In 1878 the Primitive Methodists registered a chapel in Western Road, Southall. A new chapel building, standing on the corner of Western and Sussex Roads, was erected in 1876-1877. This was the first Methodist building in the Southall area.
The Wesley Central Hall was constructed in 1930.
Ridgeway Wesleyan Methodist church originated in the late 1880s, when a Wesleyan mission was opened in a temporary hall in Mill Hill. In 1893 a red-brick chapel in the Perpendicular style was built. At first the church was under the control of Hendon Methodist church, but in 1970 it was linked with Goodwyn Avenue Methodist church.
John Wesley preached in Hillingdon and Uxbridge in 1754 and 1758, but there is no other evidence of 18th-century Methodist activity. By 1851, however, there were five Methodist meetings in Hillingdon. The Methodist Central Hall was erected in 1930 at the junction of High Street and Park Road. In 1957 Lawn Road Primitive Methodist congregation was amalgamated with that of Central Hall. The Central Hall was renovated and extended in 1959 to meet the increased demand.
Mattison Road church, later renamed Harringay church, opened in 1891 as an iron tabernacle (a pre-fabricated timber framed structure clad with corrugated iron which could quickly be assembled from a kit to provide a building until a more permanent structure could be constructed). The tabernacle was replaced by a permanent church and halls in 1901. Originally part of the Caledonian Road circuit of the Primitive Methodists, it joined the Finsbury Park circuit after the Methodists' union in 1931. In 1903 membership was so high that Mattison Road was described as the chief Primitive Methodist church in London. The church closed in 1963 and became a Roman Catholic church.
Park Chapel on Crouch Hill was opened in 1855. Alterations increased its seating to 1,017 in 1877 and 1,430 by 1894. After further extensions it had the largest Congregationalist attendances in Hornsey. The chapel and its halls formed a popular social centre, accommodating Hornsey British school until 1877. The Grove mission was apparently established in 1881 and served from Park chapel in 1951.The Chapel amalgamated with Ferme Park Baptist Church to form Union Church, Crouch End in 1974.
Mount View Congregational church was founded to serve Stroud Green. A hall was opened in 1887 and used for worship until the completion of a larger building in 1893. The church was closed and demolished in 1935.
Hornsey British school was built in 1864 and opened in 1865, largely through the efforts of Russell Maynard, a member of Park chapel. The schoolrooms, for boys, girls, and infants, adjoined the chapel. The school was supported by voluntary contributions in 1870 but received a parliamentary grant from 1871. Between 1871 and 1873 the average attendance rose from 94 to 177. Hornsey school board took over the premises in 1875 and later moved the pupils to Park Road school.
Source: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6: Friern Barnet, Finchley, Hornsey with Highgate.
A Methodist circuit is normally a group of churches in a local area served by a team of ministers. A minister will have pastoral charge of one or more churches, but will preach and lead worship in different local churches in the circuit, along with local preachers. The arrangements for leading worship in a circuit are drawn up in a quarterly Plan.
The German Evangelical Reformed Church was established in London in 1697 by Protestant refugees fleeing religious oppression in the Palatinate. William III permitted services to be held in the chapel of the Savoy Palace. A new church built in Duchy Lane, Savoy, on the site of a French Church was consecrated in 1771. It was closed and demolished in 1816 to make way for the construction of Waterloo Bridge. A new church was consecrated in 1819 in Hooper Square, Leman Street, Whitechapel, which was in turn demolished as the site was required for railway purposes. The replacement church built in Goulston Street, Whitechapel, in 1886-1887 was destroyed by bombing in 1941.
A Methodist circuit is normally a group of churches in a local area served by a team of ministers. A minister will have pastoral charge of one or more churches, but will preach and lead worship in different local churches in the circuit, along with local preachers. The arrangements for leading worship in a circuit are drawn up in a quarterly Plan.
Brentford is now part of the Richmond and Hounslow Methodist Circuit.
George Whitefield (1714-1770), the famous evangelical preacher, obtained a lease of the site for his Chapel in Tottenham Court Road in 1756. Whitefield had been driven to seek a place where he would be free from the opposition encountered from the vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields at the Long Acre Chapel where he had been a minister. The Chapel, built and probably designed by Matthew Pearce, was opened for public worship in 1756 and was enlarged in the winter of 1759 to 1760. Whitefield died in Boston, America in 1770 and his memorial sermon was preached in the Chapel by John Wesley.
