St. Mary le Bow 104/29-30

Introduction

29 represents the more northerly part of this property, which lay on the Cheapside frontage between 28 on the W. and 31 on the E. 30 was the S. part of the property, bounded by parts of 24 on the E., W., and S., and by 28 and 29 on the N. By 1235 there appear to have been three shares in the seld represented by 29. One of these shares was acquired by Haliwell Priory, which by the 16th century appears to have had a one-third share in the whole of 29-30.

In 1858 the property corresponded approximately with no. 61 Cheapside.

The share acquired by haliwell priory (part of 29)

In 1235 the Crown confirmed the gift by Serlo the mercer, who had flourished in the first two decades of the 13th century, to Haliwell Priory of his share of a seld in the Mercery in the parish of St. Mary le Bow with its plots, shops, and solars on the fee of John Burguignun. This property may have been the land of Serlo the mercer which in the mid 13th century was said to adjoin 24A-B on its N. side; about 1220 the land of William Brito was recorded in the same position. Serlo also held 24C, which may have provided his Cheapside property with rear access from Bow Lane. At some time during the 13th century, probably between c. 1220 and c. 1250, William son of Hugh de Basing (probably the Hugh de Basing who was sheriff in 1214-15) granted to St. Mary Spital all his rent from this property, described as a seld in Cheapside in St. Mary le Bow parish which had belonged to John le Burgin'. (fn. 1) During the remainder of the 13th century 29-30 appears to have been regarded as the property of Haliwell Priory. It was probably here that the nuns had built the pentice in Cheapside reported in 1246 as an encroachment. In 1269 their land and seld adjoined the E. side of 24E and the stone wall of their seld marked the E. boundary of 24D. At this time the joint tenants of the Haliwell Priory seld, who received a rent from 24C and/or E and had perhaps acquired Serlo the mercer's interest there, were Anketin le Mercer and William de Burewell. In 1287 Thomas son of Anketil de Auverne (presumably Anketin le Mercer) complained that the agents of the prioress and of Edith la Paumere, who appears to have been the owner of another share in the property, had come to a chamber in the Long Seld (longa selda) which he did not hold of them and taken naam of 2 chalons of Reyns (Rennes, or perhaps Rayne in Essex) and a sack for cloths. The prioress and Edith claimed that Thomas's father had paid them a rent of 16s. 8d for the property, of which 8s. 4d. was now in arrears. (fn. 2)

In the late 13th and early 14th centuries the property consisted of a seld near Cheapside (29) and a messuage (30) lying to the south. There were three shares in the seld (29), of which one was claimed by Haliwell Priory. Early in 1311 the prioress attempted to recover possession of her share from Margaret widow of Gilbert de Assindon, who seems at that time to have held the whole property, and from Joan daughter of Adam Bras, who had the reversion after Margaret's death. The case was delayed because Margaret's husband at that time, John de Arounde, was away on the king's business, and because Joan's husband, Stephen de Ferringes, had failed to appear. By October 1311 John de Arounde had died so that the prioress's case fell on a technicality. In 1319 the prioress made another attempt to recover possession of the seld, initially with her two co-owners, John de Gisors (his claim may have derived from Gervase of Cornhill, cf. 28) and Maud daughter of Anketin le Mercer, but subsequently by herself alone in connection with a third share. At this time the two defending parties were named as Walter de Geddyng and his wife Margaret, who was presumably the widow of Gilbert de Assindon, and Robert de Arderne, taverner, and his wife Joan, who is known from other sources to have been the daughter of Adam Bras. The case dragged on, but in 1323 it was decided that the prioress should recover possession of her third share in the seld. Maud widow of Gilbert de Asshendon was still alive in 1329 when she sought, apparently without success, to recover possession from the prioress of a third part of the messuage, seld, and solar. It may have been from about this time that Haliwell Priory's right in a third share of the whole of 29-30, and not simply 29, was established. (fn. 3)

In the 14th century the seld was known as Anketynesselde and before 1355 Haliwell Priory granted a lease of a third part of it to Robert de Tame, mercer, and his wife Margaret for a term of 28 years, paying rents of 8s. to Haliwell Priory, 6s. 8d. to Bermondsey Priory, and 9s. to St. Mary Spital. In 1355 de Tame and his wife granted their remaining term in this lease to John Burgeys, citizen and draper. Haliwell Priory was paying the 6s. 8d. rent due from its share of 29-30 to Bermondsey Abbey in 1534-5, when it received a total of £3. 6s. 8d. from the property, of which 13s. 4d. was rent of assize and £2. 13s. 4d. was from a property let at farm. The property let at farm was a third part of the capital mansion known as the Dagger which in March 1538 Haliwell Priory leased to John Peke, citizen and haberdasher, for a term of 30 years from Christmas 1537 at £2. 13s. 4d. rent. The tenant was to repair the property, which had formerly been held by John Wynke. The priory was surrendered to the Crown in December 1538, and in 1540 its former share in 29-30 was granted to Edward Vaughan in fee for a rent of 5s. 4d. At this time Peke still held the property, which was regarded as part of the 'Outer Dagger' (29). In 1664 the rent reserved by the Crown was represented by 5s. due from one Parkhurst for a third part of the Dagger. (fn. 4)

