The extent, yet it nevertheless formed the foundation of our present St. Paul's. Walbrook was a stream easily fordable, and so the citizens preferred the east of the City for their residence; but the Fleet on the west was not only, as its name implied, a rapid river, but the adjoining ground was quite a marsh, which would seem to prohibit immediate reclamation. On the north the hill which rose from its bank was destined to become noted in history, for here was fought that great battle between the Romans, under Suetonius Paulinus, and the Britons, under their heroic Queen Boadicea, A.D. 61, a battle which centuries later was commemorated by the district being called Battle Bridge. After an existence for many a year of ill repute, the march of improvement—a compulsory reform-caused an enterprising builder, one William Forester Bray,* in the days of George the Fourth, to change its ancient name to the more modern one of King's Cross, and it is a somewhat curious coincidence that where once was fought this great battle for freedom the site forms a great connecting link of 19th century locomotion between the now thickly-peopled districts north and south of the Thames. Roman London, which existed from fifteen to twenty feet beneath the present city, was at a very early period encircled by a wall, said to be erected by the mother of Constantine about A.D. 306, but its restoration by Alfred the Great may be said to mark the great epoch in its history. It was two miles and 608 feet round the City, and many gates were erected, in the line of which such streets as Aldgate, Aldersgate, Newgate, and Ludgate still exist. Portions of this wall may be seen in the street called London Wall, in Cripplegate Churchyard, at the back of Ludgatehill, and other places. Of the City itself the remains which are continually being found give us an interesting view of the homes of our forefathers. And it is satisfactory to know that in the line of thoroughfare westward of Ludgate findings tell us that the Romans either had dwellings or other connections with our district. Beginning at Ludgate, there was found in 1800 the interesting sepulchral monument, in the rear of the London Coffee House, now in the Guildhall Museum, which corroborated Pennant's words that the soldiers were buried in the Vallum of the Prætorian Camp, near Ludgate, and the citizens in the Pomserium, a space where buildings were prohibited without the gates--a space which now agrees with Fleet-street then the truly country road to Westminster. Another sepulchral monument, found by Wren himself, is in the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford. The Fleet has from first to last been productive in the greatest extent, but it would take up too much room to mention the relics rescued from the old river bed. Perhaps the most interesting discovery was in 1834, when Roman utensils, coins, two brazen lares, or household gods, and Saxon antiquities were found. Then again, in 1681, near St. Andrew's Church, Holborn, was brought to light portions of a Roman tessalated pavement; and in 1854 was dug up a portion of a glass vase of the period in Bartlett's Buildings. A tall one-handled urn of the 14th century was found opposite Bride Lane, in Fleet Street, in 1856, and beneath the Temple, during excavations, many curiosities have been dug up. Our old historian, Stow, describes a stone pavement which, in 1595, was discovered four feet from the surface, and supported by a number of piles driven very close together, near Chan *Grandfather of the present writer. See "Notes and Queries," 2nd Series, xii. 67. cery Lane, in Fleet Street, evidently showing, from the condition of the timber, that the ground of old was so marshy as to compel this support. Outside Temple Bar the Strand has repeatedly exhibited proofs of its former marshy nature, added to which is the fact that two bridges had been of later times thrown across two rivulets which ran from the higher ground to the Thames. One of these bridges, of stone, eleven feet long, and covered by rubbish, was found eastward of St. Clement's Church, in 1802, and was probably the very bridge mentioned in the reign of Edward the Third as built by the Templars by the King's command. But perhaps the most interesting of relics hereabouts is the "Old Roman Spring Bath,"* in Strand Lane, which at once takes us back to the days when the roadway westward of the Bar was far from being the bustling and busy scene it now daily exhibits. In 1847 some curious mediæval glazed pottery was found at a considerable depth in excavating for new vaults at Messrs. Powells, Star Yard, Carey Street. Now, the Romans, it must be remembered, chose the vicinity of the Forest for this manufacture, because the wood provided the kiln fires, and, as Miss Meteyard observes, some two or three adjoined the City "just without the walls," while another was situated in Southwark across the river, at all which potteries were made "that wonderful glaze which now, at the distance of near 2,000 years, shines as brilliantly as on the day it was first spread over the vessels it adorns." And another fact to favour this supposition that here may have been one of these potteries is that the great forest of Middlesex once covered the very banks of the Thames, the remains of which were existing when Gulielmus Stephanides, or, as the vulgar call him, William Fitz Stephen, wrote his celebrated account of London in the reign of Henry the Second, when the north of London boasted of green fields and pleasant streams, and an excellent spring of water in St. Clement's parish-the Holywell-was the resort of the 'prentice lads and citizens at large. At the beginning of the last century Dr. Woodward, the celebrated antiquary,† in some letters to the architect, Wren, and Thomas Hearne, and printed in 1723, gave a very interesting account of the ancient inhabitants of London and the Druids, whose groves or woods "the Romans cut down because they had dedicated them to so cruel superstitions as the