When the original lease expired in 1827, the freehold was purchased by Trustees, who reconditioned the Chapel which was reopened for services in October 1831. In 1853 the burial ground which had been in use since 1756 with an interval of eight years, 1823-1831, was closed. There was a dispute when in 1856 the Reverend J.W. Richardson endeavoured to use part of it for building purposes, and owners of the graves applied for an injunction against the disturbance of the ground. However, in 1895 it was laid out and opened as a public garden.
In 1856 the Chapel was repaired, only to be almost wholly destroyed by fire in February 1857. The property was then bought up by the London Congregational Building Society who erected a new building designed by John Tarring. However, in 1889 the foundations began to give way, probably because of the numerous burials within the building which disturbed the filling to the pond underneath.
The Chapel was closed and services were carried out in a temporary iron structure until the new building was opened in November 1899. On 25 March 1945 the Chapel was totally destroyed by bombing and was subsequently replaced by a new building which still remains on the site.
The Bow Circuit was the first Home Mission circuit in Methodism, and the newly formed Metropolitan Wesleyan chapel Building Fund purchased land in Bow Road for future development. Alexander McAulay was appointed superintendent of the newly created Bow Circuit in 1861.
In September 1900 Bow and Poplar Circuits were united to become the Poplar and Bow branch of the London Mission (the successor of the Metropolitan Wesleyan Chapel Building Fund which had helped to establish Bow in 1863).
In 1961 Poplar and Bow Mission was divided into two separate circuits of Poplar and Bow.
No historical information has been located for this Chapel.
Bow Road Wesleyan Methodist Church was founded by the Reverend Alexander McAulay, who began preaching from his home in 1861. The Chapel was constructed by 1865. Various evangelical and social welfare activities took place at the Church, including the Queen Mary Day Nursery, medical clinics and a youth centre.
The Methodist Church established its first East-End Mission in 1885, hoping to combat the poverty and squalor of the area. Poverty and sin were fought by a combination of evangelism and social work, for example, handing out free meals during winter, organising trips to the seaside and showing films for a penny. The Mission had its own magazine, "The East End", which included articles on the scale of the distress.
As the population of the East End changed after the Second World War, so too did the Mission. In 1985 the Mission celebrated its centenary and highlighted its continuing work in socially deprived areas, supporting the homeless, unemployed, single parents, immigrants, the disabled and the elderly.
Shirley Street United Methodist Church, Canning Town, was founded in 1853, probably by Wesleyan Reformers. A small church was built in Victoria Dock Road in 1860. This was sold to the school board in 1873, when a new church and schoolroom were built in Shirley Street. Shirley Street was bombed in 1940, but continued in use until 1942, when the members moved to Canning Town Primitive Methodist Church. When that too was bombed a remnant went to Custom House Primitive Methodist Church. War damage compensation from Shirley Street helped to build the new church in Fife Road, Canning Town, in 1960. The Shirley Street site was sold to the borough council and by 1963 was occupied by houses.
From: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 (1973), pp. 123-141.
In 1902 the School Board for London purchased a site at Southfields on which to build a school. Three temporary buildings, opened in 1904, housed the school until the completion of the permanent buildings in March 1905. The official opening of Southfield School took place in May 1905 and it continued as a mixed senior school until April 1911 when it became a central school. It was named the Elliott Central School after Sir Charles Elliott. In 1925 the two elementary schools on the Elllott site were disbanded and the central school was divided between boys' and girls' departments, each with its own head teacher. During the Second World War the Boys' School was evacuated to Woking and the Girls' to Guildford in Surrey.
Under the London County Council's London School Plan of 1947, the Boys' School was linked with Wandsworth School, sharing the same body of governors, and the Girls' School with Mayfield (Putney County) School, but both resisted absorption into the neighbouring comprehensive schools. In 1954, as the school celebrated its Jubilee, it was announced that the Elliott Central was itself to be the nucleus of a 2,000 mixed comprehensive school in the Putney Park Lane area, retaining the name Elliott.
The Mostyn Road Methodist Church, Lambeth, was constructed in 1868, designed by architect John Tarring.
