ultimately conclude by the Court allomng the Traverse by Alice Fowler of the inquisition, and decreeing that the hands of the crown should be amoved from the premises and the said Alice restored to her possession.]" (^Translation and Abstract.) PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 107 rogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury 16 May, 1809, Ba™!"^ Manor. Mr. Tufnell devised his Manor of Barnsbury, together with the demesne lands or farm at HoUoway to Trustees, in trust to pay and apply the rents and profits thereof to his wife Mary until such time as his eldest son should attain twenty-five years, and then to him such son for his natural life, and after his decease to pay and apply the rents and produce thereof to the use of the eldest son of such son and his heirs for ever : the will con- tained provisions under which if there should be no son of the testator or such son should die under age, this Manor was to go to Mr. Tufnell's brother John Charles Tufnell for ever; but if Mr. Tufnell should die without a son, or such son should die a minor or before marriage, the same should go to the same Trustees in trust for Mrs. Tufnell for life, and after her death to his brother John Charles Tufnell for life, and afterwards to his eldest son John Charles Fowell Tufnell for life, and at his decease to his eldest son and his heirs for ever ; but if John Charles Fowell TufneU should leave no son, then for William Tufnell the second son of Mr. Tufnell's brother John Charles Tufnell, for life, and after Wilham Tufnell's death for his eldest son and his heirs for ever. Henry Tufnell, Esquire, is the present owner of the Manor. The extent of the Manor has been estimated according to a survey taken about sixty years since, at viz : A. R. p. In Rents and Services . . 121 2 28 In Demesne .... 121 19 In all 242 3 7 The demesne lands of the Manor are situated near the three mile stone at Upper Holloway, and in 1822 are stated in the first schedule* of a personal act of parliament, 3 Geo. IV. Cap. ♦ THE FIRST SCHEDULE before referred to; containing the Particulars of the Demesne Farm at Holloway, belonging to the Manor of Earners otherwise Bamersbury, formerly in the occupation of Mr. Graves. FBEMISES. Close of Land, called The Six Acres - - - Close of Land, called the Gutter Field - - - Close of Land, called The Great and Little Hill Field - Close of Land, called The Hanging Field Close of Land, called Middle Field and Terry Wisliin - Close of Land, called The Ten Acres - - - Stable, Tenement, Cowshed, and other Buildings, situate on a Close of Land, called The Homestead - Close of Land, called The Four Acres - Close of Land, called The Seven Acres QUAsmr. A. K. p. 6 - 13 11 1 - 16 3 20 9 3 4 12 3 2 11 - 16 6 - 25 7 3 16 108 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Barasbury Manor. iQ ^2^ Juno, 18.22,] intituled "An Act for enabling the trustee under the will of the late JVUIiam Tufnell, Esquire, to reduce the fines for the copyholds held of the Manor of Barnersbury, devised by his will, as an encouragement to the tenants to build thereon ; to grant building and repairing leases of the devised estates, and for other purposes." And these demesne lands that extend from the front of the Great North Road backward to Hagbush Lane, and partly to Maiden Lane, are now the houses and land known as Tufnell Park. Barnsbury Manor is bounded by the Back or Liverpool Road, (commencing at the point where it falls into the High Street at the Turnpike, and so up Ante p. 26. ^q the end of Hagbush Lane, at the Adam and Eve), and by Hagbush Lane, on the west ; and by the High Street, Upper Street, and the High Road to Upper Holloway at the point where the boundary of the httle Manor of Clerkenwell commences from front of the road, on the east. There are some detached portions of Barnsbury Manor lying higher up and abutting on Maiden Lane where the private road called the Tufnell Park Road enters Tufnell Park from Maiden Lane. The style of this M.aior is " The Manor of Earners, otherwise Barnersbury in Iseldon, otherwise Islington, in the county of Middlesex," and the courts are holden at the King's Head in the Upper Street, in the name of The Honourable Anthony John Ashley Cooper, the trustee appointed 23 May, 1830, by virtue of the personal act of 1822, in the place of Thomas Creevey, an original and surviving trustee imder Mr. William TufncU's will. There are no free tenants, and the entire Manor being pure Close of Land, called The Upper Hanger, or Shoulder of Mutton Field - - -- - 7-20 Messuage at Holloway, West side of Turnpike Road lead- ing to Highgate [called " Manor House" and occupied as a School.] So much of the Oat-buildings behind the said Messuage, as consist of a Bam, Brew-house, and Stable, and mea- suring in length from the back of the said Messuage, about ninety-four feet ... - — Also, the Stack-yard, Home-stead, Court-yard, and Gar- den contiguous to the said Messuage - - 3 2 22 Paddock, called The Moat Field [presumed to be the scite of the ancient Manor House] _ _ _ Paddock, called The Lime Field _ . - Slip of Waste adjoining the Road . - - Close or Paddock, called Mead Field, or Seventeen Acres Slip of Waste, adjoining the Road, now in three pieces - A. 119 3 7 MUNDEFORD AlLEN. RiciiARD Dent. By a private Act, 8 Geo. III. cap. 3, William Tufnell Joliffe, Esq., was enabled to grant building leases of the demesne lands. 2 3 36 5 2 31 1 _ 24 17 1 16 1 - 3 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 109 copyhold of inheritance, the fines are at the will of the Lord, which, interpreted by the custom, is two years improved rent upon an admission upon descent, and one and a half years rent upon alienation ; a small quit rent is also payable yearly in re- spect of each tenement. The course of descent is at common law, but widows are not entitled to dower. Upon enfranchise- ment under the Statute 4 & 5 Vict. c. 35. § 3, one sixth part of the value of the property has been taken for the consideration, the personal act before alluded to, reducing the fine upon ground devoted to building purposes, to one third of the annual value of the buildings erected. Canonbury Manor takes its name from its having been in canonbobt ancient times parcel of the possessions of the Prior and Canons of Saint Bartholomew, London, where their Prior had a manerial residence, as the word hwry denotes. This conventual acquisi- tion may be traced to an early date, as in charter of 37 Henry III. (15 June, 1253)'''), confirming the gifts of various lauds to (n) Carts? h.s. this Convent, there occurs a ratification of " all the lands and per iiispeiimus. ' 1-111 • 1 -11 / Dugd. Mod. U. 1611, rents and all the appurtenances which they have m the vill (or 386, ed. lesi. town) of Iseldon, of the fee (or fief) of Ralph de Beruers." That by this general description the present Manor was denoted is shewn by an (')inquisition of office taken before the Escheator M Escaet47E.3, ^ V / n No. 80, second and returned into Chancery in the 47 Edward III. (1373) and ?,™'=er8. •' _ ^ ' _ Escaet. 8 K 3, No. wherein the jurors say "That the Prior and Convent of Saint J^;^^^'^™'' "'™" Bartholomew of Smithfield, London, have appropriated to them- selves, without license of the Lord the King, all the lands, rents, and tenements which they have in the viUs (or towns) of Iseldon and Kentish Town, which said lands, rents, and tenements con- sist of one Manor called Canonesbury, which they heretofore purchased of Ralph de Berniers, and of one messuage called Le CoTELERs, which messuage, together with one hundred and six acres of land and four acres of meadow to the said messuage pertaining, they purchased of Henry the Heyward of Wcst- smithfield, and Roger of Creton, the chaplain, and are worth yearly, the said Manor and messuage, ten pounds ;" so that it appears that the house and lands called Cutlers, that were situate at Canonbury and became portion of this Manor, were originally portion of the Manor of Barnsbury, together with four acres of meadow land at the southern extremity of the Manor, and were not originally included (except as to the service thereof) in the grant from Ralph Beruers to the Convent, he having previously subiufeudated those from whom Heyward no PERAM DILATION OF ISLINGTON. Cauonbury Manor. (8) Escaet. 8 E. 3, Ma 19. second nambers. (t) rm. 32 H. 8. p. 6, m. 29. (20 Jan., 1541). Minister's Ac- counts, 36 II. 8. in Off. Cur' Aug. (n) Pat. I E. 6, p. , m. 14. (x) Pat 6 E. G, p. 7, m. 17. and Cretou took, who(*) in 8 Edward III. (1364) gave this estate to the Convent to found an anniversary for tlie sonl of one John of Kentish town, and this will account for the Manor being, after the dissolution of the Monastery, frequently styled " Canonbury and Cutlers." The Convent being dissolved by surrender 25 October, 31 Henry VIII. (1539) was immediately granted out, together with the Manor of Highl)ury, to Thomas Cromwell* then Earl of Essex, Lord Privy Seal and Lord Chamberlain, on whose attainder, 19 July in the following year (15 10), they were seized by the King, who charged this Manor with an annuity of twenty pounds payable to Anne of Cleves('), the innocent cause of Cromwell's disgrace and ruin, and who received this annuity until her decease in 1557. In the meantime the Manor re- mained in the hands of the Crown from which it was first de- parted by Edward VI., who in the first year of his reign granted it to John Dudlcy(") formerly Viscount Lisle, and at that time Earl of Warwick, and shortly afterwards Duke of Northumber- land, who re-conveyed it to the King by deed 18 July, 1550, and two years after that time accepted it again from the King, the grant (•) expressing the motive to be (inter alia) " in consideration of the scite and precinct of the late Monastery of Tynemouth and of the Castle of Tynemouth " by the following description : "All that our house and mansion of our Manor of Canonbury, other- wise called Canbury, in our county of Middlesex, with all its rights, members, and appurtenances. And also the scitc, pale, circuit, ambit, and precinct of the same Manor, and all and singular houses, barns, &c., &c. And also one close within the * The grant to Lord Cromwell is not inroUed, but the fact appears from the grant to Dudley, the description, in Pat. I E. 6, p. 9, m. 14, [35], being thus: "All that our Lordship and Manor of Canonburie, otherwise called Canburie, in our county of SlidtUc- sex, with all its rights, members, and appurtenances ; to Thomas Cromwell, late Earl of Essex, of high treason recently attainted and convicted, recently belonging and pertaining, and as parcel of the possessions and revenues of the same late Earl lately being; and also all that our close of land in Canonbury, in the parish of Islington, within the pales by the bam and stable near the scite of the Manor of Canonburye aforesaid ; and all those 7 acres of pasture in Canonbury aforesaid in the close lying on the east side of the same pale, one other close of piisture in C. aforesaid containing 2 acres on the north side of the same pale, and one little close of jiasture in C. aforesaid called the Howe, containing 1 acre and 1 rood lying between the said 7 acres and the meadow called Canonbury Mead ; one other close of pasture or meadow, called Canon- bury Mead, in C. aforesaid, containing 15 acres ; one close of pasture called the Mydle Field, late parcel of the possessions of Thomas Cromwell, late of Earl of Essex, of high treason attainted and convicted ; and also all those our crofts, lands, tenements, mea- dows, feedings, pastures, closes, and hereditaments whatsoever in C. aforesaid, now or late in the several tenures of William llubson, Robert Fowler, Thomas Parage, John England, John Ferrer, Edward Castells, John Hoggeston, John Chauncy, and Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, or their assign.s, late being parcel of the possessions and revenues of the said Thomas Cromwell, late Earl of Essex. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Ill pale there, lying near to the barn or stable of the aforesaid cononbury Manor. Manor of Canonbury ; one other close lying on the eastern side of the same paling containing seven acres, and the meadow called Canonbury Mead ; one other close of pasture or meadow called Canonbury Mead containing fifteen acres ; and one other close of pasture called the Middle Field late being in the tenure or occupation of the said Duke of Northumberland or of his assigns ; and also those our two crofts of land and pas- ture in Canonbury aforesaid, lying on the western side of the aforesaid house and mansion and containing thirteen acres, and now or late in the tenure or occupation of Thomas Ferscy, gentleman ; and our two other crofts of land and pasture lying on the north side of the aforesaid house and mansion ; and one 2)arcel of land in Canonbury aforesaid, containing six acres : all which said premises in Canonbury aforesaid are parcel of the aforesaid Manor of Canonbury, and lately were parcel of the lands and possessions of the aforesaid Duke of Northumberland." November 8, 6 Edward VI. (1552). [Translation.) The Duke of Northumberland was shortly after the accession of Queen Mary in the following year (1553), attainted, and consequently this Manor became the subject of royal grant, for Queen Mary immediately granted the mansion house, together with the demesne lands as previously described, to David Broke, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and Katharine his wife, (whom the patent declared (j') to have been her suckling nurse,) for their (y) rat- 1 Mar., lives and the life of the survivor, and in the next year the Queen granted(') to the same persons a beneficial lease for twenty-one W p«<- 2 siar., years, of rents issuing from other the demesne lands, together with the lands called the Great Cutlers and Little Cutlers, which had since the time of the dissolution of the Convent been separately dealt with*, but which from this period became * The lands called Cutlers appear as to part of them to have been granted by Henry VIII. to Giles Heron of Shacklewell, (the sou-in-law of Sir Thomas More) who being involved in the ruin of his father-in-law, Cutlers reverted to the Crown and were leased by Pat. 34, H. 8. p. 10, m. 27. [1.] to John Smyth by the description of three fields, parcels of the Manor of Cutler, hint; and being in the p.irish of Iseldon, in the county of Middlesex, whereof the one is called the Little or Further Cutler, con- taining sixteen acres of land, the second called the House Field or Bame Field, con- taining five acres of land, and the third is called Kydymer, containing three acres of land ; which same fields were parcel of the lands and tenements late of Giles Heron, Esquire, of high treason lately attainted — for twenty one j-ears. By Pat. 37, H. 8, p. 12, m. 20. The Crown leased to Thomas Wriothesley, Knt.. Lord AN'riothe.sley, and Chancellor of England, one close of pasture sixty acres, and one meadow thirty acres, called Great Cutlers, lying at Iseldon, in Com. Midd., in the occupation of Kd. Castle; and also diverse closes of land and pasture lying and being in Kentish Town, called 112 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. canouburysianor. united in tcnure and passed us portion of Canonbury Manor. Phu^AMaf ^ Ou June 10, 1556, Queen Mary granted {•) the Manor, (the poa- '•'• ■"• '• session whereof Tvas expectant upon the determination of the last mentioned giants for life and years,) to Thomas Lord Went- worth, wlio, by indenture 1st Febru.iry, 12 Ebz. (1570), first (b) Pat 12 Eiit mortgaged and then very shortly afterwards C") sold the same to p. 9, Sept II. ° ° . •' • ^ ' John Spencer, Citizen and Clothworkcr of London, (afterwards Sir Jolin Speneer,) for £2000, who dying in IGO!) the Manor descended upon his daughter and heir Ehzabeth, the wife of William the second Lord Compton, created March 30, 1618, Earl Northampton, in whose family and descendants the Manor has ever since remained, — The Most Noble Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, Marquis of Northampton, Tenth Earl of Northampton, Earl Compton, of Comptou in the county of Warwick, and Barou Wilmington, of Wilmington in the county of Sussex, being the present Lord thereof. Sir John Spencer appears to have occupied the mansion or manor house of Canon- bury for some period before his decease, but from the year 1605 it is plain that Lord Keeper Egerton, afterwards Lord Elles- mere (created Viscount Brackley), resided here, for there arc patents of that and a subsequent period bearing date T. R. apud Canbury and Dat' apud Canbury anno regni mo . Sir Francis Bacon (created Lord Verulam and subsequently Viscount St. Albans), when Attorney General in 1016, became lessee from Lord and Lady Compton of the " Mansion house and garden thereunto belonging called Canbury House," toge- ther with some adjacent fields; and in 1625 Sir Thomas Coven- try (created Lord Coventry), when Attorney General, and also during his subsequent elevation as Lord Keeper, made Canon- bury House his residence from 1625 for several years, and Canonbury House during the remainder of that century was also occupied as a residence of grandeur and importance, as in fact it had been and existed, before it came to the hands of Sir John Spencer : but its subsequent occupation and history Iremongers ; one close of pasture at Isclilon abutting upon Canonbury Mead on the south, 18 acres ; two closes altogether abutting at iseldon aforesaid upon the Slaughter- house (/« Slawter house') containing 10 acres; another close of arable land at Iseldon, abutting upon Iloppyng Land, 5 acres ; one close of pasture at Iseldon, Ij'ing near Hoppyng Land ; one close of pasture at Iseldon called Lyttle Mylfold by the Hermit- age, \juxtfi le hermitage) containing 1 acre. By Pat. 1, Mar. p. 12, m. 8. The Crown leased to Thomas Gent, Gentleman, .ill that open field of pastiu"e (ilium campum pa$turce) calle'. Gen', all that the Mansion House and Gai'den 15 11-1- PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. c-aiioniiiiryMaiior. Tliis ^laiior is of a triaii^ular form, and is bounded on the west by the Upper Street, on the cast by the Lower Street and on the north by the road from Highbury Place to Balls Pond Church, formerly called Highbury Lane and now Hopping Lane Aiiicp. 23. and Balls Pond Road. The course of descent is Gavelkind, the fine upon alienation and descent is certain, viz. 6s.8d., and a quit rent of 4d. is payable yearly upon every tenement. A Survey taken in 180G states the total extent thereof at 173a. Ir. 26p. The land occupied by the free tenants 3a. 2/'. 2C)p. and that by the pure copyholders 26a. Ir. Ip. The waste of the Manor consists in the triaugular plot of land called Islington Green \a. Or. Gp. The residue is demesne land and occupied by the lessee of the Marquis Northampton who also holds a free estate near the end of Hopping Lane comprising Balls Pond Terrace and the land behind called Northampton Park, compris- ing lla.0r.37p., thirty years since occupied as a nursery ground, anciently called The Hoppings ; this last piece of land lies within thereunto belonging called Cunbwij House, in the parish of Islington, — and one close of pasture ground adjoining to the west side of the said garden containing 4a. ; one close called The J'lri/bld containing SJ acres ; The Poole Court containing 3a. ; the ground within the pale and the wall, containing 1 la. ; one close called The Conduit Close ad- joining to tile east gate containing lOn., a-t next report they, in referring to their previous report, say " that (y) App. to Zrd Rep. p. 62. * Dates of Contracts. Middlesex. Purchasers' Names. Purchase Money. .\nnual value per Surveys for last Leases. 1836 £ s. d. Dec. 20 Certain Lands at High-") bury, Part of tlie Little Saint John's ^A"ood Es- [ Will' Br.-idshaw 250 , tate, containing a. r. p. 1 2 2J n Certain other lands there. John Musgrove 335 Part of ditto 3 135) II Do. do. 1 1 29 Tho'. Lefever 165 )■ 192 8 1 •» Do. do. 8 3 27 Isaac Walker 925 1) Do. do. 1 1 John Ward 210 )j Do. do. 2 12 Geo. AUi^ton 225 » Do. do. 15 3 31 Benj". Ambler 1,700 n Do. do. 3 37 James Peachey 105 „ 30 Do. do. 2 1 34 Tho". OUver 295 1837 May 23 Do. do. 3 3 14 Benj°. Ambler 385 17 17 11 App. to 15 Report, p.33. f.App. to 1 ilh Re- port, p. 33.) 16 122 PERAMDULATIOX OF ISLINGTON. (a) Uih lUiport, iiL;i.bur5- Manor, ^n cstate at Highbury called Little St. John's AVood, contain- ing lla. 3r. '2jj. ^exclusive of ground set out for new roads, late in lease to James Walker, at a rent of 193.'.9s. per annum), had been sold iu lots at the auction mart, on 6 Sept., 1836, and had produced in all the sum of j£-i,595.(') Henry, Prince of Wales, appears to have had this Manor be- stowed upon him ; but no grant that I can discern ever passed the great seal : during his short possession (for he died in 1612) a survey was taken l)y llockc Ciiurch, an eminent surveyor of that time, which bears date July, 1611, intituled "The plot of the Mauuor of Newiugtou Barrowe, parcel of the posses>ions of The High aud Mighty Prince Henry, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Earle of Chester, &c., taken in July Kill by Rocke Chiirche." By this Survey the Manor was described to contain 985 acres, 2 roods, and 18 perches, whereof 113 acres and 3 roods were holdcn by free tenants, aud 11 !• acres, 3 roods, and 11 perches by the copyholders; the demesne lauds being stated at 407 acres and 4 perches. The Survey itself contains various minute particulars, and the Ground Plot accurately delineates the scite of Little St. John's Wood aud Highbury Wood, Highbury Barn, Highbury Castle with the Moat, &c., &c. After the decease of Henry Prince of Wales, the Manor was with other portion of land revenue, on 10th January, 1-1 Jac. w Recital In rat. (1625) (■") granted upon lease for 99 years to Sir Francis Bacon, Kut., at that time the King's Attorney General and also Chan- cellor to Charles Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles I., and others his law ofliccrs aud ministers, in trust for him, which lease, upon his accession became merged in the Crown, and he, by letters patent, dated at Canhunj, the 15th September, in the fifth year of his reign (1629) ("") upon the nomination of Sir Allen Apsley, at that time Lieutenant of the Tower, and one of the surveyors for vitualling the navy, and to whom this !Manor had been, together with other landed possessions of the Crown, assigned, in satisfaction of ^620,000., parcel of a larger sura wherein the king then stood indebted, granted the same*, (with • Tliis Patent describes the Manor and the Demesnes, rents and scr\-ices as they then existed with great precision, vizt., All that our Manor of Xewington Barrowe otliemnse Highbery, in the county of Midd'x, with all its rights, members, and appurtenances : — And .ilso all those our rents as well of free as of ciistoman.- tenants in ToUiiiglon and Stroutic in the same county by particular thereof attaining to 48*. per annum ; and also all those our rents as well of free a^ of custoraarj' tenants in Iselden, in the same county, by particular thereof amounting to Sls.Crf. per annum : And also all those our rents as well of free as of custom»uy tenants in Xeicington Greette^ in the .same county, by particular thereof amounting to 2'is. Gd. per aiuium : And ah>a all those our (c) PaL a Car. p. 9. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 123 the exception of Little St John's Wood and Highbury Wood,) nignhury stanor. to William White, William Steventon, and John Perkyns of London, gentlemen, who appear to have been trustees for Sir Alien Apsley, and in order to enable him to pay the sum where- in he stood indebted, to those persons, who, upon his credit, had furnished provisions for the navy, and it appears that these trustees conveyed the Manor to Thomas Austin, of London, Cheesemonger, as a purchaser thereof, he being a creditor of Sir Allen Apsley, to the extent of £3,000., for victuals delivered by him for the use of the navy, and who had previously obtained a mortgage from Sir Allen, upon other property as a security for the debt, which being satisfied, and Sir Allen dying, leaving numerous debts undischarged, liis creditors set ou foot an inves- tigation of the transactions between Sir Allen and Austin, they being interested in the disposal of the Manor to the full extent of its value, and upon this inquiry " it did appear unto his said Majesty and council, that the said Thomas Austin had not really and bona fide paid one penny consideration for the said Manor of Newington-Barrow," and the confusion induced by the great re- bellion, was alleged to have prevented the order of the King and council for Austin to reconvey the Manor being carried into exe- cution. Upon the restoration, the creditors of Sir Allen renewed their suit, and Charles II. having satisfied Sir Allen's official liabilities, in 1670, caused a Bill to be brought into Parliament* works of our customary tenants in the following vills valued at the several sums follow- ing, vizt., in Tollingion at 14s. lljd per annum; in Strnude lit 16s. od. per annum ; in Newiiigton at 16s. i^d, per annum ; in Isehhn at ll.t. lid. per annum; and also for the hay-making of the aforesaid customary tenants 39s. id. ; and all those several rents of or for the same works payable yearly altogether amounting to 4/. 