The Fascination of London By Sir Walter Besant

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The Fascination of London

WESTMINSTER

BY

SIR WALTER BESANT

AND

G. E. MITTON

WITH A CHAPTER ON THE ABBEY BY MRS. A. MURRAY SMITH

LONDON

ADAM & CHARLES BLACK

1902

PREFATORY NOTE

A survey of London, a record of the greatest of all cities, that should

preserve her history, her historical and literary associations, her

mighty buildings, past and present, a book that should comprise all that

Londoners love, all that they ought to know of their heritage from the

past--this was the work on which Sir Walter Besant was engaged when he

died.

As he himself said of it: "This work fascinates me more than anything

else I've ever done. Nothing at all like it has ever been attempted

before. I've been walking about London for the last thirty years, and I

find something fresh in it every day."

He had seen one at least of his dreams realized in the People's Palace,

but he was not destined to see this mighty work on London take form. He

died when it was still incomplete. His scheme included several volumes

on the history of London as a whole. These he finished up to the end of

the eighteenth century, and they form a record of the great city

practically unique, and exceptionally interesting, compiled by one who

had the qualities both of novelist and historian, and who knew how to

make the dry bones live. The volume on the eighteenth century, which Sir

Walter called a "very big chapter indeed, and particularly interesting,"

will shortly be issued by Messrs. A. and C. Black, who had undertaken

the publication of the Survey.

Sir Walter's idea was that the next two volumes should be a regular and

systematic perambulation of London by different persons, so that the

history of each parish should be complete in itself. This was a very

original feature in the great scheme, and one in which he took the

keenest interest. Enough has been done of this section to warrant its

issue in the form originally intended, but in the meantime it is

proposed to select some of the most interesting of the districts and

publish them as a series of booklets, attractive alike to the local

inhabitant and the student of London, because much of the interest and

the history of London lie in these street associations. For this purpose

Chelsea, Westminster, the Strand, and Hampstead have been selected for

publication first, and have been revised and brought up to date.

The difficulty of finding a general title for the series was very great,

for the title desired was one that would express concisely the undying

charm of London--that is to say, the continuity of her past history

with the present times. In streets and stones, in names and palaces, her

history is written for those who can read it, and the object of the

series is to bring forward these associations, and to make them plain.

The solution of the difficulty was found in the words of the man who

loved London and planned the great scheme. The work "fascinated" him,

and it was because of these associations that it did so. These links

between past and present in themselves largely constitute The

Fascination of London.

G. E. M.

CONTENTS

                                                                    PAGE

PREFATORY NOTE                                                         v

PART I

SOUTH OF VICTORIA STREET                                               1

PART II

NORTH OF VICTORIA STREET                                              24

PART III

THE HEART OF WESTMINSTER                                              40

INDEX                                                                 93

_Map at end of Volume._

WESTMINSTER

PART I

SOUTH OF VICTORIA STREET.

The word Westminster used in the title does not mean that city which has

its boundaries stretching from Oxford Street to the river, from the

Broad Walk, Kensington Gardens, to Temple Bar. A city which embraces the

parishes of St. George's, Hanover Square; St. James's, Piccadilly; St.

Anne's, Soho; St. Paul's, Covent Garden; St. Clement Danes; St. Mary le

Strand, etc.; and which claims to be older even than London, dating its

first charter from the reign of King Edgar. But, rather, Westminster in

its colloquial sense, that part of the city which lies within the

parishes of St. Margaret and St. John. When anyone says, 'I am going to

Westminster,' or, 'I am staying in Westminster,' it is this district

that he means to indicate.

The parishes of St. Margaret and St. John include the land bounded on

one side by the river; on another by a line running through the Horse

Guards and diagonally across St. James's Park to Buckingham Gate; and on

the third by an irregular line which crosses Victoria Street to the west

of Carlisle Place, and subsequently cuts across the Vauxhall Bridge Road

near Francis Street, and, continuing at a slight angle to the course of

the Bridge Road, strikes the river at a spot beyond the gasworks between

Pulford Terrace and Bessborough Place. There is also another piece of

land belonging to St. Margaret's parish; this lies detached, and

includes part of Kensington Gardens and the Round Pond; but it is only

mentioned to show it has not been overlooked, for the present account

will not deal with it. The triangular space roughly indicated above is

sufficient for one ramble.

