No. 56, Charing Cross and No. 17, Spring Gardens

Survey of London: Volume 16, St Martin-in-The-Fields I: Charing Cross. Originally published by London County Council, London, 1935.

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'No. 56, Charing Cross and No. 17, Spring Gardens', in Survey of London: Volume 16, St Martin-in-The-Fields I: Charing Cross, (London, 1935) pp. 120-121. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol16/pt1/pp120-121 [accessed 19 April 2024]

CHAPTER 16: SITE OF NO. 56, CHARING CROSS AND NO. 17, SPRING GARDENS

The site of No. 56, Charing Cross, also formed part of the three tenements leased to Shypton, De La Haye and Hornecliff (see p. 114). The first specific mention of it which has been found is in the will of John Bond (fn. n1), dated 2nd July, 1675, by which he left to his wife Patience "all that my house wherein Master Windsor Pingleberry doth now inhabitt … scituate … in Charing Crosse." (fn. n2) Windsor Pendlebury (fn. n3) is shown by the ratebooks to have occupied from 1653 to 1678 the house next to Pratt's, having succeeded Richard Thompson (1648–52) in the former year. This identifies the house as that in which Milton lodged for a short time in 1650. (fn. n4) The property descended to Catherine, grand-daughter of John Bond, who in 1716 sold it (fn. n5) to Alexander Denton under the description of a messuage "at or neare Charing Crosse … now or late in the Tenure … of Mary Miller, widdow … adjoyning to a Messuage … called … the Buffalo's Head Taverne towards the north." The house of Mary Miller (1711–23) can be traced through the ratebooks until it comes into the occupation of Thomas Baber (or Barber (fn. n6) ) in 1765. His son continued there until 1797, when he was succeeded by Samuel Brunn, whose house is shown in Holden's Triennial Directory for 1803–5 as No. 56, Charing Cross. The premises have been demolished and the site now forms part of the Mall Approach.

It seems reasonable to suppose that the house in the rear of No. 56, Charing Cross, on the Spring Gardens side, was also originally part of the Bond property, though when it first emerges into the light in 1718 (fn. n7) it was in the possession of George Pratt Webb, and was leased by him to Isaac Bobyn. (fn. n8) The house is not mentioned in Sir George Pratt's will, and it seems likely that it was purchased by Lady Margaret Pratt from Bond in 1678. (fn. n9) This suggestion receives some confirmation from the fact that it is described in a sale by the Commissioners for the Affairs of Barracks to John Madox in 1809 (fn. n10) as "some time since in the occupatn of Jno Bond, afterwards of Mrs. Bobyn, since that of Jno Hare, Peruke Maker." The house occupied by "Boben," Hare (1760–86), the commissioners (1808) and Madox (1809–22) can be traced through the ratebooks without difficulty until the number 28 is assigned to it in 1820. This number was in 1866 altered to 17. The house was demolished for the Mall Approach.

Footnotes

  • n1. P.C.C., 87 North, dated 2nd July, 1675, proved 3rd June, 1681. John Bond was of Coleshill, Berks, and was thus a neighbour of the Pratts. How Bond became possessed of the house is not known. There is a fine of Easter, 1658, between John Bond quer: and Anthony Deane, Esq., and Jane his wife deforc: of one messuage and one garden in St. Martin-in-the-Fields, which may refer to this property, but even if this is the case there is no evidence to show how Deane had obtained it.
  • n2. The Hearth Tax Rolls for 1666 and 1674 show Pendlebury's house assessed at seven hearths.
  • n3. Windsor Pendlebury, Citizen and "Merchant-tailer," died in 1681. (P.C.C., 169 North, dated 13th September, proved 15th November, 1681.)
  • n4. "During the Writing and Publishing of this Book [Joannis Philippi Angli Defensio pro Populo Anglicano contra, etc.] he lodg'd at one Thomson's, next door to the Bull-head Tavern at Charing Cross, opening into the Spring-Garden." (The Life of Mr. John Milton, by Edward Phillips, 1694, p. xxxiii.)
  • n5. Indenture, dated 24th January, 1715–6. (Middx. Register, 1715, V, 160.)
  • n6. A deed of 1785 (indenture, dated 21st September, between Isaac Parry and Richard Burnett and Erasmus Madox—Middx. Register, 1785, V, 12) contains a reference to the house as "situate next to the Cardigan Tavern over against the Mews Gate … formerly in the Tenure of Thomas Barber, Taylor, but now in the Occupation of — Barber, his Son."
  • n7. Lease, dated 9th June, 1718, quoted in indenture, dated 23rd July, 1737, between Jas. Vaughan and John Pingle. (Middx. Register, 1737, III, 51.)
  • n8. Bobyn's house is mentioned in a deed (Middx. Register, 1737, III, 449) concerning Pratt's house, which shows that it lay north of that property. The latter is described as the house "formerly in the Tenure of Sir George Pratt" abutting northwards "in Part … [on] a messuage of Collonel Bond … and in other Part on another Messuage of George Pratt Webb Esquire in … Spring Garden now or late in the Occupation of Isaac Bobbing."
  • n9. Final concord between Margaret Pratt widow quer: and John Bond the elder, gentleman, and Patience his wife deforc: concerning one messuage with appurtenances in St. Martin-in-theFields. (Mich., 30 Chas. II.)
  • n10. Indentures, dated 4th-5th May, 1809. (Middx. Register, 1809, IX, 19.)
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