St. Pancras Soper Lane 145/14-15

Introduction

These 2 properties lay on the S. side of Pancras Lane opposite the church of St. Pancras, between 145/11-13 and properties in St. Antonin parish on the W., and properties in St. Benet Sherehog parish on the E. and partly to the N. It is possible, but not certain, that in the Middle Ages the property extended as far S. as it did in the 17th century. In the late 13th or early 14th century the 2 properties came into the possession of one owner, but there may still have been 2 separate houses on the site, as there certainly were in the 16th century. In this latter period and in the 17th century the property extended S. into the parish of St. Antonin, almost as far as the church of that parish. At that time a third house, with its door towards Budge Row, occupied the S. end of the site. There is a drawn survey of the ground-floor rooms of the property c. 1610 (cf. Figs. 6 and 7). The substantial stone wall which ran along about 2/3 of the length of the western side of the property at that time was probably identical with the wall recorded in that position in the early 14th century, and the 17th-century structural arrangements probably reflected those of the medieval house.

14 occupied the N.W. part of the site and 15 the E. and S. parts. The 13th-century house represented by 14 probably extended further to the S. than its 16th- and 17th-century counterpart. In the latter period 15A denotes the more northerly part of that property, where there was a capital messuage, and 15B denotes the house in St. Antonin parish at the S. end of the site opening towards Budge Row.

On the street frontage the property corresponded to nos. 3 and 4 Pancras Lane in 1858.

Thirteenth to fifteenth century

In the second half of the 13th century 14, which adjoined the E. side of 12, was described as the tenement or tenements of Robert de Arraz. Robert's former tenements in the parish of St. Pancras came into the possession of his widow, Alice Darras, to whom in 1293 John Darras, son of Robert and Alice, quitclaimed. By 1317 Simon Corp had purchased the house representing 14 from Alice. (fn. 1)

In a will enrolled in 1305 the tenement in St. Benet Sherehog parish which adjoined 15 on the E. was said to be bounded by Henry de Boudon's tenement on the W. De Boudon still owned the property in 1310, when his tenement stood at the E. end of a wall 21 ells 1 1/2 ft. (64 ft. 6 in.; 19.66 m.) long which extended as far as Soper Lane on the W. This wall was in dispute between Simon Corp and Peter Adrien, who both held properties in Soper Lane in St. Antonin parish. Adrien's property occupied the corner of Soper Lane and Budge Row and extended as far as the cemetery of St. Antonin's church on the E. Henry de Boudon's tenement probably thus extended S. about as far as this cemetery and probably had a narrow entry from Pancras Lane on the N. as did 15A in the 17th century. By 1316 Simon Corp had purchased Henry de Bouden's property and thus came into possession of the whole of 14-15. (fn. 2)

Simon Corp, citizen and pepperer, was later said to have inhabited the tenements with houses in St. Pancras parish which had once belonged to Henry de Boudon, but he also seems to have inhabited some properties in the parishes of St. Antonin and St. John Walbrook which by his will, dated and enrolled in 1329, he left to his wife Joan for life together with half the contents of his inn or dwelling (hospicium). By the same will he left the tenements in St. Pancras parish which he had acquired from Henry de Boudon and Alice de Arraz to be sold by his executors, namely his wife Joan, his son Thomas and John de Dureme. In 1330 Grace, widow of Henry de Boudon, quitclaimed to these executors in her husband's former tenements. In 1332 Corp's executors sold 14-15 to William de Causton, citizen and mercer. The tenements in the parish of St. Pancras acquired by de Causton on this occasion lay between 145/12 on the W. and a tenement in St. Benet Sherehog parish on the E., and extended from the venella sancti Pancracii on the N. to a tenement of Benedict de Fulsham which had once belonged to Peter Adrian (cf. above) and a tenement of John de Garton (probably in St. Antonin parish) on the S. In 1345-6 William de Causton sought the assize of nuisance against Benedict de Fulsham. (fn. 3)

William de Causton probably lived in 14-15, which in his will, drawn up and enrolled in 1354, he described as his capital tenement with houses, mansions, and shops. He left this property to his wife Cristina for life, and to be sold by his executors on her death or marriage. This and other properties in the parish (see 145/2, 10) were to be charged with a rent of £6. 13s. 4d. for the support of a chantry chaplain in the church of St. Pancras. 14-15 were then subject to the same series of transactions as 145/2 and in 1355 were acquired by John Bernes, mercer, who had married William de Causton's widow. Bernes and Cristina lived in the capital tenement between 145/12 on the W. and the tenement of St. Benet Sherehog on the E. In 1374 they granted the property to Richard Odyham, citizen and pepperer, and John Dane, who immediately leased it back to them for a term of 5 years in return for a down payment. Cristina died in 1374-5 and was buried in the church of St. Pancras. John Biernes, alderman, died in 1375, and in his will of that year instructed Odyham and Dane to sell 14-15, where he was then living, and to deposit the money in a chest at Guildhall where it was to be used for making loans to the poor. (fn. 4)

