All Hallows Honey Lane 11/7

Introduction

This property lay between 6 to the W. and 8 to the E. and between Cheapside to the S. and the churchyard of All Hallows Honey Lane to the N. In the late 12th or early 13th century it appears to have been part of the Herlicon fee, along with 6; its early history is described under 1 and 6. (fn. 1)

In 1858 the property was no. 109-10 Cheapside.

Later thirteenth to sixteenth century

Simon de Arcubus appears to have acquired 7 from Robert de Montpelers, holder of 6 and 7, by 1276, when Haliwell Priory quitclaimed to Simon in 10s. rent from a shop he held in Cheapside, in exchange for certain other rents. Simon was the E. neighbour of 6 in 1290. (fn. 2) By his will proved in 1301, Simon de Arcubus, apothecary, left his house with two shops under one roof towards Cheapside in All Hallows Honey Lane to his nephew Thomas; Thomas was to maintain a chaplain celebrating for Simon's soul for his own lifetime. Simon also left a little shop under the rent of Richard de Monte Pessulano (probably 6) for sale. Thomas may have bought the little shop, as in 1307 Richard de Mountpellers, citizen and apothecary, quitclaimed to Thomas de Arcubus in a messuage and 3 shops in Cheapside late of his parents Robert de Mountpellers and his wife Floria, concerning which he had recently brought a writ of right in the Guildhall against Thomas. (fn. 3)

Thomas de Arcubus died in or before 1323, leaving all his rents and tenements in London for sale. His executor, Thomas de Carliolo, rector of All Hallows Honey Lane, granted 7 to John de la Pole, citizen and apothecary, who granted it, and in 1338 quitclaimed in it, to William de Elsyng, citizen and mercer, describing it as land with houses and 3 shops in All Hallows Honey Lane. The property lay between 6 to the W., 8 to the E., Cheapside to the S. and the cemetery of the church to the N. William de Elsyng sought licence in 1338 to alienate 6 and 7 and other properties to the hospital of St. Mary of Aldermanbury afterwards known as the hospital of St. Mary within Cripplegate or Elsing Spital. The two tenements, acquired from Michael Mynyot (6) and John atte Pole (7), were valued at £13. 10s. together, or £1 clear after payment of quit-rents of £6 to Clerkenwell Priory from 6), £3 to the Domus Conversorum, £1. 16s. to Merton Priory, and 4s. to St. Helen's Priory, and of £1. 10s. in repairs. Licence was granted, and the tenements were secured by devise in William de Elsing's will of 1349. (fn. 4)

Though 6 was subsequently recovered by the heirs in tail of the grantor, 7 remained with Elsing Spital until the Dissolution. In 1403-4 the priory's tenants in 7 were Richard Bartigrave, haberdasher, paying £6 rent for a tenement in Cheap, William Norton, grocer, paying £4 rent for a tenement there, and Roger Gloucester, grocer, paying 16s. 8d. for a shop. Roger Gloucester's predecessor was John Bowe, spicer, who still owed 10s. from the previous year. Documents relating to the payment of the 10th and 15th c. 1406 include a reference to 7s. 6d. due to Elsing Spital from Richard Bartegue (?Bartigrave) for 2 tenements in All Hallows in Cheap ward. Both Bartigrave and Gloucester died in 1407. A rental of 1498 mentions 4 tenants in Cheap, of which at least one may be in St. Vedast. The 4 were John Routhe, at £6. 13s. 4d. rent, Isabel Penkyth at £1. 6s. 8d., John Flexmer at £1. 6s. 8d., and John Hardman at £3. (fn. 5)

In 1535 Elsing Spital's property in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane comprised 2 messuages, of which one was held by Thomas Foteman, citizen and leatherseller, at £5. 6s. 8d. rent for a term of years expiring in 1550, and the other was held by Edward Taillour, citizen and leatherseller, at £5. 16s. 8d. rent. Taillour was liable for repairs to his tenement. The priory granted the 2 messuages to Edward Taillour for 80 years from 1535 at £11. 3s. 4d. rent for the whole; he was not to have any interest in Foteman's tenement until the expiry of Foteman's term. Taillour was to repair, pave, and cleanse the privies, but the landlords were to supply principal timbers and pay for workmanship. (fn. 6)

