Bishop (Chapel of) - Bishopsgate Institute

A Dictionary of London. Originally published by H Jenkins LTD, London, 1918.

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'Bishop (Chapel of) - Bishopsgate Institute', in A Dictionary of London, (London, 1918) pp. . British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/dictionary-of-london/bishop-bishopsgate-institute [accessed 18 March 2024]

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Bishop (Chapel of)

-See Chapel of the Bishop.

Bishop (le)

Rental of 9s. from "le Bishop" held in 1479 by . . . Nauseglis son of Wm. Nausegler (Rentals and Surveys Holborn, 18 Ed. IV. No. 1/21/3).

Perhaps it occupied the site of Bishop's Court shown in Rocque, 1746, at the north-west corner of Gray's Inn Lane.

Bishop of Ely's

See Ely (Bishop of).

Bishoppes Place

See Minories.

Bishops Court

In Chick Lane (W. Stow, 1722).

Not further identified.

Bishops Court

West out of Old Bailey at No.17 (P.O. Directory). In Farringdon Ward Without.

First mention : 1637 (L. and P. Chas. I. XI. p. 531).

Called "Bishopshead Court" (O. and M. 1677, and W. Stow, 1722).

Bishop's Court

West out of Coleman Street at No.6. In Coleman Street Ward. (O. and M. 1677-Elmes, 1831).

The site is now occupied by offices and business houses.

There was a messuage called the Bishop's Head in Coleman Street, 27 Eliz. 1585. Possibly the court was named after this sign.

Bishop's Court

South out of Throgmorton Street. In Broad Street Ward (P.C. 1732-Boyle, 1799).

Former name : "Green's Court" (O. and M. 1677).

The site is now occupied by the Bank of England.

Bishop's Court

North out of Fore Street. In Cripplegate Ward Without (Rocque, 1746-Boyle, 1799).

See Green Dragon Court, Fore Street.

Bishop's Fields

See Mary (St.) Bishopsgate (Hospital of) [without Bishopsgate?].

Bishop's Head

A messuage so called in Coleman Street in parish of St. Stephen 27 Eliz. 1585 (Lond. I. p.m. III. p. 83).

Possibly the name survived in "Bishops Court" (q.v.).

A carpenter's yard occupied part of the site in 1585 or was adjacent to the messuage.

See Carpenter's Yard, Coleman Street and Cradle Alley.

Bishops of London, Palace of

On the north-west side of St. Paul's Church (S. 373).

Mentioned by Ralph de Diceto in his Opera Historica, ii. 115, in 1194.

In 32 Ed. III. John Lovekyn the Mayor and the Commonalty granted to Michael de Northburgh, bishop of London, a parcel of land near the stone wall of the Bishop's palace, between the corner tenement called "le Briggehous" and the end of the wall opposite the great gate of the hostel of the Countess of Pembroke (Cal. L. Bk. G. p. 132).

The eastern boundary of the Palace seems to have been the wall of Pardon Church Haugh, to the south it adjoined the cathedral itself ; Ave Mary Lane formed the western boundary and the northern boundary was formed by Paternoster Row.

This included the site of London House Yard (q.v.).

In Strype's time converted into tenements, called the Bishop of London's Yard, the ground rents belonging to the Bishop (Strype, ed. 1720, I. iii. 230).

There is an interesting account of the Palace with plans of its site in the Trans. L. and M. Arch. Soc. N.S. I. (2), p. 13 et seq. and of its prisons, etc.

The Bishops of London removed to Aldersgate Street in the 17th century.

See London House.

Bishopsgate

One of the seven double gates of the City referred to by Fitz Stephen, leading out of the City on the north.

Earliest mention found in records : "Ad portam episcopi" (Domesday Book, Middlesex).

Mentioned in a charter of King Stephen to the monastery of St. Pancras, Lewes, confirming the grant of land at Bissopesgate which Goder the priest gave (Cal. of Doc. in France, 1135-54, Rolls, S., ed. Round, p. 509).

Stow says that it was built by one of the Bishops of London, but he does not know which (S. 31), and that this is the origin of the name.

Wheatley says it was erected by Bishop Erkenwald, died 685, but he gives no authority for the statement.

It is interesting to note that in a grant made by G. Bishop of London to the Canons of St. Paul's in 1181-8, the gate is referred to as "his gate called Bissupesgate" (H. MSS. Com. 9th Rep. 25).

"Bisshopesgate" is also mentioned in the account of the foundation of the Knightengild by Cnut or Edgar (959-1035) in the Liber Trinitatis, and although the account is somewhat legendary, the mention of Bishopsgate in those early times may be authentic enough.

It appears from early records that the Bishop of London was bound to make the hinges of Bishopsgate, and that he received one stick from every cart laden with wood, as it entered the gate. Also that the Hanse merchants were charged with the safe-keeping and repair of this gate, and that therefore they were free from paying toll on going in or out with their goods (Cal. L. Bk. C. p. 41).

The gate was rebuilt by the Hanse merchants in 1479 (S. 32). Repaired 1648. Taken down in 1731, and a less ornamental one erected in its place at the cost of the City (Maitland, I. 24). The two gates are shown in the 1st and 2nd editions of Strype's Stow, 1720, and 1755.

