CHAPTER I
The Bailiwick of St. James
Volumes XXXI and XXXII of the Survey of
London describe that part of the parish of
St. James, Westminster, which lies north
of Piccadilly. (fn. a) With the exception of Colman
Hedge Close, on the west side of Wardour Street,
and possibly of a small strip on the east side of
Great Windmill Street, all of this area was part
of the Bailiwick or Manor of St. James, which
was formed by Henry VIII in 1531–6 out of
lands in the parishes of St. Martin in the Fields
(which then included all of the area later to become
the new parishes of St. James and of St. Anne),
St. Margaret, St. Giles in the Fields, Fulham and
Chelsea. These lands were surrendered to the
King by the Provost and College of Eton (1531),
the Abbot and Convent of St. Peter's, Westminster (1531, 1536), the Abbot and Convent of
Abingdon, the Mercers' Company, the Master of
the Hospital of Burton Saint Lazar (1536), and a
number of private individuals. A short account
of the history of the bailiwick as a whole is
contained in Survey of London, vol. XXIX,
pages 21–3.
Colman Hedge Close was never acquired
by the Crown and therefore did not form
part of the bailiwick. Its history is described on
page 219.
Henry VIII's purpose in acquiring these lands
may have been, at least in part, to gain control of
the ground from which the water supply for
Whitehall Palace was obtained. (fn. b) But his policy of
concentrating the ownership of this land in the
hands of the Crown was quickly reversed, for in
January 1559/60 Elizabeth granted in fee some
sixty acres in the parish of St. Martin in the Fields
(together with other lands elsewhere) to William
Dodington (Doddington) of London, gentleman (ref. 1)
(fig. 1). All of this ground had formerly belonged
to the Mercers' Company (ref. 2) and much of it lay
within the area covered by this volume. No
more Crown land in this area was granted
away in fee until 1664. The grant to Dodington
therefore provides the natural starting point for
a survey of the estate history of the area under
review.
Dodington's Freehold Lands
During the reign of Edward VI and the early
years of that of Queen Elizabeth, William Dodington obtained several grants of former Church
lands in various parts of the country. (ref. 3) On 24
July 1560 he sold his lands in St. Martin's, together with other property elsewhere, to John
Tamworth, esquire, 'one of the gromes of the
quenes maiesties most honorable privye chambre';
on 2 June 1561 the latter sold the sixty acres in
St. Martin's to Thomas Wilson of St. Botolph
without Aldgate, brewer. (ref. 2) These lands were
intermingled with ground still in the possession of
the Crown, and which had formerly belonged
to the Abbot and Convent of Abingdon and the
Hospital of Burton Saint Lazar. To add to the
confusion, both Wilson and the tenants under
the Crown were gradually enclosing much
of their ground which had hitherto been parish
Lammas land, (ref. 4) where the parishioners had
grazing rights from Lammas Day (1 August)
until the spring.
In c. 1580 James Bristow, a man of some
substance in the parish of St. Giles and the tenant
under the Crown of most of the Abingdon and
Burton Saint Lazar lands, (ref. 5) claimed part of
Wilson's land, (ref. 6) and a long series of lawsuits followed. During this litigation a plan (Plate 1) of
the fields in question was made in 1585, and on
fig. 2 this is related to the modern street layout.
The documents in the various lawsuits, including
the plan itself, formed the foundation of C. L.
Kingsford's The Early History of Piccadilly,
Leicester Square, Soho and Their Neighbourhood,
which was published for the London Topographical Society in 1925. The litigation between
Bristow and Wilson is described in detail by
Kingsford, and is therefore only summarized
here. (fn. c)
The dispute concerned some four acres of
ground in the vicinity of Poland Street called Little
Gelding's Close. The point at issue was whether
the whole close, which in the 1560's had been
divided into two, (ref. 7) had formerly been part of the
Abingdon lands, and should therefore have devolved upon Bristow as the tenant under the
Crown, or whether it had formerly belonged to
the Mercers' Company and therefore formed
part of the lands granted by the Crown in fee to
Dodington in 1559/60, and subsequently acquired
by Wilson. Since his entry on the Abingdon lands
in 1574 Bristow had apparently enjoyed the
profits of the smaller, western part of Little
Gelding's Close (subsequently known as Pawlett's Garden), (ref. 8) and in c. 1580 he exhibited a bill
of complaint in the Court of Exchequer against
Wilson, in which he claimed that the larger,
eastern part of the close had also been part of the
Abingdon lands. In January 1584/5 a commission was appointed to set out the boundaries of the
lands held by Wilson under the grant to Dodington, and of the lands formerly held by the Abbot
and Convent of Abingdon, and 'to make a trewe
plotte' (i.e. map) of Little Gelding's Close. (ref. 9)
The commissioners took depositions from a
number of ancient inhabitants and made a plan (ref. 10)
(Plate 1) in which the lands formerly belonging
to the Abbot and Convent of Abingdon were
marked with a letter A, those of the Hospital of
Burton Saint Lazar with a B and those of Mr.
