Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/240

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. n. SEPT. w, iwe.

.stocks, stood about the centre of the green. A new Watch House was erected later at the southern extremity of the green.

One of the most interesting allusions to \\~atch Houses may be found in Dickens's Household Words, Aug. 13, 1853. It was reprinted in small book-form in 1912, with an introduction by Mr. B. W. Matz. This charming little autobiographical story, when reissued under the capable editorship of Mr. Matz, had pictures by Ruth Cobb and photographs by T. W. Tyrrell, also repro- ductions of old prints. Upon one of the final pages is a picture of the old Watch House in Welle lose Square, Whitechapel,
 * Gone Astray.' This story appeared in

alluded to by Dickens in this story.

The churchwardens of Stepney upon

Jan. 15, 1661, ordered that

" \Villiam Bisaker parish clerke doe prepare a petic'on to bee presented to the next sessions of

the peace for this county for setting a Watch at 'Stepney and for building a Watch House in some -convenient place for that purpose and that the

?ame may bee defrayed att the charge of the p'ish

in generall."

In Bloomsbury the Watch House was built in 1694 by Rathbone (from whom Rathbone Place is named), and the sum of SI. was paid to him by the parish, " due in part for building the Watch House." This first Watch House stood in the middle of Holborn, a little to the west of Southampton Street, leading to Bloomsbury Square. The ground on which it was built was given to the parish for the purpose by the Duke of Bedford. The Watch 'House was probably enlarged or rebuilt in 171 6, when the vestry ordered

" that the Watch House in Holborn be ' viewed and an estimate made of the expense to make a Watch House and other conveniences for the keep- ing of prisoners.' In the early part of the present century the Watch House was situated in Smart's Buildings, near Drury Lane." G. Clinch's 'Bloomsbury and St. Giles,' 1890, pp. 43-44.

In Pinks's ' History of Clerkenwell ' the writer says: " A raised circular pavement, with two lamp -posts in the centre, now marks the spot where the old Watch House stood." In The London Gazette, April 10, 1742, there is the following notice:

" Whitehall Whereas on Sunday the 4th instant, about two o'clock in the morning, five men mounted on horseback loaded with goods, inspected to be tea, passing through the road near ( lerkenwel] Green, one of their horses run against the Constable, who holding up his staff to defend himself, the person on the said horse discharged divers pistols or blunderbusses at the said con- stable and his watchman Isaac Crawley, and wounded the said Crawley in his arm, which has

since been cut off : and whereas another of the

said persons, returning back, fired four pistols or blunderbusses at the said constable and his watchman; and soon after divers persons came to the watch house at Clerkenwell Green and dis- charged several pistols or blunderbusses through the door of the said Watch House and wounded Richard Crpxall, another watchman there on his duty, who is since dead," &c.

Adjoining the old pump on the east side of Ray Street, Clerkenwell, was formerly one of the parish Watch Houses erected in the year 1794. It continued to be used as a " lock- up " for the temporary' confinement of mis- demeanants until a late period.

The Spafields Watch House was erected in 1813-14 on a plot of ground leased of the New River Company. It had two strong cells, one for male and the other for female prisoners. When the Metropolitan Police Force was established that portion of the premises which had served as a W T atch House was converted into a police station, and so continued until 1841 or 1842.

The ' Rules and Regulations to be ob- served by the Beadles of the Parish of St. Anne, Westminster,' printed in the year 1794, ordain

" That one of the Beadles in rotation shall be at the Watch House on every night half an hour before the time of setting the watch to see that the constable set the watchmen in due time, and that they are provided with a great coat, staff, and rattle."

The St. Anne's Watch House still remains close to the church, and bears the inscription : " St. Anne's Watch House erected A.D. 1801." It is now used as a parish mortuary. See Rimbault and Clinch's ' Soho,' 1895. A similar Watch House stood outsideSt. Martin's Church, Charing Cross. See Macmichael's ' Charing Cross.'

Since Rimbault and Clinch's ' Soho ' was issued in 1895 some rebuilding has taken place in Dean Street, Soho. I submit that the new Church House, numbered 57A Dean Street, stands much where the Watch House stood until a year or so ago.

Other districts issued printed rules for the regulation of Watch Houses. In St. Pancras there was published in 1826 'Rules for the Conduct of Watch-House Keepers, Patroles, Watchmen, and Street Keepers,' 22 pp.

There is an authoritative passage upon Watch Houses in Colquhoun's ' Police of the Metropolis,' third edition, 1796 :

" Watch-houses (excepting within the limits of the City) are placed at convenient distances all over the metropolis, where a parochial constable attends, in rotation, every night, to receive dis- orderly and criminal persons, and to carry them before a magistrate next morning. In each watch- house also (in case of fire) the names of the turn- cocks, and the places where engines are kept, are