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| Finding Ratcliff, Middlesex, London, England was a difficult research for me but the following paragraph explains this place. | Finding Ratcliff, Middlesex, London, England was a difficult research for me but the following paragraph explains this place. | ||
| Public Record Office Online Catalogue E 134/22Jas1/East24 Sir Robt. Maunsel, Knt. v. Sir William Clavill, Knt.: Glass works in the Isle of Purbeck (Dorset), and at Ratcliffe (Middlesex). Touching an indenture of covenants made between Phillip Earl of Montgomery, Sir Thos. Howard, Knt., Sir Edwd. Zouche, Knt., Sir Thos. 22 Jas 1 1623-24 E 178/4180 MIDDLESEX: East Smithfield Inquisition as to houses built on encroached land between Lewen's Wharf and Ratcliff. 9 James I. E 178/4197 MIDDLESEX: Ratcliff Certificate of the sale of a forfeited ship called `the Hopewell.' 10 James I. LR 14/989 GRANTOR: William Stubbes of Ratcliff, co. Middlesex, gentleman. GRANTEE: Thomas Cleyton, mercer. PLACE OR SUBJECT: Assignment, indented, of his interest in the lease of the house and site of the Dominion Friars in Newcastle-under-Lyme. COUNTY: Staff. 24 Eliz. MR 1/248 Middlesex (now in London Borough of Tower Hamlets). Four plans of named areas 'with their several housings and wharfes', and showing names of proprietors. (1) Limehouse, from the north part of the street down to the River Thames, with houses and wharves on the south side. 1635 The County of Middlesex Trust: Middlesex-HISTORICAL FACTS |
Public Record Office Online Catalogue E 134/22Jas1/East24 Sir Robt. Maunsel, Knt. v. Sir William Clavill, Knt.: Glass works in the Isle of Purbeck (Dorset), and at Ratcliffe (Middlesex). Touching an indenture of covenants made between Phillip Earl of Montgomery, Sir Thos. Howard, Knt., Sir Edwd. Zouche, Knt., Sir Thos. 22 Jas 1 1623-24 E 178/4180 MIDDLESEX: East Smithfield Inquisition as to houses built on encroached land between Lewen's Wharf and Ratcliff. 9 James I. E 178/4197 MIDDLESEX: Ratcliff Certificate of the sale of a forfeited ship called `the Hopewell.' 10 James I. LR 14/989 GRANTOR: William Stubbes of Ratcliff, co. Middlesex, gentleman. GRANTEE: Thomas Cleyton, mercer. PLACE OR SUBJECT: Assignment, indented, of his interest in the lease of the house and site of the Dominion Friars in Newcastle-under-Lyme. COUNTY: Staff. 24 Eliz. MR 1/248 Middlesex (now in London Borough of Tower Hamlets). Four plans of named areas 'with their several housings and wharfes', and showing names of proprietors. (1) Limehouse, from the north part of the street down to the River Thames, with houses and wharves on the south side. 1635 The County of Middlesex Trust: Middlesex-HISTORICAL FACTS | ||
| STEPNEY Description and History from 1868 Gazetteer | |||
| STEPNEY, a parish and populous district of the metropolis, in the Tower division of Ossulstone hundred, and borough of the Tower Hamlets, county Middlesex, 25 miles E. of St. Paul's Cathedral. It is a junction station on the North London, the Blackwall, and Great Eastern railways; it lies chiefly between the Commercial-road and the Great Eastern railway, and includes the populous districts of Mile-End, New and Old Town, and part of Ratcliffe. The population of the parish in 1861 was 98,836, and of the ecclesiastical districts of the Holy Trinity and St. Philip respectively 10,478 and 14,805. Previously to 1669 it was much more extensive than at present, comprising, in addition to its present parochial limits, the hamlets Of Stratford-le-Bow, Limehouse, Shadwell, St. George's-in-the-East, Spitalfields, Bethnal Green, Wapping, Whitechapel, Poplar, and Blackwall, which from their increased importance have been successively separated from it, and formed into distinct parishes. In Domesday Book it is written Stebenhede, and in later documents Stebenhythe and Stebonheath. In 1299 it was the seat of a parliament summoned by Edward I. to meet at the mansion house of Henry Walleis, then lord mayor of London. In the 14th century the manor was held by the bishops of London, who had a palace called Bishop's Hall at Bethnal-Green, then a rural district, as described by Sir Thomas More in a letter to Dean Colet. It was subsequently alienated by Bishop Ridley to the crown, and given by Edward VI. to the Wentworths, from whom it came to the Manners and Colebrooke families. In the first year of Charles I.'s reign it was ravaged by the plague, which carried off 2,978 persons; and at the commencement of the parliamentary war was strongly