How Did Our Garden Grow? E-Book

Vivian Watson

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Never before has the full history of Hatton Garden and its diamond and jewellery trade been revealed in such detail. Stories of individuals who made the community what it is today and events that are usually hidden from the public's eye have been compiled by one of the Garden's best-known jewellers, Vivian Watson FGA, who joined the family business in the 1960s, becoming the third generation of his family to work there. With a unique network of contacts, he has interviewed the great and the good. Richly illustrated from a private collection of hundreds of images and maps, this book will inform and entertain the reader on the secret world of diamonds and gems. Many will feel compelled to read it from cover to cover and others will enjoy dipping in and out.

Leseprobe

First published 2022

The History Press

97 St George’s Place, Cheltenham,

Gloucestershire, GL50 3QB

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

© Vivian Watson FGA, 2022

The right of Vivian Watson FGA to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 8039 9143 6

Typesetting and origination by The History Press

Printed in Turkey by IMAK

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

HISTORY

THE FLEET RIVER

CHURCHES

RAGGED LONDON

FARRINGDON

HOLBORN

GARDEN PATHS

GROWN IN THE GARDEN

THE ‘CAROLE PARKER’ TAPES

CRIMES

THE GARDEN’S MARKET

STATISTICS

TIMELINE

STREET VIEW

A LEGEND OF BLEEDING HEART YARD

BIBLIOGRAPHY

THANKS

PICTURE CREDITS

INTRODUCTION

HOW DID OUR GARDEN GROW?

The ‘Garden’, as it is known by those who have worked there in the past or work there today, is a unique area of London. It has been associated with the diamond and gem trade, and the jewellery manufacturing industry for generations.

Originally the site of the garden of Ely Palace, Hatton Garden became known throughout the world as the ‘go-to’ place for all aspects of the jewellery trade. In a similar way to other London industrial hubs such as Billingsgate for fish, Covent Garden for fruit and vegetables, Smithfield for meat and Fleet Street for the press, Hatton Garden was something of a marketplace. It was also an arena where you could learn about what was going on in the world of diamonds and gems. Unlike the food markets though, with their sights, sounds and smells assaulting the visitor, the true Hatton Garden is a secret world. At a time before mobile phones and modern technology, it was essential to be in close proximity with others, both for trade and for information.

Local street names, such as Saffron Hill, Lily Place, Herbal Hill and Vine Hill, remind us that this area was once rich in horticulture. The palace garden was famed for its roses, fruit and herbs. With a little imagination you can picture the thousands of crocuses growing on the slopes of the River Fleet. A kilo of saffron requires 140,000 flowers and is more valuable than a kilo of gold.

A study of this part of London would not be complete without reference to some of the surrounding landmarks such as St Andrew’s Church, Holborn Viaduct, Farringdon Station, the Fleet River, Staple Inn and Furnival’s Inn. So, we will step outside the garden walls to explore their part in the local history.

The ‘Garden’ continues to evolve as one generation makes way for the next. It would not be recognisable, today, to some of those who worked there in years gone by. The strong emphasis on retail jewellery has grown out of its roots in manufacturing and the need to adapt to suit today’s market.

In compiling an accurate history of the jewellery and diamond trade in Hatton Garden, one is faced with the reality that in many cases there is very little in the way of a paper trail. Transactions were effected by word of mouth.

‘My word is my bond’ might well have been written for the diamond trade as much as ‘Dictum Meum Pactum’ was for the London Stock Exchange. Many deals were done in secrecy. Many were done illegally. Only inside knowledge can capture some of the remarkable stories of those who have in some way left their footprint in Hatton Garden.

The other major consideration is that of security. Those who work with high-value items need to keep their heads down and not make themselves potential targets for criminals. Many who have contributed to this work have opted for privacy and are not named in these pages.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vivian Watson first came to Hatton Garden as a boy during his school holidays. He enjoyed watching the craftsmen in the workshop of the family’s manufacturing jewellery business and was fascinated by the allure of gold and diamonds. He joined his father, Peter Watson, in 1967 and spent over fifty years in the trade before formally retiring in 2017.

Although he is now retired, he continues to take a close interest in the trade and enjoys the freedom and privilege of knowing the ‘Garden’ better than most. The family business is now in the hands of the next generation and John Watson is now responsible for all operations of PJ Watson Ltd.

The Watson family have the unique claim to having four consecutive generations of qualified gemmologists each holding the coveted FGA diploma (Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain).

Vivian Watson has been a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths since 1995. He has served as Chairman of The Gemmological Association and is an avid collector of trade memorabilia.

His company library contains over 1,000 books on diamonds, gems, precious metals, jewellery and the history of the trade. He lectures on all aspects of the industry to private audiences and acts as a consultant to private clients. His passion beyond the trade is for charity work, which is fronted by The Diamond Trust.

