St. Mary Colechurch 105/11

Introduction

In the later 12th century 105/11-12 and property in St. Lawrence Jewry parish (provisionally identified as 81/C-E) formed an L-shaped block in one tenure and was charged with rents to Canterbury Cathedral Priory. The association between the separate parts of this block persisted into the later Middle Ages. On the Cheapside frontage the block lay between 104/43 on the W. and 105/13-15 on the E.; it extended N. as far as the line subsequently occupied by Sevehod Lane (see 95/3), along which it extended W. as far as St. Lawrence Lane, where it was bounded by 104/36 on the S. By the later 13th century the parts of the block were separately distinguished: 11 extended from Cheapside on the S. to the line of Sevehod Lane on the N., and 12 occupied part of the Cheapside frontage between 11 on the W. and N. and 13 on the E. Subsequently the rear part of 11, which by then comprised a house in St. Lawrence Jewry parish, is identifiable as a separate property (81/C: see Appendix 1).

After the Great Fire almost the whole of the site was taken into King Street.

Twelfth and thirteenth centuries

In this period no distinction in terms of ownership can be drawn between 11 and 12, although there was probably a physical and tenurial distinction between the front part of the property (probably shops) and the rear. The late 12th-century rentals of Canterbury Cathedral Priory appear to record 2 rents from the property, one of £2 a year and another of 5s., although there is some confusion over the way in which the termly payments were entered. In the 2 neater texts of the rentals the rents are recorded as being due in equal portions at the Purification of the Virgin Mary, when they were due from Sibilia, widow of Peter son of Alan, and at St. Peter ad vincula, when they were due from the heirs of Peter son of Alan; in one of these texts (Lit. MS 15) the entry concerning the smaller payment at the Purification has been displaced, so that it appears to concern another property. In the third, less neat, and probably later text (Lit. MS 16) the rents appear to have been entered twice, probably because this text was compiled from an annotated version of the original rental, and because the terms at which the rents were due had been changed. Thus they are entered, as in the other rentals, as due at the feasts of the Purification and St. Peter (the lesser rent due at the Purification being displaced), but they are also entered as being due in equal portions at 4 terms (Christmas, Easter, St. John the Baptist, and Michaelmas) from Alan son of Peter. The rents were due at the same 4 terms in the 13th century. During the later 12th and perhaps also the early 13th century the property thus descended from Peter son of Alan to his widow Sibilia, and then to Peter's son Alan, during whose time the terms at which the rents were due were altered in order to conform with London custom. About 1220 the rents were due from Alan son of Peter: £2 from land next to Cheapside and 5s. from land which adjoined it to the rear. (fn. 1)

In 1214-15 the house of John the Welshman (Wallensis) was said to adjoin the W. side of 13-15 (q.v.), which John himself apparently held c. 1220. There may be some confusion here, but it is possible that for a time before c. 1220 John held 11-12 as the tenant of Alan son of Peter.

The property then passed to Peter son of Alan, who held it in 1246, and from him to his son John, known as John son of Peter, who probably held it by 1264. A Canterbury rental names John Grassus as tenant in the mid- 13th century or a little later; it is possible, but unlikely, that he was identical with John son of Peter. In or shortly before 1266-7 Godfrey Giffard, archdeacon of York, restored to William, John, Maud, and Elizabeth, children of Peter son of Alan, certain lands in London, and gave to John certain lands and rents there for which he was to render £5 rent from the selds in Cheapside formerly of Peter son of Alan. These selds probably included 11-12. In 1280 11-12 was described as a tenement of John son of Peter. (fn. 2)