Within this space stand, and have stood, so many magnificent buildings

closely connected with the annals of England that Westminster may well

claim to occupy a unique place in the history of the nation. The effects

of two such buildings as the Abbey and Palace upon its population were

striking and unique.

The right of sanctuary possessed by the Abbey drew thieves, villains,

and rogues of all kinds to its precincts. The Court drew to the Palace a

crowd of hangers-on, attendants, artificers, work-people, etc. When the

Court was migratory this great horde swept over Westminster at

intervals like a wave, and made a floating population. In the days of

"touching" for "King's evil," when the Court was held at Whitehall, vast

crowds of diseased persons gathered to Westminster to be touched. In

Charles II.'s time weekly sittings were appointed at which the number of

applicants was not to exceed 200. Between 1660-64, 23,601 persons were

"touched." Later, when the roads were still too bad to be traversed

without danger, many of the members of Parliament lodged in Westminster

while the House was sitting. Therefore, from the earliest date, when

bands of travellers and merchants came down the great north road, and

passed through the marshes of Westminster to the ferry, until the

beginning of the present century, there has always been a floating

element mingling with the stationary inhabitants of the parishes.

The history of Westminster itself is entwined with these two great

foundations, the Abbey and the Palace, which will be found described in

detail respectively at pp. 45 and 71.

DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT.

The perambulation of Westminster, undertaken street by street, differs

from that made at Chelsea or elsewhere by reason of the great buildings

aforementioned, which are centres of interest and require particular

notice. These will be dealt with as they occur, and so interesting are

they that they cause the street associations to sink into a position of

secondary importance.

Beginning at the least interesting end of Westminster--that is to say,

the west end of Victoria Street--there are not many objects of interest

apparent. Victoria Street was in 1852 cut through nests of alleys and

dirty courts, including a colony of almshouses, cottages, chapel, and

school, known as Palmer's Village. The solid uniform buildings on either

side of the street have a very sombre aspect; they are mainly used for

offices. There is still some waste ground lying to the south of Victoria

Street, in spite of the great Roman Catholic Cathedral, begun in 1895,

which covers a vast area. The material is red brick with facings of

stone, and the style Byzantine, the model set being the "early Christian

basilica in its plenitude." The high campanile tower, which is already

seen all over London, is a striking feature in a building quite

dissimilar from those to which we in England are accustomed. The great

entrance at the west end has an arch of forty feet span, and encloses

three doorways, of which the central one is only to be used on solemn

occasions by the Archbishop. One feature of the interior decoration will

be the mosaic pictures in the marble panels. The building is still

incomplete, and not open to the public. It stands on the site of Tothill

Fields Prison, which was considered to be one of the finest specimens of

brickwork in the country, and cost the nation L200,000, but has now

completely vanished. It resembled a fortress; the entrance, which stood

in Francis Street, was composed of massive granite blocks, and had a

portcullis. The prison took the place of a Bridewell or House of

Correction near, built in 1622; but in spite of the vast sum of money

spent upon it, it lasted only twenty years (1834-54).

The fire-station and Western District Post-Office also occupy part of

the same site. The extension of the Army and Navy Stores stands on the

site of the Greencoat School, demolished in 1877. Certain gentlemen

founded this school; in Charles I.'s reign it was constituted "a body

politic and corporate," and the seal bears date 1636. The lads wore a

long green skirt, bound round with a red girdle. In 1874, when the

United Westminster Schools were formed from the amalgamation of the

various school charities of Westminster, the work was begun here, but

three years later the boys were removed to the new buildings in Palace

Street. The old school buildings were very picturesque. They stood round

a quadrangle, and the Master's house faced the entrance, and was

decorated with a bust of King Charles and the royal arms. In the

wainscoted board-room hung portraits of King Charles I. by Vandyck, and

King Charles II. by Lely.

The name of Artillery Row is connected with the artillery practice at

the butts, which stood near here in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. At the

end, if we turn to the left, we come into Old Rochester Row, and so to

Greycoat Place, in which stands the Greycoat Hospital. This building,

one of the few old ones left in the parish, has a red-tiled roof and

dormer windows, projecting eaves and heavy window-frames. Two wings

enclose a courtyard, which is below the level of the road. Above the

central porch, in niches, are the figures of a boy and girl in the

old-fashioned Greycoat garb. In the centre are the Royal arms of Queen

Anne, and a turret with clock and vane surmounts the roof.

