St. Martin Pomary 95/1-2

Introduction

In the 12th and early 13th centuries this was part of the same property as 105/13-15 (q.v.). Subsequently it lay between 105/13-15 on the S. and 95/3 on the N.

In 1858 1 was approximately represented by nos. 2 and 3 King Street and 2 by no. 4 King Street and nos. 28-9 Ironmonger Lane.

Thirteenth century

Holy Trinity Priory acquired the property in 1232-3 (see 105/13-15). By 1246 the priory had granted the land and house representing 95/1-2 to Benet Petevyn, a Jew, in return for a gersuma of £26. 6s. 8d. and a rent of 6s. 8d. The property was described in 1246 as the land, and in 1263-4 as the house, of Peytevin the Jew, who was presumably identical with the Pictavenus le Joevene who held a house here in 1252. Holy Trinity Priory subsequently received the rent from Seymoth, a Jewess, and then from Elias, a Jew, and at some time before 1293 received it from Chera, presumably a Jewess. At the time of the expulsion of the Jews in 1290 the houses belonged to Leo son of Cressius son of master Elias, on whose exile the property excheated to the Crown. In 1291 the king granted these houses, which were valued at £2. 13s. 4d., to Isabel widow of Adam of St. Albans, junior, and her heirs and assigns in return for a rent of 1d. In 1292 the rent collector of Holy Trinity Priory took naam in Isabel's tenement for arrears of the 6s. 8d. rent, which in 1299, as a result of a further plea of naam, she acknowledged was due from the property. (fn. 1)

Isabel married Ralph Balle, citizen and mercer, with whom in 1309 she granted to John de Redyng, citizen and tawyer (allutarius), a plot of land with houses on it which Isabel had acquired from the king. The plot lay in width between Ironmonger Lane on the E. and 105/11 on the W., and in length between 95/3 on the N. and the tenement which Isabel had had from the king and of which she retained possession to the S. The land measured 10 7/8 ells (62 ft. 7 1/2 in.; 19.09 m.) in length and may subsequently be identified as 95/2. It was charged with rents of 1d. to the king, payable to the sheriffs of London, 6s. 8d. to Holy Trinity Priory, and £3. 6s. 8d. to Isabel and her heirs. The property to the S. retained by Isabel may be identified with 95/1. (fn. 2)

Fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and quit rents (95/1-2)

1

This property was inherited by Richard of St. Albans, clerk, son of Adam of St. Albans, who in 1315 granted it to John de Ditton, citizen and cornmonger. It was described as a tenement with cellars, solars, and a vacant plot lying between 95/2 on the N., 105/13 and 105/14-15 on the S., Ironmonger Lane on the E., and 105/11 on the W. By his will, enrolled in 1316, John de Ditton left the tenement to be sold by his executors, who sold it to John de Preston, citizen and corder (cordarius). By his will, dated and enrolled in 1339, John de Preston left the tenement and cellar to his servant (ancilla) Joan de Wandlesworth for life, with remainder to his son John and his legitimate heirs. In 1341, after his death, the elder John de Preston was described, perhaps wrongly, as a girdler (zonarius). The younger John de Preston died in 1353 and the property descended by inheritance to his daughter Petronilla, who married first Ralph Blakeney and then John Norhampton, citizen and draper. Norhampton survived Petronilla and continued to hold her lands by the law of England. After his death they were to revert to Petronilla's daughter by Blakeney, Idonia, who married Norhampton's brother, Robert Cumberton. In 1396 Idonia and Cumberton granted the reversion of the property to John Wynchecombe and John Cerne, chaplains, who later that year granted the reversion to Cumberton and Idonia and Idonia's issue, with remainder if she had no issue to John Costantyn, esquire, John White, Martin Kelom, mercer, John Clee, draper, and William Cressy. In 1394 the tenement was said to belong to John Norhampton and John Bron, who was probably Norhampton's tenant. Norhampton died in 1397-8 and Idonia died without issue, so that Robert Cumberton came to hold the property for life. In 1409 Kelom came to hold the property for life. In 1409 Kelom granted his interest in it to Cumberton, William Bysouthe, chaplain, John Brikelys, draper, and Robert Treys, mercer, to whom John Costantyn, esquire, quitclaimed in 1410. (fn. 3)

