All Hallows Honey Lane 11/8

Introduction

This large property extended from Cheapside northwards to the parish of St. Lawrence Jewry, and round behind the church of All Hallows. On the Cheapside frontage it was bounded to the W. by 7; originally it included 9, to the E., but this was divided from it in 1328. Further to the N. its neighbours to the W. and E. were 5 and 10, respectively.

This account deals with the history of 8 and 9 together down to 1328, after which 9 is continued under a separate heading. The remaining part, 8, which was probably occupied in many separate units, was divided again c. 1400, when a large part to the N. was separated off: the history of this part is given below as 8C. A further division took place in 1446, when a small part to the N. of the remaining part of 8 was devised separately from the rest by will by the then owner. The part so divided is described below as 8B. The remaining part of 8, defined here as 8A, was not further divided as to ownership, but it is clear that it was held in several separate parts by the early 16th century. These are described below as 8A1, the main house, and 8A2, 8A3, and 8A4, 3 houses on Cheapside. 8A5 was a part of 8A1 divided from it in the later 16th century; it was itself subdivided in the 17th century, but the 2 parts had been reunited before the Fire.

In 1858 the S. end of the property was represented by nos. 107-8 Cheapside.

8 and 9, late twelfth century to 1328

This property belonged in the late 12th century to William Bucointe, son of Sabelina. He also had property in St. Lawrence Jewry parish to the north, which may originally have been Sabelina's: 'Sabelinesbury', to the S. of property in St. Lawrence Jewry, was mentioned in 1258-9, though Sabelina must have lived in the mid to late 12th century. (fn. 1) The lands in Cheapside and Honey Lane, however, may have belonged to the Bucointe family: John Bucointe had those on the Cheapside frontage before William did, and c. 1200 John Bucointe son of Alice Bucointe had lands in Honey Lane (see 4). (fn. 2) The E. abutment of 5 was given c. 1200 as the land of John Bocointe, and in the early 13th century as the garden which had belonged to William son of Sabelina. (fn. 3)

Between 1191 and 1212 William Bocointe, son of Sabelina, granted to Holy Trinity Priory a rent of £2 from the land, seld, and shops and managium late of John Bocoint in the parish of St. Mary le Bow, to the E. of the land and seld which were of John son of Robert son of Herlicon (7), for the souls of himself and his wife Agnes, his parents Lawrence and Sabelina, his brother Geoffrey and his ancestors and successors. It seems clear that the property so described was 11/8-9, which was opposite the church of St. Mary le Bow. Unless the attribution to the parish of St. Mary was an error, this property, and perhaps others adjoining it to the E., must subsequently have been transferred to the parish of All Hallows. This rent is noted up to the early 14th century but not subsequently. (fn. 4) In 1204 William granted a rent of £1 to the hospital of St. Giles Holborn from the land, shop and solar which Adrian of Winchester, brother of Richard of Winchester, held of him in fee in Cheapside. The land was probably the E. part of 8-9: it lay between the land of the canons of Southwark (10) to the E. and the land which Adrian held of William in fee to the W. (fn. 5)

Some time after 1216, 5 (q.v.) was said to abut E. on the garden which formerly had belonged to William son of Sabelina. William son of Sabelina was followed in 8-9 by Lawrence of St. Michael, son of William of St. Michael. In 1223-4 Lawrence granted £2 rent to Holy Trinity Priory from the seld with shops, etc., late of William son of Sabelina in Cheapside in St. Mary le Bow; the seld lay between 7 to the W. and the land which Agnes the widow of William son of Sabelina held in dower (presumably another part of 8-9) to the E. This grant was probably a confirmation of William's earlier grant rather than the gift of a further £2 rent. Lawrence also granted (at some unknown date) a rent of £5. 6s. 8d. to John of Winchester, mercer, which John son of Geoffrey the goldsmith used to render for the selds he held of Lawrence in foro in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane. £2 of the rent came from the seld (later 9) next to the seld of St. Mary Southwark (10), and £3. 6s. 8d. from the other seld (8) lying to the W. of the first. John of Winchester granted these rents to Thomas, rector of Great Walsingham (Norfolk), who granted them to St. Mary Spital before 1318. (fn. 6)

The property to the W. of 10 was referred to as the seld of Andrew the mercer c. 1225x43. Ralph Eswy had a seld to the E. of 6-7 in 1246, and the land late of Ralph Eswy lay to the W. and N. of 10 in 1256-7. In 1258-9 the prior of Holy Trinity granted £1. 13s. 4d. rent from the seld once of Lawrence of St. Michael in Cheapside opposite St. Mary le Bow to William de Wylehal the younger and Robert son of Hervey, executors of the late William de Wylehale. The rent was to be retained by the priory and spent as William had directed, £1 as a pittance for the canons and 13s. 4d. for an altar-light; the executors had paid the priory £16. 13s. 4d. In 1268 the land of Stephen Aswy (also Eswy, Asshewy) was given as the E. abutment of 5. Stephen held the tenements of Lawrence of St. Michael for a rent of £7. 13s. 4d., which Lawrence then released to him for a term of years. By his will proved in 1283 Lawrence left his rents to be distributed among his children William, Thomas, John, Agnes, Margery, Isabel, Alice, and Elena; Stephen Essewy challenged the will because of his term in the said rents. Margaret, widow of Lawrence, subsequently recovered a third of the rent against Stephen in dower. In 1298 Robert son of William Cous, acting as baliff for William, Thomas, John, Agnes, Elizabeth, Alice, and Elena, children of Lawrence of St. Michael, distrained in the tenement of Stephen son of Stephen Asshewy in the parishes of All Hallows Honey Lane and St. Lawrence Jewry for arrears of the £7. 13s. 4d. rent. In the ensuing plea Stephen acknowledged the rent, and William and the rest remitted the arrears. (fn. 7) There are no later references to this charge.

In 1299 the renter of Holy Trinity Priory acknowledged the receipt of £6 arrears of rent paid by Nicholas de Farendon, executor of Stephen Asshewy (the father), and Isabel Asshewy and Reginald de Frowyk his associates; the arrears totalled £9. 15s. 10d., due from Stephen's tenement in the parishes of St. Mary le Bow (? recte All Hallows Honey Lane), St. Mary Aldermanbury and St. James Garlickhithe, but the remainder was remitted. In 1325 the priory claimed £16. 17s. 8d. arrears of 2 rents from Sir Stephen Ashwy; one rent of £1. 6s. 8d., was due from a tenement in the parish of St. Mary Aldermanbury, the other from a tenement in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane, once of William Bocoint son of Sabelina, lying in Cheapside between Asshwy's tenement which Walter de Blecchinggeleye held to the E. (later 9) and Asshwy's tenement held by John de Burgeyn to the W. (part of 8). The prior remitted £7 of the arrears and Stephen paid the reminder in instalments. (fn. 8)

In 1307 the part of 8-9 adjoining 5 had been described as the garden of Stephen de Asshewy. By a deed of 1323, enrolled in 1328, Sir Stephen Asshewy, kt., sold 8-9 to John de Oxenford, citizen and vintner. The property comprised a tenement with cellars, solars, shops, and rents in All Hallows Honey Lane, next to 10, a quit-rent of £1. 13s. 4d. from the shop and solar held by John de Gras in the same parish, and the rents and reversions of several tenements; these were held by John Pycot for life at 16s. rent, by Osbert de Arcubus and Christina, widow of Walter de Harlestede, for their lives at £1 rent, by John Burgoyne and his wife Maud for their lives at £8 rent, by Richard de Nortone dictus de Writele and his wife Elena for their lives at £4. 10s. rent, and by Thomas de Waledene for life at £3. 12s. 6d. rent. In 1328, Asshewy quitclaimed to John de Oxenford in the tenements, gardens, plots of land, rents, shop(s), solars, cellars, escheats, terms and reversions in the parishes of All Hallows Honey Lane and St. Lawrence Jewry which John held of his grant. Thereupon John de Oxenford granted back to Stephen Asshewy the house and shop called 'la Mariole' which he had by Stephen's grant in Cheapside in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane, and the £1. 13s. 4d. quit-rent from the shop which John le Gras held at the S. end of the said house. 'La Mariole' lay between John Poyntel's tenement (10) to the E., de Oxenford's great tenement with 2 gables which he had acquired from Stephen to the W., Cheapside to the S. and Poynter's and de Oxenford's tenements to the N. This tenement subsequently descended separately and is described in 11/9. (fn. 9)

8, later fourteenth century

8 now had a smaller Cheapside frontage but still extended N. to St. Lawrence Jewry parish and W. to abut on 11/5; to the E. it abutted on 9 near the frontage and 10 further back. In 1329 de Oxenford acquired from Simon Crepping the cellar under the church of All Hallows Honey Lane, which Simon had bought from the executors of Ralph de Honilane (see 3), together with the advowson of the church. By his will of 1340, proved 1342, John de Oxenford left his tenements in All Hallows Honey Lane and St. Lawrence Jewry parishes to his son William in tail male, with remainders to his sons John and Thomas successively in tail male, and ultimately to his right heirs. William apparently died without issue and John claimed the tenements left to him in his father's will from the executors in 1350; he was 16 at the time but had already married Joan, daughter of John Blaunche, citizen and vintner. Edmund Hardel, citizen, quitclaimed in the lands of John de Oxenford the father to John the son in 1351. (fn. 10)

From about this time the property was known as the Bull or the Bull on the Hoop, and later as the Whole Bull. In 1356 John son of John Doxenford, late citizen and vintner, leased to John Blaunche (his father-in-law) the tavern called la Bole in Cheapside in All Hallows Honey Lane, with a shop and 2 solars above on the W. side of the entry of the tavern; he also leased the cellar qest de south [? dessus] mesme leglise des toutz seintz avant dite, and his mesons, formerly the dwelling of Osbern atte Wode, lying between the church to the W., the tavern atte Goot (10) to the E., the tavern of la Bole to the S. and the grantor's tenements in St. Lawrence Lane to the N. Blaunche was to hold them for the term of the grantor's life; he had paid a sum of money and was to repair at his own cost. This grant obviously included much, but possibly not all, of the de Oxenford property in this parish. Doxenford appears subsequently to have leased certain tenements in All Hallows Honey Lane to Blaunche for a term of years, probably 60, and entered into a recognizance for £1000 with him at the Westminster Staple. (fn. 11)

John de Oxenford the younger died in 1357, leaving custody of his son John and all his lands and tenements in London to his wife Joan and John Blaunche, citizen and vintner; Joan was expecting another child, of which they were similary to have custody. Later in 1357 Joan granted all the lands she held in dower, the wardship and marriage of her sons John and William, and possession of the chattels and advowson of All Hallows Honey Lane until her sons were of age, to her father John Blaunche. (fn. 12) Alice, widow of the first John de Oxenford and subsequently wife of Sir John de Stanton, kt., still had an interest by way of dower in part of the property: in 1358 she brought an assize of nuisance against William Brangwayn, tenant of 10, concerning her free tenement in All Hallows Honey Lane, and in 1361 the tenement formerly of Sir John de Staunton, earlier of John de Oxenford, vintner, was given as the E. abutment of a tenement in Milk Street (probably 111/1). She died in 1364. (fn. 13)

John son of John de Oxenford the younger was alive in 1365, when John Blaunche conveyed his wardship to Adam de Bury. He had died by March 1367, when Robert Turk and his wife Alice granted to Master John Turk, clerk, Alexander Turk, Giles Pykeman, fishmonger, and John atte Brook, tailor, citizens, all the lands, rents and tenements which Alice inherited on the death of John son of John Doxenford her kinsman. The exact relationship of Alice and the de Oxenfords is not clear. The properties lay in many parishes and included tenements in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane and the advowson of the church, and the reversion of the one-third share of the same which Rose, daughter of Adam de Bury and widow of John Doxenford, held for life in dower. The grantees probably held the properties on behalf of Robert Turk and Alice. (fn. 14)

In July 1367 Robert Turk, his wife Alice, Master John Turk, Alexander Turk, Giles Pykeman, and John atte Broke came to an agreement with John Blaunche: he released to them all the claim he had in the tenements in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane by virtue of John Doxenford's bond of £1000, but kept the term of years in the same which Doxenford had granted him; they granted that he would not be disturbed by the execution of a recognizance of £64 made in Chancery by Adam de Bandon to Bartholomew Thomasyn, by virtue of which Blaunche held certain lands formerly of John Doxenford of the inheritance of Alice. Robert and Alice's 'ancient right and claim' was not to be prejudiced. On the same day Robert Turk, citizen, and Ralph Blakeheye, citizen and mercer, made another agreement with John Blaunche, which may be connected with the first, by which Blaunche acquitted them of a recognizance of £200 made at Guildhall if they paid him 100 marks (£66. 13s. 4d.) at Michaelmas next, or if they paid £20 yearly for 5 years, i.e. £5 at each term, totalling £100. In May 1368 John and Alexander Turk, Giles Pykeman and John atte Broke granted back to Robert and Alice Turk the tenements they held of their grant. Alice and Robert were now jointly seised, and when she died c. 1368 he continued to hold in fee simple. (fn. 15)

By his will dated 1375 and proved 1380 John Blaunche assigned his 60-year lease, his goods, bonds, and writings, to Nicholas Benyngton or Wedyngton, mercer, who in 1390 sued Geoffrey Grigge, taverner, for arrears of rent due on two houses called le Bole on the hope and le Caban in All Hallows Honey Lane which Grigge held of him. Grigge claimed that Benyngton had assigned the lease to him,and that his wife Agnes had paid the arrears, but Benyngton denied this. Benyngton said that Blaunche's lease had been made by Turk, but Grigge said it had been granted by John (de) Oxenford. Grigge probably held as Benyngton's under-tenant, not as assign of the original lease, of which the premises in dispute were almost certainly only a part. The jury found for Benyngton and awarded him damages of £1. 6s. 8d. In 1391 Benyngton sued Grigge for refusing to quit the Bull on the Hoop and another house late in the tenure of John Hamerton which he held at will. Grigge again claimed to hold as assign of the original lease, but Benyngton cited the record of the previous plea. Benyngton assigned his lease to John Devenissh, who in 1394 again tried to get Grigge to quit, alleging the record of a plea whereby Benyngton had recovered 13s. 4d. arrears and Grigge was said to hold from year to year. Devenissh afterwards made default. William Kyngman was tenant of the tavern called le Holebole in Cheap in 1396 when he left his future term in it to his wife Alice. In addition to the properties above, John Devenish held two tenements next to the church, and one shop with 2 solars over, by Benyngton's assignment; he let one tenement to Alexander Davy, grocer, the other to Thomas Bacheler, draper, and his wife Joan, and the shop to Alexander Goodyng. Agnes Benyngton quitclaimed in these and in the Bull tavern to one John Devenyssh in 1404. (fn. 16)

