London

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="040d4c00dduajq.gif"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#003333" FACE="Arial" ><B>TOUCHARD: One Name Study</B></FONT>     |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TOUCHARD: One Name Study"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U>About Us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Me"><U>Contact Me</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Huguenots"><U>Huguenots</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="England"><U>England</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="France"><U>France</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bethnal Green"><U>Bethnal Green</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BethnalGreen1851"><U>BethnalGreen1851</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BriansBranches"><U>Brian'sBranches</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Canada"><U>Canada</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="LondonChurches"><U>LondonChurches</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="EnglishTouchards"><U>EnglishTouchards</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fiction"><U>Fiction</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ireland"><U>Ireland</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lace"><U>Lace</U></A>   |   <B>London</B>   |   <A HREF="id44.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="LondonHuguenots"><U>LondonHuguenots</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tours"><U>Tours</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tushaws"><U>Tushaws</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="UKTouchards"><U>UKTouchards</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Me"><U>Me</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="NorthAmerica"><U>NorthAmerica</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Olives Tree"><U>Olive's Tree</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="PamsPods"><U>Pam'sPods</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Paris"><U>Paris</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="PrintTrade"><U>PrintTrade</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rhine"><U>Rhine</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Shoreditch"><U>Shoreditch</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id54.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Silkweaving"><U>Silkweaving</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TessasTwigs"><U>Tessa'sTwigs</U></A></div> <div> London</div> <div> HISTORY OF LONDON </div> <div> Building continued to advance after the death of Elizabeth; and we find that most part of Spitalfields and about three hundred and twenty acres to the south and south-east of it, were then covered with houses. James I., alarmed at this rapid growth of the [p.121] metropolis, issued his proclamation, in 1618, against the erection of new buildings. The suburbs, notwithstanding, had greatly increased in 1640, especially to the westward, in the parishes of St. Giles in the Fields, and St. Paul, Covent Garden. In 1643, Cheapside cross was demolished, by the authority of the common council, as a relic of superstition, thus increasing unintentionally the width and accommodation of that great central thoroughfare. Another attempt was made, during the Protectorate, in 1656, to prevent the enlargement of the metropolis; for which purpose, all houses built since the year 1620, within ten miles of it, were taxed, and fines were imposed on those who raised new buildings within that distance. About 1661, a great many streets, on the site of St. James' parish, were built, or finished, particularly St. James' street, Pall-Mall, and Piccadilly; other streets were ordered to be widened; and candles, or lights in lanterns, were to be hung out by the occupier of every house fronting the street, between Michaelmas and Lady-day, from nightfall until nine o'clock, when it was presumed that people retired to bed. The dreadful plague, in 1665, put a temporary stop to the increase of the metropolis. This infection was generally thought to have been brought from Holland, about the close of the year 1664, and made its appearance in the neighbourhood of Drury-lane: sixty-eight thousand five hundred and ninety-six persons are calculated to have perished in the course of the year 1665, during which, London was so far deserted by its inhabitants, that grass grew in the principal streets. </div> <div> “The great fire of London,” the most terrible conflagration that the metropolis ever suffered, succeeded “the Plague year,” as it is emphatically styled: it broke out on Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666, at the house of a baker in Pudding-lane, Thames-street. The houses being then for the most part of wood, with projecting stories, the uppermost of which, from the narrowness of the streets, almost met each other, and a strong easterly wind blowing at the time, the fire spread rapidly and continued raging until Thursday, when it was nearly extinguished, having destroyed thirteen thousand two hundred houses, and eighty-nine churches, exclusively of the venerable Cathedral of St. Paul, the greater part of the corporation halls, London bridge, and other public edifices, covering a plot of four hundred and thirty-six acres of ground with ruins. The value of the property involved in this destruction was calculated at upwards of £10,000,000. To perpetuate the remembrance of this melancholy event, “The Monument,” on Fish-street-hill, was erected, by order of parliament: it was commenced in 1671, and finished in 1677, from a design by Sir Christopher Wren, and is composed wholly of Portland stone. The column, rising from a pedestal forty feet high, and twenty-eight square at the base, is two hundred and two feet in height