HISTORY

BEFORE THE GARDEN

For many people throughout the world, the name ‘Hatton Garden’ immediately creates an image of diamonds, jewellery and precious metals or gemstones. For over 150 years, valuable items have been traded by its many dealers and merchants. Manufacturing jewellers and jewellery designers have established themselves here and become an important part of this interdependent neighbourhood. Hatton Garden became, within a generation, an international crossroads and meeting point for anyone connected to the diamond or jewellery trade. In our own time, we have seen a change of emphasis from a market that was almost exclusively trade-focused, to one that is now consumer-targeted. The ‘Garden’, as it is affectionately known to people in the trade, has evolved and adapted itself to suit the needs of those it serves and those who work there. Those who have known it a long time will tell you it is not what it was. We should, however, not be surprised. In an evolutionary way it has become what it is today and will become what tomorrow’s needs dictate.

If we could turn back the clock, we would see a very different place in each of the many generations who have come and gone. Those who remember the Garden in the 1950s and 1960s do so with mixed feelings. Although no one would choose to go back to the smoke-filled streets and the primitive facilities, there is a sense of loss, perhaps more for the people themselves who were once part of this thriving community.

Although significantly damaged by the two world wars, there were more people employed in the trade in the first half of the 20th century than there are today. Real growth began in the latter part of the 19th century, the period when diamonds were found in South Africa and started to become more accessible to a wider circle of people. In wealthy Victorian and Edwardian Britain, there was a healthy appetite for diamond jewellery.

Ely Palace, 18th century.

Plan of Ely Palace, 1776.

The story of how Hatton Garden became synonymous with the jewellery trade is an interesting one and to find out the answers we travel back further to its development in the 17th century and beyond to when it was indeed a rather special garden.

Originally known as Hatton Street, the road today runs roughly north–south along the course of what was once a path through the centre of a magnificent garden. The original garden spread to the west where Leather Lane runs today, and to the eastern boundary which is now Saffron Hill. In the north, it went to Hatton Wall and to the south ran along Holborn. Within this area we have other thoroughfares such as Hatton Place, Kirby Street, Greville Street, St Cross Street, Saffron Hill, Bleeding Heart Yard and Ely Place. In total Hatton Garden covers an area of approximately 21 acres.

Although, strictly speaking, Hatton Garden is now one street within an area, the side streets and back alleys are all part of the Garden. With a sense of pride and history, many companies address themselves as Kirby Street, Hatton Garden, or Greville Street, Hatton Garden.

Holborn was the main Roman road west out of Londinium and would have been used by thousands of occupying soldiers. Evidence of graves and human remains were found to the east of Holborn Circus during the construction of the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) building in the 1950s. These were exhumed and reburied on a new site, appropriately named Gravesend in Kent.

For most of its life the area of Hatton Garden would have been quiet woodland and open countryside, a short journey to the west from the City of London. The only feature was the Holborne River that flowed south into the Thames. Literally meaning the bourne or stream in the hollow, the river flowed swiftly through a steeply banked valley just to the east of Hatton Garden. Remains of large fallen trees have been found at great depth in the course of the old stream. Tacitus in his history, Agricola, written around AD 98, alludes to the wooded jaws of a narrow inlet from the Thames such as could only have been applicable to the Holbourne. The river had different names and nearer the Thames it was known as the Fleet on account of its fast current. Fleet Street owes its name to the river.

The Romans had arrived in Britain in the first century AD and established Londinium, laying the foundation stones for what was to become the City of London. From the time of the Romans and throughout the first half of the first millennium, Christianity spread throughout the land. Christianity had been made the official religion of the Empire in AD 312 and would have been practised throughout Britain before the Romans departed in AD 410. At the top of the hill above the river a little church was established.

The first mention of St Andrew, Holborn and the Fleet River comes in AD 959. A charter of Westminster Abbey alludes to ‘the old wooden church of St Andrew’ on the hill above the River Fleet, suggesting that by this point the site was already long established as a place of worship.

St Andrew’s Church is the earliest man-made landmark in the area that is still visible today. Although outside Hatton Garden, it is a reference point for later development and can be seen on most maps. The Fleet River is no longer visible, having been buried in a large pipe below Farringdon Road.

During the Anglo–Saxon period that followed the Roman occupation, King Edgar of Wessex, great-grandson of King Alfred, granted five hides of land to Westminster Abbey. The boundaries were defined as running from the Thames along the Tyburn River (Marble Arch) in the west, following the old army road east, believed to be Oxford Street, and turning south again at the church through the London Fen (the Fleet). In the old feudal system, where the land belonged to the king, such a grant was significant. A hide is approximately 30 acres, so five hides would be 150 acres.

In the Norman period, London became the capital city of England, and the area around St Andrew’s became the first settlement to the west of London. For a short time, it was the home of the Knights Templar.

In 1086, the Doomsday Book entry states: ‘At Holborn the King holds two cottages who pay twenty pence a year to the king’s sheriff moreover William, the Chamberlain, pays the king’s sheriff six shillings a year for land where he planted his vines.’ The Normans introduced viniculture, which became common in the area during the Middle Ages.

