St. Mary le Bow 104/43

Introduction

This property lay between 104/42 on the W. and 105/11-12 on the E. At various times in the 14th century it is said to have been bounded on the N. by 105/11-12 (later identifiable as 81/C) or by both that property and 104/36. In the 12th century 42 and 43 had probably been a single property.

The property corresponded almost exactly with no. 93 Cheapside and nos. 38-40 King Street in 1858.

Twelfth and thirteenth centuries

In the late 12th century Canterbury Cathedral Priory had a total of £2. 10s. rent from 42 and 43 due from John Pepercorn and his brother Lawrence. The rent was due from Constantine son of Alard (perhaps a clerical error for Alulf) about 1220, from Constantine the young (iuvenis) in the mid 13th century, and later in the century from the land held by John de Budene. (fn. 1) Subsequently the rent was due from 43 alone, and it is possible that John de Budene was identical with the John de Bodeleye who in the later 13th century was recorded as a former holder of 43 (see below). A member of the de Bodeleye family held 43 by 1246, when Thomas de Budel' was presented for having built a pentice which encroached on Cheapside at what can only have been this property. (fn. 2)

The descendants of Constantine the young received rents from both 42 and 43. By his will, enrolled in 1280, Stephen Costentin' left to his wife Juliana for life 9 marks' quit-rent and 40d. (presumably rent totalling £5. 10s.) from 43, which was described as a seld in Westchepe in St. Mary le Bow parish held by Terricus de Bodel'. After Juliana's death the rent was to remain to Stephen's daughters, Emma, Margery, Sarah, Isabel, and Katharine. Sarah was in possession of her share, or rather more, of the rent by 1281 when she and her husband, Peter de Audham, granted to John son of Edward le Blount £1. 7s. 6d. quit-rent due from the former tenement of John de Bodeleye between 104/42 on the W., 105/11-12 on the E., and 104/36 on the N.; the grantee made a down payment of £13. 6s. 8d. and was to pay a rent to the grantors of 1/2 lb. of cumin or 1/2d. The chronology of the de Bodeleye family is uncertain, but it seems likely that John was a successor to Terricus, and that Stephen Costentin's will was drawn up some years before it was enrolled. The le Blount family probably came to be closely associated with the property, which in 1303-4 appears to have been the former tenement of Maud le Blounde said to adjoin the W. side of 105/11-12. Maud was probably the widow of Edward le Blount, whose will was enrolled in 1278. (fn. 3)

Fourteenth to seventeenth century

Robert de Keleseye, citizen, was in effective possession of 43 by 1304, when Canterbury Cathedral priory released to him the arrears of the rent of £2. 10s. due up to that date and the rent due for the 4 succeeding years; in return Robert, who had recently been appointed bailiff in charge of the priory's estate in London, bound the whole of the tenement in Westcheap between 104/42 on the W., 104/36 on the N. and 105/11-12 on the N. and E. to pay the rent after the term of 4 years was finished. The rent had probably been in arrears for some time, for it had not been received in 1292-3. De Keleseye's acquisition of the property appears to be marked by a deed of 1303-4, but not enrolled until 1308, by which John le Blound, citizen, granted to de Keleseye the £1. 7s. 6d. rent which was then due from a plot of land in Cheapside in the parish of St. Mary Colechurch between 104/42 on the W. and 105/11-12 on the N. and E. The seld which had occupied the site in the 13th century had evidently become derelict and, presumably because the site was now open ground, there was some uncertainty over the parish to which it belonged. The association of 43 with St. Mary Colechurch parish was a temporary one, however, for in the second half of the 14th century the property was once more said to be in the parish of St. Mary le Bow. It is noteworthy that several other early 14th-century deeds concerning 43 do not name the parish in which the property lay. De Keleseye's title to 43 was reinforced in 1306-7 when Walter de Suthfeld and his wife (they may have been successors to the de Bodeleye family) granted and quitclaimed in the plot of land to him. In 1308-9 Maud de Bikenore, daughter of Stephen Constantin, granted to de Keleseye her part of an annual rent due from the plot of land formerly called the selda Terri de Bodlee, which she and her sister Sarah had after the deaths of their father, their brother John, and their sisters Joan, Isabel, and Katharine. In the same year de Kelesey granted a rent from 42, 43, and other properties to Sarah widow of Peter de Audham for life and then to her nephew Stephen for life (see 42). (fn. 4)