Cumberton was dead by 1426, and Thomas Machchyng was dwelling in the tenement in 1419. Machchyng may have continued to dwell here until his death in 1429-30, when he still lived in the parish and left money for making a new pew in the church. Brikelys released his right in the tenement to Bysouth and Treys, who in 1426 granted it to Richard Cumberton son of John Cumberton in tail, with successive remainders to Robert Kelom, son of Martin Kelom, in tail, to his sister Joan Kelom in tail, and to the right heirs of Robert Kelom. The tenement was now said to lie between 105/13 on the W., 105/14-15 on the S., and 95/2 on the N.: a part of the W. end of this property or 105/11 had presumably been absorbed by 13. In 1444 the property was described as the tenement of the heirs of Cumberton called le Balle. This tenement came into the possession of Ralph Ripplyngham, citizen and grocer, and his wife Alice, who before 1486 granted it to Mark Walker, citizen and grocer. In 1486, when the tenement was bounded by 105/13-15 on the S. and W. and by 95/2 on the N., Walker granted it to William Bracebrigge, Richard Batte, and Lawrence Aylemere, drapers, and John Parker, scrivener. From then on the tenement known as the Ball appears to have been in the same ownership as 105/13-15 and is discussed under the account of that property. In 1527, however, it was described as a tenement of the heirs of Lady Wynger, and this presumably explains why in 1539 95/1 and 105/13-15 (q.v.) were the subject of a recovery in Husting against a descendant of John Wyngar. (fn. 4)

2

John de Redyng appears to have used the tenement representing 2, or a part of it, as a brewery, and at his death in 1328 left it to his wife Agnes for life so long as she remained unmarried, to remain with all the vessels and utensils pertaining to the brewery to Richard de Gaunt, citizen and tailor, who was to pay John's executors £60. Failing this the executors were to sell to whom they wished. With £40 of the money the executors were to buy a quit-rent of 5 or 6 marks (i.e. at 10 or 12 years purchase) to sustain a chaplain in the church of St. Martin Pomary. In 1335 the executors, who included Richard de Gaunt, sold the tenement with houses to John Fay, citizen and vintner, who in the same year granted the property to de Gaunt. In these grants 2 was said to be bounded by 3 on the N., 1 on the S., and 81/C (or 105/11) on the W. De Gaunt died in 1341 leaving the tenement to Nicholas Pyk, who was to pay £28 to the executors. Pyk renounced the legacy, and the executors, who included de Gaunt's widow Beatrice, sold the tenement to John de Horewode, citizen, to whom Beatrice and then Nicholas Pyk quitclaimed. De Horewood then granted Beatrice a quit- rent of 6s. 8d. for life out of the property. All these transactions took place between 26 July and 29 July 1341. In 1349 de Horewood sought the assize of nuisance concerning this tenement against the owner of 81/C. (fn. 5)

In 1356 John de Horewode, senior, granted the tenement to Adam Stable, citizen and mercer, and his wife Katharine, to whom in the same year Nicholas Horewood, citizen, quitclaimed. Stable was living there in 1366. In 1383 Stable and Katharine granted the property to John de Heylesdon, mercer, and John Chircheman, grocer, who immediately granted it back to Stable and his wife for the term of their lives. Stable was dead by 25 January 1384, and by 1386 his widow Katharine had married John Cyfrewast, knight. Heylesdon died in 1384 leaving his interest in the property to John Chircheman, who in 1394 granted the reversion of the properties held by Katharine Stable, widow of Adam and probably by now also widow of Cyfrewast, to James Billyngford, Robert Chircheman, stockfishmonger, and John Doube, grocer, all citizens, who immediately granted the reversion on Katharine's death to John de Seyton, knight, his wife Joan, who was John Heylesdon's widow (cf. 104/33B), and to Seyton's heirs and assigns. The properties in question also included 95/4 and 5 in Ironmonger Lane and a holding outside Aldgate. 2 was now described as a tenement with a shop, bounded on the W. by both 3 and 81/C. De Seyton and his wife granted the reversion to William de Assheton, clerk, Robert de Whytteby, clerk, and Thomas de Skelton, to whom in 1394 Katharine Stable quitclaimed. Any residual interest which Katharine could have claimed in the properties was extinguished by her death in 1403, when she was known as Katharine Syfrewast and was, or had recently been, a resident of the parish (for her residence at this time, see 5). De Assheton died and in 1407 Thomas de Skelton, knight, quitclaimed to de Whytteby who thus came into sole possession of the properties and in 1408 granted them to the king. In 1409 the king granted them to the dean and chapter of St. Paul's as the endowment for the obits of his father, the duke of Lancaster, and his mother Blanche. (fn. 6)