In 1399 Sir Robert Turk, kt., granted all his lands, tenements and rents in London, and the advowson of All Hallows Honey Lane, and the reversions of tenements held by Joan Devenyssh, widow, for life, to John de Scardeburgh, rector of Orwell (Cambs.), Roger Ferrour, master of the chantry of Hitchin (Herts.), and Richard Jepe, rector of All Hallows Honey Lane. In February 1400 Ferrour and Jepe released their right to de Scardeburgh and Turk, and in December 1400 Turk granted the same lands, advowson, and reversions to John de Scardeburgh, Richard Jepe, Bartholomew Seman, goldbeater, and Thomas Berwell. The purposes of these grants were not explicitly stated but were evidently to dispose of as directed by Turk in his will or otherwise. When Turk died on 28 December 1400 he was said to hold nothing in London of the king or anyone. His heir was his daughter Joan, wife of John Waleys, aged 26 and more. (fn. 17)

The arrangement and disposition of Turk's tenements after his death was complicated, not least in that although he had apparently granted all his lands to feoffees, he nevertheless made many devises of specific properties in his will; also, the executors of his will (de Scardeburgh, Jepe, Seman, and Berwell) were the same as the feoffees of his earlier grant. (fn. 18)

Fifteenth to seventeenth century

The following account covers the arrangement of the parts of 8 c. 1400 and the subsequent histories of its 3 main parts, 8A, 8B, and 8C and their subdivisions.

In his will dated 1400 Robert Turk left the tenement which Richard Walseby late held of him in All Hallows Honey Lane to his nephew John Silham for life, with remainder for sale; he left the tenement in Westchep which John Frankeleyn late held of him to his nephew John Blaket for life, with remainder for sale; he left the tenement in Westchep which John Yrnby (?Ireby) sometime held of him to John, son of Agnes Vyntener his servant, for life, with remainder for sale. All these were parts of 8A. Turk left the tenement in Honey Lane which John Curteys, esquire, sometime held, to Holy Trinity Priory for a chantry, but this legacy was subsequently refused and the tenement disposed of differently. For the later history of this part of 8, see 8C below. Turk also made specific devises of Blossoms Inn, and shops and rents there, and in other parishes. The other parts of 8 were not dealt with in the will but handled by his feoffees. (fn. 19)

8A and 8B, c. 1400-1446

On 26 February 1401 John de Scardeburgh granted the lands, reversions and advowson of All Hallows Honey Lane which he, Roger Ferrour and Richard Jepe had had by Robert Turk's grant, and in which Roger and Richard had since quitclaimed to him, to John Conyesburgh, poulterer, and Richard Claidich, clerk, citizens. Joan Devenissh had died since Turk's grant and de Scardeburgh had entered the lands she had held for life and now possessed them in fee simple, like the other lands. On 1 March 1401 Conyesburgh and Claidich granted the same lands and advowson to John de Scardeburgh, rector of Orwell, Richard Jepe, Bartholomew Seman, goldbeater, citizens, and Thomas Berwell; on 12 March John Waleys, esquire, and his wife Joan, daughter of Robert Turk, quitclaimed in the same. (fn. 20)

On 17 March 1401 de Scardeburgh, Jepe, Seman and Berwell granted to Joan Waleys various tenements in All Hallows Honey Lane and elsewhere which they had of Conyesburgh and Claydich, to hold for life without waste, paying £3. 6s. 8d. yearly. These consisted of the tavern called the Bull on the Hoop in Cheapside, the cellar under the church, and the houses prope the church on the W. thereof (sic) which John Hamerton sometime held of the demise of Nicholas Benyngton; all these were now held by Alice, wife of Thomas Barew, citizen and vintner, and widow of William Kyngman, for a term of years 'as completely as Nicholas Benyngton once held them' for £12. 13s. 4d. yearly. They also included tenements held by John Devenissh for a term of years at £3. 6s. 8d. yearly, comprising one situated iuxta the church, in which Alexander David lived, another prope the church, in which Thomas Bacheler lived, and a shop with solar over situated on the W. side of the entry to the tavern of the Bull on the Hoop. These were also tenements that Benyngton had once held; possibly the lease had been surrendered and the tenements re-leased to William and Alice Kyngman and to John Devenissh (probably not the John Devenissh to whom Benyngton assigned his lease before 1394), in two lots. (fn. 21)

These descriptions suggest a layout for the property consistent with that known in the later 16th century. There were at least 3 shops or tenements on the Cheapside frontage, as well as the entry to the Bull: one shop to W. of the entry, and the two tenements left to John Blaket and John Vyntener for life, probably to the E. The tenement left to John Silham for life was probably close to these but not on Cheapside. The Bull tavern probably lay just behind these, and to the N. of that the tenements described as iuxta and prope the church. Thomas Bacheler, subtenant of John Devenyssh for a tenement prope the church in 1401, was named as the E. neighbour of a part of 8C in 1409. (fn. 22)

In 1404 Agnes Benyngton quitclaimed to John Devenissh in the Bull tavern and the other tenements he held by assignment of Nicholas Benyngton; he then conveyed his interest in the same to John Bullok and Roger Hunte, to hold pending the settlement of certain debts with William Sacom. Turk's executors granted to Blaket and Sylham the tenements left to them for life; in 1405 they granted the reversion of the tenement they had demised to John Sylham for life, in which Richard Walseby had once lived, to John Vyntener to hold for his life after Sylham's death. In May 1406 three of them granted to Vyntener the tenement late held by William Norton, grocer, now inhabited by William Ireby, to hold for life at £3. 6s. 8d. yearly; this was probably the one Turk had left Vyntener by will. (fn. 23)

In April 1406 John de Scardeburgh granted his pourparty of the lands, reversions and advowson which he with Jepe, Seman, and Berwelle held by grant of Conyesburgh and Claidich, to Thomas Colred and William Aunger; in June 1406 Colred and Aunger granted de Scardeburgh's pourparty of the reversions of the lands and advowson which Joan Waleys held for life, and of the tenements which Blaket held for life, and the tenement which Sylham held for life with reversion to Vyntener for life, to Jepe, Seman, and Berwelle. On 26 June 1406 Jepe, Seman, and Berwelle granted to John Bracy, senior, John Snell, chaplain, Thomas Berbowe, Philip Morsell, and Walter Gayton all the above reversions of tenements and advowson. Joan Waleys' tenements were described in detail as in the grant to her of 17 March 1401; Richard Cornewaill now lived in the tenement held by John Blaket, and William Rede, Shearman, in that of John Sylham. In a separate deed of the same date they granted to Bracy etc., the rent of £3. 6s. 8d. and reversion of the tenement which Vyntener held for life by their grant of 22 May 1406. Colred and Aunger quitclaimed in all the properties to Bracy, etc. in July 1406. Bracy and the others may have been acting as feoffees for Thomas Knolles: in 1409 the tenement to the E. of 8C was described as the tenement of Thomas Knolles in which Thomas Bacheler, draper, lived. (fn. 24)

In 1414 John Waleys, esquire, and his wife Joan, daughter of Robert Turk, granted and released all their right in the lands, tenements, rents and reversions, and the advowson of All Hallows Honey Lane, to Bracy, Berbowe, Morsell, and Gayton. Berbowe and Gayton died and Bracy and Morsell released their right to Snell; in 1427, as John Snell, clerk, he granted the lands, tenements, and rents, with houses, shops, mansions, cellar(s), solar(s), and advowson which he had had with Bracy and the others of Jepe, Seman, and Berwelle, to Thomas Knolles, senior, and Thomas Knolles, junior, John Bacoun, Thomas Selove, Richard Hakedy, all grocers, and William Harvy, citizens. Joan Waleys, John Blaket, John Silham and John Vyntener were all dead and the reversions had come to him. (fn. 25)

The principal beneficiary of this grant was Thomas Knolles senior. By a codicil to his will of 1435, proved 1436, he directed his feoffees (possibly those enfeoffed with him by Snell, or a new group) to grant all his lands, tenements, etc., in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane and elsewhere, and the advowson of the church, to his son Thomas and his heirs. Thomas Knolles the son, by his will of 1446, left all his lands etc. in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane to his son Robert and his wife Elizabeth and their male heirs, with the exception of the tenement there occupied by William Flete, mercer, and the advowson of the church, which he left to the Grocers' Company, to keep his obit in the church of St. Antonin. This tenement lay at the back of the main part of the property, with access by way of Honey Lane; its history after this date is described under 8B, below. It was said in 1457 to abut the kitchen of the Whole Bull to the S., and to have an entry from the churchyard underneath part of the Whole Bull. (fn. 26)

8A, later fifteenth century

In 1465 John Robard, son of John Robard, recovered 4 messuages in All Hallows Honey Lane against Robert Knolles, which he claimed his father had held in the reign of Henry V; Knolles called Edmund Passelewe to warrant. Robard then granted the messuages to William Chamberlayen, John Browen or Browne, and Richard Chamberlayen, who in 1466 granted them to Sir John Fulcherste, kt., Sir John Fulford, kt., John Massye, clerk, Robert Halestede, Hugh Shetelworthe, and Hugh Aphowell. In 1469 Sir Robert (sic) Fulcherste, kt., Massye, Halested, Shetelworth, and Aphowell (Fulford having died) granted the properties to Robert Knolles, esquire, his wife Elizabeth, John Forster, esquire, Robert Chechele, esquire, Nicholas Stathom, gentleman, and Roger Philpotte, gentleman, to hold to the use of Robert and Elizabeth and their issue, with remainder to Robert. (fn. 27)

In 1471 Robert Knolles, esquire, and his wife Elizabeth, to whom their co-feoffees had released their right, granted all their lands and tenements in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane to John Fisher and John Brown, aldermen, and Richard Rawson, citizens and mercers, as security for a bond of £100 to be paid in the parish church on 25 March 1472. Knolles probably intended to repay the bond, but did not do so, and in May 1480 Robert Knolles and John Fisher came to an agreement 'by the treaty, exhortation, and amiable composition' of Avery Cornburgh, esquire, and Roger Philpott, apprentice in law. Fisher and his co-feoffees were to retain the seisin they already had, and Robert and Elizabeth quitclaimed to them, in return for £400 paid in several instalments. Robert further covenanted that he would cause anyone who had a claim in the property through him to quitclaim to Fisher etc., and that he would deliver all deeds concerning the property by 1 August next. Knolles entered into a further bond of £500 to Fisher and Cornburgh to perform these covenants, and that Elizabeth his wife would seal and acknowledge his quitclaims; if all this was done, both bonds, of £500 and the original £100, were to be void. This seems to have been done, and the quitclaims enrolled. John Fisher, citizen and alderman, died in 1485, and was followed here by his son Richard. (fn. 28)

8A1, sixteenth century

From the mid 15th century 4 (later 5) separate parts of 8A can be traced. This section describes the main part (8A1) known as the Bull or the Black Bull, and also traces the descent of the whole of 8A down to the mid-16th century.

In the early 16th century the tenant of the Bull (8A1) was William Weston, mercer, who also occupied the cellar under the church. In his will dated 1514, proved 1515, Weston asked to be buried in the churchyard between his father's cellar window and the boarded door of his (own) parlour, as near the church wall as possible. His wife Margaret succeeded him as tenant. (fn. 29) The 3 tenements on Cheapside were separately occupied: 8A2 (q.v.) to the W. of the entry to the Bull by Richard Arpham or Harpam, leatherseller, with his apprentices John Rede and Thomas Backhouse, (fn. 30) 8A3 (q.v.) to the E. of the entry by Richard Algar, girdler (d. 1520), and his apprentice John Thompson, (fn. 31) and that beyond (8A4) by Mr. Drayton, grocer. (fn. 32) For a plan and section of 8A in the early 17th century, see Figs. 1 and 4.