19s. per annum; and all those 47 hens of the customary tenants of the aforesaid Manor to be yearly taken, vizt., for every hen 3d ; and all that the value of the said hens attaining to ll.s\ 9d. per annum: And also all that the scite and capital messuage or tenement of the Manor of Highberry in the said county of Midd'x : And all edifices, &c : And also all tithes of grain and hay, and all other tithes whatsoever, payable at the feast of St. jNIichael the Archangel, and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, bv par- ticular thereof mentioned to be of the yearly rent or value of £50 : And also ail that our field or meadow called Danebottoni, containing 12 acres, — Longmeade 19 acres — a piece of land of the yearly value of id., — all perquisites of court, valued at 41/. 7s. 2J 1485) whereby it was found (') that certain persons his feoffees were seised to the use of the deceased {inter alia) of 31 acres of land, in Tolynr/ton and JJoleway, in the county aforesaid, [Middlesex] holdeu of the Prioress of Clerkenwell, in the right of her church, but by what services the jurors knew not. The present scite of the Manor comprehends about 110 acres, mostly lying in front of the high road on the ascent to Ilighgate Hill at, and taking in, St. John's Church, Upper Ilolloway, and beyond Whittington Stone, to Gordon Place, nhere it extends across to Maiden Lane, being boui.dcd on the south by Barns- bury Alauor; ou the north by the last field iu Maiden Lane, PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 129 auother detached portion of Barnsbury Manor ; on the west by the Manors of St. John of Jerusalem and Barnsbury, and on the east by the High or old Great North Road, leading from High- gate to London; and belongs to the Marquis of Northampton, and chiefly consists of pure copyhold land, subject to the usual incidents of that tenure, viz., two years improved rent upon descent, and one year and a half of like rent upon alienation, the course of descent being according to the common law. I noticed at pages 88 and 89, in speaking of a piece of land yvenbt. that had anciently belonged to the Priory of St. Mary Spital, that it originally formed parcel of land called Yveney, and had, in the reign of Henry III., belonged to Thomas of Stortford, whose son, William of Crauho or Graveuho in Essex, had sold to Peter of Newport, Archdeacon of London, what the same Peter had afterwards given to St. Mary Spital, London, for the charitable purposes there expressed. The other part of this land, called Yveney, in or previous to the year 1239, had been dealt with by the same Thomas of Stortford, the Precentor of St. Paul, London, in favour of the Dean and Chapter, by the following deed (0 viz.: (n Liber a. sire ^ ^ Pilosus, pern's Dez* "To all the faithful of our Holy Mother Church, — Master -tcap-.s'dPauu •^ ' LoncT^ fo. XV. Thomas of Stortford, Precentor of St. Paul, London, sendeth greeting in the Lord in the true salvation. Having regard to the mercy of Almighty God, and placing confidence in the prayers which the Catholic Church unceasingly pours forth in public, for the health of the quick and for the repose of the dead who die in the Lord true professors of the Christian faith. Touch- ing certain possessions that I have acquired at Craweho, in the county of Essex, and at Yveney in the County of Midd'x ; I have thus appointed and ordained, that is to say ; That William of Fleet, to whom I have granted the aforesaid lands to be holden by inheritance, and his heirs or his certain assigns, shall render on the anniversary day of my decease, to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul, London, 8*. ^d., from the land of Craweho, to the Canons in the service on the anniversary of my said death, to be distributed to those present; and from Yveney, yearly one mark, on the Eve of the Assumption, to be distributed by the Dean and Chapter to the Clerks of the choir. But if it shall happen that the said William shall die without heir or certain assign, I will that the aforesaid lands of Craweho and of Yveney, with all their appurtenances, shall revert to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul, London, saving the services due from the 17 130 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON (Translatitin ) (g) lOid. (h) Ibid. iVransUUiotu) Yvcncy. afoFesaid lands, so, nevertheless, that the entire profit that shall arise from the land of Craweho shall accrue to the portion assigned for the pittance to the canons present in the service on the anniversary day of my decease ; and the entire profit that shall arise from the land of Yvcney shall accrue to the portion assigned to the clerks of the choir. In witness whereof, I have to this writing set my seid. These being witnessses," &c. William of Fleet, by another decdC), confirmed this charter, which, from the fact of its being attested by Keyuer of Bungey, at that time Mayor of London, is referrible to the year 1239. In the margin of the book. Liber A. sive Pilosus(''), contain- ing the transcripts of these ancient deeds, ocenrs the following memorandum, written in an ancient hand, viz., "Note : that from Yveney there is due to all the clerks of the choir one half- mark yearly ; now at this time the canons of Bishopesgate pay that half-mark on the day of the Assumption at the Anti- phona Christus super ctelos, all the choir being present, and the said canons have xiiij. acres of that land of Yvcncy, through Peter of Newport, and so there remaineth the House of Yveney to the Dean and Chapter." The Dean and Chapter, in dealing w ith this part of their landed property, appear to have usually let the same to some one of the prebendaries for life, by the description of their Manor of Ivcney; and I observe in one of the latest entries in their Ancient Car- tularyC), that in 131i, Henry dc Saraecnis, one of the canons, granted his interest to another of his fellow-canons in his " Manor of Iveney, which he held of the curtesy of the Dean and Chapter," for a pecuniary consideration. And among the ancient Charters and muniments of the Dean and Chapter pre- served in the Cathedral, as their proper place of custody, are the following leases for life of this ]\Ianor of Iveney, viz. : {Trcauiation.) " This is the covenant made between the Chapter of the Church of St. Paul, London, of the one part, and Master John of Appclby, the Dean and a Canon as also a prebendary of the said Church of the other part, that is to say ; That the said Chapter, their Manor of Iveueye nigh London, which is called the Grove, with all its appurtenances and increase of the greater tithes of the Church of St. Giles to the same Manor belonging, to the same Master John of his due and according to the course of his residence, which in our said Church of St. Paul, London, he has completed, by the decease of Sir John Wade, the last firmar of the same, have set, and to farm let ; to hold of the said 0) Liber A. sire i'Uoaus, fo. 1. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 131 Chapter so long as the same John shall live and be a Canon of Yvcnej. the Church of St. Paul, London, and shall well keep to the un- derwritten ferme : Yielding therefor yearly, four marks sterling at the four accounts of the Chamber of our Church, by even sums, that is to say, in each account to the use of the said Chamber, ten shillings, and to the use of the new building, three shillings and four-pence, the first payment commencing at the account of St. Martin, next ensuing the date of these presents. And the said John the Dean, the buildings whatsoever to the said Manor belonging, so long as he shall hold them in as good state as he received them or better, at his own proper charges, shall sus- tain ; and also the wood of the said Manor, and the fence of the same, without waste and destruction, shall duly cause to be kept, saving to himself housebote and haj'bote. And it is to be known that at the time of the' death of the said John Wade, the last firmar of the same Manor, the same Manor suffered great ruin in the buildings, and in the covering and in the fencing, so that every one passing by was able to enter the Manse and Manor aforesaid, there being no fence ; and moreover the same John Wade committed great waste aud destruction in the wood belonging to the said Manor in his time," [the said John of Appelby binds himself to repair these defects]. " Given in our Chapter House of St. Paul, Loudon, the 3rd October, in the year 1383." Another such lease was " made between the reverend men, Sir Richard the Dean, and the Chapter of the Church of St. Paul, London, of the one part, and Master William of Loutheburgh, a Canon of the said Church and Prebendary of the Prebend of Islington in the same, of the other part ; that is to say. That the said Dean and Chapter their Manor of Yveney, nigh London, which is called the Grove [as in the preceding]. Dated 6 March, 1357." The last lease I shall cite is of a different character, and fixes the time when Yveney ceased to be woodground, although it has ever since retained the name of a Grove or Little Wood, viz. : " This Indenture made between Thomas More, the Dean and (rraww.on.) the Chapter of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, London, of the one part, and John Hert the elder, John Hcrt the younger, and John Lorymer, of Iseldon, in the county of Midd'x, of the other part, Witnesseth, That the aforesaid Dean aud Chapter of their common assent, and like, will have given, granted, and sold to the aforenamed John, John, and John, All that the wood and 132 PEUAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Treney. (k) Claus' 1649, p. 35, Mo. 28. underwood of that coppice, called Yvciiey Grove, iu the parish of Iseldou, in com' Middx', and all the trees whatsoever, with all the stocks of the same, growing there and being, to have and to hold all the aforesaid wood and underwood called the coppice, called Yveney Grove in the parish of Iscldon, and all the trees whatsoever, with all the stocks of the same, together with free ingress and regress in the aforesaid coppice [yrovetturn], for themselves, their servants, and carriages to prostrate, cut down, root out, stock up, and to void forth, carry out, and take away all and singular the premises, at all times they please, from the feast of Easter, 8 Hemy IV. [Anno 1407,] up to the end of seven years thence next ensuing, at a rent of IG/. .sterling, by payments of 40s. at set terms in the years 1408 and 1409," the lessees covenanting to root out and stock up the trees, and to level the ground of the coppice, so that the ground might be fit for being ploughed and sown within the first four years of tlie term. The lessees, with " Adam Ilolway, of Iscldon," eutcrcd into a bond for performance of the covenants of this lease, which bore date " in the Chapter House of the aforesaid Dean and Chapter, on the morrow of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 8th Henry IV. (Anno 1407)." The last fact I can obtain respecting this capitular possession, coming within the scope of this present Work is, that by indenture (k) dated 28th September, 1G19, made between Sir John Wollaston and others, trustees under two several acts, the one intituled " An Act for the abolishing of Deans, Deans and Chapters, Canons, Prebends, and other Offices and Titles, of or belonging to any Cathedral or Collegiate Church or Chappel within England and Wales," and the other intituled " An Act with further Instructions to the Trustees, Contractors, Trea- surers and Register for the Sale of the Lands and Possessions of the late Deans, Sub-Deans, Deans and Chapters," &c., of the one part, and Thomas Webb, of Islington, in the county of Midd'x, Yeoman, of the other part. — The said Trustees, in con- sideration of 79i. \s. Sd., bargained and sold to the said Thomas Webb, All that field or pai'cel of meadow ground, with the ap- purtenances commonly called or known by the name of Egen Grove, alias Broomefield, now in the tenure or occupation of the said Thomas Webb, situate, lying, and being within the parish of Islington, alias Iscldon, within the county of Alidd'x, afore- said ; abutting upon a certain lane commonly called Hide Lane, towards the east, and upon the lane leading from Kingsland to PEKAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 133 Islington, towards the west, upon the parsonages fields towards Yveney. the north, and upon the Spittle field towards the south, contain- ing, by estimation, six acres ; together with eleaven small trees growing upon the said ground ; with all ways, hedges, &c. AU which said premises late were parcel of the possessions of the late Uean and Chapter of St. Paul's, London, and are mentioned in the particular thereof, to have been, by indenture bearing date the 13th May, 1637, demised by Thomas Wynnisse, late Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul's aforesaid, and the Chapter of the same, to Ann Clerke, of Wandsworth, in the county of Surrey, widow, for and during the terme of twenty-one years, from the 15th March then last, under the rent of 23«. 4«?., and two capons or 5s. in money on lieu thereof, thereby re- served and to be upon improvement of the yearly value of 71. lis. 8d., over and above the said yearly rent reserved. And the reversions, &c. The Dean and Chapter regained possession immediately after the restoration, and have been owners of this land ever since, and, having let the same upon a building lease about forty years since, it now forms the scite of a populous neighbourhood. The exact ' position of this land, which in later times has been knovvn as the Brom field or Lven-grove Field, is clearly pointed out by the parliamentary conveyance as extending from the east side of the Lower Road, near its terminating point at Ball's Pond, to the ancient lane or road leading from Hoxton to Newington Green, called in ancient times, Seveney Street, ^'•'^ i'p- ^a, 87. Hide Lane, and also Minching, corrupted to Mincing Lane. The Parsonage Fields mentioned in the Parliamentary Con- veyance are identical with that portion of the glebe land of the vicarage situate at the corner of the Hoad from Ball's Pond to Kingsiand, whereon are built the houses called " North Place" and " Sirahan Place." What remained of Yveney Grove is said to have consisted of somewhat more than six acres. There is among the Landsdowne MSS., in the British * This lane was part of or a continuation of Hide Lane, tlie ancient way from the end iif Hoxton Old Town to Newington Green, passing the Kosemarv Br.inch. Hide Lane is pointed out in that iMap or Survey of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, taken in the year 1745 by Peter Chassereau, Surveyor, and being taken fur parochial pui poses, has been on that account deemed very accurate. There is in Hide Lane a row of houses, now called Hide Place. This lane took its name from itsleading towards The H_( de or The Hydes, lands so called from very ancient times, and belonging to the Xunnery of St. Blary, Clerkenwell ; being, in fact, the same half-hyde of land that belonged to Dere- nnm of London, a'recoruiid in Domesday Hook, as 1 I'.ave shewn (ante pp. 59 and 60), tlius justifying the remark, that tiie names of many lands, mentioned in lJon.esd.i\- Book, are not uufrequeutty pieserved in obscure locaiitiea to the ptcbcnt day. 134 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. (m) HSS. Lansd. Miia. Brit. 364, Plot. lxiv. a HOLLOWAT LAZAR House o& Spital. Museum, a book containing some ancient memoranda respect- ing the possessions of the Dean and Cliapter, among which Ivley Grove is described as followsC") : viz., £ s. d. " Rent per annum at Xtmasse and Midsomer ... 1 " Two Capons at Easter, or 5 " To John Pawlet \\. of December, 1692, from Micha's past for 21 years, rent 20*. at Xtmasse and Mids. 2 months unpaid voyd. 5s. or 2 capons at Easter. Alien [ation] Bond 20«." (page 223.) A little above the point wliere the Kentish Town Junction lload falls into the Great North Road, at Upper Ilolloway, viz., at the foot of Highgate Hill, on the left-hand side of the road from Loudon, there is a piece of ground, in front of which the Whit- tington Stone is placed, and whereon have been built (1852) two streets, called " BrunsAviek Road" and " Salisbury Road," and some houses fronting the high road. Upon this ground there once stood a Leper House, Lazar House, or Hospital for the reception of persons afflicted with leprosy, every vestige of which has long since been destroyed. Stowe, in his Survey of London, speaking of " Leprose People and Lazar Houses," specifies certain Lazar Houses, "built without the city some good distance ; to wit, the Lock without Soutlnv;u'k, in Kent Street ; another betwixt the Mile's End and Stratford Bow ; one other at Kingsland, [of whicli presently,] betwixt Shoreditch and Stoke Newington ; and another at Kuightsbridge, west from Charing Cross. These four 1 have noted to be erected for the receipt of leprous people sent out of the city;" and the accounts of St. Bartholcmew's about the middle of the sixteenth century, contain items of charge for the removal of general patients to all of them, including this Lazar House at Upper Ilolloway* ; but the decline of this dreadful disease had caused this institution at that time to be converted to other purposes. This house was in one sense of royal foundation : Stowe notices it in connection with his account of " Leprose People and Lazar * These Lazar-houscs, upon the extinction of leprosy, became gradually converted into houses for the reception of patients labouring under complaints of a virulent or pre- sumedly infectious character. *' Of those in the neighbourhood of London, seven re- mained in 1547, when the Charter was granted to St. Bartholfimcw's j and in 1550 the Hospital-accounts contain charges for the conveyance of patients to Lazer-Houses at Mile end, Ilamrnersmitli, Kinchley, Suuthwark, Knightsbridge, Uu/Iir/ate, and Kingtland. With each person were sent, a mattress, a bolster, a covcrlot, and a pair of sheets. — Note G to p. 13 of Records of llarvfy in Kxtracts from the Journtih of the Jtoijui IIos- pitalofSt. liarthohmew. London, 12mo., 1846, by James Taget, Lecturer of Physiology in the Hospital. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 135 Houses," which I cannot do better than cite in his own words, ^l^^^^i^^ viz. : " Finally, I read that one William Pole, Yeoman of the Crown to King Edward IV., being stricken with leprosy, was also desirous to build an hospital to the honour of God and St. Anthony, for the relief and harbouring of such leprous persons as were destitute in this kingdom, to the end they should not be offensive to others iu their passing to and fro ; for the which cause Edward IV. did by his charter, dated the [24th day of February, 1473, in the] twelfth of his reign {"), ("'/^V '^^ "• give to the said William for ever, a certain parcel of his land, lying in his highway of Highgate and Holoway, within the county of Middlex, containing sixty feet in length, and thirty- four in breadth." The remarks of Stowe embody the language of the patent, and shew that this old chronicler and patriarch of topography had himself perused the record he cites, an example topographers of a modern date would do well to imitate. The intention of William Pole was soon carried into effect ; for five years afterwards, in 17 Edward IV., October 26th [1477], that king in right of his foundation as donor of the land, gave and granted to Robert Wilson ("), who although described as a J"',"!'''," ^''• saddler of London in the grant, appears also by the language of that instrument, to have been a disabled soldier, and also afflicted with leprosy, " the new lazar house at Hygate, which we lately caused to be constructed by William Pole, not long since one of the yeomen of our crown, now deceased, to have and to hold the same house with the appurtenances, of our gift and of our alimoign, to the said Robert Wilson, for the term of his life, without any matter or account therefor to us to be yielded or paid." The next grant that occurs was made to John Gymnar and Katherine his wife, dated the 9th December, 1498, the fifteenth year of the reign of Henry VII.; and to those persons was thereby expressed to be givem"") " the keepership {custodiam) of a ^u^cl; m^ii' certain Hospital, with a certain Chapel of St. Anthony, being between Highgate and Holwey, in our county of Midd'x, to have and to enjoy the same keepership to the aforesaid John and Katherine, during their lives and the longest liver of them." No allusion is made in this grant of leprosy, nor is the Lazar House styled other than an Hospital, from which the reader may infer that neither the grantees nor the inmates were lepers, and that leprosy was then fast declining. The next notice I can discover of this 'Spital, for such it had 136 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINOTON. HoJlToYs^S' become, is a Privy Seal, dated February 4th, 1533, 24th Henry r^b'i * " "■ *' ^^^^■' ^^'hereby Symon GuyerC) had a grant for life of " tlic Spytyl House of Holowey, Middlesex." The poverty of the institution, not long before this period, is evidenced by a bequest in the will of William Cloudcsley, of Islington, dated 13th of January, 1517, viz.: "Item. I bcqucatli to the poor lazars of Ilycgate, to pray for me by name in their bede-role, 6s.8r/." So that it may be assumed that the Spital was nuiiuly supported by offer- ings in the Chapel of St. Antiiony, and that the " lazars " con- sidered themselves in the nature of a religious fraternity : if that were the case, the Reformation extinguished the Chapel of St. Anthony, and the influx of patients from the hospitals of Lon- don must have altered entirely the nature of the asylum ; indeed, the appointment to the Mastershi[) of this Spital, if we may judge from the formality and length of the grant, must have subsequently been considered an object of emolument, for on 23rd March, 1563, the seventh year of Queen Elizabeth, she, i)''4''m'''j2''''''' " "' consideration of his service in the wars of our Progenitors ('), and in consideration of his age, gave and granted to William Storye the Governorship {guber nationem) of our Hospital or Almshouse at Highgate, in our county of Middlesex, commonly called the Poor House or Hospital of Highgate within the parish of Islington, with all its rights, members, and appurtenances ; and also the Keepcrship and govirnanee of all the poor persons from time to time in the same house being : to have, hold, and enjoy the Keepcrship and governr.nce of the Hospital or House aforesaid, and of the poor persons aforesaid, during his natural life, without account of yielding or paying any other thing there- for to us, our heirs, or successors. Provided always that the aforesaid W. Storye, during his natural life, shall find and pro- vide for all the poor persons in the House aforesaid, from time to time, being, victuals as other governors or keepers of the Hospital or House aforesaid heretofore have from time to time been accustomed to do ; and that he will repair, sustain, and maintain the said House in all necessary reparations so often as need or occasion shall require." From this it is evident that the Hospital had entirely lost its character of a mere Leper house, as well as any religious association derivable from the Chapel ; for, as I have already observed, the Reformation had swept away St Anthony, long before the date of the present appointment : however, in common parlance, the house retained the name of " Spital House," as well as that of Poor House, and so late as PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 137 1605 an inmate (presumedly an infant) is entered in the parish ;j2',!°,",';fjj^f^^ register* as lazer of our Spitle, and from the pages of " that book, where to be born and die, — of rich and poor makes all the history," it may be collected that the inmates of this Spital, were, at the end of the sixteenth, and commencement of the seven- teentli centuries, of the same class that were upon the enact- ment of the first Poor Law Act and since, provided for in the parish workhouses, and the keeper, ruler or governor was commmonly termed the guider or guide, in fact some person of medical knowledge or whose previous pursuits may have qualified him for such a charge, although, in the present in- stance, nothing can be collected from the grants to shew that the governors of this 'Spital were in a medical sense qualified for their office. Upon Storye's death, in March, 1584, a similar grant passed ♦ The Parish Registry contains Bumerous entries of burials from "the Spittle Howse." The Plague in 1577, 1578, 1579, and 1593, sent some of its victims from this place. I have selected the following as illustrating the history of this Spital, viz. : — " Francis Joanes, from the Spitle Howse, was buried ye 4th day of Feb?., 1574. " John Chandler, from the Spitle Howse at Higat, was buried ye 10 May, 1576. "A Dome Child, from the Spitle Howse at Upp' HoUoway, was buried ye 30 July, 1576. " Thomas Martyn was buried the 6 Sept., from the Spytle Howse at Upper HoUo- waye, 1576. " Elizabeth Gates, widow, was buried the 10 day of Sept., from the Spitle House at Hollowaye, 1576. " Susan Mytlcr, from tlie Spittle House at Upper HoUoway, was buried the 6 Dec. 1579. " Elizabeth Griffen was b* from the Spittle House at Hiegate the 20th day of March 1580. " William Storye, Gwyder of the pore-howse at Upper HoUoway was buried the 3uth day of March a» 1584. " Jerom'e Tedder was buried from the same howse the 23rd March 1584. " A pore man from Spitle howse at Upper HoUoivay was buried y« 15 June 1584. " Kalph Buxton was buried from the Spitle howse the 30 October 1583. " Joane Bristowe from the pore howse at Hiegate was buried the 1 Oct'. 