The other shares in the property: thirteenth to mid-sixteenth century

In the late 13th and early 14th centuries claims to possession of two-thirds of the seld (29) and the whole of the messuage to the rear (30) appear to have been associated. In 1287 Edith la Paumere had one of these claims (see above). She was probably identical with the Edith wife (?widow) of Robert le Palmere who in 1326 was said to have granted a fourth share in the messuage and in the seld (presumably a fourth part of the two-thirds which did not belong to Haliwell Priory) to Gilbert de Asshendon. This grant probably took place before 1306, when Gilbert, a mercer, appears to have been in possession of the whole of 29-30: he complained of a privy in 24D which was next to his stone wall and was in dispute with the owners of 31 concerning a nuisance; he also granted £1. 6s. 8d. rent from his seld here (29) to St. Mary Spital. Gilbert's interest in the remaining three parts of the messuage and seld was said in 1326 once to have belonged to Cristina Brown who married Gilbert's father Robert de Asshendon, and to have descended to Gilbert on Robert's death. By his will, proved in 1307, Gilbert left his newly-built tenement (30) with a seld (29), together with 8s. 8d. rent from 24C and/or 24E to his wife Margaret, for life with remainder to Joan daughter of Adam Bras. This Joan was probably Gilbert's niece, for Gilbert had a sister called Theophania, which was also the name of the wife of Adam Bras. Gilbert's widow Margaret seems then to have been in possession of the whole of 29-30 (cf. above, i) and in 1308 Robert le Palmere sought to recover against her a third share of a messuage (probably 30) which he said had belonged to his ancestor Robert (possibly the husband of Edith la Paumere, cf. above), from whom it had descended to Robert's brother John, and then to John's son Robert who made the claim. Robert's case fell in 1315 when he failed to prosecute his writ. (fn. 5)

In the meantime Margaret had married John Arounde, with whom in September 1311 she granted part of 29-30 and the rent of 8s. 8d. from 24 to Stephen de Feryng, taverner, and his wife Joan, to hold for the term of Margaret's life at £2. 13s. 4d. rent. At this time the prioress of Haliwell was attempting to recover possession of her share of 29 (see above, i). The grant in 1311 concerned a hall with cellar(s) and solars (probably 30) which John de Sperham had formerly held. The grantees were to have right of access through the grantor's seld (29) and if the merchants dwelling in the seld as tenants of the grantors sustained any loss or were perturbed as a result of the sale of the grantees' wines, the offending merchandise (presumably the wines) was to be sold. The new tenement in the rear part of the property (30) thus included a tavern. Stephen de Feryng's widow Joan had by 1319 (see above, i) married Robert de Arderne, taverner, with whom on 21 July 1325 she granted to Walter de Salyngg of Bedfont (Middx.) the property they held for the term of the life of Gilbert de Asshendon's widow Margaret, reserving a rent of a rose. This property was now described as a tenement with houses, and was bounded by 28 and 29 on the N., by 24 and 31 on the E., by 24 on the S., and by 24 and 28 on the W. Margaret had already granted the seld (29) to Walter de Salyngg, and on 22 July 1325 de Arderne and his wife Joan, who had the reversion of the property after Margaret's death, quitclaimed to de Salyngg in both the tenement (30) and the seld (29). This transfer prompted a suit in 1326 by the two other claimants to the property whose right in it remained uncertain. These were John Gisors, who claimed his right by inheritance from his mother Margaret, and Maud de Cantebrugg, who was presumably the daughter of Anketin le mercer (cf. above, i). They claimed a messuage (30) and 2 parts of a seld (29) against Walter de Salyng, who responded that three parts of the messuage and seld had once belonged to Cristina Brown and had passed to Gilbert de Assendon, who had acquired the fourth part from Edith wife of Robert le Palmere (cf. above, i). Gisors and Maud sought again to recover the property from de Salyng in 1329, and yet again by separate suits in 1331-2. The result appears to have been that de Salyng was established as sole owner of 29-30, except for that part in which Haliwell Priory had a share. (fn. 6)

