CHAPTER XV

NOTES ON THE PARISH REGISTERS

SEEING that a transcript of the whole of the Registers, from their commencement in 1559, would require far more space than is now at my disposal, I propose in this my last chapter to include a few notes upon some entries which have not already been quoted in the preceding chapters. For the most part these relate to individuals who have no particular connection with the parish; but there are several of the older houses in the villages which I have left unnoticed till now, such as Shrewsbury House, the Arch House, The Magpie, and Evans' Farm, whose only claim to be mentioned in a book on the Church is an entry or two in the Registers, but which are of too great interest to be altogether omitted.

SHREWSBURY HOUSE

Shrewsbury or Alston House," says Faulkner, “a capital mansion, built about the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII., was situate in Cheyne Walk, adjoining the garden of Winchester Palace, on the west. . . . It was an irregular brick building, forming three sides of a quadrangle. The principal room was 120 feet in length, and was originally wainscoted with carved oak. One of the rooms was painted in imitation of marble, and appeared to have been originally an oratory. . . Since the publication of the first edition of this work [i.e., between 1810 and 1829] this venerable mansion, which had adorned the Village of Palaces' for several ages, has been pulled down entirely. In 1813 the materials were sold piecemeal by

a speculating builder, who had obtained possession; and now not a stone remains to show where it once stood."

Although Faulkner speaks as an eye-witness, he is not quite accurate about the site of this house; for it is quite clear that " The Magpie" stood between it and Winchester Palace. The western boundary of Shrewsbury House was 66 ft. east of the house at the corner of Cheyne Row, formerly called "The Feathers "The Prince's Arms"; the intervening space being originally occupied by another tavern called "The Three Tuns," belonging to the Manor, which was pulled down some time before 1711 (Middx. Regy. 1711, March 26, Clarkson to Turton).

As to the date of its foundation, Faulkner is also mistaken, as there is a record of Shrewsbury's residence in Chelsea as early as 1519 (Brewer's State Papers, vol. iii.). In a list of freehold tenants of the Manor in a Court Roll of 1543, at the Public Record Office, Francis Earl of Shrewsbury is mentioned, but beyond this nothing is heard of the house until after the death of "Bess of Hardwick," who devised her estates to William Earl of Devonshire. His widow, says Faulkner, "continued to reside at Chelsea till her death, which happened in 1643, as appears by the parish books, in which are also entries of the burials of some of her domestics."

During the latter part of the seventeenth century, the house was occupied by the family of Alston. Sir Joseph Alston, "knight," was buried here on the 31st May 1688. It is stated in Wooton's Baronetage that he was the son of Edward Alston, of Edwardston, Suffolk. His wife, Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Mr. Crookenburg, a Dutch Merchant, brought her husband a portion of £12,000. She was buried here on the 7th February 1670-1, her funeral sermon being preached by Dr. Adam Littleton, and subsequently printed. "Above all," says the preacher, concluding a catalogue of her virtues, "her humility was remarkable; for she had that which Saint Peter advises grave matrons to put on, the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God, and of good men too, of great price; and this she preferred before all the gawdy attire which others of her sex, especially of her fortune, use to adorn themselves withal. In a word, as she expressed

the vertues of the other sister in her domestick cares so I doubt not but she minded the one thing necessary too, and with Mary in the Gospel chose that better part, which shall not be taken from her." Other entries relating to this family are these;

The next owner of Shrewsbury House appears to have been Robert Butler, whose monument is mentioned in Lysons' list of those in the churchyard, but of which no trace now remains. It is described in his will, which was dated 26th July 1711, and proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on the 29th December 1712, as “the house and gardens [&c.] wherein Mr. Woodcock now dwells and the coachhouse stables [&c.] rented of me by Mr. Bates lately deceased and the rooms rented of me by Captain Jenkins being part of the said house of Mr. Woodcock's." It was devised to his son Edward (after a life estate to his wife) in fee simple, together with the right of common there. From this it appears that the main portion of it was used by Mr. Woodcock for his school, and the rest let out to lodgers.

