All Hallows Honey Lane 11/2

Introduction

This tenement, on the W. corner of Honey Lane and Cheapside, was bounded to the W. by 1 and to the N. by 3.

In 1858 this was no. 112 Cheapside.

Thirteenth to sixteenth century

In 1231 this was probably the tenement of Joceus son of Peter Serlon which lay to the S. of 3. Peter Serlon was probably a successor of Serlo le Mercer, who in the early 13th century appears to have held 2 and other properties near by. In 1235 the king confirmed Serlo le Mercer's gifts to the convent of St. John the Baptist, Haliwell (fd. bef. 1150), which included his share of the lands, houses, and shops which he and Solomon de Basing had in Hunylane of the fee of Thomas de Haverhull, his share of the lands and houses he and Solomon had there of the fee of Martin son of William, and his share of the moiety of a seld with shops and solars which he and Solomon had in Cheapside in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane of the fee of John Herlicun. It is possible that only the 3rd of these properties is 2, in Cheapside and Honey Lane, but if so it is not clear precisely where the other properties lay; at a later date 2 was the only property of Haliwell Priory in this parish. The nuns of Haliwell had erected a pentice in Cheapside by 1246. (fn. 1)

The property was charged with several quit-rents, the origins of which are obscure. In 1283, Hugh de Bedeford and his wife Joan distrained in the tenement for arrears of 40s. of a rent of £1. 6s. 8d. which they claimed the prioress of Haliwell's tenants were bound to pay them. She denied liability, and again in 1286 Hugh and Joan took nam of a blanket (chalon'), a balance, and 3 furs of lambskin, for £1. 13s. 4d. arrears of the same rent. The prioress again denied that Hugh and Joan were in seisin of the rent by her hands or her tenants', but in 1287 she summoned Roger son of William Cous to acquit her of the rent, claiming that he was mesne (medius) between her and Hugh and Joan, and that she held of him for £3. 8s. rent, for which he was bound to acquit her of the £1. 6s. 8d. rent. Roger denied that he was bound to acquit her and the case does not seem to have been concluded; the later history of these rents is not known. (fn. 2) In 1290, William de Leyre distrained in the tenement for a rent of 6s. 4d., which he claimed that Simon de Warrewyk, the priory's tenant, was accustomed to pay him, but the prioress said that if he did pay it was not by her consent. This rent continued to be paid until the 16th century, however. (fn. 3)

The priory's tenant in 1293 was Richard de Staunford, at 13s. 4d. rent; he may not have held the whole tenement. In 1311 Ralph Hervuy de Finchyngfeld and his wife Margaret granted and quitclaimed to the prioress and convent in a rent of £1. 4s. 8d. due to them from the convent's tenement in All Hallows Honey Lane. In 1330, for £100 paid by the executors of John de Bureford, citizen and merchant (mercator), the priory granted a quit-rent of £4 in support of a chantry in St. Thomas the Apostle for the souls of John de Bureford and his wife Rose. In copying the deed a line or two of the original appear to have been omitted, but it seems clear that the rent was payable from properties in the parishes of St. Pancras Soper Lane, St. Stephen Walbrook, St. Peter Westcheap, and All Hallows Honey Lane; the property in All Hallows lay next to a tenement belonging to the parish (3, to the N.), Honey Lane to the E., and the tenement of Odo de Essex, late citizen and apothecary (1), to the W. (fn. 4)

The property was described as 2 shops in 1336. By his will dated 1349 and proved 1360, William de Madeford, sharman, left his term in the tenements he held of Haliwell Priory in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane to his apprentice Walter, with remainder to his executor William Edward. John de Bovyndon, citizen and apothecary, had a term in the priory's tenement which he left in 1361 to his wife Katharine and his children John, Thomasina, and Margery. The tenant in 1372 was Adam Carlhill, spicer, who already held a rent from the property. Thomas Carlhill, spicer, was named as tenant in a separate inquisition of the same year, but this may be an error. Adam Carlhill, pepperer (piperarius), was said to be tenant in 1393. In 1428 and 1429 William Caketon, citizen and vestment-maker, and possibly tenant of 6, sought the assize of nuisance against the prioress of Haliwell and Nicholas Wyfold, citizen and grocer, for a tenement in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane; Wyfold may have been the priory's tenant, but the assize was not prosecuted and there is no further information. William Redy had the corner shop at Honey Lane end c. 1496-7. In 1526 the priory leased the property to Sir Edmund Bedyngfeld, describing it as a messuage with houses, for 40 years at £4 rent; the lessee was to repair, pave, and pay quit-rents. (fn. 5)

The descent of the quit-rents, thirteenth to sixteenth century

Apart from the 13th century quit-rents described above, and the quit-rent to the church of St. Thomas the Apostle, the tenement was charged with quit-rents of 6s. 4d., 18s. 8d., and possibly £2.