In 1337 Walter de Salyngg obtained a royal licence to alienate his property here to the hospital of St. Thomas of Acre as an endowment for the chantry for the benefit of himself and John Gizorz. Walter's property consisted of a messuage (30) and two parts of a seld (29). The remaining part of the seld presumably belonged to Haliwell Priory. Thomas de Meel held the property from Walter for the term of his life, and on Walter's death it was to revert to the hospital of St. Thomas of Acre. The annual value of the property was said to be £4. 17s. 10d., out of which were due quit-rents of 17s. 10d. to St. Mary Spital and 13s. 4d. to Bermondsey Priory. In his will, dated 1339 and proved 1340, Walter stated that he had acquired the property, described as a seld, inner houses (domus interiores), and solars, from Margaret de Gatewyk (presumably de Asshendon's widow), Robert de Arderne, and Robert's wife Joan, and that he had granted it at farm to Thomas Meel and his wife Goditha for the term of their lives at £4. 13s. 4d. rent payable to the hospital of St. Thomas of Acre. Under Walter's will the hospital was to have this rent and the reversion of the property at the end of the lease. The hospital was in possession by 1356, when its master sought an assize of nuisance against the owner of 28. In 1375 a later master complained of intrusion by the owner of 28. (fn. 7)

From 1350 onwards the property is generally described as the seld of the hospital of St. Thomas of Acre, (fn. 8) and Haliwell Priory presumably both received a share of the income and was responsible for a share of the quit-rents due. In 1406-7 the abbot of Bermondsey successfully claimed 6 1/2 years arrears of a rent of 20s. from this property. Those who had withheld the rent were named as the master of St. Thomas of Acre, the prioress of Haliwell, and 5 private individuals who presumably occupied separate parts of 29-30. These 5 were William Causton, hatter, Thomas Pyk, draper, John Godesburgh, hatter, Sewall Hoddesdon, and Denise Causton. At about the same time the prior of St. Mary Spital complained of an intrusion in the parish made by the same group of tenants, except for Hoddesdon. By 1449-50, when a carpenter mended windows there, the property was known as the Dagger. Over the period 1482-90 the hospital of St. Thomas of Acre received £56 from letting the property at £7 a year. In the 16th century the hospital paid quit- rents of £1. 6s. 8d. to St. Mary Spital and 13s. 4d. to Bermondsey Abbey for the Dagger. These rents were extinguished when the religious houses were dissolved. (fn. 9)

In the 16th century the property consisted of two parts, known as the Outer Dagger (29) and the Inner Dagger (30). In 1517-18 the hospital of St. Thomas of Acre let them at farm for a total of £9. 3s. 4d. rent.

Between 1517 and 1529 John Studdeley or Studley held the tenement which came to be known as the Outer Dagger (29) at farm for £4. 6s. 8d. rent. The property was then divided and Studdeley held a tenement there for £3. 6s. 8d. rent between 1529 and 1534 when he died; he failed to pay 16s. 8d. of this rent in 1529-30, and his widow paid 16s. 8d. for the first term of 1534-5. The other part of 29 was a shop let for £1 rent, paid by Simon Preston between 1529 and 1532 and by Alice Preston between 1532 and 1534. The whole property was then let as one tenement, described as 'le upperdagger' (rectius 'le utterdagger'?) in 1534-6 and then as 'le owterdagger'. From Christmas 1534 this tenement was let at the rate of about £7. 8s. 4d. yearly: John Wyncke paid £5. 11s. 3d. for 3 terms in 1534-5 and £7. 9s. 1d. for the whole of 1535-6. A total of £5. 15s. appears to have been received for 1536-7, from Richard Ley for the first half of the year and from John Pek for the second, and £1. 7s. 6d. rent was allowed to the latter for Lady Day term. Pek was tenant of Haliwell Priory for its share of the property from Christmas 1537 (see above), and it is probable that all the tenants of the Outer Dagger named so far were also tenants of the priory. Pek paid the priory £2. 13s. 4d. rent, and so in 1537-8 the Outer Dagger as a whole was presumably reckoned to be worth £8 rent. In 1538-9, however, Pek paid the Crown no more than £4 rent for the share of the property which had belonged to the dissolved hospital of St. Thomas of Acre, representing a total rent of no more than £6. 13s. 4d. (fn. 10)

