St. Mary Colechurch 105/5

Introduction

This property lay on the E. side of Bordhaw Lane, between 4 to the S., 6 to the N., and probably 10 to the E. In 1402 it measured 11 ft. 11 1/2 in. (3.64 m.) N.-S. by 26 ft. 3 in. (8 m.) E.-W. (fn. 1) Its site was represented in 1858 by parts of nos. 4 and 5 Bird in Hand Court.

5 can probably be identified as the land with houses in St. Mary Colechurch parish which Thomas the clerk of Borthae granted to St. Mary Spital (fd. 1197), probably in the early 13th century. This grant is recorded in a royal confirmation of 1318. In and before 1271 5 was described, in an abutment from 6, as the tenement of the fee of St. Mary Spital. John Patrik, then owner of 4B, appears to have been tenant in 1283. St. Mary Spital's tenement was given as the N. abutment of 4 and the S. abutment of 6 several times in the late 13th and 14th centuries. (fn. 2) In 1369 William de Hathefeld, chandler, who held and probably occupied 4, left that and his term of years in the tenement in Bordhaw Lane which he had by the demise of St. Mary Spital, to his wife Emma for life, with remainder to his son Stephen and his heirs, and then to his son William. By 1378, however, de Hatfeld's properties were held by his daughters Marion, wife of John Hockeley, citizen and chandler, and Margaret, wife of Matthew Langiche, citizen and fishmonger. They divided their inheritance between them, and 4, together with the remaining term in 5, which was referred to as lightfot tenement, went to John Hockele and Marion. Marion appears subsequently to have married Robert Lodewyk, citizen and chandler, to whom in 1402 the prior of St. Mary Spital granted a new lease of 5 for 40 years at 13s. 4d. rent. It was then described as the tenement late held by John Hokkele of the hospital, between 4 (the tenement sometime of William Albon) to the S. and 6 (the tenement sometime of William Kesteuen) to the N., measuring 8 3/4 ells (26 ft. 3 in.; 8 m.) in length from Bordhaw Lane (eastwards) and 4 ells less half an inch (11 ft. 11 1/2 in.; 3.64 m.) in width. The neighbours named in this grant may simply have been repeated from the previous lease, which was probably therefore made in the mid 14th century; William de Hatfeld seems also to have been known as William of St. Albans, though the reference could also be to William (Danyel) of St. Albans, who held 4 in the early 14th century. (fn. 3)

Robert Lodewyk left 4 and his term in 5 to his wife Mary in 1406-7. By her will of 1407, proved 1408, Mary, widow of Robert Lodewyk (apparently identical with Marion Hockele) left 4 and her remaining term in 5 to Sir Robert Brome, rector of St. John Walbrook, Walter Colshill, citizen and grocer, John Brokhole, and John Trenchemer, citizens and chandlers, for immediate sale. One third of the profits was to go to her sister Margaret Langriche. Mary Lodewyk was subsequently described as citizen and free of the city (civis ac libera civitatis). Later in 1408 Brome and his co-feoffees granted 4 and 5 to Richard Wodecok, Robert Merston, Thomas Bemond, citizens and salters, and Sir Richard Eustace, clerk. By a codicil to his will of 1415 Richard Wodecok left 4 and his future term in 5, both of which he said had been acquired by himself, Merston, Bemond, and Eustace, with his money and to his own use, to his daughter Joan and her heirs, with remainder to the master of St. Thomas of Acre. In 1421, however, Robert Colbrook and his wife Joan, daughter of Richard Wodecok, quitclaimed to Henry Barton, citizen and alderman, and Thomas Beaumond, citizen and salter, then in possession, in the tenement in Bordhaw Lane, late held by John Hokkele, with bounds and measurements as in the lease. In 1422 Thomas Beaumond, as the only survivor of Wodecok, Merston, Bemond, and Eustace, sold and granted his remaining term in 5 to Henry Barton, skinner, citizen and alderman. The lease appears to have been extended to 80 years from 1408, at the same rent of 13s. 4d. In 1452-3 the tenement of St. Mary Spital lay to the W. of part of 10. (fn. 4)

At some point in the 15th century 5 seems to have ceased to be a separately-identifiable property: probably it merged with 4, either by grant from the hospital or simply by their allowing their rights to lapse. The new prior of St. Mary Spital found in 1484 that the priory's properties in London, its main source of income, had been allowed to fall into ruin, and possibly the loss of this property was a part of that development. No record of the rent to the hospital occurs in the Skinners' Company's accounts for 4, starting in 1491, or in the accounts relating to the dissolution of St. Mary Spital in the mid-16th century. (fn. 5)