The £3. 6s. 8d. rent due from 2 to Isabel of St. Albans and her heirs descended to Richard of St. Albans, who in 1311 granted it to Peter de Grenewyco, citizen and mercer, and his wife Leticia. Immediately before this grant Richard had borrowed money from John de Dittone, which in 1313 was to be repayable out of the moiety of the rents belonging to Richard at the time the debt was contracted. This appears to have caused the rent from 2 to be divided into two halves, of which one was received for a short time by John de Dittone. (fn. 7) The histories of the 2 rents of £1. 13s. 4d. due from 2 can then be traced separately.

In 1337 Peter de Grenwico, citizen, granted £1. 13s. 4d. quit-rent out of 2 to William de Caustone, citizen, who at his death in 1354 left it towards the maintenance of his chantry in the church of St. Pancras. In spite of the terms of this will, the rents forming the endowment of his chantry descended by inheritance to Isabel, widow of Thomas Hochous of Causton (Norf.), who was the daughter of William Robyns, the son of William Caustone's sister Margaret. In 1406 Isabel granted the rents to Alan Everard, mercer, Nicholas Hamme, mercer, and Richard Style, junior, fishmonger, all citizens. The rent from 2 appears to have been paid to a chaplain in the church of St. Pancras c. 1410, but had apparently ceased to be paid by 1413-14. (fn. 8)

The other rent of £1. 13s. 4d. may have been that for which in 1313 Richard de Refham took naam in the tenement of Stephen de Upton and his wife Sibilia which lay in the parish of St. Martin, but it seems more likely that another parish of St. Martin is in question. The £1. 13s. 4d. rent from 2 certainly later belonged to William de Leyre, who by his will, dated 1322 and enrolled in 1323, left it to his daughters Isabel and Idanya. The rent was later in the possession of William's son, William de Leyre, citizen, who at his death in 1366 left it to his wife Anne for life, then to be sold by his executors. With her co-executors Anne granted the rent to John Osekyn and Adam Fraunceys, citizen and mercer. At his death in 1374-5 Adam Fraunceys left the rent towards the endowment of a chantry in Edmonton. In spite of this legacy, Fraunceys's son, Adam Fraunceys, was later in possession of the rent and by a deed enrolled in 1405 granted it and other properties to Thomas Charlton, Thomas Thornbourgh, John Hervy, William Asshe, John Shordych, senior, John Shordych, junior, John Selman, senior, and John Chirche, who were feoffees to fulfill Fraunceys's wish. Early in 1417 Selman quit-claimed to Chirch, the only other surviving feoffee. Fraunceys died later that year, and in 1422 Chirche granted the rent to Richard Osbarn, John Carpenter, junior, Henry Hert, and John Stafford, citizens. Osbarn, clerk of the city chamber, appears to have been the ultimate beneficiary of this grant, and at his death in 1438 left the rent to his son William, William's wife Elizabeth, and their issue. Before this date the dean and chapter of St. Paul's had paid the rent to Richard Osbarn; by 1548-9, however, they were paying it to the Dyers' Company, which still received it in the 1630s. (fn. 9)

The dean and chapter of St. Paul's paid at least one other quit-rent for 2. This was the 6s. 8d. due to Holy Trinity Priory, which after the dissolution of the priory was paid to the Crown. In 1572 the Crown gave up this and other rents due from St. Paul's properties in exchange for certain payments due to the lay vicars and others serving in the cathedral. (fn. 10)

Fifteenth to seventeenth century (95/2)

95/1 came into the same ownership as 105/13-15 and its history between the early 16th century and the Great Fire is dealt with in the account of that property. Throughout this period 95/2 was in the possession of St. Paul's Cathedral.