In May 1515 Richard Fisher, gentleman, and Elizabeth his wife sold the messuage called the 'hole Bulle' and 3 tenements in All Hallows Honey Lane, and the other messuages etc. late of John Fisher, to James Yarford, citizen and alderman, for £386. 13s. 4d. Yarford paid £213. 19s. 7d. in hand; the grantors covenanted to make him a good estate in the same, by enrolment, fine, warranty, or recovery, and to warrant it free from encumbrances. Instead of paying the residue of the purchase price, Yarford was to buy lands in Northamptonshire or Huntingdonshire worth £10 p.a., at 17 years' purchase, and convey them to Richard and Elizabeth by midsummer 1517; otherwise, he was to pay them £10 yearly at 2 terms from 1518 until such lands had been bought and assured them. Richard and Elizabeth immediately granted the Whole Bull and the other properties to Robert Clerkson, mercer, Morgan Williams, scrivener, citizens, and John Pays of London, mercer, as the first step in the assurance to Yarford. In 1516 Yarford and Clerkson recovered 8A, described as 4 messuages and 5 shops in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane against Richard Fisher and his wife Elizabeth, who called William Petite to warrant. In 1525, Clerkson and Payes granted the tenements which they and Williams, now dead, had by Fisher's grant to Yarford. (fn. 33)

Sir James Yarford died in 1527, leaving the Whole Bull and the 3 tenements adjoining in All Hallows Honey Lane, and rents and tenements in other parishes, to his wife Elizabeth for life, with remainder to the Mercers' Company, to support a chantry in St. Michael Bassishaw. The charges included 2 priests at £16 p.a., a singing-man, a conduct, and 6 children, at £5. 6s. 8d., and a poor man to clean the chapel. Dame Elizabeth Yarford, his widow, died in 1548; an inquisition of 1550 valued the whole estate so charged at over £40 p.a. (fn. 34) The Mercers redeemed this rent, and the £3. 6s. 8d. due to St. Mary Spital, which had continued to be paid by the owners of 8A since the 13th century; they were purchased from the Crown with numerous other rents charged on company lands, on Augustine Hynde, Richard Turk, and William Blackwell c. 1550, sold to Sir Roland Hill, kt., mercer and alderman, and devised by him by will to the Mercers' Company in 1558. (fn. 35)

Weston was probably followed as tenant by Robert Collier. Elizabeth Coler, widow, noted in the subsidy assessment of 1522-4 but not actually assessed, could have been the tenant of 8A1 then, but John Appleyard, mercer (d. 1537-8), who occupied 8A1 in the (?later) 1520s and 1530s, with his apprentice Edward Harrenden, also appears in the subsidy list, assessed for goods valued at £300. Appleyard also held 11/5 at about this time, however. (fn. 36) It is not clear who occupied 8A1 in 1544, but in 1548, when the Mercers' Company took possession, it was held by Thomas More, mercer, at £12 rent. In 1550 8A1, 8A2, and 8A3 were leased to More for 30 years at £200 fine and £22. 6s. 8d. rent. More was to do all but principal repairs, and might let one of the tenements (probably 8A2) at his pleasure; the Black Bull (8A1) and the other tenement (8A3) could only be let to a mercer, provided that 'Ageres wife' had her house (i.e. 8A3) to dwell in at her free will. Later that year More's term was extended by 10 years if he performed repairs as in the lease, and by 20 years if he did all repairs including principals. (fn. 37)

Shortly after this the Mercers' Company was involved in a dispute with the parish of All Hallows over the ownership of the cellar under the church, which More held as the company's tenant. The exact date and sequence of the proceedings is not certain, but they seem to have begun with an assize of fresh force brought at Guildhall c. 1552, to have continued with a writ of error in Chancery and numerous depositions from present and past residents of the parish and sworn viewers, and to have been concluded by arbitration in 1561. (fn. 38) By the 1550s the cellar was connected to the cellars of the Black Bull by a doorway, which some deponents believed was original and other alleged had been made by Weston, tenant of Richard Fisher c. 1500. Some believed that Weston had paid a rent for the cellar to the parish; others alleged, probably erroneously, that before Weston the cellar had been used by the tenant of 11/3 (q.v.). It had been used for storing firewood and Bay salt, and there can have been no trace of any ecclesiastical use at an earlier date - such as for burials - or this would surely have been pointed out. In fact the cellar had been in secular ownership since the early 14th century and probably before, and had been held by the owner of 8 since 1329. (fn. 39)

Despite this, and the opinion of many deponents that the cellar belonged to the Black Bull, most of the sworn viewers thought that the cellar must belong to the church. This also was the verdict of the arbitrators, Sir Robert Catlyn, kt., Lord Chief Justice, and Sir James Dyer, kt., Lord Chief Justice of Common Pleas, appointed in 1560, who made their award in January 1561. The churchwardens were to enter and be seised, and all suits were to be dropped; but because the cellar was so useful to and so long occupied by the tenants of the Black Bull, the churchwardens were to let it to the Mercers at £1. 6s. 8d. rent for 50 years, the lease to be perpetually renewable. Such a lease was made later that month. (fn. 40)

Some of the costs of the dispute had been paid by Thomas More, and were allowed him by the Mercers; thereafter the wardens paid, being determined (minutes of court, 28 July 1556) to pursue the suit to the uttermost. The parish's shortage of funds obliged it to accept arbitration in 1560: they had spent £133. 6s. 8d. and the Mercers £174. 6s. 8d., but the parish declared that they had wasted and consumed their stock and become indebted, and now lamented and repented that ever they began the suit (28 January 1560/1). It was only after the award that the Mercers put forward their title from Knolles, Fisher, and Yarford; it is curious that they did not do so before. (fn. 41)

In 1561 the Mercers decided to make a new lease to More, lest the dispute and the numerous entries into the cellar had affected his title. They granted him in 1565 a lease of 40 years, for no new fine, at the old rent, and doing all repairs. The property leased comprised the Black Bull and 2 tenements adjoining, one occupied by Thomas Cole, grocer (8A2), and the other late occupied by Margaret Aulgar, widow (8A3), and the cellar under the church. More repaired his house and tenements in the 1560s at a cost of £27. 5s. 2d., and asked the Mercers in 1568 for consideration of this, but they refused. More continued to pay the rent until 1605. (fn. 42)

During More's tenure the Black Bull (8A1) was evidently occupied in at least 2 units. More divided the mansion house at the back (8A5, q.v.) for his own dwelling from the great messuage at the front which kept the name of the Black Bull. In 1597 the Mercers granted separate leases of the 2 parts, to begin in 1605 when More's lease of the whole expired. The Black Bull, later occupied by Richard Farrington, citizen and clothworker, was leased to Edward Barnes, citizen and mercer, for 21 years from 1605, at £10 rent and £250 fine, to be paid in 1605. The tenement lay between 10 to the E. 7 to the W., its own entry to Cheapside to the S. and the Mercers' tenement (8A5) to the N. Barnes was to repair, and might not let to any but a mercer; nor was he to convert it to a tavern or victualling house, or divide the property. For the lease of 8A5, see below. The two tenements on Cheapside (8A2 and 8A3) were also let separately from 1605. (fn. 43)

8A1, seventeenth century

Edward Barnes assigned his lease to James Elwick, who paid the £10 rent from 1605 to 1607 according to the renter wardens' accounts which may be 1 or 2 years behind the reality. In 1606, the Mercers granted a new lease of the Black Bull to William Pounteis, citizen and grocer, then in occupation, for 25 years from 1606 at £10 rent. Pounteis had paid £50 of a £250 fine, and was to pay the rest in 4 instalments by Lady Day 1608; he was at his own cost repairing the 'great decaies or ruines' of the tenement, and was to continue to repair, pave, and cleanse the privies, and to surrender the property with all fixtures in good condition. He was not to convert it into a tavern or victualling house. The tenement and fixtures were described in detail (see Figs. 1 and 4). There was an entry 5 ft. 10 in. (1.78 m.) broad and 24 ft. (7.32 m.) long from Cheapside, leading to a shop and inner warehouse, which with the rooms near the door into Honey Lane measured 48 ft. (14.63 m.) by 24 ft. 3 in., (7.39 m.) with an extension to the E. of the warehouse 19 ft. 9 in. (6.02 m.) by 12 ft. (3.66 m.). To the N. of these were a yard, kitchen, parlour, and passageway, together measuring 33 ft. 9 in. (10.29 m.) N.-S. and 37 ft. 9 in. (11.51 m.) E.-W.; there were also 2 little rooms next to the passageway, with an entry into Honey Lane, measuring 14 ft. 5 in. by 9 ft. 9 in. (4.39 m. by 2.97 m.). The 'entry into Honey Lane' must have been on the S. side of the church. The schedule of fixtures described the wainscot in the upper parlour 'adjacent to the church in Honey Lane', in the chamber adjoining, which had a window to the yard, in the great chamber toward the shop, and in the low parlour toward Honey Lane. William Pounteis paid the rent from 1607. (fn. 44)

William Pounteis died and his brother and executor John surrendered the lease, with 19 years yet to come, and was granted a new one by the Mercers in 1612. He promised to spend £100 within the year in building the upper stories of the tenement, described again in detail in a schedule as in 1606. The lease was for 21 years from 1612, with repairs and covenants as before. In 1630, with 3 years still to come, John Pountis petitioned for a new lease, and the company had the tenement viewed and valued. The view included measurements of all the rooms, but few indications of their relationships, horizontally or vertically, and it does not seem possible to reconstruct a clear picture of the arrangement of the rooms within the house from it. (fn. 45)

The house was approached by an entry from Cheapside, 23 ft. (7.01 m.) by 6 ft. (1.83 m.) between 8A2 and 8A3. Behind this was a shop with a counting-house, 28 ft. (8.53 m.) by 24 ft. (7.32 m.) and a warehouse measured in 3 parts, 19 ft. by 10 1/2 ft. (5.79 m. by 3.20 m.), 18 ft. by 12 ft. (5.49 m. by 3.66 m.), and 12 ft. by 10 ft. (3.66 m. by 3.05 m.). Under the shop and part of the warehouse were a cellar 27 ft. by 20 ft. (8.23 m. by 6.10 m.), and a second cellar 22 ft. by 11 ft. (6.71 m. by 3.35 m.), in which there was a great summer, rotten and decayed with wet. There was also a 'little vault in the wall' 5 ft. by 4 ft. (1.52 m. by 1.22 m.) possibly the vault for a privy. On the ground floor, N. of the warehouse, there were a passageway 13 ft. by 6 ft. (3.96 m. by 1.83 m.), a second passageway and staircase 14 ft. (4.27 m.) square, a yard and passage 15 ft. (4.57 m.) square, an entry into a backyard 18 ft. by 6 ft. (5.49 m. by 1.83 m.), and a backyard 13 ft. by 10 ft. (3.96 m. by 3.05 m.). The kitchen and chimney, 18 ft. by 17 ft. (5.49 m. by 5.18 m.) an old buttery 11 1/2 ft. by 10 ft. (3.51 m. by 3.05 m.), and another passageway 9 ft. by 4 ft. (2.74 m. by 1.22 m.) were probably also on the ground floor. A wainscoted parlour 19 1/2 ft. by 17 1/2 ft. (5.94 m. by 5.33 m.) may be identical with the 'low parlour towards Honey Lane' mentioned in the leases of 1606 and 1612, and was probably on the ground floor, as also may have been a chamber with a countinghouse 27 ft. (6.71 m.) square. (fn. 46)

The upper parts of the house are also difficult to interpret, as different parts probably extended to different heights, topped by leads or garrets accordingly. There were certainly some intermixtures with 8A2 and 8A3, where the first-floor accommodation of those extended over the ground-floor shop of 8A1. There may also have been an intermixture with 8A4, to the N. of that tenement, and the relationship with 8A5, formerly the mansion-house part of 8A1, was probably also complicated. The view of 1630 mentions a parlour above stairs wainscoted, 17 1/2 ft. by 16 ft. (5.33 m. by 4.88 m.), and a chamber wainscoted, 19 ft. by 16 ft. (5.79 m. by 4.88 m.): these may be the 'upper room adjacent to the church' and the chamber adjoining it, with a window to the yard, mentioned in the previous leases. There were also a passageway, 17 ft. by 7 ft. (5.18 m. by 2.13 m.); four chambers, 13 ft. by 12 ft. (3.96 m. by 3.66 m.), 12 ft, by 10 ft. (3.66 m. by 3.05 m.), 24 ft. by 17 ft. (7.32 m. by 5.18 m.), and 16 ft. by 15 ft. (4.88 m. by 4.57 m.); a 'dark chamber' 12 ft. by 7 ft. (3.66 m. by 2.13 m.); and a house of office 6 ft. by 4 1/2 ft. (1.83 m. by 1.37 m.). Not all these need have been on the same floor. There were 2 leads, 20 ft. by 16 1/2 ft. (6.10 m. by 5.03 m.) and 8 ft. by 3 ft. (2.44 m. by 910 mm.); 2 back rooms, probably on the same level or higher, 11 ft. by 7 ft. (3.35 m. by 2.13 m.) and 12 ft. by 8 ft. (3.66 m. by 2.44 m.); a garret 24 ft. (7.32 m.) square; and an upper leads 16 ft. by 6 ft. (4.88 m. by 1.83 m.). In addition three rooms (a chamber 18 ft. by 14 ft. (5.49 m. by 4.27 m.), a room 18 ft. by 11 1/2 ft. (5.49 m. by 3.51 m.), and a dark room at the stairs head 8 ft. by 5 1/2 ft. (2.44 m. by 1.68 m.) were said to be 'anciently belonging' to the Black Bull, lying over the kitchen and warehouse of the same; they were presently occupied with the adjacent tenement of Ralph Edmunds, tailor. This adjacent tenement evidently belonged to the Mercers', and was probably 8A4 or 8A5, though Edmunds is not otherwise known as an undertenant or occupant of either property. (fn. 47)

The company at first intended to reunite the 3 last-mentioned rooms with the Black Bull, but then decided that they could remain divided, so long as care was taken in letting the lesser tenement that no nuisance was caused to the great tenement. The lease granted to Pountis in 1630, for 21 years from 1633, required him to repair and support the cellar where the summer had rotted, and to respect the rights of Gilbert Harrison's tenement (8A4). A fine of £400 had been recommended but only £350 was asked, possibly because the 3 rooms had not been added; the old rent of £10 was continued. The new lease contained a schedule as before. (fn. 48)

John Pountis paid the rent until 1632. He was followed by Joseph Curtis, who paid from 1632 to 1651, and by Daniel Waldo from 1651. Mr. Waldoe was the tithe payer in 1638, when the house was valued at £60 p.a. In 1652, the tenement was said to be held by the executors or assigns of John Pountis, mariner, deceased, and in the occupation of Daniel Waldo. A new lease in reversion, for 31 years from the expiry of the present lease (1654) was granted to Waldo in 1652, for the old rent of £10 and a fine of £600, payable by Lady Day 1653, and a brace of bucks or £8 cash. Daniel Waldo, citizen and clothworker, died in 1660 or 1661, leaving his term in the Black Bull, with 23 years to come, to his wife Ann for life with remainder to his son Daniel. His interest in the tenement was valued for probate at £420 p.a. in 1661; he also had £7,247 worth of cloths and fabrics, some in workmen's hands and some probably in his shop, and household and other goods worth over £1666 at the Black Bull and his house in Harrow-on-the-Hill. (fn. 49)