Wilson with a W. (ref. 11) So far as Little Gelding's
Close was concerned the commissioners' inquiries proved inconclusive, and on the plan both
parts of the close are unlettered. The case was
heard in Trinity Term of 1586, when the court
ordered that Bristow should continue to enjoy the
smaller, western part, but that Wilson should
plead further concerning his title to the larger
part. The Attorney General, acting on behalf of
the Queen (to whom the land would belong if
Wilson could not prove his title under the grant to
Dodington), then exhibited an information
against Wilson for intruding into the larger
part, but at the subsequent trial Wilson's title was
acknowledged. (ref. 12)
In 1589 Wilson in his turn filed a petition in
the Court of Exchequer in which he claimed the
smaller, western part from Bristow, (ref. 13) and in
February 1589/90 another commission of inquiry was appointed to examine Wilson's case. (ref. 14)
The final decision of the court is not known, but
it is almost certain that Wilson's claim was not
successful, for the freehold of the land in question,
later known as Pawlett's Garden, remained in the
hands of the Crown until 1694, when it was
granted in fee to the trustees of Sir William
Pulteney (fn. d) (see page 209). Neither Wilson nor
Bristow survived the conclusion of their ten-year
struggle for long, both of them being dead by the
end of 1591. (ref. 16)
By his will Thomas Wilson bequeathed a
windmill and all his freehold lands in St. Martin's
to his son Richard Wilson. (ref. 17) In January 1618/19
the latter sold some twenty-two acres to Robert
Baker, tailor, the builder of Piccadilly Hall; (ref. 18)
this area is shown on fig. 1, and its later history is
described in Chapters II, III, X, XII, XVI. On
29 June 1622 Wilson, described as of King's
Lynn, gentleman, sold some thirty-five acres to
William Madoxe (Maddox), citizen and merchant
taylor of London. This area, comprising Millfield
(11½ acres) (ref. 19) , Ten Acre Close and Kirkham
Close (13½ acres), is shown on fig. 1. Kirkham
Close is now part of the parish of St. George,
Hanover Square, and is therefore not described in
these volumes, but the later history of Millfield and
Ten Acre Close is described in Chapters XVII–XIX, XXVI.
The Devolution of the Rest of the Crown Lands
After the grant to William Dodington in 1559/60 no more Crown land within the area covered
by these volumes was granted in fee until 1664.
During the next sixty years several such grants
were made, and by 1722 relatively little of the
area was still in the possession of the Crown.
Some ground was repurchased by the Crown for
the formation of Regent Street in the second
decade of the nineteenth century, and a number of
minor adjustments of property have subsequently
taken place. This section describes in outline the
devolution of the Crown land which remained
after the grant of 1559/60.
Figure 1:
The hatched areas represent the lands which were granted in fee by the Crown to William Dodington in 1559/60, and which subsequently belonged to the Wilson family
Figure 2:
The sixteenth-century fields and their later developers. Broken lines represent approximate sub-divisions of the fields. Kirkham Close and Penniless Bank are in the parish of St. George, Hanover Square, and are not described in the present volumes
Dodington's freehold land had formerly belonged to the Mercers' Company until its
surrender to Henry VIII in 1536. Almost all
the rest of the ground under review had belonged,
until its surrender to the Crown in 1531 and 1536
respectively, to the Provost and College of Eton
(as custodians of the Hospital of St. James) and to
the Abbot and Convent of Abingdon. All of these
lands, together with Swallow Close, which had
been acquired by Henry VIII from Thomas
Hobson, (ref. 20) were subsequently held on lease at
various times by the Pulteney family who ultimately acquired the freehold of some of them.
Two other plots, both on the west side of the
modern Wardour Street at its north and southends,
which were never held by the Pulteney family,
had belonged to the Hospital of Burton Saint
Lazar until their surrender to the Crown in 1536.
The Pulteney estate contained lands scattered
over much of Westminster, and also in Fulham
and Chelsea; an outline general history of the
estate was given in Survey of London, volume
XXIX, pp. 26–8. After the Provost and College of Eton, as custodians of the Hospital of St.
