Search london history from Roman times to modern day

London, by Walter Besant.

>

Chapter 1 - AFTER THE ROMANS

Chapter 2 - SAXON AND NORMAN

Chapter 3 - PLANTAGENET

Chapter 4 - PLANTAGENET II

Chapter 5 - PLANTAGENET III

Chapter 6 - TUDOR

Chapter 7 - TUDOR II

Chapter 8 - CHARLES THE SECOND

Chapter 9 - GEORGE THE SECOND

---

Illustrations

{1}

INDEX

Chapter 1 - page 1 - 43 ; Chapter 2 - 44 to 105 ; Chapter 3 - 106 to 154 ; Chapter 4 - 155 to 214 ; Chapter 5 - 216 to 262 ; Chapter 6 - 263 to 319 ; Chapter 7 - 320 to 370 ; Chapter 8 - 371 to 428 ; Chapter 9 - 429 to 501.

• Abergavenny House, 177
• "Abram Man," the, 416
• Agas, Ralph, map of, 274
• Ale-houses, number of, in 1736, 476
• Alfune, founder of Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, 63
• Alien priories suppressed, 240
• Alleyn, 364
• All Hallows the Great, Church of, Thames Street, 441
• Almshouses in the City, 238
• Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, 85
• Alsatia, 120
• Amusements in Saxon and Norman times, 90
• Anderida destroyed, 29
• "Angler," the, 416
• Angli� Metropolis, or, The Present State of London, 1690, quoted, 400
• Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1, 8, 13
• London not mentioned in, 13
• Antwerp at commencement of Elizabeth's reign, 293
• Apothecaries, 474
• Apprentices, London, 334
• Assessment of London in 1397, 184
• Augusta, fate of, after the Romans left, 8
• Aulaf and Swegen, 85
• Austin Friars Monastery, 112;
• distinguished persons buried there, 264
• Bagnigge Wells, 492{503}
• Baltic Coffee-house, 477
• Bank Side, 356
• Barber-surgeons, 474
• Barnard's Castle, 288
• Bartholomew's Fair, 457
• Bassing Hall, 83
• Bath, ruins of Roman temples at, 6
• Baynard's Castle, history of, 163
• Bean tansy, 476
• Bede's Ecclesiastical History, 1
• Beer-drinking, 419
• Beer the national drink, 83, 481
• Bermondsey, Abbey of, 134, 267
• — Spa Gardens, 496
• Bethlehem Hospital, 131
• Black Friars Church destroyed, 267
• Blackfriars Theatre, 308
• Blackwell Hall, 83
• Blakeney, William, story of, 249
• Blue-coat School, 115, 303
• Bonvici, Antonio, 170
• Bow Church, Mile End Road, 135
• Bowyers' Company, 454
• Bradford-on-Avon, description of Church of St. Laurence at, 71
• Bread a luxury in time of Charles II., 421
• Brewer, Dr., and his estimate of medi�val London, 155
• Breweries along the river, 50
• Bridewell Palace, 83
• Briset, Jordan, and Muriel, his wife, 65, 128
• Buildings small and mean until long after the Norman conquest, 47
• Bull-baiting, 356, 361, 408{504}
• "Bully," the, in the Georgian period, 489
• Burghley House, 286
• Butcher Row, 446

