Until a few years ago a house was standing on the west side of Coleman Street, near the north end, which, like houses innumerable, was reputed to have been a residence of Oliver Cromwell; at first sight it appeared to date from the earlier part of the eighteenth century. There was in it a good eighteenth century staircase with a skylight above, and one of the rooms had a handsome mantelpiece, also apparently Georgian. Another room, on the first floor, was distinguished by very remarkable features: it was panelled with cedar, and, as will be seen, the style of this panelling and of the handsome carved chimneypiece are distinctly Jacobean. The house, therefore, was much older than appeared at first sight, or else it had been rebuilt early in the eighteenth century, the chimneypiece and panelling being insertions from an older building. The houses at the north end of Coleman Street were not destroyed in the Great Fire. In 1891-92 the cedar room was used as an office by Mr. H. S. Foster, then Sheriff of London. In 1896 the house was pulled down by Messrs. Colls and Son, whose offices adjoined, and in clearing away the foundations the workmen came upon three ancient wells—two of them went down 20 ft. below the pavement level. The following is quoted from an illustrated article in the "City Press" for June 6th, 1896:—"The construction of these wells or elongated water-butts was simplicity itself. Tubs or casks, bound with wooden hoops, were sunk into the ground and banked up with puddled clay to keep them water-tight. The clay remains to this day, as also do the wooden hoops (or did till very recently), but the latter are as soft as touchwood." The description of these casks reminds one of casks somewhat similar which have been found in Roman wells at Silchester, and were exhibited in the rooms of the Society of Antiquaries at Burlington House. In the wells beneath No. 4, Coleman Street, were discovered various pieces of pottery in remarkably good preservation, which are now in the Guildhall. The collection represents types ranging from the beginning of the fifteenth to the end of the seventeenth century. The soil in which these old wells were sunk was dark and peaty, like that of Moorfields, on the other side of the City Wall. (12 × 9-13/16) D. 84-1896. 43. Interior of The Two Brewers Public-house, No. 27, London Wall, 1886 (Black and white).