James, had surrendered their lands to Henry
VIII, the greater part of the demesne lands,
which became known as St. James's Farm, continued to be leased as a unit, and at some time
before 1575 Thomas Poultney became the subtenant. These lands were marked with his name
on the plan of 1585 (Plate 1). Poultney died in
1581 and was succeeded by another Thomas
Poultney, who was presumably his son. In 1590
the latter secured an assignment from Goma or
Gomer van Osserwick (Osterwicke), the Crown
lessee, of a reversionary lease of St. James's Farm
for twenty-one years from 1608. (ref. 21)
In 1590 the lands which had belonged to the
Abbot and Convent of Abingdon were leased by
the Crown to James Harden, who in the same
year assigned them to Thomas Poultney. (ref. 21)
These lands are marked in the plan of 1585 by a
light hatching and the letter A. This second
Thomas Poultney died in c. 1607, leaving a
widow, Ann, and a son, Michael. (ref. 22)
In 1610 St. James's Farm and the Abingdon
lands, then in the possession of Michael Pulteney,
were demised, together with other estates, by
James I to John Eldred and William Whitmore
for sixty years. (ref. 21) In March 1610 Eldred and
Whitmore assigned their interest in the Abingdon
lands to (Sir) Henry Hene in trust for Michael
Pulteney (ref. 23) and in April of the same year they
assigned their interest in St. James's Farm to
Pulteney directly. (ref. 24)
In 1650 the estate was surveyed for the trustees
for the sale of Crown lands (ref. 25) and this survey provides the earliest recognizable description of the
fields of which it was composed. In the area under
review they included Stone Conduit Close; Six
Acre Close (not to be confused with the other Six
Acre Close south of Piccadilly); (ref. 21) Windmill Field
(including, but not mentioning, the Laystall
Piece); a parcel of land to the north of this (the
western parcel of Little Gelding's Close, later
Pawlett's Garden); Mulguly Close (more commonly called Mulghay Close or Dog Field);
Round Rundle or Rundles; and Swallow Close,
which was found to have ceased to be part of the
Pulteney estate in 1619. (fn. e) These parcels are
shown on fig. 2.
All the lands mentioned in the survey, except
Swallow Close, were sold by the trustees in 1651
to Michael Pulteney's friend and agent, Samuel
Stevens of Bray, in Berkshire. (ref. 26) In May 1652
Pulteney, who was then living at Bray himself,
settled the estate for his own benefit and the
benefit of his son Michael Pulteney, junior. (ref. 27)
After the Restoration Sir William Pulteney
succeeded his brother Michael as their father's
heir, and in 1661 obtained a reversionary term of
twenty-one years after the expiry of the leases to
Eldred and Whitmore. This new term, which
extended his interest to 1691, was granted by
Queen Henrietta Maria, the Bailiwick of St.
James being part of her jointure. (ref. 21) Neither
Round Rundles nor Swallow Close were included
(the Pulteney interest in the latter having ceased
in 1619), and after the expiry of the leases to
Eldred and Whitmore in March 1669/70 these
two parcels passed to the lessees of the rest of the
bailiwick, who were the trustees of Henry Jermyn,
Earl of St. Albans (ref. 28) (see Chapter IV).
During the reign of Charles II the practice of
granting Crown lands in fee was resumed. In
1664 Sir William Pulteney gave up his leasehold
interest in most of his land on the north side of
Piccadilly in order that the Earl of Berkeley, the
Earl of Clarendon and Sir John Denham might
build themselves large houses there. (ref. 29) Stone Conduit Close formed part of the land surrendered to
the King, and in the same year it was granted freehold to the Earl of Clarendon. (ref. 30) Immediately
afterwards Pulteney re-acquired part of Stone
Conduit Close from Clarendon; (ref. 31) this ground was
therefore the first portion of their estate to be held
by the Pulteney family in fee. The later history
of these lands on the north side of Piccadilly is
described in Chapters XXI–XXV.
In 1668 Sir William Pulteney was required to
surrender another part of his lands to the Crown
for the enlargement of St. James's Park and in
recompense Charles II granted him a reversionary lease for thirty-four years from 1688/9 of
most of the residue of his estate. This was the
first occasion that a Pulteney had had a direct
lease from the Crown. This grant, which extended Pulteney's interest to 1722/3, comprised
Mulghay Close, Six Acre Close, Windmill Field
and the Laystall Piece (or Knaves' Acre)—about
twenty acres within the area covered by these
volumes, as well as other lands elsewhere. (ref. 32) In
1670 Sir William sold his leasehold interest in part
of Windmill Field to Ralph Wayne (Wain), who
was acting on behalf of Francis Sherard (ref. 33) (see
page 125). The Regent Palace Hotel now occupies
the site of this ground, whose freehold is still
owned by the Crown.