The intent of Canterbury Cathedral Priory's remission of rent to de Kelesey was that he should rebuild the property, which nevertheless remained derelict until 1314-15. De Keleseye obtained a further remission of arrears to 1313 and of the rent due for the following 3 years. Rebuilding had probably not begun by March 1314 when the stone wall between 104/43 and 105/11-12 was found to be in need of repair, but the reconstruction may have been nearly complete by May 1315, when de Keleseye obtained a licence to crenellate his house on the N. side of Cheapside. For the year 1315-16 the Canterbury rent collector noted that the £2. 10s. rent was not received from de Keleseye's new house in Cheapside. De Keleseye failed to pay the rent after the end of the period of remission and in 1324 owed £10. 16s. 11d. arrears, probably for this and other properties. In 1326 he owed £5. 8s. 9d., but the priory accepted a payment of £4 and an explicit acknowledgement that his tenements would be charged with the traditional sums due in return for a remission of all arrears. In spite of this, and a remission of arrears granted to de Keleseye's heirs in 1336, the priory's rent collector was still noting the arrears due from the tenements in 1343. (fn. 5)

43 was among the properties which by his will, dated and enrolled in 1336, Robert de Keleseye left to his son Sir Thomas, who was later described as a chaplain and as a citizen of London, for life with remainder to the testator's right heirs. Thomas de Kelleseye continued in possession of the property until his death in 1375, when 43 was among the properties which he directed his executors to sell. Several quit-rents from the property, in addition to the one due to Canterbury Cathedral Priory, are recorded in this period. At his death in 1331 John le Maseliner left to his son James, a canon at St. Mary Spital, for life with reversion to the heirs of his daughter Isabel, a rent of 4s. from the seld of Robert de Keleseye in Tawyers' Row (allutaria) in Cheapside. In 1337 St. Bartholomew's Hospital owned a rent of 6s. 8d. from the new seld held by Thomas de Kelsey next to 104/42. Later the hospital identified this rent with a rent of 6s. 8d. which in 1241x4 Lawrence de Garschurch, draper, granted by exchange to the hospital out of a seld in Cheapside (in foro) between a seld of John Bokuynter and a seld of Serlo the mercer. It is unlikely, however, that this grant concerns 43 and it is probable that the hospital acquired the rent from 43 shortly before 1337 since no earlier rentals are cited as evidence of ownership. The hospital seems still to have received the 6s. 8d. rent from 43 in the mid 15th century. King Edward II had a rent of 18s. from the house of Robert de Kellesey in Cheapside, which, with other rents in London, he granted to Walter de Shependon, knight, for life; in 1339 Edward III granted the reversion of these rents to Reginald de Conductu. (fn. 6)