The rooms listed in Waldo's probate inventory seem to correspond fairly well with those named in the view of 1630, though some smaller rooms and passages cannot be correlated. There was a back warehouse, and a shop with countinghouse used for trade, with scales, presses and counters, drawers and a desk. A little room by the shop contained a bedstead but no furnishings, and a little room over the shop a trunk and chests. A gallery, which could have been over the shop or warehouse, contained presses, a table and a chair. The earlier 17th-century leases and view suggest that the living quarters were at the back, near Honey Lane: the inventory notes a kitchen, with extensive equipment, a yard with a cistern, and a dining-room, which may have been on the ground floor, and was probably one of the wainscoted parlours mentioned in the leases and view. The dining-room was clearly the principal living-room, with a table, 4 chairs of green cloth and 6 of Russia leather, stools, carpets, cushions, a few books, and a picture. There were 8 rooms with beds and bedding, including the leads chamber, the mens' chamber, the maids' chamber, the great chamber, the dark chamber, and the wainscot chamber. Waldo may have used the wainscot chamber, as his livery gown and clothes are listed under that head. There were also entries, passages and closets, a garret containing lumber, and a cellar containing wood, coal, a beer-still, and lumber. The impression given is of a house well-furnished for occupation by a large household, with comfortable but not luxurious furnishings. The plate, 328 oz., was valued at £82 at 5s. per oz. Waldo's executors paid the rent up to the Great Fire. Edward Waldoe, mercer, occupied the house, which had 7 hearths, in 1662-3 and 1666. (fn. 50)

A large part of the back of Waldo's tenement was laid into Honey Lane market place. The tenement was some 106 ft. (32.31 m.) N.-S. in 1606, and around 37 ft. 9 in. (11.51 m.) wide towards the N. end: the foundation laid out for (Edward) Waldo in 1668 extended 76 ft. (23.16 m.) back from Cheapside and was 42 ft. 4 in. (12.90 m.) wide at the N. end; the area lost would therefore appear to have been some 1200 sq. ft. (111.50 sq. m.). No compensation was paid until 1677, when the company received £40 and Daniel Waldo their tenant £252 for their interests in 1168 sq. ft. (108.51 sq. m.) of ground laid into the market place, calculated at the standard rate of 5s. per square foot. Edward Waldo, the first Daniel's son, bought the site of 8A3 from Mrs. Stephens, at a very high rate, as he alleged, in order to be able to rebuild, having lost so much land at the back. He asked the company for encouragement, and in December 1668 they granted him a term of 61 years in both properties, for £20 rent to be paid without interruption. He was to rebuild, and to place stone maidenheads, the company's emblem, on the fronts of his houses. Waldo also acquired the interest in 8A2, and a foundation was surveyed for him of the 3 sites together in 1668. 8A4 was surveyed separately for William Bird. (fn. 51).

8A2, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

This tenement, lying in Cheapside to the W. of the entry to the Bull Tavern (8A1), was occupied separately from that tenement in 1401 and probably much earlier. At that time it was described as a shop with solar over. (fn. 52). At the beginning of the 16th century it was occupied by Richard Arpham or Harpam, leatherseller, whose apprentices, John Rede and Thomas Backhouse, who had lived with him then, were deponents in the dispute over the church cellar in the 1550s. (fn. 53) In Harpham's will of 1503, he left the tenancy of his shop and some furnishings there to his servant Robert Grisley, with the tenancy of his house when his, Harpham's, widow should leave it. The occupant in 1544 was probably Thomas Cole, assessed in that year for subsidy on goods valued at £40 in this parish. One Cole, a grocer, was tenant in 1548 at £5. 3s. 4d. rent. This tenement was leased with 8A1 to Thomas More in 1550; Thomas Cole, grocer, was his sub-tenant in 1565. (fn. 54)

More's lease expired in 1605, when Edward Deane, citizen and mercer, then in occupation, began to pay the rent, now £10; he was granted a 26-year lease in 1610, for a fine of £200, with repairs etc. to the tenant. The property was known as the Black Boy. Edward Deane died before 1626, when his administrators and Alderman Richard Deane had licence to assign the lease to William Geere, citizen and draper. Geere surrendered the lease in 1626 for a new lease in his own name for the remaining 10 years of the term granted to Deane, at the old rent and conditions. In 1632 Geere, Peter Weaver, mercer, and Nathaniel Cholmely, silkman, petitioned for a new lease in reversion of the Black Boy, but the company deferred a decision till the current lease was nearer to expiry. (fn. 55)

At this time (November 1632) the tenement was viewed in detail. Orientations N.-S. and E.-W. are not given in the view, but are inserted in the following description in parentheses, where the identification seems reasonably certain. For a reconstruction, see Figs. 1 and 4. The tenement comprised a cellar, ground floor, and 5 upper storeys, the latter extending E. over the entry to the Black Bull (8A1) behind, which was at ground level, and jettying forward over Cheapside. The cellar, 18ft. by 13 ft. (5.49 m. by 3.96 m.), must have extended under the entry to the Black Bull as well. The ground floor was 24 ft. (N.-S.) by 10 1/2 ft. (E.-W.) (7.32 m. by 3.20 m.), and was described as a shop and staircase. On the first floor was a hall, next to the street, 18 ft. (N.-S.) by 14 ft. (E.-W.) (5.49 m. by 4.27 m.), with a back room and staircase 8 1/2 ft. by 8 ft. (2.59 m. by 2.44 m.) behind, a passageway 8 ft. by 6 1.2 ft. (2.44 m. by 1.98 m.), and a 'yard above stairs leaded', measuring 14 ft. by 7 ft. (4.27 m. by 2.13 m.). This 'yard' was presumably over the shop or warehouse of the Black Bull. On the next floor was a chamber towards the street and over the hall, 16 ft. (N.-S.) by 14 ft. (E.-W.) (4.88 m. by 4.27 m.). wainscoted and with a closet, and behind it a kitchen and staircase 14 ft. by 13 ft. (4.27 m. by 3.96 m.), and a buttery 6 1/2 ft. (1.98 m.) square. The kitchen was evidently over the backroom, staircase, and passageway on the floor below, but the buttery might have been within the kitchen, or projecting to the back in some way, over the yard or intermixed with another tenement. On the third floor were a chamber towards the street, 19 1/2 ft. (N.-S.) by 14 ft. (E.-W.) (5.94 m. by 4.27 m.) and, behind it, a back chamber over the kitchen, with staircase and house of office, 12 ft. (N.-S.) by 13 ft. (E.-W.) (3.66 m. by 3.96 m.). On the fourth floor were a chamber towards the street, 17 1/2 ft. (N.-S.) by 14 1/2 ft. (E.-W.) (5.33 m. by 4.42 m.) and a back chamber 15 ft. (N.-S.) by 14 ft. (E.-W.) (4.57 m. by 4.27 m.) with a staircase. The 5th floor was a garret 30 ft. (N.-S.) by 14 ft. (E.-W.) (9.14 m. by 4.27 m.). The increasing N.-S. length of the floors from the ground to the fourth (24 ft. to 32 1/2 ft.; 7.32 m. to 9.91 m.) shows the extent of jettying; some of this was to Cheapside, but it is possible that the house also jettied to the back, which seems to have been open from first floor level. (fn. 56)

Geere petitioned for a renewal of his lease in 1633, and was offered one for 21 years from the expiry of his current lease, at the old rent and £250 fine. He refused, and the lease was granted to Cholmely on the same terms plus 2 bucks for the company. Cholmely paid the rent from 1634 to 1649, and 'Mr. Cholmely' was the tithe-payer in 1638 when the house was valued at £35 p.a. In 1639 Cholmely was involved in a lawsuit with the company, possibly over the fine for the lease; this was dropped on his payment of the residue of the fine and the company's charges, and he was granted a new 21-year lease from 1639. Cholmely's assigns paid the rent in 1649-50, followed by Robert Vallance (1650-60), probably also his assign. In 1651 the tenement was held by Cholmely's assigns but occupied by Francis Carpenter; a new 31-year lease, to commence in 1660, was granted to the latter in 1652, at the old rent and a fine of £125. Carpenter paid that rent from 1660 to the Great Fire. The property seems however to have been occupied in 1662-3 by John Goodall, and in 1666 by Nathaniel Nokes, silkman. It had 6 hearths. (fn. 57)

The grounds of the parts of 8 being intermixed, there was some difficulty in settling rival claims after the Fire. Carpenter, who still had over 23 years in his term, got an addition of 40 years as encouragement to rebuild in November 1667, but later assigned this to Waldo, tenant of 8A1, who had lost a substantial amount of land at the back. (fn. 58) No separate foundation survey was made for 8A2, therefore, the area of the plot being included in a survey made for Waldo of his site in 1668. (fn. 59)

8A3, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

8A3, the tenement on the E. side of the entry to the Bull tavern (8A1) was one of the two left severally by Robert Turk to John Silham and John Blaket for life in 1400. (fn. 60) In the early 16th century Richard Algar, girdler (d. 1510) occupied it; his former apprentice John Tompson gave evidence in the church cellar dispute in the 1550s. (fn. 61) In 1544 Margaret Agar, probably Richard Alger's widow,was assessed for subsidy on goods valued at £2 in this parish. 'Algeres wife' was in occupation in 1548, paying £5. 3s. 4d. rent. The property was leased to Thomas More in 1550; he was to allow her to dwell in her house as she wished. Margaret Aulgar, widow, was said to be the late tenant in 1565. When More's lease expired in 1605, John Holmead began to pay the rent, now £10. In 1611, at Holmead's request, the Mercers made a lease to William Whitwell, citizen and salter, of their tenement or mansion-house in Westcheap called the Cardinal's Hat, for 16 years at £10 rent and £200 fine. Whitwell was to repair and perform the usual covenants, and not to assign except to Edward Clapton, dwelling in a shop, parcel of the premises, or to a mercer, without licence. Whitwell paid the rent from 1611 to 1626. (fn. 62)

In 1626 Thomas Tench petitioned for a lease in reversion of the Cardinal's Hat, in the tenure of Whitwell, from the expiry of the latter's term, and the company had the tenement viewed and valued (see Figs. 1 and 4). It was a house very similar to the Black Boy (8A2) to the W., with cellar, ground-floor shop and 5 floors above, extending over the entry to the Black Bull (8A1) from the first floor upwards. Orientations N.-S. and E.-W. are not noted in the view but are included in the following description, in parentheses, where the identification seems reasonably certain. The cellar, 16 ft. (?N.-S.) by 12 ft. (?E.-W.) (4.88 m. by 3.66 m.) probably did not extend much under the entry. The ground floor shop and staircase were 23 ft. (N.-S.) by 11 ft. E.-W. (7.01 m. by 3.35 m.). Above these, probably on the front, was a wainscoted hall 17ft. (N.-S.) by 14 ft. (E.- W.) (5.18 m. by 4.27 m.), and behind it a staircase 8 ft. (N.-S.) by 6 1/2 ft. (E.-W.) (2.44 m. by 1.98 m.), and a warehouse 18 ft. (N.-S.) by 8 ft. (E.-W.) (5.49 m. by 2.44 m.); the warehouse must have extended beyond the shop below and over part of 8A1 or 8A4 or both, probably in the same way that the 'yard leaded' of 8A2 extended over 8A1 (q.v.). On the second floor were a chamber over the hall, 16 ft. (N.-S.) by 14 ft. (E.-W.) (4.88 m. by 4.27 m.), and a kitchen (and) entry 22 ft. (N.-S.) by 9 1/2 ft. (E.-W.) (6.71 m. by 2.90 m.). The kitchen probably extended over the warehouse, with jetty, and there may have been a staircase room not mentioned for this floor over the one below. On the third floor were two chambers, that in front being 16 ft. (N.-S.) by 14 1/2 ft. (E.-W.) (4.88 m. by 4.42 m.) and that at the back 15 ft. (N.-S.) by 14 ft. (E.-W.) (4.57 m. by 4.27 m.) The 4th storey also comprised a front and back chamber, 16 ft. by 15 ft. (4.88 m. by 4.57 m.) and 15 ft. by 14 ft. (4.57 m. by 4.27 m.) respectively, and the 5th storey was a garret 30 ft. (N.-S.) by 15 ft. (E.-W.) (9.14 m. by 4.57 m.). The house evidently jettied forward over Cheapside and possibly at the back as well. It is so similar, in general dimensions and arrangement of rooms, to 8A2 that it seems probable both were built at the same time. The tenement to the E., 8A4, had a similar street range but a larger plot and different arrangements at the back. (fn. 63)

The viewers valued the Cardinal's Hat at £300 fine and £10 rent for a 21-year lease in reversion, and a lease was granted on these terms to Thomas Tench and Anthony Smith in 1626. Whitwell's lease was due to expire in 1627, and Tench and Smith paid the rent from Michaelmas 1626, but the lease actually sealed to them in 1632 was for 17 years from 1631. The £300 fine had by then been paid. Tench and Smith paid the rent jointly from 1626 to 1633, and Tench alone paid from 1633 to 1649. (fn. 64) Mr. Tench was the tithe-payer in 1638, when the house was valued at £35 p.a. Thomas Tench, draper, petitioned for a new lease in reversion in 1644, and the house was viewed again. Some of the measurements given vary from those given earlier, being generally somewhat smaller, but this is probably only a difference in method or expertise of measuring. On the second floor, however, the back rooms were measured differently; apart from the chamber over the hall, on the street side of that floor, there were a kitchen, 16 ft. (4.88 m.) long (N.-S.) by 9 1/2 ft. (2.90 m.) wide (E.-W.) at the N. end and 11 1/2 ft. (3.51 m.) wide at the S. end, a passage into the kitchen and the chamber over the hall, with a staircase, measuring 10 ft. (N.-S.) by 6 ft. (E.-W.) (3.05 m. by 1.83 m.) and a little room at the stairhead 4 ft. by 2 ft. (1.22 m. by 610 mm.). These differences do not seem to represent a real change from the arrangements of 1626, but there may have been an adjustment of partitions. On the 3rd floor, the chamber next to the street was now said to have a 'jet window.' The 5th-floor garret was said to be only 11 1/2 ft. (3.51 m.) wide, instead of 15 ft. (4.57 m.) as in the earlier view, but no explanation for this is given. Again, it is possible that new boarding or partitioning had affected the floor area without really altering the structure. (fn. 65).