In 1288-9 11 was described as the tenement of William de Staunford, who was certainly dwelling there by 1290, when the will of John son of Peter was enrolled. John left £10. 13s. 4d. quit-rent from this tenement to his wife Eleanor with remainder to his son John; the beneficiaries under the will were to pay the £2. 13s. rent due to Canterbury Cathedral Priory for the tenement. This indicates that at this time 11 was considered also to be charged with the 8s. rent at one time due from the land fronting on to St. Lawrence Lane (see 81/D-C). Eleanor later married Pentecost Russel, with whom in 1303-4 she granted her life interest in the quit-rent of £10. 13s. 4d. to Robert de Kelleseye. In 1304 Robert granted the rent back to them for the term of Eleanor's life with remainder to the grantor and his heirs. In 1307 John son of John son of Peter ratified the grant made by Eleanor and Pentecost and quitclaimed to de Kelleseye in the rent. In 1329 William son of John son of Peter quitclaimed to de Kelleseye in the same rent. In the grant of 1303-4 this rent was said to be due from a seld and land with houses built on it, and from some shops in front of the seld beneath the roof (tectum) of the seld. The whole property lay in the parish of St. Mary Colechurch and was held by Katharine de Staunford, who was the widow of William de Staunford. The seld was further said to be bounded by tenements sometime of Maud le Blounde (104/43), Henry le Waleys (104/36), Henry le Caller (104/38?), and Richard Parlefrenk (81/D,E) on the W., by tenements sometime of Adam St. Alban's (105/13), Cressia daughter of Elias the Jew (95/1-2), and Robert de Sevehod (95/3) on the E., and by the tenement of Robert de Sevehod (95/3) and the lane leading from it to St. Lawrence Lane on the N. The shops occupied the street frontage in front of the seld, one on either side of the door of the seld. (fn. 3)

Fourteenth to seventeenth century

Katharine de Staunford appears to have held the whole of 11 until about 1328. In 1308 Canterbury Cathedral Priory took naam in her tenement in St. Mary Colechurch parish for 2 years' arrears of a rent of £2, said to amount to £4. 10s. Two years later a jury found that her tenement was not charged with the rent, but that the seld in the front part towards Cheapside together with 2 shops in front of the seld were so charged. The shops, and perhaps also the seld, appear at this time to have been in the tenure of Richard Aillewyne, who was presumably Katharine's tenant. Katharine's tenement, which she probably inhabited, as she certainly did at a later date, thus appears to have occupied the rear part of the property behind the seld. On 4 December 1328 Katharine granted to Sir William de Lillingstone, clerk, those tenements representing 11 which lay in the parishes of St. Lawrence Jewry and St. Mary Colechurch and were charged with a rent of £10. 13s. 4d. to Robert de Kelleseye; the tenements lay between 104/43 on the W., 105/12 and 13 on the E., Cheapside on the S., and Sevehodeslane on the N. The purpose of this grant was presumably to provide Katharine with a sum of money and a residence, for on 11 December 1328 de Lillingstone granted the S. part of the property next to Cheapside, described as a seld, with a tavern, shops, cellars, and solars in St. Mary Colechurch parish, to Thomas son of Robert de Kelleseye; he also granted to Thomas the reversion of the rear part of the property, described as a tenement in Sevehodeslane in St. Lawrence Jewry parish which Katharine inhabited and held for the term of her life; the whole property was charged with the £10. 13s. 4d. rent due to Robert de Kelleseye. (fn. 4) For the subsequent history of the rear part of the property, see 81/C.

In effect Robert de Kelleseye had acquired the property in the name of his son Thomas, for in 1335 105/11 was described as Robert's tenement and in 1330 Robert bound the tenement which he held in Cheapside by the gift of Katharine de Staunford for distraint in respect of an annual payment to which he was committed. He already had a strong interest in the property by 1326, when he acknowledged that he owed to Canterbury Cathedral Priory the £2. 5s. rent due from the tenement which Katharine de Stanford held. After Robert's death in 1336, however, Thomas was unambiguously in possession of the property. Thomas de Cavendish (d. 1349) was probably tenant of 105/11 in 1348, when his tenements were said to lie on either side of 105/12. (fn. 5)