fortified for the defence of the city. At this period the parish was a wide flat extending to Blackwall, as seen in the print of Hogarth's "Idle Apprentice." In 1665 the plague again broke out, and with such violence that it swept off 6,583 persons in one year, besides 116 sextons and gravediggers, belonging to the parish. In 1794 more than half the hamlet of Ratcliffe was consumed by a fire, which spread to the shipping in the river. The parish, situated on the northern bank of the Thames, is chiefly inhabited by persons connected with shipping, and contains extensive warehouses, especially in the Commercial-road, leading from Whitechapel to the East and West India Docks. It is well paved, lighted with gas, and supplied with water from the reservoir at Old Ford. On the banks of the Regent's canal, which traverses the parish, are numerous coal and timber wharves, and at its junction with the Thames is a dock capable of containing 100 vessels. The surface is almost level, rising gently from the river. It is generally considered healthy, resting on a gravel soil, but many cases of cholera occurred in 1849, and again in 1866. The greater part is now built over, but there are still some open spaces in the vicinity of Bow Common. The three hamlets are governed by different bodies:-Ratcliffe by trustees; Mile-End, Old and New Town, by a vestry constituted under Sir Benjamin Hall's Act, the rector and churchwardens being ex-officio members. The custom of gavelkind prevails in the manor. There are several breweries, a large distillery, and numerous foundries and factories, chiefly in connection with the shipping interest. Here are Situated the Whitechapel Union poor-house, the Commercial gas works, the East London cemetery, and the Baptist College, founded in 1810 on the site of the Marquis of Worcester's house, where Dr. Mead was born in 1673. In the Whitechapel-road are two theatres, the Effingham and Pavilion, the latter, built in 1858 from designs by Simmonds, is a spacious structure, with an entrance constructed of Portland stone, and containing the largest pit in London, capable of holding 2,000 persons. The living was once held by Archbishop Seagrave, Bishop Fox (the founder of Corpus Christi College, Oxford), Pace, and Dean Colet. It is a rectory* in the diocese of London, value £850, in the patronage of the Bishop of London. | |||
| The parish church, dedicated to St. Dunstan, was built in the 14th century. It has a low broad tower, strengthened with buttresses and surmounted by a turret and dome. In the porch is a Stone from "Carthage wall," and in the interior are many ancient monuments and tombs of eminent men, with several epitaphs, noticed in No. 518 of the Spectator. In addition to the parish church are the follow district churches, viz: Holy Trinity, St. Thomas, St. Philip, All Saints', St. Peter's, and St. Paul's, Bow Common, the livings of which are all perpetual curacies, varying in value from £350 to £250. A new church is also about being built, the cost of which will be defrayed out of the proceeds of the sale of St. Benet's, Gracechurch-street, which is doomed to be demolished. Of the district churches the most noteworthy are St. Philip's, the first district Gothic church built in the E. of London, erected in 1829 at a cost of £7,000; and St. Paul's, Bow Common, built and endowed in 1858, at the expense of Mr. Cotton, of the Bank of England, from the designs of Mr. R. Hawkins. It is Decorated Gothic, with a spire of Bath stone and a painted E. window. There are 12 chapels belonging to the several dissenting denominations, also a synagogue and Jews' burial-ground. There are 40 National and other day schools, several of them endowed, as Bancroft's school in Mile End, Old Town, founded in 1729 for the education of 100 boys, who since 1803 have been boarded as well as clothed and instructed, with a library attached to the school; the Mile End, Old Town, and Ratcliffe charity schools, each with an income from endowment of £190; Stepney Meeting school; Wycliffe's chapel school, partially endowed. The charities altogether produce about £1,000 a year, including Coborn's bequest for seamen's widows; Curtis's for behoof of small debtors in prison, &c., besides numerous hospitals, or almshouses, as Deacon's City paupers' house, the German and Portuguese Jews' hospital, Drapers' hospital, Trinity almshouses, Gibson's or Coopers' almshouses, Drapers' almshouses; also, in Bow, almshouses belonging to the Skinners' and Vintners' companies. The London