All Hallows Honey Lane 11/11

Introduction

This property, bounded to the W. by 10, to the E. by 12, and to the N. by property in St. Lawrence Jewry parish had a Cheapside frontage of about 25 ft. (7.62 m.) and ran back 167 ft. (50.9 m.) or more from the street. In the mid 16th century, it was united in one ownership with 12, and their history thereafter is given below.

On the street frontage the property corresponded approximately to parts of nos. 102-3 Cheapside in 1858.

Twelfth to sixteenth century

The earliest known owner or tenant of the property was Adam de Gepeswic, noted as the eastern neighbour of 10 in deeds dating from between 1192 and 1212 and from the early 13th century. An agreement of 1367 between the then owners of 10 and 11 referred to an earlier one of the time of Henry III, witnessed by Richard Renger and others, by which the prior and convent of St. Mary Overy (owners of 10) and David Linchedraper, apparently owner or occupier of 11, agreed to make a common gutter (stillicidium) for their rainwater to run off to Cheapside. By 1246 11 belonged to the canons of St. Bartholomew's Priory, who had erected a pentice in the street there. (fn. 1) It is possible that some of the tenants referred to in the St. Bartholomew's Priory rental of 1306 under the heading of St. Mary le Bow may have occupied this property; headings in rentals can be imprecise or archaic, and there is a precedent for the view that a part of the Cheapside frontage of All Hallows Honey Lane parish was once in St. Mary le Bow (see 9-10). Of the larger rents otherwise unplaced, those of £2. 13s. 4d. from the seld of James piperarius to the sacrist, and of £2 from the tenement of James Pyper to the cellarer, could relate to this: James le Peverer (d. 1287x9) was the brother of Ralph son of Michael (see 12), and Beatrice, widow of a different James le Peverer, lived in All Hallows parish in 1293. (fn. 2)

In the mid 14th century part of the land was vacant; the occupants of 12 to the E. had built houses overhanging it and were using it for access to their houses. The prior brought 3 assizes of nuisance against them, in 1346, 1356, and 1365, but failed to obtain judgement as the defendants claimed that the land in question was a lane common to them, and neither party could produce evidence or specialty to settle the dispute. In the 3rd action the prior claimed that the defendants' rainwater ran on to his property for a length of 167 ft. (50.90 m.), probably the full length of both properties. These actions may have been brought because the prior was keen to rebuild his property: in 1351 he demised it to Christine, widow of John de Hurlee, citizen and apothecary, for 10 years at a rent of £6. 13s. 4d., on condition that whenever he found anyone ready to rebuild the premises for their own accommodation, Christine would vacate them. Subsequently John de Suthcote agreed with the prior to rebuild and pay a rent of £13. 6s. 8d. and notice was given to Christine and her husband John de Harpesfeld, spicer, to quit the premises by midsummer 1355. When the prior and John de Suthcote arrived on 25 June ready to demolish and rebuild, John and Christine prevented them. In the ensuing plea of intrusion, judgment was awarded to the prior, and this was upheld in a writ of error brought afterwards by John and Christine. The defendants named with John and Christine, probably sub-tenants, were Thomas Vyvion, Richard de Depham, John Pope, tailor, Robert de Somersete, tailor, and Thomas atte Bowe, cordwainer. (fn. 3)

Shortly afterwards, in 1366, the prior brought an assize of nuisance against John atte Harpe, his neighbour to the W. (see 10). A settlement was made out of court in 1367, reciting a 13th-century agreement between the owners or occupiers of 10 and 11 to make and share a gutter between the two tenements to carry off the water to Cheapside. The new agreement confirmed the earlier; in addition, the prior agreed that the water from 10C should be led over his own land during atte Harpe's and his wife's lives. He also granted them the light of a glazed or otherwise obscured window near to his newly-built house, but this easement was not to be sold if the prior decided to build up to the walls of 10. (fn. 4)