1583. " Thoniiis Patton was buried from the Spittle howse the 24th Jan? 1582. "A Crisom childe from the Spitle Howse was burieil the 4th day of May 1593." P. {plar/ue) Anne the daughter of Thomas Watson guyde of the Spitle Howse at Hie- gate was b'' the 5th of Sept. 1593. The month of September, 1603, seems to have been remarkably fatal to the inmates. Among the entries of that month occur, — "Arthur Hull was bd from the Spittle Howse 1 Sept. 1603. "Three Children from the Spittle howse, Sonnes of Arthur Hull b"" 13 Sept. 1603. « Elizabeth Hull was buried from the Spittle howse the same 13 Sept. 1603. "Ann Symonds from the Spittle howse h'^ 15 Sept. 1603. " Jerome Co.xe the Innocent [i.e., a harmless ideot] was buryed from the Spittle Howse the same 15th Sept. 1603. " Elizabeth a childe putt to y- Spitle Howse by Mr. Struggs the Butcher was b"! the 5th day of Oct. 1603. " Williau) Lynacre of the Spittle House was b"* 25 March 1603. "Edward Evans from oure Spittle Howse was h^ 26 Nov'. 1607. " Kichard Jordan from the Spittle was buried the 13 June 1610. " Dorothy Radyett from the Highgate Spittle b'' 8 July 1630." A Baptism occurs—" Elizabeth Slatewell, lazer of our Spitle, was baptised at the Spittle the thirdc dav of Sept. 1605," and this ia the entrv referred to in the text. 18 138 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. "olln/s^t"' ^^^ Ctreat Seal (July 14th) in favour of John RandallC), to whom, ^'if.'m.'ls^'^ iu coiisideratiou of iiis infirmity, the Keepership was granted in precisely the same terms; and on June 9, in the 31st year of Queen pAfm^M.^"^' Elizabeth [1589], he received a second grant (') and appoiiitniout in the words of his previous grant, but with the addition of " all and singular orchards, gardens, lands, tenements, meadows, pastures, and hereditaments whatsoever to the same Almshouse belonging or appertaining ; and together with the same house heretofore used, letten, or granted, or as part, parcel, or mem- ber of the said Almshouse, heretofore being ; with all other rights, members," &c. With a proviso that if he should at any time abuse his Keepership or the poor persons aforesaid, or should not demean himself properly, the appointment should be void. The reason of Randall's rc-appoiutment may perhaps be ac- counted for by the following entry in one of the books of Ex- chequer Decrees, viz. : — " Adhuc De Termino Sancli Hillarii Anno 27° R. R. Eliz. lovrs 16° die Febr^. "Midd'x. It is ordered by the Court, that if Robert {sic) Randoll, who sucth in this Court by English BUI against John Gage and X'topher Robinson for landes which he supposeth to belong to the Spittell House at Ilighgate do not reply to their answer to-morrow, sedcnte Curia, that the said defend" shall be dismissed this Court for the matter." I assume from this, that llandall finding that the Hospital had formerly possessed some land, sued on the Equity side of the Exchequer for its restitution and recovery, but that his patent not passing any land beyond that on which the House stood, he was impeded in his litigation ; and what was the termination of his suit I have not discovered. Randall died in the following year, and thereupon Thomas '"'i^m.29.^"^' Watson, on June 3, 1590, received an appointment (■■) upon the same terms that were expressed in the same words contained in the grant to his predecessor, — " his infirmity " being the con- sideration of the grant. Watson was succeeded by William Stockwell, who, in the second year of James I., 22 January, 1605, received the appoint- (t) paL2Jae. ment and grant(') in the same form of reeoi'ds as his immediate p. S3, m. 38. " ^ ' predecessors, and for the same cause, " his infirmity." I find no further patents or grants upon record ; but it is in- cidentally mentioned in the Parliamentary Survey appended to PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 139 that cited in page 119, that John Harbert, Chirurgion, had a gouowayLazar I o > > D ' House or Spltal. grant for life of this Spital from Charles I. ; but that at the time of making the Survey, September, 1650, he was dead. The Survey itself of this " Spittle House," is as follows, viz. : "An Addiconall Survey (") of all that messuage called or 'i^^^f^^^^ known by the name of the Spittle House, situate and being ^^^o^tm^T'^'"' neere the roadway leading from London, lying between High- ^iddx. No. 45. gate and Holloway, in the parish of Islington, built with tymber and Flemish wall, and covered with tyle, and newly whitewashed, consisting of one small kitchen, and another small roome ad- joyning, also on the south end of the said house ; two more small roomes below stayres, and two very small chambers over them ; And over the aforesaid [sic) hall and kitchen, three more small chambers : AlSo one orchard and garden very well planted, which said house standeth on a pleasant hill in a good ayi-e. The ground whereon the house standeth, together with the orchyard and garden, contain by estimation about two roods, and is worth per annum ..... ixK " Mem''''. Th^ aforesaid spittle howse was granted by the late Kiuge to John Harbert, Chirurgion, for and during his naturall life. The said Harbert is dead, and we return it in possession to the estate." The conclusion is, that after the Survey, this portion of crown land was sold, for by indenture enrolled in Chancery ('), dated '^'| "™*','^''' 21 January, 1653, and made between William Steele, Esq., Re- corder of London, Tho. Cooke, WiUiam Bossevile, and others, being persons trusted by an Act of that present Parliament, intituled, " An Act of the Commons in Parliament assembled for Sale of All the Manors and Lands heretofore belonging to the late King of England, or Queen, or Prince," of the one part, and Ralph Harrison, of London, Esq., of the other part. It was witnessed, that in consideration of 130/. 10s. paid by said Ralph Harrison, the trustees bargained and sold to him " All that mes- suage or tenement commonly called or known by the name of the Spittle House, situate and being near the roadway leading from London between Highgate and Holloway within the parish of Islington, in the county of Midd'x, and all houses, outhouses, &c., containing in the whole by estimation two roods, more or less, of the possessions of Charles Stuart, late King of England, and of the yearly value of nine pounds." Thus much have I been able to learn concerning this forgotten Leper House. 140 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. jf T" s!^J^"°" Facing the high road, at the edge of the foot path or cause- way, some feet in advance of the spot where, in tlic same situa- tion, a stone of similar appearance with the present had formerly stood, bearing an inscription to the memory of Richard Whit- tingtou's Mayoralties in 1397, 1406, and 141 9, now stands what is called The Whittington Stone. The nursery talc of Whittington and his Cat needs no repetition here ; all I purpose to do, is to shew, that one part of the talc associated with the foot of Ilighgate Hill, is a mere fiction, and to inform my reader, that the original stone is associated with the Lazar House and Chapel that once stood on the adjacent field. W voij^xdv., PL A correspondent of the Gentleman's Magazine{^) in September, 1824, in alluding to the story of Whittington, observed, " A stone at the foot of Highgate Hill was supposed to have been placed there by him, on the spot where he had heard Bow bells. It had a pavement around it of about eighteen feet in circum- ference : this stone remained until about 1795, when one S , who was a parish officer of Islington, had it removed and sawn in two, and placed the halves ou each side Queen's Head Lane, in the Lower Street Islington ; the pavement he converted to his own use, and with it paved the yard of the Blue Last public house, (now the Marlborough Head,) Islington ;" where- upon, it is added, some of the parishioners, expressing their dis- satisfaction, ^Ir Finch, a mason, was employed to place another stone in its stead, upon which the inscription " Whittington's Stone" was cut. Another correspondent of this Magazine who (z) Id. p. 290. subscribes " Lapis" ("), also remarked, "Some Land, I have always been told, lying on the left-hand side, on ascending the hill, and probably just below the stone, is held ou the tenure of keeping the stone in repair ; and when the officious interference of S removed the stone and pavement surrounding it, a new one was immediately placed there of smaller dimensions, though it was never kno\vii by whom." I have been informed by the late Richard Pcrcival of Highbury Park, (a gentleman extremely conversant with the antiquities of this his native parish, and who carefully collected every memorial that could illustrate its history,) that the substituted stone of 1795, in fact consisted of three stones, viz., the stone called Whittington's and the two bases that were placed in order to keep the Whittington Stone upright, and to make it in appearance as similar to the ancient stone as the altered circumstances would allow; but that this second or substituted Whittington Stone was removed in May, PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 1821, by order of the Churcliwardens of St. Mary Islington, at Ti.ej a cost of 10/. 13s. M., when the late new stone was erected a few feet backward from the point where it now stands, but in the same position, on the edge of the causeway, in a bend of that side of the road, which until it was straightened in 1853, had owed its sinuous form from the space occupied by the preced- ing pavement and stone. I may here notice that the Field in front whereof this stone has stood, is in the Court KoUs of the Manor of Clerkenweil, called the Field Lazarette and Lazarcot Field, although it has in latter times been known as the Block- house Field, an appellation evidently associated with the use to which this road-side stone had been applied. The observations of Lapis that seem to indicate a traditional connection between the Field Lazarette and the Stone are con- firmed by an old view of Highgate from Upper HoUoway, taken from what is now the corner of the Kentish Town Junction Road, and looking up towards Highgate, for in this print the Stone is represented by the left side of the road, and appears as the base or plinth of a cross, with part of the pillar of the cross remaining, viz. ; 141 Wliittineton and I therefore have little doubt but that what was formerly called Whittington's Stone was the remains of a way-side cross in front of the Chapel of St. Anthony, erected for the pur- pose of attracting the notice of the traveller to the wants of the unfortunate objects of the Hospital and as a means of soliciting the alms of the charitable. I also notice that in Ogilby's Survey of the Roads in England and Wales, in the 142 PERAMBULATION" OF ISLINGTON. Ti«_whi.tington Map of the road from London to Holyhead*, "Y- diall" occurs at the foot of Iligh-^atc Hill ou the lof't-li;uul side of the road; which fact also suggests the idea that upon the pillar of the cross a dial had been placed; and in Emanuel Bowcn's Bi-i/aimia Deplcta or Otftlby Improved, 1720, p. 51, the word " diall " appears at the same point. But to return to the print, which is a quarto-sized print from a drawing by Chatclaiu, engraved by W. H. Toms, and publisiicd ISIarch 25, 1715 ; it is still cxtantt, but not frequently to be met with, except in a worn state. In a copy of this view, in octavo size, in The Bmuites of Em/land, 1776, vol. i., p. 30, Whitting'ion's Stone is also reprc-, scntcd from the same poiut of view as the preceding, very dis- tinctly, as a pediment, on which stands a smaller stone in the shape of a pyramid surmounted with a small cross, probably . the result of some recent repair in which the original state of the Stone was not lost sight of, viz. : Considering, that according to a note of Mr. W. J. Thorns, F.S.A. ; in his edition of Slowe's London (1812) p. 91, the earliest relation of Whittington's adventures is to be found in a book published so late as 1G02, (Jo/tmon's Croton Garland of Roses,) and that the existence of what served for a wayside resting place has been shewn to have in all probability commenced at a period long subsequent to Wiiittington's prosperous career, the * IHti'Tarium AnylicB ; or, a Boole of Roads, ^c. London, folio, 1675. Independant Roads, No. 10. t 1. A long quarto-sized print, " Chatelain delin'." W. H. Toms, sciilpsit. A Prospect of Iliglijiate from Upper Holhiway. I'ublishcl .March 20, 1745, according to Act of Tarliament, and sold by the proprietor, W. II. Toms, in Union Court, near Ilatton Garden, Holborn.*' 2. The same print, a little cut down. " Published according to Act of Parliament, 1752. A View of }ligh<,'atefrom Upiier Ilolloway. Vue de Uighgate du Cole! du haut Holloway. London, printed for and sold by C. Dicey & Co., in Aldermary Church Yard." ."5. The same print. Same title. " London, printed for Robert Savor, Map and Print- seller near Serjeant's Inn, Fleet Street." 4. An octavo book print in The Beauties of England, 1776, vol. I., p. 30. "A View of Ilighgate from Upper Ilolloway." PERAMBULATION OP ISLINGTON. 143 conviction follows that his road-side musing is, like the rest of the tale, of no real foundation, but has obtained credence from the air of probability with which the narrative is invested — that of a wanderer resting himself at the foot of a hill upon a well- known seat — and therefore the fact of Whittington sitting upon Whittington stone must be treated as standing on no better authority than a popular fable. At the south end of Islington, but in the adjacent parish of the HtaMiTAGt Clerkenwell, at the north-east end of St. John's Street Road, a little above the spot where Alice Owen's Almshouses lately stood, before the change of their location to their present scite, stood a religious edifice called a Hermitage, which in the latter days of Papal superstition here had a far different signification than the appellation seems now to import, for the inmate of such an edifice was not required to segregate himself from the haunts of men, but merely to live singly therein and perform the religious offices of his order in the chapel or oratory annexed to the Hermitage, and in which the " religious person " also dwelt. In the present instance, as we learn from the will of Richard Cloudesley, dated in 1517, the present Hermitage stood at Islington town's end, and consisted of a new chapel, in fact it had not then been founded more than six years by the Knights Hospitallei's of St John, who in the year 1511 instituted and collated* one Robert Baker by the following instrument('), viz. : M Begistnmi su. •' ° . . Joh'is Jcrl'in de " To all the faithful in Christ to whom this present wntmg dimissionibus. •^ . ° Cott MSS. Claud. indented shall come, Brother Thomas Docwra, Prior of the e. vifo. 93. ' ' Ante p. 21. Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, in England, and the Confreres (Tramiatwn.) of the same Prior, send greeting, in the Lord, everlasting. Whereas our beloved brother in Christ, Robert Baker, Hermit of the Order of St. Paul the first Hermit, under the invocation of our Saviour and his forerunner St. John the Baptist, the pati-on of our order, doth intend to build one Hermitage upon our land nigh [juxta] Iseldon, within the diocese of London, and the same Hermitage he hath begun to build and doth purpose to complete the buildings so commenced by divine assistance : we therefore fully commending, in the Lord, the purpose and pious devotion of the aforenamed Hermit, have granted and limited, and do grant and limit, by these presents, to' the aforesaid Hermit, a certain measure of feet of assise particularly specified * The endowment of this Hermil.ige seems to have been parallel with the case of that Hermitage at beclrainster, near Bristol, which Lord Berkeley founded in 21 Ed. ill., and collated one John Marks thereto for life, Smi/thes Berke.'ei/ MS,, lb. 357. 1 14 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. ihv iurmu»«c on the back of these presents, be it more or less, as the metes and l)()un(ls of the Hermitage with thcappurtciinnces do purport and demonstrate, that is to say, at the cud of our field or pas- ture called Woodmansfeld, abutting upon the place where the (b)AMtepp.2i,22, two roads meet(''), and the cross that stands in the King's high- way, at he end of Iseidon aforesaid. And that lie may be able to finish the aforesaid Hermitage so begun by God's assistance and by the alms of the faithful, we do give and grant such Hermit- age begun and completed with the appurtenances within the bounds and metes aforesaid, to the same Hermit Robert Uaker for the term of his life ; Together with all alms and oblations offered or to be offered in the chapel of the same Hermitage, and all the appurtenances, for the term of his life. And the same Hermit shall repair the said Hermitage and Chapel, in all things and by all thing's, and with all their appurtenances, and shall bear all the burdens of the same during liis life afore- said : but the said Hermit being dead, We the aforesaid Prior and Confreres for us and our successors, do promise by the afore- said, to give and collate the said Hermitage with the (Jhapel and the appurtenances, so often and when the same shall be vacant, from time to time, at all future times, to one Chaplain, or to one fitting and well-disposed Hermit, who for the term of his life shall govern the said Hermitage with the Chapel and the appurtenances to the glory of Almighty God, and the honour of our order {Reliyionis) . And the same Chaplain or Hermit shall perceive and have for ever of our collation of the aforesaid Prior and Confreres, and our successors, as patrons and founders of the Hermitage aforesaid, the oblations there oflTered and to be offered for his support and for the reparation and maintenance of the Hermitage aforesaid, and for supporting the charges of the Chapel there, with all the appurtenances. And the same Chaplain or every future Hermit shall be bonnden by these pre- sents continually to pray for the happy estate of the most Serene Prince and our Lord the Lord Henry the Eighth, the present King of England, and for the soul of the same most Serene King when he shall have departed from this life ; also for the good estate of our order of St. John of Jerusalem, and for the sonl of the said Hermit Robert Baker for ever. In witness whereof as well our common seal as also the seal of the aforesaid Hermit Robert Baker to these present indentures are interchangeably appended. Given at our House of St. John of Clerkenwell, in our chapter there assembled, the tenth day of PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 145 July in the year M,CCCC. and eleven, and in the third year '^« Hemuuge. of the reign of the aforesaid most serene our Lord King Henry the Eighth." That this Hermitage or Chapel was completed, and from the importance of its patrons and founders, enjoyed the superstitious confidence of the inhabitants*, is evident from the following extract from the will of Richard Cloudesley, dated 13th January, 9 H. VIII., anno 1517, who thus alludes to the newly formed Oratory, viz. — "Also, whereas I have made a surrender into the hands of the Lord of St. John's Jerusalem in England of certain lands and tenements ; that is to say, of a house and nine acres of land, late Barells, and a close called Sibley's Field, to the intent that said Lord shall grant again the said lands and tenements to Robert Fowller, gent', John Burton, Robert Middleton, Richard Bayley, John Smith, Denis Ashpoll, and John Nutt, to the per- formance of this my last will : and to the intent I would be prayed for perpetually ; I will that the said Robert and others abovenamed shall within a month after my decease name and appoint an honest sad priest to sing for my soul, my father and mother's souls, and all Christen souls, in the New Chapel called the Hermitage at Islington towns end. And that the said priest shall say three times in a week, ' placebo ' and ' dirige ' for my soul and all Christen souls ; and that every mass he sayeth, he shall say ' de profundis ' for my soul and all Christen souls, and pray openly and specially for me by name. And I will that as long as the said priest is of a good and sad disposition, and keep his service truly, that the said Robert and others abovenamed shall suffer the said priest to have the whole rent of the said lands and tenements, bearing the charge to the Lord and keeping the reparations." Although the field at the extremity of which this Hermitage or Chapel stood was included in the Ministers' Accounts upon the dissolution, and passed to the Crownf, yet the building was not * Hermits were favourite confessors; they lived in chapels or oratories at the ends of bridges, at the gates of towns, in churchyards, where they not unfrequently performed the secular office of toll gatherers. Although professed monks were chosen to those Hermit- ages that were endowed as au ecclesiastical benefice, yet there were also numerous Pseudo- Hermits, " Great loobies and long (s. e. tall) that loth were to swynke («. e. earn their living by labour), as the Vision of Pitrs Plowman tells us. And see Fosbrooke's British Monachism, 3rd ed., Lond., 8vo. 1843, pp. 370 — 380. t Ante p. 79, where it is accounted for as yielding a rent of 76s. 8rf. from the assign of John Yerdeley, for the farm of three fields of meadow now one enclosed field, whereof one is called VVodraanfeld, one other Shepecroft, and the other Lanibartcrofte, lying in Iseldon. These three fields are already mentioned, at p. 22, to have been leased to John 19 146 PERAMBPLATION OF ISLINGTON. The lIcrinltAea (c) Pat 13 Eliz. p. 3, m. 20. LAOr OWEN'8 CllAPF.L, AND SCUOOL. dealt with till Queeu Elizabeth, by patent dated 12th February, in the 12th year of her rcigu (a?ino lu70), grauted to Mynue and Ilall (inter alia,) (")" all that our house, cottage, or tenement, called the Hermytagc, situate and being near the town of Iseldon, in the county of Midd's, with all and singular edifices, walls, and buildings, and also the gardens adjacent, and other their appur- tenances, heretofore in the tenure or occupation of Thomas Cozen of London 'Bocher' deceased, and afterwards in the tenure of Ilcury Stavely or his assigns, and now in the tenure or occupa- tion of Bartholomew Brokesby gentlenum or his assigns, and late being parcel of the lands and possessions of the late dissolved House or Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England, and also to the same lately belonging and pertaining." From the Calendar of the Patent RoUs we are informed that this House was at that time known as "The Hermitage of St. John's," and consequently imparted the name of " Ermitage Fields," not only to the field called Wodmansfeld, but to the two fields called Lambartcroft and Sheepcroft, which had been laid thereto, so as to form one enclosure. These fields described as not exceeding eleven acres, were in the following reign destined to a pious purpose by Mrs. Alice Owen, the widow of Thomas Owen, one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, who upon part of these fields built the Almshouses, Free Chapel and School, now well known as " Lady Owen's Almshouses and School," and which stood on the east side and in front of St. John's Street Road, between the Red Lion and the Crown and Woolpack facing the high road, until 1841, when they were re-erected upon an adjoining scitc in the rear. This Charity is administered by the worshipful Company of Brewers, Loudon, to whom by deed dated 22 November, 1609, Mrs. Owen granted the Almshouses she had erected by royal licence upon these fields of her own purchase, for the maiutenancc of ten poor aged widows of the parishes of Islington and Clerkenwell : no mention is made in this deed of a School, but in 1613 Mrs. Owen made certain rules and orders, as she had been by a second royal licence empowered to do, for the good govern- ment of a Free School and of the Almshouses she had erected Gowlde, in 1509; by the same Register (ful. 242 b.) thnt these fields were let, 7 July, 1524, to John Yanily, whose assign occtipieJ them at the time of the dissolution of the Priory of St. John's. William Stamford, Esq , became the owner of these three fields of pasture, which he liad royal licence to assign to Sir Edward Xorlh, Knt., Chancellor of the Court of Augmentation; Pat. 37, //. 8, p. 12, m. 1 : tliey were subsequently pur- chased by Mrs. Owen, and her Almshouses, Chapel, and School were built on that part thereof which adjoins the llermitage. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 147 at Islington, and whereof she had nominated the Master War- ladyowen-s t r\ iPT-» T 1/--^ Almshouses, dens and Commonalty of Brewers, London, to be Governors.* chapei. and •^ School. By these rules and order she direeted that the schoolmaster should have for his habitation, rent free, the school house and garden, and should be paid £5. quarterly, and that the charges of repairing the school should be borne by the Company, and that * Pat. 6 Jac. p. 18. n. 2. Tlie King to all to whom, &c., Greeting; whereas we are credibly informed that in onr Towns uf Islington, Iseldon, Clerkenwell, and St. James of Clerkenwell, in our county of Midd's, there very many indigent and old widows ex- tremely necessitous ; and whereas Alice Owen of London, widow, late the wife of Thomas Owen, late one of our Justices of our Court of the Bench of Common Pleas at Westmin- ster, being moved with pious compassion, hath humbly besought us to the end that we might deign to give her our Royal Licence that she, the same Alice may and be able to purchase a certain closure or parcel of land within the towns and parishes aforesaid, or either of them, now called Ki'mitage fields^ and heretofore called- Woodmanfield, Sheepecrofte, and Lambecrofte, not exceeding the quantity of eleven acres of land, and thereupon to build one or more houses for the dwelling of ten poor old widows, and of the same to found a certain Hospital for such widows, to endure for ever, and to pur- chase other messuages, houses, lands, &c., not exceeding the yearly value of 40/., and to grant tlie same to the Master Wardens or Guardians and Commonalty' of the Mystery or Art of Brewers of the City of London and their successors for the perpetual mainten- ance of the aforesaid poor widows, and that she may make orders, laws, and rules, &c. 12th June [1608]. Pat. 8 Jac. p. 38. n*'. 8. Reciting letters patent 12** Junii 6" Jac' and licence for purchasing certain closures or parcels of land lying contiguous within the towns or parishes of Islington, Iseldon, Clarkenwell, and St. James in Clerkenwell, in the county of Midd'x, or either of them, at that time called Ermitage Fields, and theretofore called Woodmanfeilde, Sheepecrofte, and Lambecrofte, not exceeding the quantity of eleven acres of land, holden of us, our heirs, and successors immediately in chief by knight's service, and thereupon to build, &c. And, whereas we are credibly informed that the aforesaid Alice Owen, according to our aforesaid licence and the true intent in the afore- said letters patent contained, hath erected, builded, and founded upon the aforesaid closures called Ermitage Fields, ten houses for the dwelling of ten poor, old, and indi- gent widows of the towns and parishes aforesaid, and of the same hath made one Hospital, and in the same houses hath placed ten poor widows; And that the aforesaid Alice Owen hath procured to be granted to the same Master Wardens or Guardians and Commonalty of the Mystery or Art of the Brewers of the City of London and their successors for ever, for the maintenance of the aforesaid old, poor, and indigent widows, as well the aforesaid closures called Ermitage Fields as also other lands, tenements, and hereditaments: And whereas also the aforesaid Alice Owen hath humbly besought us that we may be willing to graciously and favourably extend to her our licence, that in the aforesaid closures called Ermitage Fields we should design to erect, found, and establish one chapel and house for the dwelling of one good man, being a minister of the Word of God, who may be able to read to the aforesaid widows the Sunday services and the Sacrament where he can sow the seed, according to our laws of England, and instruct them in the true worship and fear of God, and teach the sons and daughters of the poor abiding in tiie said town and parish of Islington, Iseldon, Clerkenwell, and St. James uf Clerkenwell, in the county of Midd'x aforesaid, and about the neighbouring part?, to read, write, cast accompts (computare), and sing the Psalms now usually sung in the English Church : And also that the same Alice may and can grant, or procure to be granted other messuages, houses, &c., not exceeding the yearly value of £30 to the aforesaid Master and Wardens, &c., and their successors for ever, fvr the perpetual maintenance of the aforesaid Chapel or School and the minister, master, or pedagogue of the same : And also that the aforesaid Alice, during her natural life, and the aforesaid Master Warden, &c., for the time being, after the death of the aforesaid Alice, from time to time maj' and can make and grant orders, laws, and rules concerning the nomination, placing, amoving, direction, and disposal of the aforesaid Chapel or School, and also of the Minister, Master, or Pedagogue of the same, and of the aforesaid messuages, tene- ments, and hereditaments aforesaid. [All which was granted by the patent.] The style of this foundation is declared to be "The Free Chapel and School of Alice Owen of London, widow of Thomas Owen, late one of the Justices of uur Court of the Bench, in Islington, for the instruction of children (/jueris)." 3rd July [1610]. 19* (Translation,) {TraTUtaiiOJi.) 148 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Lady Owen's Almtth.^uBoa, Chapel, and School. ( View of London, 1708, speaks as then " having perhaps been a Nursery of Alartial Discipline near two centuries," and also distinguished by royalty as well as by "divers of the prime nobilitj- and gentry," who had been members thereof, — " do by Prescription march over all the ground from the Artillery Ground to Islington and Sir Gkohok Wiiitmoke's, breaking down gates, &c., that obstruct them in such marches." (.-I Sein View of London, tj-c, 2 vols., 8vo., Lond., 1708. Introd. xxxviii.) This privilege was granted by King Henry VHI., or I may suggest, confirmed, (for in all probability they bad previously existed as a Fraternity,) and this King, in the 29th year of his reign, incorporated tliein with a power to establish the perpetual Fraternity of St. George, with licence to shoot at all manner of marks and butts, and at the game of popinjay and at all fowls (except in the Royal Forests, &c.). An indemnity was provided in favour of the Fraternity, any one of whom, after having pronounced the word, yif-ff, happening to kill or Imrt any one passing between the archer and his mark, was thus held not accountable. (/'n(. 2'.) H. 8, p. 5. m. 1.) King James also authorized the Company, by his special licence, to rein- state the archers marks as they had existed in the reign of Henry Vlll., and King Charles I. by a similar instrument recognized their privileges, (i'at. 3 Jac, p. 16, dorso and I'at. 8 Car. p. 8. n. 12. (^dorso.) Finabury Fields had various lengths marked out in them by wooden marks and rovers, the latter being of stone, varying from one to near four feet in heightli, markcil distances from nine score to near twenty-score yards, and the archer's division of the Artillery Company were, till the year 1791, iu the full exercise of the privilege of causing all obstructions, that prevented one mark being seen from the other, to be removed. Shooting at these distances or lengths was called Roving, to distinguish it from shoot- ing " round compass," viz., at a standing mark, as at butts or target, and the marks or stones were termed rovtrs; hence " to shoot at rovers," became a metaphor lor any ran- dom or experimental trial of wit in discourse or conversation, as Butler in his Uudibras represents Widow Thomson, saying, " Love's arrows are but shot at rovers, Though all they shoot, they turn to lovers." Part III., Canto I., line 941. Addison, in his Dialogues vpon the Usefulness of Medals, Dial. I., p. 21, makes use of the expression, "shooting at rovers," in a similar sense. King Edward VI. in his Journal, April 6, 1550, writes thus; " I lost the challenge of shooting at rounds, and won at rovers:" which shews that the youthful monarch was a good archer, for this kind of shooting required not only much skill and considerable strength, but also a knowledge of distance : Hollinshead and Ascham lamented the dis- use of this powerful mode of shooting, and stigmatized shooting at a fixed mark as the corrupter of archery. Other places than Finsluiry Fields were also noted for this exercise, namely, Tothill Fields, St. James's Fields, Hyde Park, Mile End, Clerkenwell Fields, Hogsden or Hoxton Fields, &c., and numerous places to which the word "Butts" isaDixed.such as Lambeth- Butts, Newington-Butts, attest the common and public practice and exercise of that ♦ formidable weapon, the long-bow. Islington also had its Butts, and the late John Nichols, F.S.A., Edinb. and Perth, in The PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 151 manly and warlike exercise, at a time when the strength of the ^JryFfdd" *" kingdom was said to stand upon archers. There was an ancient drift-way from Peerless Pool, at the back of Old Street, that led to Islington Common, that is to say, by what is now Wiuckworth Buildings, at the turnpike in the City Road, passing by the end of Hoxton Old Town, and leading to the White Lead Mills, the scite of the " old " Rosemary History and Antiquities of Canonbury House at Islington, 4to. Lond. 1788, No. XLIX. of lUeBibliotUeca Topographica Britatinica, p. 9 in n., has stateJ so pertinently what concerns tliese Butts as well as the locality I have been describing, that I cannot consider this note perfect unless I add Mr. Nichols's remarks, reminding my reader that he was the first who gave the Antiquities of Islington to the public in a connected form ; " To the 9.E. of Newington Green, a pleasant walk, known by the name of King Harry's Walk, runs into the Balls' Pond Turnpike Road : and nearly opposite to its embonchure stands a stone, which marks the bounds of the parishes of Hackney and Islington. This stone is at the corner of a little common, in which not many years since were standing two Butts, which are now nearly levelled to tlie ground, and little posts set up in the place of them. Along this common is an ancient foot-path to London, which leads by the side of an extensive White-Lead Manufactory, in the possession of Samuel Walker and Co., very considerable Ironmasters at Masborough, near Rotherham, in Yorkshire, who erected here in 1786, a curious Windmill, for the purpose of grinding lead, differing in two remarkable particulars from common Windmills, viz. ; 1st, That the brick-tower of it is crowned with a great wooden top, or cap, to which are affixed on one side of the flyers, and on the opposite a gallery, which serves as a great gnomon, if it may be so called, whereby the whole top is turned round at pleasure, so as to bring the flyers into that direction wliich is most convenient with respect to the wind; and 2ndly, that instead of four, the usual number of flyers, this is furnished with five. This Manufactory was formerly a public-house, well known in all this neighbourhood as ' The Rosemmtj Branch,' and in 1783 a new Rosemai-y lirmich was erected just beyond it, at the meeting of the parishes of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, and Islington." Thus far Mr. Nichols. And here I may observe, that the old " Rosemary Branch " appears in both the maps of Fcnsbury Field alluded to in the text, and probably was what Isaak Walton would have termed "a good honest alehouse," and where many a Finsbary archer slaked his thirst, and amused himself at shovel-board, in the same manner as the characters described in chap. xvi. of Walton's Pastoral. " But to return to the Rosemary Branch:" {in the concluding words of Mr. Nichols's note,) " a drift-way leads from hence between fields, which we apprehend to be those Finsbur;/ Fields, that Mr. Barrington has honoured with his notice in his Anecdotes of Archery, in the Archaohgia, vol. viii. p. 57, to a certain row of houses, inscribed Winckworth's Buildings, 1766, opposite Peerless Pool, in the City Road." 152 PERAMBULATION OP ISLINGTON. Archery In Fln*- tiury fIcM. (e) BU,'hniore*5 Hist. ArtllKry Comp. p. 40. (I ) Arcliaol. 1793, Tli. 60. (g) Oent. Mag., vol. cii., pt. I, p. S09. (10 Malcolm, LondiiL Ked. ir., p. 20. (1) Lewis' Hist Is- Unt^toii, p. 22 in n. Ck) Robens' Eng- lish Bowman, IHUI, p. 'J32. 0) NeLson, Hist. Islington, cd. 1823, p. 28. Branch, and so onwards to the opening into the road from Ball's Pond to Kingsland, opposite the lane called King Ilcnry the Eighth's Walk in the way to Newington Green; the fields through which this drift-way extended, were from the time of Henry VII. to the end of the last century, appropriated hy the Artillery Company, who enjoyed a prescriptive (°) right of exer- cising their " Archers' Division " in these fields so late as the year 1792. Finsbury Field also comprehended the space now occupied by Arlington Square, and the new buildings eastward of Frog Lane, as well as the fields on both sides of the New North Road, in the direction of the present " Rosemary Branch," at the spot where the parishes of Shoreditch, Hackney, and Islington unite. A map of Finsbury Fields is given by Daines Barrington, (as copied from one made in 1737,)* in his 06- servations on the Practice of Archery {') ; and a copy of a still more ancient map is published in the Gentleman's Maffazine('). The map published in Barrington's Tract, is also presened in Highmore's History of the Artillery Company ; and that given in the Ge7it. Mag. was first published in Malcolm's Londinium Redivivum<^) . These two maps preserve great portion of the names and stations of the archers marks and rovers with their distance from each other, and according to the little book intituled Ayme of Finsbury Archers, they amounted to one himdred and sixty in number, and consisted of upright stones and posts fixed in the ground some three or four foot in height ; the wooden marks also called pillars and stakes, bore on the top a carved device similar to an heraldic crest, of which Lewis(') in his History of Islington has preserved the representation, and were not unfrequently painted and gilded : these have long since decayed, but many of the stone rovers existed at the commence- ment of the present century (') and since, and two of them are still in existence, the one at the end of Dorchester Street, Hoxton, on the east side of the New North Road, near the Canal Bridge ; the other is fixed and preserved in the brickwork of the Canal Bridge, above the towing-path (') on the London or south side of the Canal, bearing the inscription Scarlet. Two other stone rovers have been destroyed within the last fifteen years, viz., one that stood in the Britannia Fields, near the Pathway Canal Bridge, and a few yards northerly from where the porter's resting * This Map, or as it is also calleJ, Chart, was prepared by the direction of The Artillery Company in 1737, at which time 27 stonea were described as then standiiig " on each side of a public pathway leading by the Rosemary Branch." — Highmore, p. 206. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 153 block recently stood, was in the summer of 1843 broken up by ^J^^'"p7|'^'|' '■'""■ some carpet-bciiters, who made use of the fragments to support their poles withal ; and the other stone rover that stood in what was recently the enclosed field in the New North Road, was either removed or buried about five years since in constructing the buildings at Arlington Square, and the exact place where this rover stood, is now the garden of the house, No. 24, in Arlington Street. This rover, on which were discernible the letters F G, and the date 1679, appears to me to have been called JEHU ; the name of the other, which had been bat- tered and broken short, and was in appearance very ancient, I cannot collect, nor is it given in the Map of 1737. The follow- ing wood engraving will preserve the appearance the rover " Jehu " presented to the pedestrian as he walked from London or Hoxton on the left hand side of the New North Road, imme- diately after passing over the Canal Bridge, viz. : — ^1^^/?sv^: Janu, [misprinted John, in Hist. of. A. C] The rover still standing at the end of Dorchester Street as already observed, upon which appear the letters A. C. the date, 1683, surmonted by the arms of the Artillery Company in iron, let into the stone, and was called WHITEHALL, and also described in some Maps as Welch-Hall and 'Welch Ball*,' is • Seven score aud 1 7 yards northward of ' Whitehall ' stood the rover Pi/Jield, pro- bably coeval with 'Jehu ' and ' Whitehall.' It is said that one Pitfield, described as a mere Cowkeeper, but who was probably the owner of that land whereon this rover stood, was in 1746, compelled to restore this rover which he had removed; and thereupon the Artillery Company somewhat triumphantly named it I'Ufidd's Repentance. I notice that the stone ' Pitfield,' in the Map of 1737, is not called " Pitfield's Repentance,' but that name occurs only in those MS or other copies of that Map evidently made since 1746. To this I may observe, that the adjoining land, and whereon Pidield Street, Hoxton, stands, was in Charles the Second's time called Pitjkld, and there was at that period existing a good familv of the 20 151 PKUAMnrLATIOX OF ISLINGTON. y'^^'Sy }" ^">^- faithfullv described by the followiu'c ciiKraviiio; or wood-cut, bury ricW. <■ <■ e n & * viz. : — ■WIlITEnALL. No more thiui twenty-four of tlicse stone rovers appear to have been in existence in 1737, and no wooden marks are alluded to, same name of which Sir George PitfielJ of Iloxton was tlie liead. Also, see T>ie History of the Artillery Company, l)y Anthony Ilighmore, London, 8vo., 1801, p. G4, who not only collects several interestinf; particulars relating; to the ancient u^e of archery, but also imparts from the books of tliat Company several minute and local details with re- gard to their repeated assertions of proprictorsh'p in these marks, as of their right of user in these fields to exercise themselves in Archery which about 1780 experienced a revival, and about 1790 became ' quite the ntyt; but this revival was not so complete or enduring as its fashionable votaries predicated it would have been. "On the 14th of October [1784] the Company marched to Finsbury Fields, to view their several stone marks, beginning at I'lcbend Mead, where the Castle stone stood, and thence extending to liaiimes Fields and Islington Common. They removed severa obstructions, and the stone parallel willi Old Absoly to the west was named William White; that parallel with Wthh-IlaU to the west was named. Adjutant Clark; that due north of the last. Sir Barnard Turner; and thai in the furthest Fiel'l but one to the east of the road, Major Smith, instead of f'J'J-Pye; that numbered 1' G 1679, in tho further field north, and to the east of the road. Earl of Effingham ; ami that on the north-west of Blackwell Hall, and south-west of John [Jehu] was named. Sir Watkin Lewes." I'age 393. " [1780] Considerable encroachments having been made upon the ancient marks be- longing to the Company, the Court, on 30 July, ordered a notice to be sent to the occupiers of all the lanils in Baumes and Finsbury Field.s, between Peerless-Pool to- wards the south, Baiimes-pond to the north, Iloxton to the east, and Islington to the west, wherein any of those marks were placed, to remove every obstruction to the Company's rights." Page 396. "The" Company on its march on the 12th instant [August, 1786] over Baumes and Finsbury Fields, having pulled down by the pioneers several parts of the fence of a piece of ground enclosed, about two years ago, by Mr. Samuel Pitt, for gardens and summer houses, through which breaches the Company marched from t)ie marks of GuarMone to Arnold, and from A mold to A bsniy, and having come to a piece of ground, lately enclosed with a brick wall by Messrs. Walker, Ward, and Co. (proprietors of the \\ bite Lead Mill), between the marks of Bob Peal- and the Levant, the Company were induced to desist from pulling down or making a breach in the wall, in order to m.irch through, on account of Mr. Slaltby (one of the partners in the white lead works) having PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 155 from whence it may be concluded that the use of the pillars or ^cherym Fins- -* bury Field. stakes had been eveu at that time discontinued, and those who assured the coinmandihg Officer of the battalion, that he and his partners, at the time of their making' the said enclosure, were ignorant of the Company's right in those fields, but were willing to enter into any reasonable terms of accommodation with the Company for what they had done. One of the Archer's divisions was then ordered to shoot an arrow over the said enclosure as an assertion of the Company's right; which having done, the battalion proceeded on its march to several of the other raarks, and the mem- bers afterwards dined at Highbury Assembly-house. " III consequence of these proceedings, Mr. Samuel Pitt attended the next Court on 29th August and delivered in a statement in writing, that he bad on the 18th Feb., 1784, agreed with the trustees of the parish of St. Luke's, Middlesex, for the lease of a piece of ground in Hoxton Fields, behind the Shepherd and Shepherdess, about one acre and a half, for nmety-five years at £11 a year, that he had since enclosed the same and made several small erections and buildings thereon; that about two years ago he had been informed that the Company claimed the privilege of passing across some part of tUe ground in exercise of their ancient right so to do, to which he readily sub- mitted, and toi)k down every fence as desired for that purpose; that on the 12th instant the said Company thought proper to perambulate their marks in the field, by which he had sustained a very considerable injury, as it was unknown to Mm, when he agreed for the ground, that there would be any objection to his erecting buildings thereon, and [he] had therefore laid out a large sum of money in improving the same, which was nearly completed at the time of his receiving this damage; tliat he had been obliged to reinstate the fence as before not out of any contempt to thia Coutpany, but merely to secure from plunder what remained. '' lie therefore now requested that the Court would point out to him some mode whereby he might satisfy them, and be permitted to enjoy the improvements he had made, as he was desirous of rendering the Company every accommodation in his power when they choose to pass over their <-aid ground, and had no objection to a reasonable fine as an acknowledgment for any indulgence the}- might please to grant. " Messrs. Walkers, Ward and Co., also applied to the Court, at the same time stating that nothing would be further from their intentions than that of encroaching on the Company's rights in the l)uilding3 they had erected at the Rosem.irj- Branch ; that what they had done there, was for the convenience of their manufactory; that they were totally ignorant of the Compauy having any right to go through part of the pre- mises or they certainly should not have enclosed tlie late garden (now a vinei:ar yard), without first obtaining the Conipanv's leave so to do; and hoped the Company would put the most favourable construction on what they had done; and that tbey should readily consent to anything iu reason which the Company might determine upon. " They concluded by requesting the favour of the gentlemen who were present on the 12th inst. to accept of their thanks fur their polite behaviour on that day." Pp. 398— 401. "At the Court on the 14th February [1787], Samuel Pitt, the tenant whose pro- posals were laid before the Company in the preceding August, now ofiered to pay a rent- charge of £5, and to leave passages of eight or nine feet in right lines from each ancient mark, for the Corps to march through whenever they thought proper, and to afiix the Arms of the Company on the avenues; a license was therefore granted to him to enjoy his premises on these terms for ninety-two years, from Lady-day then past." P. 402. " 1786. Mr. Samuel litt represented the injury he sustained by leaving the avenues in his premises open agreeably to his proposal of last year; a detachment from the Company viewed the spot, and agreed that instead of that inconvenience, one passage should be left from Guar Jstone to Arnold, and the other from Ai^nold to Absolt/, extending in an oblique directiou ; and he had permission to make both paths in a direct line at at right angles with the east and west sides of his inclosure. The several stones in the Hoxton and Finsbuiy Fields were directed to be painted with the Company's initial letters." P. 403. ** 1791. Some of the Company's ancient marks were removed or broken by the building of a row of houses on the road side in Hoxton Fields, whereby Castle Stone No. 1 was almost enclosed; and the long butts on the [Islington] Common were des- troyed by digging gravel; thus it became necessarj- to remedy an evil which might have absorbed the Company's right: a detachment therefore marched to the spot on the I2th of August, pursuant to a previous notice to the occupiers and Commissioners of the roads to remove every obstruction, and to replace the marks: these objects were obtained." P. 410. ** Ou the 13th of August, [1792,] the Company marched to all the stone marks and 20* 15(1 I'ERAMBrLATlON OP ISLINGTON. Archery in Vmti bury Field critically compiii-c tlic two j\Iaps to wliicli I have Jilludccl, will be able to ascertain from the local data I have preserved, the rela- tive positions of all the stone rovers. As the land on the cast side of Frog Lane, in the neighbour- hood of the Neve North Road, belongs to the Clothworker's Company as tenants of the Prebend Manor, a short boundary- stone- mark, with their armorial bearings carved thereon, stood on the-left hand side of the new Nortli Road (coming from London), which I mention, because it may have been, although a very modern stone, mistaken for a rover ; the following wood engraving represents the appearance it bore at the time of its removal in 1852, in consequence of the recent buildings that now cover the scite of those fields, called Great Colemans, Little Colemuns, and the Prebend Field. CLOTinV^KKKK'S STONK. However, to bring to a conclusion my remarks upon Finsbury Fields, they appear from all accounts to have been terminated by the turf butts* that stood at the end of what was Islington placet! their colours upon them and fired a volley j but found No. 1, the Castle, en- croached upon by buildinff?, near Peerless Pool, and a boarded fence for a garden erect- ing near to it, which the Pioneers levelled, because it obstructed their march on towards the French Hospital." P. 412. • Sir John Miller of Islington and Hoxton, Knight, on« of whose residences is stated to have been the House afterwnnls known as the I*ied Bull Inn, (see Gent. Ma(/, l.xi. 17, l.xv. 809.) died in 1638 seised, inter alia, of land called The llydes (40 acres), of Halters Field (10 acres), and of Butjield i^'JX acrti^'), all lying within the parish of Islington. .