Gazetteer

This list will develop into a list of the sanctuaries in London in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the places – inns, streets and alleys – within them, the debtor prisons and spongin houses that made them needed, and other anomalous places, such as chapels for clandestine marriages.

Note that some of the inns and taverns will probably be duplicates, in that they change name over time, and that some may be nicknames.

Baldwin’s Gardens. One of the ‘pretended privileged places’ named and abolished in the 1697 act.

Ball, The. Inn or similar in Whitefriars, in 1692, mentioned in eye-witness testimony  in the prosecution of William Noble for murder. Source: OBPO.

Borough Compter. Local prison for Borough, originally on Borough High St, but moved in 1717 to Tooley St. See Wikipedia.

Bull’s Head. ‘In Mint Street’, where one Henry Cranfield sold a stolen watch. Given the similarity in name, may be the same as the following three entries.

Bull’s Head and Plough. Black Horse Alley. In the Mint. Venue for Fleet marriages. Source: Brown, p.143.

Bull Tavern. Bird Cage Alley.

Bull, Sign of the. Where a Catholic Will of 1527 was to be seen, according to a pamphlet published circa 1680.

Clink. Prison in the liberty of the Clink, Southwark. The liberty was also one of the ‘pretended privileged places’ named and abolished in the 1697 act, which claimed it was also known as ‘Deadman’s Place.’

Coach and Horses. Blackamor Street, Southwark. Fleet marriage venue, under the ministrations of a Mr Bubb. Source: Brown, p.141.

Coach and Horse Shoe. “In the Borough.” Fleet marriage venue. Source: Brown, p.141.

Coles’, Mr. Brandyleg Walk, Southwark. Fleet marriage venue. Source: Brown, p.141.

Corbett’s Sponging House. In the Rules of the Fleet Prison, Corbett being one of the Tipstaffs employed by the notorious warden of the Fleet, Thomas Bainbridge.

Compasses. “In an al[l]ey over against the King’s Bench.” Southwark. Fleet marriage venue. Source: Brown, p.141.

Cupid’s Gardens. Southwark. Also known as Cuper’s Gardens, a pleasure garden on the edge of St George’s Fields. It was, according to the author of the ‘True Description of The Mint’ (1710), the northwestern point of the territories of the Mint. Wikipedia: Cuper’s Gardens. London Encyclopaedia: Cuper’s Gardens.

Deadman’s Place. Southwark. Another name for the Liberty of the Clink. Listed in the act against privileged places, 1697. Now Park Street.

Dog and Duck. Southwark. Tavern at the westernmost point of the territories claimed by the Minters. Scene of a bailiff ducking reported in Applebee’s Original Weekly Journal, Saturday, June 3, 1721. Wikipedia: Dog and Duck

Farthing Fields. Wapping. One of the locales of the ‘New Minters’ after the dissolution of Southwark Mint.

Fleet Prison. The major debtors’ prison north of the Thames. Had a small ‘rules’; an area outside the prison walls where prisoners could reside, for a price. Also a venue for clandestine marriages.

Fryars Gate, or White Friars Gate. The main entrance to Whitefriars from Fleet Street, the site of the execution of Captain Francis Winter. There were possibly two gates here, major and minor, and possibly a third of this name, between Whitefraisrs and the Temple.

Fuller’s Rents. One of the ‘pretended privileged places’ named and abolished in the 1697 act.

Goat and Crown. Venue for ‘Fleet marriages’ in 1725, towards the south-eastern corner of the Mint,  “five doors within Mint Gate, near St. George’s Church.” Source: J.S. Burn, The Fleet Registers.

Green Bank. Wapping. Another of the locales of the ‘New Minters’ after the dissolution of Southwark Mint.

Half Moon. Tavern. In the Mint. Venue for Fleet marriages. Source: Brown, p.143.

Halifax’s, Mr. in Mint Street at the sign of Tumble Down Dick. Venue for Fleet marriages. Source: Brown, p.143.

Hall’s Coffeehouse. Near Whitefriars Gate, and the site of a fire in 1686, for which the Temple paid a reward to those who fought it. Not mentioned in Lillywhite’s monumental ‘London Coffee Houses.’

Harrow and Lamb. In the Mint. Venue for Fleet marriages, and had its own ‘chapel.’ Source: Brown, p.143.

Johnson’s, Mr. Blue Bell Alley. In the Mint. Venue for Fleet marriages. Source: Brown, p.143.

Keith’s Chapel. Venue for clandestine marriages in Mayfair, Westminster.

King’s Bench Prison. The most important debtors’ prison in England and Wales. The ‘rules’, the space outside of the walls that prisoners could reside for a price, was ill-defined prior to the moving and rebuilding of the prison in the 1750s; they were closely defined, and made much smaller, after that. Also known, during the reigns of Anne and Victoria, as Queen’s Bench prison, and during the Commonwealth, as the Upper Bench.

Marshalsea. Large, and notorious, debtors’ prison in Southwark. Wikipedia.

