London (England) -- Description and travel; London (England) -- History -- 1800-1950
The White Lion, in St. John Street, Clerkenwell, was originally an inn
frequented by drovers and carriers, and covered a good deal of ground;
but before its demolition it had already been greatly reduced in size,
the gateway leading into the yard having been built up and formed into
an oil-shop. Inserted in the front wall was the sign in stone relief,
representing a lion rampant, painted white, and with the date 1714. A
house on the other side of the central portion also seems to have formed
part of the original White Lion. The gate just mentioned led into a yard
similar to those attached to other ancient inns. There were, in the
east front of the inn, strong wooden beams, which no doubt supported the
erection over the gateway, and that there was a yard surrounded by a
gallery is proved by the remains of door openings in the upper parts of
the back walls of the premises, which had been bricked up. At one time
a bowling-green was attached to the tavern, and by the side of it a
pond, in which Anthony Joyce, the cousin of Pepys, drowned himself. He
was a tavern keeper, and kept the Three Stags in Holborn, which was
burnt down in 1666. Pepys records in his Diary, under September 5 of
that year: ’Thence homeward ... having ... seen Anthony Joyce’s house on
fire.’ The loss incurred by the fire preyed on Joyce’s mind, and is
supposed to have led him to commit the rash act.
Here we will close our selection, which embraces all the most important
galleried taverns once existing in London. Their disappearance is much
to be regretted, though with the requirements of modern travellers it
was scarcely to be avoided. But they formed picturesque features of
London, which has so very few of them, especially as regards hotels,
which in their modern style remind us only of slightly decorated
barracks, if they are not perfectly hideous, as, for instance, the
architectural nightmare in Victoria Street. But there are plenty of
people yet who delight in old-fashioned houses and surroundings—the
revival of stage-coaches is proof of it. A galleried tavern with modern
improvements would, we fancy, not be a bad spec.
*II.—OLD LONDON TEA-GARDENS.*
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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