Lo! hither Fleet-brook came, in former times called the Fleet-river, In 1825, this was the first open view the Thames, close to the stairs on the west nearest London of the ancient River Fleet: side of Blackfriars-bridge. The bridge, it was taken during the building of the whereby boys, cross the stream in the high-arched walls connected with the engraving, is a large iron pipe for conveyHouse of Correction, Cold-bath-fields, close ing water from the New River Company's to which prison the river ran, as here seen. works, to supply the houses in Grays-innAt that time, the newly-erected walls lane. A few years ago, the New River communicated a peculiarly picturesque water was conducted across this valley effect to the stream flowing within through wooden pipes. Since the drawing their confines. It arrived thither from was made, the Fleet has been diverted Bagnigge-wells, on its way to a covered from the old bed represented in the print, channel, whereby it passes between Turn- through a large barrel drain, into the course mill-street, and again emerging, crosses just mentioned, near Turnmill-street. This Chick-lane, now called West-street, near notice of the deviation, and especially the Field-lane, at the back of which it runs on, last appearance of the river in its immemoand continues under Holborn-bridge, Fleet- rial channel, may be of interest, because market, and Bridge-street, till it reaches the Fleet is the only ancient stream running ever. * into London which is not yet wholly lost river, but a brook, called Turne-mill or to sight. Tremill Brook, because mills were erected The River Fleet at its source, in a field on it. on the London side of the Hampstead After this, it was cleansed several times; ponds, is merely a sedgy ditchling, scarcely and particularly in 1502, the whole course half a step across, and “winds its sinuosi- of Fleet Dike, as it was then called, was ties along," with little increase of width scoured down to the Thames, so that or depth, to the road from the Mother Red boats with fish and fuel were rowed to Cap to Kentish Town, beneath which road Fleet-bridge and Holborn-bridge. it passes through the pastures to Camden In 1589, by authority of the common Town ; and in one of these pastures, the council of London, a thousand marks were canal, running through the Tunnel at Pen- collected to draw several of the springs at tonville to the City-road, is conveyed over Hampstead-heath into one head, for the it by an arch. From this place its width service of the City with fresh water where increases, till it reaches towards the west wanted, and in order that by such “a folside of the road leading from Pancras lower,” as it was termed, the channel of Workhouse to Kentish Town. In the rear the brook should be scoured into the of the houses on that side of the road, it Thames. After much money spent, the becomes a brook, washing the edge of the effect was not obtained, and in Stow's time, garden in front of the premises late the by means of continual encroachments on stereotype-foundery and printing-offices of the banks, and the throwing of soil into the Mr. Andrew Wilson, which stand back stream, it became worse clogged than from the road ; and, cascading down behind the lower road-side houses, it reaches the After the Fire of London, the channel Elephant and Castle, in front of which it was made navigable for barges to come up, tunnels to Battle-bridge, and there levels by the assistance of the tide from the out to the eye, and runs sluggishly to Bag- Thames, as far as Holborn-bridge, where nigge-wells, where it is at its greatest the Fleet, otherwise Turnmill-brook, fell width, which is about twelve feet across; into this, the wider channel ; which had from thence it narrows to the House of Cor- sides built of stone and brick, with warerection, and widens again near Turnmill- houses on each side, running under the street, and goes to the Thames, as above street, and used for the laying in of coals, described. and other commodities. This channel had In a parliament held at Carlile, in 35 Ed. five feet water, at the lowest tide, at Holward I., 1307, Henry Lacy earl of Lincoln born-bridge, the wharfs on each side the complained that, in former times, the course channel were thirty feet broad, and rails of of water running under Holborn-bridge and oak were placed along the sides of the Fleet-bridge into the Thames, had been of ditch to prevent people from falling into it such breadth and depth that ten or twelve at night. There were four bridges of Port. ships at once, navies with merchandise, land stone over it; namely, at Bridewell, were wont to come to Fleet-bridge, and Fleet-street, Fleet-lane, and Holborn. some of them to Holborn-bridge; yet that, When the citizens proposed to erect a by filth of the tanners and others, and by mansion-house for their lord mayor, they raising of wharfs, and especially by