Mint Coffee House. Probably fictional, it is one of the elements in the South Sea Bubble satire The Bubbler’s Medley.

Mint Gate. The main entrance to the Mint, opposite St George’s Church. There are possibly one or two other minor Mint gates, on other of its borders.

Mitre Court. One of the ‘pretended privileged places’ named and abolished in the 1697 act.

Montague Close. One of the ‘pretended privileged places’ named and abolished in the 1697 act. Said act claims it was also known as the Minories. In the vicinity of St Saviours church (now Southwark Cathedral).

Newgate Prison. The major criminal prison in London, it also held debtors for both the City and Middlesex.

Orange and Crown. In Whitefriars, December 1694. Mentioned in the deposition of Elizabeth Seymour concerning the theft of a silver tankard, fenced by a woman lodging there. London Lives.

Peels Yard. In the Mint, mentioned in the ‘Plan of Mr. Lant’s premises in Suffolk Place.’

Prince Eugene. In the Mint, 1715. Nahum Tate’s entry in the burial register of St. George’s Church gives his place of demise as “next to Prince Eugene the Mint.” Notes & Queries 1879.

Proudham’s, Mr. Brandy shop in the Mint. Venue for Fleet marriages. Source: Brown, p.143.

Queen’s Bench. Alternate name for King’s Bench during reigns of Queens Anne and Victoria.

Ram Alley. One of the ‘pretended privileged places’ named and abolished in the 1697 act.

Red Lion. “By the Mint.” Where the great pudding was boiled for fourteen days.

The Rose. Wood Street. Sponging house active during Charles II’s reign. Source: Old and New London.

Royal Oak. Lombard Street. In the Mint. Venue for Fleet marriages. Source: Brown, p.143.

Rudkin’s. Coffee house close to the King’s Bench prison.

Saint George’s Fields. Large undeveloped area south-west of St George the Martyr parish in Southwark.

Saint Martin Le grand. Medieval sanctuary within the walls of the city of London.

Salisbury Court. One of the ‘pretended privileged places’ named and abolished in the 1697 act. Just east of Whitefriars.

Savoy. One of the ‘pretended privileged places’ named and abolished in the 1697 act, between the Strand and the Thames.

Sloman’s Sponging House. 2, Cursitor Street, Chancery Lane. Notorious nineteenth century sponging house. Source: Old and New London.

Southwark Cold Bath. “Is situate [sic] in Queen Street, in the Mint, Southwark. It was first opened in the Year 1705, kept by one Mr Adamson, apothecary. The rates are 2s. with the chair, and 18d. without it. Hours from 5 in the morning to 11, or the whole Year 30s. paid down; utmost time to be in, 3 Minutes. Here are 11 crutches, which they say, were those of persons cured by this Water.” Source: A New Vision of London, 1708.

Southwark Mint. Longest lasting of the post-restoration debtors’ sanctuaries, finally abolished in 1723.

Star, the. Coffee house in the Mint. Source: Ashton, Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne.

Swan. Mint Street. Back room of the house next door a venue for Fleet marriages. Source: Brown, p.142.

Tayler’s. Coffee house in the Mint. Source: Ashton, Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne.

The Three Crownes. An Inn in the Mint, circa 1693, when one Margaret Kercher took refuge there.

Tumble Down Dick. Mint Street. Venue for Fleet marriages. Source: Brown, p.143. And meeting place for the ‘Club of Broken Shopkeepers’, according to Ned Ward.

Two Black Posts. In the Mint, mentioned in City of London sessions testimony in 1692.

Two Brewers. In Mint Street, according to the credits on the 1721 print ‘Great Britain’s Wealth and Safety‘, a satire upon the South Sea Company. Possibly an invention to disguise the picture’s true origin, although Strype mentions a Two Brewers Yard in the vicinity.

Two Fighting Cocks. Kent Street. Tavern near or in Southwark Mint. Venue for ‘Fleet marriages’ and bankruptcy hearings. Source: Brown, p.142.

Two Naked Boys. Venue in the Mint for bankruptcy hearings. Source: London Gazette no 4278.

Two Necked Swan. Shaw’s Court, Southwark. Fleet marriage venue. Source: Brown, p.142.

Wapping Mint. Last of the London sanctuaries, set up by fugitives from Southwark Mint in 1723 or 1724, and put down by 1725.

Whitefriars. The most notorious of the ‘pretended privileged places’ named and abolished in the 1697 act.

White House. “A messuage …. with the appurtenances comonly knowne by the name of the white house in the Mint in Southwark.” Mentioned in the Inventory of Paul Docminique senior, 1680/1, transcribed at Marine Lives.

Wood Street Compter. Prison in Wood Street, in the City of London.

Sources:

Ashton, John, Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne, London, 1904.
Brown, Roger L., The Fleet Marriages, Welshpool, 2007.
Burn, John Southern, The Fleet Registers, London, 1833.
Halton, Edward, A New Vision of London, vol. 2, London, 1708.
Thornbury and Walford, eds, Old and New London, London, 1878.

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