In September 1375 Odyham and Dane sold the tenement representing 14-15 to John Hadlee, William Eynsham, and John de Hoo, all citizens and pepperers, and Robert Ellerker, clerk, and Thomas Holbeche. A few days later Odyham, Dane, and John Romesey, clerk, acting as executors of John Biernes quitclaimed in the tenement to the same grantees, who evidently held the property to the use of John Hadlee. In 1380 Eynsham and Hoo sold the tenement to Hadlee and his wife Margery, who were to hold it for the term of their lives with remainder to William Peche, knight, his wife Joan, who was Hadlee's daughter, and the heirs of both their bodies, with remainder then to the heirs and assigns of John Hadlee. The deed recording this transaction contained no clause of warranty, possibly because the grantors were aware of a claim by inheritance to the £6. 13s. 4d. rent which William de Causton had charged on this and other properties. In 1427 this claim was acquired by the parish of St. Pancras (see 145/2). (fn. 5)

At an inquisition in 1379 the tenement representing 14-15 was valued at £2 a year after outgoings, and at another inquisition following John Hadeleye's death in 1410 it was valued at £8 a year overall. William Pecche and his wife Joan had died, and in 1410 the heir to the property was their son John Pecche, who was then of age. For most of the 15th century the property remained in the possession of the Pecche family, and in 1489 was described as 2 messuages in the parish of St. Pancras of which John Wode, esquire, presumably a feoffee of the Pecche family, enfeoffed William Pecche, knight, John Palmer, gentleman, and William Cressyll, gentleman. These feoffees then enfeoffed Thomas Bourghchier junior, knight, John Scotte, knight, William Pyknam, clerk, Thomas Wilkinson, clerk, Edmund Lychefeld, clerk, Nicholas Gaynesford, William Essex, Thomas Alfray, Henry Heydon, John Alfegh, Robert Rede, John Codyngton, and Arthur Holbroke, who probably held on Sir William Pecche's behalf. This William Pecche, who was the son of the John Pecche who had inherited 14-15 in 1410, died in 1488 leaving as heir his son John then aged 17 or more. (fn. 6)

In 1492 this John Pecchy, now described as esquire, proceeded to break the entail on the property, or a part of it, now described as a tenement in St. Pancras parish held and occupied by Nicholas Shelton. William Cressyll had granted the tenement to Richard, bishop of Bath and Wells, Thomas, earl of Ormond, Giles, lord Dawbeney, Reginald Bray, knight, Edmund Chaterton, clerk, Ralph Scrope, clerk, Richard Giffard, knight, Henry Heydon, knight, Robert Rede, serjeant-at-law, Robert Scrope, esquire, Philip Fitzlowes, esquire, Nicholas Gaynesford, esquire, John Heydon, esquire, John (sic) Heydon, gentleman, Thomas Sall, gentleman, and William Crowmer, gentleman, to hold to the use of John Pecchy and his wife Elizabeth. In July 1492 John Pecche granted this tenement to Arthur Holbrook. On 8 October Pecchy produced in Husting a writ of right dated 23 August concerning this messuage, of which he claimed that Holbrook had deforced him, and on 15 October Pecchy recovered possession. On 15 October Pecchy also recovered possession against John Byley, chaplain. On the same day Isabel Raweson, widow, Nicholas Lathell, and Aubrey Raweson produced a writ of right concerning 2 messuages in St. Pancras parish and Cordwainer ward of which Pecchy had deforced them; they gained possession on 12 November. Lathell and the Rawesons thus seem to have acquired 14-15, now once more consisting of 2 houses, but how they disposed of the property is not known. (fn. 7)

Sixteenth century

In the late 15th century 14-15 belonged to Thomas Wyndoute, mercer and alderman, who died in 1499-1500 and whose former messuage was in 1522 and 1558 said to adjoin the E. side of 13. This property passed to Thomas's son, Bartholomew Wyndowt, esquire, and then to Bartholomew's daughter and heir Katharine. In 1535 Katharine and her husband, John Norrys of Lincoln's Inn, gentleman, leased the property to Richard Wilson, citizen and mercer, for a term of 60 years at £6. 13s. 4d. rent, the tenant being liable for repairs. This lease concerned a capital messuage with shops, cellars, solars, warehouses, yards, and gardens (15) in the parishes of St. Pancras and St. Antonin and at that time occupied by Wilson, and a tenement (14) where John Marmyn, citizen and mercer, then lived in the parish of St. Pancras on the W. side of the capital messuage. At about this time a quit-rent of £1. 6s. 8d. was due from this property to Haliwell Priory and in 1539-40 and subsequently was received by the Crown from Richard Wilson. The rent was later paid by Christ's Hospital. Wilson probably lived in 15 c. 1522-4 and in 1544, when he was taxed as a resident of St. Pancras parish and Cordwainer ward. (fn. 8)