from the pavement; it is fluted, and of the Doric order: within is a staircase of black marble, leading to the summit. Above the capital of the column is a balcony of iron, encompassing a meta thirty-two feet high, supporting a blazing urn of brass gilt. On three sides of the pedestal are inscriptions, and on the fourth an emblematical representation, commemorative of the object of its erection. In rebuilding the city, many improvements were effected: the streets, which were before so narrow that, according to Sir William Davenant's facetious remark, “they seemed to have been contrived in the days of wheelbarrows,” were widened; many conduits and other obstructions were removed; and the buildings in general were constructed on a more substantial and regular plan. An increased number of houses, amounting to nearly four thousand, was added, by building on the sites of the gardens belonging to the halls and merchants' residences; and although the noble plans of Wren and Evelyn, for rebuilding the metropolis, were rejected, it arose, on the whole, with increased splendour. In 1670, an act was passed for widening the streets, and for restoring the navigation of the Fleet ditch. An order in council, issued in 1674, prohibited the building of new houses. Many houses in Southwark having been destroyed by an extensive fire, in 1676, an act was passed for rebuilding them of brick, instead of wood. John Strype (1643-1737), an ecclesiastical historian, antiquary, parson and son of a Huguenot silk weaver, was born near Petticoat Lane (formerly Hog Lane) in 1643. He wrote 'In ancient times, on both sides of this lane, were hedgerows and elm trees, with pleasant fields to walk in ... Here was an house, on the west side, a good way in the lane, which, when I was a boy, was commonly called the Spanish Ambassador's House ... And a little way of this on the east side of the way, down a paved alley (now called Strype's Court for my father who inhabited there) was a fair large house with a good garden before it ... wherein I was born.' Strype Street, which must be very close to where he was born, was named after him. </div> <div> A map of 1677 show Spitalfields still had open ground which is marked 'Devonshire House Garden' and 'Tenter Field'. In 1685, the population in Spitalfields and St. Giles' was much increased by the settlement of French Protestant manufacturers, who had left their native country in consequence of the revocation of the edict of Nantes; and the same year, the western suburbs increasing, two new parishes were formed, namely, those of St. Anne, Soho, and St. James, both which were previously parts of the parish of St. Martin in the Fields. In 1689, the district called the Seven Dials was built on a spot called Cock and Pye Fields. In consequence of the great increase of the commerce and shipping of London, the suburbs to the east of the Tower were become so populous in 1694, that a new parish was constituted, by the name of St. John, Wapping. Soho-square and Golden-square were built at the close of this century. At this time, also, that useful institution called the Penny Post had its origin, a proof of the enlargement of the capital; and the number of hackney coaches, which, in Cromwell's time had been limited to three hundred, had increased to nine hundred, exclusively of two hundred sedan chairs. A few years afterwards, in the reign of Queen Anne, fifty new churches were erected in the metropolis and its vicinity. In 1722, the Chelsea Water-Works Company was established, for supplying the city of Westminster and the western suburbs with water. In a few years afterwards, Hanover-square, Cavendish-square, and the streets adjacent; Bedford-row, Red-Lion-square, Hatton Garden, &c., were built. The streets from Leicester-square and St. Martin's-lane to the Haymarket and Soho, and thence nearly to Knightsbridge, were finished in the reign of George II. In 1729, the north side of Oxford-street was partly built, and many streets near it were completed. In 1730, the hamlet of Spitalfields became so populous, in consequence of the prosperity of the silk manufacture, as to make it necessary to form it into a distinct parish, which received the name of Christ Church. About the same period the parishes of St. George in the East, St. Anne, Limehouse, and St. Matthew, Bethnal-green, were separated from Stepney, and the parish of St. Luke was formed out of that of St. Giles, in Farringdon ward Without. </div> <div> The improvements in the construction of the buildings, and in the local regulations of the metropolis, during the period last described, and principally in the reign of George III., were as follows. About the year 1760, most of the city gates were taken down. In [p.122] 1762, an act was passed to remove the shop-signs, which, projecting from almost every projected in like manner, were taken down: by this act also, the names of the streets were ordered to be affixed at the corners of each. In the building of dwelling-houses great improvement, both as regarded safety and uniformity of appearance, was effected, by the Building Act. In 1768, commissioners were appointed by act of parliament for paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the streets, and for regulating the stands of hackney coaches. In 1774, an act was passed for placing fire-cocks in the water-pipes, with conspicuous notices of their distances and situations, and for keeping fire-engines and ladders in every parish. About 1795, in pursuance of an act of parliament authorising a lottery for the purpose, called “The City Lottery,” Snowhill, and the western side of Temple bar, were materially widened and improved. During this period also, several new companies were established for supplying the metropolis with water, and subsequently for lighting the streets, shops, &c., with gas. </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>