\s The Hi/cles and other land, the property nf this Sir John Miller, in Hoxtoii lay in close proximity to the liutts mentioned in the text. Butjield may per- haps be referred to this locality. See the Inquisition taken after the death Sir John Miller, 1 July 16° Car' 1640, wherein the jointure he made on his marriage with Mary Griggs, his will and the names of their children are recited : .\lso see another such In- quisition taken after tha-decease of his son Michael Miller, Esq, 10 Dec'. 21° Car' 1645, wherein the same facts are mentioned. — Esc. Miscell. B. 132, Sos. 92 and 103. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINOTON. 157 Common, at the point where the boundary lines of Hackney and Islington parishes meet, at, or very near to the opening into the road from Balls' Pond to the Kingsland, opposite Henry the Eighth's Walk, and not to have extended in width beyond Balmes House, or the fields immediately adjoining thereto on the east side, and the fields abutting upon Frog Lane on the west. Balmes, or Baumes House, was more commonly known as Sir George Whitmore's, it having been the residence of that loyal and generous personage who was Lord Mayor of London, 1631-2; it was an old mansion built of brick, and with so high a roof as to have(") two stories of what would be commonly 2Ami'"'o'i"'"' called garrets; the old Hall ornamented with the busts of the t^^^bury, ,>■ lo. twelve Cffisars on brackets, was fitted up in the style of the period of James I. ; it had a large garden walled in and surrounded with a moat, part of which remained in 1783, as appears by an etching of that date by Benjamin Green. This house was pulled down in 1850. Its scite was within the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, abutting upon Hackney parish. In Rocques great Map of 1741-5 in sixteen sheets, Fiusbury Fields are dis- tinguished by thirteen of the most prominent of the rovers, twelve whereof are represented as lying somewhat altogether in the fields on the London side of the old " Eosemary Branch," the thirteenth is placed by itself, and as opposite the Girdlers' Almshouses in an open field, since converted into a burial ground ; this was the Castle Stone in the Prebend Mead (of Wenlocks- barn), and it was from this spot that the Finsbury Archers claimed right to commence their exercises, proceeding across to where Winckworth's Buildings now stand as already observed, the reader recollecting that the City Road was not made till 1761. Ben Jonson in his Comedy of Every Man in his own Humour*, Jsg"po°ds"'"^^' represents his character. Master Stephen, as saying, " Because I dwell at Ilogsden, I shall keep company with none but the Archers of Finsbury, or the Citizens that come a-duckiny to Islington ponds !" — these words introduce the reader to a local feature — an association of by-gone times — when the Londoners sought for amusement in the Islington Fields: Howell in his Londinopolis, published in 1657, speaking of the out-door relaxa- tions of the Londoners, says : for " healthful corporal recreations and harmless pastimes London may go in the van, to any place that ever I saw yet. Go and walk in her fields, you shall see * Act I., Scene I. 158 PEKAMBI'LATION Of IS1.IXGT0\. isiiDgtou rou(L«. some shooting at long marks, some at buts ; some bowling tipon dainty pleasant greens, some upon bares; some wrestling, some throwing the barre, some the stone; some jumping, some running, some with their dogs at ducking-ponds." Islington ponds seem to have been noted in the seventeenth century as aflbrding the Londoners the sport of duck-hunting, for in addition to one of Ben Jouson's characters, saying, " What do you talk on it ? Because I dwell at Hogsden, 1 shall keep company with none but the archers of Finsbury, or the citizens that come a-duckiug to Islington Ponds ! a fine jest, i' faith \" Davenant in the Poem I have already cited, p. 11-9, n., also represents a London tradesman saying : — " Where's dame ? — quoth son of shop ' She's gone her cake in milke to sop' Ho ! ho ! — to Islington — enough — Fetch Job my son, and our dug Ruffe ; For there, iu pond, through mire and muck, We'll cry, hay, duck — there Ri'ffe — hay, duck." These Ponds mostly lay at the back of Islington and were fed by the springs that were plentiful in that locality, they may be said to have extended almost continuously from the fields in the Back (or Liverpool) Road, to the Lady Huntington's Cliapel in Exmouth Street, Spafields, on the seite of which, more than a century since, stood a House of Entertainment known as the Ducking-pond House * ; the pond occupying the greater part of that ground which for the last seventy years or more has been the Burial-ground attached to the chapel. A field lying on the " west side of the Back Road leading from Islington to Holloway," and whereon Felix Terrace has * This Ducking Pond House appears amonp; the objects represented in a very large print, " A new ami exact prospect of the north side of the City of London, talten from the Upper Poml" [now the Reservoir at Claremont Square, in the New Koad] "near Islington, August 5, 1730." The Houses anil places in tlie foreground are described by references to figures e. J. 6. Sadler's Wells, 7. The Farthing-pye-housc. 8. .SirHugh Middleton. 9. The New Tunbridge Wells. 10. Mr. Israel Wilkes's. II. The London Spaw. 12. The Ducking Pond Souse. 13. Sir John Lord Cobham. 14. Sir John Oldcastle. 15. Black Mary's Hole [a Conduit so called,] &c. (Size of the print 3 ft. by 2.) In another yo/io Print "The North Prospect of London, taken from the Bowling Green at Islington," Bowles delin, 17.52, the same objects are represented; as also in another by Canaletti, 17.')3, of the same size. Of Ducking ponds, there seems to have been no lack in the immediate neighbourhood of London. I also find a notice of some Ducking-ponds in a grant from the crown of some land in the parish of St. Botulph without, Aldgate, London, viz.. Ju.rt. Vi, UL 3;[3], 19 May. (Trarulation.) runneth up to the Prtory aforesad by a eertain pipe or certain leaden pipes, as well under the proper land of the same Prior and Couvent as of other persons, and of old hath been aecustomcd to run, it is in divers places broken up aud needeth great amendments and reparations ; so that therefore the Master and Brethren, aud also the Sistcrn of the Hospital of St. Bartho- lomew in West Smithfield, London, as well as the impotent poor and others to resorting to the same hospital daily, may from henceforth be recruited by the water of the aforesaid aqueduct, aud the same Master and Brethren do intend with effect, to de- dicate divers great costs and expenses about the reparation and amendment of the aforesaid aqueduct, to the glory of God." Empowering them, to inclose the head of the watercourse or aqueduct with new or other sources of water or well-springs in a cistern, in a certain house of stone and lime, and also to secure and strengthen the same head with locks aud bars, one moiety of which well-spring or head was to serve the Convent by means of leaden pipes underground and across the highway that leads from Smethefelde to Aldersgate, for the use of the Hospital aud also of the Prior and Convent. After the dissolution, this Conduit Head, as being an appur- tenant to the Monastery, w^as in the thirty-sixth year of King Henry the VIII. (1544) granted to Sir Richard Riche, Knt., ChauccUor of the Court of Augmentation of the Revenues of the Crown, (who by the same graut(') received the scite and capital messuage and mansion house of the Priory of St. Bartholomew) by the description of " all that water and watercourse and aqua- ducts, and also watercourse coming down from, and running from a certain place called the condyle hede of Saynt Barthil- mewes, within the Manor of Canbery, in the parish of Iseldon, in our County of Rliddlesex, up to and into the said scite and close of the said late jMonastery aud Priory of St. Barthilmewes, and also all lez cesternes and lez pypes of lead in and through which the same water aud watercourse is conveyed down, and brought over, from the capital and principal source and well-spring of the same water in Iseldon aforesaid, up to, and into the said scite of the said late Mouastery or Priory, or the close of the same," with powers of rcpairiug, &c., the pipes, and as William Bolton, or any other Prior had used, held or enjoyed the same, &c. The springs at Canonbury were probably augmented by those at Highbury, which in ancient times flowed from that wooded district in great plenty : however I can do no more to illustrate I'EIIAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 169 this portion of my Perambulation, than refer my reader to Nelson("), who describes one of these conduit heads as remaining .i°4M4r^.l8ii. in 1811 in the field adjoining Canonbury-lane, near that part of the New River called the Horse-shoe ; which after laying open for many years, had then recently been covered by an arch of brickwork, at the expense of an individual; and water, much esteemed for its clearness and purity, was at that time procured from the place. Another of these conduit heads, stood formerly not far from the above to the eastward, which in the old engrav- ings of Canonbury House is represented as a small building similar to that which at that time covered the head of water at White Conduit House. So far Nelson. But the more modem buildings at Canonbury together with the opening of the New North Road, when the Horse-shoe, that meandering portion of the New River, (diverging, a few yards above the Rackbridge at the end of Astey's Row, westward over the scite of the present Canonbury Villas at the end of Halton Street, returning east- ward to the point of its new formed course at the bridge in the New North Road) was cut off, have completely obliterated the conduit heads and springs, the memory of that conduit near the Horse-shoe being preserved in the name of " Spring Street." The commencement of these alterations and buildings took place about 1823. Stow, in his Survey of London, Cripplegate Ward, informs us hwhbdry con- that " Sir William Eastfield, Knight of the Bath, Mayor 1438, caused the conduit in Aldermanbuiy which he had begun, to be performed at his charges, and water to be conveyed by pipes of lead from Tyborne to Fleet Street : and also from High Berie to the parish of St. Giles without Cripplegate, where the inhabit- ants of those parts incastellated the same in sufBcient cisterns." And again he says, " Some small distance from this church [St. Giles, Cripplegate] is a water conduit brought in pipes of lead from Highbury by John Middleton, one of the executors to Sir William Eastfield, and of his goods ; the inhabitants adjoining castellated it of their own cost and charges, about the year 1483." The reader will have observed that in the Minister's Accounts for the Manor of Newiugton BarrowC"), mention is made of Cundicke (b) Aute, p. 84. Field, apparently the same that is referred to in the Survey of that Manor as "The Conduit Field." The Itinerarium Anglim ; or, a Book of Roads, before citedQ, notices " Jack Straws Castle" w Ante, ^ i« and "the Conduit," both which objects are also noticed in 22 170 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Highbury Con- Bowen's Britannia Depicta, p. 51. So that the "old stone (luita. , , * coiidiiit" alhidcd to in Bishop Gibson's edition of Camdens Britannica* , as situated " between Islinj^tou and Jaek Straw's Castle" may be fairly assumed to have been identical with the conduit erected to protect the pipes laid down by Sir 'William Eastfield at Highbury. The building has long since been utterly decayed, but the cistern or receptacle remains as arched over with brick, in the field in front of the bouse. No. 14, High- bury Place, at which point one small upright stone and another of the same character and size a few paces to the northward, indicate the two heads of the springs whence the stream is supplied. (dj Hist. of isiiiig. NclsonC), whose remarks are valuable when made from personal isi'i, i). 147, oL and local observation, says, " From this ancient conduit which 1823. . . remained open as a watering place for cattle before the building of Highbury Place, many of the houses there, are served with water, proper communications having been made, on building them, for that purpose. By these means the water flows into ■wells or reservoirs behind the houses, communicating with each other, the lower well receiving the surplus water, when the upper one is filled. The pump at the west end of Hopping Lane is also supplied from the same source." The direction of the water supplied by this conduit from Highbury to its destination is so fully stated in a " Report made upon a view of Dalston and Islington waters" f to a Committee • The following is the passage containing the allusion, viz. : — " More rare plants growing wild in Middlesex communicated by Mr. James Petiver. * * » # * Adiantum album. Tab. Ruta muraria C.B., J.B., Ger. Muraria, seu Salvia vitae Park Fig. 10.50. White Maidenhair, Wall-Rue, or Tent-Wort. On an old Stone Conduit between Islington and Jack Straw's Castle." Camd. Brit., edited by Edmund Gibson, ffo.. Lond., 1695, pp. 335, 337. t I conceive these Dalston and hlinrjUm iraters, as also those mentioned in another " Report of the Views of the Conduit-head beyond the Dogg-house," to have been .some of those very springs from which, as Stow informs us (Coleman Street Ward), water was in 1546 conveyed in great abundance from between Ho.^ton and Iseldon. These Reports made to the Civic Authorities of London, I have no doubt are yet to be found among the City Remembrances, although I confess I am not able to cite other authority than Kllis, in his JIUtory of Shored itcli^ pp. 364, 366. The only notice I am able to discover from public records as to those springs mentioned by Stow as " betwixt Iloxton and Isel- don," is the following concerning a piece of concealed land in that part of Shoreditch parish that adjoins Islington parish, which probably was one of the Conduits that, according to Ellis (Jd. p. 125), in after times supplied Balmes House with water from a spring in Canonbury Field. The field wherein this Conduit was situate abutted southward upon the SpiltU Field, that portion of Yveney conveyed to the Convent of St, Mary Spital {TrantlcUion.) (."ite pp. 89, 129, 133), viz., " All that our parcel of pasture called Lame I'itles (Loam Pitt)^ with a certain Conduit (condiictu) to the same belonging ; situate, lying, and being in the parish of St. Leonard Shordislie, in our county of Middlesex, abutting on the south side upon the open field (cnmpum) called the Spittle Fielde, and on the (sic upon a piece of land called maykue" and was with other property of a like nature (scilt. formerly dedicated to superstitious uses) granted to Peter Greye and his son and their heirs by Pat. 19 Eliz. p. 7, m. 25, March 7, 1577. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 171 appointed by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Court of Common ^f^bury con- Council, in the year 1692; that although this Report is printed in Ellis's History of Shoreditch, in Nelson, and in his editor Lewis, I cannot refrain from quoting so much thereof as con- cerns this Highbury Conduit, viz., " And we have also in further pursuance of the said order [of the Committee] viewed the springs and water belonging to the City neare Islington ; and find the same in two heads, one covered with stone, in a field near Jack Straw's Castle, which is fed by sundry springs in an adjacent field, and is usually called The White Conduit, the water whereof is conveyed from thence, in a pipe of lead, through Chambery [Canonbury] Park to the other conduit in Chambery Field* ; and from thence the water of both the said heads so united is so conveyed in a pipe of lead, cross The New River in a cant, into The Green Man Fields, and entering from thence a garden heretofore belonging to one Porter vintner, at about forty foot distance from Frogg Lane, into a field on the east side thereof; and from thence, cross the north-east corner of a garden at the hither end of Frogg Lane, into a field belonging to the Company of Clothworkers ; and from thence, through the field west to, and west of the foothway from Islington, unto the stile by the Pest-home('), where it crosseth the said way, and so («)A>«e.^«- along the east side thereof, cross the road at Old Street, and under the bridge there, into Bunhill Fields ; and from thence, on the west side of the said field, by The Artillery Garden, crossing Chiswell Street, into and down the middle of Grubb Street into Fore Street, and so on to the south side thereof to the conduit at Cripplegate." To close the account of these conduits, there were in the cleekssweu, , . COXDIHTS. last century similar receptacles serving the outlying parts of Clerkenwell and Cold Bath Fields from the springs in that locality, two of which are delineated in the large print or North View of London taken from the Upper Pond, 1730, to which I have alluded(') ; the conduit. No. 8 object in the print, (O AMc,p.i58n. was called Black Mary's Hole, (and was so called from a woman of colour named Mary Woollaston,) who about 1680 lived in a house close by that conduit, and rented the water of Mr. Harvey; after her decease Mr. Baynes, (from whom Baynes Row takes its name) who then was owner of the ground, inclosed the conduit, to preserve its utility, about 1697. The other conduit, is in the * The place of this Conduit was most probably in that ConduU Field, also called Buckfield, reftrred to in the note, ante p. 113. 172 PERAMBULATION OP tSLINOTON. print, shewn to have stood at the extremity of the fields near the Sir John Oldcastle, now the Brew-house, at the corner of Cold- bath Fields and the Bagnigge Wells Road. In 1761, Black Mary's Hole was described as " a few straggling houses near the Coldbath Fields, in the Road to Ilampstead" [from Clcrkcn- wcll by Bagnigge Wells, now the Bagnigge Wells Hoad]. " It took its name from a blackmoor woman called Mary, who about 30 years ago lived by the side of the road, near the stile, in a small circular hut built with stones." London and its Environs described, (Dodsley,) London, 17G1, 8vo., vol. 1, p. 324. The spring is preserved in the front garden of tlie house. No. 3, Spring Place, Bagnigge Wells Road. KoMAN Camps »t Upon two of the most elevated positions near Islington, both Barnsbckt and ^ ^ o » HioHBOBT. Qf them commanding views to the west, north west, and north, viz., at Barnsbury Square and at Highbury, there have recently existed moated scites, of which it has been suggested that they were vestiges of camps, or at least sestival or summer encamp- ments of the Romans, an idea to which their local eminence seems mainly to have given rise ; I shall therefore state the grounds of this suggestion as applicable to both, and which in the case of the so-called Roman camp at Barnsbury seems to me to rest upon no very solid foundation, and yet the reader should bear in mind the words of a diligent Antiquarian of the last century, (N. Salmon, LL.B.) — " many of our ancient kings and nobility took delight in the situation of the old Roman buildings, which were always very fine and pleasant, the Romans being very circumspect in regard of their settlements, having always an eye to some rivers, spring, wood, &c., for the conveniences of life, particularly an wholesome air. And this no doubt, occa- sioned the old monks, knights-templars, and after them the kniffhts of St. John of Jerusalem, as also the frvars, to settle in most of the Roman buidings, as well private as public" — how- ever, with regard to the so-called Roman camp at Barnsbury : In the Tliornhill Road, opposite Minerva Terrace is the enclosure of Barnsbui-y Square, which together with the detached houses and gardens on the south, west, and north sides thereof, (called the Mountfort Estate) occupy the ground of what was the Reed- moat Field ; in this field was a moated scite, thus described for the first time, in a Topographical Dictionary,* in. the year 1756. * England's Gazetteer; or, an accurate Description of all the Cities, Towns, and Vil- lages of the Kingdom. In three volumes. This work includes all the chief liarljnurs, bays, forests, and not only takes notice of most of the manors and seats in the kingdom, PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 173 " In the Rccd-moat on the N. side of these basons [the New 3™^'^^^"^'^"' River Plead] called Six-acre Field, from the content of it, which nighbur,. is the third field beyond the White Conduit, there appears to have been a fortress, in former days enclosed with a rampart and a ditch, which is supposed to have been a Roman camp, made use of by Suetonius Paulinus after his retreat, which Tacitus mentions, from Loudon, before he sallied thence, and routed the Britons, under their Q. Boadicea; and that which is vulgarly but erroneously called Jack Straw's Castle, is a square place in the j3. W. angle of the field, is supposed to have been the seat of the Roman General's Pretorium or tent." After this, the earliest notice of this spot, Lysons some sixty years since, writes ; " In a field called the Reed-moat field, a short distance from the Workhouse towards the north west, are some remains of trenches ; in the one corner of the field is a moated site, form- ing on the outside of the moat a square of about 100 paces. Thes^ vestiges are thought to have been a Roman Camp." Nelson enlarges upon the coujecture thrown out by the Topo- graphical Dictionary or England's Gazetteer, (which suggestion had also been adopted by other works of a similar character and of no authority, Dodsley's Roads, 1 760 ; and The Ambulator, 1774;) viz., that the vicinity of this place was the scene of Paulinus's victory over the Britons, A. D., 61, but for which there is no sufficient presumption of proof adduced ; indeed it is well known that the locality of that battle field has never been satisfactorily ascertained, and other places than the present have been named with far greater appearance of probability.* As the form of Roman camps was usually quadrangular, and the trenches and earthworks might possibly have been of Roman origin, I endeavoured to ascertain whether any Roman remains had been discovered during the excavations and digging for brick earth and gravel that have taken place since the moat was drained in 1826, and while Mountfort House that now stands in but also points out the old. military ways, camps, castles, and other remarkable ruins of r.oman Danish, and Saxon antiquity: and particularly shews the estates that were formerly Abtey-Lands. London. 8vo. 1750. This British topographical work ap- pears to have been compiled by Stephen Whatley, and is the first alphabetical descrip- tion of England ; it passed through several improved editions, but bus been superseded by an English Topographical Dictionary upon a more extended plan by S. Lewis. 