• Calleva Atrebatum destroyed, 29
• Card-makers' Company, 454
• Card-playing temp. Elizabeth, 310
• Carmelites, the, 119
• Carpenter, John, founder of the City of London School, 193
• Carthusians, House of the, 120
• Castellan and standard-bearer to the City of London, 164
• Cedd, Bishop, 53
• Champneys, Sir John, 311
• Chapter Coffee-house, 477
• Charing Cross, 141
• Charles, King, deplorable morals of Court of, 371
• Charter House, 128, 266
• — — School, 303
• Chaucer, 149
• Chepe, 334, 337
• — East, butchers in, 217
• — of medi�val London, 185
• — the chief market of the City, 50
• — West, mercers and haberdashers in, 217
• Chester, battle of, in 607, 111
• Chichele, Sir Robert, 194
• Christ Church, built by Wren, 115
• Christian symbols and emblems found on site of Roman towns, 5
• Christ's Hospital, 115
• Church of England in time of George II., 436
• Churches, the thirteen large conventual, 54
• — penalties for absence from, 442
• Cistercian Order, 123
• City companies, formation of, 208
• — foreign trade of, 190
• — holidays, 236
• — of London School founded by John Carpenter, 193{505}
• — residences of the nobility, 174
• — wall, 81, 111
• — water supply of, 83
• — wealth of, 184
• — worthies, 194
• "Clapperdozen," the, 416
• Cloth Fair, 63
• Clubs, 477
• Cnut, 85
• Coals, duty on, to rebuild public buildings after the Great Fire, 400
• Cock-fighting on Shrove Tuesday, 224
• Cockpit Theatre, 308
• Coffee-houses, business carried on at, 477
• — first started temp. Charles II., 411
• Cold Harborough, house built by Sir John Poultney, 166, 289
• Companies, City, formation of, 208
• Congreve's "Way of the World," 410
• Cordwainer Street, shoemakers in, 217
• Cornhill, drapers in, 217
• Court of Judicature created after the Great Fire, 399
• Craftsmen of London, 215
• Cranmer and Waltham Abbey, 139
• Cromwell House, 265
• — Lord, 325
• Crosby Hall, 170, 289
• — Sir John, 169
• Crutched Friars' Church turned into a carpenter's shop and tennis court, 265
• — — Priory of, 111
• Cuneglass, King, 3
• Curfew bell, the, 243
• Curtain Theatre, Shoreditch, 307

• Daily Life, Elizabethan, 303
• Dances in time of Elizabeth, 310
• Danes, the, 47{506}
• Debtors' prison in the Georgian era, 496
• Debts, like property, destroyed by the Great Fire, 402
• Defoe, Daniel, and his account of the Plague, 377
• — trades enumerated by, 380
• Derby House, 163, 289
• Dick's Coffee-house, 411
• Dominicans, first settlement of, in Chancery Lane, 118
• "Dommerer," the, 416
• Dover, St. Mary's Church at, 75
• Dress of the time of George II., 458
• Drinking and fires the pests of London, 52
• — habits in the time of George II., 475
• — in time of Charles II., 407
• Dryden, John, on the Great Fire, 404
• D'Urfey, Tom, songs of, 412
• Durovernum destroyed, 29

• East India Company, the, 297
• Eastland Company, the, 297
• Eastminster, 133
• — pulled down, 263
• Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, founds Holywell Nunnery, 132
• Education of girls, thorough, temp. Elizabeth, 314
• Edward II. and the City, 205
• Edward IV. and Baynard's Castle, 164
• Elbing, merchants of, 296
• Eleanor, Queen, a benefactor of St. Katherine's by the Tower, 66
• Elizabethan Daily Life, 303
• — house, the, 286
• — pageants, 304
• Elsing's Spital, founded in 1329, 144
• Elsing, William, 197, 238
• England, Conquest of, completed, 10{507}
• Epping Forest, 233
• Erber House, history of, 169
• Ermyn Street, 23
• Estfield, Sir William, 197
• Ethelbald, King, grant of, to Bishop of Rochester, 47
• Etheling, Edmund, 85
• Ethelwerd, 1

• Falcon Tavern, Bank Side, 362
• Famines in London, 240
• Fire, Great, of London, 394
• — — John Dryden on, 404
• — — destruction caused by, 397
• Fires, great, of London, 394
• Fitz-Stephen, William, 48, 51
• Fleet weddings, 483, 498
• Flemings, the, 44
• Fletchers' Company, 454
• Flogging in the army and navy, 484
• Food in the time of George II., 475
• — of the citizens, 236
• Fortune Theatre, Whitecross Street, 308
• Foxe's Book of Martyrs, written at Waltham Abbey, 139
• Franciscans, the, 113
• Franklin, Benjamin, on beer-drinking in a London printing-house, 420
• Fraternities, the, 147
• Fratres de Sacc�, 139
• Froissart on the Londoners, 205
• Fuller, Thomas, wrote his Church History at Waltham Abbey, 139
• Funerals, 484
• Furniture in medi�val times, 181
• Fustarers' Company, 453