Hospital, situated in Whitechapel, and founded in 1740, is one of the most useful and extensive charities of the kind in the metropolis; the building was erected in 1752, from the designs of Mr. B. Mainwaring, and contains 35 wards with 439 beds. The amount of fixed income is £12,000, derived from funded property, voluntary donations, legacies, &c., and in 1861 the number of in and out patients relieved was 32,080. The Stepney Poor-law Union comprises the parishes of Limehouse, Ratcliffe, Shadwell, and Wapping, Mile-End Old Town having its own establishment. All children born at sea are supposed to belong to Stepney, according to the old rhyme "He who sails on the wide sea, Is a parishioner of Stepney." In consequence pauper's born at sea have been sent here from all parts of the country, but the recent decisions of the superior courts refuse to establish this traditional law. See also articles London, and the parishes enumerated above as once included in Stepney. | |||
| Stepney in Other Days | |||
| From "The Copartnership Herald", Vol. II, no. 19 (September 1932) It is not easy to imagine either the appearance of the riverside or the rural condition of the mother parish of Stepney four hundred years ago, when it was possible to view afar over field, meadow and marsh the little ships of sail passing up and down the silver reaches of the Thames, with the green hills of Kent and Surrey beyond. To-day most of that which is seen in the streets of East London has been developed since the making of the great docks early in the nineteenth century and the building of wharves and warehouses. The beginning of the change that altered the character of the whole district occurred, however, in the second half of the sixteenth century, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, when England, awakened by the spirit of adventure, took to the sea, and laid the foundations of its maritime power, the Indian Empire, and the oversea Dominions. In this great enterprise Stepney played no mean part. In the words of honest John Strype: "It is further to be remarked that the Parish of Stepney, on the Southern Parts of it especially, that it is one of the greatest Nurseries of Navigation and Breeders of Seamen in England, the most serviceable Men in the Nation; without which England could not be England for they are its Strength and Wealth." Previous to this era there was, between the Precinct of St. Katherine's by the Tower and Blackwall (just under six and a half miles) nothing but marshland, having a sparse population, except at Ratcliff, where from time immemorial people had gathered and carried on waterside occupations. It occupied a favourable position, having a low cliff with a foreshore lying in the curve of the river where the straight run of tides without eddies caused no silting up of mud and gave a depth of water suitable for its use as a quay. At the western end of this convenient stretch of foreshore, the extent of which corresponds with the present Broad Street, stood a slight eminence sometime named Cock Hill, while at the other was Ratcliff Cross, with its stairs and hardway giving access to the water at all states of the tide. Nearby there was a small inlet now filled in, which in later years was known as Ratcliff Dock. The natural advantages of the situation were recognised in the Roman times when a causeway was made across the marshes from Tower Hill along the line which centuries afterwards was to become the notorious Ratcliff Highway. | |||
| The origin of the name of Stepney has given rise to some speculation, but it is generally accepted that the derivation is from Steben and hythe, although the variant spelling Stebonheath has had a misleading effect. Apart from the doubt whether Steben refers to a personal name-Stephen-or to a Saxon word "steb," meaning timber, the hythe or wharf, is not strongly disputed. As there appears to have been no other appropriate place elsewhere the hythe would seem to have related to the foreshore at Ratcliff. In the beginning of the sixteenth century, in the time of Henry VIII, "the town" of Ratcliff had become of considerable importance, and had numerous inhabitants who were engaged in the trades and occupations peculiar to riverside life. Evidence in support of the place being populous is the choice of it by Nicholas Gibson, citizen and grocer, for founding, in 1538, a free school for sixty boys and almshouses for fourteen aged poor persons. His widow married Sir Anthony Knyvett, and on his decease, for