In 1562 14 was described as a messuage formerly inhabited by Edward Bowlande, gentleman, and now inhabited by Thomas Middleton, citizen and skinner. Bowlande had probably lived there in 1541, when he was taxed as a resident of this part of the parish, but neither he nor Middleton were taxed as residents of the parish in 1544. By 1562 Richard Wilson had been succeeded as a resident of 15 by William Cocks (or Cox), citizen and haberdasher. The freehold interest remained with Katharine, daughter of Bartholomew Wyndout, who after 1535 married John Delawode. The property then passed to their son Francis Dellawode of Great Hormead (Herts.), gentleman. In 1560 Francis Dellawode granted to Ambrose Smyth, citizen and mercer, a messuage with shops, cellars, and solars in the parish of St. Antonin which can probably be identified as 15B. George Whelpley, citizen and haberdasher, had formerly held the messuage, which was now occupied by Smyth himself. In 1565, when this property also included warehouses and was said to be near Budge Row, Smyth sold it to William Cocks for £100, then granted it to Cocks, and finally quitclaimed with his wife Joan. By this date Cocks was already in possession of 14 and 15A. In January 1563 Francis Dellawode sold those 2 properties for £200 to Michael Crowch, citizen and skinner, to whom he granted them on the same day. The purchase money was to be paid later that year. Crowch seems not to have paid the first instalment, which was due on 25 March, but on 20 May sold the properties back to Dellawode in consideration for a sum of money paid to Crowch by William Cocks, who at the same time undertook to pay £200 to Dellawode later that year. On the same day Crowch, his wife Margaret, and Dellawode granted 14 and 15A to Cocks. In 1564 Dellawode and his wife Helen quitclaimed to Cocks. (fn. 9)

By 1565 William Cocks, citizen and haberdasher, was thus in possession of the 3 houses which occupied the site of 14-15. He probably occupied the capital messuage (15A) himself; Thomas Middleton probably continued to occupy 14 until his death in 1570, for he wished to be buried in the church of St. Pancras; and Ambrose Smyth had ceased to occupy 15B by 1571. Cocks died in 1569, leaving as his heir his son Samuel Coxe, who in 1570 was aged 19. In February 1571, when the Queen granted the wardship of Samuel to Thomas Awder, citizen and haberdasher, the 3 messuages (14, 15A-B) were said to be worth £9 a year after outgoings. In March Samuel Coxe, now of Gray's Inn and described as a gentleman, leased the capital messuage (15A) to Thomas Awder for a term of 21 years at £5 rent and for a fine already paid. Awder was to be responsible for repairs, but not quit-rents, and in additon was to pay Coxe £315 in quarterly instalments of £3. 15s. Samuel Coxe received a general livery of his estates from the Master of Wards and Liveries in 1572, when the 3 messuages were valued at £13. 10s. a year clear. (fn. 10)

Between 1583 and 1586, and probably also in 1587, Nicholas Moseley, citizen and clothworker, occupied the capital messuage (15A), presumably as tenant of Samuel Coxe. Moseley paid the £1. 6s. 8d. rent to the Crown once due to Haliwell Priory. The messuage on the W. side of the capital messuage (14) came to be occupied by William Middleton, citizen and skinner and probably son of Thomas Middleton, and in 1587 was occupied by Alice Middleton (perhaps William's widow), who had a life-interest there. The messuage in St. Antonin parish (15B) was occupied by Roger Gamage, citizen and skinner in 1587, when Samuel Cox sold all 3 messuages to Roger Jeames of London, brewer, for life with remainder to his second son, Arnold James, and Arnold's heirs and assigns. In the record of this sale Alice, at that time wife of John Spencer, alderman, was said to have a right of dower in the property, and £20 a year rent was said to have been reserved under the lease of 15A to Thomas Awder. This conveyance was assured by means of a fine, under which Jeames paid Coxe £100. In 1589 Brian Crowther of Knighton (Radnor) and formerly of the Inner Temple, made a general quitclaim to Jeames which probably concerned 14-15. (fn. 11)

Arnold James of the parish of St. Mary Matfelon, beer brewer, was in possession of the property by 1593, when he leased the messuage representing 14 to Alexander Dauncer for a term of 61 years at £4 rent. In May 1597 James leased certain rooms out of the capital messuage (15A) to Dauncer for a term of 70 years at 10s. rent, and then in July he leased the remainder of 15A to Thomas Thorowgood, citizen and draper, for a term of 25 years at £10 rent and for a fine of £100. In addition, and by a separate agreement, Thorowgood was to pay James an annuity of £11. 6s. 8d. out of the messuage for the term of the lease. Moseley's successor as occupant of this house had been John Baker, citizen and salter, whose tenure had now ceased. A schedule of fixtures in 1597 lists the following rooms: the parlour, containing wainscot and a portal and door of wainscot; the chamber over the parlour, containing a portal and a door of wainscot; 2 counting houses next to that chamber, both ceiled with wainscot; a chamber over that chamber, with a portal and door of wainscot; a kitchen containing a cistern and pump, both of lead. (fn. 12)

