Brantefeldesselde - Bretask (la), Dowgate

Brantefeldesselde

A seld so called with chests, cupboards, counters, etc., belonging to John de Douegate which he had by demise of Dame Alice de Araz in the parish of St. Mary le Bow, 1302 (Ct. H.W. I. 155).

In 1332 it belonged to Richard Costantyn (ib. 374).

Not further identified.

See Selds.

Brasiers' Hall

See Armourers and Brasiers' Hall.

Brass Foundry

On the west side of Warwick Lane and north of Warwick Square (O.S. 1880).

Occupied the site of the College of Physicians (q.v.).

Braziers' Almshouses

At the end of Two Swan Yard, No. 186, Bishopsgate Without (Lockie, 1810).

Founded by Lady Elizabeth Morys, 1551.

Originally thirteen small tenements for poor people in Love Lane, Old Jewry, purchased by Bank of England under Act of Parliament 49 Geo. III.

Rebuilt and re-endowed by the Armourers and Braziers' Company under the Act, in the above-mentioned situation (Elmes, 1831).

Site now occupied by the Great Eastern Railway Hotel.

Braziers' Buildings

East out of Farringdon Street, between Bear Alley and Newcastle Street, in Farringdon Ward Without (Bacon, 1912).

First mention : Horwood, 1799.

Former names : "Goose Alley" (O. and M. 1677-Strype, 1755). "Limeburner Alley, Lane" (q.v.). "Christopher Alley " (q.v.), 1559-78 (End. Charities Rep. St. Sepulchre's, 1902, p. 8).

Rebuilt for business purposes.

Braziers' Hall

See Armourers and Braziers' Hall.

Brazile Yard

North out of Trinity Lane, in Cordwainer and Bread Street Wards (O. and M. 1677-Boyle, 1799).

Called "Brazil Warehouse Yard" in Lond. Guide, 1758, Dodsley, 1761, and Boyle, 1799.

Rebuilt in the 19th century.

Brazil's Rents

In East Smithfield (Strype, ed. 1755-Boyle, 1799).

Not named in the maps.

Bread Street

South out of Cheapside at No. 46 to Queen Victoria Street (P.O. Directory). In Bread Street Ward.

Earliest mention : "Bredstte, 1 Rich. I. (Cott. MS. Vesp. B. IX). "Bredestret," 5 John (Cal. Ch. Rolls, I. 269).

Other forms : "Bredstrete," 14 H. III. (Anc. Deeds, B. 1971). "Bradstrete," 1538 (L. and P. H. VIII. XIII. (1), p. 141). "Breadestrete," 1587 (Ct. H.W. II. 713).

So called, Stow says, of bread in olde time there sold, for it appeareth by recordes, that in the yeare 1302, 30 Ed. I., the bakers of London were bounden to sell no bread in their shops or houses, but in the market (S. 346).

May be alluded to as "Brestrete" in 1281 (Cal. L. Bk. B. p. 11).

times Bread Street probably included the whole of the street now called Bread Street Hill, as there is no early record of a street of this name, and Bread Street certainly extended at one time into the parish of St Nicholas Olave, into Queenhithe Ward.

It has been further curtailed in modern times at its southern end by the formation of Queen Victoria Street, so that it is now considerably smaller in extent than it was originally.

Bread Street Alley

In Bread Street Hill (P.C. 1732-Boyle, 1799).

Not named in the maps.

Bread Street Compter

On the west side of Bread Street in Bread Street Ward. One of the two original Compters, pertaining to the Sheriffs, the other being in Poultry (S. 352).

Removed to Wood Street in 1555 (ib.), to Giltspur Street in 1791, closed 1854.

See Compters.

Bread Street Hill

South out of Queen Victoria Street at No. 76 to Upper Thames Street (P.O. Directory). In Queenhithe Ward.

It was the southern continuation of Bread Street, and probably formed a portion of that street, which in earlier times extended into the parish of St. Nicholas Olave and into Queenhithe Ward.

First mention : "Bredstreethill " (S. ed. 1598, p. 286).

Bread Street Ward

One of the twenty-six wards of the City, bounded on the north by Cripplegate and Farringdon Wards Within, south by Queenhithe Ward, west by Castle Ward, east by Cordwainer Ward.

First mention : 1285 (Cal. L. Bk. A. p. 209).

Mentioned in 1278 as "Ward of William de Durham" (Cal. L. Bk. B. p. 277-8). See Wards.

The ward has undergone material alterations by the formation of Queen Victoria Street and by the western extension of Cannon Street.

In Stow's time it possessed four parish churches, viz. : All Hallows, Bread Street ; St. Mildred, Bread Street ; St. John the Evangelist ; St. Margaret Moses.

Halls of Companies, etc.: Salters' Hall, Cordwainers' Hall, and also Gerrard's or Gisor's Hall.

Of these All Hallows and St. Mildred, Bread Street, alone remain with Cordwainers' Hall to ornament this ward.

Named after the principal street, Bread Street, intersecting the ward from north to south.

Breakneck Alley

In Minories, in Portsoken Ward (P.C. 1732-Boyle, 1799).

Not named in the maps.

Breakneck Court, Steps, or Stairs

In Black Horse Alley, Fleet Street, leading up steep steps into the Old Bailey, opposite the Sessions House (P.C. I 732-Boyle, 1799).

Not named in the maps.

Breakneck Steps

North out of Bristow Street, in the precinct of Blackfriars (Elmes, 1831).

Not named in the maps.

Bream's Buildings

East out of Chancery Lane to Fetter Lane (P.O. Directory). Partly in Farringdon Ward Without, partly in the City of Westminster outside the boundary of the City of London.

First mention : W. Stow, 1722.

Called "Breem's Buildings" (Rocque, 1746), at which time it had no thoroughfare into Fetter Lane. This extension was carried out in 1877.

Breeches Yard

In Townsend Lane, Thames Street (P.C. 1732-Boyle, 1799).

Not named in the maps.

Brestrete

Tavern of J. de Wakeringe in "Brestrete," 9 Ed. I. 1281 (Cal. L. Bk. B. p. 11).

Qy.=Bread Street.

Bretask (la), Dowgate

There was a house of this name in the parish of All Hallows the Less in Dowgate Ward mentioned in the Husting Rolls 62 (102) and 76 (262) (Cal. L. Bk. F. p. 1 note).

In 1334 Nicholas de Farndon gave it under the name "le Bretasse" in Thames Street to Thos. de Porkele (Ct. H.W. I. 397), from whom it had passed by purchase prior to 1343 into the possession of Richard de Basyngstoke, with the wharf adjoining (Cal. L. Bk. F. 97) (Ct. H.W. I. 567).

It is described in a view taken by the men of Dowgate Ward at the request of Richard de Basyngstoke in 18 Ed. III. 1343-4, as supported on eight posts driven into the soil of the City, Richard de Basingstoke being anxious to ascertain whether the posts were considered prejudicial to the Commonalty, so that, if necessary, he might transfer to them another piece of land in compensation. After the view it was decided that the posts might remain where they were, and that the Commonalty should receive a parcel of land in exchange (Cal. L. Bk. F. p. 97).

The word "bretask" comes from the Latin "bretaschia," a "stockade," and "bretachiare," to "fortify with stockades," which gives the French word "bretasse," "bratticed," and "bretasse," "brettassee," "bretassy," defined in the N.E.D. as "having embattlements on both sides."

In mediaeval records applications were frequently made for permission to fortify and embattle (bretachiare) buildings, and the "bretask" was a name that might well be given to a house that had been fortified in this way.

There was another house in the City called "La Bretask" near the Tower. See below.

See Bretask Lane.