'J he passage I iiave cited in the te.xt is taken from the title Islington, cils. 17.51, 177.5, 1790. I have endeavoured to trace the authority for the suppositiiai in Whatlcy's com- pilation, but in vain: and I must consequently presume that it originated in himself, or perhaps with Mr. Stukely, whose antiquarian fervour frequently led him to state his belief very unadvisedly upom what he called Uoman camps and Roman remains. * The reader mav be referred to IMorant's Essex, i. 46; Morants' Colchester, book i. 23 ; Salmon's Neio Sureey of England, i. 91 ; and Chauncy's Hertfordshire, ii. 218, ed. 174 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Koniaii Cntup-i at IJarnshur>' and Highbury. (15) Ante, p. lOli, In note. the centre of the once moated scite, was in course of erection,* but it seems no such indicia had prcseutcd themselves. How- ever, tlie haeknied terms, Prctorimn, and Fosse have been very freely used by Nelson, Hone, Cromwell, and Lewis in their description of this vestige, which is by no means proved to have been Roman, and may quite as consistently be referred to the Danes and Saxons, or to a much later origin, — that of a mancrial residence since the Conquest. The Kced-moat Field seems to have been identical with the Mote-field. (*) The earthwork or intrenchmcnt on the west, that presented to the view of the passenger along the Chalk Road, now Cale- donian Road, a long torrass or ridge, has, during the last twelve years, been completely shut out from view by the buildings in that quarter, and nothing but a depression in the surface of the ground on the north side of IMountfort House now (1857) re- mains as the last trace of this Pretorium and Fosse, or moated scite, or whatever else the reader may please to consider it originally to have been. With regard to the moated scite at Highbury Castle, I con- sider that Highbury Castle and Hill existed as a place of defence at a very remote period, probably as early as the residence of the Romans in this country, and that armies have encamped * A late correspondent of Si/lvanus Urban (K. B. Price), in August 1842, gives a sketch of a fragment of stone he discovered, accidentally |ilaced in a garden belonging to a cottage in Maiden Lane, Battle Bridge, and which fragment was found on the western side of the road leading to the Caledonian Asylum. The IS. seemed to E. B. Price to have been commemorative of an officer of the 20th Legion, one of the Roman Legions mentioned in Tacitus as taking part in the battle between Paulinas and the Britons; but nothing further is mentioned as tending to connect this fragmentary de- posit with the " Koinan Camp."* In Hone's Every-Duy Book, ii. 1566, a correspond- ent, Thomas Allen, stated that, " in the course of the year 1825 a laljourer, who was oc- cupied in digging in the Pretorium, turned up a considerable quantity of arrow heads ; and shortly at'tenrards, another labourer, digging a few yards to the south of the same spot for materials to mend a road, uncovered a pavement of red tiles, about 16 feet square; they were mostly figured and some had 'strange characters upon them.' Un- fortunately the discoverer had neither taste nor curiosity, anil they were consigned to the bottom of a deep roail." K. 15. Price repeats this statement, which shews that Thomas Allen saw nothing and that his informant was an illiterate labourer, and so far from Roman coins being found upon excavating the ground for the present building, Mountford House, these relics, which I have suspected, are nothing else than some few of the old halfpence, &c., commonly found in sewers, and with which cunning labourers seek to impose upon enquirers as Roman coins. Hone, in the same volume, also gives a view of the Pretorium of the Roman Camp near Pentonville, and in his accompanying te.xt he assumes it to have been a Roman Encampment, then existing as a quadrangle of about 130 feet, surrounded by a fusse or ditch about 25 feet wide and 12 feet deep, {Every-Daij Book, 2 Sept. 1826, "pp. 1197 — 1204). All this will remind the reader of Sir Walter Scott's ylniijtiary (chap, iv.), gravely saying, " Tlie Pretorium doubtless of the Camp." There are two prints representing this Reedmoat Field; one in octavo size, by J. P. Malcolm, Dec. 1, 1796, and the other in a 12mo. size, asoneof the engravings to Crom- well's Walks through hlinglon, 1835, p. 390. * See Gent. Afaj. xviii., S. S. 144. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 175 there since is still more probable, indeed the Saxon word Barrow r™«" campsat ^ ' Barnslmry and evidently points to some earthwork thrown up and raised cither nigiuiuiT. for defence or for burial of soldiers slain, while the name of Danebottom, the descriptive appellation of the valley below High- bury, in writings so far back as the reign of Henry II. demon- strates that this name of Danebottom has peculiar reference to some of those encounters our Saxon ancestors had with the Danes. A similar name, "Woful Danes Bottom," in another part of the kingdom* is preserved to this day as allusive to some defeat and slaughter not recorded in history, suffered by those perfidious pagans, the memory of whose devastations by fire and sword from the Exe to the Humber still lingers in the tradi- tions of our countrymen. The still more elevated position of Highbury, and therefore apt for an encampment, has caused many to believe that this place, like the other eminence just now alluded to, had been, at leastj an ^Estival Roman Camp or temporary station ; but all who have pursued inquiries of this nature upon similar appearances, well know that such vestiges and remains may with equal certainty be attributed to the British, the Romans, and also to the Danes, and to conclude with an observation of the antiquary I have just now cited, " the frequency of them, and sometimes the little ground they enclose, not able to receive more than a very small body of men, will countenance an opinion that they were made for exercise, if we consider how often their souldiers marched out with all their mountings and utensils of war." — Antiquities of Surrey, by N. Salmon, LL.B., 1 730, p. 32. From the appearance that Highbury Hill presented seventy years since, as given in one of Jukes' mezzotinted views of the year 1787t, the hill seems to have been abrupt and steep on the north and north-west, and the eminence rounded or artificially * This place, called " Woful Danes Bottom," is at Minchighampton, in Gloucester- shire. See Beauties of England nnd Wales, by Brayley and Britton, 1803, vol. 5, pp. 589 — 591. Also, see "An Act for repairing and widening the high roads from Hinck- ley to VVoefull Bridge." Public Acts not printed, 33 Geo. 2, 11th Sess. cap. 40: which shews that the name " woeful" has been applied to more than one place, probably on a similar occasion: a bridge and a descent into a valley being both of them places where the slaughter and confusion of a defeated or retiring enemy would be aggravated. The lane leading from Highbury down to Tollington and Strouil, bv what is now Blackstock Lane, was called Danebottom Lane. In a Court Roll of the Manor of New- enton Barwe, 3rd May, 1448, it was presented that the Lord of this Manor, and the Prior of St. Bartholomew were liable to repair the common way caWed l>aMullu?i Ixine which then lay unrepaired, to the common nuisance, &c. f A large folio sized print, — " A West View of Highbury Place, painteii by 11. Dodd, engraved by R. Pollard and F. Jukes. London : published Jan. 31, 1787, by K. Pollard, Spa Fields, and F. Jukes, Howland Street." This view seems to have been taken from the place where the Chapel of Ease now stands. 176 PERAMBULATION OP ISLINGTON. shapec!, a work that may very consistently be attributed to the Romans, and I have observed the remains of imbankments and tcrrasswork on the north-west side of Iliglibury House, the place of the ancient Highbury Castle. The moat was filled up in 1855, and the other vestiges I have remarked jire rapidly disappearing amid the building operations that have extended thus far. No Roman coins, &c., have 'been discovered.* The words Castle Hill, Castle Hills, and Castle Yard that occur in (h) Amc, pp. 118, the descriptions of Highbury Grange or Highbury Barn('') seem to point traditionally to a Roman origin, yet so numerous are the earthworks or fortresses of earthen walls in England that pass by such names as Castle Hill and Castle Field, in elevated localities, and without shewing any remains of building, that I must refer the origin of these two presumed encampments to the reader's judgment. The moated house in Tallingdon Lane, since called Devils and Duval's Lane, and now Ilornsey Road, and the Manor House at Upper HoUoway, also once surrounded with a moat, do not appear to have been associated with any peculiar tradi- tional attributes ; neither of these houses stand upon very high ground, and have been for from time immemorial inhabited as residential houses, in the same manner as the manorial residence of Ducketts in the Green Lanes Road at Hornsey, now the only moated house within seven miles of the north of London, since the recent removal and levelling of the old Vicarage House at Stoke-Newington. Pebambdlation. Parochial Peram- bulation. 1A57. {Er relatione C. Uiygint, Parish Sarceyor.) As a surveyor at the end of his circuit has to sum up and collate the notes of his perambulationf, I now purpose to offer * Whilst Sir Georpe CoTebraoke was in possession of the fee simple of the Manor of Highbury (ante, p. 124) he soUl the ground called Jack Straw's Castle, situated within the mote, and a considerable quantity of land adjoining, to John Dawes, an opulent Slock Uroker, who erected in 1781, a handsome house with suitable iifliccs on the spot, where the Prior's House formerly stood. When the workmen were preparing to lay the foundation of the house, they discovered a great collection of pipes made of red earth baked, resembling those used for the conveyance of water about the time of Queen Elizabeth, and some tiles .said to be Roman, but which are more probably of Norman manufacture. — Ellis' Campagrta of London, Islimjton, p. 89. f Lewis has not slated the boundary line of the parish, considering that the bound- aries of the districts as given by him were suHicient : be that as it may, as a more care- ful survey of the parochial boundaries has been made on occasion of the last Perambula- tion, it seems essential that it should be preserved, and therefore, I subjoin the following : — " Note of the Customary Procession and Pekambulation of the Bounds and Limits (ante p. 4) of the Parish of Saint Mary at Islington, in the County of Middlesex, and View of the Landmarks of the same, made the 14th day of May, A.D, 1857. " The Procession and Perambulation commenced at the stone in foot path marked St.M.L 1739 (plate on blank wall of bouse opposite same date 1855) south end of the PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 177 a few coiicludiug observations upon the ancient state of Islington Perambiustion. and the plac2s wherein tliis parish is said to be situate, viz., Liverpool Road, late Back Road ; from thence north up the middle of the said road to opposite the Clerkenwell Boundary Stone; then turn and pass along the south side of Sermon Lane to the Stone on the west side of White Conduit Street, (opposite the Spanish Patriots) (_Iroii St. M. L 1833); pass along the wall between Albert Street and Warren Street and continue in a direct line to a plate, marked 1855, in front of house in Queen's Terrace; cross Penton Street and pass through Mr. Ramsey's house. No. 1, and continue by the side of wall along the boundary of the Penton estate the sewer being in Islington parish and the north side of the wall the boundary line thereof; pass through No. 1, Rodney Street North, ccmtinue by the wall through houses at end of Rodnev Place and Cumming Street North, and over sbeds to an iron post, marked 1855, in Upper Southampton Street; then cross to the north side of South Street, con- tinue along kerb to the plate in wall of house marked St. M. L 1855, and Clerkenwell stone above, 1845, on the west side of Winchester Terrace; pass sharp round including two shops, Nos. 17 and 18, in Melville Terrace to a plate and stone similar to the last; cross the Caledonian Road obliquely to a plate and stone similar to the last on front of house middle of No. 9, Lansdowne Terrace, and through the house to the rear; the boundary then passes obliquely to a plate and stone similar to the last on tlank wall of house. No. 1, Lansdowne Terrace, in Upper North Street; again cross the Caledonian Road to a stone in north vault of No. 7, Melville Terrace, then to plate and stone in Caledonia Crescent; then proceed in nearly a straight line to boundary mark in the stable at rear of Mr. Hill's Grocer Battle Bridge ; then to plate and stone front of No. 8 ; go down middle of road to York Road (late JIaiden Lane*') opposite Victoria Hotel in York Road : proceed up the middle of Y'ork Road and west side of JIaiden Lane to the corner of Toriano Avenuef ; then proceed along inner hedge on west side of lane to stone near the Junction Road; and proceed in a direct line to hedge side of road oppo- site the Boston Arms ; and continue along west side of lane to iron post, and thence to a stone at the top of the lane; then cross the turnpike road at Highgate Hill, and pro- ceed east along the south side of Hornsey Lane over the Highgate Archway to the stone marked St. M. I. [and " 4 miles, one furlong, and 35 yards from the spot where Hicks's Hall formerly stood"] at the north end of Du Vals Lane, now called Honisey Road ; proceed along the opposite fields following the hedge row (which divides this parish from Hornsey,) taking in the two wooden dwelling houses west of Mount Plea- sant, to the stone on the west side of the road at Mount Pleasant Cottage, leading from Crouch End ; then cross the said road and continue east along the north bank at Mount Pleasant to a stone in the corner of and near the entrance to field ; then turn south along the west bank of the fields (boundary post in bank, 1838) towards Stroud- Green, and west along the hedge-rOw across an inclosure of Mr. Turnet to the Hornsey mark on the cart house at Jajian House to stone marked 1741 and iron post 1833 ; and then south to the irou post marked 1833 at the north-east corner of Stroud Green ; thence along the lanej to the stone at the corner of the Seven Sisters Itoad§ and thence [across the Seven Sisters Road] down Blackstock Lane]|, where was formerly the boarded river; ' then turn and pass along the middle of the said lane to a stone at the foot of the bridge over the New River, proceed down Gypsey Lane [ante, p. 24] to a stone and also an iron post at the corner of the Green Lanes, back of Highbury-New-Park Tavern; and from thence over the bridge along the Green Lanes to opposite Ghurch Street [Stoke Newing- • The houses on the south side of this road to King's Cross (Battle Bridge) were originally in Islington parish ; but St. Pancras parish has collected the rates for a great many years: the boundarj' is now marked in the centre of the road. t In consequence of the alteration made in Maiden Lane opposite the New Cattle Market, there is a dispute between Islington parish and St. Pancras as to the position of the boundary mark opposite the Market and in fiont of Queen's Terrace near the " Camden Town and HoUoway Road." J There is not the least doubt but that the strip of ground on the east side of Stroud Green Lane was originally within Islington parish according to Dent's Survey, 1805-6. § Previous perambulations describe this boundary stone as " opposite to Heame Lane," but Heame Lane now forms portion of " The Seven Sisters Road." Ante, pp. 12, 32, 45. II This lane has been described as Stroud Green Lane (ante, pp. 12, 24, 32, 45). It ■was anciently called Danebottom Lane, and subsequently Boarded River Lane (p. 48). This lane formed a communication between Highbury and Stroud Green. Heame Lane crossed it where the Seven Sisters Road now runs (pp. 41, 45). In fact, what is now called Stroud Green Lane was known as " Stroud Green' before the waste on each side thereof was enclosed. 23 17H PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. i-oninii»iation. Ilighburv, Ncwiiigton Green, Holloway, Tollington and Stroud, and Kingsland. ton]; then proceedalongfield west of the Green Lanes (the boundary crosses the Xew River on the west side of bridge) and along dry ditch by the Kiver at the back of the Old Mill along the Pegasus public house wall, excluding dilch*, at the back of Jlilllicld Place; then cross ditch at the back of the Koyal Oak jmblic bouse, and pass along bank to a stone marked St.M.1. 1833 near the turn in ditch in the ground of the Koyal Oak public house, continue along bank of ditch and pass along the wall of Mr. VVest's Nursery Ground and con- tinue until you enter the Green Lanes again ; then keep along soutli side to a plate on the wall marked St.RLL 1838; cross from thence to the south of Albion lioad ; and then to the stone at the rails marked St. M. L 1809, which separate the north side of the Green from the road; cross the road again to a sunken stone by foot path; then proceed east and south east along the middle of the Coach-and-IIorses Lane to a sunken stone opposite King Henry Street, corner of Back Hoad, Kingsland; pass along the said road and turn east to a triangular post, corner of Cock-and-Castle Lane and King Henry Street, bearing the marks St. M. L, S.N., and H. P. 1822; and continue south along the east side of Tingey's Buildings, and along the front of the houses to a stone on the north side of Kingsland Green, marked St. M. L 1733; proceed through the said Green to a sunken stone by the south door of the Star and Garter public-house, corner of Ball's Pond Koad ;t the boundary then passes through the said public house to a sunken stone, at the rear of No. 1, Bentley Cresent; then pass through the back yards of the houses in Kingsland Boad, to a sunken stone against the wall of Union Buildings; then turn west along the said Union Buildings at the back of the houses and premises on the south side of Ball's Pond Road, known by the names of Elizabeth Place and Maberly Place, to plate on wall St. M. L 1839 ; then cross Middleton Place along the line of old ditch, and proceed along south side of private road to sunken boundary stone in Southgate Road ; cross the said road and proceed along old line of ditch between Mott's Lane and Southgate Koad; proceed nearly in a direct line through one of the new houses in Englefield Road (west), to the south side of nest new Koad; then turn sb.Hrp eastward to the cellar of No. 10, Oakley Terrace, Southgate Koad, where a stone formerly stood on Islington Common, marked St. M.I. 1733; and turning back of Market Terrace, De Beauvoir Town, Hackney parish, the back garden walls divide the parishes; then turn east to the sunken stone at Southgate Place, opposite the Rosemary Branch Tavern; then to No. 50, Sbep- perton Terrace; and then in an oblique line from that stone to the boundary stone of Saint Leonard, Shoreditch, at the corner of Wilton Terrace, east side; then south west in an oblique direction across the Regent's Canal to a stone on the south east side of Sturt's Lock ; then continue through the canal in a direct line to a stone near the foot of Rhodes's Bridge; turn from this stone and pass along the east of the Wharf Road; then cross the said road and continue west through the Saw Mills, and cross the City- Road Basin over line of sewer to City Gardens ; continue west along the site of old sewer to and along the front of Nelson Terrace ; then turn south along the centre of Cottage Place, and cross the City Road to an iron plate having the parish mark at the gate of house No. 5, the east end of Saint Vincent's Row ; continue in a line to the stone in Neal's Cow-house, between the City-Road and the Goswell Street Koad; and from thence to a stone in a wall behind the New Buildings in Sydney Place; proceed from hence in a line through the house No. 2, in Sydney Street, to a stone near the south west corner of that street in the Goswell Street Koad ; then turn north-west along the north of the said road, crossing the New River, close by the tool-house, to a stone at a point between the City and Goswell Street Roads; from thence continue along the middle of the road to the High Street; and thence north to the south end of the back road where the procession and perambulation commenced. * The boundary line of the parish runs by the hedge and ditch that bordered the Green Lane, and where there are still the remains and foundation of a Mill. The ad- jacent field, through which the New River takes its course to Stoke Newington, is called Mill Field, a name appropriated to it from early times by its owners the Hospitallers of St. John's, and is identical with the Mijltefthl in their cartulary of leases {ante, p. 118), and in the Ministers' Accounts upon the Dissolution of St. John's. The name is pre- served in the row of small houses facing the high road called the Green Lanes at New- • ington Green, called Milfield Place. • The "Star and Garter" public house stands on the scite of the Old Kingsland Chapel that stood at the end of the Ball's Pond Koad. The Lock Hospital of St. Bar- tholomew's to which the chapel waa attached, standing southward facing the High Road in Kingsland. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 179 The ancient name of this vill, Eyseldon, it has been already Pcrambuiauon. shewn, sufficiently indicates its position and local incidents in isiingtoD. very early times, — a small river or stream (Eysel or Ousel the diminutive of Eyse and Ouse a river) fed by the springs that issued from the woods and flowed from the hills northward of the few habitations seated upon the down or hilly pasture that overlooked the north side of London. This stream in its cur- rent towards the Fleet at Bagnigge Wash and ClerkenweU, was fed and increased by numerous land springs. The vill and the adjacent ground northward formed part of the twenty-four hydes of land that ^Ethelbert, King of Kent, gave to the Canons of St. Paul, London, when he founded that Cathedra], or as it was in that endowment termed, IMonastery. The Domesday Book shews the vill when in an advanced stage of civilization, and the description afforded by this ancient survey demonstrates that part of Islington was then in tillage; that another part was open and common pasture, the original Down ; and that another portion consisted of woodland, oak and beech, affording pannage for sixty swine. The extent of population must not be restricted to the villans, bordars, and cottars, in all twenty-seven persons and theii' families, for as those persons were mere tillers of the ground bound to the soil, their services were as much matter of computation and survey as the soil itself, and therefore the record of Domesday Book is not to be taken in this respect as a census of population, but simply as an enumeration of the persons whose rustic services were identified with the land in cultivation, and it may reason- ably be assumed that the population of Islington at the time of that record (1086) bore cceteris paribus the same relative pro- portion to other places, as in later times, until the extension of London has gradually converted the inhabitants of Islington from a rural to a suburban, if not, metropolitan population. Islington was a grazing and pastoral district from early times, and appears to have been the resort of shepherds and graziers to a recent period ; but beyond some glimpses of its state afforded us by monastic remembrances and public records we have no means of distinguishing the state of Islington from that of other places previous to the fifteenth century, when, from a few of the Court Rolls of Newington Barrow, iu the reign of Henry VI., somewhat may be gleaned as to the state of the scite of High- bury Manor; and these Court Rolls disclose an agi-icultural and pastor*al tenantry, in a country wherein was arable land and 180 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Pcraniimiaiion. numcrous " liampstalls " or homesteads, as also a considerable isiiiisiun. district appropriated for graziug and commonable pasture, toge- ther with woodland. From what has been noted as to Yveney, we learn that there (1) Ante, p. i3i was woodland at that place, and that it was cleared about 14U8('). The denomination, also, of the adjoining Newiugton, where the cleared land or field was called Newington Meld, in order to distinguish it from the adjoining prebend and parish of Stoke Newington, or Newiugton Stoke (i. e., Wood,) shews that the land at Newington Green was gained from the woody district, of which it formed a portion. The affix of Barowe to Newiugton is not without its significance*, even if this word Barowe were not merely applicable to the emiuence at what was, in later times, called High-bury. Beyond some few historical notices of Islington as a place well- known on the northern road from London, we have nothing that enables us to suggest any other idea of the place than that of a vill, situated on an eminence, over which was a highway leading to the then northern roads ; for the ancient vill or small town was seated on the ancient road leading to the Green Lanes, on the ascent of the Down that looked towards London on the south; and, in fact, the oldest buildings that can be remem- bered in existence were most of them situate on the east side of the High Street and the Lower Street, as far as Ward's Place, where the ancient buildings terminated. The increase of the town altogther was on the eastern side, or Lower Road ; there certainly were a few ancient houses in the Upper Street or west side, and a large mansion a little beyond the Church, but in that direction the town scarcely extended itself beyond the upper side of the Green, the line of traffic being in the Lower Street. The Church stood, as it were, in a field, on the highest part of the town, and not far from the woods, — a good situation, and one that seems in accordance with the custom of the Saxons, who seem to have been careful to build their churches upon the * Tliis word Banv) or Barwc may very consistently, with regard to its vicinity to tlic woods, have been an affix or surname to Newington, in the same manner as this word was to the Monastery of Minchin Barow or Barrow Gumey, in Somersetshire, which originally bore the simple name of Bearwe : The early Monastery at Barrow, near Goxhill in Lincolnshire, mentioned by the Venerable Bede (ante, p. 115), took its name, as he informs us, of ^Kt hearve, that is, at the wood. There was also Barrow iu Essex, the name of the cell of a Benedictine Monk of the Abbey of St. John, in Colchester. Also a Preceptory of St. John's, called Barow, in Clieshire. — Mon.