Seventeenth century to 1666

In 1601, with the aid of £500 left to them by Peter Blundell, the governors of Christ's Hospital purchased 14-15 from Arnold James, now said to be of East Smithfield. The property was still subject to the leases of 1593 and 1597 (see above), and Alice Spencer's life interest was said to concern 15B in St. Antonin parish. In a succession of transactions during August and September 1601 James bargained and sold the property to the mayor, commonalty, and citizens as governors of the hospital in return for a payment of £600; assigned to them his annuity of £11. 6s. 8d. out of 15A; bound himself in Chancery to perform the covenants of the bargain on pain of £1000; and in a final concord, for which he was paid £200, with his wife Mary acknowledged the property to belong to the purchasers. (fn. 13) From this date onwards the history of each of the 3 messuages can be traced separately in the Christ's Hospital records. Early in the 17th century a detailed drawn survey of the ground floor of the whole property was undertaken (Fig. 6), probably as a result of an order by the governors of the hospital in April 1610 that a view be made of 15A and 15B, the rooms and garden of which it was proposed to rearrange. Fig. 7 is based on this survey and on the detailed descriptions of 15A and 15B given in leases of 1611 and 1629, respectively.

14

Alexander Dauntser paid £4. 10s. rent to Christ's Hospital for this house and yard, including the rooms recently taken out of 15A, between 1601 and 1607, when he was succeeded by William Hale. From 1615 until his death in 1621 John Hale, citizen and grocer, paid the rent and probably inhabited the house. His widow, Elizabeth Hale, then paid the rent until 1624, when she was succeeded by Gilbert Dethick, who paid it until 1640. Dethick seems not to have occupied 14, which in 1635 was probably occupied by Mr. Butterworth and in the 1638 tithe assessment was probably the house worth £30 a year inhabited by Mr. Moody. Mrs. Elizabeth Dethick, probably Gilbert's widow, paid the rent to Christ's Hospital between 1640 and 1662. (fn. 14)

In 1650-1, when one of the leases under which the house was held was within a few years of its term, Mrs. Dethick, through her son Alderman John Dethick, offered £50 for a new lease. The hospital governors demanded £150, which after prolonged negotiation they moderated to £100 fine for a lease of the house less 2 rooms and studies which may once have been part of 15A, and which the tenant of 15A now wanted to take into his house. Negotiations were resumed in October 1653 and in September of the following year, after much bargaining, it was agreed that Mrs. Dethick should have a 21-year lease for £4 rent and a fine of £100 of the house less the rooms required by the tenant of 15A. In a view the main part of the house, held under the lease of 1593, was said to contain a cellar, yard, a warehouse towards the street, a kitchen above stairs and several other rooms and chambers, all worth £16 a year. Under the lease of 1597 Mrs. Dethick held a warehouse on the S. side of the yard (this area seems to have been open to the yard in the plan of c. 1610) with rooms above it, worth £8 a year. Before 1597 this part of the house must have been part of 15A. Also held under the lease of 1597, but from now on to be let to the tenant of 15A at 10s. rent, was a chamber with 2 studies or closets at the S.E. end of the warehouse in 14 and at first floor level over the warehouse in 15A. These rooms were over the residential part of 15A and were valued at £5 a year. The total value of the house occupied by Mrs. Dethick up to 1654 was thus £29 a year. (fn. 15)

In 1662 Francis Dashwood, esquire, acquired Mrs. Dethick's interest in the house and proposed to rebuild part of it. The hospital's viewers estimated the house to be currently worth £30 a year (the equivalent structure was valued at £24 a year in 1654) and put the cost of the proposed new work at £233. 6s. The house contained 3 storeys and a garret above ground, and the whole of the western part next to the street, measuring 14 1/4 ft. (4.42 m.) N./S. and 12 1/2 (3.81 m.) E./W. was to be demolished and rebuilt. A new and larger staircase was to replace the old, 4 new windows were to be made at the front, the front part of the roof was to be retiled, new rails and balusters were to be made on the leads, and the jetty on the E. side and 2 bulks on the E. side of the yard were to be removed. Dashwood sought a new lease, but could not agree with the hospital on terms. In 1663 he claimed that he had spent £800 on rebuilding, but still could not agree terms for a new lease. A year later he claimed that he had spent £1000, but in 1665 the hospital's viewers reported that he had spent about £400 on repairs and that if he paid a fine of £160 the 11 years remaining on his lease could be made up to 41 years. After a 'large debate' Dashwood agreed to this, although a few months later he unsuccessfully attempted to have the term extended and the schedule of wainscot omitted from the lease. The 'very fair' new house was destroyed in the Great Fire, and in 1668 Dashwood was granted a new lease of the site from a term of 80 years at £4 rent in order to encourage him to rebuild, although in fact the property seems to have been rebuilt as part of 15A (q.v.). At the time of the Fire the house may have been occupied by Matthew Andrewes, esquire. (fn. 16)