the continuance of the Charity, provided for it being vested in the Company of Coopers. Lady Avice Knyvett and her two husbands are buried in Stepney Church, and the site of the school is pre served in the name of the still existent Schoolhouse Lane. The importance of Ratcliff is stressed in parochial affairs by the fact, which is not widely known, that the parish church of St. Dunstan and its large churchyard stands wholly within it. Near the church was the large house, The Great Place as it was called, where Sir Henry Colet lived. His son John Colet, Dean of St. Paul's, and founder of St. Paul's School, while he was Vicar of Stepney, was visited on more than one occasion by the great and learned Dutch scholar Erasmus, whose impressions of Stepney as a place of residence at that time are happily preserved in a letter to his friend: "I come to drink your fresh air, my Colet, to drink deeper of your rural peace. Wherever you look, the earth yieldeth you a pleasant prospect, the temperature of the air fresheth you, and the very bounds of heaven do delight you. Here you find nothing but bounteous gifts of Nature and saint-like tokens of innocency." These remarks might be taken as savouring of polite exaggeration, but there is confirmation of their literal worth to be found in a letter of Sir Thomas More, who alludes to the delights afforded by "the country about your parish of Stepney." From a panoramic map of London and its suburbs made in 1543 a section has been reproduced (left) to assist our readers in obtaining some idea of the aspect of the southern part of the old parish of Stepney abutting on the river. Considered as an actual representation, the picture may seem to be slightly out of perspective, but it should be borne in mind that in its compilation the mental impressions of the various places shown were relied upon from the imaginary position above the monastery of Bermondsey, part of which is seen in the foreground. | |||
| Across the river there is unmistakably the Tower of London, behind which, within the city wall, is Tower Hill with the place of execution; and continuing along the wall there is Aldgate surmounted with three heads of criminals stuck on poles, and to the right is the former church of St. Botolph. The road into Essex is indicated passing through Whitechapel to Mile End, and thence to the left of Stepney Church. The gateway in the city wall, the one nearest the Tower, is the Postern Gate, from whence began the highway across East Smithfield to Ratcliff. East of the Tower is the Church and Hospital of St. Katherine, with houses clustered on three sides. On the further, the East side, marshland extends to Cock Hill. Beyond Ratcliff in the next curve of the river is the low-lying Isle of Dogs, opposite which is seen a small part of the old Palace of Greenwich. St. Katherine's by the Tower owes its name to the Hospital founded about 1148 by Queen Matilda, wife of Stephen, who created and endowed it in the time of her grief over the loss of her two children who died and were buried in the Church of Holy Trinity, Aldgate. At this time, it may be remarked, there was a vineyard in the vicinity. Under the shadows of the Hospital there grew up a populous neighbourhood, which, when the map was made, was largely composed of foreigners, mostly Flemish and Dutch, or persons of foreign extraction. They carried on their trades near, yet outside, the city from which they were excluded as aliens. Here on the quayside the little ships from Holland landed their goods and took on board cargoes for their homeward voyage. Beer was one of the commodities thus shipped. Much of it was brewed in the locality, and the water of the Thames long enjoyed a high reputation for its value. Stow remarks that "the brewers remain to the friendly water of the Thames." In the narrow circuitous Nightingale Lane leading from East Smithfield to the banks of the river stood one of these breweries. "This part of the public sustenance," it is recorded, "was subject to regulation as early as Henry VII who, in 1499, licenced John Merchant, a Fleming, to export 50 tuns of Ale called Berre, and in the same reign one Geoffrey Gate, probably a King's officer spoiled the brew-houses at St. Katherine's twice, either for sending too much abroad or brewing it too weak for home consumption." There was a steady demand for this article from foreign parts, and even when there was a scarcity of corn (which, it may be noted in passing, was grown at this time in the neighbourhood of