Few records of the priory's estate administration survive, but a memorandum, probably of the 15th century, notes several rents, including that for a tenement beside the Bull Head, the name by which 12 was then known. The tenement was let at £5. 6s. 8d., but had formerly been worth £6. 13s. 4d. The next tenement listed in the memorandum, called the Crane, formerly let at £7 p.a. but now at £4. 13s. 4d., might also have been part of 11; there was a tenement there of this value in 1538. (fn. 5) The Rigby family were tenants of part or all of the property in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Thomas Rigby, gentleman, by his will of 1486, left his term of years in divers lands and tenements in Trumpe Aley prope Westchepe to the use of his children, with remainder to his son George and his male heirs. Mrs. Rigby was the E. neighbour of 10A in 1510, and the owners of 10B rented a shed, part of 11, from William and John Rigby from 1506 or earlier to 1514. (fn. 6)

The Rigbys were no longer tenants by the 1520s (possibly their lease ended in 1514) and the property was subsequently let in several parcels, by lease or at will. Leases, surveys, and particulars show how it was divided in the early to mid-16th century. Trump Alley, a lane probably common only to the priory's tenants, ran down the centre of the plot, with houses to E. and W.; the open space which adjoined 12 in the 14th century had evidently since been built over. (fn. 7)

On the W. side of the alley, next to the Goat tavern (10) and probably on the Cheapside frontage, was a tenement (A) let for £4. 13s. 4d. in 1538; it may be identical with the tenement called the Crane owing that rent to the priory in the 15th century. In 1529, as a tenement and shop, it was let to William White, leatherseller, for 20 years; White was to repair. In November 1540, while the whole property was in the King's hands, it was granted to John Dale, master cook to the King's household, and his wife Elizabeth, for life rent- free. A little tenement in the upper part of Trump Alley (B), let to William White in 1529 for 20 years at £1. 6s. 8d., to do all repairs except principal timbers, was also granted to John and Elizabeth Dale in 1540. Some 55 ft. (16.76 m.) back from the street on the W. side of the alley was a shed (C) with a watercourse running through the alley; it had been let at will to the Drapers' Company, owners of 10, since 1506 or earlier, at £1. 6s. 8d. a year, received at first by William or John Rigby, presumably as tenants of the prior, and from 1514 by the prior. (fn. 8)

On the E. side of the alley, adjoining the Bull Head (12) and probably on the Cheapside frontage, was a tenement called the Bear (D), with shops, solars and cellars, and another tenement adjoining it to the N. (E); formerly occupied by Thomas Rothewod, citizen and girdler, and Richard Braythewayt respectively, they were leased to John Tether, citizen and haberdasher, and Agnes his wife for 30 years in 1527 at a rent of £5. 6s. 8d. The lessees were to repair at their own cost except for timber and workmanship and might transpose the tenements as long as this did not harm the priory . A rental of 1538 names Edward Reste, grocer, as tenant of the two tenements called the Bear, held on lease for 28 years from 1529 at £5. 6s. 8d., with repairs, except for principals, charged to the lessee. Later in 1538 a new lease was made of the Bear and the adjacent tenement to Matthew Dale, citizen and haberdasher, for 60 years at the old rent, with repairs to the lessee; William Hulme, citizen and leatherseller, was said to be the former tenant. (fn. 9)

Further up Trump Alley on the E. side were two tenements (F, G) and a yard adjacent to the Bull Head, leased in 1535 to Thomas Craye, citizen and leatherseller, for 30 years at £2. 6s. 8d.; the lessee was to repair, pave, and cleanse the privies. John Wryght, girdler, and Agnes Morys, widow, were the occupants of the 2 tenements. Also on the E. side of Trump Alley adjacent to the Bull Head tavern were 2 sheds (H), let to William Scarclyff for 20 years from 1535, with repairs, at 13s. 4d. rent. These sheds may have been close to the tenements on the W. of the lane leased to William White (B), since these too were granted to John and Elizabeth Dale for life rent-free in 1540. (fn. 10)

At the upper end of the alley there was a small tenement (J) leased in 1526 to Henry Mar, citizen and girdler, who already occupied it, for 30 years at 16s. rent: the priory was to supply principal timbers and workmanship but otherwise the tenant was to repair. Edward Mare, girdler, was named as tenant in 1538. Also in the upper part of the alley was a tenement (K) with 2 shops, a parlour with chamber over, kitchen, and yard, held in 1538 by William Hancock, vintner, on a 41-year lease from 1533 at £1. 6s. 8d. rent. This too was granted to John and Elizabeth Dale for life. Only 2 of the known tenants of 11 in the 1520s or 1530s were listed in the subsidy assessment of c. 1522-4. William Whyte, leatherseller, was assessed on goods valued at £400, the highest in the parish, and Thomas Rothewod, leatherseller, on goods valued at £100. It is not clear who occupied the parts of 11 at the time of the subsidy assessment in 1544. (fn. 11)