oblation of human blood and the sacrificing of men." But we can travel a little further westward of St. Clement's to find the remains of the Romans, for while the foundations of the Church of St. Martin-inthe-Fields (Charing Cross) were being dug in 1722, there were found, at a depth of fourteen feet, a Roman brick arch, some "buffalo heads," and a glass vase containing ashes in a stone coffin, on the site of the church portico. And a century later, in a district new to such finds, were dug up from beneath the present upholstery warehouse of Messrs. Gillow and Co., in Oxford Street, twelve silver coins of the Roman period. Interesting as it must be to antiquaries to know that Roman London has left so many landmarks, it cannot fail to grieve all true lovers of the profession that our *See an interesting notice of this old Roman Bath in Diprose's "Some Account of St. Clement Danes," 1868, p. 265. I have a copy of the catalogue of his library, antiquities, &c., "which will begin to be sold by auction at Mr. Coopers, in the Great Piazza, Covent Garden, on Monday, the 11th day of Nov., 1728." The sale was twice a-day, 11 till 2 and 5 till 8. My copy of this curious catalogue, printed by Henry Woodfall, at Elzevir's Head, without Temple Bar," is priced, and I find the books realised £1,482 10s. and the antiquities £500: total, £1,982 10s. forefathers thought so little of the discoveries made from time to time since the occupation of the city by that famous race as to neglect up till a very recent period, not only to save these antiquities, but even to record the finds. If their wisdom had only equalled ours what a glorious collection would have been handed to posterity, and who can tell the field of thought that would have opened, and the extent of interest excited by such a trifling amount of labour or care as at the time would have been required? Thanks to the present generation, we take a great interest in the history of our forefathers, and still further thanks are due to all those who have devoted money and time to the furtherance of the subject. A wonderful collection was brought to light by the architect of the present Royal Exchange (Sir William Tite, M.P.,) when digging for the foundation of the building in 1841; and other citizens have shown great activity whenever an excavation in the City is being made; and a few years hence we may have the pleasure of seeing a museum of antiquities worthy of the City of London and the Capital of the Kingdom! Of all those who have persevered in the preservation of the relics of Roman London none stands more prominently forward than the able antiquary, Mr. Charles Roach Smith, who not only has collected them, but has written at great length upon the interesting collections which have been made.* It was not, however, till some dozen years since that he, with the Rev. Thomas Hugo, Mr. J. G. Waller, and others, raised one of the most important questions relating to the Roman period -a question which has been allowed to slumber long beyond its time. Has any person noticed the peculiar position of the ground lately occupied by the Fleet Prison in Farringdon Street? It is a flat, while its north, south and east sides rises to a hill. Mr. Waller considered the site as artificial, but was at a loss to find its purpose; while others imagined it was the scene of a great landslip. Mr. Smith, writing to the Rev. Thomas Hugo in 1856, stated that he too was unable to explain the cause till he had compared the environs of our city with those of the French towns of Jublains and Evreux, and from various circumstances, he came to the conclusion that the site of the Fleet Prison was the site of the Amphitheatre of the Roman London! "Londinium," says he, "was a town of far greater importance than many of these places, and I think, doubtless, had one theatre at least. You will recollect that the theatres in Gaul were built into a hill or rising ground; the earth being excavated so that much labour would be saved by adapting the back of the hill for the rows of seats, as at Littlebourne, &c. I then accounted for the remarkable elevation and sudden descent (into Seacoal Lane) in the belief that masses of masonry are yet extant beneath the houses, which have, in fact, been built upon them."t Be the conclusion good or bad, it may be considered worthy of further enquiry, and is at all events extremely interesting, and not at all without a certain degree of probability. Having briefly shewn how intimately our great highway must have been connected with the Romans of a thousand years ago, it is now my design to show its progress subsequently-to point out such incidents in the history of the district, and * "Illustrations of Roman London," 1859, 4to, a most interesting and valuable work, in which Mr. Smith gives a list of 2,000 Roman coins found in and about the City, and a lengthy review of the history of ancient Londinium. + Trans.-London and Middle Arch. Soc., vol. i., p. 33. the customs of the citizens, as cannot fail to be worth the perusal of all those true lovers of antiquity, as compared with our civilisation and progression. It is truly interesting to watch the curious events which have from time to time occurred in Fleet Street, many of them not merely local, but of national importance. In 1228, a certain Henry de Buke, slaying one Le Ireis le Tylor-perhaps Irishman the Tyler in the street by Fleet Bridge, fled to the Church of St. Mary, Southwark, and by acknowledging the deed, claimed sanctuary.