This hospital was founded in 1698 for the education of seventy poor boys

and forty poor girls. In 1706, by letters patent of Queen Anne, the

trustees were constituted a body 'politic and corporate.' In this year

also the school was established in the present quaint building, which

had been a workhouse, perhaps that referred to in the vestry reports of

1664 as the "new workhouse in Tuttle ffields."

The boys then wore a long gray skirt and girdle, something similar to

the Christ's Hospital uniform, and the girls a dress of gray. The

hospital originated in the charity of the parishioners. Various

additions have since been made to the building, and class-rooms have

been added. The older class-rooms and board-room are wainscoted. In the

latter are oil-paintings of Queen Anne, Bishops Compton and Smalridge

(of Bristol), and various governors. The corporate seal represents two

male figures tending a young sapling, a reference to 1 Cor. vii. 8. An

old organ, contemporary with the date of the establishment, and a

massive Bible and Prayer-Book, are among the most interesting relics.

The latter, dated 1706, contains the "Prayer for the Healing" at the

King's touch.

The hospital is a very wealthy foundation, and is able to support the

strain of its immense expenses without difficulty. The governors have

recently erected a row of red-brick flats to the west of the garden,

which will further augment the income. The garden is charming with

flower-beds and grass plots, while the vine and the ampelopsis climb

over the old building.

Rochester Row owes its name to the connection of the See of Rochester

with the Deanery of Westminster, which continued through nine successive

incumbencies. The row was considered by the Dean and Chapter as a

private thoroughfare until the beginning of the present century, but

they had no reason to be proud of it. A filthy ditch caused much

complaint; even in 1837 the state of the row was described as "shameful

and dangerous." At the north-east end stood the parish pound-house. St.

Stephen's Church and Schools are handsome, in a decorated Gothic style,

and were built in 1847 by Ferrey, at the cost of the Baroness

Burdett-Coutts. The spire rises to a height of 200 feet.

Immediately opposite, two neat rows of almshouses, in red brick, face

one another; on the exterior wall of each wing is the half-length effigy

of a man in a niche. Beneath that on the northern wing is the

inscription: "Mr. Emery Hill, late of the parish of St. Margaret's,

Westminster, founded these almshouses Anno Domini 1708. Christian

Reader, in Hopes of thy Assistance." On each side similar inscriptions

commemorate donations.

On the southern wing the slab beneath the figure bears the words: "Rev.

James Palmer founded almshouses in Palmer's Passage for six poor old men

and six poor old women Anno Domini 1856; re-erected here, 1881"; and a

further record: "Mr. Nicholas Butler founded the almshouses in Little

Chapel Street, near Palmer's Passage, for two of the most ancient

couples of the best repute, Anno Domini 1675; re-erected here 1881."

These are the Westminster United Almshouses. They were consolidated by

an order of the Charity Commission, dated July 11, 1879. The Grenadier

Guards Hospital is further down the row on the same side.

Vincent Square is the Westminster School playground. This space, of

about ten acres of land, has been the subject of much dispute between

the Dean and Chapter and the parish. It was first marked out as a

playground in 1810, but not enclosed by railings until 1842. Dr.

Vincent, Headmaster of the school and formerly Dean of Westminster, took

the lead in the matter, and the enclosure is therefore named after him.

The ground is now levelled, and forms magnificent playing-fields; from

the south end there is a fine view of many-towered Westminster. The

hospital of the Coldstream Guards is in one corner of the Square, and

next to it the Westminster Police Court. St. Mary's Church and Schools

are on the south side. The Grosvenor Hospital for Women and Children is

in Douglas Street close by. This originated in a dispensary in 1865.

The ground in the parish already traversed corresponds roughly with that

occupied by the once well-known Tothill Fields. Older writers call this

indifferently Tuthill, Totehill, Tootehill, but more generally Tuttle.