Taken down 1760, the site being indicated by two tablets fixed on the houses at the corners of Camomile Street and Wormwood Street respectively, Nos. 1 and 64 Bishopsgate Street Without.

It seems probable from the remains found at the junction of Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street that a gate existed on the site in Roman times, and it may possibly have been one of the four original gates of the City and been merely rebuilt by one of the Bishops.

See Old Watch House.

Bishopsgate (Hospital Without)

The references under this name are very numerous, and they seem to refer both to Bethlehem Hospital and to St. Mary Spital, although most of the references to the "New" Hospital without Bishopsgate seem to refer to St. Mary Spital.

Dugdale says that St. Mary Spitel was refounded during the 13th century, and was thenceforward spoken of as the "New" Hospital without Bishopsgate.

Bishopsgate (Street)

North from Leadenhall Street and Cornhill to Norton Folgate (P.O. Directory). In Bishopsgate Wards Within and Without, with a few houses in Cornhill Ward (O.S.).

First mention : March, 1910 (L.C.C. List of Streets, 1912).

Former names : "Bishopsgate Street Within." "Bishopsgate Street Without" (Hatton, 1708, to March, 1910). "Bishopsgate Street" (Agas, (G)-Greenwood, 1827). "Bisshopesgatestrat" (Ct. H.W. I. 352), 1329.

Stow seems to confine the name "Bishopsgate Street" to the part within the gate (S. 165).

So called of the gate (S. ib.).

In Strype's time (1720) the Fire of London not having destroyed this street, many of the old timber houses were still standing at that date (ed. 1720, I. ii. 107), but much of it was destroyed by fire in 1765.

Many of these old houses were in existence in the middle of the 19th century, and the Rev. T. Hugo in his itinerary of the Ward of Bishopsgate drew attention to several of them, notably Nos. 81-85 Bishopsgate Street Without, erected 1590 (L. and M. Arch. Soc. Trans. p. 158), Sir Paul Pindar's house and the adjoining houses, Nos. 170 and 171, Nos. 174-176 and 36-39, Nos. 26, 18, and Nos. 7 and 8 (ib. p. 158, et seq.).

At No. 66 Bishopsgate Street Within was a finely groined undercroft of the 14th century (ib. p. 168).

The street has now been entirely rebuilt.

A tesselated pavement was discovered 13 ft. below the street level in 1839 under No. 101, 53 ft. from the street, and 15 ft. from the Excise Yard (R. Smith, 54). A Roman pavement was found under the south-eastern area of the Excise Office, 6 ft. 10 in. deep in Broad Street, and another at a depth of 13 ft. 6 in. in Bishopsgate Street in a bed of coarse concrete 6 in. thick laid in the gravel (ib.).

A Roman pavement was also found in 1908 at the rear of Nos. 31 and 33, 6 ft. below the level of the roadway here, and 9-10 feet below the level of Bishopsgate.

Gaulish pottery was found near Sun Street in 1843 and cinerary urns in Artillery Lane and Widegate Street.

Bishopsgate Avenue

South out of Camomile Street at No.7 (P.O. Directory). In Lime Street Ward.

First mention : O.S. 1875.

The site seems to have been occupied previously by "Sarazens Head Yard" and "Camomile Mews" (q.v.).

In the 13th and 14th centuries the hostel of the Earl of Oxford occupied part of the site afterwards known as Great Oxford Court and Little Oxford Court.

Bishopsgate Buildings

West out of Bishopsgate Street, in Bishopsgate Ward Without (Elmes, 1831-O.S. 1888).

Former name : "White Hind Court" (O. and M. 1677-Lockie, 1810).

The site is now occupied by Liverpool Street Station and the railway lines.

Bishopsgate Churchyard

West out of Bishopsgate at No.109 to New Broad Street south of St. Botolph's Church (P.O. Directory). In Bishopsgate Ward Without.

First mention : Rocque, 1746.

It is narrower in this map and looks little more than a footpath.

Former name : "Churchyard" (O. and M. 1677).

The land was granted to the parish in 1615 for a cemetery, and the street was formed out of it at the same time (Strype, ed. 1720, I. ii. 93).

The churchyard is nicely laid out as a garden.

Bishopsgate Hermitage

Hermitage near Bishopsgate granted for life to Stephen called "le Roo," provided he lived as became a hermit, 15 Ed. II. (1321-2) (Cal. L. Bk. E. p. 165).

The King's hermitage within Bishopsgate granted to John de Warrewyk, hermit, 16 Ed. III. 1342 (Cal. P.R. Ed. III. 1340-3, p. 501).

There were numerous hermitages in and about the City in early times, and especially near to the City gates and wall.

Bishopsgate Institute

On the east side of Bishopsgate Street, north of Artillery Lane. In Bishopsgate Ward Without.

Opened 1894. Built under the Bishopsgate Foundation Scheme out of charitable funds devised to the parish of St. Botolph (End. Ch. Rep. 1901, pp. 57, 79, etc.).