Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/124

 118

NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. x. AUG s, 191*.

Guardian ; or, Sunshine after Bain,' at Manchester, and during his several visits it is probable he wrote other pieces for the house. I find no record, however, in his ' Reminiscences ' (or elsewhere) of ' The Manchester Marine.' Perhaps some local ivMtl-T may be able to trace it in a playbill. I doubt if it is now in existence, although ' The Mad Guardian ' survives in print.

E. BlMBATJLT DlBDIN. 64, Huskisson Street, Liverpool.

Survey oj London. Vol. V. St. Giles-in-lhe-Fields. Part II. (London County Council, 1Z. Is.)

THE present volume the fifth in the Survey of London completes the record of the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, the first part of which was reviewed at 11 S. v. 439.

As in the case of the other volumes issued, the ruportant part of the work, from the point of view of the Survey, is to be found in the photographs and drawings, to which the letterpress is strictly subservient. At the same time consider- able attention has been devoted to history, and " an attempt has been made to retrace the history of each plot of land to the time before the erection of buildings, that is, practically to the reign of Elizabeth."

The earliest mention, of the parish boundary occurs in a decree of 1222 terminating the dispute between the Abbey of Westminster and the See of London respecting the ecclesiastical franchise of the conventual church of St. Peter.

The first considerable alteration in the limits of the parish took place in 1731, when the parish of St. George, Bloomsbury, was formed out of the old parish, and made to include all that part which lay to the north of High Holborn and east of Dyot Street and of a line drawn northwards from the termination of the latter in Great Russell Street. This northward line was after- wards slightly modified, and a plan is given showing the boundaries of the two parishes in 1815. These remained unchanged until 1800, when, under the London Government Act, the size of the parish was further curtailed.

The space between the parish boundary and Great Turnstile was occupied by houses at least as early as the reign of "Henry VIII., and probably long before. " Great Turnstile is mentioned as early as 1522 under the name of Tumgot- lane ; it was also known, as shown by grants by Henry VIII., as Turnpiklane ; but no houses had been built along the sides of Great Turnstile in 1545, and none probably were erected there unti' many years later. The earliest records of such houses on the eastern and western sides of the lane are dated respectively 1632 and 1630 : probably these dates are not far removed from the actual time of building." Where now is the entrance to Little Turnstile there existed in 1590 an open ditch or sewer. The account of a house and a picturesque garden occupied in 1640 by a Mr. Braithwait fills us with envy. There

was an arbour formed of eight pine trees, besides ' the 'sessamore ' tree under the parlour window, L3 cherry trees against the brick wall on the east of the garden, 14 more round the grass plot, rows of gooseberry bushes, rose trees, and ' curran rees ' ; another arbour ' set round with sweet brier ' ; more cherry trees, pears, quince, plum, and apple trees ; a box plot planted with French and English flowers ; six rosemary trees ; one apricock ' tree, and a mulberry tree."

Inapetitionto the Earl of Salisbury ("undated, a ut evidently belonging to the period 16051612 ")
 * he " inhabitantes of the dwellings of the newe

jate neere Dreury Lane " state that " they have petitioned the Queen (obviously Anne of Denmark, the Consort of .Tames I.) to ' gyve a name unto that place,' and have been referred to him. They therefore request him to give it a name on tier behalf." The result was the name Queen Street. Great Queen Street, in distinction to Little Queen Street, does not seem to have been in common use until 1670.

As we turn over the pages we are constantly reminded of vanishing London. The County Council have added to their collection many old tablets of dates on houses that have been destroyed, and numerous relics of historic and antiquarian interest. Thus from one of the houses in Great Queen Street a beautiful mahogany staircase has been taken and preserved : it is now lent to the London Museum.

Endell Street is named after the Rev. James Endell Tyler, who was Rector of St. Giles's in 1846, when the street was planned. To the right from Holborn was a population in the direst poverty, many of the houses being used for lodgers at 3d. a night, the kitchens, known as the thieves' kit- chens, being for general use. The present church of the parish is the third erected on the site. It contains a tablet to Marvell, near to the place where he was buried, erected by his grand- nephew Robert Nettleton in 1764 ; and at the west end of the north aisle is the stone monument (originally in the churchyard) of George Chappian the poet, said to have been designed and given by Inigo Jones. Among other memorials is an oval tablet to the memory of the Rev. Richard Southgate, Rector of Warsop, Sub-Librarian of the British Museum, and Curate of St. Giles's, who died on 21 Jan., 1795.

Reader If thou canst =excell him :

It will be well, If thou canst equal him.

It is a relief to leave this poverty-stricken neighbourhood of the Dials, and to find oneself in Great Russell Street and Bedford Square. Many of the fine houses are noted for their staircases, carved white marble chimneypieces, and mahogany doors with finely carved panels and metal fittings silver-plated.

The volume contains in addition to a map 107 plates beautifully executed, the full size of the P'ge: these include seven of Freemasons' Hall, Queen Anne's Bath, Endell Street, several of the Church of St. Giles, a number of ornamental portions of Bedford Square houses, and heraldic illustrations. We again express our thanks to all concerned in this Survey and to the general editors, Sir Laurence Gomme and Mr. Philip Norman.