A Methodist Tabernacle is said to have existed in Morgan's Lane, Hayes End since 1874. It would seem that the church was registered in 1906 as the Hayes Tabernacle, Wood End Green. This registration was closed in 1927 and the church registered under the name of Morgan's Lane Church, Hayes End. In 1934 it moved to a new building in Uxbridge Road and was renamed Hayes End Methodist Church.
Urban District Councils and Rural District Councils were formed under the 1894 Local Government Act, and were abolished by the 1974 Local Government Act. Their records, not being part of county council records, are from the county record office's viewpoint, considered non-official.
The records forming this collection are probably all from the Clerk's Department of Sunbury Urban District Council. The composition of the Council was as follows: From 1894-1930: Sunbury UDC covered the parish of Sunbury on Thames From 1930-1974: Sunbury UDC covered the parishes of Sunbury on Thames (including Sunbury Common, Charlton and Upper Halliford), Shepperton (including Lower Halliford and Shepperton Green), Ashford Common, and Littleton. By the Middlesex (Feltham, Hayes, Staines and Sunbury-on-Thames) confirmation Order, 1930, the parish of Shepperton and parts of Ashford and Littleton were transferred to Sunbury Urban District on the dissolution of Staines Rural District Council.
Sunbury UDC was transferred to the administrative county of Surrey with effect from 1 April 1965. In 1974 the Urban Districts of Sunbury and Staines were abolished and replaced by Spelthorne Borough Council.
Battersea Metropolitan Borough and Wandsworth Metropolitan Borough were part of the London County Council. Under the Air Raid Precautions Acts of 1937 and 1939 County Councils were responsible for making arrangements for the protection from injury and damage of persons and property within the County. This included the training of volunteers as control room staff, wardens, rescuers, ambulance drivers, messengers and salvage; building shelters; establishing rest centres for the homeless and evacuation of schools and the vulnerable.
Battersea and Wandsworth were a prime target during the Blitz because of the railway network, factories and power station in the area. From July 1940 to April 1944, 2,729 high explosive bombs and parachute mines together with about 50,000 incendiary bombs were dropped on the two boroughs. From June 1944 to March 1945, 160 V1 flying bombs and 8 V2 rockets fell on the two boroughs. Also, during that time, eight V2 rockets fell on the boroughs from the 8th September 1944 to the 6th March 1945. About 1,800 died and about 8,900 were injured in the 2 boroughs.
Source of statistics: http://www.emc.org.uk/hawkley1939/History/civilian_air_raid_casualties.htm
The Wesleyan Methodist Church, Askew Road, Hammersmith, was founded in 1886 and built in 1890.
Elim Hall in Christchurch Avenue was registered by Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance from 1938 until 1954. The Elim Alliance then used the former Wesleyan chapel in King Street until 1974, when it began sharing East Finchley United Reformed church in East End Road.
At a meeting of the Wandsworth Methodist Circuit in November 1902 it was decided to open a Wesleyan Chapel in Southfields to cater for the growing number of Methodist families in that area.
The first public service as held in the Merton Road School in December 1905. A School Chapel, with seating for 400 people, opened in Ravensbury Road in 1908. However, expansion was rapid and this was replaced in 1925 by the much larger Central Hall (on the corner of Ravensbury and Durnsford Road). In addition to being a place of worship the Central Hall was also intended to provide a meeting place for the local community. Music concerts and film shows were a regular feature for many years and parts of the premises were leased to local businesses.
A Salvation Army barracks in Waltham Road was first registered in 1885, and re-registered as a hall in 1897. The Salvation Army Citadel in Adelaide Road is said to have been opened in 1883, but it was not registered until 1905; it seems most likely to have been the successor to the earlier Waltham Road barracks. In 1961 this remained the headquarters of the Army in Southall.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 52-53.
The Leys School was opened in Cambridge in 1875, intended to be "the Methodist Eton".
The Leysian Mission was started in 1886 by former pupils of the Leys School who were concerned about the social and housing conditions in the East End of London. Its first premises were in nearby Whitecross Street but in 1902 the Mission moved into grand purpose-built premises in Old Street (just round the corner from Wesley's Chapel on City Road). It had vibrant evangelical and social ministries and encouraged alumni from the Cambridge school to give time to programmes that reached out to the poor. In the early days, there was a Medical Mission, a "poor man's lawyer", a relief committee, feeding programmes, meetings for men and women, and a range of services and musical activities.
