All Hallows Honey Lane 11/5

Introduction

This tenement, at the N. end of Honey Lane, had no other access to Cheapside or any other street, and was distinct from its neighbours by the later 12th century.

In 1858 most of the site was occupied by the City of London School.

Twelfth to fifteenth century

Jordan nephew of Gervase de Cornhill (fl. 1165-13C) (fn. 1) granted Rose de Hunilane the land she held of him in Honey Lane, to hold of him and his heirs for ever, paying 13s. 4d. yearly, at Michaelmas and Easter. Rose gave £1. 4s. to Jordan as a gersum, a talent (talentum) to his wife Lady Sibilla, and 2d. to each of his children. Some years later Jordan's son, also called Jordan, granted and confirmed to Richard de Hunilane, son of Rose, the land which Rose had held of Jordan the father in Honey Lane; it lay close by and to the E. of the land which was of Herbert de Antiochia (11/4 and 111/1). Richard was to pay 13s. 4d. yearly, and gave 13s. 4d. to Jordan the son as a gersum, a golden brooch (brocula aurea) to his wife Sibilla, and 2d. each to his children Henry, Richard, William, Michael, Agnes, and Beatrice. (fn. 2)

Elias son of Richard de Honilan' granted his house in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane, between the land of Herbert de Antioch' (111/1 or 11/4) to W. and that of John Bocointe (8) to E., to his wife Cecilia, to hold in free dower for life, paying the 13s. 4d. to the chief lords of the fee. He renounced all claim during her life, and warranted it to her. By a charter dating from between 1216 and 1223, Elias granted a certain part of land of his capital messuage in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane to William Joymer. Cecilia's dower is not mentioned and she had presumably died, or renounced her claim, by that date. The land lay between the garden of William son of Sabelina (8) to the E., William Joymer's land in Milk Street to the W., the house of Sir Henry de Coudres in Milk Street to the N. and the vicus of Honey Lane to the S.; it measured in length on the E. side 16 3/4 ells of King Henry's iron ell (50 ft. 3 in.; 15.32 m.), on the W. 17 1/2 ells (52 ft. 6 in.; 16 m.), on the N. 8 1/4 ells (24 ft. 9 in.; 7.54 m.), and on the S. 7 ells (21 ft.; 6.40 m.). Elias acquitted William of all services except 1/2 lb. cumin or 1d. to him and his heirs at Michaelmas, and covenanted to receive the water from William's tenement and not to obscure his lights. William gave £14. 13s. 4d. to Elias as a gersum and 7 ells of green cloth for a robe to his wife Cecilia. It is not clear whether Elias retained any other land in the parish after this grant. In a 15th century case between the tenants of 8C and of a tenement in St. Lawrence Jewry parish to the N., this charter with its covenants about water and lights was cited as applying to 8C, but it seems clear that it was made in relation to 5. (fn. 3)

In 1223 Agnes daughter of Richard de Hunilan' son of Rose granted to William Joymer the land with houses, etc., which her father had held of Jordan son of Jordan de Cornhull in All Hallows Honey Lane, which lay close to the land which was Herbert de Antiochia's (11/4) in Honey Lane, to hold of her and her heirs, for 1/2 lb. cumin or ld., and also 2d. socage to the king at Easter and 13s. 4d. to the heirs of Jordan. William gave her £9 as a gersum, and she warranted her grant. The land granted by Agnes may have been identical with that given by Elias, or it could have been another part of a family inheritance. Felicia, another daughter of Richard de Honilan', made a similar grant of the same lands. (fn. 4)

At some time between 1223 and 1240 William Joymer sold and quitclaimed in the land and houses, buildings, etc. he had bought from Felicia and Agnes, daughters of Richard de Honilan', in the parish, to Thomas de Wrotham, in final sale and perpetual quitclaim; Thomas was to do the services to the chief lords as in the charters which William gave him. The ditch (fossa) of the privy (privata camera) of the tenement granted extended 4 ft. (1.22 m.) underground into William's lands to the N.; he and his heirs promised not to obstruct Thomas or his heirs over the fossa. Thomas gave William £55 sterling. The fact that William's lands lay also to the N. of the land he granted to de Wrotham suggests either that he was granting de Wrotham a smaller plot than Elias son of Richard had granted him, or that he had since then acquired further lands to the N., formerly held by Henry de Coudres. (fn. 5)