The viewers valued the messuage at £240 fine for a 21-year lease in reversion at the old rent of £10. In 1645 the company granted Tench a lease on these terms, to begin in 1648; the fine was to be paid in 2 instalments, £140 at midsummer 1645 and £100 at midsummer 1646, with a buck for the company's use. He petitioned in November 1648 for a longer term, but was ordered to bestow the cost mentioned in his petition (which was not recorded) before any addition would be granted. Thomas Tench had died by November 1649, when Anne Tench, his widow, petitioned for an extension of 10 years. This was granted, on condition she repaired the house by Bartholomew-tide 1650, and a new lease for 29 1/2 years from Michaelmas 1649 was sealed to her in 1650. She paid the rent as Anne Tench from 1649 to 1660 and as Mrs. Anne Stephens, formerly Widow Tench, from 1660 to the Fire. The property, which had 6 hearths, was occupied in 1662-3 and 1666 by Christopher Taylor. (fn. 66)

After the Fire, Anne Stephens asked the company for an extension of her term, in which she had 11 years to come, to encourage her in rebuilding, in consideration of the fine that had been paid for the lease and the smallness and inconvenience of her ground. They granted her 45 years more in November 1667 on condition of rebuilding and paying the rent without interruption and all arrears. In October 1668 she had licence to alienate her term to Edward Waldo, which she did 'at a very high rate' as he later alleged. The side of 8A3 was included in a foundation surveyed for Waldo in 1668. It may still have been occupied by Taylor, however, as in May 1669, when 8A4 to the E. was viewed, it was said to overhang towards the building of Mr. Christopher Taylor by 11 in. (280 mm.) at least. (fn. 67)

8A4, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

This tenement, at the E. end of the Cheapside frontage of 8, was probably one of the 2 left in 1400 to John Sylham and John Blaket for life. In the 17th century it was much larger than 8A2 or 3; it might also incorporate the tenement left to John Vyntener for life in 1400. (fn. 68) Mr. Drayton, grocer, was tenant in the early 16th century. (fn. 69) John Butler was probably the tenant by lease in 1542, when he and his landlord (not named in the plea; at this date it was Lady Yarford) were in dispute with Andrew Judde, alderman, and John Garway, executors of John Fayry, over the removal of wainscot and fixtures from a tenement in Cheapside in All Hallows Honey Lane. Fayry was probably the previous tenant, and he or his predecessors had made wainscoting of 89 sq. yd. (74.41 sq. m.) in the hall and 2 chambers, and shelves and wareboards in the shop, warehouse and kitchen; the viewers in the dispute judged that a tenant could take away anything he had made that was not fixed to the frame of the building, but nothing else. In 1544 John Butler was assessed for subsidy in this parish on goods valued at £100. (fn. 70)

In 1547 John Butler was in dispute with his neighbour John Atkynson (tenant of 9), who had recently set up a little frame of timber 18 ft. long and 7 ft. high (5.49 m. by 2.13 m.), on his own ground and on the frame of his own house. There was a lead gutter between the two tenements which both shared. (fn. 71) William Butler was tenant of the Crane in 1548 at £8. 3s. 4d. rent; Anthony Throgmorton, mercer, paid the rent from 1549. In 1550 Throgmorton and John Marshe junior both sought a lease of the Crane, which was granted to Throgmorton and executed in 1552. He paid £200 fine and £8. 3s. 4d. rent for a 30-year lease of the Crane, which John Butteler, leatherseller, late occupied. The lessee was to repair. Throgmorton paid the rent until 1553, and Thomas Stanbridge from 1553 to 1570. In 1566 Throgmorton sued for licence to let his lease, and thereafter Stanbridge is described as his assign. By 1570 Stanbridge had sublet to Mr. Cole, a grocer, who made a high (?pitched) roof of tiles over the kitchen of the Crane, taking away the leads and iron which used to cover it, without the company's knowledge or permission, and interfering with other tenants' lights. (fn. 72).

Stanbridge assigned his lease to Thomas Hargrave, mercer, who paid the rent from 1570 to 1575, and then assigned to John Wiat, mercer. In 1578 a new lease of the Crane was granted to Margery Wiat, widow, who then dwelt there, for 21 years at the old rent, in consideration of a £200 fine and the surrender of the existing lease. She was to repair, and might not let except to a mercer. In 1579 she was licensed to let the shop or warehouse under her dwellinghouse for 5 years, preferably to a mercer. By 1580 she had married John Symcot, and they sought licence first to sublet the Crane and then to sell the lease, which was refused. They continued in this suit until 1584, even producing a letter written on Mrs. Symcot's behalf by the earl of Leicester. In 1585-6 the rent was paid by William Wiat, son and assign of Margery Symcot, and from 1586 by the two together. (fn. 73)

By 1591 the Mercers Company's houses in All Hallows Honey Lane were said to be dangerous, the roofs being weak and under-propped. Probably nothing was done, as in 1594 Mr. Wiat's chimney fell down, and the houses in Cheap were said to be decayed and ruinous, by reason of the great weight of timber and lead in the top, which shook in any great wind. In 1597, despite their previous disagreements, the Mercers granted Margery Symcot a new lease of the Crane with shops, cellars and solars, for 21 years from 1599, at £200 fine and the slightly higher rent of £9. She was to repair, and might not alienate or let to any but a mercer. Abraham Speckarte paid the rent in 1598-9, possibly as her assign. (fn. 74)

The schedule attached to the 1597 lease is dated 1578 and was probably drawn up for the lease made to her, as Margery Wiat, at that date. It describes the fittings in 5 floors of the house. The hall and countinghouse were probably on the first floor, over shop(s) and cellar(s) not described, possibly because there were no fittings there. The kitchen, probably on the same level as the hall, was stone-paved, and may have been in an extension at the back of the house: the leads over it (15 ft. by 7 1/2 ft.; 4.57 m. by 2.29 m.) were reached from the next floor, where there were 2 chambers, wainscoted, wtih a countinghouse and privy. Above these were 2 more chambers, one wainscoted, the other occupied by Mrs. Symcot and not seen by the viewers. Above these were 2 garrets, one with a jetty towards the street and 'posts, flower, and reabus' to the same, probably a decorative feature, and a door to the leads; the other garret contained a privy ('house of office'). The 'highest garret' was on another level, though not necessarily immediately over the other 2; it could for example have been above the stairhead. (fn. 75)

Margery Symcot died in 1599 before the new lease was due to begin. She left specific instructions in her will as to the disposal of her property. Her executor was not to sell the lease, but to let the E. side of the shop and warehouse behind for £20 rent (the testatrix's maidservant Margaret was to have preference), and also to let her wares with the shop, at 5 per cent per annum of their value in her book, so that £80 yearly would be raised from the shop and wares. £60 of this was to go to the testatrix's son William Wiat, £10 to the Mercers in rent, and £10 towards repairs. William was to have her chamber in the house for his own, and the chamber next to it for a servant; Margaret the maidservant was to have another. Very little was left to William absolutely; his mother even specified that he was to have power to dispose of £40 by will to 'friends and acquaintances.' Possibly he was not, or was not considered, capable of managing his own affairs. (fn. 76)

In the event John Hopkins of Bristol, merchant, Margery's executor, transferred the lease by licence in 1599 to Nowell Sotherton, one of the supervisors of the will; Sotherton paid the £200 fine for the lease and the rent from 1599 to 1602. Dr. Fryer, Margery Symcot's son- in-law, paid the rent from 1602 to 1618. In 1615 the Mercers granted a lease of the Crane to Thomas Wright, clothworker, and Gilbert Harrison, goldsmith, then dwelling there, for 21 years from 1620 at £10 rent. The fine was £400, payable in 4 instalments by Michaelmas 1620. The conditions and schedule of fixtures were as before, except that the description of the jetty to the street and the 'posts, flower, and reabus' in the garret were omitted. Gilbert Harrison paid the rent of £9 from 1618 to 1621 and £10 from 1621. (fn. 77).

In 1627 Harrison asked for an extension of his term, in consideration of his costs in rebuilding the tenement. The company granted him a new lease in 1628, for 22 years from 1627, in consideration of the surrender of his present lease, £40 paid, and his costs in making a small cellar, enlarging a warehouse, and wainscoting certain rooms. The rent and conditions were as before; at the end of the schedule were listed a room beyond the kitchen over the shop, wainscoted, with a wainscoted back chamber over the shop, and a wainscoted entry between the two. Harrison paid the rent from 1621 to 1652. The tithe-payer in 1638 for what was probably this house was Mr. Waldron; Harrison does not appear. The house was worth £50 p.a. (fn. 78)

In 1644, on Harrison's petition for a new lease, the company viewed and valued the tenement (see Figs. 1 and 4). It then comprised a streetside house of cellar, ground floor, and 5 upper stories, with a ground-floor shop occupying a large area behind, and some upper rooms possibly still further back. Orientations N.-S. and E.-W. are not given in the view, but are inserted in the following description in parentheses where the identification seems reasonably certain. The whole of the ground floor was a shop, 58 ft. 2 in. (17.73 m.) long (N.-S.) and 17 ft. (5.18 m.) wide at one end (the N.) and 14 ft. 8 in. (4.47 m.) at the other (S.). These dimensions correspond closely with the plot surveyed for the then tenant after the Fire: the narrower part, by the street, was some 21 ft. (6.40 m.) long (N.-S.) and the wider part nearly 37 ft. long (11.28 m.). Under the shop was a cellar near the street, 12 ft. 8 in. by 12 ft. (3.86 m. by 3.66 m.), and a cellar further back 22 ft. (N.-S.) by 15 ft. (E.-W.) (6.71 m. by 4.57 m.), presumably under the wider part of the shop; a little cellar with a staircase, 12 ft. 4 in. (E.-W.) by 9 ft. (N.-S.) (3.76 m. by 2.74 m.) probably linked the larger cellars and may have been the small cellar built by Harrison. The streetside range consisted on the first floor of a hall to the street, wainscoted, 14 ft. 8 in. (?E.-W.) by 14 ft. (?N.-S.) (4.47 m. by 4.27 m.) with 'a study and a carole window', probably to be interpreted as a bay or oriel window, measuring 8 1/2 ft. (?E.-W.) by 3 ft. (?N.-S.) (2.59 m. by 910mm). Behind the hall were a staircase and study, 12 ft. 8 in. by 10 ft. 8 in. (3.86 m. by 3.25 m.), and a paved kitchen, 17 ft. 4 in. (?E.-W.) by 12 ft. (?N.-S.) (5.28 m. by 3.66 m.). These must have extended some way back over the shop. Over the hall was a chamber with carved wainscot, 14 ft. 10 in. (?E.-W.) by 14 ft. 1 in. (4.52 m. by 4.29 m.) with a closet with 'carole' window 10 ft. by 2 1/2 ft., (3.05 m. by 760 mm.) and behind that a chamber and house of office, 15 1/2 ft. (?E.-W.) by 10 ft. (?N.-S.) (4.72 m. by 3.05 m.), and a staircase and passage 9 ft. 8 in. by 6 ft. (2.95 m. by 1.83 m.). On the third floor there was a wainscoted chamber next to the street, 14 1/2 ft. (?E.-W.) by 13 ft. 11 in. (?N.-S.) (4.42 m. by 4.24 m.), which also had a 'carole' window, 8 ft. by 2 ft. (2.44 m. by 610 mm.). Behind the chamber was another chamber with a staircase, 14 ft. (?E.-W.) by 12 ft. (?N.-S.) (4.27 m. by 3.66 m.), and behind that a 'flat forme' of lead 18 ft. by 7 ft. 4 in. (5.49 m. by 2.24 m.), probably over the rooms above the kitchen (see the lease of 1597). On the fourth floor were 2 chambers, both 15 ft. by 14 ft. (4.57 m. by 4.27 m.), probably corresponding to the rooms described as garrets in 1597, and above them a garret 30 ft. by 13 ft., (9.14 m. by 3.96 m.) probably the 'highest garret' of 1597. The front of the house was possibly not jettied in the usual way above the first floor - all the front rooms have very similar dimensions - but had this oriel window extending through 3 floors, and above it, on the 4th floor, a decorative feature of 'posts, flower, and reabus'. (fn. 79)

The arrangements at the back were more complex. There was an 'upper warehouse over Mr. Clapton's warehouse,' measuring 17 ft. by 14 ft. (5.18 m. by 4.27 m.), a little dining-room 'over the shop', 11 ft. by 9 ft. 4 in. (3.35 m. by 2.84 m.); a passage 23 1/2 ft. by 2 ft. 10 in. (7.16 m. by 860 mm.) leading to a back room 'over the said warehouse' measuring 17 ft. by 11 ft. 3 in. (5.18 m. by 3.43 m.); and another little room by it, 12 ft. by 8 ft. (3.66 m. by 2.44 m.); Edward Clapton held a shop parcel of 8A3 c. 1611, and possibly the warehouse referred to was over that, and therefore an intermixture between 8A3 and 8A4. (fn. 80) It is also possible to suggest that 'Mr. Clapton's warehouse' was part of the ground-floor shop of 8A4, and also that the back room 'over the said warehouse' was actually over another part of the shop of 8A4, 'shop' and 'warehouse' being nearly synonymous terms for these large back rooms when used for commercial purposes. The dining room, the passage, and the back room were probably the rooms and entry over the shop beyond the kitchen, wainscoted by Harrison before 1627 and listed in his lease of that date. The ground floor shop can only have had window-lighting at the front, to Cheapside; the back part probably only had clerestories or rooflights. The back rooms of the street range from the second floor up would have had adequate light, but the kitchen might not have. (fn. 81)

The messuage was valued at £400 for a 21-year lease in reversion at the old rent of £10, and a new lease was granted to Harrison, then chamberlain of London, on these terms in 1644. This may have been changed to a 31-year term for a fine of £300 later in the year. Harrison paid the rent until 1652 and his executors were listed as paying it from then until the Fire. Margaret Harrison, Gilbert's widow, bequeathed the lease to her daughter Ann Lewsey in 1657, and Ann assigned it to William Bird, painterstainer, in 1662 for £300. Bird's request for pardon for this assignment, which had been made without licence, and William Allington's petition for a new lease of the same in reversion, both made in 1662, were deferred for consideration until the lawsuit then depending concerning the property was settled. The reason for this suit is not given but could have been the validity of Bird's title and the arrangements made after Harrison's death. William Minton, possibly an error for Allington or Allinton, occupied the house in 1662-3, when it was said to have 6 hearths; William Allington occupied the same house in January 1666. Bird held the lease, and may have occupied the property, at the time of the Great Fire. (fn. 82)

