St. Pancras Soper Lane 145/23

Introduction

This property, originally described as 2 shops, lay on the E. side of Soper Lane, between 22 to the S., 24 to the N., and Popkirtle Lane or 18 to the E. Post-Fire measurements of what seems to be the same plot give a width of 12 ft. (3.66 m.) N.-S. and a depth of 13 ft. 9 in. (4.19 m.), probably after a strip some 4 ft. (1.22 m.) wide had been cut off to widen Soper Lane. (fn. 1) The pre-Fire depth of the plot was therefore about 17 ft. (5.18 m.). This seems to have included the width of the lost Popkirtle Lane, taken into the properties facing Soper Lane; the 2 shops comprising 23 in the medieval period were probably each approximately 6 ft. (1.83 m.) wide and 13-14 ft. (3.96 m. to 4.27 m.) deep.

In 1858 the site of the property lay within that of no. 87 Queen Street.

Thirteenth to sixteenth century

The earliest known interest in the shops is that of Andrew Longus. Henry le Botiner, citizen, who died in 1274-5, left a rent of £3. 6s. 8d. by way of dower to his wife Joan for life, charged on the 2 shops he had bought of Andrew Longus in Soper Lane (23) and the shops he bought of Robert le Wyrdrawere (20), with remainder to the sick of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Joan died in 1276-7 and seisin of the rent was delivered to the hospital in 1278-9, though Henry's will was not enrolled until 1284. The shops late of Andrew le Lung lay between 22 to the S., 24 to the N., and Poppekertellane to the E. In 1308 the master of the hospital quitclaimed to Robert de Thelnetham called le Callere, citizen and mercer, in 23, described as a shop, which Robert already held for life by the master's grant, in return for £3 (4 1/2 marks) rent p.a. Robert made a bond for £2 to the hospital in case it should be necessary to obtain royal licence for their grant to him. Robert le Caller still held the property in 1315 and 1322. (fn. 2)

John le Callere, mercer, son of Robert de Thelnetham, granted the S. moiety of 23, probably corresponding to the southernmost of the original 2 shops, to Richard Coterel, tawyer (allutar'), and the N. moiety of the same to John de Colewell, mercer, who subsequently granted it to Richard de Basingestoke, citizen and goldsmith. By his will of 1333 Richard Coterel left his moiety to his wife Edith for life, with remainder to his son John, and in 1340 Richard de Basingestoke granted his share to John Coterel son of Richard Coterel. Each half seems to have been charged with £1. 10s. quit-rent to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, half of the £3 or 4 1/2 marks charged on the whole. In 1348 John Coterel, citizen and mercer, granted to his brother Thomas Coterel and Sir Thomas Horn, chaplain, the whole of 23, described as his shop in Soper Lane, sometime of Robert le Callere, and 36 (q.v.). Thomas Coterel and Thomas Horn then granted 23 and 36 back to John Coterel and his wife Alice. By his will dated and proved in 1349, John left both to his son Thomas after Alice's death. (fn. 3)

In 1366 Alice de Collewell, who appears to be identical with Alice widow of John Coterel, was holding 23. In 1387 she granted her shop in Soper Lane to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, for the term of her life, in return for 6s. 8d. p.a. In 1384 she brought a plea of intrusion against the master of the hospital concerning her tenement in St. Pancras parish. 23 may have been the shop, called Moreshopp Mercer in Soper Lane, between the shops of Hugh Middleton (probably 22) and John Etecrone (probably 24A), which in 1388 the master of St. Bartholomew's Hospital leased to Thomas Chaddesleye and his wife Cecily and Petronilla Ker, for 7 years at £2. 6s. 8d. rent. In 1420 John Body, upholderer, son of Joan Body, daughter of John Coterell alias Colwell, late citizen and mercer, quitclaimed to Robert fitzRobert, junior, and his wife Margaret, in 23 and 36. The descent of 23 is uncertain from the mid 15th century until the Dissolution, after which it appears to have been in the hospital's seisin. (fn. 4)

Sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

In 1546 St. Bartholomew's Hospital had a tenement in Soper Lane, leased to John Twyford from 1539 for 50 years at £1. 6s. 8d. rent. It is not clear if the hospital had made the lease. In 1547, when Henry VIII granted Greyfriars and St. Bartholomew's Hospital to the City, the latter's lands included John Twyforde's tenement in Soper Lane. In 1547-8 Thomas Legh paid £1. 6s. 8d. rent to the hospital for the tenement in Soper Lane, and William Rawlynson paid the same from 1552 to 1555. In 1553 Rawlynson was warned to amend his tenement by midsummer. In 1558 the house in Soper Lane, lately in the tenure of Knyght, now dead, was viewed, and a new lease was made to James Wright, clothworker, for 21 years at £2. 6s. 8d. rent. The tenant was to do repairs, and within 1 1/2 years to make a privy and two chimneys (the reference to chimneys was subsequently struck out, probably indicating that he was only bound to make a privy). Wright paid this rent from 1558 to 1563, though his lease was not sealed by the City until after 1560. Wright was succeeded by Thomas Jenyng, who paid the rent until 1574. William Cutler paid the same rent from 1574 to 1579. (fn. 5)