By 1374 43 was named as le Kage and in later deeds was generally called le Cage. In the St. Bartholomew's Hospital rental of 1456 it was described as the great dwelling house (magnum managium) called Le New Cage, a description which may reflect the impressive quality of the house erected for Robert de Keleseye. Robert also acquired the adjacent property to the E. (105/11-12) and from then on the two tenements, known as le Cage and le Hert lying in the parishes of St. Mary le Bow and St. Mary Colechurch and bounded by 104/42 on the W., 105/13 on the E. and 81/C (formerly part of 105/11-12) on the N., were closely associated. In 1375 Thomas de Kelsey's executors sold the Cage (104/43) and the Hart (105/11) to William de Walleworth, citizen and alderman, Simon de Mordon, and Henry Yevele, citizens, and in 1382 de Mordon, and Yevele quitclaimed in the properties to de Walleworth. In 1381 and 1395 the Cage was held by Thomas Bron and his wife Margaret; Thomas was perhaps the son of John de Cavendish (see 105/13). De Walleworth died in 1385-6 and under the terms of his will the Cage and the Hart passed to his widow Margaret for life and were then to be sold by his executors. In 1397 the executors sold the Cage and the Hart to William Coventre, pinner, Thomas Wilford, fishmonger, William Chaumbre, fishmonger, John Wykes, clerk, Robert Taunton, girdler, and John Cosham, mercer, all citizens. In 1398 Canterbury Cathedral Priory complained of intrusion by these grantees concerning these properties. Later that year Taunton and Cosham quitclaimed to Coventre and in 1399 Chaumbre and Wykes quitclaimed to Wilford. In 1402 Wilford and de Coventre divided the property between them, the former keeping the Hart in St. Mary Colechurch parish (105/11) and the latter the Cage in St. Mary le Bow parish (104/42), and each quitclaimed to the other in their respective possessions. After the division the 2 properties appear to have been intermixed to some extent. The Hart was to include a stone wall on its W. side extending from 81/C on the N. to the foundation of the Cage on the S., while the timbers standing on this wall were to be part of the Cage. The rainwater from the Hart was to be able to run by gutters on the soil of the Cage extending 20 ells (60 ft.; 18.29 m.) S. from 81/C, and the owner of the Hart was to be able to make domisilia overhanging the Cage along a length of 25 3/4 ells (77 ft. 3 in.; 23.55 m.) extending from 81/C on the N. to the Cage on the S. Both the Cage (104/43) and the Hart (105/11) were charged with rents to Canterbury Cathedral Priory, and in 1402 de Coventre as owner of the Cage granted £1 rent out of that property to Wilford as owner of the Hart, which was to be paid if de Coventre failed to acquit Wilford of a £1 rent claimed by the priory, should the priory recover that rent. In 1406 the priory recovered possession of its rents of £2. 10s. from 104/43 and £2. 5s. from 105/11, and of 9 1/4 years arrears totalling £43. 18s. 9d., but was satisfied with a payment of £20 from Wilford and de Coventre for the arrears. (fn. 7) Wilford and subsequent owners of the Hart down to 1432 appears to have received the £1 rent from the Cage (see 105/11).

By his will, dated and enrolled in 1407, William Coventre, now a mercer, left the Cage to his son John and his heirs with remainder to his sons Richard and Robert and their heirs; the tenement was to be charged with a rent of £6. 13s. 4d. to William's widow Alice so long as she remained unmarried. William's son, John Coventre, citizen and mercer, was a resident of St. Mary le Bow parish at his death in 1429, and during his mayoralty in 1425-6 was dwelling in the Mercery in Cheapside. John may therefore have resided in the Cage; he also held 104/8-9, but this was not in Cheapside. The property descended to John's son, Thomas Coventre, who was recorded as paying the rent due to Canterbury Cathedral Priory between 1450-1 and 1483-4. The property seems then to have passed to Peter Coventre. In 1488 it was probably represented by 2 messuages on the N. side of Cheapside in Cheap ward and in the parish of St. Mary le Bow, of which Robert Colson, gentleman, and John Frende, fynour, recovered possession against Richard Golofre, mercer, and Alan Johnson, copper-smith. Peter Coventre was called to warrant by Colson and Frende, and himself called the common vouchee. The recovery was evidently executed for Peter's benefit, perhaps in order to break the entail created in 1407 by William Coventre's will. As soon as they had recovered the messuages Colson and Frende granted them to Peter Coventre, gentleman, son and heir of Henry Coventre, and his heirs and assigns. Thomas Coventre, son of John Coventre, had a younger brother Henry, and so Peter was probably Thomas's nephew. In 1499 Colson and Frende quitclaimed to Peter Coventre in the 2 messuages. (fn. 8)

Peter Coventre owed the rent for the Cage to Canterbury Cathedral Priory in 1495-6 and 1510-11, and in both years the tenement was said formerly to have been held by Richard Whyte. By 1515 Coventre had ceased to hold the tenement. By 1530 the Cage was said to be held by Richard Gresham, knight. Gresham, who was not in fact knighted until 1537, probably held as undertenant under a lease which had been granted to Peter Coventre, for in 1533 the Canterbury rent-collector acknowledged that he had received the rent from Peter Coventre's widow, Margery, by the hands of Richard Gresham, citizen and mercer, who still held the property in 1541. In 1541 and 1544 the occupants of the property were probably Thomas Bartilmewe and Walter Porter. In 1561, when the property was known as the Angel and Bartholomew (each name presumably denoting one of the 2 messuages), the rent was said formerly to have been paid by Sir John Gresham. The next owner was Bartholomew Barne, mercer, who at his death in 1548 was in possession of the 2 messuages charged with the £2. 10s. rent to the dean and chapter of Canterbury and said to be worth £8 a year clear. Barne's heir was his son, Thomas Barne. (fn. 9)

