formation which it affords of the costume and manners of the times. The prices of wearing apparel in England will be seen from the following extracts : Payd for two payer of hose for Bernerdinus pa for a payer nether stocks for ther servant servant..... ....... 986 På for two nyght cappes of vellvet for them.... 0 They brought over four horses, two of which; O 2 4 0 1 2 1 0" 4 13 6" ST. SAVIOUR'S CHURCH, SOUTHWARK. Srow, the great luminary of our metropolitan vestiges, gives the following account of the origin of ST. SAVIOUR'S CHURCH, or, as it was anciently designated, St. Mary Overy's; which stands on the south bank of the Thames, at a short distance from the foot of Old London Bridge : Speaking of Winchester House, he says, "Directly over against it, standeth a faire church, called Saint Mary ouer the Rie, or Overy, that is, over the water. This church, or some other in place thereof, was (of old time, long before the Conquest), an House of Sisters, founded by a mayden, named Mary, vnto the which House and Sisters she left, (as was left to her by her parents) the ouer-sight and profites of a Crosse Ferrie, or trauerse ferrie ouer the Thames, there kept before that any bridge was builded. This House of Sisters, was after, by Swithen, a noble lady, conuerted vnto a Colledge of Priests, who in place of the Ferrie, builded a bridge of timber, and from time to time kept the same in good reparations; but lastly the same bridge was builded of stone, and then in the yeere 1106, was this church againe founded for Canons Regular, by William Pont de le Arch and William Dauncy, knights, Normans." This account, which our chronicler professes to have had "6 by report of Bartholomew Linsted, alias Fowler," the last prior of this foundation, has been, questioned by Maitland and others, as incredible, and even the existence of a religious house on this spot prior to the Conquest has heen denied. Yet, as Stow had both an opportunity to converse with Prior Linsted, who was living till the year 1553, and also to consult ancient records, which Maitland but seldom attended to, we may surely consider his account as entitled to the better confidence. In regard to a Saxon establishment of religious, that fact is ascertained by the Domesday Book, which states, that Odo, Bishop of Baieux, "had one monastery, and one harbour in Southwark ;" and be it recollected, that no other religious foundation in this district ever made claim to so early an origin as St. Mary's. * "Survey of London," pr 773, edit. 1618. † Ibid. p. 48. Soon after the Austin Canons were settled here, Giffard, Bishop of Winchester, became a good benefactor," and enlarged the church. Henry the First granted to the Canons the Church of St. Margaret on the Hill, (which afterwards was converted into a Town Hall and Prison), and King Stephen gave them the stone house which had belonged to William Pont de l'Arch, at Dowgate. About the year 1207, this Priory was "burned, wherefore the Canons did found an hospitall neere vnto their priory, where they celebrated vntill the priory was repayred: which hospital was after (by consent of Peter de la Roch, Bishop of Winchester) remoued into the land of Anicius, Archdeacon of Surrey, in the year 1228, a place where the water was more plentifull, and the ayre more wholsome, and was dedicated to Saint Thomas.* The same bishop founded a large chapel within St. Saviour's Church, which was dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, and, eventually, became the parish church of the neighbourhood. 66 In the reigns of Richard the Second, and his successor, Henry the Fourth, this church was rebuilt. Gower, the poet, whom Stow records as an especial benefactor to that worke," was buried in the north aisle, where he had founded a chantry. This priory was surrendered to Henry the Eighth, on October the 27th, 1539, at which time its annual revenues were *Stow's "Survey," p. 774. + Vide pp. 9-11, of the present volume, for an account of Gower's Monument. valued at £624. 6s. 6d., and Linsted, the then prior, had a pension assigned to him of £100 yearly. Shortly after, the inhabitants of the borough of Southwark purchased the priory church of the King," Dr. Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, putting thereto his helping hand ;" and in the following year it was made parochial, by the designation of St. Saviour's, under an Act of Parliament which united the two parishes of St. Mary Magdalen and St. Margaret at Hill, into one. This noble structure, which is one of the largest parish churches in the kingdom, is built in the conventual form, with a lofty tower rising from the intersection of the nave and transept, and a spacious chapel dedicated to St. Mary, at the east end, at the back of the chancel. Some very appropriate repairs have been recently made under the direction of George Gwilt, esq., architect, both exteriorly and within the church. About two years ago, on the removal of the old and heavy altar screen, which was of wood, a richly decorated stone screen, designed in the pointed style, was discovered behind it, but much of the finer parts of the sculpture had been purposely cut away. We are indebted to Hollar for the spirited etching of this church, from which the annexed print has been copied. It was executed for Dugdale's "Monasticon," before the rude hand of spoliation had deprived the edifice of several of its most characteristic and venerable features. The large window in the transept has particularly suffered; and it were highly to be wished that the same judicious mind which superintended the late reparations, should be employed in restoring not only that window but the entire fabric to its original grandeur.* BANGOR HOUSE, SHOE LANE. In the curious map ascribed to Ralph Aggas, great part of the ground from Shoe Lane to Chancery Lane is represented as gardens, with trees and detached houses intermingled; but long prior to that delineation, the Bishops of Bangor had a mansion, garden, &c. within that plot, as may be seen by the following statement in the catalogue of Patent Rolls:-48 Ed. III. Rex amortizarit Epo Bangoren', in successione unum Messuag: unam placeam terræ, ac unam gardinum cum aliis ædificiis, in Shoe Lane, London." The situation of that messuage, place, and other buildings, which was immediately behind St. Andrew's Church, and Court, and Thavie's Inn, is still indicated by the mean footway called Bangor Court. The last prelate who appears to have occupied the episcopal mansion, was Bishop Doulben, who having been previously Vicar of Hackney, contributed thirty pounds for repairing the causeway leading from Clapton and Hackney to Shoreditch, of which he informed his late parishioners, by a letter dated from Bangor House, in Shoe Lane, on the 11th of November, 1633. He * The Epitaph on Mr. Alderman Humble, inserted in vol. iii, p. 50, was written by Francis Quarles, the ingenious author of 6 Emblems," ""Divine Fancies," and other serious Poems. It is printed in his "Argalus and Parthenia." |