• Gaming temp. Elizabeth, 310
• Gambling in the time of Charles II., 415
• Gardens in Saxon and Norman times, 89{508}
• Garraway's Coffee-house, 477
• Gascony wine, ingredients of, 473
• Gates of the City closed at sunset until 1760, 433
• Gay's Trivia, description of London in, 436
• Geoffrey of Monmouth, 1
• Gerrard's Hall in Basing Lane, 179
• Gildas, 1-3, 25, 43
• Gin-shops, number of, in 1736, 476
• Girls, education of, thorough, in time of Elizabeth, 314
• Gisors, John, 179
• Glasse, Mrs., and her book on cookery, 475
• Globe Theatre, Bank Side, 307, 356
• Glovers' Company, laws and regulations of, 209
• Government situations bought in time of George II., 482
• Greenstead Church, Essex, 71
• Greenwich Fair, 457
• Gresham College, 301
• — House, 288
• — Sir Thomas, account of, 290, 301;
  • builds the Royal Exchange, 294;
  • crest of, 294
• Grey Friars, foundation of, 113
• — — Church, celebrated persons buried here, 267
• Guildhall, remains of Roman London in, 48
• Guilds, 50, 208
• Guthrun's Lane, goldsmiths in, 217

• Haberdashers' Company, 452
• Hainault Forest, 233
• Hampton Court, 288
• Hanseatic League, 182
• Harding, Stephen, founder of the Cistercian Order, 123
• Harold at Waltham Abbey, 138
• Hengist and Horsa, 9
• Henry VI. erects new grammar-schools, 240, 303{509}
• Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, 129
• Heralds' College, 162, 174
• Herbalist, 474
• Holy Trinity, Aldgate, founded by Queen Matilda, 64, 111
• — — Church, Minories, 132
• Holywell Nunnery, 132
• Horsa, Hengist and, 9
• Household accounts of a family, 1677-79, 416
• — in time of George II., 465
• — furniture, inventory of, of newly-married pair, temp. 14th century, 253
• Hudson's Bay Company, 375
• "Huffs," 415
• Hutchinson, Lucy, 314

• Ironmongers' Lane, ironmongers in, 217

• Jamaica Coffee-house, 477
• Jerusalem Coffee-house, 478
• Jesus Commons, foundation of, 144
• Jonathan's Coffee-house, 478
• Jonson, Ben, 363, 365
• Justice under the Plantagenets, 245
• Jutes, the, 9, 27, 28

• Kidnappers of the Georgian era, 486
• Kingston-on-Hull, Trinity House at, 87
• Knights Hospitallers, Church of, blown up with gunpowder, 266

• Ladies' Bower, the, 89
• — occupation of, in time of George I., 478
• Latroon, Meriton, Life of, 414
• Lepers, lazar-house established in St. Giles in the Fields for, 141
• Life in the time of George II., 460
• "Limitour," the, in Chaucer, 149
• Lloyd's Coffee-house, 478{510}
• Loftie's History of London, 13, 22
• Lombard Street, drapers in, 217
• — — Gresham's shop in, 301
• London a city of ruins, temp. Elizabeth, 263
• — commercial centre of the world, temp. Elizabeth, 293
• — conquest of, by the men of Essex, compared with that of Jerusalem by Titus, 40
• — conversion of, A.D. 604, 45
• — craftsmen of, 215
• — described by William Fitz-Stephen, 48
• — desolate state of, after the Roman period, 34
• — drinking and fires the pests of, 52
• — found deserted by the East Saxons, 34
• — medi�val, description of, 157, 185
• — merchant generally a gentleman, 200
• — municipal history of, 91
• — not mentioned in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 12
• — population of, temp. Richard II., 49
• — rebuilding of, after Great Fire, 398
• — Saxon and Norman, described, 92
• — veritable mother of saints, 45
• London Bridge, chapel on, 78
• — — first stone, 77
• — — songs on, 81
• Londoners in the time of Elizabeth, 278
• Long Bowstring-makers' Company, 454
• Loriners' Company, 454