Felicia, daughter of Richard son of Rose de Hunilane, quitclaimed to Thomas de Wrotham and his heirs in the rent of 1/2 lb. cumin or 1d. which he used to pay her from the house late of her father in All Hallows Honey Lane, so that he held freely of her for 3 grains of pepper and no more. In 1239-40 Richard son of Robert de Lindeseya and of Agnes (probably the daughter of Richard de Honilan') confirmed William Joymer's grant to Thomas de Wrotham of the lands in All Hallows Honey Lane which Robert and Agnes had demised to William by deed; Thomas was to hold freely, according to William's charter to him, and render 1/2 lb. cumin or 1d. yearly to Richard son of Robert and his heirs. Thomas gave Richard £1. (fn. 6)

In 1268 Thomas de Wrotham granted the land with houses in Honey Lane in the parish of All Hallows to Elias de Hunylane, taverner, and his wife Emma. There is no evidence to show whether this Elias was connected with the earlier man of that name or with other descendants of Rose de Hunilane. The land granted lay between the land of Henry Frowyk (4, and 111/1 in Milk Street) to the N. and W. and the land of Stephen Aswy (8) to the E.; the only charges reserved were 2d. socage and 1d. to the grantor and his heirs. Thomas warranted the grant and Elias and Emma gave £16. 13s. 4d. as a gersum. (fn. 7)

By her will proved in 1307 Emma de Honilane left 5, in which she then lived, to her cousin William de Honilane, vintner, one of her executors. Little John de Honilane, taverner (parvus Johannes de Honilane or Johannes dictus parvus), her other executor, put William in seisin shortly afterwards. William, by his will proved in 1316, left the tenement with houses and buildings in Honey Lane which he had of Emma's legacy to his wife Eleanor for ever. Eleanor's heir was her daughter Maud, wife of Edmund de Wyk, citizen and tailor; in 1326 Edmund and Maud granted their tenements with houses, in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane to Hugh de Copham, tailor, who granted it back to them the next month. The tenement lay between 8 to the E., the tenement of John de Charleton to the W. and N., and Honey Lane to the S. Possibly this exchange was to improve Edmund and Maud's joint title. (fn. 8)

In 1331 or 1332 Edmund de Wyk and his wife Maud brought a writ of right against John de Charleton, tenant for life of the Frowyk family's tenements in Honey Lane (4) and Milk Street (111/1), over a plot of land 10 ft. long and 5 ft. wide (3.05 m. by 1.52 m.) in the parish of All Hallows Honey Lane. John made numerous defaults and Henry Frowyk, heir to the reversion, was admitted to defend his right. In 1332 the parties were agreed: Henry released to Edmund and Maud 4 ft. (1.22 m.) beyond the walls of their tenement to the N., extending underground under his own tenement, according to the walls of Edmund and Maud's privy (garderobe), and according to the charter of William Joymer to Thomas de Wrotham conceding the 4 ft. (1.22 m.) of underground. Edmund and Maud released to Henry the other claims made in their writ. (fn. 9)

In 1336 Edmund and Maud granted the tenement to William de Stanes, citizen and pepperer (piperarius); he immediately granted it to Thomas de Walden, citizen and apothecary, and his wife Alice. Thomas de Walden (d. 1361-2) left the tenement in which he lived in All Hallows Honey Lane to his daughter Margaret and her heirs, with remainder to his son Walter. Walter de Walden, citizen and apothecary, was in possession in 1369, when he made an agreement with Thomas Frowyk about an overhanging gette, which seems to have been on the W. wall of de Walden's tenement. The jetty was built over a cellar of de Walden's and overhung Frowyk's land in St. Mary Magdalen Milk Street (111/1); it measured 19 ft. 1 in. (5.82 m.) in length and between 4 ft. 2 in. and 4 ft. 11 in. (1.27 m. to 1.5 m.) in width, and the height of the overhang, from the plot over the stone wall of the cellar to the joists of the overhanging chamber, was 7 ft. 2 1/2 in. (2.2 m.). Frowyk granted the overhang to de Walden, who renounced any further claim in the soil or above the soil. (fn. 10)