In a rental which probably dates from c. 1409 but may be earlier than 1403 95/2 is described as a tenement in which John Burre, citizen and mercer, used to dwell with a shop annexed. The whole was let for £8. 6s. 8d. rent. In 1409 the dean and chapter let this property, described as a stone tenement (tenementum lapideum) to Richard Skete, citizen and mercer, for a term of 20 years at £6. 13s. 4d. rent, the tenant being liable for repairs. The tenement lay between 1 on the S. and 3 on the N. It passed to John Skeet, whose assigns paid £3. 6s. 8d. rent for 2 terms in 1413-14. The property included a stable, for which Thomas Fauconer paid £1 rent in 1413-14 and 1414-15. The tenement, however, was vacant between 1414 and 1419. St. Paul's paid for considerable repair work on the house in 1414-15 and 1415-16, totalling £7. 17s. 1/2d. and £1. 14s. 5 1/2d., respectively. Over this period 2 carpenters worked for 16 1/2 days on the hall, on the chamber, on a chamber over the latrine, and on the support for a lead-lined gutter; a mason and assistant worked for 7 days repairing the underpinning, and made a gutter running out of the kitchen; two tilers with two assistants worked for 18 days on the roof, using tiles and laths; a dauber and assistant worked for 19 1/2 days; a total of 18 cart-loads of rubbish was removed from the house. (fn. 11)

In 1419 St. Paul's leased the tenement with its houses, solar(s), and cellar(s), where Richard Skeet had lived, to Thomas Welton, citizen and mercer, for a term of 20 years at £5. 6s. 8d. rent, the landlord now being responsible for repairs. The property was said to be bounded by Sevehodelane on the N. (fn. 12) A further £17. 6s. 6d. were spent on rebuilding at Welton's house in 1418-19. A timber dais in the hall (le deys aul') and an old stable were pulled down, and a foundation was dug. A carpenter made a new dais; 2 masons and their assistants worked on the foundation for 9 days, using chalk and rag stone (petra de rog'); 2 carpenters made gutters for 14 days; 2 carpenters worked on a latrine and made 2 pipes for the latrine in 2 chambers; 2 tilers and 2 assistants worked for 20 days using tiles and laths; a dauber and his assistant worked on the dais in the hall, the kitchen, the larder, and a garret for 18 days. In addition, work was undertaken by 2 carpenters on the pentice of the hall, the pentices of diverse chambers, on a shed with a masonry groundsill, and on a step next to the common latrine. Altogether 19 cart-loads of muck (fimum) and rubbish were taken away. Welton paid the rent in 1419-20 and his executors in 1420-1 and for half of 1421-2. The house was then vacant until the beginning of 1423, when William Cantelowe became tenant at farm paying £6. 6s. 8d. rent. £8. 11s. 10 1/2d. were spent on repairs during the first year of Cantelowe's tenancy (1422-3), of which £5. 6s. 8d. were spent by Cantelowe himself on making a house anew in the close there. St. Paul's paid directly for carpentry repairs to the pentices (using weatherboards), to the little pentice over the wine cellar, to the porch (which was also releaded) to the latrine, to a window, and to the windows in the porch; stones were removed from a broken chimney in the parlour, which was then repaired by a dauber; ironwork, including 8 keys, was purchased for the doors, and at least 7 cart-loads of muck and rubbish were carried away. Cantelowe continued to hold the house until 1433 or later, but had ceased to do so by 1445-6. During his time a number of minor repairs were recorded: in 1425-6 daubers used loam for repairing a solar, broken walls, and a reredos in the kitchen; in 1431-2 ironwork was purchased for a chamber; and in 1432-3 14 hinges with 8 hooks were set by a mason in a stone wall which apparently formed part of the stable.

The house described in the repair accounts was a substantial one, containing a wine cellar, hall, porch, pentices, kitchen, larder, parlour, at least 2 chambers, a garret, a stable or shed, a latrine serving rooms on an upper storey, and at least one chimney. Although it had recently been described as a stone house, the repairs and rebuilding all seem mainly to have concerned timber-framed parts of the structure. The landlord's expenditure was clearly designed in order to make the house attractive to tenants. Neglect of the property during Skete's period of tenure may have caused the landlord to change his policy and assume responsibility for repairs under the lease granted to Welton. Further expenditure on repairs appears to have been necessary in order to persuade Cantelowe to take up this lease following Welton's death. On the whole, during the decade up to 1423, the house appears to have been a difficult one to let.

John Goodson paid the £5. 6s. 8d. rent in 1445-6 and 1446-8. He was succeeded by Robert Skrayngham, who was recorded as paying the rent from 1448 to 1469. Between 1448 and 1452 he was said to dwell there. A tiler worked there and elsewhere in 1453-4. By 1459-60 Robert may have been succeeded by John Skryngham, to whom St. Paul's paid 13s. 4d. towards the cost of repairs undertaken in his cellar at his own cost. From 1469 to 1488 or later Nicholas Hagour or Angour, mercer, paid £5. 6s. 8d. rent for the great tenement which had belonged to Robert Strayngham.