Two other parcels (both of which had formerly
belonged, until their surrender in 1536, to the
Hospital of Burton Saint Lazar) were granted in
fee by the Crown in 1676 and 1698. Both of
them were on the west side of the modern Wardour Street and both had been leased in 1661, as
part of the bailiwick, by the trustees of Queen
Henrietta Maria to the trustees of the Earl of St.
Albans. (ref. 34) In 1676 Charles II granted to the
latter the freehold of the more southerly, known
variously as the Laystall, Vesey's Garden and
Watts's Close and occupying the site of the modern
Rupert Street, in exchange for the surrender by
St. Albans of his leasehold interest in Nell
Gwynne's house in Pall Mall (ref. 35) (see Chapter
VIII). In 1698 William III granted the freehold
of Doghouse Close, in the vicinity of D'Arblay
Street (originally Portland Street), to William
Bentinck, first Earl of Portland (ref. 36) (see Chapter XV).
After the death of Sir William Pulteney in 1691
his trustees, Sir Thomas Clarges and Henry Guy,
were empowered to sell part of his estate to pay
his debts and legacies. (ref. 37) In February 1692/3 the
leasehold of the eastern part of Six Acre Close was
sold to William Lowndes, (ref. 38) who obtained from
the Crown a reversionary lease of ninety-nine
years from 1722/3; (ref. 39) he subsequently purchased
the reversion of the freehold. (ref. 40) In the western
half of Six Acre Close Pulteney's principal subtenant, Lewis Maidwell, also obtained from the
Crown a reversionary lease for ninety-nine years
from 1722/3, (ref. 41) but the freehold was not subsequently sold, and (with the exception of the site of
St. Thomas's Church, the freehold of which was
granted to Dr. Thomas Tenison in 1692/3) (ref. 42) the
ground still belongs to the Crown (see Chapter
XI). In March 1692/3 the leasehold of the
south-west quarter of Mulghay Close was
sold to Nicholas Baxter (ref. 43) and the freehold
of this, too, still belongs to the Crown (see
Chapter XX).
In 1694 the leasehold interest held by Sir
William Pulteney's trustees in some parts of the
remainder of the estate was extended for ninetynine years from 1722/3 (ref. 44) while part of Windmill
Field (around Great Pulteney Street, see Chapter
IX) and Pawlett's Garden (a tongue of ground to
the north of this) were granted to them in fee.
The grant of the latter was made subject to a
covenant that part of it should be set aside for a
burial ground. (ref. 45) The parish workhouse was later
built here (see Chapter XIII). In 1699 the leasehold of the Laystall Piece, on the south side of
Brewer Street, and of the plot of ground to the
west as far as Great Windmill Street, was sold to
John Rowley, Yeoman of the Guard. (ref. 46) The freehold of both of these parcels belonged to the
Crown until recently (see Chapter IX).
Sir William Pulteney's eldest son and heir, another William, died in 1715. He was succeeded
by his eldest son and more famous namesake, the
statesman, who later became Earl of Bath. (ref. 47) In
1721 an Act of Parliament enabled the Crown to
grant to him the freehold of parts of the family
estate, and in February 1721/2 Mulghay Close
(with the exception of the south-west quarter)
was granted to him in fee (ref. 48) (see Chapter XX), together with a rectangular plot at the south-east
corner of Brewer and Sherwood Streets; the latter
has subsequently been re-acquired by the Crown
(see pages 117–18).