Royalty patronised the Mission's great events and the school in Cambridge maintained strong links. However, the ravages of World War II and the advent of the post-war Welfare State saw a change in circumstance that led, eventually, to disposing of the buildings and the successful merger with Wesley's Chapel in 1989.
A pharmacopoeia is an official treatise containing listings of drugs approved for use in a hospital, with their formulations, standards of purity and strength, and uses.
For histories of the individual hospitals please see H09/GY for Guy's and H01/ST for Saint Thomas.
Camberwell became a Poor Law Parish on 28 October 1835, overseen by an elected Board of Guardians. In 1878 the Camberwell Board of Guardians constructed a new workhouse on Gordon Road. It was intended to house 743 able bodied inmates. Males chopped wood or broke stones; while females were employed in laundry work.
In 1930 the Gordon Road Workhouse was taken over by the London County Council and became the Camberwell Reception Centre for homeless men. The building has now been converted to flats.
The London Methodist Districts Women's Luncheon Club met to share lunch and listen to guest speakers.
Earlsfield Congregational Church began as a mission church of East Hill Congregational Church. It became independent in 1892. Earlsfield is a south-west London suburb near Wandsworth.
Guy's Hospital School was established in 1949 to enable children in the hospital to continue their education, maintain their interest and encourage their recovery. After 1965 it was staffed by the Inner London Education Authority.
In 1976 the Evelina Hospital was physically amalgamated with Guy's Hospital becoming the Evelina's Children's Department in Guy's Tower. The Evelina also had regular school instruction in the wards by arrangement with London County Council.
For a detailed history of Guy's Hospital please see H09/GY and for a history of the Evelina please see H09/EV.
There was a Methodist mission room in Harrow Weald from 1889 to 1935, and a chapel in Station Road, Wealdstone, from 1892 to 1904, when it was replaced by the present chapel in Locket Road (now Wealdstone Methodist Church, see ACC/3392/WE).
The Methodist Church on Ickenham Road, Ruislip, was founded in 1923.
Wesleyan Methodists in North Harrow met in a private house in Southfield Park until a hall was built in Pinner Road in 1927. It was extended in the 1930s and a church was built next to it in 1957.
Ruislip Common Chapel was built in 1854 and taken over for use by a Methodist congregation in 1882.
South Harrow Methodist Church is situated on the corner of Walton Avenue and Carlyon Avenue.
Kingdom Hall is the term for the meeting place of Jehovah's Witnesses.
The log book was kept by Mr Austin Brewer, headmaster of Shillington Street Boys' School, Clapham Junction, while the school was evacuated to Cranleigh, Surrey from September 1939 to August 1943. There is only one entry in the log book before May 1940 when it records that Allfarthing Lane, Shillington Street, Swaffield Road and Waldron Road Schools combined under Mr Brewer. In July 1940 Saint Peter's Church of England School, Wapping arrived in Cranleigh, having been re-evacuated from Brighton, but their children did not combine with the children from the other London Schools until May 1941. By May 1943 the number of pupils was falling. Mr Brewer decided to retire and the London school children combined with the local Church of England School.
West Street was renamed Braintree Street in 1915. It runs from Sceptre Road to Malcolm Road. Number 86 is not listed in the Post Office Directories and may have been a private property rather than a business address.
The Home Mission Division of the Methodist Church is based at Central Buildings, Westminster. It is responsible for promotion of the Methodist Mission at 'home', that is in the UK. The Methodist Church in Britain is arranged into over 600 Circuits, which in turn are grouped into 32 Districts covering Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Each District is supervised by a District Synod.
Circuits and missions in the London North East District include: London City Road, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney, Stoke Newington, Finsbury park and Southgate, Tottenham, Enfield, Waltham Abbey and Hertford, [Epping] Forest, Barking and Ilford, West Essex, Bishop's Stortford, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Romford, Grays, Southend-on-sea, Leigh-on-sea, Basildon, Chelmsford, Colchester, Manningtree and Harwich, Clacton-on-Sea.