In 1575 the house formerly belonging to Jennings was viewed, and it was decided to lease it to Humphrey Sound, merchant tailor, for 21 years from the expiry or surrender of the old lease, at £4 rent. In fact, the lease sealed was for 20 years from 1579. The fine, if any, was not recorded. Sound was to repair, and make a cellar and house of easement. Sound is recorded as paying the £4 rent from 1579 to 1598, but had in fact died in 1592, and was succeeded by his widow. In 1591 Mr. Sounde's house and the gable end backwards were said to need tiling, and in 1595 Widow Sounde's house was said to need tiling. The lease was due to expire in 1599 and a new one appears to have been granted to Gabriel Johnson, who began to pay the rent in 1598 and paid £10 and £5 extra, probably for a fine, in 1601 and 1602. In 1601 his tenement was said to be decayed, needing tiling and walling, and the corner post had sunk. In 1602 the house still (or again) needed tiling and was sagging towards the street. In 1604 the 'story post' at the S. end was greatly decayed and it was said that the principal post 'flyeth out'. Possibly Johnson then repaired the tenement adequately, as no more dilapidations were recorded until, in 1618, his tenement again needed tiling. This was repeated in views of 1619 and 1620. Johnson was recorded as paying the rent from 1598 to 1630, except for one year (1621-2) when no rent was received, and this was subsequently recorded as arrears from Gabriel Johnson. Probably Johnson actually ceased to be tenant at that point, and was succeeded by Mr. Woodroffe, whose house needed tiling and plastering in 1621 and again in 1626. (fn. 6)

In 1630 the hospital agreed to lease the tenement to Edward Duck, scrivener, for 21 years from 1629 at £4 rent and £13. 6s. 8d. fine. The lease was granted, however, to Edward Corkyn, citizen and merchant tailor, in 1631, probably on the same terms. Corkyn paid the rent from 1630 to 1647. (fn. 7) Corkyn does not appear in the assessments of the 1630s and 1640s, which suggests that 23 was sublet to another, though it is not clear from the lists who this was. In the tithe assessment list of 1638 only one name, that of Mr. Fox, with a house valued at £13 p.a., occurs between 22 and 25-6. It is possible either that he occupied both 23 and 24, or that he occupied one of them, and that the occupant of the other was omitted from the list. (fn. 8) Gabriel Johnson was recorded as owing 1s. 4d. to the city yearly from 1632 for 3 columns set before his house in St. Pancras parish, presumably to support an upper storey which oversailed the street. The rent was long in arrears by the mid 1650s, but these arrears were then either paid off or written off, and Johnson was recorded as owing the rent yearly till 1668. The entry may commemorate a rent that was paid when Johnson occupied 23, probably up to the early 1620s, but that had not been paid by any successive tenant. (fn. 9) In 1647 Edward Corkyn assigned his lease to Joseph Gaywood, citizen and glazier, who in 1648 took a new lease of the same at the old rent and £48 fine. The fine was paid off in instalments by 1651. Gaiwood paid the rent from 1647 to 1655; his widow and administratrix Jane Gaywood in 1655 assigned his lease to John Hastings, citizen and goldsmith, who surrendered it and was granted a new one for the remainder of the term. Hastings paid the rent up to the time of the Great Fire, but in 1662-3 the property was probably occupied by John Vann. In 1666, when it was said to have 3 hearths, it was occupied by Michael Henthorne, glazier. (fn. 10)

No individual survey was made of 23 after the Great Fire, but it was included in the survey of 22 in 1669, as 'Glazier's shop', 12 ft. N.-S. by 13 ft. 9 in. E.-W. (3.66 m. by 4.19 m.). A reference to 'Hospital ground in Soper Lane', 6 ft. (1.83 m.) wide at the N. end by 4 ft. (1.22 m.) wide at the S. end, 13 ft. (3.96 m.) in length, may be to a strip cut off in front of this property. The property had been rebuilt by April 1668, by William Walsham (d. 1667-8) and his wife Rebecca. A lease was granted to Rebecca, with power to demise to Henthorne for 30 years; she paid the old rent from 1668-9. (fn. 11)