A very early manuscript refers to Malcolm, King of Scots, writing to the Monks of Ely (British Museum, Add MS 5811, Collections of William Cole) – in about 1100:

Malcolm, King of Scots, to all his trusty men of his honor of Huntenden and also to his men of his sons in London greeting. Know clergy and laity, present and future, that have granted and, by way of this charter, have confirmed in free and perpetual alms to God and to St Etheldreda and to the Monks of the church of Ely that land which John, the son of Gihaldi, held of me in London and gave to the aforesaid monks, from which land they were wont to return to me 71/2d yearly. Wherefore I will direct that the aforesaid monks may freely and quietly hold and possess that land released from all services and secular taxes in like manner as other alms in land are being held and possessed of me in freedom and in quietness.

As the city grew, more dwellings were built outside the protection of the old city walls. In 1130 the city was permitted to extend its boundaries beyond the walls at Newgate.

Fitzstephen writes of Holborn in 1180: ‘On all sides without the houses, are the citizen’s gardens and orchards, planted with trees … On the north side are also pastures, and plain meadows, with brooks running through them turning water mills … Not far off is a great forest.’ There is also a record from about this time that states: ‘Geoffrey, son of Arnold, sold his house and garden and quay lying on the water at Holborn to Walter Brunning, a fishmonger. Brunning himself had an orchard nearby and this area lying on the west bank of the river and north of Holborn.’ The area was a supplier to the markets of the citizens of London of fruit and vegetables including onions, garlic, beans in the husk, herbs, leeks, parsley and herbage.

The year 1180 is also significant as it is the year in which the Goldsmiths Company is first mentioned. As Britain was coming out of the Dark Ages, there was an increase in population and prosperity along with an increase in learning and the art of keeping of records.

Colour map of a rural life and a well-managed garden belonging to the Bishops of Ely, Braun & Hogenberg, 1572.

In 1223 the city’s limit was marked by bars or barriers that were constructed across the road to halt the approaching traffic for tolls. They were also used to keep out undesirables such as lepers. Although originally chains or poles would have been used, these were replaced with a gate and a small hut for the gatekeeper. In Sir Christopher Wren’s time there was a stone-built structure. The Holborn Bars were situated towards Chancery Lane near to Staple Inn and markers can still be seen today in the form of ornate dragons outside Chancery Lane station.

In a period of history when travel to London from the country meant more than a day’s journey on horseback or by stagecoach it was the privilege of the wealthy, the ruling classes and the Church to have London palaces or large houses. Bishops were also expected to sit in Parliament. Cambridgeshire was particularly wealthy as it was well established in sheep farming and wool production. Education was the responsibility of the Church, so there were strong links between the Church and the ruling classes. The 13th century saw the beginnings of a transformation that led from a totally rural environment to one where a row of small properties lined parts of Holborn. A significant part of the area was owned by the Augustine monks of Missenden.

Shows Liver Lane for Leather Lane, The Bars in Holborn and Ely Place. Most of the estate is still garden.

In 1251 John le Franceis, a Baron of the Exchequer, was prebendary of Houlbourne and received an income from the prebendary lands abutting the Houlbourne, north of the highway. Before his death in 1268 he had leased land adjoining his court room and built an oratory.

Sir John de Kirkeby, who had become Chancellor of England in 1272, and Bishop of Ely on 22nd September 1286, was the next owner of the land north of Holborn. Kirkeby and his successor, William de Luda, built St Etheldreda’s on the site of the oratory and increased the footprint of the existing buildings to form a great complex of halls where he lived. This included a special room dedicated as the Chamber of Receipt where the business of the Chancellor was conducted.

He bequeathed the estate, along with nine cottages, to the Bishopric upon his death on 20th March 1290 for the benefit of his successors. Ely was one of the wealthiest sees in the country: ‘The hall with its chambers, the completed Chapel, the stables, Garden and vinery were all in existence at the date of his death.’

The land consisted of 7 acres of vineyards and arable pasture totalling 58 acres. So, the Bishops of Ely established their London home on the high ground above the river, on the site that we know as Ely Place. The boundaries were then the Holbourne River, or later Turnmill Brook, to the east and north and Leather Lane to the west.

Unlike other large houses, which were of timber construction, Ely Palace was built of stone with a cloistered quadrangle and a walled garden, orchard and private chapel.

Subsequent bishops added to the estate. Of particular significance was Thomas Arundel, who later became Archbishop of Canterbury. He built an imposing gatehouse on Holborn.

The area was increased with the acquisition of more land from the Manor, or the Soke, of Portpool. A Soke was an area over which the Lord of the Manor had absolute jurisdiction, including the power to operate his own courts. Originally this stretched eastward beyond Leather Lane, but the Dean and Chapter of St Pauls, as Lord of the Manor, conveyed the eastern part to John de Kirkeby. It was known for a time as ‘The Manor in Holborn of Sir John de Kirkeby’. The Manor of Portpool became Gray’s Inn and Portpool Lane still connects Gray’s Inn Road with Leather Lane.