a diver- fixed on Stocks-market, where the Mansion of the water in the first year of king sion-house now stands, for its site, and John, 1200, by them of the New Temple, proposed to arch the Fleet-ditch, from for their mills without Baynard's Castle, Holborn to Fleet-street, and to remove that and by other impediments, the course was market to the ground they would gain by decayed, and ships could not enter as they that measure. In 1733, therefore, they rewere used. On the prayer of the earl, the presented to the House of Commons, that constable of the Tower, with the mayor and although after the Fire of London the chansheriffs of London, were directed to take nel of the Fleet had been made navigable with them honest and discreet men to in. from the Thames to Holborn-bridge, yet quire into the former state of the river, the profits from the navigation had not anto leave nothing that might hurt or stop it, swered the charge ; that the part from and to restore it to its wonted condition. Fleet-bridge to Holborn-bridge, instead of Upon this, the river was cleansed, the mills being useful to trade, had become choked were removed, and other means taken for with mud, and was therefore a nuisance, the preservation of the course; but it was and that several persons had lost their lives not brought to its old depth and breadth, and therefore it was no longer termed a * Stow's Survey. by falling into it. For these and other Sometime before the year 1714, Mr. causes assigned, an act passed, vesting the John Conyers, an apothecary in Fleetfee simple of the site referred to in the street, who made it his chief business to corporation for ever, on condition that collect antiquities, which about that time drains should be made through the channel, were daily found in and about London, as and that no buildings on it should exceed he was digging in a field near the Fleet, fifteen feet in height. The ditch was ac not far from Battle-bridge, discovered the cordingly arched over from Holborn to body of an elephant, conjectured to have Fleet-bridge, where the present obelisk in been killed there, by the Britons, in fight Bridge-street now stands, and Fleet-market with the Romans ; for, not far from the was erected on the arched ground, and spot, was found an ancient British spear, opened with the business of Stocks-market, the head of flint fastened into a shaft of on the 30th of September, 1737. good length.* From this elephant, the In 1765, the building of Blackfriars- public-house near the spot where it was bridge rendered it requisite to arch over the discovered, called the Elephant and Castle, remainder, from Fleel-bridge to the Thames; derives its sign. yet a small part remained an open dock There are no memorials of the extent to for a considerable time, owing to the obsti- which the river Fleet was anciently naviganate persistence of a private proprietor.** ble, though, according to tradition, an Previous to the first arching of the Fleet, anchor was found in it as high up as the Pope, in “ The Dunciad,” imagined the Elephant and Castle, which is immediately votaries of Dulness diving and sporting in opposite Pancras workhouse, and at the Fleet-ditch, which he then called corner of the road leading from thence to Kentish-town. Until within these few The king of dykes ! than whom no sluice of mud years, it gave motion to flour and fatting With deeper sable blots the silver food. mills at the back of Field-lane, near Hol“I recollect,” says Pennant, “ the present born.t noble approach to Blackfriars-bridge, the That the Fleet was once a very servicewell-built opening of Chatham-place, a able stream there can be no doubt, from muddy and genuine ditch." It has of late what Stow relates. The level of the ground been rendered a convenient and capacious is favourable to the presumption, that its current widened and deepened for naviga ble purposes to a considerable extent in During the digging of Fleet-ditch, in the valley between the Bagnigge-wells. 1676, with a view to its improvement after road and Gray's-inn, and that it might have the Fire of London, between the Fleet- had accessions to its waters from other prison and Holborn-bridge, at the depth of sources, besides that in the vicinity of fifteen feet, several Roman utensils were Hampstead. Stow speaks of it under the discovered; and, a little lower, a great name of the “ River of Wels, in the west quantity of Roman coins, of silver, copper, part of the citie, and of old so called of the brass, and various other metals, but none Wels ;” and he tells of its running from of gold; and at Holborn-bridge, two brass the moor near the north corner of the wall lares, or household gods, of the Romans, of Cripplegate postern. This assertion, about four inches in length, were dug out; which relates to the reign of William the one a Ceres, and the other á Bacchus. The Conqueror, is controverted by