St. Bartholomew's Priory was dissolved in 1539 and 11 was sold in 1544 to George Baron or Barne, citizen and alderman, and George Baron, gentleman, for 15 years' purchase of £18. 2s. 8d., though part of the property included in that valuation had previously been granted rent-free for life to the Dales by the Crown. Sir George Barne, citizen and alderman, died in 1558, having devised 11 to his wife Alice for life, with remainder to his sons George and John; the premises were valued at £41. He had also, with Henry Becher, bought the adjoining tenement (12), a former chantry property, in 1548, but this was not mentioned in his inquisition post mortem, and might therefore have been held by feoffees at his death. (fn. 12)

In 1566 the Drapers' Company, through their feoffee John Huckinge, citizen and draper, negotiated with George and John Barne, sons of the late Sir George, to buy the shed in Trump Alley they had hitherto been renting at will. They paid £40 for the shed, which measured 29 ft. 5 in. N.-S. And 8 ft. 3 in. E.-W. (8.97 m. By 2.51 m.), with a watercourse and gutter in Trump Alley and access from there to Cheapside. (fn. 13)

11/11-12, later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

The following account covers both 11 and 12, in one ownership after 1548. At some subsequent date the freehold was divided, but it is not clear when. The property was occupied in several separate parts, as it had been before 1548, but the only part that can be traced throughout is the Bull Head Tavern, formerly part or most of 12. By the mid-17th century there were 4 tenements in Cheapside (11-12A-D); Trump Alley ran N. between 11-12A and 11-12B, and the entry to the Bull Head lay between 11- 12C and 11-12D. The Bull Head (11-12E) probably occupied most of the central and N.E. part of the property, but there were 3 more tenements in the upper part of Trump Alley (11-12F-H).

The Cheapside frontage (11-12A-D)

In 1638 these were probably occupied, in that order, by Mr. Bush (£30), Mr. Fenton (£30), Mr. Deane (£30), and Mr. Pease (£30). Only the history of the easternmost (11-12D) is known. In or around 1641 John Goldwell and his wife Mabel owned this messuage, known then or later as the Weavers' Arms, with a jetty over the entry to the Bull Head Tavern (11-12E). They leased their messuage to William Shelden and Joshua Geering for 30 1/2 years from 1641. Shelden and Geering subsequently assigned to Jeremy Malpasse, Malpasse to Bartholomew Collyer, Collyer to John Sweetman, Sweetman to John Sheepside, and Sheepside to Richard Taylor. Sweetman sublet the property to John Clements, who occupied the property, with 4 hearths, in 1662-3. Clements then put John Hill, silkman, in possession: he occupied it in 1666 and at the time of the Fire, though he had not been accepted as tenant by Mabel Goldwell, by then holding the freehold in her own right. In 1662-3 11-12A, the westernmost tenement, between 10 to the W. and Trump Alley to the E., had 5 hearths and was occupied by Thomas Carrique. In 1666 this house was occupied by William Trigg, silkman. 11-12B, to the E. of Trump Alley, had 6 hearths, and was occupied in 1662-3 and 1666 by Edward Longton or Langton, mercer. 11- 12C, between 11-12B to the W. and the entry to the Bull Head to the E., had 4 hearths and was occupied in 1662-3 and 1666 by Gervase Shipman, silkman. (fn. 14)