Later in 1369 Walter Walden, citizen and spicer, probably the same as the above, leased his tenement in All Hallows Honey Lane to Robert Somersete, citizen and draper, and his wife Agnes for life at £4. 13s. 4d. rent, with complicated conditions for re-entry after 20 years if the lessees had held it so long without disturbance. Robert and Agnes had paid £23. 6s. 7d. (sic) for the first 5 years, which Walter was to restore to their heirs if they died within that period. Walter Walden brought a plea of intrusion concerning his free tenement in All Hallows Honey Lane against Walter Strete and his wife Mary in 1392; they may have been his tenants, but the plea was not prosecuted and there are no further details. (fn. 11)

In 1422 William Walden, son and heir of Walter Walden late citizen and grocer (probably identical with Walter (de) Walden, apothecary or spicer, mentioned above) granted all his tenements, rents, and services in All Hallows Honey Lane, St. Benet Fink, and St. Matthew Friday Street which he inherited after the death of his father to John Baysham, clerk, overseer of the lands of the earl of Warwick, Robert Shilley, clerk, the earl's receiver, and William Coke of Kingston Lisle, (Berks.). He subsequently added a quitclaim to the same. In 1429 Baysham, Shilley (now described as esquire), and Coke granted a tenement in All Hallows Honey Lane, parcel of the tenements which William Walden had granted them, to John Shirley of London, esquire, Nicholas Rody of Warwick, Robert Cristendom, draper, and William Hervy, hatter. The tenement lay between Frowyk's tenements to the W. and N., 8C to the E. and Honey Lane to the S. William Walden ratified the grant and quitclaimed in the tenement to the grantees in 1430, and Rody and Hervy then quitclaimed to Shirley and Cristendom. (fn. 12)

In April 1430 John Shirley and Robert Cristendom granted the same tenement to John Baysham, John Verneye, William Berkyswell, Robert Oppy, clerk, Richard Cursum, Alexander Anne, William Babthorp, John Throkmerton, Thomas Stokdale, Alexander Kyngeston, Alexander Sprot, Nicholas Bolthorp, William Creek, John Stonton, John Stafford, and Nicholas Rody. In May 1433 the other grantees released and quitclaimed in the tenement to William Creek and John Stonton. Creek and Stonton, citizens and drapers, granted the tenement in June 1433 to all their former co-feoffees (John Baysham and the rest) and to Robert Cheldesworth, Thomas Yonge, Richard Sellyng, John Sutton, Robert Bamburgh, Robert Cristendom, Richard Claidich, Thomas Gerard, Thomas Batayle, Elias Davye, Thomas Osbarn, William Flete, and John Wodehous. There may have been further enfeoffments of this kind that have not survived. Probably these feoffees were holding on behalf of the Drapers' Company, which had been recognized as a mistery, with trading privileges and ordinances, in the 14th century, but had no explicitly recognized right to acquire or hold property until its charter of 1438. (fn. 13)

The large group of feoffees created in June 1433 had probably quitclaimed to Oppy, Kyngeston, Sprot, Bolthorp, Rody, Stafford, and Stokdale by October of that year, when Richard Sawge, citizen and goldsmith, and his wife Joan acknowledged the latter group's seisin of the tenement and confirmed and quitclaimed in it to them. Joan was apparently the daughter of Walter Walden and sister of William Walden. (fn. 14) In 1436 John Gerard, gentleman, and his wife Margery, kinswoman of William Walden, acknowledged and quitclaimed in similar fashion. Margery was the daughter of Walter Hamme, citizen and goldsmith, and of his wife Joan, who was the daughter of Thomas Halfmark and his wife Maud, sister of William Walden and daughter of Walter Walden, late citizen and grocer. (fn. 15) Later in 1436 Oppy and his surviving co-feoffees granted a rent of £1. 6s. 8d. from the tenement to Richard Sawge and Joan for life, with power to distrain and a penalty of £1 if distraint were hindered. No acquittance of the rent was to be valid unless made in St. Paul's; the rent and penalty could only be charged on the tenement and in no way upon the grantors. (fn. 16)

In 1452 Richard Wervyn alias Porter, of Hide in the parish of Steeple in the Isle of Purbeck (Dorset), who was apparently the second husband of Margery, widow of John Gerard and kinswoman of William Walden, released and quitclaimed to John Norman in Norman's tenement, sometime of William Walden, in Honey Lane in the parish of All Hallows. The reference to Norman at this date suggests that he was the intended beneficiary, perhaps on behalf of the Drapers' Company, of some of the previous transfers. (fn. 17)