-AnrjL ii. 547. Bearuwe or Bearwe is by the Saxon Dictionaries interpreted j'i'emus, Li^f^us, a grove, woody, billy, or high-ground. — Salmon's I\'ew Survey of Emjland, ii. 751. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 181 most conspicuous place in the parish, having regard to the con- Perambulation, veuience of such a scite. The date of its first erection cannot ^ogt*"- now be ascertained, but circumstances favour the presumption that a Church has existed on the scite of the present Church from remote antiquity.* * The church was dedicated to the B. V. Marv, and as the images of the B. V. M. and St. John, (in Monastic writings, styled the Mariola and Johannes^ usually placed in Monasteries and Churches were held in extreme reverence; it is most probably that there was a Mariola in Islington Church especially as the church was dedicated to the B. V. M. and may account for this parish being named St. Mary at Islington, as in other instances viz., St. John at Hackney, St. John p/Wapping, St. Mary at Lambeth, &c. — but I do not find that such image of the B. V. M. at Islington Cfcurch was ever called OUT Lady of hlinf/ton, or was publicly burnt as BIr. Nichnls in his Blst. and Antiq. of Cavoiihwi/ expressly states; for I consider that the following passage in BurneCs llist. Reform, i. 243, — "Then [I538J many rich shrines of our Lady of Walsingham, of Ipswich and Islington, with a great manj' more were brought up to London and burnt by Cromwell's orders'' — is solely applicable to Islington in Norfolk. In fact Bumet in another place speaks of Islington Tiear London, where on 17 Sept. 1557, three men and one woman suflered in the flames for their attachment to the Reformed Faith. Clement Cotton in his Mirrour of Martyrs, 18nio. 1633, p. 4tJ9, speaking of Islington, Midd's., says; — [Q.] How many were burnt here? [A.] These three, namely; 1. RafeAlerton; 2. James Auslo; 3. Margery Austo; 4. Richard Roth[ Wroth?]. Islington is also associated with the sufferings of other Protestant Martyrs. The appropriation of this church to the Benedictine Nunnery of Stratford at Bow, otherwise St. Leonard, Bromley, and the contention between them and the Chapter of the Canons of St. Paul's the original Patrons, in reference to the Advowson, has been already adverted to {ante, pp. 72, 73, 74). After the dissolution of the Nunnery, the Advowson was granted to Sir Ralph Sadler, (Pat. 32 II. 8, p. 8, m. 28) who in 1548 sold it to Thomas Perse from whom the title has been deduced to the present time. See Lysons' Env. London, tit. Islington, ed. 1811, p. 485, and I find amongst the Parliamentary- Surveys of Church Livings, (Midd'x.) at the Rolls Chapel the following account of the Rectory and Vicarage, 14 March, 1650. ^^T y \ Item, we present that in the parish of Islington there is only one Par- ° ■ j sonage and Vicarage presentation, and that the Parishioners are the Pro- prietors and possessors of the Parsonage by a Grant from Sir Walthoe Smith of Great Bedwin, in the County of Wilts, Knight, [in 1590 Ursula Smythe, W" claimed title to some part of the Vicarage House which she alledged belonged to the Parsonage of Islington. Miscell. Documents, Chapter House Westm. No. 2035,] dated the 10th day of March, in the two and twentieth year of the late King [1625], to Sir Arthur Haselridge, Knt. and Bar't., Sir Thomas Fowler Knight and Bar't., Sir Thomas Fisher and others .is Feoffees in Trust for the parish of Islington aforesaid, for ever, without any rent or other thing reserved. Also that one Mr. Bernard Cooke, an able Godly preaching Minister is the present Incumbent, put in by the said parishioners who have the presentation thereof, and hath for bis sallarie the whole profits of the said vicarage and tithes, which (if they were to be let without fine or income) are worth one hundred and eleven pounds pt.-r ann. And we humbly conceive that all the parishioners may so conveniently repair to the parish church to parlake of the publique worship and service of God, that there is no need of any division thereof.'' According to the Certificates of Colleges and Chantries, London and Middlesex, No. 84, (the "Chantry Roll") 1st January, 1st Edward VI. (1548.) *' The number of Howseiyng people" (('. e. Communicants) *• within the said parishe," was two hundred and forty in number, so that the inhabitants of Islington parish had not increased nmch during the period between 1548 and 1650. There is a modus of 4rf. an acre for all grass land in lieu of tithes of hay and agist- ment ; of 'id. for each cow in lieu of the tithe of milk ; of 2 uistofEngi. , . 8to., 1849, pp. 349, London which were published towards the close of the reign of ^^o- Charles the Second will see that only the nucleus of the present capital still existed. The town did not, as now, fade by imper- ceptible degrees into the countrj\ * * * On the north, cattle fed and sportsmen wandered with dogs and guns, over the scite of the borough of Mary-le-bone, and over far the greater part of the space now covered by the boroughs of Finsbury and of the Tower Hamlets. Islington was almost a solitude ; and poets loved to contrast its silence and repose with the din and turmoil of the monster London."* * At Islington Marl-et Crosse." This is extracted from one of the numbers of *' Mercurius Fumigosiis,^ from Wednes. eve. Septem. 6, to Wednes. eve. Septem. 13, 1654," This was a scurrilous " Mercurj-" of that time, and several numbers of this Newspaper are to be found in the Collection of Newspapers made by Dr. Burney, and now preserved in the British Museum. * See the remark of Bagford, the antiquary, (on(e, p. 16, n.) as to these crosses. The Cross at Haliwell, the present Shoreditch, was, in the reign of Richard II., described as, " quaidam Crux circumquaque edificata una cum parva Shopa vocata Ilalixvell Croice." — Placita super brevi de sci. fa. 10 Ric. 2, No. 9, p. 662 of MSct Calendar of County Placita, MidiFx. * See Cowley's Poems, — Several Discourses by way of Essays, in verse, p. 95. " methinks, I see The Monster London laugh at me ; I should at thee too, foolish City, Let but thy wicked men from out thee go, And all the fools that crowd thee so, E'en thou, who d'ost thy millions boast, A Village less than Islington will grow, A solitude almost." But the following Order in Council, made after the fire of London, when the inhabit- ants of London took shelter in the fields and neighbouring villages, shews more truly the secluded state of Islington in the seventeenth century than any poetical contrast can do, viz. : — " Whereas a very great number of our distressed subj" of London have for their present refuge repaired to the town and parish of Islington, in the houses and fields whereof they have laid and lodged the goods they have with soe much difficulty preserved from the violence of ye fire; and whereas we are informed that for want of Dep*? Lient"", Justices of the Peace, resident in the sd parish, there is no ward nor watch kept there, whereby they are in danger to be deprived of that little they have secured from the flames. Our royal will and pleasure, therefore, is, y' y? and every of y'", jointly or severally, not only cause strict watch and ward to be set and kept in all waves, avenues, and places requisite within the boundes and limits of the Sj towne and parish for preserving to each person which, by God's help, they have soe saved ; but also to give such charitable and Christian reception, lodging and relief, to their persons as conveniently may be. Willing, requiring, and hereby commanding all inbabiteing, now 184 PERAMBULATION OP ISLINGTON. Perambulation. Islington. (m) Ante, pp. Ifi, .SI. (D) Mon. Angl. ii. 542. (0) Ante, pp. 51, 66, 71, 126. (p) Herbal. Eil. Johnson, 1633, pp. 404, 842. (q) Cott MSS. Claud. E. Ti. 168 b. {Translation.) Islington, at that time, stood in the fields, as in fact it did till the close of the last century, and during some portion of the present: Gerard, the Herbalist ('"), came hither in tlic reign of Queen Elizabeth, for his simples and his wild flowers, many of which were to be cidled and gathered further away nothward within the parish till within thirty years since. However to pursue my description of Islington with that part that lay in Clerkenwell and nearer London, I need notice a hilly pasture lying on the back or west of Islington, called the Commandry Mantels, these fields also extended southward on the west side of what is now called the St. John Street Road, towards St. .Johns, and westward towards the Prebendal ]\Ianor of Cantlows, and included part of wliat is now properly called Pcntonville and the New Road, the Upper Pond now the Reservoir in Claremont Square and the New River Head. They comprised sixty-six acres, upon perhaps a larger admeasurement than that in use at the present day. In a book preserved in the College of Arms, compiled by John StiUingflete, anno 1434(°), containing the names of the Founders or Donors of the Priory of St. John's, and containing a breviate of their gifts, occurs the following : — " Thomas Foliat, alias dictus Gilbertus Foliat dedit Hospitalariis le Commaundos- mantels quce tempore Fratris Johanuis Radington non erant divisa sed Integra et seminabantur," i. e., Thomas Foliot, other- wise called Gilbert Foliot(°), gave to the Hospitallers the Coin- maundos mantles which in the time of Brother John Radington were not divided but entire, and were sown. Gerard (') styles them " the great field by Islington called the Mantels," and also " the Mantels by London." The Cartulai-ies of St. John's preserve /the transcripts of the Leases granted by the Priory of these fields, one of which was, on 24 April, 1516, let to Richard Clowdesly of Iseldon, Gentleman C), by the description of "that our one field, part of the Commanders Mantels lying on the north side of the fields (camporum) of the Manor of Barnardsbury, and abutteth upon another two fields called the Commanders Mantells, now in the tenure of John Burton, on the south side being in, or W" shall hereafter resort unto the s'' towne and parish to obey such Orders as y shall issue for watching and warding as aforesaid, and for preserving our peace. And that the Constables and all other our officers, civil and military, and all other our good subjects bee assisting to y" and every of y" in the execution of this our Royal Will and pleasure : And wee doe more especially recommend the care hereof to you, Griffith Bodurda. Given, &&, 5 Sept. 1666. By his &c., " To Griffith Bodnrda. " ARiisoTOK." Warrant Book, State Paper Office, vol. 10, p. 125. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 185 of the aforesaid field, the moiety of waif and stray and escheats Perambulation. excepted" — and by another Lease of the same date, the Priory leased to "John Burton of Iseldon, Yeoman('), those our two w cott. mss. T 1 1 -IT Claud.E. vl. 169 0. fields, parcel of our three fields called the Commanders Mautells {Tramuuion.} lying next to the Place of St. John's, nigh London" : we have already observed how these fields were accounted for(') upon the (s) Ante, p. so. dissolution of the Priory by Henry VIII., and how disposed of by way of re-grant and restoration by his daughter Queen MaryC) ; soon after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, the one ct)Ante, p. ii-. field of the Commanders Mantels that had been leased to Cloudesley, was granted to Robert Freke in feeC); and Thomas, ^^\^^'f^^^- Duke of Norfolk had a like grant in fee to him {inter alia) of the other two fields of the Commanders Mantels (') and all '"^f^^,^"^ the three subsequently became the Inheritance of Roger Parker, who died seised thereof, 15 Feb. 1578, and upon inquisition taken 5th Jan. 1607, it was found that he died seised(') "of '"> ?'"=!!'' I,;^""^ ' ^ ' 3Ild*l X, >o. 39. and in one field or closure of meadow and pastui'e called (TransiMifin.) Mantells, containing by estimation 66 acres, now in the occupa- tion of Roger Wood, Esq., situate and being within the parishes, towns, fields or hamlets of Islington and Clerkenwell, or either of them, and heretofore in the occupation of one Thomas Fowler" — and that he devised by his will, in such inquisition fully set forth — " all that his closure and pasture and piece of land called Mautells, lying on the west side of Islington, late parcel of the Preceptory, Anglice, the Commaundrie, called Mantells." In the grant I have cited in the note at p. 167, the distinguishing names of these three fields are given ; and in a plan of the New River Head, anno 1753, engraved for Cromwell's History of Clerkenwell, (p. 350) the space between the New River Yard and the " New Pond" now the Reservoir in Claremont Square, is described as " Butchers Mantells" as the name of the field lying above the New River Head, (as yet the New Road was not,) but the building of Myddletou Square and Upper Chadwell Street, and River Street some thirty years since (this is written in October 1857) has completely obliterated all remembrance of the Mantels and their former lordly possessors. There was a niece of ground or lane adioininsr the western extremity of these The Lane under fields, that was called the lane below or under the Mantels towards Kentish Town.* Venella subtus le Mantels versus Kentish Towne — which also belonged to the Hospitallers of St. John's ; this was granted out to Reve and Cotton, who sold • Kentish Town ia ancient records is what has since been known as Paucras. 24 186 FBRAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Perambulation. (X) Ante, II. 79. b') Pat 4 & 6, Phil' & Moris, p. 5. The Sbocpoote. (z) Ante, p. '23, in n. (a) Ante, p. 118. (U) Fat. IS Eliz. p. 2, in. 34. (c) Pat. 24 Eliz. p. 3, m. -5. (Trarulation.) (d) Claus' 12 Gill. & Nat. p. 4, n. 25. Fields behind the Angel at the ^Vtaltc Ckmdult (e) Clans' 1 1 Gal. feMnr.p. 3, No. ■■>, m. 26. it to the occupicr(») Richard Browne, whose son Thomas, in 1581 or thereabouts, ahcncd it with other hand to one Nicholas Bagley. This piece of ground or lane is described as lying in Isclden(T). Adjoining to the Commandry Mantels at Islington High Street, was a tenement garden and house called the Sheepcote, with a close also belonging to St. John's ; this I have already noticed as having been leased before the dissolution of the Priory to Richard Clowdcsley, wlio held it for a term of 80 years (') : it was re-granted by Queen Mary, with other posses- sions of St. John of Jerusalem, to the Hospitallers, as I have ob- served wdth regard to Highbury jManor(°), but in the ensuing reign of Queen Elizabeth this property was dealt with as con- ventual property iu the hands of the Crown, and leased to Brian Fitzwilliam for 21 years, by the same description as in Queen Mary's grant(''), and iu the 24th year of her reign{') she granted the same property {inter alia) to Robert Earl of Leicester and his Trustee John Morlcy, by the description of " that our tenement, and that our garden and croft to the same tenement adjacent, situate, &c. in Iscldon, otherwise Islington, in our County of Midd'x. now or late in the tenure or occupation of Will. Woodmautell or his assigns, heretofore demised to one Henry Lodesman, and all that our House called the Shijtcote, with the appurt's. with the small close to the said tenement ad- jacent, in Iseldon aforesaid." I consider that the Angel Inn stands in front of what was the field whereon the Sheepcote stood, and both which in an Inden- ture dated 13 December, 1700('''), were described as follows — viz., " All that the messuage tenement or Inn commonly called or known by the sign of the Angel, sit., lying, and being in Iselden, alias Islington, in the county of Midd'x.; and also all that close or parcel of land in Islcdon, otherwise Islington aforesaid, lying between the said messuage, tenement or Inn, contairung 2a. ; and also all that the House called or known by the name of the Shccphouse or Sheep-pens standing and being in Islington upon the said close." While I am describing the ancient state of this locality, I may remark that westward, and at the back of the Angel were the following fields which I find comprised in a conveyance thereof, 29 January, 1699 («), to one Bagiiall, who also owned the Angel and the property already described ; — \iz., " Conduit Field, 29rt. ITp.j the two Stony Fields, 18a. Ir. 32p.; Square Field, alias PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 187 Little Lay Field, 15a. 3r. \0p.; Little Bushey or Wliores Field, p^*"""^"""" 8ff. 16r. ; Great Lay Field or Hammond's Field, 1 [)a. 3r. ; Clawson's Close and part of Primrose Hill, then divided into two fields, 16a. 2r. 31p. ; Little Primrose Hill, 3a. 2r. 36/). ; Hawton's Field Meadow, 6a. 2r. IGji. ; all which said closes were theretofore parcel or reputed parcel of the Manor of Barnesbury alias Barnardsburye, in Islington, in the county of ilidd'x, and were all lying in or near the parish of St. Mary, Islington." From this part of the parish which is considerably elevated, was a view of Highgate and Hampstead on the north west ; and south, on the brow of the Hill, in the line of the New Road at Penton Street, Winchester Place and up to the Angel, was a prospect over Loudon. This was the ancient Down called Islington Hill. In "An Echo from Heaven," Sec, printed for the author in 12mo. and sold at his house in Long Alley in Black Fryers, 1652 (2nd ed. 1653); the author describes his dream, which he wished to be deemed a prophecy, at page 12, 1st ed., (p. 8, 2nd ed.) he says — " and at the time methought I was on Islington Hill by the Water-house, and London appeared before me as if it had been burnt with fire, and there remained nothing of it, hut a few stone walls : but I made nothing of this dream." Gerard's Herbal (') affords us another glimpse of the ancient (0 ccrard-a Hor- ^' o I ^ ^ |,j] Ed. Johnsou state of this Islington Hill, when he tells us " These kinds of ">5^ [orchis] do grow in dry pastures and heaths, and likewise upon chalky hills, the which I have found growing plentifully in sundry places, as in the field by Islington near London, where there is a Bowling Green, under a few old shrubby oaks." Lib. 3, chap. 114, p. 218. The spot alluded to seems to have been the same as the Mantels(e) , and corresponds with the more modern (s) Ante, p. si. . ^ inn. Prospect House and Bowling Green, p. 160, in n. Hollar, in three of a set of six small views, 1665 ; viz., " The Waterhouse ;" " On the North side of London ;" " By Islington ;" enables the reader to form an idea of this locality in its then open and rural state, and several " Perspective" views of London during the last century, and up to 75 years since taken on this spot, indicate how tardy at that time, in comparison with the present, was the progress of building in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. At the foot of the Hill westward, ran the current of the Fleet _ ,„ _ . , in its course by Baguigge Wells to Clerkenwell ; the Bridge over which at this place has always been called Battle Bridge, (although the erection of a building surmounted by a statue of King W. IV. has caused the place to be called King's CrossJ 188 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. pgrambuiation. most probably from some battle fought there in earlier times*, perhaps so far back as the period of tlie Danish incursions, the memory of which, as I have ventured to suggest, have been tra- ditionally preserved in Danebottom, at Highbury Vale. Nelson cites Stow, who in his chronicles states, that in the reign of Edward VI., a Miller of Baltailc Bridge, was punished with the pillory and loss of ears for scan, mag., and he also refers to Ames's Typographical Antiquities, to shew that one " Cliffe, an honest Cobbler (shoemaker) dwelling at Battel- bridge," was the reputed author of a book printed in 1589, called The Cobbler's Book, which imputed Papistical practices upon the Reformed Anglican Ciiurch. I, however, believe the Buttuile-hx\Aq,o to have been that " Battailc Bridge so called of Battaile Abbey," as Stow informs us in his Survey of London — "for that it standeth on the ground, and over a watercourse (flowing out of Thames) pertaining to that Abbey" — but I con- sider that the Battel bridge the dwelling of the Cobler or Shoe- maker, for Coblers they were called in ancient times, is identical with the Battle Bridge we now discourse upon, for in an luqui- (h)E9ca. 95 ] There is a " Rufford's Buildings" on the east side of the High Street, close by the turnpike, bearing date 1685, and also inscribed RUFFORDS BUILDINIS (sic) Nelson, ed. 1811, p. 256. The old brick houses on the north side of the Green called Old Paradise Row, were, I believe, built by a JIajor Ryan and called Major Ryan's Walk. In the Register of Bath, appended to Guidott's Collection of Treatises relating to the City of Bath, Lond., 8vo., 1725, p. 391, occurs the following: " Major Ryan, of Islington, near London, by drinking the waters and bathing in the King's Bath received benefit, 169.3." t The old Queen's Head was puUed down in 1829. In the Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, by Oldys and Birch, prefi.'ied to his works in 3 vols. Oxon. 8vo. 1829, i. pp. 178, 179, it appears that the Pied Bull had formerly been one of his residences, and in the pages here cited this house is described in a manner that is more fully illustrated by the Plate, in the Gent. Hag. 1791, above referred to in the margin(i). I observe in the Parish Register — " George the .son of Willymott Rawtye, widow, was buried thel July, 1594." Ward^s Place, was demolished in 1800, Nelson. ed. 1811, pp. 201 — 208. A Lady Correspondent of Sylvanus Urban, remarked that she had heard this house called Hunsdon Bouse, as having been the residence of Henry Carev, cousin to Queen Elizabeth, created Lord Hunsdon, 1559. See Gent. Mag. 1791, Ixi. Part I. p. 431. In the Parish Register occurs the following; viz. "The same day [27 June 1572] was buried a Stranger that departed of Childbirth from Carroy Ifowse.'' From the circumstance of the quarterings of Sir Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester having remained in a window of this Mansion (_Gent. Mag. 1792, Ixii. Part I. p. 121, 25 194 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Perambulation. there HOW staiicls a Dissenter's Chapel, was the residence of the sir Thomas Fowlcr Family, pulled down in 1850. Ellis in his Campanna Fowler's Lodge. •' ,_., . . of London, Nelson, Ci'orawcll, and Lewis have given very minute accounts of these ancient buildings, the memory of which is also preserved in various illustrative prints, — the prints that are given in the first edition of Nelson's History of Islington being of a superior character. At the extremity of what was the garden to Fowler House, in a small street, called Allen Street, there yet stands a brick edifice that, till the last thirty ycar.s, looked over what were then Canonbury Fields : this edifice has been called Queen Elizabeth's Lodge, for what reason it does not chmidy appear. It was built by Sir Thomas Fowler, probably for the purposes of protection and sccuritj' : on the west side of this building, let into the brickwork, arc his arms sculptured in stone, and the canoubiiry House, flate 1653, — presumedly the date of its erection. This leads us to Canonbury Tower, the only perfect remains of what, with the adjacent buildings, formed Canonbury House, the seite of the original Bury or retiring place of the Prior of the Canons of St. Bartholomew. The year 13G3 has been assigned as the date of the original building, but I do not believe the Arabic figures or nu- (u) Hiai. & Antiq. mcrals prcscrvcd by Nichols (°) to have been contemporaneous ofCanonhui^'. . * . v-\i'iauu.j}rj.3. with tlic crection of tlic building, in which he states they were found, Arabic figures not being commonly in use till long after that date. The present Canonbury House, the more perfect remains of which consist of a square brick built tower, 17 feet square and 58 feet in height, was built by Prior Bolton between 1509 and 1532; indeed, Stow informs us that he "builded of new the Manor of Canonbury, at Islington, which belonged to the Canons of that House." The entire scite, together with a small park abutting southward on Hopping Lane, was inclosed with a brick wall, forming a perfect square, that extended from the wall now visible in the Ahvyne IJoad northward to Hopping Lane J and in this wall, let into the brickwork, were several stone carvings, about 10 inches square, of the Prior's rebus, a bird bolt through a tun, and one of these is still perfect and also visible in one of the two octagonal buildings at the south-west and north-east angles of the wall, ^^z., upon the one annexed to riale III. fig. 2) it seems highly probable that at some time he made this Mansion his residence. — Nelson, ed. 1811, p. 203. Fisher I/otuie \ins levelled in 184.'), to make way for Pit-kering Place and the honses behind the same since built upon the scite of the house and garden. Also see Kelson, ed. 1811, p. 406. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. ]95 the dwelling house. No. 2, Alwyne Villas, (opposite No. 15, Pcramboianon. Canonbuiy TeiTace,) in the Lane that leads from the New canonbury House, North Road to Canonbury Tower, This rebus is also said to be still extant in three other parts of the building. As Sir John Spencer purchased Canonbury ('), subject to a lease <■') •*»".!>• "* for 31 years, granted by Lord Wentworth to William Ricthorne, Esq., dated 19 Jlay 7° Eliz., 1565*, at a rent of 64/. 14s. Q\d. and subject to chief rents, he evidently did not make his purchase with a ^^ew to immediate residence there, and, in fact. Sir Arthur Atye, Public Orator of the University of Oxford, who married his widowf, occupied this mansion under that lease till 1596; and, I note, that in 1599 the rent reserved to Sir John upon some fields at Canonbury were payable at his dwelling house of Crosbie Place, but I conclude that in 1603 he was resident at Canonbury, for in a lease he made dated 18th April, 1G03, of Great Cutlers and Little Cutlers, the rent thereupon reserved was made payable at the Manor House of the said Sir John Spencer, called or known by the name of Canbury, alias Canonbury, in the parish of Iseldon, alias Islington." From the fact of his grand-daughter being baptized at Islington, I think it most probable that Sii- John's daughter and son-in-law. Lord and Lady Compton were resident at this mansion in 1605 J; the carved wainscoating, chimney pieces, and other remains of cumbrous magnificence are, with great probability to be referred to the time of Sir John Spencer's residence, as well as to that of Lord and Lady Compton, who do not appear to have resided here very long ; but this mansion was not without suitable occupants, for Lord Chancellor, Thomas Egerton Viscount Brackley resided here, both when Lord Keeper EUesmere and when Lord Chancel- lory"), as did the great Sii- Francis Bacon when Attorney General, („) ^(^ p ,,,_ from February 1616, as also at the time of his receiving the Great Seal on 7 January 1618, and for some time afterwards. Another Chancellor, Thomas Lord Coventry succeeded Lord St. Albans, and his residence continued during the entire term of his Chan- * "William Ricthorne and Anne Quailes married 12 Sept'. 1165." "William Rycthorne, Esqu", died the 18th day of November, and was buried the 27 day of the same month, A^ 15S2." — Parish Reijtster. t Entries of the baptisms of his children appear in the Parish Register from 1588 to 1594 inclusive. X " Ann, daughter of LA William Compton, bapf the 6 day of September, 1605." — PaHsh liegister. Sir John Spencer died in 1609. There is an extraordinary narrative of his intended seizure in his way to Islington by a Pirate of Dunkirk who came over on a shallop icith 12 musqueteeTS iu order to waylay him and carry him otf, imagining to be greatly en- riched by his ransom ; but by an accident Sir John was detained in Loudon, and thus is said to have escaped. 19G PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. perambuuuon. ccllorsliip, and ill fact till his decease, January 13, IGIO. The caaonbmyHoiue. great rebellion commenced in 1G41, and James, Earl of North- ampton, being slain at Hopton Heath near Stafford, in March, 1G42, and the young Earl, together with his brother, being actively engaged on the King's side, it may be presumed that Canonbury House had few such occupants as I have described, indeed its noble and loyal owner in IGjO, and 1G61, was com- pelled to mortgage Canonbury, to enable him to pay debts in- curred in the service of his Sovereign. From this time Canon- bury House was occupied separately, for it is apparent from the (X) Ante. Hi 14, n. mortgage of 1661 (') that the Mansion House was on lease to Arthur Dove, and the Turret House to Edward Ellis. The last nobleman who appears to have resided at Canonbury was William Viscount Feilding, Earl of Denbigh, who died here 23 August, 1685. During the last century Canonbury House was occupied by transitory visitants, who either went thither for fresh air or to pursue their literary labours in retirement, indeed a list of its occupants would comprise jaded statesmen, wearied encylo- pajdists, busy citizens, and controversial nonconformists, who all seemed to regard Canonbury as a place of repose. Dr. Oliver Goldsmith is said to have dwelt in that part of the building called the Turret House, from 17G2 to 1764. This Mansion becoming dilapidated, was leased in 1770 to Mr. John Dawes, for 61 years, who converted the ancient mansion into three dwelling houses, which although possessing modern and uniform fronts, retain numerous interesting me- morials of the previous monastic and courtly owners of Canonbury, and for a full description of these we are indebted to Nelson and his Editor Lewis. Mr. Dawes also built other houses on the old scite, which with those three first mentioned, made fifteen in (y) Nichoi'a nist number('). The Brick Tower which had long been separated A: Antlq. of ^ ' _ _ _ ° ^^ canoabiiry, p. 31. from tlic morc magnificent portion of the building, but possess- ing several roomy and oak wainscoatcd apartments, has been allowed to remain in its pristine state and was till within the last 22 years let out in chambers, or sets of rooms to temporary occupants, but is now entirely in the tenure of a land-bailiff to the Marquis of Northampton. Viewed from the Alwync Road that occupies the space between the New River and the ancient garden wall, Canonbury House presents to the eye a lofty range of tiled building, with large w Ed. 1811, gardens that still possess an air of seclusion. Nelson {') notices PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 197 the pleasing appearance of these gardens when the New Kiver r'^ambuiation. formed their boundary, and the neighbouring fields were un- canonuniy. enclosed. From the south, as it appeared in 1753, there is a "View of Canonbury House in a print IG inches by 10, printed by Thomas JefFerys, and published on 12 August in that year. The same print also expresses to be printed for H. Parker on the same date ; also for John Boydell, without date, and lastly for Robert Wilkinson, 123, Fenchurch Street. There is a South View of Canonbury House iu the set of prints I have noticed at p. 163«., and I have observed an East View at the head of a song set to music about 1730, and in one of Chatelaine's small Views of Vil- lages &c. near London there is " The South East View of Cambray House; 1750." And in another "The North View of Islington," taken from Highbury, Canonbury House is shown ; the frontis- piece to Nichols's History and Antiquities of Canonbury House also contains a North West View of Canonbury, from which the extent of the mansion and grounds can be discerned ; the drawing from which this engraving is taken, shews the Turrett which was taken down in 1770. Numerous prints also exist of the brick built Tower, one intituled " Remains of Canonbury," {slumi'eTOi., engraved by Storer, 1804, and another print in Nelson, both ''■-''*• quarto size, seem to be superior engravings ; although two cir- cular prints by Benjamin Green about 1780, — "West View of Canonbury" and "North West View of Canonbury" are not without merit. What has been in later times called Highbury was originally a nighbury. part of Newington, and still in its manerial description bears that name. I do not find Highbury even named till the year 1444-, when in that Book I have already citedl'') as containing the names ft) Ante, p. i84. •^ . Mon. Angl. 1L54I, of the Donors to, or as they styled Founders of, the Hospital of 5«, cd. lesi. St. John of Jerusalem, is to be foimd the following entry " Domina Alicia de Barowe dedit dominium totum de High- bury et Newton, cum pertinentiis." In an extent of the Lands and Tenements of the Hospitallers, stated to have been made by Philip of Thame Prior, in the year 1338 I see no mention made of Highbury save as " Camera de Newenton in Com' Midd'x," and as the word Camera betokened a residential Manor, it seems clear that the name of Highbury had not then, at least in common parlance, obtained. In this " Extent "(") Highbury is thus des- (c) Extents Ter- r > \ I a J rarum Hosp. Job. cribed "Newynton. At that place there is one Manor, two J^i'm m Angua, •^ ^ ' printed bytheCam- carucates of land, ten acres of meadow, sixteen acres of pasture, 5'o6f,^„'5'"\ ten acres of wood, all which are worth by the year, beyond the (rrawto"*"-) 198 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Pcrambuiatioa rcnt resolutc to divcrs Lords, of eleven marks. £10. 0. 0. And it is demised to the IMsliop of Lineoln, for term of his life by act of the Chapter, in the time of Thomas L'Areher, rendering therefor, nothing." What therefore was known as Highbury was first confined to the immediate viciuit\' of the Castle* on the Hill, the Barn, Grange and Woods, and although Highbury subse- quenth"^ comprehended land further distant, yet such land late in the reign of Queen Elizabeth was said simply to lye in Islington, •'«'*;"•«*• 27 210 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Perambiiiauon. a lane (Nichols and Nelson both describe it as a pleasant path) Ncwingtoii Green. Jcadinfj south-east from Newiugton Green into Hall's Pond Koad, ttntefpt3".''i5r *'''^ ^^^^^^^ " *^'"» Harry's Walk" or " King Henry the Eighth's ' '"■ Walk/'C) There is extant the minutes or draught of a Warrant from (^harlcs II. dated 17th Sept. 1662, directed to the Attorney General, directing him to prosecute "one Anthony Mildmaye, late of the parisli of Newington Green," who " having heretofore iu the time of the late usurped Powers the Government and Custody of our deai'e Brother late Duke of Gloue' and of our late deer Sister the Princess Elizabeth deceased, at Caresbrook Castle in our Isle of Wight, had for their use delivered to him by the said late pretended Powers, several pieces of silver jjlate and silver vessels, hangings, beds and other things to the value of 1950/. parcel of the goods and chattels of our late Deare Father, all which the said Anthony Mildmay converted to his own use, without making any accomnt to the said late Powers for the same or unto us." — Warrant-Book State Paper Office. This Estate which contains 64a. 3r. 38/7. and is Copyhold of free tenure holden of the Manor of Highbury has continued in the Mildmay Family, but has very recently been covered with buildings on the scite of the Park that extended to Ball's Pond and the Kingsland Road, under the power of a Personal Act of Parliament, intituled " An Act to authorize the granting and building leases of the settled Estate of Dame Jane St. John Mildmay, in the parish of Saint Mary Islington in the county of Midd'x, and for other purposes," and to which the Eoyal Assent was given June 31, 1827. At the entrance to the Green on the west side of Newington Green Lane is a Farm House, known as Abury Farm, which I believe takes its name from "Avery" the tenant for life of the ri) Ante, p. 7c. Iloppings('). The meadow at the back of this Farm, was much frequcBted by the Anglers of the last century, for The Gentleman ()■) Ed. 1736. Angleri^) speaks of Awbemj Farm Newington, as one of " the principal places for angling near London." Kingsland. East of Ncwiugton Green is Kingsland, a place I find not much noticed in Records ; Kynyesland is named as one of the hamlets included within the ambit of Newenton Barowe, and even there it does not seem to have been deemed of much im- portance, for in the appointment of " collector of rents," Kings- land is not included by name.* I think indeed that Kingsland * John Hylic, Collector of the rents oi Newenton; John Upton, Collector of the rents of hellion; and Kichanl Ilcthe, Collector of the rents of Tulyndon and Strode, — Court Roll of Newenton Barowe, 28 Henry VI. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 211 properly speaking may be said to lie chiefly in Hackney parisli,t ^""ani"'"'' however I find that in the grant made by Hen. VIII. (') to Sir (2) pat. 31 h. 8, Ralph Sadler of the possessions of the unfortunate Giles Heron, ^' '^ "'-^^M. Esq. of Shacklewell, occurs the following " one small tenement lying at Kyngis Land with a small close of laud called Church Feld." I also observe among Nicholas Charles's(') Collection of c) "s. Lansd, ° ^ ' Ho. 874, r.) 73. Arms and ISS. in Islington Church, all of which (with the ex- Ant«, p. is?, in n. ° _ ' _ ^ I*wls, p. 200. ception I have already noted) Lewis has included in the Account of Islington Church ; the following ; " George Bludworth of Kingsland and Elizabeth his wyfFe, da. to James Crosse, Gentle- man, which George decessed, 1576." Part of the building called Kingsland Spital in the Survey of Kingsimid spitsi. 1611, stood in this parish, in fact upon the Hackney and Isling- ton Boundary Line, as will be seen by consulting the parochial perambulation cited by NelsonC") — "proceed along the east side pp'^",^.'*"' of the said [Kingsland] Green to Kingsland Chapel, enter the door on the north side, and pass through the same by a door op- posite, keeping on the west side of the old Lock Hospital to a stone at the opposite bank." This Spital consisted of an Hos- pital that stood in the High Road Kingsland facing the east, and at the corner of the road leading from Kingsland to Ball's rond stood a stone Chapel, on which was a board inscribed " St. Bartholomew's Chapel." The authority I have already citedC) speaking of the Lock (O *"!<■• p >3<«- Hospitals belonging to Saint Bartholomew's, states " one was situate in Kent Street, then called Kentish Street, in Southwark ; the other was at Kingsland. These had been two of the numerous Lazar Houses founded for lepers, when between the 11th and 15th centuries leprosy (Elephantiasis Grsecorum) was rife in Britain. That in Kent Street was founded sometime previous to 1321, with the title of ' The Hospital of the Blessed Mary and of Saint Leonard for lepers, without Southwark.' That in Kingsland was probably less ancient." Strype, in his edition of Stow, who con- sidered this Lock to lye in Hackney — and correctly — cites a will dated US?!"), in the Bishop of London's Register, by which John ^^t^t^J^\^„j, Pope, citizen and barber, gave to " the masters and governors of the house of Lepers, called Le Lakes, at Kyngeslond without Lon- don, an annual rent of Qs. 8d. issuing out of certain shops and tenements in Shetebone Lane, toward the sustentation of the said house at Kyngeslond, for ever." These Locks at Southwark and t Mary Holniedon, the daughter of Edward Holmedon, was x'ened in King.sland, in the parish of Islingtou, 18 November. ..... 1382 — Parish Jieghter of Islington. 212 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. rvrambutatlon. Kit^rslund. (e) Vol. I. pi. 67, 68, Lond. 1819. (f) Ed. 1811, p. 192. The Rosemaiy Branch, (e) Merrett'8 rinax 1667. Kingsland upon the decline of leprosy in Enf^land, became tlic only remaining Uut-houses, attached to St. Bartholomews, and about the commencement of the seventeenth century became " part of the Hospital property, and placed under the controul of the governors. The Lock, (as it was usually called) in Kent Street, Soutlnvark, was appropriated to men ; and the Spital at Kingsland to women.* Each contained about thirty beds, and was under the charge of the guider, guide, or surgeon who was appointed by the Governors of the Hospital, and wlio received from them, for many years after 1608, an usual stipend of -1/. and 4f/. a day for the diet of eacli patient under his charge." The dissolution of the Locks was resolved upon and accom- plished in 1760, when thej' were let for ordinary purposes ; there are Engravings of both these Hospitals in Wilkinson's Z/0wrf(«M7» lllustrata{'), and the Spital at Kingsland is there represented as a square brick-built dwelling-house occupied by a cornchandler, still retaining the arms of St. Bartholomew's Hospital over the door, there was, according to Maitland, a sun-dial at the end of the house with the motto Post voluptatem miseria. The Stone Chapel is also represented in a Engraving by Benjamin Green about 1780, and a good engraved Print thereof, is also preserved in Nelsou('): it was pulled down together with the Hospital, wf 1816, and the Star and Garter public-house built upon the scite of the chapel, the north door of that house corresponding in position with the north door of the old chapel. " Barnaby" in his Itinerarium, makes Kingsland his second stage from London through Islington, — viz. Pritiio die satiir vino Veni Islington h Londino, Iter arduum et grave, Sero tanien superavi, Acta vespertina scena Siccior eram qtihm arena. First day having drunk with many. To Islington from London came I, Journey long and grievous weather. Yet the evening brought me thether; Having t'ane my pots by the' fier Summer sand was never drver. Veni Kingsland, terram Regis, Speciosam ccctu gregis, Equum ubi fatigantem, Vix ultcrius spatiantem. Nee verberibiis nee verbis Motum, gelidis dedi herbis. Thence to Kingsland, where were feeding Cattell, sheepe and mares for breeding; As I found it, there I feared That my Uozinant was wear'ed : When he would jog on no faster. Loose I turu'd him to the pasture. Retracing our steps from Kingsland by the Ball's Pond Koad, anciently " the Lane from Islington to Kingslandi,*^), and turning * Ann Turner, from the Hospital, bur'', the 12 July 1669. Waterhouse, Jeane, from St. Bartholomews Ospitall, bur"" 2 June 1681. — Parish Register. Numerous entries of burial occur of male persons in the Parish Register o/", andyrom. The Spittle, but whether such persons had been inmates of The Kingsland Spittle, or oi" " The Spittle House at Upper Ilolloway," or " Our Spittle," as the Lazar House at IIol- loway was termed, I have nothing but conjecture to guide me. PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. 213 round to the eastern boundary of the parish at what was Isliiig- Perambulation. ton Common, and thence upwards to the Rosemary Branch wc The Rosemary , . , . Branch. come to the ancient M'mchingjiM in the Hyde, — those forty acres belon^ng to the Nuns of Cleikenwell which the descend- The Hjdes. ants of Dereman of London gave them, being the same half hyde of which Dereman was registered the owner in Domesday Book, and from which half hyde they took their name.* Min- chingfield is as much as to say, the Nuns Field, and the lane called Iveney Street or Seveney Street, afterwards Hyde Lane, that led from Iloxton by these lands seems to have been the same lane that in the Remarks on this Parish collected from the Parish ClerksC") is called Mincing Lane. ,^'„f ""^ ■'"■ '' ^' After the dissolution of the Nunnery these 40 acres were ac- counted for as three closes, called the Hyde ('), containing by (■) Ante, p. -e. estimation forty acres. These closes were next granted('') by the m Pat. 35 h. s. Crown to John Cokke in fee as " all those our three closes of 2' January.' land called Lez Hydes, containing, &c. 40 acres ; lying and bdiug in Iseldon in our county of Midd'x, and lately belonging to the late Monastery of Clerkenwell, in the same county," together with Weryngs Lands, of which I have already made mention. Sixteen years afterwards William Haies, Gent., had licenceC) n)Pat.3aiid4 to assign the three closes of laud, called Lez Hydes, containing p. s, m. a.' 40 acres, &c., and also Weryngs Lands, to John Clerke ; and in the next year there was a licences") granted confirming an in- ',"'?,.'''*'■,''„'""' .' V / o O I>hir iiiid Mar. denture made by John Clerke of Iselden, Gent., to John Cock, p- '•'•"'• "■ Esq. and another, of Weryngs Lands and " of all those lands called Le Hides, containing 40 acres, lying in Iseldon," to uses which, as to the Hydes, were limited to the use of Clerke and wife for life, remainder to Henry Iden for life, remainder to Edward Wrothe and William Wrothe (sons of Gierke's wife) in tail with ultimate remainders over, and the Wrothes appear to have inherited The Hydes under this deed of entail. I lastly find that The Hydes became the property of Sir John Miller, Knight, who occupied the ancient house in the Upper Street, afterwards " The Pied Bull," and whose arms impaling those of his wife, Mary Griggs, daughter of Michael Griggs, of London, Gent., were in one of the windows of that housef"), but I collect '"> t?""- ""?■ from the Inquisition taken after his decease that he finally re- Amci). issn. * Dereman was, as his name indicates, a Saxon, and preserved his property b_v ad- hering to Wilham I., and most probably was a son of Algar, who held this half-hvde in the time of Edward the Confessor. Algar, the sou of Dereman, was the lirst Pre- bendary of Iseldon of whom there is any record, (/In^e, p. 60 in ?i.) — NewcourVs Uepert. i. I(>j. 214 PERAMBULATION OF ISLINGTON. Perambulation. The Roscmar/ Branch. (.■) Eic MiXflL Itundle 3i, Nim. 9'2 ailJ 103. Anlf, |i. 166 n. tPf Local A per- t'taalActtCap czt. 9 Sept IS35. ('!) Id. 17 .' ; High Road, 22; Lower Road, 23; Back ' le, or Liverpool Road, 24; liagbush Lane, .4; Ancient Communications with Hag- bush Lane from Clerkenwell, Portpool and Kentish Town, 27, 20; Maiden Lane, 29; Hornsey Road, Devil's Lane or Tollington Lane, 31 ; Heame Lane, or The Seven Sisters' Road, 32; Stroud Green Lane, .32; Great North, or High Road, 34; Pairage Grant in aid of, 35; Highgate Hermitage, 36 ; 1 he New Road, 42; City Road, 43; New North Road, 44; .Seven Sisters' Road, 45 ; Camden-Town and Holloway Road, 45; Battle Bridge and Holloway Road, or Caledonian Road, 46; Higbgate Archway Road, 46 ; Kentish Town and Up|ier Holloway Road, 47; Regent's Canal, 48 ; New River, 48; Great Northern Railway, 48; Camden Town Junction, or North London Railway, 49 ; Origin of the Parish, 49 ; Entries in Domesday Boob, 54 — 56 ; Observations thereon, 58 — 60 ; Scu- tages upon Knights' Fees in Islington, 66, 67 — 72; Patronage of the Church in Ancient times, 72 ; Possessions of the Dissolved Monasttri.-s in Parish of, 75; The Nunnery of St. Mary, Clerkenwell, 76; The Priory' of St. John of Jerusalem in England, 77 • The Priory of St. Bartholomew, London, 85 ; The Abbey of Vale Royal, 86; The Priory of St. Mary Spital, 87 ; Manors in, 58, 89; Prebend Manor, 90^ 97; Barnsbury Manor, 97—109; Canonbury Manor, 109—115; Highbury Manor, 115 — 125; Manor of St. John of Jerusalem, 125 — 1 28 ; Manor of Cletkenwell. 128, 129 ; Yveney, 129— 134 ; Hollowav Lazar House, or Spilal, 134 — 138; The Wh'ittington Stone, 140—143; The Hermitage of St. John's, 143—146; Lady Owen's Alinshou.ses.Chapel,and School , 146 — 149; Archery in Finsbury Field, 149 — 157; Islington Ducking Ponds, 157 — 160; Islington Conduits, 160— 165; St. John's Conduits, 165 — 167; CanonburyConduits, 167— 169; High- bury Conduits, 169— 171; Clerkenwell Con- duits. 171, 172; Roman Camps at Itarnsbury and at Highbury, 17J — 176; Perambulation, 176 «.; Concluding Observations upon the ancient state (if, 177—180; almost a .solitude, and deserted state of, in li;66, 1S3 and n. ; The Commandry Mantels, 184; The Lane under the Mantels, 185, 186: Fields behind the Angel at the Willie Conduit, 186. 187; "Islington Hill by the Waterhouse," 187; Battle Bridge, 187, i88; Clowdeslcy's devise of the Stony Fields, 189-191 : S.adler's Hollow in the City Hoad, 191 ; Islmgton Town, 191, 192; .■\ncient Houses, 192; Sir 1 ho. Fowler's Lodge, 194; Canonbury House, 195 — 197; Highbury, 197, 198; The Boarded River, 199; Tollington and Stroud, 200—205; Stroud Green, 202-204; Ilolloway, 205—208; Newington, 208; The Hoppmg's and Wcryngs Lands, 208, 209 ; New INDEX. idgton Green, 209, 210; Kingsland, 210; Kings- land Spital,:21 1 ; TbeKosLMuary Branch, Minclt- ingfielcl in tlie llyile, ami The Ilydes, 213, 214. Islington Butts, 15U n., 151 n., lia n., 185. and Clerkenwell, 1-16. 147 ». Common, 33, 125, 150—152, 155 n.— 157. Green, 22, 114. Ponds, 157; see Ducking Ponds. Wells, 191 re. Prebend of, 49, 52, 90. Koad, 20, 2 1 ; ste 8t. John Street Koad. to Kinysland, Lane leading from, 212. Hill by tlie Water-House, 187. Iveney,33, 88,89, 129—133, lSO;iee£ven-groTe — Yveney. Ivley Grove, 134 ; see Yveney. Jack Plackett's Common, 191 n. Jack Straw's Castle, Conduit near, 169,170n., 171. Popular name given to High- bury Castle or House, 176 n. Japan House at Stroud Green, 12, 177 »., 204. Jehu or Jolin, Kover so named, 153, 214. John of Kentish Town, 110. John or Jehu, Rover so named, 151, 214. Jordan Briset, 126. Junction Koad from Kentisli Town, 31, 41,44, 46,47, 177/1. ; 5e