In Timbs' "London and Westminster" we read: "The name of Tot is the old

British word Tent (the German Tulsio), god of wayfarers and

merchants.... Sacred stones were set up on heights, hence called

Tothills." If ever there were a hill at Tothill Fields, it must have

been a very slight one, and in this case it may have been carted away to

raise the level elsewhere. We know that St. John's burial-ground was

twice covered with three feet of soil, and in the parish accounts we

read of gravel being carted from Tothill. The greater part of the ground

in any case can have been only low-lying, for large marshy pools

remained until comparatively recent times, one of which was known as the

Scholars' Pond. Dean Stanley has aptly termed these fields the

Smithfield of West London. Here everything took place which required an

open space--combats, tournaments, and fairs.

In a map of the middle of the eighteenth century we see a few scattered

houses lying to the south of Horseferry Road just below the bend, and

Rochester Row stretching like an arm out into the open ground. Two of

the great marshy pools are also marked. If all accounts are to be

believed, this spot was noted for its fertility and the beauty of its

wild-flowers. From Strype's Survey we learn that the fields supplied

London and Westminster with "asparagus, artichokes, cauliflowers and

musk melons." The author of "Parochial Memorials" says that the names of

Orchard Street, Pear Street and Vine Street are reminiscent of the

cultivation of fruit in Westminster, but these names more probably have

reference to the Abbot's garden. Walcott says that Tothill Fields,

before the Statute of Restraints, was considered to be within the limits

of the sanctuary of the Abbey. Stow gives a long and minute account of a

trial by battle held here. One of the earliest recorded tournaments held

in these fields was at the coronation of Queen Eleanor in 1226.

A great fair held in the fields in 1248 was a failure. All the shops and

places of merchandise were shut during the fifteen days that it lasted,

by the King's command, but the wind and rain ruined the project.

In 1256 John Mansell, the King's Counsellor and a priest, entertained

the Kings and Queens of England and Scotland and so many Dukes, Lords,

and Barons, at Westminster that he had not room for them in his own

house, but set up tents and pavilions in Tothill.

In 1441 "was the fighting at the Tothill between two thefes, a pelour

and a defendant; the pelour hadde the field, and victory of the

defendour withinne three strokes."

Both the armies of the Royalists and the Commonwealth were at different

times paraded in these fields; of the latter, 14,000 men were here at

one time. During 1851-52 Scottish prisoners were brought to Tothill, and

many died there, as the churchwardens' accounts show. In the latter

year we read the entry: "Paid to Thomas Wright for 67 load of soyle laid

on the graves in Tuthill Fields wherein 1,200 Scotch prisoners (taken at

the fight at Worcester) were buried."

It was fifteen years later, in the time of the Great Plague, that the

pesthouses came into full use, for we read in the parish records July

14, 1665, "that the Churchwardens doe forthwith proceed to the making of

an additional Provision for the reception of the Poore visited of the

Plague, at the Pesthouse in Tuttle ffieldes." The first two cases of

this terrible visitation occurred in Westminster, and during the

sorrowful months that followed, in place of feasting and pageantry, the

fields were the theatre for scenes of horror and death. The pesthouses

were still standing in 1832.

There was formerly a "maze" in Tothill Fields, which is shown in a print

from an engraving by Hollar taken about 1650.

Vauxhall Bridge Road was cut through part of the site belonging to the

old Millbank Penitentiary. The traffic to the famous Vauxhall Gardens on

the other side of the river once made this a very crowded thoroughfare;

at present it is extremely dreary. The Scots Guards Hospital is on the

west side.

Turning to the left at the end in the Grosvenor Road, we soon come to

the Tate Gallery of British Art, the magnificent gift of Sir Henry Tate

to the nation. Besides the building, the founder gave sixty-five

pictures to form the nucleus of a collection. This is said to be the

first picture-gallery erected in England complete in itself; the

architect is Sydney Smith, F.R.I.B.A., and the style adopted is a Free

Classic, Roman with Greek feeling in the mouldings and decorations.

