Guilds -- England -- London; London (England) -- Description and travel; London (England) -- History
In the fifteenth century there was standing in Old Jewry, north of St.
Olave’s Church, and extending to the north end of Ironmonger Lane and
down the lane as far as St. Martin’s Church, a large building of stone
“very ancient,” the history and purpose of which were unknown except
that Henry VI. appointed one John Stert, keeper of the place, which he
called his principal palace in the Old Jewry. It was standing when Stow
was a boy, but he says the outward stone-work was little by little taken
down, and houses built upon the site. It was known as the Old Wardrobe.
I know of no other reference to this place, but one would like to learn
more. The taking away of the stone “little by little” accounts in like
manner for the gradual disappearance of the ruins of the monastic
houses.
The modern street is not of much interest. The City Police Office is in
a court of some size near the north end. The Old King’s Head is in an
elaborate building faced with red sandstone, and a grimy blackened old
brick house close by contains the Italian Consulate.
In Frederick Place are two rows of Georgian houses in dull brick,
varying only slightly in detail. The iron link-holders of a past fashion
still survive on the railings before some of the houses. No. 8, at the
south-eastern corner, contains some curious and interesting mantels. One
of these has a central panel representing a boar hunt; this is in relief
enclosed in a large oval. There are fine details also in other
fireplaces in the house.
But these are not the only objects of interest in Frederick Place, for
in exactly the opposite corner, the north-west, in a house numbered 4,
are one or two fireplaces which surpass these in beauty if not in
quaintness. In one of the rooms there is a very high and
well-proportioned white marble mantelpiece, with singularly little
decoration, which is yet most effective. All these houses are now used
as offices by business men, and the evidences of bygone domestic
occupation add a human interest to the daily routine.
=St. Mary Colechurch= was situated in the Poultry at the south-west
corner of the Old Jewry. It was burnt down in the Great Fire, and
not rebuilt, its parish being annexed to that of St. Mildred,
Poultry. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1252.
The patronage of the church was in the hands of Henry III., who
presented to it one Roger de Messendene, April 21, 1252; then the
Master and Brethren of St. Thomas de Acon; afterwards Henry VIII.,
who granted it to the Mercer’s Company, April 21, 1542.
Houseling people in 1548 were 220.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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