From the elevated ground on which the buildings stood, fine views could be obtained of the beautiful wooded slopes of Highgate and Hampstead to the north and of the city with its lofty cathedral spire to the east, whilst nearer at hand on the opposite bank of the river might be seen Smithfield, the Hospital of St Bartholomew and the then new buildings of the Charterhouse.

Between Leather Lane and the entrance gates to the Bishop’s Palace and fronting the street were the nine shops that had been Sir John de Kirkeby’s, standing in their own gardens, and according to the bailiff’s rolls, let in 1376 at a uniform rate of 16s a year, afterwards reduced in Henry IV’s reign to 13s 4d. Good structures of their class, none of them were thatch covered but all were roofed with tiles, finished off with a crest-end, and also possessing chimneys, although the walls were constructed of timber and plaster. Next to the nine shops was a gatehouse with gates, which were double, each under a separate arch, with rooms over them, and a tower and on one side a postern. The gatehouse was let in 1376 to Adam Vinour, the gardener. To the east there were a further fifteen shops.

Records from the reign of Edward III (1327–1377) are preserved in Ely. They mention names of neighbouring houses such as Farringdon’s Inn.

There was enough space in the Bishop’s Palace for more than one occupant. In 1327 Philippa of Hainault was a guest for Christmas, while en route to be married to Edward III in York.

In 1357 Edward, the Black Prince, son of Edward III and father of Richard II, stayed there with his followers. Between 1381 and 1399 John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, lived there after his palace (the Savoy) was sacked by Wat Tyler’s mob in the Peasant’s Revolt. Ely House is where John of Gaunt was when he is quoted in Shakespeare’s Richard II: ‘this sceptred isle, this precious stone set in a silver sea … this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.’ John of Gaunt died at Ely Palace in 1399.

In the 13th century, what was to become Leather Lane was named Lyverslane and in 1329 we see the first mention of Field Lane, which subsequently became Saffron Hill.

‘Ralph Agas’. Panorama from Civitas Londinium, 1560.

The grounds of the palace were enclosed by a thorn hedge in which were wooden gates, fitted with locks and keys. Four cart loads of thorns were bought and used for making this hedge. Inner gardens were reserved for the Bishop’s private use, and railings and locked doors separated the great garden and the grass yard or meadow from the vineyard. Every year the grass yard was mown, and the grass or hay sold – a tithe of the proceeds being paid to the rector of St Andrew’s.

As time went by more land was added and the garden included a vineyard, an orchard and a kitchen garden. In total it occupied an area of about 40 acres. Grape harvest workers were employed at 2d per day. Today, we still have Vine Hill, Herbal Hill and Lily Place to remind us.

Roses would have been the main flower in the garden, and the favourite was the sweet-scented Rosa gallica, which became the red rose of England.

In a famous scene of Shakespeare’s Richard III, Act III.4 (1483–1485), Richard says, ‘My Lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn, I saw good strawberries in your garden there; I do beseech you, send for some of them.’ There is still a Strawberry Fayre in Ely Place every June. It is usually held on the Saturday that falls nearest to the 23rd, which is St Etheldreda’s Feast Day and the date of her death in AD 679.

Towards the end of the 15th century there was a marked increase in the population of London, which resulted in more and more people living and working outside the walls. There was a stream of ‘foreigners’ from such places as Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Kent, coming to London for work. Furthermore, there was an increase in immigrants from across Europe. The poorer citizens had to set up shop outside the walls as they couldn’t afford to pay city rents.

In 1531 Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon entertained at Ely Palace. Their lavish hospitality consumed 100 sheep, 51 cows, 91 pigs, 24 oxen, 720 chickens, 444 pigeons, 168 swans and 4,000 larks over a period of five days.

In 1544 Henry VIII’s Chancellor, Henry Wriothesley, occupied a large suite of apartments in the building, and it was here that the conspiracy to overthrow the Protector Somerset was hatched. A controversy over whether the Bishop of Ely’s Palace in Holborn lay within the jurisdiction of the City of London came to a head in 1567 when the mayor, Sir Roger Martin, attempted to weigh bread that was being sold in a row of shops, part of the property known as Ely Rents. The subsequent arbitration ruled that the shops came under the city’s jurisdiction and, in effect, determined from that point on the city’s boundary. This is why the boundary is seen on maps as a wavy line.

In 1546 the Mitre was built as a ‘pub’ for the estate and, although tucked away out of view, still thrives today.

John Gerard, born in 1545, the famous gardener, physician and herbalist who published his Herbal in 1597, had a garden at Holborn, on the slope of the hill between Ely Place and the Fleet – a spot surrounded by woods, fields and meadows. Even in those days it was a little country hamlet, not even a village. In this spot he used to gather trefoil, yarrow, lesser hawkweed, red clary, white saxifrage and rocket. He is buried in St Andrew’s Churchyard.