In 1462 Oppy, Kyngeston, Yonge, Sellyng, and Wodehous devised and confirmed to John Norman, John Nedam, justice of the Common Bench, Thomas Billyng, serjeant at law, Thomas Urswyk, Thomas Rigby, Thomas Scotte, William Hulyn, Robert Basset, and Thomas Porthalyn their tenement in All Hallows Honey Lane, which they and others by then dead had by grant of Creek and Stonton. The tenement was described as before as lying between Honey Lane to the S., 8C to the E., and the Frowyk tenement to the W. And N. Nedam, Billyng, Urswyk, Rigby, Scotte, Huylyn, Basset, and Porthalyn released and quitclaimed in the tenement to John Norman, citizen and draper, in 1463. Norman, who also owned 8C, his capital tenement, left both by will to the Drapers' Company in 1468. (fn. 18)

Fifteenth to seventeenth century

William Eton was the Drapers' tenant from 1481 to 1485 at £4 rent. In the 1490s and early 1500s William Ipswell, mercer, lived there with his apprentices Thomas Keale or Keyle and later Richard Jerves. Ippswell died in 1507, but had probably left the property before 1506. Keyle occupied the tenement and paid the rent, now £3. 6s. 8d., from 1506 or earlier to 1512. Mr. Appleyard was the tenant from 1512 to 1528. John Appleyard, mercer, was probably occupying either 5 or 8A1 (q.v.) c. 1522-4, when he was assessed for subsidy in this parish. During this period the company made small repairs, and from 1526-8 undertook a major rebuilding costing over £100. Before this could be done, the city's viewers inspected a jetty or overhang between the tenement and the land belonging to the church of St. Mary Magdalen Milk Street in that parish (111/1). The jetty, which measured 17 ft. (5.18 m.) in length N.-S. and 4 ft. to 4 ft. 7 in. (1.22 m. to 1.40 m.) in width was probably the one agreed between Thomas Frowyk and Walter de Walden in 1369. The viewers judged that both the jetty and the void ground under it belonged to the Drapers. (fn. 19)

The building works in 1526-8 included substantial timber work, pinning the great beams in the cellar and making timbers of great scantling; paving of buttery, larderhouse, and the entry between kitchen and hall; making stairs and windows, including a bay window in the hall and the chamber over it and clerestories for the countinghouse, parlour, and the chamber over the parlour. The house appears to have had a cellar or cellars, kitchen, larder, shops and warehouse, a hall up some stairs with a chamber next to it, a buttery and countinghouse nearby, and a closet by the buttery, a parlour, chambers over the hall, parlour, kitchen and larderhouse, the latter looking N., a chamber next to Mr. Reynolds (8C) on the E., and two garrets. It had windows facing N., E., and S., and W. into the churchyard of St. Mary Magdalen Milk Street. That church had recently been extended eastward, and the tenement had a door in a brick wall into the church, which was 'made up' (?blocked) in the rebuilding. (fn. 20)

The Drapers' rebuilding, and the works going on in Milk Street at the same period, led to a further adjustment of boundaries. In 1528 Sir Thomas Exmewe, knight and alderman, who had acquired the former Frowyk properties (11/4 and 111/1) and given part to St. Mary Magdalen Milk Street, sold a strip of land 39 ft. 9 in. (12.12 m.) long N.-S. and 4 ft. 11 in. to 5 ft. wide (1.5 m. to 1.52 m.) between his tenement to the W. and N. and the Drapers' tenement, now new built, to the E. and S., to the Drapers for £20. The strip was said to be parcel of a messuage late of Henry Frowik, esquire, and lay in St. Mary Magdalen parish. This was probably a further addition to the void ground and jetty which the city viewers had adjudged to the Drapers in 1525. Exmewe agreed to give the Drapers access to his ground to repair their mansion when necessary. The £20 was paid to the churchwardens of St. Mary Magdalen. (fn. 21)

The rebuilding enabled the Drapers to raise the rent to £7 from 1528, and Baldwin Roper was their first tenant of the new house 1528-30. The works were evidently not completely finished, as in 1528-9 the partible gutter between Roper's house and Thomas Kytson's (in Milk Street) was remade, at a cost to the company of £9. 19s. 9d., half the total. A covenant was made between Kytson and the Drapers in 1530, agreeing that the gutter, and the costs of its repair, should always be shared by the parties. The gutter, of lead, was 37 ft. (11.28 m.) long, 3 ft. 4 in. (1.02 m.) wide at one end and 22 in. (560 mm.) at the other; the rainwater from both messuages descended into it and was conveyed thence by a lead pipe 30 ft. (9.14 m.) long into Kytson's yard. (fn. 22) The gutter probably ran N.-S. along or above the new plot of land granted to the Drapers by Exmewe.