• Mail-coaches, 464
• Malpas, Philip, 238
• Manners, City, in time of Charles II., 407{511}
• Manny, Sir Walter, 120
• Matilda, Queen of Henry I., 65
• — wife of King Stephen, founds St. Katherine's by the Tower, 65
• Maurice, Bishop, 53
• May-day in the City, 231
• May Fair, 457
• May-pole, the, 332
• Medi�val furniture, 181
• — London, description of, 157
• — names, survival of, 19
• Megusers' Company, 453
• Mellitus, first Bishop of London, 39
• Mercers' Chapel, 142
• Merchant adventurers, the, 295, 296
• — London, generally a gentleman, 200
• — Taylors' School, 303
• Misrule, feast of, 309
• "Mithridate" water, 473
• Mitre Tavern, 351
• Monastery towns grow rapidly and prosper, 46
• Monk in Chaucer, 150
• Moorfields, people camped in, after the Great Fire, 399
• More, Sir Thomas, and Crosby Hall, 170
• Morris-dancing, 233
• Mughouse, a kind of music-hall, 480
• "Mumpus," the, 416
• Municipal London, history of, 91
• Mystery plays, 94

• Nennius, 1
• New Abbey, 133
• — — pulled down, 263
• Newspapers about 1750, 465
• Nobility, residences of, in City, 177
• Norman House, description of, 86
• — London, monuments of, 52
• Northumberland House, 288
• — — site originally of Hospital of St. Mary Rounceval, 141
• Nunneries in Saxon times, 93{512}

• Old Jewry, branch of the Fratres de Sacc� established in, 139
• "Oxford Clerk" in Chaucer, 150

• Pads, 415
• Pageants, City, 224
• — Elizabethan, 305
• Palaces of the nobility in the City, 174
• Papey College, 144
• Pardon Church-yard, 121
• "Pardoner" in Chaucer, 153
• Parish organization in time of George II., 439
• Patten-makers' Company, 454
• Pattens, 484
• Pecock, Reginald, Bishop of Chichester, 194
• Pembroke, Earl, and Baynard's Castle, 166
• Pepys' Diary, 417
• Pepys on the Great Fire of London, 395
• — on the Plague, 377
• Perranazabuloe Church, 75
• Pewterers' Company, 454
• Philippa, Queen, a benefactor of St. Katherine's by the Tower, 66
• "Philo Puttonists," 415
• Philpot, Sir John, 190
• Picard, Sir Henry, 179
• Pilgrims, 57
• — consecration of, 60
• — office of, 58
• Pillory, the, 247
• "Pimpinios," 415
• Plague, the, 376
• — at Astrakhan in 1879, 387
• — at Marseilles in 1720, 387
• — Daniel Defoe on, 377
• — loss caused to trade by, 384
• — Pepys on, 377
• — remedies for, advertised, 408
• — water, 473
• Plagues, 376
• — of London, 120{513}
• — of 1603 and 1625, 387
• Plantagenet London, religious houses the most conspicuous feature of, 107
• Poisoning, men boiled and women burned for, 318
• Population of London according to Fitz-Stephen, 84
• Post-office rates about 1750, 464
• Prentice, London, temp. Charles II., 414
• Prices of food about 1750, 462
• — — in time of Charles II., 462
• "Prioress," the, in Chaucer, 149
• Punishments under the Plantagenets, 318