The Bishops of Ely continued to enjoy Ely Palace and its beautiful garden for over 300 years. That is, until the arrival of a certain Christopher Hatton in London. His appearance was to mark the beginnings of change in the palace and leads to the next chapter of the story.

HATTON’S GARDEN

The palace remained the London home of the Bishops of Ely until Elizabethan times, when one man entered the story and changed its history in a way no one could have foreseen. Christopher Hatton was born in 1540, the youngest of three sons, to Alice and William Hatton in the Manor House of Holdenby, Northamptonshire. His early education was at the hands of his maternal uncle, William Saunders, who was from a strong Catholic background. In his mid-teens, Hatton was admitted to St Mary’s Hall, Oxford, but there is no record of him having attained a degree.

On 26th May 1560, at the age of 20, he enrolled at the Inner Temple to begin a career in the legal profession but once again there is some doubt as to whether he achieved his goals in this direction. On 18th January 1562, he danced before Queen Elizabeth in a play put on by his peers. He caught the eye of the Queen in an entertainment in which he took the role of ‘Master of the Game’. This new relationship was of his making but also proved to be his undoing. There is some speculation as to the level of their intimacy but there is considerable proof among the archives of the National State papers that their relationship went way beyond normal protocol.

An aerial view of Ely Palace looking east with Smithfield beyond the Fleet River.

Model of Ely Palace.

The hall and quadrangle of Ely Palace.

The hall and chapel of Ely Palace.

Coat of arms of Sir Christopher Hatton.

Queen Elizabeth.

Sir Christopher Hatton.

Plan of the City of London in the time of Queen Elizabeth. (John Norden, 1593.)

In 1564 he was made ‘Gentleman Pensioner’, which means that he was part of the Queen’s bodyguard. The Gentlemen Pensioners were founded by Henry VIII as a ceremonial bodyguard. Their main weapon was a spear. He served for thirteen years.

In his twenties, he mixed with the finest in the land and entered jousting competitions at Westminster. Clearly, he had developed a taste for the high life. However, this was a strain on his finances even though the Queen gave him a lot of support.

In 1571, now aged 30, he entered the House of Commons as MP for Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire. His relationship with the Queen deepened and they exchanged gifts. He gave the Queen a ‘fairy jewel’ with rubies and diamonds. In July 1572, he was made captain of the Yeomen of the Guard. On this occasion, he gave Elizabeth a flower of gold set with an emerald.

It would appear that the Queen was willing to give Hatton what he wanted, and he had set his sights on Ely Palace. Hatton first made a bid for the property in 1575. Alarmed by this approach, the Bishop wrote to Burghley saying that he would be loath to leave the house as it was so convenient for him when he visited London. He firmly believed that he was responsible for maintaining his rights and those of his successors and that he ‘must not scatter what his predecessors had gathered’.

Bishop Cox was a well-respected man in his day. He was appointed Bishop of Ely in 1559 by the Queen. He had acquired his DD (Doctor of Divinity) at Cambridge in 1537, having been through both Oxford and Cambridge, and had been Master of Eton College. He had served as tutor to the Prince of Wales, Chaplain to King Edward VI and Archbishop Cranmer. He had sat on the commission that produced the first English Communion Service and Prayer Book in 1549. Elizabeth had chosen him to preach the sermon at the opening of Parliament in January 1559. As a man of integrity, however, he objected to the Queen’s scheme of appropriating episcopal lands for the Crown.

Bishop Cox.

At that time Ely Palace consisted of a hall, cloisters, a chapel, nine cottages, a 7-acre vineyard, 5 acres of arable land or meadow, a garden famous for its saffron crocuses, roses and strawberries and an orchard. It was one of the finest cultivated gardens in Tudor England. It was to become Hatton’s Garden. It is interesting to reflect that the value of saffron exceeds that of gold and ironic to think that nearly 250 years later the garden would be famous for its gold.

On 20th March 1576, Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely:

Granted unto our trusty and well-beloved servant Christopher Hatton esquire, Captain of our Guard, for the term of twenty and one years from the Feast of the Annunciation of our Blessed Lady the Virgin (25th March) then next ensuing all and singular those parts and parcels of that his, the said Bishop’s, palace or house in Holebourne … commonly called Ely Palace … that is to say the gate house, the first courtyard and divers chambers and rooms of the said palace …

The twenty-one-year lease required the payment of £10 per annum, ten loads of hay and a red rose from the garden on Midsummer’s Day. However, the Bishop had needed to be pushed in order to allow Hatton in. It was the Queen who eased him out with a relentless campaign. She is reported as having said to the Bishop: ‘Proud prelate, you know what you were before I made you what you are! If you don’t immediately comply with my request, by God! I will unfrock you.’

Hatton’s tenure of the gatehouse and garden proved to be the thin end of the wedge. Once established in this desirable location, he gradually, with the continuing help of the Queen, displaced the poor bishop entirely. Cox died in 1581, a broken man.