Robert a Lee held the property at £7 rent in 1530-2, followed by Robert Brook (1533-5), Robert Pratt (1535-7), Widow Pratt (1537-9), and William Pratt (1539-43). Anthony Bozone paid the rent from 1543 to 1546, but probably occupied 5, with his partner Francis Edwards, in 1541. He was succeeded as rent-payer by John Rowe (1546-7) Francis Edwards (1547-52), and Mr. (Alderman) Lodge (1552-7). The company made occasional repairs, usually tiling or guttering, to the tenement in this period, but paid for no repairs after 1556. Wylbram More held the tenement in 1557-60, Thomas More, possibly also the Mercers' tenant for 8A, in 1560-75, Richard Martyn, alderman in 1575-86, Anthony Martyn assign of Richard in 1586-1611, and Mrs. Marten widow in 1611-13. Charles Brome and Elizabeth Wyncksted paid the rent in 1613-14 and Brome alone 1614-18. William Jumper, assign to Brome, paid £7 rent and £15 annuity to Elizabeth Wickam, for an annuity granted her by the company for the duration of Brome's lease, from 1618 to 1627. In 1627-8 John Corar, assign to Jumper, paid the rent, and Jumper the annuity. Corar paid rent and annuity in 1628-9, and William Alexander, assign to Corar, paid the rent and the annuity, the latter to Elizabeth Wickam's executor Richard Morford, in 1629-30. Thereafter Alexander paid only the £7 rent. (fn. 23)

In 1632 William Alexander was granted a new lease of his house in Honey Lane for 21 years from 1634, for £200 fine, which he paid in 1633 and 1635. In July 1635, when £50 of the fine was still to be paid, he asked for it to be abated, because of his great costs in rebuilding, the house having been lately damaged by fire; the company refused, but offered him a 5-year extension to his lease to himself and his wife Elizabeth, or the survivor, if he paid the rest of the fine promptly. This he appears to have done. The occupants and tithe payers in 1638 were probably Mr. Herris, with a house worth £16 p.a., and Mr. Jane, with one worth £10 p.a. Two warehouses in Honey Lane, valued at £4 p.a. each, may have belonged either to 5 or to 8C. William Alexander paid the rent until 1657; in 1650-1 the property was described as one tenement divided. (fn. 24)

In 1658 Katharine Atkins, widow, was granted a 21-year lease, starting in 1660, of the 2 messuages in Honey Lane late demised to and occupied by William Alexander and his wife Elizabeth and now occupied by herself; she was to pay the old rent of £7 and a fine of £440 in hand. Later in 1658 the company granted her a 4-year extension to the lease, in consideration of repairs she had promised to undertake at her own cost. She agreed to remove the 'funnel' of brick in the part of the premises occupied by her, running from the top of the house to the bottom (probably a pipe from privy to cesspit) and to substitute a 'funnel' of lead, and to remove and replace any of the principal timbers under her kitchen which were decayed or weakened. (fn. 25) Katharine Atkins paid the rent up to the Fire, but the property was probably inhabited in 1662-3 by Edward Greene, whose house had 6 hearths, and Rice Weight, whose house had 5 hearths. By 1666 a third house, hitherto not recorded, appears to have formed part of 5: the occupants of the 3 parts were Sarah Gladwell, widow (6 hearths), Maurice Carpenter, tobacconist (6 hearths), and Thomas Yates, silkman (5 hearths). (fn. 26)

After the great fire

Like its neighbour 8C, this was one of the tenements completely taken in to the new market place. Katharine Atkins died before February 1669, when her daughter Jane, with her husband Humphrey Moore, citizen and blacksmith, sold the remainder of their term in a toft, late 3 messuages occupied by Humphrey Kelby, Thomas Yeates, and Morris Carpenter, to John Knott, citizen and innholder. Knott, the Drapers' tenant for 8C, sold the lease of 5 to the City for £200 in June 1669. The Drapers received £235 compensation for the site of the 3 messuages. (fn. 27)