In 1375 Thomas de Kelleseye's executors, acting in accordance with his will, dated and proved that year, sold the property, now described as the tavern called le Hert, together with 104/43, to William de Walleworth, citizen and alderman, Simon de Mordon, and Henry Yevele, citizens. The Hart (105/11) then descended through the same succession of owners as 104/43, which adjoined it on its W. side, until 1402 when the two properties were divided and the Hart came into the sole possession of Thomas Wilford, fishmonger. As a result of this division there were some intermixtures between 105/11 and 104/43. In 1403 Wilford sought the assize of nuisance against Adam Fraunceys, who held the neighbouring property to the E. (12 and 13), and in 1404 he sought the assize against William Coventre, his neighbour on the W. (104/43). The rent due to Canterbury Cathedral Priory was in arrears at this time, but the priory recovered possession in 1406. (fn. 6)

By his will, dated 1405 and enrolled in 1407, Wilford left his properties in this and other parishes to his wife Elizabeth for life. In 1420 Elizabeth and William Chambre, Wilford's other surviving executor, sold the tenement called le Hert and £1 rent from 104/43 to Richard Bokeland, John Whatton, Richard Esgaston, Richard Stile, William Flete, and Thomas Lincoln, all citizens and fishmongers, and Thomas Norfolk, chaplain. These feoffees in 1420 granted the tenement and the rent to Elizabeth, who was now described as the daughter of William Whetele, woolmonger (lanarius) deceased, and to her heirs and assigns. Elizabeth Wilford thus acquired an absolute title to the property. At about this time the property was occupied by several tenants, and apparently consisted of a house set back from Cheapside behind some shops. In 1422 Elizabeth Wilford let to Robert Bette, citizen and glover, the dwelling in Cheapside (mansio per regiam stratam de Westchepe) called le Whyteherte which Thomas Sparke, citizen and mercer, had inhabited while he lived, together with a little shop on the W. side of the entry to the dwelling, saving only the right of access by the alley of Elizabeth's other tenants dwelling there; Bette was to hold the property for 10 years at £4. 13s. 4d. rent, and the landlord was to be responsible for repairs. In 1429 Elizabeth Wilford granted the tenement called le Hert with its houses, dwellings, cellar(s), and solar(s), and the rent from 104/43 to Robert Chichele, grocer, and John Brykles, draper, who in 1431 granted the property to Richard Coventre, William Melreth, William Hales, Robert Coventre, John Carpenter, clerk, and Richard Collyng, clerk; Elizabeth Wilford quitclaimed to these feoffees in January 1432. (fn. 7)

The feoffees held the property for the benefit of Richard Coventre (probably the son of William Coventre, d. 1406-7), who offered it as security for raising a loan of £266. 13s. 4d. Four of the feoffees released their right to the other two, Carpenter and Collyng, who in 1434 granted the tenement to Thomas Coventre, son and heir of John Coventre (d. 1429), and Richard Hungate, who were to hold to the use of Thomas, on condition that the grant would be void if Richard Coventre or his executors or assigns repaid the loan to Thomas. The loan evidently was repaid. In 1438 Carpenter quitclaimed in the tenement to Collyng, who immediately granted it to John Broughton, esquire, John Carpenter, junior, John Loughton, Thomas Bataille, and Richard Hungate. These feoffees probably held on behalf of Richard Coventre, and in 1456 the survivor, John Broughton, esquire, granted the tenement called the Hart to Henry Coventre, son and heir of Richard Coventre, formerly citizen and mercer. Henry Coventre was already in possession of the property in 1455, when as Henry Coventre of London, gentleman, he granted a lease of his tenement called le Whyte Herte to Richard Kyrkeby, citizen and grocer, for a term of 12 years from Michaelmas that year at £8. 13s. 4d. rent. A shop held by Richard Bonyfant, mercer, on the N. (sic) side of the tenement was specifically excepted from the lease, under which the landlord was to be responsible for repairs, cleansing, and paving. In March 1456, a few days after Broughton had granted him the property, Henry Coventre granted it to Robert Bassett, Stephen Forster, Robert Vykery, Henry Belle, and William Clover. (fn. 8)

The feoffees of March 1456 evidently held to the use of Robert Bassett, citizen and salter, who in 1458 leased to Robert Skrangham, citizen and mercer, the houses, shop and alley formerly held by Richard Bonyfant, for a term of 15 years at £6. 13s. 4d. rent, the landlord being responsible for repairs. (fn. 9) The total annual rent received by the landlord from 11 in 1458 was thus £15. 6s. 8d.