15A

Thomas Thorowgood continued to pay £21. 6s. 8d. rent for this house until 1603, when he was succeeded by Edward Baber. In 1607 Baber, citizen and draper, sought a new lease in his own name. In 1610, following a view of the property, it was agreed that certain rooms and part of the garden belonging to 15B worth £6. 13s. 4d. a year should be added to Baber's house and that he should be granted a lease for 31 years at £21. 6s. 8d. in return for a fine of £110 and a future expenditure of £100 on new building or repairs. The new lease was granted in 1611 and included a condition that at least £110 was to be spent on building or repairs within the first 7 years of the term.

The rooms of the ground floor of the house leased in 1611 are shown in the drawn survey of the property (Fig. 6) and are further described in the text of the lease. A schedule attached to the lease lists and gives dimensions for most of the rooms on both the ground and upper floors. It is thus possible to reconstruct the plan of the house at all levels from the cellars to the garrets (see Fig. 7). The house was a complex one, and the reconstruction of the plan at first floor level, where the structure included rooms held as part of 14 and so omitted from the lease of 15A, is not absolutely certain. The reconstruction given, however, is the one which fits best with the relationships and dimensions given in the lease, the order of rooms listed in the lease, and the access patterns suggested by the positions of staircases on the ground floor. As a result of compiling this plan it is possible to suggest dimensions for the small rooms and passages whose measurements are not given in the lease and so to provide a reasonably accurate estimate of the total internal floor area of the house.

On its W. side the house was built against a substantial stone wall, which also formed the W. wall of 14 to the N. (for this wall see 145/11-13). The house was entered from Needlers Lane on the N. by a passage or entry between 14 on the W. and a house in St. Benet Sherehog parish on the E. The passage lead into a large room the roof of which was supported by rows of timber pillars separating a warehouse area from passages leading to other parts of the house. Other warehouses led off this room to E. and W., and at the S. end was a yard. A small yard led off the room to the W. The main service rooms occupied the remainder of the E. side of the property. The principal domestic accommodation occupied the remainder of the W. and S. sides and looked both into the garden to the S. and the yard to the N. and W. The nucleus of the domestic accommodation was the hall, which occupied a substantial structure over a range of cellars at the S.W. corner of the house. This structure may have been the oldest surviving part of the property and had perhaps been the principal element of the tenement which belonged to Henry de Bouden in the early 14th century. In the detailed account of the house which follows each room is identified by a number which refers to Fig. 7. The information given is that in the lease and schedule. Some of the same information is also given in the drawn survey, which is cited only when it provides additional or significantly different information. Fig. 8 summarizes in diagrammatic form the access patterns within the house and clarifies the distinction between the commercial, domestic, and service areas of the house.