Between 1517 and 1524 the property subsequently known as the Inner Dagger (30) was let as two separate tenements for a total of £4. 16s. 8d. rent. John Burbage paid £1. 6s. 8d. rent for one of them, and Robert Brewer paid £3. 10s. for the other. The two tenements were then held by a single tenant, who paid the same rents: George Tarkenall was tenant from 1524 to 1526, John Tarkenall from 1527 to 1529, Simon Preston from 1530 to 1532, and Alice Preston from 1532 to 1534. Simon Preston also held part of the outer Dagger (29, see above) and in 1529-30 failed to pay £1. 9s. 1d. rent. In 1534-5 Richard Poynter, citizen and draper, paid £5. 16s. 8d. for the tenement known as the Inner Dagger and in 1535 he began a 23-year lease at £7. 10s. rent of the tenement with its shops, solar(s), and cellar(s). Under this lease the landlord was obliged to repair. (fn. 11)

The Crown acquired possession of the whole of 29-30 in 1538-9, when the hospital of St. Thomas of Acre and Haliwell Priory were dissolved. In 1540 the Inner and the Outer Dagger and the share in the property which had belonged to Haliwell Priory were granted in fee to Edward Vaughan, gentleman, reserving to the Crown a rent of £1. 8s. 4d., of which £1. 3s. was due from the former property of the hospital. Later in the same year Vaughan, having obtained a royal licence, sold the property to Sir William Hollys, alderman, and his heirs. In 1547, when Hollys's son, Thomas Holles, knight, sold the property to John Payne, gentleman, and his heirs, the Outer Dagger (29) was held by Thomas Bonard and the Inner Dagger (30) was held by Thomas Edmondes, citizen and mercer. This sale was to be void if Payne was paid £240 within 7 years. Edmondes was probably living there by 1541, when he was taxed as a resident of this part of the parish. Thomas Holles released his right to Payne in 1549, and at his death in 1573 John Payne, esquire, left his two messuages called 'the Daggers', then held by Thomas Bonard (29) and William Jones (30), to his eldest son, William Payne in tail male with successive remainders to his sons Thomas and William Payne. (fn. 12)

Later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (includes 31 in seventeenth century

Bonard was presumably identical with the Thomas Bonner to whom in 1576 William Payne obtained a royal licence to alienate the property. The conveyance was made later that year to Thomas Bonner, citizen and clothworker, and his wife Agnes for the term of their lives; the Outer Dagger (29) was to remain to their son, Thomas Bonner, and his heirs and assigns, and the Inner Dagger (30) was to remain to their son, William Bonner, and his heirs and assigns. The entail created by John Payne's will was broken by means of a fine. Thomas Bonner and his wife Agnes almost certainly continued to live in the property until their deaths in 1577 and 1592, respectively. (fn. 13)

The younger Thomas Bonner, citizen and clothworker, came into possession of the whole of the property in 1595, when his brother William Bonner, citizen and scrivener, conveyed the Inner Dagger (30) to him and his heirs, and then quitclaimed with his wife Anne. In the quitclaim the Inner Dagger was described as a messuage with a shop, cellar, solar, and easements. (fn. 14) In September 1595 Thomas Bonner granted a lease to Gregory Smith, citizen and merchant tailor, for a term of 30 years at £7. 10s. rent, of several properties which seem to have been part of the Inner Dagger (30). These were a shop in Cheapside known as the 'Maydenshedde', said to be part of the messuage formerly known as the Inner Dagger; a long entry leading from the shop to the yards and other rooms at the rear; a warehouse or room newly built by Thomas Bonner under part of his new building and measuring from wall to wall at its S. end 18 ft. 6 1/2 in. (5.65 m.) and at its N. end 16 ft. 3 in. (4.95 m.); a yard paved with freestone; and the old buildings, cellars, and old yard adjoining. In 1600 Thomas Bonner and his wife Isabel, in return for a payment of £500, sold to William Dawes, citizen and clothworker, the Inner Dagger (30), then occupied by William Beswicke or his assigns and lately occupied by Gregory Smith, together with the Outer Dagger (29) with its shops, cellars, solars, yards, vaults, and warehouses, then occupied by Thomas Bonner or his assigns. Dawes and his executors or assigns were to hold the property for 500 years at a peppercorn rent, and the sale was to be void if the vendors paid Dawes £500 on 3 December 1601. The money was not paid and in 1602 Bonner and his wife quitclaimed to Dawes in the property for the remainder of the term. (fn. 15)