In 1466 Robert Bassett, the sole survivor of the feoffees in 1456, granted the White Hart to Richard Walwayn, gentleman, John Yong, valet of the Crown, John Weldon, citizen and grocer, and William Breteyn, citizen and woolmonger (lanar'). Later that year Yong and Breteyn quitclaimed to Walwyn and Weldon, who immediately granted the tenement to John Wendy and William Redeknape, citizens and mercers, and John Stodard, citizen and tailor. Wendy, Redeknappe, and Stodard in 1469 granted the tenement to Hugh Fenne, William Essex, and John Donne, senior, of whom the last in 1473 quitclaimed to the other two. The feoffees probably held on behalf of Hugh Fenne, from whose former property the £2. 5s. rent to Canterbury Cathredral Priory was in 1483-4 said to be due. William Essex survived Fenne, but was himself dead by 1494, when his son and heir, Thomas Essex, esquire, granted the tenement to Henry Heydon, knight, John Warde, alderman and grocer, Master John Breteyn, clerk, Master William Sutton, clerk, Edmund Jenney, Robert Dring, John Heydon, gentleman, and Robert Purches, citizen and mercer. These feoffees probably held to the use of William Purchas, alderman and mercer, from whom in 1495-6 and 1510-11 the rent to Canterbury Cathedral Priory was said to be due; the rent account for the former year names as a previous tenant Ralph Tilney, who was succeeded by William Boteler. (fn. 10)

In spite of the deed of 1469, to which John Wendy was party as a grantor, Wendy, a mercer, appears to have maintained a claim to the property. In 1504 the Mercers' Company agreed to his proposal that he give his house to the company, which was to recover possession at its own cost and lease it back to him for life. Wendy died and in 1505 his son and heir, Thomas Wendy, granted the messuage with shops, solar(s) and cellar(s), then inhabited by William Butler, grocer, to James Yarford, and Thomas Gostwick, citizens and mercers, and Thomas More, gentleman, who were evidently to act on behalf of the company. The dispute over the title to the property was now between the Mercers' Company and the executors of 'Master Purches'. Purches was presumably the William Purchas who seems to have acquired the use of the property in 1494 and who died in 1503. In March 1507 each side appointed representatives who were to negotiate a compromise, but a year later the company decided to pursue the suit at law to its extremity. The case was settled in 1509, when Thomas Otteley, grocer, held and inhabited the property. Yarford, Gostwick, and More granted the messuage to Richard Feldyng, citizen and mercer, to whom Thomas Wendy and the executors of William Purchace then quitclaimed. Feldyng held the messuage on behalf of the company, and in 1515 it was decided to offer the property to the hospital of St. Thomas of Acre in exchange for the land and houses next to the church of St. Thomas where the Mercers intended to build their new hall and chapel (see 105/18). In 1515 Feldyng drew up a testament whereby he left the messuage to the hospital charged with rents of 4s. 6d. to the Mercers' Company and 6s. 8d. to the rector of St. Michael Bassishaw to keep an obit for Thomas Wendy. (fn. 11)

At about this time the White Hart was being let for £10. 10s. a year. Thomas Otteley paid this rent to the Mercers' Company between 1509 and 1511 and then paid £10 a year until 1514. John Preste, grocer, paid £10 rent in 1514-15 and £10. 10s. between 1514 and 1516, when the property came into the hands of the hospital of St. Thomas of Acre. The hospital continued to receive £10. 10s. rent from the White Hart until it was dissolved in 1538, paid by John Preste (probably the wealthy John Preest, grocer, resident in the parish, probably in this property, c. 1522-4) to 1526, Nicholas Whether in 1527-8, an unnamed tenant between 1528 and 1532, and by John Lyncoln from 1532 on. In 1537 Lyncoln, a citizen and girdler who inhabited the property, took a lease of the White Hart with its shops, warehouses, cellars, and solars for a term of 50 years at £10. 10s. rent. In 1539 the Crown granted this rent and the reversion of the property to Edward Vaughan, gentleman, in tail male, to hold by knight service for a rent of £1. 1s. The payment of the £2. 4s. quit-rent to Canterbury Cathedral Priory appears to have lapsed in 1539; the 6s. 8d. rent to the church of St. Michael Bassishaw probably continued to be paid until 1547; the rent to the Mercers' Company seems not to have been paid, although the right to claim it was maintained. (fn. 12)