Whitechapel) its exportation was permitted by Royal Licence. The King's brewhouse on the east of St. Katherine's stood at a place which bore the name of the Hermitage, where a small chapel sometime stood for prayer for the preservation of the embank ment or river wall. The whole inhabited area of St. Katherine's was a network of tangled lanes with wooden-built habitations. The Precinct, which was originally deemed to belong to the Portsoken Ward of the City, became within the jurisdiction of the Tower, and as one of the Liberties was included in the Tower Hamlets. In this way it became part of the Borough of Stepney. Just over a hundred years ago the Hospital was pulled down, together with some 1,250 houses of the poorest and meanest description, and 11,800 inhabitants displaced, to make St. Katherine's Docks, which now occupy twenty-four acres of the site. by Sydney Maddocks | |||
Revision as of 16:36, 28 February 2004
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ff.38vo-4040ro. 11 May 1620. Evidence given by William Wye of Limehouse, sailor, aged 25, son William plaintiff. Statement similiar to others. ff.67vo-70ro. 17 June 1620. Similiar evidence given by John Johnson of Limehouse, Nauta. ff.67vo-70ro. 18 June 1620. Evidence of John Cuff, London Merchant, aged 40. ff.71vo-72ro. 18 June 1620. Evidence of Richard Wiseman, London Merchant, aged 31. ff.72ro-73vo. No date. Further examination of Thomas Hopkins ff.73vo-75ro. 22 June 1620. Similiar evidence of William Bens of Somers Island, aged 35. f.75ro. 22 June 1620. Similiar statement from William Ewens of Limehouse, Nauta, aged 40. ff.75ro-75ro. 22 June 1620. Like evidence given by John Huddleston, sailor, aged 33. Survey Report No. GL.5 References Crick and Alman Guide, pp.64-65. Vol.V No.65 Depositions in the Court of Common Pleas, 17 November 1621. the depositions are made by John Mennys, gent., of Sandwich, Kent; John Huddleston, gent., of Ratcliff, Middlesex, master of the Bona Nova; William Jackson of Ratcliffe, gunner of the Bona Nova; John Ward of Ratcliffe, mariner; and George Hooper of Ratcliffe; mariner. The depositions state the deponents were in Virginia during the period January-June, and that they had learned of the death of Mr. William Tracy of Berkeley, Shirley Hundred, Virginia, apparently during or earlier than January. One deposition refers to a Captain Powell, who had married William Tracy's daughter.
Smyth of Nibley Papers Public Libraries, 1619, 1621 Page 1 of 1 Survey Report No. GL.5 Title Smyth of Nibley papers Vol.V No. 65 Depositions in the Court of Common Pleas,17 November 1621. The depositions are made by John Mennys, gent., of Sandwich, Kent; John Huddleston, gent., of Ratcliffe, Middlesex, master of the "Bona Nova"; William Jackson of Ratcliffe' gunner of the "Bona Nova"; John Ward of Ratcliffe, mariner; and George Hooper of Ratcliffe, mariner. The depositions state that the deponents were in Virginia during the period January - June, and that they had learned of the death of Mr. william Tracy of Berkeley, Shirley Hundred, Virginia, apparently during or earlier than January. One deposition refers to a Captain Powell, who had married William Tracy's daughter.
Finding Ratcliff, Middlesex, London, England was a difficult research for me but the following paragraph explains this place.
Public Record Office Online Catalogue E 134/22Jas1/East24 Sir Robt. Maunsel, Knt. v. Sir William Clavill, Knt.: Glass works in the Isle of Purbeck (Dorset), and at Ratcliffe (Middlesex). Touching an indenture of covenants made between Phillip Earl of Montgomery, Sir Thos. Howard, Knt., Sir Edwd. Zouche, Knt., Sir Thos. 22 Jas 1 1623-24 E 178/4180 MIDDLESEX: East Smithfield Inquisition as to houses built on encroached land between Lewen's Wharf and Ratcliff. 9 James I. E 178/4197 MIDDLESEX: Ratcliff Certificate of the sale of a forfeited ship called `the Hopewell.' 10 James I. LR 14/989 GRANTOR: William Stubbes of Ratcliff, co. Middlesex, gentleman. GRANTEE: Thomas Cleyton, mercer. PLACE OR SUBJECT: Assignment, indented, of his interest in the lease of the house and site of the Dominion Friars in Newcastle-under-Lyme. COUNTY: Staff. 24 Eliz. MR 1/248 Middlesex (now in London Borough of Tower Hamlets). Four plans of named areas 'with their several housings and wharfes', and showing names of proprietors. (1) Limehouse, from the north part of the street down to the River Thames, with houses and wharves on the south side. 1635 The County of Middlesex Trust: Middlesex-HISTORICAL FACTS