There is a fine portico of six Corinthian columns terminating in a

pediment, with the figure of Britannia at the central apex, and the lion

and unicorn at each end. The basement, of rusticated stone, ten feet

high, runs round the principal elevation. A broad flight of steps leads

to the central entrance. The front elevation is about 290 feet in

length. The vestibule immediately within the principal door leads into

an octagonal sculpture hall, top-lighted by a glass dome. There are

besides five picture-galleries, also top-lighted. The pictures, which

include the work of the most famous British artists, are nearly all

labelled with the titles and artists' names, so a catalogue is

superfluous. The collection includes the pictures purchased by the

Chantrey Bequest, also a gift from G. F. Watts, R.A., of twenty-three of

his own works. The gallery is open from ten to six, and on Sundays in

summer after two o'clock. Thursdays and Fridays are students' days.

The gallery stands on the site of the old Millbank Penitentiary, for the

scheme of which Howard the reformer was originally responsible. He was

annoyed by the rejection of the site he advocated, however, and

afterwards withdrew from the project altogether. Wandsworth Fields and

Battersea Rise were both discussed as possible sites, but were

eventually abandoned in favour of Millbank. Jeremy Bentham, who

advocated new methods in the treatment of prisoners, gained a contract

from the Government for the erection and management of the new prison.

He, however, greatly exceeded the terms of his contract, and finally

withdrew, and supervisors were appointed. The prison was a six-rayed

building with a chapel in the centre. Each ray was pentagonal in shape,

and had three towers on its exterior angles. The whole was surrounded by

an octagonal wall overlooking a moat. At the closing of the prison in

Tothill Fields it became the sole Metropolitan prison for females, "just

as," says Major Griffiths, "it was the sole reformatory for promising

criminals, the first receptacle for military prisoners, the great depot

for convicts _en route_ for the antipodes."

In 1843 it was called a penitentiary instead of a prison. Gradually, as

new methods of prison architecture were evolved, Millbank was recognised

as cumbersome and inadequate. It was doomed for many years before its

demolition, and now, like the prison of Tothill Fields, has vanished.

Even the convicts' burial-ground at the back of the Tate Gallery is

nearly covered with County Council industrial dwellings.

Further northward in the Grosvenor Road, Peterborough House once stood,

facing the river, and this was at one time called "the last house in

Westminster." It was built by the first Earl of Peterborough, and

retained his name until 1735, when it passed to Alexander Davis of

Ebury, whose only daughter and heiress had married Sir Thomas Grosvenor.

It was by this marriage that the great London property came into the

possession of the Grosvenor (Westminster) family. The house was rebuilt,

and renamed Grosvenor House. Strype says: "The Earl of Peterborough's

house with a large courtyard before it, and a fine garden behind, but

its situation is but bleak in winter and not over healthful, as being

too near the low meadows on the south and west parts." The house was

finally demolished in 1809.

Beyond, in the direction of the Houses of Parliament, there are several

interesting old houses, of which the best specimens are Nos. 8 and 9,

offices of the London Road Car Company, and No. 10. In the first a

well-furnished ceiling proclaims an ancient drawing-room; in the second

panelled walls and a spiral staircase set off a fine hall. This house

has a beautiful doorway of the old scallop-shell pattern, with cherubs'

heads and ornamental brackets decorating it. In the third house a

ceiling is handsomely finished with dental mouldings, and the edges of

the panels are all carved. A mantelpiece of white marble is very fine,

and of great height and solidity, with a female face as the keystone.

From Lambeth Bridge the Horseferry Road leads westward. This was the

main track to the ferry in ancient days, and as the ferry was the only

one on the Thames at London, it was consequently of great importance. It

was here that James II. crossed after escaping from Whitehall by night,

and from his boat he threw the Great Seal into the river. Horseferry

Road is strictly utilitarian, and not beautiful; it passes by gasworks,

a Roman Catholic church, Wesleyan chapel, Normal Institute and Training

College, all of the present century. North of it Grosvenor Road becomes

Millbank Street. The Abbot's watermill stood at the end of College

Street (further north), and was turned by the stream which still flows

beneath the roadway. In an old survey a mill is marked on this spot, and

is supposed to have been built by the same Abbot Litlington who built

the wall in College Street (1362-1386). It was still standing in 1644,

and mention is made of it at that date in the parish books. The bank was

a long strip of raised earth, extending from here to the site of

Peterborough House. Strype mentions "the Millbank" as a "certain parcel

of land valued in Edward VI.'s time at 58 shillings, and given in the

third of his reign" to one Joanna Smith for "services rendered."