The property may have consisted of 3 separate holdings in 1582 when the £2. 10s. rent was due from Robert Jaxon for a tenement called the 'Naked Boy, the Star, and St. Bartholomew'. In 1599 the tenant denied that the rent was due. In 1614 the rent was due from 2 tenements, called 'the Angel and Naked Boy', held by William Banton and Edward Meredith. The Bartholomew and the Naked Boy were alternative names for the same house and in 1615 the 2 messuages, with their shops, cellars, solars, warehouses and chambers, were said formerly to have been occupied by Lawrence Hewett, grocer, and Edward Meredith and now to be occupied by William Banton and (blank) Turner or their assigns. Banton, citizen and draper, probably continued to live there until 1619, when he died. These occupants were the tenants of Richard Burrell, esquire, of London, who in 1615 with his sons, Daniel Burrell, Abraham Burrell, John Burrell, and Henry Burrell, with his daughters, Anne Burrell and Elizabeth, and with Elizabeth's husband, William Robinson, esquire, of the Inner Temple, agreed, with the intent of securing a marriage settlement for Richard Burrell's daughter Mary, to levy a fine to the effect that Thomas Rowe, citizen and merchant tailor, and Robert Jaye, citizen and draper, should be seised of the 2 messuages to the use of Richard Burrell and his heirs for 20 years while Mary was unmarried and on her marriage or Burrell's death to the use of Mary and her issue or heirs and assigns. In 1621 Burrell leased the messuage known as the Bartholomew or Naked Boy and the Star for a term of 21 years at £20 rent to Ralph Coxe, citizen and saddler, who covenanted to pay £30 a year over and above the rent. In 1623, when a marriage was proposed between Burrell's daughter Mary and John Hare of London, Richard Burrell and his wife Jane agreed to convey by fine the 2 messuages and land in Yorkshire to William Robinson and Abraham Burrell to hold to the use of Hare and Mary for life and then to the use of Mary's heirs. At the time of this agreement Coxe still held the Bartholomew and Star and Ralph Addyson occupied the Angel. (fn. 10)

The marriage between Hare and Mary Burrell evidently took place, for in 1628 the dean and chapter of Canterbury recovered from Hare 3 years arrears of their rent and obtained an order that he should pay the rent thereafter. In 1638 the property was probably represented by 2 houses inhabited by Mr. Hicfort and Mr. Dashwood, each valued at £40 p.a. In 1656 John Hare leased a messuage forming a part of 43 to Thomas Hickford, then in occupation, for a term of 21 years from 1657 at a rent of £21. 5s. with an additional annual payment and a fine of £150. The property then descended to Hare's son Samuel Hare, esquire, who granted Hickford an additional term of 7 years at £51. 5s. a year. On the eve of the Great Fire Dashwood's house had 6 hearths and Hickford's 10. After the Fire the potential value of the site was much improved since King Street was laid out across the adjoining property to the E. and 104/43 thereby acquired an additional frontage. It was reckoned that 2 new houses could be built on the site of Hickford's property at a cost of £900. Samuel Hare wished to rebuild this and the remaining part of his property with which Hickford's holding was intermixed, but eventually it was agreed that Hickford should rebuild, in return for which he should receive a new lease for a term of 60 years at £51. 5s. rent. This lease was to include the slip of ground between 43 and the new frontage of King Street which Hare was to purchase from the owner of the adjoining property. Hare had some difficulty in effecting this purchase, which was not accomplished until 1672 for a sum £32. 15s. and at a loss of a considerable sum of rent. (fn. 11)

Eventually 3 new houses were erected on the site of 43. Hickford was responsible for 2 of them, one on the corner of King Street and the other further to the N. The third house, built for Alderman Dashwood, occupied the remainder of the Cheapside frontage and was bounded by the second of Hickford's houses on the N. The exact bounds of the pre-Fire property, of the slip of ground added to it by Hare, and of a slip of ground at the N. end taken into King Street are recorded in the survey of the 3 foundations. (fn. 12) Before the Fire the E. boundary of 43 included a kink at a point about 55 ft. (16.76 m.) back from the Cheapside frontage, which may reflect the intermixture along the length of the stone wall between 104/43 and 105/11-12 recorded at the division of those properties in 1402 (see above).