Besides Shrewsbury House, Butler devised some freehold land in Chelsea, and bequeathed to his wife "my house in Paradise Row

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wherein I now live." Another bequest to his son Edward is of interest as a link in the history of "Ormonde House," which is the subject of one of Mr. L'Estrange's most charming chapters in "The Village of Palaces," and which stood at the east end of Paradise Row. Whether or not it was in reality the retreat of the Duchess of Ormonde, I cannot be certain. In the will it is described as "my house in Paradise Row wherein Jermyn Wych Esq. now lives and wherein the late Countess of Bristol lived." In 1736 it was sold by Martha, widow of Robert Butler, and her son, Edward Butler, D.C.L., then president of Magdalen College, Oxford, to Sir Thomas Lombe, Knight and Alderman, for the remainder of a term of 61 years granted by Lord Cheyne to Thomas Hill, of Chelsea, mason, for 61 years, on the 12th May 1691. In this conveyance it is described as a piece of land 120 ft. from east to west, and 287 ft. from north to south, and the messuage or tenement, coach house, stables, wash house or brew house erected thereon; a description which indicates that Hill originally built it. (Middx. Regy. 10 Dec. 1736. Butler to Lombe.)

Robert Butler was buried "in a vault in the Churchyard" on the 19th Dec. 1712; and “Mrs. Martha Butler," presumably his widow, on the 10th May 1739. Afterwards, says Faulkner, Shrewsbury House came into the possession of Mr. Tate, and was occupied as a stained paper manufactory. An interesting letter written by Miss Elizabeth Gulston, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, is printed by Faulkner, relating an interview with an old man who had worked as a lad in the factory, and remembered the discovery of a subterranean passage, leading northwards to the King's Road.

ARCH HOUSE

Amongst the four houses mentioned in Dr. King's letter (p. 85) as claiming to be Sir Thos. More's, is "that which was once Sir Reginald Bray's, at the Arch, which is now [1717] built into several tenements." A portion of this house, and of the arch which was demolished in 1871 to make way for the embankment, may be seen in

the frontispiece to this book, while the principal part of it stood at the south-west corner of Church Lane, extending northwards as far as to include the present "White Horse" Inn.

Its division at so early a date has no doubt contributed to obscure its earlier history; of which no satisfactory account has yet been offered. But some new data which I have discovered are enough, I hope, to justify the conjectures which I have added to them in the following paragraphs.

In 1733, Penelope, wife of Thomas Symonds, Elizabeth, Ann, and Mary Williams, the four sisters and coheiresses of William Williams, only son of Dame Mary, wife of Sir John Williams, Bart., and only daughter and heiress of Sir William Powell, alias Hinson, Bart., conveyed to Richard Coope, Esq., of London, together with a quantity of land in Fulham, the following premises in Chelsea :-All those four messuages or tenements (formerly one messuage) with the four stables and three gardens thereunto belonging situate in Chelsea, one of which said messuages was then or lately an Inn commonly called or known by the name of the White Horse Inn and the same four messuages did adjoin together and abut on the River Thames on the south, on a messuage in the tenure of Bryan Wade, gent., on the north on a lane or street called Church Lane on the east and on a messuage and garden ground in the tenure of John Ruberry, victualler, and Humphrey, gent. on the west, which premises were formerly purchased of the Lady Baker and Thomas Fisher, and were then or late in the several tenures or occupations of Doctor Tristram, Sir Yelverton Peyton, Bart., Thomas Ansell, John Tully and Clifford Liveland.

Also a pew in Chelsea Church. (Middlx. Regy. 1733, Bk. 5, No. 327.)

A pedigree of Powell given in Mr. Feret's recent history of Fulham shows that Sir William Powell, alias Hinson, who died in 1680, was the nephew of Sir Edward Powell, son of Edmund Powell of Fulham, and grandson of John Powell of Pengethley, co. Hereford. Hinson assumed the name of Powell in accordance with Sir Edward's will, under which he was principal devisee of the Fulham and Chelsea

estates.

The fact that John Powell of Fulham bequeathed £10 to the poor