A historical site about early London coffee houses and taverns and will also link to my current pub history site and also the London street directory
ALDERSGATE TAVERNS.
Two early houses of entertainment in Aldersgate were the Taborer's Inn and the
Crown. Of the former, stated to have been of the time of Edward II., we know
nothing but the name. The Crown, more recent, stood at the End of Duck-lane, and
is described in Ward's London Spy, as containing a noble room, painted by
Fuller, with the Muses, the Judgment of Paris, the Contention of Ajax and
Ulysses, etc. " We were conducted by the jolly master," says Ward, " a true
kinsman of the bacchanalian family, into a large stately room, where at the
first entrance, I discerned the master-strokes of the famed Fuller's pencil ;
the whole room painted by that commanding hand, that his dead figures appeared
with such lively majesty that they begat reverence in the spectators towards the
awful shadows. We accordingly bade the complaisant waiter oblige us with a quart
of his richest claret, such as was fit only to be drank in the presence of such
heroes, into whose company he had done us the honour to introduce us. He
thereupon gave directions to his drawer, who returned with a quart of such
inspiring juice, that we thought ourselves translated into one of the houses of
the heavens, and were there drinking immortal nectar with the gods and goddesses
:
" Who could such blessings when thus found resign ?
An honest vintner faithful to the vine ;
A spacious room, good paintings, and good wine."
Far more celebrated was the Mourning Bush Tavern, in the cellars of which have
been traced the massive foundations of Aldersgate, and the portion of the City
Wall which adjoins them. This tavern, one of the largest and most ancient in
London, has a curious history.
The Bush Tavern, its original name, took for its sign the Ivy-bush hung up at
the door. It is believed to have been the house referred to by Stowe, as follows
: — " This gate (Aldersgate) hath been at sundry times increased with building;
namely, on the south or inner side, a great frame of timber, (or house of wood
lathed and plastered,) hath been added and set up containing divers large rooms
and lodgings," which were an enlargement of the Bush. Fosbroke mentions the Bush
as the chief sign of taverns in the Middle Ages, (it being ready to hand,) and
so it continued until superseded by (< a thin 0, to resemble one containing
three or four tiers of hoops fastened one above another with vine leaves and
grapes, richly carved and gilt." He adds : " the owner of the Mourning Bush,
Aldersgate, was so affected at the decollation of Charles I., that he painted
his bush black" From this period the house is scarcely mentioned until the year
1719, when we find its name changed to the Fountain, whether from political
feeling against the then exiled House of Stuart, or the whim of the proprietor,
we cannot learn ; though it is thought to have reference to a spring on the east
side of the gate. Tom Brown mentions the Fountain satirically, with four or five
topping taverns of the day, whose landlords are charged with doctoring their
wines, but whose trade was so great that they stood fair for the alderman's
gown.
And, in a letter from an old vintner in the City to one newly set up in Covent
Garden, we find the following in the way of advice : " as all the world are
wholly supported by hard and unintelligible names, you must take care to
christen your wines by some hard name, the further fetched so much the better,
and this policy will serve to recommend the most execrable scum in your cellar.
I could name several of our brethren to you, who now stand fair to sit in the
seat of justice, and sleep in their golden chain at churches, that had been
forced to knock off long ago, if it had not been for this artifice. It saved the
Sun from being eclipsed ; the Crown from being abdicated ; the Rose from
decaying; and the Fountain from being dry ; as well as both the Devils from
being confined to utter darkness."
Twenty years later, in a large plan of Aldersgate Ward, 1739-40, we find the
Fountain changed to the original Bush. The Fire of London had evidently, at this
time, curtailed the ancient extent of the tavern. The exterior is shown in a
print of the south side of Aldersgate; it has the character of the larger
houses, built after the Great Fire, and immediately adjoins the gate. The last
notice of the Bush, as a place of entertainment, occurs in Maitland's History of
London, ed. 1722, where it is described as " the Fountain, commonly called the
Mourning Bush, which has a back door into St. Annes lane, and is situated near
unto Aldersgate."The house was refitted in 1830. In the basement are the
original wine-vaults of the old Bush ; many of the walls are six feet thick, and
bonded throughout with Roman brick. A very agreeable account of the tavern and
the antiquities of neighbourhood was published in 1830.
References :
Lots of references are made to two sources on the
internet archive
:
Edward Callows, Old London Taverns &
John Timbs, Club life of London Volume 2
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