St. Mary Colechurch 105/2

Introduction

This property, on the W. side of Bordhaw Lane, was bounded to the W. by 145/39, to the N. by 105/1, a row of shops which were probably originally part of it, and to the S. by 105/3.

In 1858 1 and 2 were no. 76 Cheapside.

Thirteenth to sixteenth century

2 belonged in the early or mid-13th century to John son of Richard, also known as John de la Stronde, whose descendant Hamo de la Stronde granted it to Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester. After the latter's death and forfeiture in 1265 it was granted to Edmund earl of Leicester, son of Henry III. Edmund had not received seisin by February 1272, when the property was described as a house in Cheapside nearly opposite the Conduit, now held from year to year by Robert Heyron, vintner, of John de Edelmeton the elder, cutler, for £2. 13s. 4d. (4 marks) rent, of which £2 was paid by John to Bermondsey Priory. In 1274-5 the property was described as a house in Bordhawe, once of John son of Richard, which had now passed from Edmund, the king's son, to Thomas Coffin, tawyer (allucar'). It was worth (after outgoings?) 3s. 4d. de liquido. One of the shops forming part of 105/1 was said in 1284 to have once belonged to John son of Richard (105/1B). In 1285 the tenement of the Lord Edmund lay to the E. of 145/39. In 1290 the prior and convent of Bermondsey quitclaimed to the Lord Edmund in the £2 rent from the tenement called la Burgate, sometime of John son of Richard de la Stronde, in the parish of St. Mary Colechurch. Edmund gave them £20 for this. In 1305 Edmund son of Thomas le Cofer, sometime cordwainer (cordwaner) of the Lord Edmund, quitclaimed to John le Leutor, citizen, in a messuage and 3 shops which John held of Thomas Earl of Lancaster (son of the Lord Edmund) in a lane called Bordhaw opposite St. Thomas of Acre in Cheapside. The property lay between 145/39 to the W., 105/3 to the S., Bordhaw Lane to the E. and the tenement of the Prioress of Kilburn (part of 1) and le real chemin of Cheapside to the N. It probably therefore included the ground floor shop (105/1B), described under 105/1. (fn. 1)

No further 14th-century deeds relating to this property survive, but from abutments from 145/39 and 105/3 it appears to have been held by John le Lutier in 1323, by Isabel la Luter in 1335, by Henry Darci in 1345, and by John Welde of Essex in 1373. In 1397 it was described as the tenement late of John de Welde of Essex, now held and inhabited by John Grove, citizen and armourer. (fn. 2) In 1407 Margery de Nerford and William de Bergh sought licence to found a chantry in the church of St. Christopher in London for themselves and their sons, and to endow it with a messuage and shops in the parish of St. Peter Broad Street, and a rent of £1 from a messuage with shops, cellar, and solar in the parish of St. Mary Colechurch. Licence was granted but the chantry seems in fact to have been endowed with 105/2 itself rather than just a rent from it. In 1415 Margery de Nerford granted her tenement with shops, solar(s) and cellar(s), in the parish of St. Mary Colechurch, which she and William de Bergh, clerk, now dead, had by the grant of Robert Whityngham and John Claveryng, junior, now dead, Clement Spice, and William Wanstall, to John Wakeryng, Henry Keys, clerk, William Chichely, citizen, William Bozom of Bedfordshire, William Paston of Norfolk, Richard Osbarn, citizen, David Fyvyan, clerk, and Robert Chamberleyn. Bozom died and the other feoffees released their right to Osbarn, Fyvyan, and Chamberleyn, who in 1425 granted the property to John Whatele, Martin Kelom, William Dawtre, and John Cotford, citizens and mercers. The object of this was clearly to enable Whatele to devise the property in mortmain: the others quitclaimed to him, and by his will dated 1426 and proved in 1432, he left his tenement with shops, solar(s) and cellar(s), in the parish of St. Mary Colechurch by the Conduit, acquired as above, to the rector and churchwardens of St. Christopher's for ever. He also left tenements in the parish of St. Christopher. The issues from the tenement in St. Mary Colechurch were to go to the repair of the chapel built by Margery de Nerford, in which she was buried, in that church, and for her obit, and the issues from the tenements in St. Christopher's parish were to go to a perpetual chantry in that chapel. For most of the 15th century the tenants or occupants of this property are not known. In 1427 it was described, in an abutment from 3, as late of John Welde, now held by James Bynde, mercer. James Bynde, mercer, of the parish of St. Mary Colechurch, died in 1431-2. (fn. 3)

Sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

William Ettys lived in 2 in 1540, when the tenement was viewed to settle a dispute between the rector and churchwardens of St. Christopher, and Bartholomew Barnes, mercer, tenant of 145/39, which with 105/1A now belonged to the church of St. Mary le Bow. The viewers found that the little shop towards the street (1B) measured 8 ft. 1 in. (2.46 m.) E.-W. by 12 ft. 9 in. (3.89 m.) N.-S., and was 9 ft. high (2.74 m.); all above the shop belonged to Barnes. Behind the shop, the tenement (2) measured 42 ft. 2 in. (12.85 m.) N.-S. by 21 ft. 9 in. (6.63 m. E.-W.) at either end, between Barnes' land (145/39) and the lane. The rector, churchwardens, and parishioners then leased the tenement and shop, giving the measurements as before, to Barnes for 99 years at £3 rent. Barnes, who was also about to rebuild 145/39, was to pull down the tenement and rebuild it before Christmas 1542 with oak timbers of the same scantlings, and with as many storeys, as he was bound to rebuild the adjoining tenement. Thereafter he was to repair. William Ettys was to continue to live there after the rebuilding at the same rent or fine that anyone else was prepared to pay. The churchwardens could enter to view and distrain for arrears, and acquitted Barnes of all charges except the rent. Barnes was bound in £100 to perform these convenants. A view taken of 145/39 in 1542, when that had been rebuilt and 105/1A, the part of 105/1 associated with it, was 'now in taking down', gave slightly but not substantially different dimensions (8 ft. 4 in. by 12 ft. by 10 ft.; 2.54 m. by 3.66 m. by 3.05 m.) for 1B, the shop belonging to 105/2. (fn. 4)

In 1543-4 and 1546-7 the churchwardens of St. Christopher's owed 10s. rent to the Crown, formerly due to Kilburn Priory, for a tenement in the parish of St. Mary Colechurch. This quit-rent was extinguished when the property itself passed to the Crown in 1548. The endowment of John Whatele's chantry was then worth £10. 13s. 4d., less chantry, obit, and quit-rent charges, including £1 to 'Lady Nerford's priest.' The property, probably incorporating 1B as well, was granted in September 1548 to William Gunter and William Hobson, together with 145/39 and 105/1A, and other properties, at 18 years purchase. 105/1B and 2 were valued at £3, according to the lease to Barnes, less £1 quit-rent to Lady Nerforde (sic). Gunter and Hobson, who bought many properties in London at this date and disposed of most of them very rapidly, probably sold 1B-2 to Bartholomew Baron (d. 1548) or his son John Baron, citizen and mercer. In 1551 John Baron, with his wife Elizabeth, granted and quitclaimed in the tenement with shops, cellar(s), solar(s), etc., representing 2 and probably 1B, lately occupied by his father and now by himself, to Robert Browne, citizen and goldsmith. In 1555 Robert Browne and his wife Margaret granted the same tenement back to John Baron, who still occupied it. (fn. 5)

John Barnes (probably identical with John Baron) occupied a house worth £6. 13s. 4d. p.a. in this part of the parish (the last house listed in the tithe assessment) in 1558. Robert Mathewe occupied this house in 1571. Possibly 1B-2 was the messuage and curtilage in the parish of St. Mary Colechurch which Thomas Cranfield, mercer, and Edward Ockelshawe, haberdasher, recovered from William Leonard, mercer, in 1573; Leonard called Bartholomew Barnes, mercer, to warrant. In 1574 the communicants in Robert Mathewe's household consisted of himself, his wife, and 4 servants. Mr. Draper held the last house in the parish list in 1602, and Edward Draper in 1612 and 1619- 22. Mr. Abel, holding a house valued at £24, is the most probable tenant or occupant in 1638. (fn. 6)

Just after the Great Fire the freehold of 1B-2 was held by Sir William Backhouse, bt., (d. 1669); it may have been in the Backhouse family for some time, as in 1616 Sir William Burlas, kt., and Nicholas Fuller, esquire, recovered a messuage in All Hallows Honey Lane parish (11/2) and one in St. Mary Colechurch parish (either this tenement or 105/10C) against Samuel Backhouse. If this recovery related to 105/1B-2, the tenement probably descended as 11/2 did, from Samuel Backhouse (d. 1626) to his son William Backhouse (d. 1662), and to William's 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. In 1662-3 the occupants of 105/1A, 1B, and 2, though not necessarily in that order, were probably John Newton (3 hearths), Bartholomew Piggott (4 hearths) and John Heath (5 hearths). By 1666 Heath had been succeeded by William Empson. The foundation of 1-2 was surveyed in 1669 with that of 8-9A for Joseph Richardson, occupant of 8-9A, but it is not clear if he was the rebuilder of 1-2. (fn. 7) In 1692 Henry earl of Clarendon and Flower his wife sold or mortgaged a messuage or tenement called the Boar's head in Cheapside, and a small messuage or shop [containing] 11 ft. (3.35 m.) next to Cheapside, with a cellar under the shop and 3 rooms over it, divided from the other messuage, [all] in St. Mary Colechurch parish. This seems to relate to 2 and the shop 1B, said in 1540 to measure some 12 ft. (3.66 m.) in depth, and suggests that they had been rebuilt after the Great Fire with the same ground-plot but without the intermixture of rooms above the shop. (fn. 8)