Church Street (left) leads into Smith Square. Here stands the Church of

St. John the Evangelist. This was the second of Queen Anne's fifty

churches built by imposing a duty on coals and culm brought into the

Port of London. The new district was formed in 1723, but the

consecration ceremony did not take place until June 20, 1728. The

architect was Archer, a pupil of Sir John Vanbrugh's, and the style,

which is very peculiar, has been described as Doric. The chief features

of the church are its four angle belfries, which were not included in

the original scheme of the architect, but were added later to insure an

equal pressure on the foundations. Owing to these the church has been

unkindly compared to an elephant with its four legs up in the air!

Another story has it that Queen Anne, being troubled in mind by much

wearisome detail, kicked over her wooden footstool, and said, "Go, build

me a church like that"; but this sounds apocryphal, especially in view

of the fact that the towers were a later addition. The church is

undoubtedly cumbrous, but has the merit of originality. In 1742 it was

gutted by fire, and was not rebuilt for some time owing to lack of

funds. In 1773 the roof was slightly damaged by lightning, and

subsequently repairs and alterations have taken place. The building

seats 1,400 persons, and a canonry of Westminster Abbey is attached to

the living.

The churchwardens of St. John's possess an interesting memento in the

form of a snuff-box, presented in 1801 by "Thomas Gayfere, Esq., Father

of the Vestry of St. John the Evangelist." This has been handed down to

the succeeding office-bearers, who have enriched and enlarged it by

successive silver plates and cases.

Smith Square shows, like so much of Westminster, an odd mixture of old

brick houses, with heavily-tiled roofs, and new brick flats of great

height. In the south-west corner stands the Rectory. Romney and Marsham

Streets were called after Charles Marsham, Earl of Romney. Tufton Street

was named after Sir Richard Tufton. One of the cockpits in Westminster

was here as late as 1815, long after the more fashionable one in St.

James's Park had vanished. The northern part of the street between Great

Peter and Great College Streets was formerly known as Bowling Alley.

Here the notorious Colonel Blood lived.

Near the corner of Little Smith Street stands an architectural museum;

it is not a very large building, but the frontage is rendered

interesting by several statues and reliefs in stone. This, to give it

its full title, is "The Royal Architectural Museum and School of Art in

connection with the Science and Art Department." The gallery is open

free from ten to four daily, and in the rooms opening off its corridors

art classes for students of both sexes are held; the walls are

absolutely covered with ancient fragments of architecture and sculpture.

The row of houses opposite to the museum is doomed to demolition, a

process which has begun already at the north end. The house third from

the south end, a small grocer's shop, is the one in which the great

composer and musician Purcell lived. He was born in Great St. Ann's Lane

near the Almonry, and his mother, as a widow, lived in Tothill Street.

The boy at the very early age of six was admitted to the choir of the

Chapel Royal, and was appointed organist to Westminster Abbey when only

two-and-twenty, a place he very nearly lost by refusing to give up to

the Dean and Chapter the proceeds of letting the seats in the organ-loft

to view the coronation of James II., a windfall he considered as a

perquisite. He is buried beneath the great organ, which had so often

throbbed out his emotions in the sounds in which he had clothed them. On

leaving Tufton Street he went to Marsham Street, where he died in 1695.

The art students from the gallery now patronize the little room behind

the shop for lunch and tea, running across in paint-covered pinafore or

blouse, making the scene veritably Bohemian.

At the north end of Tufton Street is Great College Street. Here

dignified houses face the old wall built by Abbot Litlington. They are

not large; some are overgrown by creepers; the street seems bathed in

the peace of a perpetual Sunday. The stream bounding Thorney Island

flowed over this site, and its waters still run beneath the roadway. The

street has been associated with some names of interest. Gibbon's aunt

had here a boarding-house for Westminster boys, in which her famous

nephew lived for some time. Mr. Thorne, antiquary, and originator of

_Notes and Queries_, lived here. Some of Keats' letters to Fanny Brawne

are dated from 25 Great College Street, where he came on October 16,

1820, to lodgings, in order to conquer his great passion by absence; but

apparently absence had only the proverbial effect. Walcott lived here,

and his History of St. Margaret's Church and Memorials of Westminster

are dated from here in 1847 and 1849 respectively. Little College Street

contains a few small, irregular houses brightened by window-boxes. A

slab informs us that the date of Barton Street was 1722, but the row of

quiet, flat-casemented houses looks older than that. At the west end of

Great College Street stood the King's slaughter-house for supplying meat

to the palace; the foundations of this were extant in 1807. The end of

Great College Street opens out opposite the smooth lawns of the Victoria

Public Garden, near the House of Lords.