After the Fire both Bird and Mr. Downer claimed the interest in the residue of the lease of the Crane. The Mercers, in order to avoid future lawsuits, refused to give judgment between them and in September 1667 ordered them to settle the matter at law first. In June 1668 Bird claimed he had got Mr. Downer's or Mr. Pigeon's bill against him dismissed by order in Chancery, but the company was not yet satisfied. They did however state the terms for rebuilding they would offer to the confirmed tenant, namely a term made up to 51 years from 1668, at the old rent for the residue of the current lease and a new rent of £26 for the rest of the new term. Bird, presumably having got confirmation of his title, went to the Fire Court in October 1668, to obtain better terms. He referred to his loss of ground by the elimination of jetties and the loss of 4 rooms backward, possibly the intermixed rooms which Harrison had added to the tenement earlier. The company claimed that the ground was worth £30 p.a., and asked for an increase of rent or a fine. The Court decreed that on payment of £100 fine Bird should have a new lease of 60 years from 1668 at £10 rent, and should rebuild with all convenient speed. This the company performed. A foundation was surveyed for Bird in Cheapside, between Waldo (8A1) to the N., Stephens (8A3) to the W., and Smith and Beauchamp (probably tenants of 9) to the E.; it measured 58 ft. 2 in. (17.73 m.) N.-S., with a width of 15 ft. (4.57 m.) on the frontage and 18 ft. 8 in. (5.69 m.) at the back, widening by an offset to the W. some 21 ft. (6.40 m.) back from the street. Bird had rebuilt by May 1669, but his party wall with Christopher Taylor (8A3) leaned towards that property, and his house 'swayed to the East'. (fn. 83)

8A5 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

The tenement called the Black Bull (8A1), leased to Thomas More in 1549 and 1565, was divided by him before 1597. The mansion house at the back, with cellars, rooms etc. and the cellar under All Hallows Honey Lane was taken by More to live in; in 1597 it was said to be late in the occupation of William Gould, now of Robert Parkhurst, clothworker, and also (possibly the church cellar) now in the occupation of More or his assigns. A lease was made to More, to begin in 1605 when his current lease expired, for 21 years at £5. 6s. 8d. This rent included £1. 6s. 8d. for the church cellar, which the Mercers were to pay to the parish. More was to repair, and might not alienate or let to any but a mercer. Mrs. More paid the rent from 1605 to 1610. (fn. 84)

In 1610 the parish petitioned the company for a lease of the cellar under the church, or for a release of the company's interest. This was agreed, for £40 paid and the release of the rent due; Mrs. More was to be quit of the £1. 6s. 8d., and the parish was to allow her undertenants to complete their term. Thereafter the cellar was to be used for burials only; these began there in 1613. (fn. 85) Isaac Kilborne, citizen and mercer, paid the rent of £5. 6s. 8d. in 1610-11 and £4 thereafter; he was granted a 15-year lease at £4 rent by the company in 1611, on the same conditions as More's. He assigned to Thomas Herne or Hiron c. 1622, who paid the rent until 1625. At about that time the tenement was divided, Hiron and subsequently his widow keeping one part, the other being in John Hamond's possession. The company viewed the tenement in 1626, when the last lease was about to expire, and decided it should remain divided: Alice Hiron, Thomas' widow, was to have the part she now occupied (except for a garret over John Hamond's house) for £4 rent without fine, for as long a term as remained in the lease of the Black Bull (due to expire 1633: see 8A1 above), and the company's beadle was to have the other part, with the garret mentioned above, rent free for life. (fn. 86)

The view gives measurements of the rooms but not all the relationships are clear and no orientations are given: see Figs. 1 and 4. It seems likely that the garret was not the only intermixed room, and the upper floors of both parts of the property may have jettied over the yard and entries. The site was surrounded by houses (8A1 to the S., 10 to the E., 8B to the N.) and the church of All Hallows Honey Lane to the W.; there may well have been intermixture with 8A1, and it is possible that the intermixture existing between 8A and 8B when the latter was separated in the 15th century had persisted. The part of the house in Mrs. Hiron's possession comprised a hall with entry 20 ft. by 15 ft. (6.10 m. by 4.57 m.), a passage 14 ft. by 12 ft. (4.27 m. by 3.66 m.), a house of office 5 1/2 ft. by 4 ft. (1.68 m. by 1.22 m.), and a woodhouse 8 ft. by 6 ft. (2.44 m. by 1.83 m.), probably all at ground level. There were four chambers, 16 ft. by 13 ft. (4.88 m. by 3.96 m.), 16 ft. by 11 ft. (4.88 m. by 3.35 m.), 18 ft. by 15 ft. (5.49 m. by 4.57 m.) and 23 ft. by 16 ft. (7.01 m. by 4.88 m.): the first two could have been on one floor and under the fourth. There was a garret 23 ft. by 16 ft. (7.01 m. by 4.88 m.), probably over the fourth chamber, and another garret 14 ft. by 13 ft. (4.27 m. by 3.96 m.) over John Hamond's house. The part in Hamond's possession consisted of an entry 10 ft. by 3 ft. (3.05 m. by 910 mm.), a yard 18 ft. by 11 ft. (5.49 m. by 3.35 m.), a passage and stairs 14 1/2 ft. by 7 1/2 ft. (4.42 m. by 2.29 m.), a kitchen 14 ft. by 11 1/2 ft. (4.27 m. by 3.51 m.), and a buttery 10 1/2 ft. by 5 1/2 ft. (3.20 m. by 1.68 m.). He had the only cellar, 14 ft. by 8 ft. (4.27 m. by 2.44 m.): the 16th century evidence relating to the dispute over the cellar under the church suggests that this must have lain adjacent to the E. wall of the church. There was a hall, probably over the kitchen, 14 1/2 ft. by 12 ft. (4.42 m. by 3.66 m.), a chamber over the hall 11 ft. by 14 ft. (3.51 m. by 4.27 m.), a passage 9 ft. by 8 ft. (2.74 m. by 2.44 m.), a second chamber 22 ft. by 16 ft. (6.71 m. by 4.88 m.), which from its dimensions might have been intermixed with Mrs. Hiron's house, an inner chamber 9 ft. by 7 1/2 ft. (2.74 m. by 2.29 m.) and a closet 4 1/2 ft. by 2 ft. (1.37 m. by 610 mm.). (fn. 87)

Mrs. Hiron married Robert Warner, citizen and waxchandler, and he paid the rent for their part from 1626. In 1627 the company viewed the divided tenement again, and said that, of a room now divided between the two parts, the stairs there should remain to Heaton, and the rest of the room to Warner and his wife. They also charged Warner with £20 for repairs done to his tenement, shown to be necessary when repairs were done to the other part. Later in the year they agreed to grant him a lease of his tenement for four years from 1628, for £4 rent and £20 fine to cover the cost of the repairs above; the fine actually paid seems to have been 20 marks (£13. 6s. 8d.). (fn. 88)

Warner paid the rent until 1629, followed by William Dawe or Dawes, mercer, from 1629 to 1657. Another view was taken of the tenement in 1630, which differs in some details from that of 1626, and also in that the measurements vary in some cases by 18 in. or 2 ft. (460 mm. to 610 mm.). The room formerly described as a hall and entry 20 ft. by 15 ft. (6.10 m. by 4.57 m.) was now described as a low room used for a kitchen, 20 ft. long by 8 ft. wide (6.10 m. by 2.44 m.) in one part and 11 ft. (3.35 m.) wide in another; an entry 17 ft. by 3 1/2 ft. (5.18 m. by 1.07 m.) and a buttery 5 1/2 ft. by 3 1/2 ft. (1.68 m. by 1.07 m.) probably also came within the dimensions given in 1626. A room at the stairs' head with staircase and window, 13 ft. by 10 1/2 ft. (3.96 m. by 3.20 m.), was probably identical with the passage 14 ft. by 12 ft. (4.27 m. by 3.66 m.) of 1626. There were a house of office 6 ft. by 4 ft. (1.83 m. by 1.22 m.), two coalhouses 7 1/2 ft. by 5 1/2 ft. (2.29 m. by 1.68 m.) and 6 1/2 ft. by 5 ft. (1.98 m. by 1.52 m.), and another buttery 6 ft. by 3 ft. (1.83 m. by 910 mm.). There were four chambers, 16 ft. by 14 ft. (4.88 m. by 4.27 m.), 17 ft. by 10 1/2 ft. (5.18 m. by 3.20 m.), 17 ft. by 14 1/2 (5.18 m. by 4.42 m.) and 21 ft. by 15 ft. (6.40 m. by 4.57 m.) which probably corresponded with the four chambers mentioned in 1626, though the measurements vary slightly; the fourth chamber, the largest, included a countinghouse. The garret over Hamond's house had been transferred to that and was no longer listed, and the other garret, formerly 23 ft. by 16 ft. (7.01 m. by 4.88 m.), had been divided into 2 garrets 16 ft. by 10 1/2 ft. (4.88 m. by 3.20 m.) and 16 ft. by 11 ft. (4.88 m. by 3.35 m.). The company valued the tenement at £40 fine and £4 rent for a 21-year lease in reversion, and granted William Dawe a 23- year lease from 1632 for that fine and rent. (fn. 89)

The other part of the tenement was granted to Thomas Heaton, the company's beadle, and held by him rent-free. The company was responsible for repairs, and in 1626-7 spent £53. 15s. 3d. on what must have been major repairs. Probably this included the £20 charged to Warner for repairs done to his house at the same time. Further repairs, costing over £10, were done in 1631-2, a new door was made in 1640-1 and a new lead gutter in 1642-3, and glazing was done in 1650-1. (fn. 90)

William Dawe paid the rent for his part of the property until 1657, but the tithe-payers in 1638 were Mr. Hatton, whose part was valued at £9 p.a., and Mr. Heaton, whose part was valued at £11 p.a. Richard Hatton was in occupation of the part on lease to Dawe in 1652, when he petitioned for a new lease of that part and for a lease of the part formerly in the custody of Thomas Heaton. Heaton appears to have died in or before 1652: £10 was granted towards the cost of his sickness and burial in August that year. Other petitioners for the lease of Heaton's part were William Davis and his wife Beatrice, Anne Tench, widow, and Thomas Carpenter. Both parts of the tenement were viewed, and the company decided to grant Hatton a new lease of both parts, on his surrender of the lease of the part he occupied, for 23 1/2 years from Michaelmas 1652, at £6 rent and £100 fine, payable half at Michaelmas and half at Lady Day 1655, provided he reunited the tenement and kept it so. (fn. 91)

The views of the 2 parts of the tenement taken in 1652 describe the rooms of each slightly differently from the views in 1626 and 1630. In the part occupied by Dawe or Hatton, the main ground-floor rooms were now described as a passage 16 ft. by 3 ft. 3 in. (4.88 m. by 990 mm.), a hall 12 ft. by 8 ft. (3.66 m. by 2.44 m.), and kitchen 10 1/2 ft. by 8 1/2 ft. (3.20 m. by 2.59 m.). There was a passage room at the stairhead with 2 staircases, a house of office, 'and other holes', measuring 14 ft. by 12 ft. (4.27 m. by 3.66 m.), a room over that 14 ft. (4.27 m.) square, and a room parted, 22 ft. by 16 ft. (6.71 m. by 4.88 m.), which probably represents the 2 chambers 16 ft. by 13 ft. (6.71 m. by 3.96 m.) and 16 ft. by 11 ft. (6.71 m. by 3.35 m.) measured in 1626. There was a room 'over that which Mr. Heaton hath forward' measuring 22 ft. by 14 1/2 ft. (6.71 m. by 4.42 m.): possibly this was the largest chamber and countinghouse, measuring 23 ft. by 16 ft. (7.01 m. by 4.88 m.) in 1626 and 21 ft. by 15 ft. (6.40 m. by 4.57m.) in 1630. The 'garret parted' measured 20 ft. by 14 1/2 ft. (6.10 m. by 4.42 m.). The description of Heaton's part also varied a little from that of 1626 and most of the measurements now given were 9 in. to 2 ft. (230 mm. to 610 mm.) smaller. The entry was now given as 9 ft. 3 in., by 3 1/2 ft. (2.82 m. by 1.07 m.), the yard 16 ft. by 10 ft. (4.88 by 3.05 m.), the passage and staircase 12 ft. by 6 ft. (3.66 m. by 1.83 m.), and the kitchen and larder (probably comprising the kitchen and buttery separately measured in 1626) as 17 ft. by 10 ft. (5.18 m. by 3.05 m.). The cellar was now given as 12 1/2 ft. by 6 1/2 ft. (3.81 m. by 1.98 m.). The hall was said to be 14 ft. (4.27 m.) square: possibly this now included closets or alcoves not previously measured. There was a lodging-room over the hall 13 1/2 ft. by 10 ft. (4.11 m. by 3.05 m.), and a room with 3 closets 20 ft. by 17 ft. (6.10 m. by 5.18 m.) over Richard Hatton's hall. The passage, inner chamber, and closet separately measured in 1626 were probably partly included in the 'staircase, passage, and house of office' now given as 10 ft. by 9 ft. (3.05 m. by 2.74 m.). 'A garret parted', 13 ft. by 12 ft. (3.96 m. by 3.66 m.) was presumably the garret 14 ft. by 13 ft. (4.27 m. by 3.96 m.) over Heaton's house formerly occupied by Mrs. Hiron, measured with her tenement in 1626, and subsequently let to Heaton. (fn. 92)