* In 1311, five of the King's household were arrested in the street for a burglary, and though his Majesty demanded them to be given up, the City declined to entertain the Kingly request.f In 1815, the inhabitants of Westminster petitioned Edward the Second, that the way between "la Barre du Novel Temple de Londres," and the Palace, was so bad, that in the rainy season, they were greatly interrupted, especially by thickets and bushes, to remedy which a tax was levied on the inhabitants for its repair,‡ a tax however, too unjust to be enforced, but which in 1353, resulted in a three years levy of a halfpenny upon every pound worth of goods, and 3d. upon a sack of wool, 4d. on every ton of wine, and 6d. on every last of leather, conveyed either by land or water, to the staple at Westminster. Fancy the inhabitants of London in the 19th century being stopped in their progress along the Strand, through a miry road and clusters of thickets and bushes! In 1324 two forges had been granted to the prior of St. John of Jerusalem by the Parliament. They had been originally erected in Fleet Street, on each side of St. Dunstan's Church, by the Templars, but appear to have been destroyed when Wat Tyler and his rebel army marched into London in 1881. Two years after the Prior petitioned for a remission of 15s. rent formerly paid by him for these forges, but which being destroyed, he considered ought not to be paid, and though he made continual application, it was not till the year 1485 that the Crown agreed to discharge him, upon condition that the ground was added to the street, and the 15s. paid into the Exchequer by the sheriffs. As another forge is mentioned standing in a corner without Ludgate, in 1436, at 9s. per annum rent, while two shops in the parish of St. Bridget, were charged 8s. per annum, §-it is clear house rent had not reached an exorbitant height then. And no wonder, for it was not till a century later that Fleet Street and the Strand were thoroughly paved with stone, the road being "full of pits and sloughs, very perilous and noisome," to the passers by. Long before this, however, the Fleet Street houses appear to have been of some importance, for the inhabitants are continually mentioned in the old records. One of them as early as 1321 supplied Edward the Second with "Six pair of boots with tassels of silk and drops of silver gilt, price of each pair 5s.,"¶ while a document in the Record Office tell us that in 1520, the buckles for the Guard of Queen Catherine, the first wife of Henry the Eighth, was supplied from the sign of "the Coppe," in the same street. And we have another document telling us that the houses from the Temple Church northwards to the High Street, were erected by the Templars just previous to 1336. * "Liber Albus," p. 76. † Riley's "Memorials of London." "Rot. Parl." vol. i, p. 302. "Rot. Parl.," vol. iii, 179, vi. 313. § "Harl MS.," 6016, p. 152. "Archælogia," vol. xxvi., p. 344. Old London must have been a very picturesque place, and not only that, but really gloried in magnificence westward of the City walls. Let us attempt a view of it as we take a hasty walk between the then navigable Fleet River (now a City sewer under Farringdon Street), and the little village of Charing, five hundred years. ago. We shall see that Fleet Street and the Strand were thus early by no means an insignificant highway, however bad the road may have been in the wet season. First, we see the ancient palace of Bridewell on the south, with the residence of the Bishop of Bangor in Shoe Lane, on the north. Adjoining the Church of St. Bridget, is the mansion of the Primate of Salisbury; and adjoining it on the west, the famous Monastery of the Carmelites at the Whitefriars, with the interesting buildings of the Templars, among which the Round Church forms a conspicuous object. On the opposite side of Fleet Street is the Fewter, or Idle People's Lane, leading to the gardens and the fields, while adjoining the lane, on the west is the compact little property of the Cliffords, with the old Church of St. Dunstan extending far into the line of roadway. Beyond the "Bar," the road gets more rural, for while the south side has many a goodly mansion with gardens sloping to the river banks, the north has many fields extending to the Oxford Road, and with but few buildings till the hospice of St. Giles is seen to the west. After we pass St. Clement's Church, with the Lord Bishop of Exeter's residence on its south-side, we see that of another prelate, he of Bath-which in latter times became Lord Arundel's house. We have now arrived among the Bishops, for the Sees of Chester, Lichfield and Llandaff each had its "inn "" here, upon a portion of which property was built the princely Somerset House in after years. Opposite is a famous old stone cross standing in the centre of the street. But the princely palace of the Savoy is next seen, and we remember it as the site of the great Simon de Montfort's residence, and where, lately, John, King of France, was a prisoner. A Bishop of Durham had not long before built another princely habitation close by, and a little further stands the Hospital of St. Mary Rounceval, which in years to come was to give place to Northumberland House. We have now arrived at the village of Charing, we see the convent of Westminster, with its rich gardens, trees, watercourses and fields beyond, extending far northwards, while on the south and west are to be seen the Abbey of Westminster, and the ancient palace of our Kings, with surrounding buildings in which the Court and State mostly dwelt. All along our route we have seen magnificent buildings for in that day it was necessary to have a town house, as travelling was far from being expeditious, and not without great danger, and the highroad to the palace was more easy of reaching one's residence than a dwelling further off. With such a glimpse of our Fleet Street and the Strand, who will not lament that artists and photographers were not then alive to leave to posterity a picture of London in the reign of Edward the Third? With palaces, monasteries, churches, with groves of trees, and gardens with the now pleasant Temple, then the least of this magnificent range of dwellings, without a bridge across the Thames except at London, with the wherries and the noblemen's barges on the silent, but then truly silvery Thames, what a picturesque view indeed of the ancient highway to Westminster! And here it must be necessary to state at what period the City liberty extended |