After the Great Fire, the owner and tenant of 11-12D (Mabel Goldwell and John Hill) went to the the Fire Court, which in 1668 decreed the settlement of all outstanding interests and the surrender of the plot to Mabel Goldwell to dispose of for rebuilding. She appears to have sold it to Nathaniel Tench. Later in 1668, two foundations were surveyed for him; the more westerly, adjoining the entry to 10B, had a frontage of 18 ft. 3 in. (5.56 m; this appears to have included the width of Trump Alley) and a depth of 41 ft. (12.5 m.), and corresponds to 11-12A; the more easterly foundation, bounded to the W. by Trump Alley and to the E. by 104/35A, had a frontage of 30 ft. 6 in. (9.3 m.) and a maximum depth of 47 ft. (14.33 m.), and seems to have been divided into 3, corresponding to 11- 12B-D. It also contained an entry, 4 ft. (1.22 m.) broad, in the middle part, to the (old) Bull Head (11-12E), and backed onto that tenement to the N. The combined frontages of these foundations (48 ft. 9 in.; 14.86 m.) are approximately equal to the width of the earlier 11 and 12 together. The slight discrepancy is probably the result of error in measuring. (fn. 15)

The bull head (11-12E)

This property seems to have remained a tavern until the Great Fire. It lay to the N. of 11-12B-D and was bounded to the W. by Trump Alley and to the E. by 104/35, with a gate into the yard of 104/35 and an entry to Cheapside between 11/11-12C and D. In 1600 Henry Field, vintner, left the house called the Bull Head in Cheapside, now in the occupation of Richard Baiely, vintner, which he held by lease of Sir George Barnes, to his children Harry, Edward, George, and Margaret. Richard Bayley, vintner, of All Hallows Honey Lane parish, died in 1619; his son Anthony probably succeeded him. In 1631 Francis Barnes of Woolwich, Kent, was the owner, and Anthony Bayle the tenant, of the Bull Head tavern, and were involved in a dispute with the owner of 104/35 over use of the latter's yard. The tithe-payer in 1638 was Mr. Bayly, for a house worth £60, listed between 11-12C and 11-12D. Thomas Benson, vintner, was at the Bull Head in Cheap in 1641, and issued tokens there in 1650. He also held the nearest adjoining part of 104/35 on lease. General Monck stayed at, or at least visited, the Bull Head tavern in the summer of 1659, drinking sack and doing business there. One of his visitors had his pocket picked in the 'great throng' at the tavern door. In 1662-3 Benson occupied this house, with 14 hearths; in 1666 the same property was occupied by George Pierce, vintner, and identified as the Bull Head. After the Great Fire, in August 1669, a foundation was surveyed for William Sharpe at the Bull Head or Trump Alley: this was probably part of 11-12E, though before the Fire Sharpe had been tenant of 11-12F. The foundation measured 27 ft. E.-W. by 31 ft. N.-S. (8.23 m. by 9.45 m.); it seems likely that the 14-hearth Bull Head tenement was larger, perhaps much larger, but no other survey exists. The land of Sir Richard Bettison lay to the N. and E. (fn. 16)

11-12F-J

These were tenements, described in 1638 and 1666 as being in Trump Alley, and therefore probably lying towards the N. end of 11-12. In 1638 there were 4 houses listed here, occupied by Mr. Vauz (11-12F, valued at £30 p.a.), Mr. Trippit (11-12G, at £6), Mr. Lancaster (11-12H, at £5), and an unnamed man (11-12J, at £6). Mr. Vauz's house is probably identical with the largest of the holdings recorded in 1662-3 and 1666, a house with 6 hearths occupied by William Sharpe, victualler. Mr. Lancaster probably was or was a predecessor of James Lankester, who occupied a house here with 3 hearths in 1662-3. The other 2 holdings listed in 1662-3 belonged to John Raymond (3 hearths) and Elizabeth Morley (1 hearth). By 1666 there had been some rearrangement and the Hearth Tax listed, apart from Sharpe, only a house with 4 hearths held by John Raymond, poulterer, and an empty house with 5 hearths. (fn. 17)

No surveys were made after the Great Fire for the N. part of 11-12, but abutments from properties to the E. and S. name Sir Richard Bettison or Betenson (twice) and Mr. Cross. (fn. 18) The extreme N. end of 11-12, measuring approximately 42 ft. E.-W. and 13 ft. N.-S. (12.8 m. by 3.96 m.) was cut off to make a new entry to Honey Lane market from St. Lawrence Lane; this entry was afterwards known as Trump Alley. The ground cut off was at first said to belong to John Machel or Machetts, and in 1673 was described as the property of Henry Cross, formerly of Matthew Machell. (fn. 19)