Richard Hatton did not take up the new lease offered him in 1652 immediately: from 1652 to 1657, Dawe was still said to pay the £4 rent for one part of the tenement, and Hatton paid £2 rent for the part formerly occupied by Heaton. In 1655 Hatton asked the company to view the tenement again, now united: they found that since the lease was offered he had had to pay to raise the kitchen floor, which had fallen down, and do other repairs, totalling £75. In consideration of this they offered him an extension to 31 years from 1655, provided he paid the rest of the fine by then. The lease was actually granted and sealed in 1658, for 29 years from 1657. Hatton paid the £6 rent for both parts of the tenement from 1657 to 1664; his executors paid in 1664-5 and 1665-6. Richard Hatton occupied a house with 3 hearths in 1662-3. Former descriptions of 8A5 suggest that it was probably larger than this; it could still therefore have been occupied in 2 parts, in which case Thomas Hancocke, whose name follows Hatton's, occupying a house with 4 hearths, was probably holding the other part. In 1666 Katharine Hatton, widow, occupied a house in Honey Lane, with 3 hearths; the next-listed house, with 4 hearths, was empty. (fn. 93)

The whole of 8A5 was taken to be laid into the new Honey Lane market place; 'Mrs. Hatton' is marked on a rough plot of the market place, with an area possibly 38 ft. (E.-W.) by 24 ft. 6 in. (N.-S.) (11.58 m. by 7.47 m.). The Mercers' Company was slow to seek compensation, and in 1669 Mr. Hutchinson, former minister of All Hallows Honey Lane, was allowed to act on Mrs. Hatton's behalf before the city's committee for compensation. He obtained a payment of £90 to her and £110 to the company, which he said was £50 more than they could have got without her evidence; Mrs. Hatton was now said to be aged, helpless and living on charity since the Fire, and on her petition the company abated her £8 of the £18 arrears of rent she owed. (fn. 94)

8b

This small tenement was not divided from 8A until after 1446, but was probably separately occupied much earlier. Among the tenements held by John Devenissh of Robert Turk c. 1400 was one situated prope the church, which Devenissh had sublet to Thomas Bacheler, draper, and his wife Joan, and this was probably 8B. The reversion of this and other tenements was granted to Thomas Knolles, and in 1409 the tenement of Thomas Knolles in which Thomas Bacheler, draper, lived, was given as the E. abutment of 8C. William Flete, mercer, was Knolles' tenant in 1428 and 1430. (fn. 95)

In February 1446 Thomas Knolles, citizen and grocer, son of Thomas Knolles, granted all his lands, rents and reversions in London to Gilbert Worthington, clerk, William Baron, Richard Hakedy, William Olyvere, and Robert Mildenhale. The next day he made his will, leaving the tenement which William Flete then held and the advowson of All Hallows Honey Lane to the Grocers' Company, to keep his obit in St. Antonin. In 1457 Baron and Mildenhale, only survivors of Knolles' feoffees, and in completion of his will, granted the tenement late occupied by William Flete and now by Richard Lesingham, mercer, and the advowson of All Hallows Honey Lane, to Simon Strete, citizen and grocer; they and their co-feoffees had held them to the use of Thomas Knolles by his grant. The tenement lay between Blossoms Inn (Bosom is inne) to the E., 8C to the W. and N., and the kitchen of the Whole Bull (8A) to the S., and had an entry from the churchyard leading partly under the Whole Bull (8A). Strete devised the tenement and advowson to the Grocers by his will dated 1457 and proved 1460, to maintain Knolles' obit. (fn. 96)

Although the conveyance to the company was not completed until 1460, the Grocers received £2 rent for the tenement in Honey Lane from 1448. Isabel Flete paid this until 1456, her attorney in 1457, and Richard Lesyngham, mercer, who was one of her executors, from 1458 to 1460 or 1461. Small repairs were done by the company when Isabel Flete was tenant, and greater works c. 1460, at a cost of £13. The works included cleaning the privy and re-closing its vault with bricks, filling the ground with rubble, masons' and carpenters' work, tiling, and lead. The object was probably to separate the tenement properly from 8A, since stopping an old door was included among more general repairs. The rooms mentioned are hall, kitchen with dresser, buttery, inner parlour, chamber, and cellar. (fn. 97)

Robert Norton paid the same £2 rent from 1461 to 1463; it was vacant for 3/4 of 1463-5, then Thomas Hoore, mercer, paid the rent until 1467. William Hedges paid from 1467 to 1471. There were further repairs over this period, including tiling, work on the siege, guttering (at the tenant's charge) and lead. There was a garret, and Hedges made a pentice over the stairs in the yard, which the company afterwards repaired. Rent receipts between 1471 and 1511 are lost; repairs in Honey Lane continued, including over £18 in 1485-6, but are not specified after 1494. (fn. 98)

William Stathom, mercer and meter at the Steelyard, had this, the 'corner house', at the end of the 15th century; he died in 1502. (fn. 99) Katherine Stathom, his widow, was the Grocers' tenant from 1511 or earlier to 1518 at £2. 6s. 8d. rent; the company did some small repairs. Mrs. Weston, widow, probably late wife of William Weston of the Black Bull (8A1) became tenant in 1518, paying 6s. 8d. for an 'income' and the same rent as before. She was replaced in 1524 by Richard Crompton, mercer, and he in 1530 by John Eccleston, grocer. Repairs in this period included underpinning the 'plat' of the kitchen, and associated work, in 1527-8, at over £6; few repairs were done at the company's cost in the 1530s and none after 1540. (fn. 100)

Simon Strete's will specified that the Grocers should pay £1 yearly from Knolles' tenements for his obit. This obit was recorded in the chantry certificate of 1548 under the name of Simon Streat, as a charge of £1, including 4s. to the poor, on lands worth £2. 6s. 8d. yearly. In 1550 Edward VI granted the 15s. 10d. rent paid by the Grocers for Strete's and Knolles' obits to Augustine Hynde, Richard Turk, and William Blackwell, with many other former chantry rents; Blackwell, the survivor of these 3, granted it to the Grocers in 1562. (fn. 101)

The rent of £2. 6s. 8d. from All Hallows Honey Lane is recorded as being paid by John Eccleston, grocer, from 1530 to 1560. This may be the John Eccleston, grocer, (d. 1551), and his son John, goldsmith, who held 11/2 at this period. Probably the tenement was actually assigned or sublet before 1560: Francis Mynn, mercer, was occupying the house once of Stathum in 1553. In 1564 Wynn came to the Grocers to claim a lead cistern which they had removed from the tenement once of the late John Eccleston, now of Wynn, in Honey Lane. (fn. 102)

There is a break in the rent accounts 1560-65. It is possible that a 21-year lease from 1562 was granted in this period: the lease current in the 1570s was due to expire in 1583. The rent (still £2. 6s. 8d.) was recorded as paid by John Eccleston by the hand of John Walton in 1565-6, by John Walton 1566-7, by Thomas Frampton 1567-8, Nicholas Eccleston 1568-71, and John Leech 1571-8. Repairs were done by the tenant, if at all, after 1540, but in 1572 the company agreed to repair in brick the wall towards Mr. More's yard (8A1) because the timber of it was very rotten. In 1577 Richard Yonge was suitor for a lease of the house in Honey Lane. He was offered 30 years at £5 rent or 21 at £4 rent, and chose the latter; he was to surrender the old lease, with 6 years to run, to do repairs and usual covenants, and was given licence to let it to John Leech, schoolmaster, who lived there and on whose behalf he had made the suit, but to no other. John Leche paid the £4 rent in 1577-8, but in 1578 Yonge got licence to let to Thomas Peake or Peke, citizen and goldsmith, for the remainder of his own lease. Peake paid the rent from 1579 to 1596. (fn. 103)

In 1596 Thomas Childe, Jerome Page, grocer, and Richard Peake all petitioned for a lease of the house; Page offered £45 fine. Dorothy Peake, widow, the tenant, also petitioned in 1596, and was granted a 21-year lease from 1598 at the old rent and £50 fine, payable £30 in hand and £20 the next year. She paid the rent from 1596 to 1600, and then married Robert Coller, who paid from 1600 to 1606. In 1601 Coller and Dorothy asked for permission to sublet to Henry Peake, schoolmaster, which was granted after enquiry whether this would be annoying to the neighbours. No further subletting was to take place without licence. Coller agreed to give the company a buck in consideration. Later in 1601 Coller was given permission to assign to George Harvye instead. Robert Coller and Thomas (sic) Harvie paid the rent in 1606-7, Thomas Harvie as Coller's assign in 1607-9, and George Harvye as Coller's assign from 1609 to 1625. (fn. 104)

In 1616 George Harvey, schoolmaster, was granted a new lease on surrender of the old, for 21 years at £40 fine, the old rent of £4, and usual conditions. Harvey paid the rent up to 1625, but from 1621 the tenement was occupied by William Robinson. Thomas Sparrey, merchant tailor, paid the rent in 1625-6, but thereafter Harvey paid until 1631; Robinson remained in occupation. Harvey sold the remainder of his term to Thomas Jumper, gentleman, who paid the rent and occupied the tenement from 1631. In 1632 Jumper asked for a new lease, in consideration of having spent £180 in rebuilding the property: he was given a 21-year extension to his lease (due to expire in 1637) for a £20 fine and the old rent. (fn. 105)

Thomas Jumper paid £4 rent for a tenement in Honey Lane in his own occupation from 1632 to 1644. Mr. Jumper was tithe-payer in 1638 for a house in Honey Lane valued at £16 p.a. From 1644 the tenant was recorded as Mr. Jumper. In 1651 the Grocers decided to offer their tenants extensions of their leases for 99 years; Matthew Jumper paid £200 fine for a 99-year lease (made in the name of Christine Jumper) of the tenement in Honey Lane in 1651-2. Thereafter he paid only £1 rent up to the Fire. The occupant of 8B in 1662-3 and 1666 was probably Nathaniel Moxey or Maxey, silkman, whose house was said to have 7 hearths in 1662-3 but only 5 in 1666. (fn. 106)

The whole of the Grocers' property in Honey Lane was laid into the new market place; compensation was calculated not by square footage but as 15 years' purchase of a one-third of the annual value. The company had Jumper's tenement, in lease for 80 years to come, which they valued at £27 rent p.a., and also the parsonage house (see below) possibly formerly part of 8B, valued at £24 p.a. Jumper's interest was valued at £96 (12 years' purchase of £8, being a third of £27 less £1 for the annual rent) and the company's at £39 (3 years' purchase of £8 and 15 years' purchase of the £1 rent). Matthew Jumper, citizen and leatherseller, assigned his interest to the City for this £96 compensation in 1669. (fn. 107)

The parsonage house

The parish of All Hallows Honey Lane lacked a parsonage house in the mid-16th century and probably also at an earlier date. In 1546 the rector and churchwardens said that the (chantry) priests had no house but what they hired. Thomas Parnell, rector in 1553, was probably not resident in London at all, and there are no references to a parsonage house in the parish records. However, in 1630 the churchwarden paid 16s. to Mr. Virtue, the rector, for tithe of Mrs. Preston's house, which possibly he had hired; in 1631 Henry Vertue asked the Grocers' Company, patrons of the benefice, for a contribution to the cost of rebuilding and enlarging the parsonage house. The company refused on principle, but gave £20 as a benevolence. It seems possible, from subsequent references, that this parsonage house was or had been formed from part of 8B, the Grocers' tenement. Vertue, the rector, died in 1660, and a new incumbent, Mr. Hutchinson, was not appointed till 1663, so there was no minister when the Hearth Tax list of 1662-3 was compiled. In this list, however, one Hercules Westdale occupied a house with 5 hearths, listed immediately before 8A5. In 1666 this same house was occupied by Thomas Hutchinson, minister. (fn. 108)

After the Fire, the Grocers sought compensation as well for that which Mr. Hitchinson (sic), rector, held, as for the tenement let to Jumper (8B); the former was valued at £24 p.a. In 1671, Hutchinson agreed to surrender his interest in the toft and ground of his late house in Honey Lane, and the Grocers conveyed it to the City. Compensation was paid, not by square footage but at 15 years' purchase of a third of the annual value; of the £120 paid by the City, the Grocers gave Hutchinson £50. Hutchinson also received interest from the Coal Dues on the sum of £257. 14s. representing 18 years' purchase of £14. 6s. 4d. tithes from houses laid into the market. (fn. 109)

The location of this parsonage house is a problem. The Grocers' tenement, 8B, was small, and there is no evidence that it was divided, unless something of the kind occurred c. 1652, when Jumper's rent was reduced from £4 to £1, though this reduction is probably accounted for by his payment of £200 fine for an extended lease. The fact that the Grocers were compensated for land is however a strong indication that the parsonage house was part of 8B. Mills's and Oliver's post-Fire surveys give no indication of the location of Jumper's or Hutchinson's houses. (fn. 110)

8c

The back part of 8, lying to the N. of the church and abutting W. on 5 and N. on the property later known as Blossoms Inn, was at least partly garden in the 13th and early 14th centuries. It descended as part of 8 until the late 14th century, but as the 14th-century owners of 8 also held the tenement in St. Lawrence Jewry parish to the N. there is some uncertainty over boundaries. John Picot, citizen and mercer, held a tenement of Stephen Asshwy in All Hallows Honey Lane in 1322; it lay to the W. of a plot of land in St. Lawrence Jewry, which measured some 15 ft. E.-W. and 62 ft. N.-S. (4.57 m. by 18.9 m.), which Asshwy granted absolutely to Picot. The privy (privata camera) of the tenement in All Hallows adjoined or extended into the plot at the S. end. (fn. 111)

Sir Robert Turk held 8 at the end of the 14th century. At the time of his death in December 1400 he had conveyed all his lands to feoffees and made certain specific devises in his will. He left the tenement which John Curteys, esquire, sometime held of him in All Hallows Honey Lane to Holy Trinity Priory, for a perpetual chantry and obit kept by the canons. This legacy was considered and refused by the Priory, on the grounds that the charges were too great. Turk's executors, John de Scardeburgh, Richard Jepe, Bartholomew Seman, and Thomas Berwelle, accepted this and made other arrangements. (fn. 112)

