Page:Chronicle of the Grey friars of London.djvu/39

 spurgellum latet sub terra spacio vero .iiij$or$. pedum lapide marmoreo coopertum. Inde directe usque ad liwrone lane extenditur, ibique secundum rectitudinem venelle illius vel vici regirat ad aquilonem juxta occidentalem murum venellæ posicionem habens spacio distans iij. pedum. In fine autem illius venellæ a leva spurgellum altitudine fere .vij. pedum et inde directe protenditur, campum transversando et sepes ad molendinum Thomæ de Basynges quod est proximum villæ. Ubi spacio .xviij. pedum profundatur. Ibi ex parte orientali molendini a latere aquilonis infra foveam tercium patet spurgellum. Inde spacium fero unius stadii ad occidentem parum vergendo ad aquilonem, occurrit sulcus unus viridius ab oriente in occidentem protentus et spinosus ad occidentem tortuosus latitudine fere .viij. pedum, terram dividens Johannis de Derkynge quæ jacet ex parte meridionali et terram Thomæ de Basynges quæ jacet ex parte aquilonari. autem sulco a capite orientali incipiendo .xvj. passus non saltus, et ibi a medio latitudinis sulci ubi signum ad hoc necessarium foret, verso vultu ad aquilonem directe super terram Thomæ de Basynges spacio pedum xiiij. latet sub terra spacio .iiij. pedum aquæ quod propinquius est, unde pro majore parte aquam habemus, parum autem de capite remociori. autem loco directe extenditur ad capud quod remocius est versus occidentem, cujus domuncula lapidia a remoto videtur. Aqua autem istius capitis adducitur ultra foveam Thomæ de Basynges a parte occidentis a latere aquilonis aliquantulum spacio a domo capitis circa .xv. passuum juxta viam quæ dividit inter parochiam sancti Egidii et sancti Andreæ. Ista aqua in domo capitis illius descendendo ad canalem super effluit et a canali parum vel nil inde recipitur; set domum totam inundat, et per rivulos et rimas parietis negligenter amittitur. Apponat remedium, fratrum considerans dampnum et amissionem tot sumptuum.

.—Liwrone lane is called Lither lane by Stowe, and Leather lane by Strype in 1720. There is or was a small street called Windmill street running into it, perhaps marking the site of Thomas of Basynges' mill. At no great distance, in the low ground, were several water-mills, which gave name to Turnmill street, leading from Smithfield towards Clerkenwell. The stream, as Stowe tells us, was called Turnmill brook, or the River of Wells, for there were many natural springs near at hand. It was the navigable part only of this stream, from Holborn bridge to the Thames, that was properly "the Fleet," and latterly called Fleet Ditch.