Elsing Spital's total income was less than £200 and it was suppressed in 1536. Edward Tallour and Elisia Foteman, widow, paid their rents separately to the Court of Augmentations until 1537-8, when Henry VIII granted the 2 tenements to Nicholas Simpson, groom of the privy chamber, for life. (fn. 7)

Quit-rents from the property

In 1338 7 was charged with 3 quit-rents, of £3 to the Domus Conversorum, £1. 16s. to Merton Priory, and 4s. to St. Helen's Priory. (fn. 8) All three were still being paid in the 16th century, though that formerly due to the Domus Conversorum was now due to the Master of the Rolls. The rents were not apparently extinguished by the life grant to Simpson, and the £3 due to the Master of the Rolls was still payable in 1599. (fn. 9)

Sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

Very little is known about this property after the grant to Simpson. In 1544 Edward Tayllour was assessed for subsidy in the parish on goods valued at £400, and was probably still occupying 7 or part of it then. William Gressent, perhaps a subtenant of part of 7, was named as the E. neighbour of 6D in 1547. Edward Taylour replaced Simpson as paying the 4s. rent to St. Helens in 1556-7 and later; he had perhaps acquired the freehold by then. William Parson, grocer, occupied the tenement to the W. of the front part of 8 in 1597, and in 1606 and 1612 was said to be 'now or late' the tenant of 7. In 1599 Michael Stanhope petitioned the commissioners for the sale of Crown lands for leave to exchange two tenements in Cheapside, worth £11. 3s. 4d. p.a., which he had recently bought, for others of the same value, since they were still charged with a rent to the Master of the Rolls; he does not seem to have been successful. (fn. 10)

In 1606 Sir Michael Stanhope of Sudbourne, Suffolk, gentleman of the king's privy chamber, and Sir Edward Stanhope of London, kt., Doctor of Laws and Master in Chancery, sold 7 to Sir John Spencer, kt., citizen and alderman, describing it as two messuages in or near Westcheap in this parish, now or late held or occupied severally by Richard Holdmead and Elizabeth Cage or their assigns. One of the messuages had formerly been occupied by Thomas Footeman, citizen and leatherseller, and the other or both had been occupied by Edward Taylor, citizen and leatherseller. One tenement was called the Maidenhead and Plough, the other the White Horsehead and Rainbow. Spencer died in 1610, and the sole heir to his large fortune was his daughter Elizabeth, wife of William Compton, Lord Compton, created earl of Northampton in 1618. Some time between 1618 and 1630, probably after 1622, the earl and his son and heir Spencer, Lord Compton, sold 7, described as 2 messuages in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane, to Ralph Fox of High Holborn, gentleman. The occupants of the property in 1638 were probably Mr. Chalfont, whose house was valued at £30 p.a., and Mr. Ledder, next to him, also valued at £30 p.a. By his will dated 6 January 1639, proved in 1654, Fox left 7, two messuages called the Maidenhead and Plough and the Nag's Head and Rainbow, to his son Daniel Fox and his son- in-law Christopher Randall, to hold for 5 years and rebuild them from the profits, making them 'fitting for habitation'; thereafter the tenements were to go to George and John Fox, the testator's sons, and their issue, with remainder to Daniel and his issue. In a codicil of 12 January 1639 Ralph Fox left the 5-year term to Daniel Fox only, to rebuild as above and to pay £10 yearly to George Fox in the meantime. The tenements were said in 1640, after Ralph the elder's death, to be held in socage of the manor of East Greenwich, and to be worth 13s. clear yearly. In 1662-3 and 1666 John Aylworth, silkman, occupied a house with 6 hearths, and William Goddard, silkman, one with 7; together these 2 houses probably comprised 7. (fn. 11)

After the great fire

In May 1667 Daniel Fox, gentleman, paid for having a foundation surveyed in Cheapside, but no plan survives. In August 1667 a foundation was surveyed for William Goddard in Cheapside by the Standard, between the Mercers' Company (8) to the E. and St. Thomas' Hospital (6) to the W.; it comprised only the front part of 7, measuring 26 ft. N-S and 19 ft. 4 in. E.-W. (7.92 m. by 5.89 m.). Goddard was probably tenant by lease of the Fox family. Mr. Fox was given as the W. neighbour of a foundation set out for Mr. Waldoe (8) in 1668. (fn. 12) Goddard owned the small shop between 6 and 7, and Fox the cellar under it, in 1676. (fn. 13)