The parts of the house on the ground floor were enumerated as follows: 1, an entry from Needlers Lane (7 ft. (2.74 m.) wide by the lane, 5 ft. (1.52 m.) wide at the S. end, and 36 ft. 9 in. (11.2 m.) long); 2, a 'fair room', its roof partly supported by timber pillars, and serving both as a passage to other parts of the house and as a warehouse (41 ft. 9 in. (12.73 m.) N./S. and 17 ft. (5.18 m.) E./W.); 3, a cellar beneath part of the passage (26 ft. by 10 ft; 7.92 m. by 3.05 m.); 4, a warehouse opening off 2 (14 ft. (4.27 m.) by 30 ft. 6 in. (9.3 m.) N./S.); 5, a pair of stairs leading out of 2 to the chambers over the kitchen (i.e. to 21); 6, a little study by the stairs; 7, the kitchen, containing a lead pump and cistern (21 ft. (6.4 m.) long, 15 ft. 6 in. (4.72 m.) wide at the N. end, and 18 1/2 ft. (5.64 m.) wide at the S. end); 8, another room (19 ft. (5.79 m.) N./S. and 16 ft. (4.87 m.) wide at the N. end), which the drawn survey shows as divided into 3 parts, of which the S.W. part was a buttery and the S.E. part contained a solid structure which was probably the latrine pit; 9, a parlour with a chimney, which had formerly been part of 15B (23 ft. 3 in. by 15 ft. 6 in.; 7.09 m. by 4.72 m.), which the plan shows with a 4-light mullioned window opening on to the garden; 10, the garden, formerly part of 15B and now enclosed with a brick wall (25 ft. (7.62 m.) on the E., 31 ft. (9.45 m.) on the S., 22 ft. (6.71 m.) on the W., and 32 ft. (9.75 m.) on the N.); 11, a pair of stairs leading to the chambers above; 12, a passage into the garden; 13, a yard on the N. side of 9, 11, and 12 (16 ft. 3 in. (4.95 m.) on the E., 16 ft. (4.87 m.) on the W., 28 ft. 6 in. (8.69 m.) on the N. and 27 ft. 6 in. (8.38 m.) on the S.); 14, a pair of stairs leading out of the yard into 2 cellars; 15, a cellar under the hall (22 ft. 2 in. by 14 ft. 4 in.; 6.76 m. by 4.37 m.); 16, a cellar at the S. end of 15 (14 ft. 4 in. by 8 ft.; 4.37 m. by 2.44 m.); 17, the hall wainscoted with a chimney and a wainscot door and portal (36 ft. by 15 ft. 6 in.; 10.97 m. by 4.72 m.) and shown on the plan to have a 4-light mullioned window on to the garden and another similar window on to the yard; 18, a buttery at the end of the hall (12 ft. (3.66 m.) N./S. by 10 ft. (3.05 m.) E./W.); 19, a yard on the E. side of the buttery (15 ft. 4 in. (1.63 m.) E./W. by 12 ft. 6 in., (3.81) N./S.; 20, a warehouse between the buttery and yard on the S. and 14 on the N. (26 ft. (7.92 m.) E./W. by 12 ft. 6 in. (3.81 m.) N./S.).

The rooms upstairs were enumerated in the schedule as follows: 21, a chamber over the kitchen with a chimney and, at the S. end, a house of office (42 ft. by 13 ft. 6 in. (12.8 m. by 4.1 m.); this chamber was probably divided into several small rooms, cf. 11, above); 22, a void room with a passage out of 21 at the N.W. corner leading to 23; 23, a chamber next to the yard with a chimney (18 ft. 6 in. (5.64 m.) N./S. by 17 1/2 ft. (5.33 m.) E./W.), from which there was a door into 24, a little study; out of the study was another door into a chamber, 25, over the warehouse (24 ft. 9 in. by 11 ft. 6 in.; 7.54 m. by 3.5 m.); 26, a little square room next to the little yard (9 ft. 6 in. by 8 ft. 8 in.; 2.9 m. by 2.64 m.); 27, a chamber over the hall with a chimney and a wainscot door and portal (27 ft. by 17 ft.; 8.23 m. by 5.18 m.); 28, a chamber over the buttery, at the N. end of 27, and next to the little yard, entirely ceiled with wainscot (13 ft. 6 in. by 7 ft. 3 in.; 4.11 m. by 2.21 m.); 29, a chamber next to the new yard (presumably meaning the garden) and entirely ceiled with wainscot with passages up and down to the other rooms (16 ft. by 11 1/2 ft.; 4.88 m. by 3.51 m.); 30, a chamber with a chimney next to the same yard (23 ft. 9 in. by 17 ft.; 7.24 m. by 5.18 m.).

At this point in the schedule the ennumerator appears to have moved upstairs to the second floor, where there were probably rooms in the S. and W. ranges of the house. Most of them were described as garrets and they were presumably fitted into the roof space. The first of them (31) was described as a chamber and overlooked the garden, and may recently have been created by heightening and enlarging a garret. The rooms on this second-floor level were: 31, a chamber next to the new yard with a door and portal of wainscot (17 ft. by 14 ft.; 5.18 m. by 4.27 m.); 32, a garret on the same floor (16 ft. 6 in. by 8 ft. 6 in.; 5.03 m. by 2.59 m.); 33, a garret next to 32 (15 ft. 4 in. by 15 ft. 9 in.; 4.67 m. by 4.8 m.); 34, a garret next to and the same size as 33; 35, a garret next to the new yard (14 ft. by 18 ft. 6 in.; 4.27 m. by 5.64 m.); 36, a garret (18 ft. 6 in. by 13 ft. 9 in.; 5.64 m. by 4.19 m.); 37, a lead on the E. side of 36 (18 ft. 6 in. by 3 ft.; 5.64 m. by 914 mm.). (fn. 17)

Edward Baber continued to pay the rent for this house until 1612 or later. From 1615 to 1625 Robert Crewe paid it and then Elizabeth Crews, who may have been Robert's widow, paid it until 1634. In 1635 the house was valued for Christ's Hospital as worth £50 a year for a 21-year lease, and shortly afterwards it was leased to Thomas Tempest, esquire, of Lincoln's Inn for a term of 31 years at £21. 6s. 8d. rent and a fine of £200 payable in annual instalments of £40 beginning at the sealing of the lease. A number of changes and improvements had been made to the house since 1611: the buttery of the N. end of the hall (18 on Fig. 7) had been converted to a washhouse; in the kitchen (7) a supply of water from the New River had replaced the pump; the little chamber over the former buttery (28) was now wainscoted on the stone wall (i.e. the W. wall) and included a chimney; one of the garrets (34) now included a house of office. (fn. 18)