Circuits and missions in the London North-West District include: Notting Hill, Highgate, Harrow, Finchley and Hendon, Wembley, Harlesden, Barnet, Watford, Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamstead, Saint Albans, Harpenden, Hitchin and Letchworth, Stevenage, Welwyn, Luton, Dunstable, Bedford, Biggleswade, Leighton Buzzard and Stewkley, Milton Keynes, High Wycombe, Amersham, Aylesbury, Thame and Watlington.
Circuits and missions in the London South-West District include: Victoria and Chelsea, Broomwood and Clapham, Battersea, Lambeth, Hammersmith and Fulham, Richmond and Hounslow, Teddington, Ealing and Acton, Southall, Hillingdon, Wimbledon, Tooting, Kingston-upon-Thames, Staines and Feltham, Thames Valley, Sutton, Redhill and East Grinstead, Dorking and Horsham, Mid Sussex, Eastbourne, Brighton and Hove, Worthing, Guildford, Farnham and Alton, Basingstoke, Woking, Aldershot, Farnborough and Camberley, South East Berkshire.
Circuits and missions in the London South-East District include: Brixton, Streatham and Dulwich, Sydenham and Forest Hill, Walworth, Blackheath and Lewisham, Shooters Hill, Plumstead, Bromley, Orpington, Chislehurst, Croydon, Purley, Gravesend and Dartford, Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Hastings, Bexhill and Rye, The Medway Towns, Maidstone, Sittingbourne and Sheerness, Canterbury, Thanet, Dover and Deal, Folkestone and Ashford.
Previously known as Coare and Swaine, then as Coare, Swaine and Minnitt. By 1815 the firm was known as Swaine, Minnet and Company. The distillery was based at 8 Holborn Bridge, City of London. Upon the death of Mrs Mary Minnitt of Bruce Grove, Tottenham, a trust was established know as Minnitt's Trust.
Poor relief was based on the Act for the Relief of the Poor of 1601 which obliged parishes to take care of the aged and needy in their area. Parish overseers were empowered to collect a local income tax known as the poor-rate which would be put towards the relief of the poor. This evolved into the rating system, where the amount of poor-rate charged was based on the value of a person's property. Early workhouses were constructed and managed by the parish. However, this process was expensive and various schemes were devised where groups of parishes could act together and pool their resources. As early as 1647 towns were setting up 'Corporations' of parishes. An Act of 1782, promoted by Thomas Gilbert, allowed adjacent parishes to combine into Unions and provide workhouses. These were known as 'Gilbert's Unions' and were managed by a board of Guardians.
Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, the Poor Law Commission was given the power to unite parishes in England and Wales into Poor Law Unions. Each Union was to be administered by a local Board of Guardians. Relief was to be provided through the provision of a workhouse. An amendment to the 1834 Act allowed already existing 'Gilbert's Unions' or Corporations of parishes to remain in existence, although they were encouraged to convert themselves into Poor Law Unions. Although there was some reorganisation of union boundaries, particularly in London, the majority of Unions created under the 1834 Act remained in operation until 1930. In March 1930 a new Local Government Bill abolished the Poor Law Unions and the Board of Guardians. Responsibility for their institutions passed to Public Assistance Committees managed by the county councils - in the metropolis either the London County Council or the Middlesex County Council.
The Bethnal Green Poor Law Union was formed in 1836 and consisted of only one parish, Saint Matthew. It did not merge with other parishes. The parish had built a workhouse which was operational by 1777, but in 1840 they constructed a new workhouse at Bonners Hall Fields near the Waterloo Road. A second workhouse on Well Street in Hackney was used from 1890, it housed the 'respectable poor' who had demonstrated good behaviour in the Waterloo Road institution. The Waterloo Road workhouse was extended and refurbished in 1908 and the Union stopped using the second institution.The Union also managed the Cambridge Heath Road Infirmary and the Bethnal Green School for the Juvenile Poor in Leytonstone.
Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.
Poor relief was based on the Act for the Relief of the Poor of 1601 which obliged parishes to take care of the aged and needy in their area. Parish overseers were empowered to collect a local income tax known as the poor-rate which would be put towards the relief of the poor. This evolved into the rating system, where the amount of poor-rate charged was based on the value of a person's property. Early workhouses were constructed and managed by the parish. However, this process was expensive and various schemes were devised where groups of parishes could act together and pool their resources. As early as 1647 towns were setting up 'Corporations' of parishes. An Act of 1782, promoted by Thomas Gilbert, allowed adjacent parishes to combine into Unions and provide workhouses. These were known as 'Gilbert's Unions' and were managed by a board of Guardians.
Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, the Poor Law Commission was given the power to unite parishes in England and Wales into Poor Law Unions. Each Union was to be administered by a local Board of Guardians. Relief was to be provided through the provision of a workhouse. An amendment to the 1834 Act allowed already existing 'Gilbert's Unions' or Corporations of parishes to remain in existence, although they were encouraged to convert themselves into Poor Law Unions. Although there was some reorganisation of union boundaries, particularly in London, the majority of Unions created under the 1834 Act remained in operation until 1930. In March 1930 a new Local Government Bill abolished the Poor Law Unions and the Board of Guardians. Responsibility for their institutions passed to Public Assistance Committees managed by the county councils - in the metropolis either the London County Council or the Middlesex County Council.
City of London Poor Law Union was constituted in 1837 and comprised 98 parishes. The Union at first refused to construct a workhouse, preferring to provide out-relief in the form of money and food, or to 'farm out' paupers to institutions outside of the City - for example, children were sent to a school in Norwood. However this system proved impractical and in 1848 a new workhouse was constructed at Bow Road. In 1869 when the City of London Union merged with the East London and West London Unions, the Bow Road Workhouse became an infirmary, although it was closed in 1909 as the larger infirmary at Homerton was preferred. In 1912 it was reopened as the Bow Institution, providing medical care for paupers from other Unions. It later became Saint Clement's Hospital. By 1871 the Union also managed the Thavies Inn Casual Ward at Holborn.
The East London Poor Law Union was formed in 1837 and comprised the parishes of Saint Botolph, Aldersgate, Saint Botolph, Aldgate, Saint Botolph, Bishopsgate and Saint Giles, Cripplegate. In 1852 the Union constructed a workhouse at Homerton.
The West London Poor Law Union was formed in 1837 and comprised the parishes of Bridewell precinct, Saint Andrew, Lower or City Liberty, Saint Bartholomew the Great, Saint Bartholomew the Less, Saint Bride's, otherwise St Bridget, Fleet Street, Saint Dunstan's West and Saint Sepulchre, Newgate. In 1864 the Union constructed a workhouse at Cornwallis Road in Upper Holloway. This workhouse was taken over by the parish of Saint Mary, Islington, when the West London Union merged with the City of London Union.
In 1869 the three City Unions were amalgamated under the name City of London Union, comprising 112 parishes.
Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.
The City Lands Committee is the oldest standing committee of the Corporation of London. The City Lands formed an extensive estate and provided a major source of income for the City government. A Charter of 1444 formally granted to the City the ownership of the streets, ways, common soil and enclosures of the common soil. Finally the City Lands also included property purchased by the City or administered by the City in trust such as the Philpot, Carpenter and Reynwell estates.
Until the reign of Elizabeth I the City Lands were administered under the authority of the Court of Aldermen, although from the early-16th century the day to day leasing of the City Lands property was carried out by the Chamberlain until on 2 May 1559 the Court of Aldermen voted to resume this function. Thenceforth decisions over leasing were made by a body of senior aldermen called the Surveyors, assisted by the Chamberlain. The Surveyors ceased to meet after 23 December 1590. The successor body, the City Lands and Bridge House Committee, only met for the first time in May 1592. The most striking difference between the new committee and the Surveyors who had preceded it was that the committee included for the first time permanent membership of six Common Councilmen as well as four Alderman.
The City Lands and Bridge House Estates Committee is still responsible for the management of the lands and buildings under the City of London's aegis.
The City of London was first granted the sole right of establishing markets in 1327 by Edward III, rights which were reaffirmed in 1663 by Charles II. Laws existed to ensure that markets were properly run and that traders were not able to sell products of inferior workmanship or bad food. Market tolls, lettings and regulation were handled by the Courts of Aldermen and Common Council. Supervision then passed to the City Lands Committee, before a Markets Committee was finally established. In 1875 the Committee was divided into sub-committees responsible for individual markets. The committees kept accounts and maintained buildings.