• Quacks, 474
• Queen's wardrobe, 174
• Quintain, the, 304

• Rahere, 55, 56, 60, 63
• Rainbow Coffee-house, 411
• Rainwell, Sir John, 197
• Ranelagh Gardens, 494
• Red Bull Theatre, St. John Street, 307
• Red Cross, Order of, 111
• Reeds, floors covered with, 87
• Reformation, the, and destruction of ecclesiastical buildings, 270
• Religious houses the most conspicuous feature of Plantagenet London, 108
• Rents about 1750, 461
• Richard of Cirencester, 1
• Richard II. and the City, 206
• Riley's Memorials of London, 21
• Robins's Coffee-house, 478
• Rogues and vagabonds, temp. Elizabeth, 314
• Roman customs, no trace of in London, 21
• — remains, 42
• — London, City wall about three miles long, 17{514}
• — — dependent on supplies from without, 24
• — — description of, 12-18
• — — probable population of, 17
• — — the only port in the kingdom, 18
• — street, no trace of, in London, 20
• — town, construction of, 20
• Rooks, 415
• Royal African Company, the, 297
• — Exchange, 334
• — — temp. Charles II., 410
• — Society, Institution of, 375
• "Ruffins," 415
• "Rufflers," 415
• Russian Company, the, 297
• Rutupi� destroyed, 29

• St. Alphege Church, 145
• St. Anthony, patron and saint of the grocers, 208
• St. Bartholomew's Priory, 267
• St. Bartholomew the Great, built by Rahere, 55
• St. Botolph, church dedicated to, 46
• St. Clare, abbey of, called the Minories, 132, 263
• St. Dunstan, church dedicated to, 46
• St. Dunstan's in the East, church of, built after the Great Fire, 400
• St. Edmund the Martyr, church dedicated to, 46
• St. Erkenwald builds Bishopsgate, 45
• St. Ethelburga, 45
• St. Giles, Cripplegate, founded by Alfune, 63
• — — in the Fields, church of, 140
• St. Giles's Hospital, founded by Queen Matilda, 63
• St. Helen, church of, 112
• St. Helen's Nunnery becomes the property of the Leathersellers' Company, 266{515}
• St. James, Clerkenwell, parish church of, 131
• St. John of Jerusalem, priory of, 65, 128;
  • destroyed by rebels under Wat Tyler, 130
• St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell, 128
• St. Katherine's by the Tower, 65
• St. Magnus, church dedicated to, 46
• St. Martin, the patron saint of saddlers, 208
• — — Outwich, church of, 297
• St. Martin's le Grand, a house of Augustine Canons, 113
• — — church of, tavern built on site of, 267
• — — sanctuary and collegiate church of, 55
• St. Mary Axe, 328;
• skinners in, 217
• — — of Bethlehem, hospital of, 131
• — — Overies, legend of, 67
• — — Rounceval, hospital of, at Charing Cross, 141
• St. Mary's, or Bow Church, 135
• — — Spital, hospital of, 131
• — — destroyed, 266
• St. Michael's Church, choir and aisles rebuilt by Sir William Walworth, 143
• — — College, Crooked Lane, 143
• St. Olaf, church dedicated to, 46
• St. Osyth, Queen and Martyr, 45
• St. Paul's, Cathedral of, 53, 54, 109, 346
• — — Cross, 344
• — — first church of, destroyed by fire, 48
• — — School, 303
• St. Swithin, church dedicated to, 46
• St. Thomas of Acon, College of, 142
• St. Thomas's Hospital, 134, 146
• St. Vedast, church of, 76
• Salutation of the Mother of God, house of the, 120
• Saxon house, description of, 86
• — London, destroyed by fire 1135, 48{516}
• — — darkest period of any, 48
• — — foreign merchants in, 44
• — — no remains of, 53
• — women, employment of, 92
• Saxons, East, 35
• — — before and after conversion to Christianity, 44
• — fond of vegetables, 87
• Schools, Grammar, erected by Henry VI., 240, 303
• — — in time of Elizabeth, 302
• — of the alien priories suppressed, 240
• Sebbi, King, 53
• Selds, 186
• Sernes Tower, 83
• Servants, ladies used to beat, 310
• — troop of, a mark of state, 310
• "Setter," the, in the Georgian period, 489
• Sevenoke, Sir William, 194, 216
• "Shabbaroons," 415
• Shakespeare, William, 364
• Sion College, 269
• Smithfield, horse-fair in, 51
• "Sompnour" in Chaucer, 150
• Soper's Lane, pepperers and grocers in, 217
• Southwark Fair, 457
• Sports, 51, 223
• Stage-coaches, 465
• Staple, Sir Richard, 297
• Steelyard, the, 182
• Still-room, importance of the, 473
• Stodie, Sir John, 179, 238
• Stow, John, the antiquary, 320
• Sunday amusements in the Georgian period, 490
• Sutton, Thomas, 266
• Swan Inn, Dowgate, 368
• — with Two Necks, the, 465