In 1638 the house was occupied by Tempest's undertenant, William Cutler, and was valued in the tithe valuation at £40 a year. That same year it was decided that the E. wall of the kitchen (7) should be rebuilt as a party wall and the expense shared by Cutler and Mrs. Good, who held the adjoining building (in St. Benet Sherehog parish) to the E. This was necessary because the back of the chimney in the kitchen overhung the space occupied by the other building, the foundation of which was set 14 ft. (4.27 m.) deeper in the ground. (fn. 19)

In 1646 Sir Thomas Tempest, knight, released his trust in the property to Juliana Crews, spinster, to whom he assigned the lease in 1648. Juliana Crews paid the rent from then until 1650, when she assigned the lease to Peter Ducane, who may have inhabited the house at that time and certainly lived there later. Ducane wished to take into his house the rooms over his warehouse which were let to the tenant of 14, and it was agreed that he should have a lease of the chamber and 2 studies there for a term of 11 years from 1655 at 10s. rent and for a fine of £30. Ducane's lease of the whole house was due to expire in 1666, and in 1662 he began to negotiate for a new term. The hospital's viewers valued the property at £81. 6s. 8d. a year and enumerated the rooms in the house. Some of the rooms appear to have changed their form or function since 1635, and the following were described: 2 cellars (15, 16); 3 large warehouses (part of 2, 4, 20) with a counting house (6?); a washhouse (18); 2 yards paved with free stone (13, 19); a kitchen paved with freestone (7); a room or entry with 2 butteries (8); a parlour with a buttery in it (9); a 'large and fair' dining room (17); a little garden (10); 3 large rooms over the parlour (27, 29, 30); over the kitchen a gallery with a pair of leads, 2 closets, and a counting house (probably all 21, but perhaps including 22; the leads may have been 37 on the floor above); over the warehouse, 2 chambers each with a closet (probably 23-5); on the second floor were a chamber and closet over the great chamber (31) and next to it a room with 5 garrets (32-6). (fn. 20)

Ducane desired to have a lease of 31 years, but was offered a term of 21 years, for which in 1662 he made successive offers of £250, £280, and £300 as a fine. After much debate the hospital governors resolved to proceed no further for the time being, but in 1663 accepted Ducane's offer of £320 for a lease of 21 years from the expiry of the present lease, and Ducane held the capital messuage, as the house was now called, on these terms at the time of the Great Fire. (fn. 21)

15B

This messuage, in St. Antonin parish, lay due S. of 15A and had its door on the S. side towards the churchyard of St. Antonin and Budge Row. By the purchase of 1601, Christ's Hospital acquired the reversion of the property after the death of Lady Alice, then wife of Sir John Spencer, knight and alderman. At this time the messuage was occupied by Arthur Jackson, citizen and clothworker. Lady Spencer presumably died between 1612 and 1615, when Arthur Jackson is first recorded as paying rent to Christ's Hospital for the house. In 1611 a part of Jackson's house and garden, valued at £6. 13s. 4d., was included in the lease of 15A and at that time the remainder of Jackson's house was valued at £13. 6s. 8d. a year, the sum which Jackson paid as rent from 1615 onwards. Jackson was in 1613 granted permission to alienate his tenement to Mrs. Pendlebury for a term of 7 years, but he seems not to have done this for he continued to pay the rent until 1619, when he was succeeded by Mrs. Mirable Jackson, probably his widow. John Jackson, perhaps Arthur's son, paid the rent from 1624 onwards. (fn. 22)