Hatton was responsible for the repairs and renovation of the gatehouse to make it habitable. He quickly took possession and began to improve the big rambling palace, subletting to other interests and allowing servants and others to reside there. He was to use it increasingly in the coming years as the London residence for himself, his servants and friends, for official duties, the holding of trials, the house arrest of political prisoners, and even some commercial enterprises.

In 1576, Francis Flower had lodgings at Hatton’s residence, Ely Place. He became MP for Huntingdon in 1584 and for Corfe Castle in 1593. Flower had been a protégé of Hatton, who had helped him in his career. Flower left in his will a diamond worth £50 (several thousand pounds at today’s prices) to Hatton’s nephew, Sir William Hatton.

The detailed inventory of the repair work to the gatehouse that Hatton initiated in order to make it habitable gives a delightful snapshot of the building tradesmen of the time. The schedule includes the names, places of domicile and money paid to the bricklayers, masons, carpenters, tilers, lime burners, plasterers, turners and smiths who worked on the restoration. The cost of glass, lead, nails, timber lathes, pumps and paving is enumerated in detail using Roman numerals at a time when Arabic numbering was becoming the norm in Elizabethan England.

A legal loophole was discovered in the original lease: faulty wording undermined Hatton’s title to the property and it was realised that the successors of the Bishop might be able to claim it back. As Hatton had spent a great deal of money on its improvement, he did not want to lose his investment. On 25th May 1577 under the Privy Seal at Greenwich, it was reported that Hatton’s costs on Ely Place had amounted to the sum of £1,880, which should be recompensed to him.

As part of the original agreement, the Bishop had retained certain rights. He had access through the gatehouse and permission to walk in the garden, including the right to gather twenty bushels of roses a year.

The property extended along Holborn, from Leather Lane to Holborn River. The hall measured 72 by 32 feet, and the oak roof was 30 feet high. It was lit by six Gothic windows. At the west end of this building were the chief lodging rooms and apartments. To the north-west was a cloister measuring 95 by 73 feet, built around a garden and topped by rooms and galleries. To the north of the cloister stood the chapel surrounded by a walled garden full of trees.

In Agas’s map of London, in 1560, the north side of Holborn consisted only of a single row of houses, with gardens behind them, and Field Lane was a mere opening from the street to the fields between Holborn and Clerkenwell. There was a narrow path, where at present stands Saffron Hill, through a long pasture, bounded by the Turnmill Brook and the wall of Lord Hatton’s garden.

On 11th November 1577, Hatton was made vice chamberlain and had a seat on the Privy Council. Hatton usually accompanied the Queen on her annual progresses around the country. He was knighted on 1st December, the same year, at Windsor.

It was in 1578 that Francis Drake set sail in the ‘Pelican’ on his circumnavigation of the globe. On 20th August 1578, he renamed his boat the ‘Golden Hind’ in honour of Christopher Hatton, who had sponsored his voyage and whose coat of arms featured a golden hind.

In July 1578, the freehold of the palace was transferred to Hatton by the Queen for £1,897 5s 8d and he began to build Hatton House there, where he lived until his death in 1591. He was the cause of great jealousy among other officials and would-be contenders. He was also the cause of great anxiety to the Church as he converted the crypt of the chapel into a buttery.

On 29th April 1587, Elizabeth presented the Great Seal to Hatton at the Palace of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Croydon where the Court was in residence. The Queen took the Great Seal from its red velvet bag and put it into Hatton’s hands, bidding him to use it to seal a writ, and then named him Lord Chancellor.

Coat of arms of the Hatton family, featuring the golden hind.

John Stow recorded in his Annales of England, 1601, that on 3rd May 1587 (First day of Trinity):

A stately procession made its way from Ely Palace in Holborn to Westminster where Hatton took the oath of office. Before him in the procession went forty of his gentlemen in blue livery and chains of gold, plus gentlemen pensioners and other gentlemen on foot. Also, attending him were the officers and clerks of the Court of Chancery. Hatton rode in state behind them, having on his right-hand Lord Treasurer Burghley and on the left the Earl of Leicester. Following him were nobles, judges, and many knights with their retinues.

Elizabeth visited Hatton on various occasions at his new London residence. Philip Gawdy wrote to his father telling him of a royal progress that Hatton hosted from 21st November to 6th December 1587: ‘Upon Tuesday at night she came to my Lord Chancellor’s where she hath been ever since. Her entertainment hath been very great there both for herself and all her train, which a number of us hath very well tasted of.’

Elizabeth visited again on 19th August 1588, when Hatton’s muster of men at arms paraded for her. She dined there with him in May 1589 and stayed there longer the following May, when she stayed with him until 6th June. Later in that year (1590), she met Viscount Turenne, the French Ambassador at Ely House. One year later she was to stay for five days, comforting Hatton during his terminal illness.

