The History of London

hurch of St. Ethelburga, the crypt of Bow Church: very little else. All the rest has been destroyed by time, by 'improvements,' or by fire, the greatest enemy to cities in every

ll of St. Swithin's Church. Churches, Palaces, Monasteries, Castles-all perished in those three fires. The City,

which describes London as it was in the reign of Henry II. It is written by one FitzStephen, Chaplain to Thomas Be

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Bayeux T

fifty years after the Great Fire, so that it is not likely that new parishes had been erected. All the churches which had been destroyed were

HURCH IN THE

onging to the Socie

beside it. The walls of the City had seven double gates. The river wall had by this time been taken down. Two miles from the City, on the west, was the Royal Palace (Westminster), fortified with ramparts a

ly gross exaggeration. If we allow 500 for each parish, we get a population of only 63,000 in all, and in the enumeration later on, for

eness of manners and of dress, at table, and in way of speaking.' There were three principal school

vable was sold, not in shops, but in selds, that is, covered wooden sheds, which could be taken down on occasion. Do not think that 'Chepe' was a narrow street: it was a great open space lying between St. Paul's and what is now the Royal Exchange, with streets north and south formed by rows of these selds or sheds. Presently the sheds became houses with shops in front and gardens behind. The roadway on the south side of this open space was called the Side of Chepe. There was another open space for salesmen called East Chepe, another at Billingsgate, called Roome Lane, another at Dowgate-both for purposes of exposing

nts assemble in the open places beside Queenhithe and Billingsgate to receive or to buy the cargoes sent over from France, Spain, and the Low Countries. One more open space there was, that round St. Paul's, the place w

IN THE TWEL