Lord Bath died in 1764, having been predeceased by his only son. The estate passed first to
his brother, General Harry Pulteney, who died in
1767, and then to Frances, daughter of his first
cousin Daniel. She married a William Johnstone
who took the name of Pulteney and later became a baronet. Frances died in 1782 and left the
London estates to trustees with benefits to her
husband and their daughter, Henrietta Laura,
later Countess of Bath. In default of Henrietta
Laura's issue the estate was to go to Sir Richard
Sutton and his heirs. (ref. 49) Sir Richard Sutton, the
first baronet, was a lawyer and an under secretary
of state from 1766 to 1772. In 1760 he had
become a trustee of the marriage settlement
between Frances Pulteney and William Johnstone
and in 1772 became the trustee of the Pulteney
estate which Frances had inherited from General
Harry Pulteney. The Countess of Bath had
married Sir James Murray, baronet (who added
the name of Pulteney to his own), but she died
without issue in 1808. Sir Richard Sutton died
in 1802 and was succeeded by his grandson,
Richard, an infant, and he, as the second baronet,
inherited the Pulteney estate on the death of the
Countess of Bath. (ref. 49)
During the nineteenth century the estate, now
more accurately called the Sutton estate, underwent further changes. With the formation of
Regent Street, which cut through part of the
former Mulghay Close, the estate was divested of
nearly all its property on either side of Swallow
Street. This was surrendered to the Crown in
1823. (ref. 50) In 1830 an exchange of lands between
the Crown and Sir Richard Sutton resulted in the
acquisition to the estate of the freehold of land at
the rear of houses on the east side of Little Windmill Street and of the triangular piece of land
between Brewer Street, Glasshouse Street and Air
Street. (ref. 51)
The Exclosure of Parish Lammas Lands
Much of the area described in this volume was
Lammas land over which the parishioners had
grazing rights from Lammas Day (1 August) until
the spring. After the acquisition of almost all of
the area by the Crown in 1531–6, the land was
granted out on lease, or in the case of the grant to
Dodington in 1559/60, in fee. The vague
generalized phraseology in use in documents of
title at that time was probably the main cause of
the confusion which gave rise to the disputes
(described on page 25) between James Bristow and
Thomas Wilson. It is perhaps surprising that the
testimony of the ancient inhabitants proved inconclusive in these disputes, but this was probably
due to the blurring of old landmarks by the gradual
enclosure of many of the fields between the modern
Oxford Street and Piccadilly during the sixteenth
century. A presentment made by the parishioners of St. Martin's in 1549 showed that enclosure on a considerable scale had taken place
since the accession of Henry VII in 1485, and a
survey made in 1575, shortly before the start of
the dispute between Bristow and Wilson, includes (Little) Gelding's Close, the land in dispute, in a list of enclosures. (ref. 52)
In 1592 the inhabitants of the parishes of St.
Martin and St. Margaret addressed a petition
against the enclosures to William Cecil, Lord
Burghley, as High Steward of Westminster. The
latter ordered his under-steward 'to impanel an
Inquest for Enquiry into this Matter, which
seemed to favour' the petitioners. They, 'having,
as they supposed, that Lord's Countenance, sent
divers Persons on the 1. of August, being Lammasday, who, with Pickaxes, and such like Instruments, pulled down the Fences, and brake the
Gates, having with them the Bailiffs and Constables, to keep the Peace'. On the following days
the parishioners' cattle, guarded by a herdsman,
were set to graze within the enclosures which
had been thrown down, while the inhabitants
ranged further westwards, peaceably destroying gates and fences towards Hyde Park and
Chelsea. (ref. 53)
Shortly afterwards the tenants of the Bailiwick
of St. James petitioned Burghley, stating that they
had enjoyed their lands under the Crown 'Time
out of Mind', and that if the destruction of their
hedges were permitted 'all her Majesty's poor
Tenants and Fermours were utterly undone'. In
a counter-petition the inhabitants reiterated their
claims to their ancient rights, and specifically
mentioned 'Wilson, a Brewer' as an encloser.
They alleged that the Queen 'greatly misliked'
the enclosures, and that she had said that she only
received eight pence an acre in rent for her lands
and that her tenants 'abused her greatly therein.
Whereupon she commanded some of the Tenants
to be by the Lord Chamberlain committed to the
Marshalsea: Which was done. And yet notwith-standing, they have proceeded to a farther Enclosure.' (ref. 53)
In February 1593/4 the vestry of the parish of
St. Martin organized a collection to meet the
costs of the defence of the common lands incurred
in a suit started in the Courts of Queen's Bench and
Exchequer by John Dawnson or Dauson, the
tenant and encloser of part of the lands formerly
belonging to the Hospital of Burton Saint Lazar. (ref. 54)
The outcome of this suit is not known, but
in 1598 the vestry appointed a herdsman to
guard the parishioners' cattle grazing on the
common land, 'to Use And Inioy it in As ampell
maner as the Rest of or herdmen hertofore hath
done'. (ref. 55)
In 1611–12 Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury,
began to pay to the vestry an annual rent of fifty
shillings for the right to build upon five acres of
Lammas land at Swan Close, later Leicester
Fields. (ref. 56) As building throughout the parish proceeded, this practice of paying rent for the right
to build on Lammas land became increasingly
common, (ref. 57) and continued until at least 1670. (ref. 58)
The individual rents were, however, very small,
and after changes of ownership the payments
gradually ceased. It is worth noting that in the
second half of the nineteenth century the vestry of
St. Martin compiled an elaborate survey of the
history of the parish Lammas lands, presumably in
order to see if any of the rents could be reclaimed. (ref. 57)