In 1401 de Scardeburgh, Jepe, Seman and Berwelle granted Blossoms Inn and adjacent tenements in St. Lawrence Jewry, and a garden in All Hallows Honey Lane to William Thirnynge, Gerard Braybrok, Thomas Stowe, clerk, Edmund Hampdene, esquire, John Wyke, clerk, Thomas Skystelyng, clerk, and Roger Albrighton, clerk, reserving to themselves a small stable in the S. of the garden. In 1409 Jepe and Seman granted to John Courteys, esquire, and his wife Margaret, the tenement with houses and solar built over in which John and Margaret lived, and a small house, at one time a stable but now called le Colhous with a solar over, to the E. of the said tenement; they with de Scardeburgh and Berwell, now dead, had had them with other lands by the grant of John Conyesburgh, pulter, and Richard Claidich, clerk, citizens (to whom de Scardeburgh as feoffee of Turk had granted them in 1401). The tenement, hereafter identified as 8C, lay between those of William Marcheford, mercer (11/4 or 111/1), and William Warden, grocer (11/5), to the W., the garden of Blossoms Inn and the tenement of Thomas Knolles in which Thomas Bacheler, draper (11/8B), lived to the E., the churchyard of All Hallows Honey Lane to the S. and the hospice of Blossoms Inn to the N. The small house or colhous with solar over extended below at the back further over the site of the garden than the bounds of the tenement extended elsewhere on the E.; it was very probably the stable reserved in the grant of Blossoms Inn in 1401. (fn. 113)

In 1415 John Courteys, esquire, and his wife Margaret granted 8C, their tenement and colhous which they held as above, to Richard Jepe, rector of All Hallows Honey Lane, Alexander Sprot, and Thomas Barwe, citizens and vintners. John Courteys died later in 1415 and his widow Margaret quitclaimed in it to Jepe, Sprot, and Barwe in 1423; they granted it back to her for life and one year. (fn. 114) In 1426 Margaret Curteys brought an assize of nuisance against the warden of the college of St. Mary Ottery, Devon, now owner of Blossoms Inn, and John Stone of London, hostiller. She claimed that by a charter, which she produced, of Elias of Honey Lane to William Joynour (Joymer), the occupants of Blossoms Inn were bound to receive the rainwater from the tenement she now had, running by an underground gutter (receptaculum aque sive guttera subterranea) into St. Lawrence Lane, which the defendants had blocked with stones so that the water ran back into her tenement and stagnated (putrefacit) there. Also, though they were bound to respect her lights, they had built a shed opposite her 3 windows facing their tenement, and thereby impeded her light. Margaret won her plea and the defendants had to remove the nuisances. (fn. 115) The deed produced by Margaret to support her claim is probably one that still survives, dating from the early 13th century, in the archives of the Drapers' Company, but the tenement to which it relates is in fact 5 and not 8, which was held at the time the deed was made by William son of Sabelina. (fn. 116)

Margaret had probably died by August 1427, when Jepe, Sprot, and Barwe made an agreement with John Baisham, dean of Hereford, Robert Shilley, esquire, and William Cook of Berkshire, yeoman, then holders of 5. 8C was described as a ruined hall and empty plot, which were butted and annexed (buttantur et annexantur) on the W. to 5 for a length of 33 ft. (10.06 m.). Jepe, Sprot, and Barwe proposed to build new houses on their plot, to which Baisham, Shilley, and Cook agreed, and further granted that they would bring no assize of nuisance on account of the rebuilding. The windows of 5 which opened onto the garden of 8C and were at present closed with iron were to be glazed and so kept. The agreement was confirmed by William Walden, who also had an interest in 5. (fn. 117)

In 1428 Jepe, Sprot, and Barwe granted 8C late of John and Margaret Curteys, to Robert Cristendom and William Creek, drapers, Nicholas Wyfold, grocer, and Nicholas Bolthorp, vintner. 8C was described as a tenement with houses and colhous with solar over, with abutments as before, but the dimensions of the small house extending to the E. were given. At the S., next to 8A, it measured 20 ft. (6.1 m.) from the platus of the buttery and panetrie of Curteys' tenement to the W. to Blossoms Inn to the E.; to the N., next to Blossoms Inn, it measured the same, between the platus to the W. and the hospice to the E.; it was 9 ft. 6 in. (2.9 m.) wide N.-S. at the W., and 9 ft. 5 in. (2.87 m.) N.-S. at the E. (fn. 118)

Cristendom and Bolthorp released and quitclaimed in the property to Creek and Wyfold in 1430, and the latter two granted it to John Norman, draper (who now owned 5), Robert Oppy, clerk, Thomas Stokdale, Nicholas Bolthorp, vintner(s), John Stonton, draper, and William Hervy, hatter, citizens. John Norman was probably the intended beneficiary of this grant. In 1439 the warden of the college of St. Mary Ottery demised to him a void plot of ground lying to the S. of Blossoms Inn, adjoining Norman's storehouse (possibly the colhous) to the S. for 30 years at 5s. rent. The plot measured 20 ft. 1 in. (6.12 m.) at the S., and 16 ft. 3 in. (4.95 m.) at its N. end, eastwards from Norman's kitchen; the W. side measured 15 ft. 7 in. (4.75 m.) and the E. side 11 ft. 1 in. (3.38 m.); it was probably part of the garden in All Hallows Honey Lane granted with Blossoms Inn in 1401. (fn. 119)

Oppy, Stokdale, Bolthorp, and Hervy (Stonton having died) released and quitclaimed in the property to Norman in 1446. He granted it in 1456 to Thomas Scot, William Hulyn, aldermen, Thomas Billyng, John Nedeham, serjeants at law, Thomas Urswyk, recorder of London, and Richard Norman, who granted it back to him in 1463. (fn. 120) John Norman, draper and alderman (mayor 1453-4), died in 1468, leaving his capital tenement in which he lived (8C) in All Hallows Honey Lane, once of Stephen Asshwy and later of Robert Turk, and his other tenement (5) in the same parish, to the Drapers' Company, to keep his obit in the church of All Hallows Honey Lane. 8C was also charged with a quit-rent of 10s. to the landlord of Blossoms Inn, and 13s. 4d. for the 'beam light' or rood light in All Hallows Honey Lane. Norman also held 10, which he devised for sale in his will; it too was later acquired by the Drapers. (fn. 121)

In 1471 Richard Rawson, mercer, had a lease of 'Master Norman's place' in Honey Lane for seven years at £5. 6s. 8d. rent. The schedule of fixtures or 'necessaries' mentions a hall with painted screens, a parlour by the hall door with a counting-board, kitchen, buttery, larderhouse and bolting-house, and four chambers including 'Thomas Bacheler's chamber.' A man of this name had held 8B in the early 15th century, but whether there is any connection is not clear. Possibly the rooms of 8B and 8C, though by now separate freeholds, were structurally intermixed, and this chamber was or had been let to the occupants of 8B. There was also an uttyr yard to 8C, with a coop for hens and capons. (fn. 122)

In 1478 the Drapers let the tenement with houses, cellar(s), solar(s), and garden in All Hallows Honey Lane, late occupied by Richard Rawson, to Henry Cantlowe, citizen and mercer, for 7 years at £5. 6s. 8d. rent. They remitted 10s. of the rent, however, until such time as they could assure him possession of two yards adjacent, belonging to Blossoms Inn, when he would pay the rent in full. By 1481 the tenement was occupied by John Hawes, mercer, paying the rent in full; 10s. rent was paid by the company in 1482-3 to the landlord of Blossoms Inn for 2 little gardens. Repairs costing over £11 were done in Honey Lane in 1483-4. There is a gap in the Drapers' rent accounts from 1485 to 1506 but Hawes remained their tenant until 1513. (fn. 123)

In 1506 Mr. Hawes, alderman, paid £5. 6s. 8d. rent; the company repaired 2 pentices at a cost of £1. 15s. and paid 16s. 8d. for Norman's obit, 13s. 4d. for the beam light, and 10s. quit-rent to the landlord of Blossoms Inn. In later years the costs of repairs and obit varied. Roger Hawe paid this rent for the 'great place' in 1513- 15, followed by Mr. Reynold, at £6 rent, from 1515 to 1517, then by Mrs. Margaret Reynold (widow), until 1530. There were repairs to the roofs of Reynold's house in 1514-15, and work on the gutters and watercourses on several occasions. Substantial works on 5 (q.v.), which may also have included lesser works on 8C, were done in 1526-9. (fn. 124)

Henry See or Saye paid the rent from 1530 to 1537, giving £20 for a lease in 1533-4. William Smyth paid the rent from 1537-8 and in that year gave £12. 13s. 4d. fine for a lease of this property and one in St. Mary le Bow (104/14). In 1544 William Smyth was assessed for subsidy in All Hallows Honey Lane parish on goods valued at £200. Smyth paid the rent until 1547 and William Marche paid from 1547 to 1554. The company continued to pay for some repairs, especially to the gutters and watercourse through Blossoms Inn. John Norman's legacy for the beam light and obit in All Hallows Honey Lane were paid until 1548. Edward VI granted the rents in 1550 to Augustine Hynde, Richard Turke, and William Blackwell, who probably then granted them to the Drapers. The 10s. quit-rent to the landlord of Blossoms Inn, which seems to have been regarded as payment for the watercourse into St. Lawrence Lane, continued to be paid until the Fire. (fn. 125)

William Marche was succeeded as tenant by Richard Barnes in 1554; he paid the £6 rent until 1597. Barnes probably held on a lease to repair, but in 1565-6 the Drapers paid £1. 13s. 8 1/2/d. and contributed the materials for digging up and re-laying the watercourse running through the stables of Blossoms Inn to St. Lawrence Lane, partly in hard stone and partly planked. No further works at the company's cost are recorded. No renewals of Richard Barnes' lease are noted and it may have been a very long one, possibly that granted in 1537- 8. In his will of 1597, proved 1598, Richard Barne, citizen and mercer, parishioner of All Saints parish, left his messuage and buildings in Westcheap known as the Swan and the Harp, in which he carried on his trade of mercery, to his son Edward and his heirs. Edward Barnes paid the rent from 1597 to 1640. In 1611 he was granted a new lease of 21 years on the expiry of his old one, for the old rent of £6 and a fine of £200; the term was extended to 24 years in 1613 on his promise to spend money in repairs. The fine was paid by Michaelmas 1614. (fn. 126)

In 1634 Edward Barnes was granted another 21-year lease of the messuage in Honey Lane from 1637, at £6 rent and £200 fine, which he paid in instalments in 1634-5 and 1636-7. In 1638 Mr. Barne paid tithe for a house in Honey Lane worth £16 p.a., and Mr. Nicholson, named immediately after him, paid tithe for a house worth £13 p.a. It is probable that these 2 houses together comprised 8C, which a few years later was known to have been divided. Two warehouses, valued at £4 p.a. each, may have belonged either to 8C or to 5. Edward Barnes was succeeded as rent-payer by Mrs. Katharine Barnes, widow, from 1640 to 1643. In 1643 William Daw succeeded, and the property was now described as one tenement now made 2. He paid the rent until 1649-50, when he assigned the lease to Margaret Nicon, who paid the rent until 1658. In 1651 a lease was granted to William Carter, for 33 3/4 years from 1658 at the old rent and £250 fine, which he paid in 1650-1 and 1651-2; in the lease the property was described as 2 messuages late one capital messuage, occupied separately by Carter and by Nathaniel Matthews. Carter was to repair, etc., and not to assign or sublet without licence, nor to obscure the lights of any of the company's other tenements. The fixtures of the tenement in Carter's occupation, evidently a large part of the original, included wainscot in the hall, wainscot and painted cloth in the great parlour at the upper end of the hall, painted cloth in the chamber over the parlour, and wainscot in the little parlour at the lower end of the hall. Nathaniel Matthews' house had a great chamber towards the church, wainscoted, an adjoining chamber, also wainscoted, and a little chamber. Matthews was to be given a lease of his part for half of the fine and rent if he wished, but does not seem to have taken this up. (fn. 127)

William Carter paid the £6 rent for the 2 tenements from 1658 to 1664. In 1662-3 William Carter occupied a house with 7 hearths, and also held an empty house with 6 hearths; Richard Browne, occupying a house wth 3 hearths, and Anthony Sambach, occupying one with 6 hearths, listed immediately before and after Carter, probably also held parts of 8C. Carter assigned or sold his lease (that granted in 1651) to John Knott, citizen and innholder, who in 1665 surrendered it to the company, and was granted a new lease of 41 years from 1663, at £6 rent. The property was now described as 4 messuages or tenements, all or most of which were late new built by Carter, in Honey Lane, now or late in the several tenures or occupations of William Gladwell, William Quarles, Edmund Griffin, and William Taylor. Knott paid the rent from 1664 to 1666. At the time of the Hearth Tax assessment early in 1666, 8C appears to have consisted of an empty house with 3 hearths; a house with 7 hearths, occupied by William Quarles, draper, an empty house with 5 hearths, an empty house with 4 hearths; and a house with 2 hearths occupied by Dr. Fettiplace, which together with the 4-hearth house probably comprised the 6-hearth house formerly occupied by Sambach, who now lived elsewhere in the parish (6A, q.v.). (fn. 128)

After the Great Fire both 5 and 8C, belonging to the Drapers' Company, were taken by the City for the new market place. The company was paid £330 for its interest in 8C, and Knott was paid £500 for assigning his lease to the City in 1668. Knott also bought the leasehold interest of 5 after the Fire, and sold it to the City in 1669 for £200. The Drapers were paid £235 for their interest in that. In 1676 Knott was paid another £360 for one of the sites (probably 8C) which had turned out to be larger than at first thought. Possibly the first calculation was on the basis of land actually laid into the market place, and the second on the area of the whole pre-Fire property, some of which may have lain to the N. of the market, though all of it was surrendered to the City. (fn. 129)

At the rate of compensation at 5s. per square foot for land behind the frontage (not universally observed) the Drapers' properties 5 and 8C would have contained 6500 sq. ft. (603.85 sq. m.). They were certainly extensive, but their real size and shape are hard to determine; the only (partial) plan of the market area is hard to interpret and contains several inconsistencies. (fn. 130)