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THE HALL.

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T would naturally be expected, as none of the books or documents of the Ironmongers' Company are known to have been lost or destroyed in the Fire of London, that they would have in their possession some interesting particulars respecting their Hall, or rather the series of Halls which have occupied the site of the present building; but the information which they possess on the subject is exceedingly limited; nor is there a single plan or elevation, with one exception hereafter to be noticed, known to be extant, of any edifice previous to that now standing.

There remains, however, among the muniments of the Company a large assemblage of deeds relating to the parcel of ground on which their several Halls have been built.

These deeds have been carefully scheduled by Mr. Beck, the present Clerk of the Company, and are numbered from 1 to 54. They commence as early as the year 1344.

By the first of these documents, dated on the Monday next after the feast of St. Hilary (20 Jan.) 17 Edw. III. Robert de Kent, citizen and horse merchant of London, and Felicia his wife, daughter and heiress of John Rosamond, formerly citizen of the city aforesaid, grant to Richard atte Merk, citizen, a vacant plot of ground sur

rounded by their tenements, with a certain part of a certain great gate, and a solar built thereon, opposite the highway of Aldgate Street, on the south side, being in the parish of All Saints Stanyngchurch, London.

These premises, after passing through various hands, were in 1440 conveyed to John Styuard, Knight, and Alice his wife; and on the 20th Oct. 1457, 36 Hen. VI. Thomas Pounde, William Beaufitz, and Thomas More, executors of the will of Alice Stiuard widow, and in fulfilment of the said will, sell to Richard Flemmyng, Nicholas Marshall, John Tentyrden, John Peterisfield, Thomas Dorchester, Richard Walter, William Rose, Robert Toke, Robert Wylkynson, John Pecke, Richard Holbeche, Peter Draper, John Savery, John Bate, John Lane junior, John Paxman, and Thomas Britayn, citizens and Ironmongers, all the aforesaid lands, tenements, rents, and services in the parish of All Saints Stayning, in the ward of Aldgate and elsewhere, within the said city of London.

In 1494, 9 Hen. VII. Peter Draper, Robert Wylkynson, and John Paxman, citizens and Ironmongers of London, by deed dated the 25th May, demise to Thomas Parker, Henry Hede, Thomas Munde, Robert Byfield, Roger Bartelot, and other citizens and Ironmongers of London, all those lands and tenements, &c. in the parish of All Saints Stanyng, in the ward of Aldgate, London, or elsewhere within the same city, which were formerly of Alice Stiuard widow, and appoint William Barnesby and John Stynte, Ironmongers, their lawful attorneys, to deliver seisin of the

same.

There is very little doubt that the Ironmongers' Hall was partly erected on the land above described, and partly on the site of a tenement belonging to Thomas Pattershall and Nicholas Poole, which is described in another set of deeds, and in which the Hall is distinctly mentioned.

In 1394, 18 Ric. II. Thomas Pattershall and Nicholas Poole, clerks, by deed dated the 11th Sept. grant to Richard Moordon, Ironmonger, and John Boxton, Pewterer, citizen of London, a certain annual rent of 40s. sterling, to be received from all that their tenement, with a garden adjacent, and appurtenances, which William Badby, of London, holds of them, and inhabits, in the parish of All Saints Stanyngchurch, in the ward of Aldgate, London, situate between the tenement of the Hospital of St. Mary without Bishopgate, of the east and north parts, and the tenement of John Fynden, saddler, and the garden of William Rook, of the west part, and the highway leading from Fenchurch Street towards Aldgate, of the south part.

In 1493, 8. Hen. VII. Geoffrey Downes, at the instance of John Tyse, of Spaldwick, in the county of Hunts, gentleman, and by deed dated the 12th of February, grants to John Shaa, citizen and goldsmith of London, Reginald Bray knight, Richard Higham gentleman, Bartholomew Reed, Ralph Latham goldsmith, and Henry Wodecock, those 40s. sterling of annual fee and quit rent, &c. issuing from all that tenement which was formerly of Thomas Pattershall and Nicholas Pool clerks, and now belonging to the mystery of Ironmongers of London, situate in the parish of All Saints of Stanyngchurch, in the ward of Aldgate.

On the 4th June in the following year, John Shaa, citizen and goldsmith of London, by deed of the same date, sells to William Scalder, John Halhede, and William Page, the aforesaid rent charge of 40s. per annum, then described as going out of a tenement called Ironmongers' Hall.

We have further evidence of the existence of the Hall at this period in the Churchwardens' Accounts of Allhallows Staining, in which the following entry is made under the date of 1494, as cited by Malcolm :

66

Payd for a kylcherkyn of good ale, wiche was drunkyn in the Yrynmongers Hall, all chargs born 128. 2d."

Upon what occasion this ale was "drunken" is not mentioned. The Hall then in being was entirely rebuilt in Queen Elizabeth's time, so that the present building (observes Malcolm) is the third, or perhaps the fourth, erected since the original charter of incorporation was granted.

The subjoined engraving represents the Ironmongers' Hall as laid down in a copy of Aggas's map, which is the only delineation, after a very careful research, that I have been able to discover of any edifice of former times.

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[" Blank Chepeston " in the above plan is probably a typographical error, and should be read Blanch Apleton. "This Blanch Apleton was a manor belonging to Sir Thomas Roos, of Hamelake, Knight, the 7th of Richard II. standing at the north-east corner of Mart-lane, corruptly termed Marke-lane. In the reign of Edward IV. all basket-makers, wire-drawers, and other foreigners were permitted to have shops in this manor of Blanch Apleton, and not elsewhere within the city, or suburbs thereof."-Vide Stowe, ed. 1842, p. 57.1

It is clear from this plan, if we may rely on the accuracy of its detail, that the approach to the Hall at that time was

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