THE ANCIENT REMAINS AND ANTIQUITIES

OF

THE CITY OF LONDON, ·

Aldersgate Ward,

WITH THE LIBERTY OF ST. MARTIN'S LE GRAND,

Is very extensive; and takes its name from one of the four prin eipal gates of the City, which formerly stood in this division. It is bounded on the north and east by Cripplegate Ward; on the south by the Ward of Farringdon Within; and on the west by the Ward of Farringdon Without. Commencing at the southern extremity of St. Martin's le Grand, it runs in a northerly direction as far as the Bars in Goswell Street, (where the liberties of the City terminate on that side,) its boundary on the east side being Fan's Alley, and on the west side Carthusian Street. This Ward includes the whole of Aldersgate Street, Little Britain, Long Lane, part of Barbican, Jewin Street, St. Martin's le Grand, part of Noble Street, part of Foster Lane, &c. It is divided into two districts; Aldersgate Ward within, comprising the four precincts of St. John Zachary, St. Leonard Foster Lane, St. Mary Staining, and St. Anne; and Aldersgate Ward without the walls, consisting of four precincts, all in the parish of St. Botolph. It is governed by an alderman, two deputies, eight common-council men, and has four teen inquest men, eight constables, and two beadles. There are four parishes in this Ward, but only two churches, St. Botolph's and St. Anne's,

St. Botolph, a curacy in the gift of the dean and chapter of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster, was so called from a Saxon monk. It was originally attached to the deanery of St. Martin's le Grand, and in 1329 was licensed by King Richard II, to dean Stanley, with power to appropriate the income of this living to his collegiate church of St. Martin, on the condition of a

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perpetual annual celebration of the death of his consort Anne, and at his own decease the commemoration to be observed for them both for ever. In the year 1519, Henry VII. annexed the collegiate deanery of St. Martin's le Grand to that of St. Peter, Westminster, together with other endowments of which this church formed a part, and it continued after the Reformation an appendage to the see of Westminster, until the reign of queen Mary, who restored it to the prior and monastery; but it was finally bestowed by queen Elizabeth on the dean and chapter of Westminster, when she established St. Peter's as a collegiate church in the second year of her reign. It is however still subject to the bishop of London and the archdeacon, to both of whom it pays procuration. The antiquity of this church may be traced by the parish records as far back as 1319, when it was used by the fraternity of the Holy Trinity, an order of Cluniac monks attached to the priory of Clugny in France, who performed mass on the saints days and other fasts or festivals, until suppressed by king Henry V. who gave the church and hospital attached to it to the parishioners of St. Botolph, who with Joan Astley, nurse of Henry VI. founded a brotherhood of priests, to celebrate divine service within the church, which was dissolved at the Reformation. This church, situated at the south-east corner of Little Britain, was amongst the few that escaped the ravages of the great fire of London in 1666. It fell into entire decay shortly afterwards, and was wholly rebuiltin 1754, since which period it has been kept in complete repair, and was rebuilt about thirty years since, at the expence of £10,000. The exterior, which is not particularly striking, consists of a square front divided into three compartments, with a large central window. The interior is very chaste and appropriate, and the decorations plain and suitable. The cieling is in divisions, having in the centre wreaths of leaves and flowers arranged with great elegance of design, and rendered more striking and tasteful by scrolls beautifully executed in the corners, giving a graceful and classical finish to the whole. The east window is ornamented with fine specimens of stained glass, depicting Christ's agony in the garden, executed by Mr. Pierson, which being placed directly above the altar, has an admirable effect in diffusing that "dim religious light" so congenial to the feelings of devotion. On the south side is a niche of neat architecture, within which is a painted window

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containing the representation of St. Peter; and a third niche has a painting, on glass, of St. John the Evangelist. There are many monuments and tablets in this church, but none of sufficient public interest to be here described: the donations have been considerable; a list of them may be found in Strype's edition of Stow's History of London.