The term of the lease granted to Arthur Jackson was presumably drawing to a close in 1629, when Dr. Clement, physician, sued for a new lease. Shortly afterwards the hospital's viewers valued the house, which they found to be in good condition, at £20 a year in addition to the rent of £13. 6s. 8d. They also described each room in detail and their survey, together with the plan of c. 1610, is the basis of the reconstruction in Fig. 7, where the rooms are identified by letters. The rooms described were as follows: A, a cellar (58 ft. by 15 ft.; 17.68 m. by 4.57 m.); B, a shop, with a little counting house (C) in it (20 ft. by 13 1/2 ft. (6.1 m. by 4.11 m.) including the staircase); D, a workhouse or shed taken out of the yard (18 ft. by 18 ft.; 5.49 m. by 5.49 m.); E., a yard (32 ft. E./W. by 13 ft.; 9.75 m. by 3.96 m.); F, an entry at the end of the yard (26 ft. by 4 ft. 2 in.; 7.92 m. by 1.27 m.); G, another piece of the yard (18 ft. (5.49 m.) long by 12 ft. (3.66 m.) wide in one place and 7 ft. (2.13 m.) in another); H, a warehouse with the entry coming into it (58 ft. (17.68 m.) long by 15 ft. (4.57 m.) on the N. and 6 ft. 2 in. (1.88 m.) on the S.; according to the plan of c. 1610 this area contained 2 rooms at the N. end of the warehouse, of which one served as a counting house and the other contained 2 staircases apparently leading to the cellar and the upper storey respectively); J, a room behind the warehouse (16 ft. 6 in. by 10 ft. 3 in.; 5.03 m. by 3.12 m.) including a staircase and chimney (each 5 ft. 2 in. (1.57 m.) wide; neither chimney nor staircase appear in the plan of c. 1610 which seems to depict a privy in the S.E. corner of this room). The viewers then moved to the first storey where they listed: K, a hall (20 ft. 10 in. by 15 ft. 3 in.; 6.35 m. by 4.65 m.); L, a little room at the N. end of the hall (18 ft. by 11 ft. 6 in.; 5.49 m. by 3.51 m.) besides the staircase and chimney); M, a little closet at the S. end of the hall (10 ft. 6 in. by 5 ft. 9 in.; 3.2 m. by 1.75 m.); N, a larder also at the S. end of the hall (9 1/2 ft. by 7 ft.; 2.9 m. by 2.13 m.); O, an entry between the closet and larder (10 ft. 5 in. by 3 ft.; 3.18 m. by 914 mm.); P, a kitchen (23 ft. 3 in. by 7 ft. 6 in.; 7.09 m. by 2.29 m.); and Q, a parlour with a chimney in it on the S. side of the closet (22 ft. 4 in. by 13 1/2 ft.; 6.81 m. by 4.11 m.). On the second storey were: R, a chamber with a chimney in it over the parlour (20 ft. by 10 ft.; 6.1 m. by 3.05 m.); and S, a chamber with a chimney in it over the kitchen (22 ft. 6 in. by 8 ft. 4 in.; 6.86 m. by 2.54 m.). Over these rooms were: T, a garret half a storey high (8 ft. 4 in. by 10 ft. 4 in.; 2.54 m. by 3.15 m.); U, another garret at the end of T (9 ft. by 15 ft.; 2.74 m. by 4.57 m.); V and W, 2 other garrets (13 ft. (3.96 m.) wide by 22 ft. 6 in. (8.86 m.) together in length). (fn. 23)

Following this view John Jackson was granted a lease of the house for a term of 30 years from 1629 at the former rent and for a fine of £120, payable in annual instalments of £40, of which the first was made in 1630. Jackson alienated his lease in 1630-1 to Walter Oakes, who paid the two remaining instalments of the fine and the annual rent until 1658. In the tithe assessment of 1638 Oakes's house in St. Antonin parish was valued at £20 a year. In 1655 the hospital's viewers valued the house occupied by Oakes at £43. 6s. 8d. a year, and in 1656 Oakes took a lease for a term of 24 years and a fine of £200 for the old rent of £13. 6s. 8d. Soon afterwards, probably in 1658, Oakes assigned this lease to Richard Wilford, who occupied the house at the time of the Great Fire. (fn. 24)

After the Great Fire

The 3 houses (14, 15A, 15B) were destroyed in the Fire. Richard Wilford (15B) was the first of the tenants to rebuild, at a cost which was estimated beforehand as £600 to £700. In 1667 he sought an additional 60 years for his lease, was offered 40 years, and seems eventually to have settled for a term of 60 years from 1666. A foundation surveyed for him early in 1668 occupied almost exactly the same site as the house before the Fire. (fn. 25)

In 1668 Francis Dashwood, the tenant of 14, was granted a term of 80 years from that year at £4 rent for the site of his house. At about the same time Peter Ducane was granted the site of 15A for the same term. Ducane, however, undertook the rebuilding of both sites, which was complete by May 1671, when he was granted a lease of the capital messuage or mansion house which now occupied the site of the 2 former houses for a term of 80 years from 1668 at £25. 16s. 8d. rent. During the course of rebuilding a number of irregularities in the E. and W. boundaries of the property were eliminated. In September 1668 the substantial wall on the W. side of the house was demolished at the joint expense of Ducane and Sir Thomas Soame, the owner of 11-13. At about this time a foundation occupying the site of 15A was surveyed for Ducane and the survey shows that the irregular party wall on the E. side of the house was replaced by a straight one. A plan of Ducane's new house accompanied the lease of 1671 (Fig. 9) and shows that the pre-Fire layout and the footings of the demolished walls were quite closely followed in the rebuilding, although the central courtyard was now more extensive than before. This plan is redrawn to scale in Fig. 10, where the lines of the pre-Fire walls are also shown. (fn. 26)