However, the relationship between Hatton and the Queen wasn’t without its problems. The Queen expected repayment of the debts that he had accrued, and he was not able to honour them. The Queen was insistent, and he couldn’t cope with the strain. Before his death he was in debt to the tune of nearly £69,000, mostly to the Queen, including £42,000 from revenues he had collected.

An inventory made before his death showed his assets were approximately £31,000 plus properties including Ely Palace. Without any significant private wealth, Hatton’s debts had increased as he enjoyed his life as a member of the royal circle.

In the last years of his life he became the object of derision among some. It was said of Hatton House:

Sir Christopher Hatton lives here.

He has a great house, but no cheer,

A large cellar but no beer.

On 2nd September 1590, at Drayton, and then three days later at Ely Place, Hatton had instructions drawn up for his heir, Sir William Hatton, regarding his estate consequent upon his death.

Hatton suffered with gout. By the latter half of 1591 Hatton’s health began a significant decline. Thomas Phelippes (one of Walsingham’s agents) wrote: ‘The Chancellor is very sick with a strange strangury [severe difficulty in urinating as with cystitis and prostate difficulties] and is not likely to recover.’

Christopher Hatton’s House.

The news swept through the Court circles, quickly reaching the ears of the Queen. Realising that Hatton was in the throes of his final illness, she visited him at Ely Palace and on 11th November 1591 ‘she brought him cordial broths with her own hands, but all would not do … No pulleys could pull up a heart once cast down, though a Queen herself set her hand thereto.’ Elizabeth stayed with him for five days. Hatton died on 20th November 1591, aged 51.

The Queen was broken-hearted at the loss of a ‘very close friend’ and confidante. A great funeral was arranged for him. He was buried with great pomp in Old St Pauls Cathedral in London on 16th December 1591. The funeral cortège passed through the city with a hundred poor people given caps and gowns for the occasion, preceding the coffin. In the procession were 300 gentlemen and yeomen dressed in gowns, cloaks and coats as well as eighty members of the Queen’s Guard and the Lords of the Council.

Hatton’s nephew, Sir William (Hatton) Newport, erected a tomb so massive and ornate that it was considered too large even for St Pauls. It was inscribed with copious eulogies in Latin and located between the memorial stones of Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Francis Walsingham. Unfortunately, this grand tomb was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666.

A somewhat sarcastic epitaph was written for his tomb: ‘Philip and Francis have no tomb. For Great Sir Christopher takes all the room.’

Hatton had never married. In the settlement of his estate in 1573, he made his sister’s son, William Newport, his adopted heir. Newport took the name Hatton as a tribute to the man who had come from modest beginnings and risen to enviable heights, and thus given lasting recognition. Along with the assets came the debts. William survived his uncle by only six years. Such was the complexity of the estate that it wasn’t settled within William’s lifetime and went to his successor, another Christopher Hatton, apart from Hatton House. This was inherited by his widow, a granddaughter of the great Lord Burleigh. Lady Hatton was young and attracted the attention of many would-be suitors, including Sir Francis Bacon and Sir Edward Coke, the latter of whom she married on 5th November 1598. The St Andrew’s Parish Church Register has an entry of marriage between Edward Coke ‘The Queen’s Attorney-General and my Lady Elizabeth Hatton’.

Monumental grave of Sir Christopher Hatton in the old St Paul’s Cathedral.

Bacon penned the lines: ‘God Almighty first planted a garden, and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirit of man; without which buildings and palaces are but gross handiworks.’ It would seem that he was inspired by the garden of Christopher Hatton.

After the death of the second Hatton (Newport), the Bishops tried to repossess what was once theirs. Lady Elizabeth Hatton, who occupied the large house that Hatton had built, would not allow it.

The heirs found it necessary to sell part of the furnishings of Holdenby and later some land. William is said to have sold most of Hatton’s jewels to Elizabeth (Bess) Hardwick, Lady Shrewsbury. However, he did keep a blue sapphire, which he wore on his shirt string. She also bought a famous set of tapestries from Holdenby. Eventually, the garden would be sold off too. Fortuitously, it was purchased by a developer, who created Hatton Street, as it was originally known, thus bringing to an end the life of one of the most renowned gardens in London.

During the 16th century the population of London had increased from about 50,000 to 250,000. Many were foreigners escaping Europe; others had come from the shires. Places like Holborn were transformed from rural communities to residential areas. Large family houses took in lodgers, then divided up into smaller units. We have a snapshot of the scene in the record of John Stow’s well-known Survey of London of 1598:

On the right hand or north side, at the bottom of Oldebourne Hill is Gold Lane, sometime a passage into the fields, now both sides built with small tenements. Then higher is Lither Lane, turning also to the field, lately replenished with houses built, and so to the bar.

On 28th December 1599, as the century drew to a close, a new Bishop of Ely was appointed. He was able to get back the old palace buildings, now in a state of dilapidation, but not the beautiful grounds, which remained with the Hatton heirs.