Maitland, great quantity of coins, induces a presump- great inattention” on the tion that they were thrown into this river part of the old chronicler. It is rather to by the Roman inhabitants of the city, on be apprehended, that Maitland was less an the entry of Boadicea, with her army of en- antiquary than an inconsiderate compiler. raged Britons, who slaughtered their con The drainage of the city has effaced proofs querors, without distinction of age or sex. of many appearances which Stow relates Here also were found arrow-heads, spur as existing in his own time, but which there rowels of a hand's breadth, keys, daggers, is abundant testimony of a different nature scales, seals with the proprietors' names in to corroborate; and, notwithstanding MaitSaxon characters, ship counters with Saxon land's objection, there is sufficient reason to characters, and a considerable number of apprehend that the river of Wells and the medals, crosses, and crucifixes, of a more Fleet river united and flowed, in the same recent age.t channel, to the Thames. -sewer. * Noorthquck. * Letter from Bagford to Hearne. + Nelson's History of Islington. And snow falls on the lake; January. Topography, WILLY-Howe, YORKSHIRE. If you are ill at this season, there is no For the Table Book. occasion to send for the doctor-only stop eating. Indeed, upon general principles, of the road leading from North Burton to There is an artificial mount, by the side it seems to me to be a mistake for people, Wold Newton, near Bridlington, in Yorkevery time there is any little thing the matter with them, to be running in such haste shire, called “ Willy-howe," much exceedfor the “ doctor;" because, if you are going ing in size the generality of our “hows,” to die, a doctor can't help you; and if you of which I have often heard the most preare not there is no occasion for him.* posterous stories related. A cavity or divi sion on the summit is pointed out as owing its origin to the following circumstance : A person having intimation of a large ANGLING IN JANUARY. chest of gold being buried therein, dug Dark is the ever-flowing stream, away the earth until it appeared in sight; he then had a train of horses, extending For now the noontide sunny beam upwards of a quarter of a mile, attached to Scarce pierces bower and brake; it by strong iron traces; by these means he And food, or envious frost, destroys was just on the point of accomplishing his A portion of the angler's joys. purpose, when he exclaimed Yet still we'll talk of sports gone by, Hop Perry, prow Mark, Whether God's will or not, we'll have this ark." He, however, had no sooner pronounced this awful blasphemy, than all the traces of favourite haunts, by mead or dell, broke, and the chest sunk still deeper in the Haunts which the fisher loves so well. hill, where it yet remains, all his future efforts to obtain it being in vain. Of stately Thames, of gentle Lea, The inhabitants of the neighbourhood The merry monarch's seat; also speak of the place being peopled with Of Ditton's stream, of Avon's brae, fairies, and tell of the many extraordinary Or Mitchani's mild retreat ; feats which this diminutive race has perOf waters by the meer or mill, And all that tries the angler's skill. formed. A fairy once told a man, to whom it Annals of Sporting. appears she was particularly attached, if he went to the top of “Willy-howe " every morning, he would find a guinea ; this PLOUGH MONDAY. information, however, was given under the The first Monday after Twelfth-day is so injunction that he should not make the cir cumstance known to any other person. denominated, and it is the ploughman's For some time he continued his visit, and holyday. always successfully; but at length, like our Of late years at this season, in the first parents, he broke the great commandislands of Scilly, the young people exercise a ment, and, by taking with him another sort of gallantry called "goose-dancing." person, not merely suffered the loss of the The maidens are dressed up for young usual guinea, but met with a severe punish. men, and the young men for maidens; ment from the fairies for his presumption. and, thus disguised, they visit their neigh. Many more are the tales which abound bours in companies, where they dance, and here, and which almost seem to have made make jokes upon what has happened in the this a consecrated spot ; but how they island; and everyone is humorously could at first originate, is somewhat singular. “ told their own,” without offence being That “ Hows," ..