A survey of London / written in the year 1598, by John Stow.

Stow, John, 1525?-1605.

Date:: 1842

Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A survey of London / written in the year 1598, by John Stow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

26/248 (page 6)

Wherries on the Thames.—River of Fleet dike promised to be cleansed.— 6 Wells bare ships —Its decay.—Turn- STOW’S SURVEY The money collected, and the citizens mill brook. deceived. merchandise be easily conveyed to London, the principal store-house and staple of all commodities within this realm ; so that, omitting to speak of great ships and other vessels of burthen, there pertaineth to the cities of London, Westminster, and borough of Southwark, above the number, as is supposed, of 2000 wherries and other small boats, whereby 3000 poor men, at the least, be set on work and maintained. That the river of Wells, in the west part of the city, was of old so called of the wells, it may be proved thus :—William the Conqueror, in his charter to the college of St. Marten le Grand, in London, hath these words : “ I do give and grant to the same church all the land and the moor with¬ out the postern, which is called Cripplegate, on either part of the postern ; that is to say, from the north corner of the wall, as the river of the Wells, there near running, departeth the same moor from the wall, unto the running water which entereth the city This water hath long since been called the I’iver of the Weis, which name of river con¬ tinued ; and it was so called in the reign of Edward I., as shall be shown, with also the decay of the said river. In a fair book of paidiament records, now lately restored to the Tower, it ap- peareth f that a parliament being holden at Carlile in the year 1307, the 35th of Edward I., “ Henry Lacy, earl of Lincoln, complained, that whereas in times past the course of water, running at London under Oldeborne bridge and Fleete bridge into the Thames, had been of such breadth and depth, that ten or twelve ships navies at once, with mer¬ chandise, were wont to come to the foresaid bridge of Fleete, and some of them to Oldborne bridge : now the same course, by filth of the tanners and such others, was sore decayed ; also by raising of wharfs ; but especially, by a diversion of the water made by them of the new Temple, for their mills standing without Baynardes Castle, in the first year of Kmg JohnJ, and divers others impediments, so as the said ships could not enter as they were wont, and as they ought: wherefore he desired that the mayor of London with the sheriffs and other discreet aldermen, might be appointed to view the course of the said water ; and that by the oaths of good men, all the aforesaid hindrances might be removed, and it to be made as it was wont of old. Whereupon Roger le Brabason, the constable of the Tower, with the mayor and sheriffs, were assigned to take with them honest and discreet men, and to make diligent search and enquiry how the said river was in old time, and that they leave nothing that may hurt or stop it, but keep it in the same state that it was wont to be.” So far the record. Whereupon it followed that the said river was at that time cleansed, these mills re¬ moved, and other things done for the preservation of the course thereof, notwithstanding never brought to the old depth and breadth; whereupon the name of river ceased, and it was since called a brook, namely, Turnmill or Tremill brook, for that divers mills were erected upon it, as appeareth by a fair register-book, containing the foundation of the * This water hath been since that time called Turne mill brooke; yet then called the river of the Wells, which name of river,” &c.—Isi. edition, p. 11. t Parliament record. J Patent record. priory at Clarkenwell, and donation of the lands thereunto belonging, as also by divers other re¬ cords. This brook hath been divers times since cleansed, namely, and last of all to any effect, in the year 1502, the 17th of Henry VIL, the whole course of Fleete dike, then so called, was scowered, I say, down to the Thames, so that boats with fish and fuel were rowed to Fleete bridge, and to Oldborne bridge, as they of old time had been accustomed, which was a great commodity to all the inhabitants in that part of the city. In the year 1589 was granted a fifteenth, by a common council of the city, for the cleansing of this brook or dike ; the money, amounting to a thousand marks, was collected, and it was under¬ taken, that by drawing divers springs about Hamp¬ stead heath into one head and course, both the city should be served of fresh water in all places of want ; and also, that by such a follower, as men call it, the channel of this brook should be scow¬ ered into the river of Thames ; but much money being therein spent, the effect failed, so that the brook, by means of continual encroachments upon the banks getting over th6 water, and casting of soilage into the stream, is now become worse cloyed and choken than ever it was before. The running water, so called by William the Conqueror in his said charter, which entereth the city, &c. (before there was any ditch) between Bishopsgate and the late made postern called Moor- gate, entered the wall, and was truly of the wall called Walbrooke, not of Gualo, as some have far fetched : it ran through the city with divers wind¬ ings from the north towards the south into the river of Thames, and had over the same divers bridges along the streets and lanes through which it passed. I have read in a book * entitled the Customs of London f, that the prior of the Holy Trinity within Aldgate ought to make over Wal- bi’ooke in the ward of Brodstreet, against the stone wall of the city, viz. the same bridge that is next the Church of All Saints, at the wall. Also that the prior of the new hospital, St. Mary Spittle without Bishopsgate, ought to make the middle part of one other bridge next to the said bridge towards the north : and that in the twenty-eighth year of Edward I. it was by inquisition found be¬ fore the mayor of London, that the parish of St. Stephen upon Walbrooke ought of right to scour the course of the said brook, and therefore the sheriffs were commanded to distrain the said pa¬ rishioners so to do, in the year 1300. The keepers of those bridges at that time were William Jordan and John de Bever. This water-course, having divers bridges, was afterwards vaulted over with brick, and paved level with the streets and lanes where through it passed; and since that, also houses have been built thereon, so that the course of Wal¬ brooke is now hidden under ground, and thereby hardly known. Langborne water, so called of the length thereof, was a great stream breaking out of the ground in Fenchurch-street, which ran down with a swift course, west, through that street, athwart Gra- street, and down Lombard street, to the west end of * “In an old writing book.”—hi edition, p. 14. + Liber Custom.