In Great Smith Street there was a turnpike at the beginning of the last

century. Sir Richard Steele and Keats both dated letters from this

address, and Thomas Southerne, the dramatist, died here. The northern

part of the street was known as Dean Street until 1865; the old

workhouse of the united parish used to stand in it. The Free Library is

in this street. Westminster was the first Metropolitan parish to adopt

the Library Acts. The Commissioners purchased the lease of a house,

together with furniture, books, etc., from a Literary, Scientific, and

Mechanics' Institute which stood on the east side of the road, a little

to the north of the present library building, and the library was opened

there in 1857. In 1888 the present site was purchased, and the building

was designed by J. F. Smith, F.R.I.B.A.

Dean Stanley presented 2,000 volumes of standard works in 1883, to which

others were added by his sister, Mrs. Vaughan, to whom they had been

left for her lifetime. The library also contains 449 valuable volumes

published by the Record Office. These consist of Calendars of State

Papers, Reports of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office,

Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle

Ages, and Records of Great Britain from the Reign of Edward the

Confessor to Henry VIII. The Westminster Public Baths and Wash-houses,

designed by the same architect are next door to the library. The Church

House opposite is a very handsome building in a Perpendicular style; it

is of red brick with stone dressings. The interior is very well

furnished with fine stone and wood carving. The great hall holds 1,500

people, and runs the whole length of the building from Smith Street to

Tufton Street. The roof is an open timber structure of the hammer-beam

type, typical of fourteenth-century work. Near the north end of Great

Smith Street is Queen Anne's Bounty Office, rebuilt 1900.

Orchard Street is so named from the Abbot's Orchard. John Wesley once

lived here. In Old Pye Street a few squalid houses with low doorways

remain to contrast with the immense flats known as Peabody's Buildings,

which have sprung up recently. In 1862 George Peabody gave L150,000 for

the erection of dwellings for the working classes, and to this he

subsequently added L500,000. The first block of buildings was opened in

Spitalfields, 1864. These in the neighbourhood of Old Pye Street were

erected in 1882. Pye Street derives its name from Sir Robert Pye, member

for Westminster in the time of Charles I., who married a daughter of

John Hampden. St. Matthew Street was Duck Lane until 1864, and was a

very malodorous quarter. Swift says it was renowned for second-hand

bookshops. The Westminster Bluecoat School was first founded here.

St. Ann's Street and Lane are poor and wretched quarters. The name is

derived from a chapel which formerly stood on the spot (see p. 37).

Herrick lodged in the street when, ejected from his living in the

country in 1647, he returned with anything but reluctance to his beloved

London. He had resumed lay dress, but was restored to his living in 1662

in reward for his devoted loyalty to the Stuarts. The great musician,

Henry Purcell, was born in St. Ann's Lane. Seymour, writing in 1735,

says: "Great St. Ann's Lane, a pretty, handsome, well-built and

well-inhabited place." St. Matthew's Church and Schools were built by

Sir G. A. Scott in 1849-57.

Great Peter Street is a dirty thoroughfare with some very old houses. On

one is a stone slab with the words, "This is Sant Peter Street, 1624. R

[a heart] W." This and its neighbour, Little Peter Street, obviously

derive their names from the patron saint of the Abbey. Strype describes

Great Peter Street pithily as "very long and indifferent broad." Great

Peter Street runs at its west end into Strutton Ground, a quaint place

which recalls bygone days by other things than its name, which is a

corruption of Stourton, from Stourton House. The street is thickly lined

by costers' barrows, and on Saturday nights there is no room to pass in

the roadway.

Before examining in detail the part that may be called the core and

centre of Westminster, that part lying around the Abbey and Houses of

Parliament, it is advisable to begin once more at the west end of

Victoria Street, and, traversing the part of the parish on the north

side, gather there what we may of history and romance.