In 1603 Dawes assigned the residue of the 500-year term to Robert Parkhurst, whose interest passed to his son of the same name. In 1610 Thomas Bonner sold the reversion in fee to the younger Parkhurst. This Robert Parkhurst was a citizen and clothworker who probably also held a part of 24C-D (q.v.); he was later an alderman and a knight and died in 1636. He also acquired possession of the adjacent property to the E. (31), formerly known as the Unicorn and now known as the Golden Lady or as the Unicorn and Golden Lady. In 1628, in consideration of a marriage which was to take place between Parkhurst's son, Robert Parkhurst, and Elizabeth Baker, Parkhurst covenanted to levy a fine concerning 29-31 to Sir John Baker, bt., and Sir Arthur Harris, kt., to the use of the younger Parkhurst for life with remainder to Elizabeth for life and thence to the eldest son of the marriage and his male heirs, with further remainders on similar terms to the second son and so on to the tenth son. In this agreement 29-30 were described as a messuage known as the Nun's Head held by one Carleton (probably 29) and a messuage (probably 30) known as the Man in the Moon held by one Bowles, presumably the Valentine Bowles, vintner, who occupied part of 24C-D. Bowles probably had a tavern at the Man in the Moon. 31, a messuage known as the Unicorn and Golden Lady, was held in 1628 by Hill (presumably Christopher Hill, cf. 24C-D) and Rowley (presumbaly Roger Rowley, cf. 24C and D). These 3 houses are represented in the assessment of 1638 by a house of Mr. Lane (probably 29), valued at £30 p.a.; a house of Mrs. Bowles (probably 30; she may have been the widow of Valentine Bowles), valued at £50 p.a.; and a house of Francis Roe (probably 31), valued at £50 p.a. In 1666, on the eve of the Great Fire, Samuel Turner, vintner, occupied the Man in the Moon (probably 30), which probably included a tavern and was rated at 15 hearths; the house which seems to have represented 29 contained 7 hearths and was empty. Francis Roe, a clothworker, died in 1649-50, and by 1666 his house (probably 31) appears to have been divided into two: one of 7 hearths occupied by John Martin and one of 6 hearths occupied by Robert Goodier. (fn. 16)

In 1650 Sir Robert Parkhurst, kt., later said to have been of Purford (Surrey), conveyed the 3 messuages representing 29-31 to Sir John Baker, bt., Richard Stephens, Sir John Stowell, and Giles Vandeputt, merchant, to the use of Sir Robert's son, Robert Parkhurst, and the latter's wife Sarah for life with remainder to their sons and thence to the right heirs of Sir Robert. An abstract of title notes further deeds of 1651 by which 29-30 were leased and released to Stowell, who was to suffer a recovery to the use of Robert Parkhurst in fee. By 1668 Sir Robert Parkhurst, Baker, and Vandeputt had died, and in that year Sir Robert Parkhurst the son and his wife Sarah agreed with Stephens and Stowell as surviving trustees to undertake the rebuilding of the property, which had been destroyed in the Great Fire. In return their life interest was to be extended by 40 years after the death of the survivor. On this occasion the 3 messuages conveyed in 1650 were said to have been divided into 4, which immediately before the Fire brought in £150 p.a. (the sum of the valuations in 1638 was £130). £40 of this rent had been paid to Robert Parkhurst, son of Sir Robert and Sarah and aged 17 in 1668. The younger Robert's share was now increased to £50 a year. No survey of the new foundations laid out on the site of 29-31 has been identified, but Parkhurst's property is recorded on the E., W., and N. sides of parts of 24 and on the W. side of 31. The Mr. Browne, whose property adjoined the E. side of the foundation on the site of 28, was probably Parkhurst's tenant. (fn. 17)

In 1669 Parkhurst and his wife Sarah, in return for a sum of money and a rent of £50, granted 29-31 for the term of their interest in it to John Morris of London, gentleman. In May 1670 Morris and Parkhurst assigned the property (except for the £50 rent reserved to Morris) to Alderman Robert Clayton for a term of 40 years after the deaths of Parkhurst and his wife. This assignment was in trust for Sir Robert Vyner and his heirs and assigns. On the same day Parkhurst and his wife, by Vyner's appointment, leased the property to Francis Willington of London, esquire, for a term of 50 years at £50 rent payable to Parkhurst. Later that month Morris surrendered the property to Parkhurst, with the intent that it should revert to him on 1 July for the term of the lives of Parkhurst and his wife. Before the end of May, while the property was in his possession, Parkhurst and his wife sold it for £1220 to Vyner, one Barrington, and Vyner's heirs and assigns. Shortly afterwards a fine and recovery were effected to the use of Vyner and Barrington, which presumably had the effect of eliminating the entail on Parkhurst's heirs. Vyner thus came into full possession of 29-31, although the rebuilding was probably undertaken for Francis Willington, who under the terms of his lease had acquired the building materials on the site. (fn. 18)

In 1701 the site of the Man in the Moon tavern (30) was said to be used as a garden with Alderman Withers's house (27). (fn. 19)