• Taxes of a house about 1750, 462
• Tea becomes cheaper, temp. Charles II., 410{517}
• Tea-drinking, 467
• — John Wesley on, 470
• Temple Bar, 433
• — Church, the, 67
• Thames, River, in Tudor times, 366
• — Street, fishmongers in, 217
• Theatre companies, temp. Elizabeth, 307
• — first, built in 1570, 307
• Theatres at end of sixteenth century, 307
• Tobacco, use of, spreads rapidly, 313
• Tofig, the royal standard-bearer, 136
• Tom's Coffee-house, 411
• Torgnton, Desiderata de, hanged for theft, 247
• Torold, Roger, imprisoned for speaking disrespectfully of the mayor, 247
• Tournaments, temp. Elizabeth, 304
• Tower of London, 82
• "Town Parson" in Chaucer, 150
• — Royal, 82
• Trade, foreign, of City, 190
• — great advance of, in time of Elizabeth, 289, 295
• — loss and injury caused to, by the Plague, 384
• Trades carried on in the City, 218
• — enumerated by Daniel Defoe, 380
• — of the City allotted their own places of work and sale, 50
• Tradition, continuity of, 20
• Turkey Company, the, 297

• Vegetables as part of daily diet reintroduced, 313
• Venice treacle, 473
• Vicinal Way, 23
• Vintners' Hall, 179
• Vintry, the, 179
• Vox Civitatis, tract on the Plague, 392

• Wages of the craftsmen, 243{518}
• Walls, City, 433
• Waltham Abbey Church, 135
• — — Cranmer at, 139
• — — Foxe's Book of Martyrs written here, 139
• — — Harold at, 138
• — — history of, 136-139
• — — Thomas Fuller wrote his Church History here, 139
• Walworth, Sir William, 194
• Wardens of Companies, 211
• Washington, arms of, in Holy Trinity Church, Minories, 132
• Water, supply of, 83
• Watling Street, 23
• Weavers, Guild of, 208
• Wells, Sir John, 197
• Wesley, John, on tea-drinking, 470
• Wethell, Richard, 311
• Wheat, price of, in time of George II., 482
• "Whip Jack," the, 416
• Whitawers' Company, 453
• White Friars, the house of the Carmelites, 119
• Whitefriars Theatre, 308
• Whittington, Richard, 180, 199, 290, 301
• — College of, 143
• "Wild Rogue," the, 416
• William of Wykeham, 55
• Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 297
• Winchester House, 264, 269, 289
• Window-tax, 462
• Wine-drinking, introduced by Normans, 88
• Women, English, excel in embroidery, 92
• Wonderful Year, The, pamphlet on plague, 387
• Wood Street Compter, a prison, 497

And Last updated on: Wednesday, 01-Jan-2025 11:52:36 GMT

---

Trying to avoid privacy and cookie settings overwriting content

---

Builder recommendation

London Contents

London history

UK Towns and Cities

London history

UK Pub history

Flower borders

Early London pub tokens

Cosford database

Accessible TFL and London Rail