The City of London markets included Stocks Market, Honey Lane Market, Fleet Market, Newgate Market, Smithfield Market, Deptford Market, Farringdon Market, Billingsgate Market, London Central Meat and Poultry and Provision Markets and the Metropolitan Cattle Market at Islington. Several of these markets have been closed or amalgamated.
In 1869 the government introduced the Cattle Diseases Prevention Act which introduced the practice of slaughtering imported foreign animals at the dock where they landed and not allowing them to progress inland while living. This prevented diseases spreading to domestic livestock. The Dockyard at Deptford had become outdated and was no longer suitable for the launching of ships. The Corporation of London bought the old dockyard and converted it into a cattle market and slaughterhouse for the reception of foreign cattle entering London. The market covered twenty-three acres and included pens for 4000 cattle and 12000 sheep as well as three jetties for the unloading of the livestock. It was opened in 1871 and soon became the principal market for the sale of foreign cattle, taking over this role from the Metropolitan Cattle Market at Islington, which continued to handle domestic cattle sales.
Spitalfields Market dates to the thirteenth century, when the market was held in a field next to St Mary Spittel Church near Bishopsgate. In 1682, King Charles II granted John Balch a Royal Charter that gave him the right to hold a market on Thursdays and Saturdays in or near Spital Square. For the next 200 years, the market supplied fresh fruit and vegetables, becoming known for the sale of home-grown produce, which was being traded there six days a week.
By 1876, a former market porter called Robert Horner bought a short lease on the market and started work on a new market building, which was completed in 1893. In 1920, the Corporation of London acquired direct control of the market, extending the original buildings some eight years later.
For the next 60 years, Spitalfields' expanded and the traffic congestion in the surrounding narrow streets became difficult to manage. The market was forced to move and in May 1991 it reopened in Leyton.
In May 1811 a Bill was passed for the construction of a new bridge to cross the Thames about a quarter of a mile west of London Bridge, and the Southwark Bridge Company was formed. The Company pushed ahead with the construction of Southwark Bridge despite opposition from the City of London and the Thames Conservatory Board, who did not consider it necessary. The bridge was begun in 1813 and opened at midnight on 24 March 1819, designed by Sir John Rennie. The bridge was not popular and was underused, despite the congestion on nearby London and Blackfriars Bridges.
In 1864 Bridge House Estates began leasing the bridge, and they purchased it in 1866 with the support of a Parliamentary Bill 'to facilitate the traffic of the metropolis by improving the communication across the River Thames'. They removed the toll charges which increased traffic, but poor access roads and the steep, narrow shape meant that the bridge was still underused. Bridge House Estates decided to rebuild the bridge and provide better service roads. Work began in 1913 but was delayed by the First World War. The present bridge was completed in 1921.
In June 1883 the Coal, Corn and Finance Committee of the Corporation of London decided that the construction of some new means of communication across the Thames below London Bridge was essential, since the population of London east of London Bridge had expanded to 39% of the overall population of the metropolis, but they were served only by wharf-men and ferries. The Bridge House Estates Committee were asked to look into the matter and a Bill was presented to Parliament.
In March 1884 a Select Committee of House of Commons, convened to consider the matter, suggested that a low level bridge should be constructed at Little Tower Hill. The Bridge House Estates Committee began researching the best type of bridge, even visiting Europe to see different bridges in use. Eventually architect Horace Jones and engineer John Wolfe Barry were appointed to oversee construction and work began April 1886. The bridge was completed in August 1894.
The office of Sheriff predates the Norman Conquest and refers to a high officer and representative of royal authority in a shire, who was responsible for the administration of the law. London had two sheriffs who were elected in September of each year. Each Sheriff held a court at his compter. These courts were later transferred to the Guildhall and then united with the City of London Court in 1867, finally being amalgamated with the Mayor's Court in 1921. The Sheriffs' Courts handled cases of debt and personal actions arising within the City.
A compter was a city prison for debtors and other civil prisoners.
The office of Sheriff predates the Norman Conquest and refers to a high officer and representative of royal authority in a shire, who was responsible for the administration of the law. London had two sheriffs who were elected in September of each year. In the City of London each Sheriff was responsible for a Compter, a city prison for debtors and other civil prisoners. Wood Street Compter was a medieval foundation with room for 70 inmates. It was divided into three sections for the rich, the comfortable and the poor. The Wood Street Compter was amalgamated with the Giltspur Street Compter in 1791.