In 1532 the tenement had recently been held by Richard Jervys. In 1533 St. Paul's let the 'stone house' to Nicholas Wythers, citizen and haberdasher, for a term of 40 years at £5. 6s. 8d. rent. Wythers died in 1543, when his will was witnessed by the parson of the parish. He probably lived in this house, although he seems also briefly to have held 95/13 (q.v.). The lease then came into the hands of Wythers's friend and executor, Ambrose Barker, citizen and grocer, who in 1550 took a new lease at the same rent for a term of 60 years to begin at the expiry of the old lease in 1574. Under the lease the tenant was to be responsible for repairs, except to principals. Between 1557 and 1570 Richard Springham came into possession of the tenement under this lease. He paid the rent until 1581, when he was succeeded by Robert Walkeyden, who was still said to hold in 1593 when he was succeeded by William Persuse. Walkeyden, however, a citizen and skinner, died in or before 1586. Francis Jounes paid the rent in 1608-9. (fn. 13)

Thomas Bancroft of London, gentleman, was in possession of the lease in 1618, when he surrendered it and took a new one for a term of 40 years at the old rent plus 2 capons or 5s. yearly. The tenement called the stone house abutted N. on an alley or passage leading to St. Lawrence Lane and measured 61 ft. (18.59 m.) in length along Ironmonger Lane, 56 ft. 10 in. (17.32 m.) on the S. side including the kitchen; the kitchen itself occupied a projection at the S.W. corner of the property measuring 17 ft. 6 in. (5.33 m.) on the W. side and 20 ft. (6.1 m.) on the N. side; the W. side of the remainder of the property measured 42 ft. 6 in. (12.95 m), and the N. side 38 ft. 6 in. (11.73 m.). Similar dimensions were given for the property in the Parliamentary Survey in 1649, when Bancroft still held the lease. The house (see Fig. 1) was now said to contain a cellar, two shops, a warehouse, a workhouse, a parlour, and a little yard on the ground floor; a kitchen, hall, 2 little chambers, and 2 closets on the first floor; a wainscoted chamber and 2 little chambers on the second floor with a garret over them; there was also a kitchen at the rear with a little chamber over it. The property was said to be worth £42 in addition to the rent, that is £47. 11s. 8d. a year in all. By this date the property appears to have been occupied by more than one household and the valuation of 1638 lists 2 persons in the correct position for this property. From S. to N. they were Mr. Andrewes 'with a great warehouse', whose house was valued at £24, and Mr. Hall, whose house was valued at £13. Andrewes seems certainly to have had an interest in 2, and it seems likely that the remainder of the house was occupied by Hall. The house described in 1649, which had 2 kitchens, could easily have been occupied by 2 households. (fn. 14)

Later in 1649 the commissioners for the sale of church lands sold the property to Barnabas Meares of London, gentleman, who was acting for Matthew Andrewes of London, gentleman. The purchase price was £286. 16s. 8d., calculated as 10 years' purchase of the £5. 11s. 8d. rent and 5 1/2 years' purchase of the £42 rent. St. Paul's resumed the property at the Restoration and in 1661 leased it to Barnabas Meere, citizen and draper, for a term of 40 years from Christmas 1660 at £8 rent. The property was said lately to have been divided, in part newly erected, and made into 3 messuages which were now occupied by Thomas Moreton, mercer, Anne Burgess, widow, and Edward Beekele (also Beaker and Baker), factor. The occupants in 1666 on the eve of the Great Fire, were Edward Beaker, now described as a merchant, with a house of 6 hearths, Dean Burgis, lawyer, with a house of 7 hearths, and John du Bois, merchant, with a house of 8 hearths. (fn. 15)

Meere died in 1668 and in that year his executors were awarded an additional 40 years to their term to enable them to rebuild after the Great Fire. They appear immediately to have sold the lease to James Chadwick, who paid the £8 rent to St. Paul's in 1672-3, and for whom 2 foundations occupying the S. part of the property were surveyed in 1668. At the W. end of these foundations ground measuring in width 5 ft. 7 in. (1.7 m.) at the S. end and 4 ft. 10 in. (1.47 m.) at the N. end was taken for making King Street, and on the E. side a strip of ground measuring 2 ft. 6 in. (762 mm.) wide at the S. end and nothing at the N. end was taken for widening Ironmonger Lane. In 1667 a foundation representing the N. part of 2 was surveyed for Captain Edward Baker. (fn. 16)