“ Carnedds,” and “ Bartaken. By this sort of sport, according to rows,” are sepulchral, we can scarcely enyearly custom and toleration, there is a tertain a doubt, since in all that have been spirit of wit and drollery kept up among examined, human bones, rings, and other the people. The music and dancing done, remains have been discovered. From the they are treated with liquor, and then they coins and urns found in some of them, they go to the next house of entertainment.f have been supposed the burial-places of Roman generals. “ But as hydrotaphia, or urn-burial, was the custom among the * Monthly Magazine, January, 1827, i Strutt's Sports, 307. Romans, and interment the practice of the by falling into it. For these and other Sometime before the year 1714, Mr. causes assigned, an act passed, vesting the John Conyers, an apothecary in Fleetfee simple of the site referred to in the street, who made it his chief business to corporation for ever, on condition that collect antiquities, which about that time drains should be made through the channel, were daily found in and about London, as and that no buildings on it should exceed he was digging in a field near the Fleet, fifteen feet in height. The ditch was ac not far from Battle-bridge, discovered the cordingly arched over from Holborn to body of an elephant, conjectured to have Fleet-bridge, where the present obelisk in been killed there, by the Britons, in fight Bridge-street now stands, and Fleet-market with the Romans ; for, not far from the was erected on the arched ground, and spot, was found an ancient British spear, opened with the business of Stocks-market, the head of flint fastened into a shaft of on the 30th of September, 1737. good length.* From this elephant, the In 1765, the building of Blackfriars- public-house near the spot where it was bridge rendered it requisite to arch over the discovered, called the Elephant and Castle, remainder, from Fleel-bridge to the Thames; derives its sign. yet a small part remained an open dock There are no memorials of the extent to for a considerable time, owing to the obsti- which the river Fleet was anciently naviganate persistence of a private proprietor.* ble, though, according to tradition, an Previous to the first arching of the Fleet, anchor was found in it as high up as the Pope, in “The Dunciad,” imagined the Elephant and Castle, which is immediately votaries of Dulness diving and sporting in opposite Pancras workhouse, and at the Fleet-ditch, which he then called corner of the road leading from thence to Kentish-town. Until within these few years, it gave motion to flour and flatting mills at the back of Field-lane, near Hol“I recollect,” says Pennant, “the present born.fo noble approach to Blackfriars-bridge, the That the Fleet was once a very servicewell-built opening of Chatham-place, a able stream there can be no doubt, from muddy and genuine ditch." It has of late what Stow relates. The level of the ground been rendered a convenient and capacious is favourable to the presumption, that its current widened and deepened for naviga ble purposes to a considerable extent in During the digging of Fleet-ditch, in the valley between the Bagnigge-wells1676, with a view to its improvement after road and Gray's-inn, and that it might have the Fire of London, between the Fleet- had accessions to its waters from other prison and Holborn-bridge, at the depth of sources, besides that in the vicinity of fifteen feet, several Roman utensils were Hampstead. Stow speaks of it under the discovered ; and, a little lower, a great name of the “ River of Wels, in the west quantity of Roman coins, of silver, copper, part of the citie, and of old so called of the brass, and various other metals, but none Wels ;” and he tells of its running from of gold; and at Holborn-bridge, two brass the moor near the north corner of the wall lares, or household gods, of the Romans, of Cripplegate postern. This assertion, about four inches in length, were dug out; which relates to the reign of William the one a Ceres, and the other á Bacchus. The Conqueror, is controverted by Maitland, great quantity of coins, induces a presump who imagines" great inattention on the tion that they were thrown into this river part of the old chronicler. It is rather to by the Roman inhabitants of the city, on be apprehended, that Maitland was less an the entry of Boadicea, with her army of en- antiquary than an inconsiderate compiler. raged Britons, who slaughtered their con The drainage of the city has effaced proofs querors, without distinction of age or sex. of many appearances which Stow relates Here also were found arrow-heads, spur as existing in his own time, but which there rowels of a hand's breadth, keys, daggers, is abundant testimony of a different nature scales, seals with the proprietors' names in to corroborate ; and, notwithstanding MaitSaxon characters, ship counters with Saxon land's objection, there is sufficient reason to characters, and a considerable number of apprehend that the river of Wells and the medals, crosses, and crucifixes, of a more Fleet river united and flowed, in the same recent age.t channel, to the Thames. sewer. * Noorthquck. * Letter from Bagford to Hearne. + Nelson's History of Islington. |