St. Ann's and St. Agnes' church, called also St. Anne in the Willows, on account of the willows which were in the church-yard, was dedicated to the Mother of the Virgin Mary. It is a rectory with St. John Zachary, in the gift of the dean and chapter of the cathedral church of St. Paul's, the bishop of London and the dean and chapter having the alternate presentation. The living was anciently in the gift of the deanery of St. Martin's le Grand, Its antiquity can be traced to 1322, when John de Chimerby was collated to the living, but it is probably much older, and was confirmed to the dean and canons by William the Conqueror. It was added with the deanery of St. Martin's le Grand to the abbey of Westminster by Heny VII., and finally transferred to the bishop of London by queen Mary. There is a tradition, that it took its name from two sisters, Anne and Agnes, who erected it in conformity with a vow made to the Mother of the Holy Virgin, but we have no certainty of this statement. It was burnt down by the devastating fire of London in 1666, having in the year 1548 been nearly destroyed by that element, and rebuilt. In 1669 it was rebuilt on the original site by Sir Christopher Wren. It is a plain structure; the windows cased with rustic, and the tower similarly strengthened at its angles with a plain turret and spire. The inte➡ rior is square, and the roof geometrically supported by four composite pillars. The roof is divided into four arches, ornamented with a fretwork of flowers, fruit, &c. and round the four quadrangles formed by the roof is a circumference of richly orna mented open-work in stone. The altar-piece consists of two fluted columns supporting an architrave, friese and cornice, all of fine wainscot. The church is fifty-three feet square. The principal monument is worthy of transcription: it is as follows:

"Peter Heiwood that deceased November 2, 1701, younger son of Peter Heiwood, one of the counsellors of Jamaica, by Grace, daughter of Sir John Maddeford, knight and baronet, great

grandson to Peter Heiwood, of Heywood, in the county palatine of Lancaster, who apprehended Guy Faux with his dark lanthorn; and for his zealous prosecution of papists as justice of peace, was stabbed in Westminster Hall by John James, a Dominican friar, ann. dom. 1640.

"Reader, if not a papist bred,

Upon these ashes gently tread."

Amongst the rectors of this parish may be enumerated Alan Percy, son of the duke of Northumberland, Eusebius Pagett, Dr. John Hopton bishop of Norwich, and Samuel Freeman dean of Peterborough, all eminent divines.

The parish of St. John Zachary, annexed to the parish of St. Anne and St. Agnes, Aldersgate, was deprived of its church by the fire of London, and has not been rebuilt. The church was ori ginally dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and bestowed on a person named Zachary, which name was subsequently added to it. It was a rectory, and the site of the church at the north-west corner of Maiden lane, is now the cemetery for the parish. There are some few remains of the old east wall of the church, and a tablet bearing date 1661. Here was interred the body of alderman John Sutton, who was killed on London bridge, in the skirmish between the rebels, headed by John Cade, and the citizens of London.

At the end of Staining-lane is a burial-ground, the original site of the church of St. Mary Staining, so called from the street in which it stood being inhabited by paper-stainers; or more probably from the Saxon word stane, or stone. This church was destroyed at the great fire, and not being rebuilt, the parish was annexed tó that of St. Michael, Wood Street, but being poorly endowed, the presentation was given to the patrons of St. Michael for two turns, and the crown for one turn, to which it had reverted in the reign of Henry VIII. on the suppression of the convent of Clerkenwell, in whose prioress the patronage of the living was vested. There are not more than fifty honses in the parish, but there are two churchwardens and four overseers. Amongst the rectors of this church was the notorious Dr. Tongue, who figured conspia cuously in Titus Oates' Plot.

The fourth precinct in Aldersgate Ward Within takes its name from the church of St. Leonard, Foster-lane, which formerly stood

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on the west side of Foster-lane, and was founded about 1237 by the then dean of St. Martin's for the use of the inhabitants of the Sanctuary, of which we shall presently speak. It is a rectory, anciently under the patronage of the founder, and annexed with the collegiate foundation of the abbey of Westminster, the deau and chapter of which still are the patrons of it, but the church not being rebuilt after its destruction by fire in 1666, it was united to the parish of Christ church, Newgate-street, the patrons of which (the governors of St. Bartholomew's Hospital) present to the living alternately with the dean and chapter of Westminster abbey. ALDERS-GATE

which formerly stood at the south end of the Castle and Falcon İnn, and 1265 feet south-west of Cripplegate, was, according to Stow, one of the four original gates of the city, Alders-gate forming the northern entrance. Its name is derived by some from Aldrich, a Saxon, who originally erected it; and by others, from the alder trees which grew near the spot; and either of these deri. vations is more probable than that the name was conferred on