In 1558 William Younge, grocer, inhabited the White Hart, for which, according to the tithe assessment, he paid £10. 13s. 4d. rent, presumably to Edward Vaughan. Vaughan died in 1561, when his heir was John Vaughan, aged 19. The property then came into the possession of Richard Putte of Gray's Inn (Middx.), who in 1566, when the tenant was still named as William Younge, obtained from the queen a licence to alienate. The White Hart then came into the hands of the queen who in 1567 granted it in fee simple to Peter Osborne, esquire, Treasurer's Remembrancer in the Exchequer, and his wife Anne in exchange for a Crown annuity of £10 which had come into Osborne's possession. Thomas Osborne and Richard Okam then recovered possession of the White Hart against Peter Osborne and his wife by means of a writ of right brought into the court of Husting; among those called to warrant were Richard Putte and John Vaughan. Thomas Osborne and Okam presumably recovered the White Hart on Peter Osborne's behalf, for Peter was subsequently in possession. William Bay, grocer, was living there in 1571-4, and in 1574 his household included his wife and 6 other communicants. On Bay's death in 1582 his wife Annabel succeeded him and in the same year she took a lease of the White Hart from Peter Osborne and his wife Anne for a term of 21 years from 1587, when the lease granted by the hospital of St. Thomas of Acre was due to run out, paying £10. 10s. rent and a fine of £400; the tenant was to be responsible for repairs, cleansing, and paving. In 1588 Osborne and his wife granted the messuage to Hugh Broughton of London, preacher, William Fowler, esquire, of Hamedge Grange (Salop), Richard Fowler, who was William's son and heir, Francis Blithe, esquire, Ambrose Rouose, esquire, and John Astell, esquire, of Gray's Inn, who were to hold the property to the use of Peter Osborne for life, and then to the use of his son and heir, John Osborne, and John's heirs and assigns. Peter Osborne died in 1592. Annabel Bay, widow, was living in the house at her death in 1598, when she left her interest in the lease to her son, Roland Bay, grocer. Roland died in 1599, but did not mention the property in his will. (fn. 13)

Mr. Holeman lived in the house in 1602 and was probably identical with the George Holman who lived there in 1612. John Touse lived there between 1619 and 1624, and was probably identical with the alderman and grocer of that name who died as a resident of this parish in 1645, when he probably still inhabited the property. In 1638 Mr. Towse's house was valued at £24 a year. (fn. 14)

Shortly before the Great Fire of 1666 Mr. Stronge lived in the house on this site. He was presumably the William Strong who had a house of 5 hearths here in 1662-3, when another part of the property appears to be represented by a house of 1 hearth occupied by John Warner. Warner was still there in 1666, when Strong's house appears to have been omitted from the Hearth Tax list. By 1670 the site belonged to George Fitzjefreys (a relative or assign of John Osborne), whose sister also had an interest in the property. The bounds of the property are given in both a drawn and a written survey, and it was proposed to take almost the whole of it into the new street of King Street. It seems that originally Fitzjefreys was to be compensated in part by being given that part of 105/13, already in the city's possession, which was not required for the new street. By November 1672, however, 105/11 was in the hands of Robert Fincham, citizen and goldsmith, who in the following February was paid £795 for it. A narrow strip of ground on the W. side of 105/11 was sold to the owner of 104/43 (q.v.) and the remainder of the property measured 11 ft. 3 in. (3.43 m.) next to Cheapside and 14 ft. (4.27 m.) wide at a distance of 40 ft. (12.19 m.) from the street; further northward it was 30 ft. (9.14 m.) wide and at the N. end 31 ft. (9.45 m.) wide; the wider part of the property to the rear measured 72 ft. (21.95 m.) in depth, and the whole was 112 ft. (34.14 m.) in depth from Cheapside. (fn. 15)