The rent of 6s. 4d. was claimed by William de Leyre from Haliwell Priory's tenement in All Hallows Honey Lane in 1290; the prioress denied it, saying that if her tenant Simon de Warrewyk paid it to William it was not with her consent. William de Leyre left the rent in 1322 to his son Robert; Robert's executors, his sister Isabel de Leyre and John de Swanlond junior, citizen and draper, sold it in 1336 to Master William de Waynflete, chaplain. De Waynflete granted this rent with others, totalling £1. 6s. 8d., to Simon de Berkyng, citizen and goldsmith; it was due from the priory's 2 shops between Honey Lane to the E. and 1B to the W. In 1349 Simon de Berkyng left the rent to his wife Lucy for life, with remainder to his daughter Agnes, and further remainder in default of heirs for sale. In 1371, after the deaths of Agnes and the other children, Lucy, as Simon's principal executrix, sold the rent, among others, to John Coraunt, citizen and goldsmith. (fn. 6)

Lucy died in April 1372, and Thomas and John de Salesbury, sons of Gilbert de Salesbury, late citizen and goldsmith, took possession of the properties of Simon de Berkyng, claiming to be Simon's nearest heirs by blood, and expelled John Coraunt. In May 1372 they granted the tenements and rents to Nicholas Twyford, John Broun, William Burdeyne, and Thomas Panton, citizens and goldsmiths. An inquisition post mortem concerning Simon de Berkyng was held in July 1372, when the value of the rent from 3 was erroneously given as 6s. 2d. It was concluded that Simon de Berkyng had no heirs now surviving, but the grant by the de Salesburys seems to have remained in force. There may have been collusion in these proceedings, for Twyford, Brown, Burdeyn, and Panton as wardens of the Goldsmiths' Company had already taken possession of other properties of Simon de Berkyng, the reversions of which he had left to the company, before the intrusion of Thomas and John de Salesbury into 2. (fn. 7) John Coraunt was also a leading member of the company, having been a warden in 1352-3, 1358-9, 1362-3 and 1365-6. (fn. 8)

In 1382 Twyford, Burdeyn, and Panton granted the lands and rents they had by the de Salesburys' feoffment in All Hallows Honey Lane and elsewhere to William Glasen, John Bulstrode, and William Louthe, citizens and goldsmiths. In 1392 Thomas Panton, John Forster, Thomas Hayz, and John Carbonell, citizens and goldsmiths, granted the rent with others to Richard Forster, citizen. The latter granted it in 1393 to Adam Bamme, Drew Barentyn, and Henry Bamme, citizens and goldsmiths. Hitherto all these goldsmiths had been holding individually, probably on behalf of the company but without declared trusts; in February 1393, however, the Goldsmiths' new charter enabled them to hold land corporately, and in May of that year Adam Bamme, Drew Barentyn, and Henry Bamme granted the lands and rents they held, including 6s. 4d. rent in All Hallows Honey Lane, to the wardens and the mistery of Goldsmiths. (fn. 9)

Another inquisition into the lands of Simon de Berkyng, held in July 1393, recorded that his nearest surviving heir was Emma, wife of Richard Wymondham and daughter of Thomas Stokes and his wife Anabilia, daughter of the Thomas Salesbury who had claimed as Simon's heir in 1372. This Emma may be identical with the Emma, kinswoman of John and Thomas de Salesbury and wife of John Tadyngton, citizen and tawyer (allutarius), who with her husband quitclaimed in the former lands and rents of the de Salesburys to the Goldsmiths' Company in 1404, and who as Emma Salesbury otherwise Tadyngton, widow of John Tadyngton, quitclaimed in the same in 1412. The Goldsmiths' Company continued to receive the rent, recording it as 6s. 8d. in 1496-7 but otherwise as 6s. 4d. The priory's lessee was responsible for payment of quit-rents from 1526. In 1550 the company, expecting to have to pay substantial sums to the Crown to redeem the charges of chantries and obits on its land, decided to sell some lands and plate, and it seems probable that this quit-rent was one of those sold: it is not recorded further in the company's books, and the Crown does not seem to have received it either. It may have been bought by the owner of the property. (fn. 10)

William of Gloucester, in his will dating probably from the late 13th century, left a quit-rent of £2 in Honey Lane to his wife Willelma for life, with remainder to his son Henry, but the latter mentioned no such rent in his will of 1332. A quit-rent of unspecified value was granted by William Everard, citizen and goldsmith, to Henry atte More (d.1328-9); Everard was married to Juliana of Gloucester, daughter of Ralph de Alegate dictus Crepin. Henry atte More left the rent to his wife Idania for life, with remainder for sale by his executors, who included John de Totenham, chandler (d.1349). Later in 1349 de Totenham's executors, John Gumme of Enfield and Thomas de Elmyngham, sold the rent, said to be 18d., to Thomas (de) Morlee, citizen, and his wife Idonea. De Morlee, after a number of specific bequests, left all his other lands and quit-rents for sale in 1368. His executors, Roger Segrave and William Norwyche, chaplains, sold the rent, now said to be 18s. 8d., the same year to Adam de Carlill, citizen and apothecary, probably identical with the Adam de Carlhill, spicer or pepperer, who was tenant of the property in 1372 and later. It is possible that one of the references (18d. or 18s. 18d.) is incorrect. The rent may represent part of the £2 rent due from 2 to William de Gloucestre in the late 13th century, if Juliana of Gloucester was connected wth William and Henry of Gloucester, but this is not certain. (fn. 11)

Sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

The value of the property of Haliwell Priory in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane was given as £4 in 1534-5, the rent paid by the Sir Edmund Bedingfield under his lease of 1526. (fn. 12) The priory was surrendered in 1539 and in 1540 the king granted this messuage to Richard Morysyn, king's servant, to hold for 1/30th knight's fee and a reserved rent or yearly tenth of 8s. (fn. 13) In 1541 Morysyn was licensed to alienate it to John Eccleston, citizen and grocer. Eccleston or Egleston was probably occupying either 2 or 8 (q.v.) in 1544, when he was assessed for subsidy in ths parish. In March 1549 Eccleston and his wife Margery sold the messuage, with houses, shops, cellars, and solars, to Thomas Gedney, citizen and mercer, and his wife Margery, for £100; in April that year Gedney and his wife granted it back to Eccleston and his heirs, in return for a £15 annuity charged on the property, payable yearly at Gedney's house. (fn. 14)

The rent to Gedney was presumably still payable, but Bedingfield's lease had probably been surrendered or assigned, when in 1550 Eccleston let part of the messuage, now known as the Boar's Head, to Christopher Payne, citizen and grocer, for 18 years. Eccleston retained the chamber within which he then lay, the 'Maydens Chamber' within the same, a little room at the head of the stairs known as William Eccleston's chamber, and free access to these rooms by the back door into Honey Lane. He also reserved the use, pleasure and commodity of the hall, kitchen, and buttery and the rooms within for himself, his wife, and his servants, for 4 months in each of the first 6 years of Payne's term. Payne was to pay £26. 13s. 4d. yearly, in consideration of grocery wares and merchandise supplied by Eccleston on favourable terms, for the whole of the 18 years. Eccleston was to maintain the property against the weather but Payne was to execute all other repairs, including cleansing the privies, paving, and glazing. In 1551 Payne joined with Eccleston in a bond of £100 for the payment of £60 to Hugh Losse, esquire, and in another bond for the payment of £108 to Sir William Laxton, alderman; in consideration of these bonds Eccleston released to Payne the rent of £26. 13s. 4d., unless he (Eccleston) paid the sums to Losse and Laxton. Payne died in 1551 and his executors Baldwin and Daniel Payne refused to act, so execution was granted to Humphrey Spencer, citizen and grocer, who thereby entered the messuage and held it in April 1552. John Eccleston died in December 1551 and was succeeded by his son John, then aged 12. How and when these encumbrances and charges were resolved is not known. (fn. 15)

In 1562 John Eccleston the son, goldsmith, granted the messuage, with houses, shops, and 'lez warehouses', to Nicholas Backhouse, citizen and grocer. Backhouse subsequently bought 3 from William Box, grocer, and was seised of both 2 (the Boar's Head) and 3 when he died in 1580: 3 was valued at £3. 6s. 8d. p.a. and the Boar's Head at £6. 13s. 4d. p.a. clear. (fn. 16)

By his will of 1576, proved 1580, Nicholas separated 2 from 3 again, leaving the 2 to his eldest son Samuel, later Sir Samuel Backhouse of Swallowfield (Berks.) (d. 1626), and his heir in tail, and 3 (q.v.) to his 3rd son Rowland. Sir William Burlas, kt., and Nicholas Fuller, esquire, recovered a messuage in All Hallows Honey Lane against Samuel Backhouse in 1616, possibly in order to break the entail established by Nicholas Backhouse. In 1638 the tithepayers and occupants were Mr. Buxton, with a house worth £50 p.a., and probably also Mr. Lane, with a shop worth £10 p.a. Mr. Lane also occupied a house in Honey Lane, part of 3. At some time a long term in the property was granted to Josias Berners, esquire, and William Codrington of London, draper, who around 1660 leased the messuage to Edward Griffith, citizen and clothworker, for 21 years at £60 rent, with repairs to the tenant. The reversionary interest meanwhile passed to William Backhouse, son of Samuel, and on his death in 1662 to his daughter and sole heir, Flower, who married successively William Bishop (d. 1661), her second cousin Sir William Backhouse, Bt. (d. 1669), and Henry Hyde, Viscount Cornbury and later second earl of Clarendon. (fn. 17) The occupant of 2 in 1662 and 1666 was probably Edward Griffith, draper; his house was said to have 5 hearths in 1662 and 7 in 1666. (fn. 18)

After the great fire

Two foundations in Cheapside and Honey Lane (2 and 3) were surveyed for Mr. Griffith in 1668. That to the S. measured 20 ft. E.-W. by 43 ft. N.-S. (6.1 m. by 13.2 m.). In June 1671 Griffith came to an agreement with Lord Cornbury and Dame Flower his wife, holding in her own right, over the property called the Maidenhead in Cheapside in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane. Griffith had rebuilt the messuage, so far without contribution from the landlords; the court ruled that his term should be extended by 40 years and the rent be reduced to £28, and that he could recover £66. 13s. 4d. from the rent due as the landlords' contribution to the cost of rebuilding. (fn. 19)