During the 16th century, London grew more rapidly than its European counterparts. By 1600 it was the third largest city, with only Paris and Naples being larger. In the middle of the century, three-quarters of London’s population lived within the city, but as we move forward to the next century the population starts to spread. The urban sprawl that began at this time has continued ever since to meet the demands for housing and business.

THE END OF THE GARDEN (17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES)

As we leave the Elizabethan period behind with the death of the Queen in 1603, we enter a new chapter in the development of the United Kingdom, including the union with Scotland and the Commonwealth era. The Civil War of 1642–1646 threatened the monarchy but also delivered some positive changes. In London the period is marked by the Great Plague of 1665, the Great Fire of 1666 and the development of Hatton Garden in the wake of Sir Christopher Hatton and his heirs.

Whereas the 16th century had seen a somewhat random development of houses in many of the new thoroughfares leading to the city, the 17th century witnessed a planned development. Initially housing had been needed to cater for all the newcomers to London from far and wide. Now there was an increase of professional people working in London.

During this century London continued its rapid expansion and by 1700 had become the largest city in the world. In the latter half of the 16th century, three-quarters of London’s population lived within the city. Fast forward 100 years and now only a quarter of the population live within the bars. The old city walls had become irrelevant and obsolete.

Hatton Garden.

54 Hatton Garden, showing typical fanlight.

The first official census was in 1801, when the population of London was 1,096,000. This represents a five-fold increase over the 200 years from 1600, despite the Great Plague. The consequence of the greater numbers was the demand for housing and the value of land increased to such an extent that all greenfield sites were targets for developers, not least of all was what remained of Hatton’s garden.

London had seen an influx of Spanish and Portuguese refugees escaping the inquisition in their own countries. Some of them brought with them their trade in rough diamonds. At that time the only known source of diamonds in the world was India and the overland route was the only option for traders. Venice had become a major crossroads and was the birthplace of Europe’s diamond-cutting industry.

Then with the discovery of the sea routes to India, trade was opened up by the Portuguese and the Dutch, making Lisbon and Amsterdam major players throughout the 16th century and until the end of the 17th century, when the English begin to rule the waves and exercise their muscles on trade with the Empire. This early development of the trade in rough diamonds paved the way for the late 19th century, when diamonds were discovered in British-owned South Africa. The East India Company records boast of the diamond trade in the 17th century … ‘formerly driven by the way of Italy and Portugal has become almost a sole English trade’.

Many of the old estates were lost to new accommodation. Some were laid out by their titled owners and others by property developers. Hatton Garden was developed to create houses for the gentry. It has been suggested that 1633 was the beginning of the end for the grand old houses in this part of London.

From 1620 to 1624 Ely Palace was used as the Spanish Embassy. The Count of Gondomar, Diego Sarmiento de Acuna, was the ambassador to England from 1613 to 1622. The fashion for wearing jewels in the hat was universal throughout the courts of Europe at that time. The Spanish Ambassador had his hat stolen while passing over Holborn Bridge, the mob openly encouraging the fellow who made off with it because it was stolen from a Spaniard. The Spanish Armada of 1588 was still within living memory.

Lady Hatton, Sir Christopher’s daughter-in-law, continued to rule the roost at Hatton House, in her eccentric way, until her death on 3rd January 1646, although she did try to sell Hatton House to the King (Charles I) in 1638. The sale was blocked by an injunction by the bishops over the disputed title. She had to fight to prevent the Church getting the land back from the Hatton family. Ultimately, her heir, the third Christopher Hatton, Baron Hatton of Kirby, needed to sell off more land and was responsible for carving up the estate and laying out streets where previously there had only been garden paths, flower beds, orchards or lawn.

There is a wonderfully descriptive account that portrays the lifestyle of Lady Hatton in 1626 to be found in The Ingoldsby Legends, by Richard Barham, published in 1837. The full poem can be found at the back of this book.

St Andrew’s Parochial School, 1920.

A Hatton Garden interior showing the quality finish.

Ely Palace was confiscated early in the Civil War (1641–1652). The Hattons took refuge in France during these turbulent times. Lady Hatton died in Paris and Lord Hatton returned to England in 1656. For a time, their house became a prison and then a hospital for the wounded ‘Roundhead’ soldiers of Oliver Cromwell.

Journals of the House of Commons leave us the following record:

1642–3. Jan. 3. The palace was this day ordered to be converted into a prison, and John Hunt, sergeant-at-arms, appointed keeper during the pleasure of the House. He was at the same time commanded to take care that the gardens, trees, chapel, and its windows, received no injury. A sufficient sum for repairs was granted from the revenues of the see.

Bishop Wren, the uncle of Sir Christopher Wren, was held in prison because of his loyalty to the Crown. Serious damage was done to the palace and it would never be the same again. His demise allowed the Hattons to act without opposition in developing the estate. It is recorded that Lady Hatton sold the lead from the roof of the palace, and sold off the trees for timber, as well as some of her own jewellery to cover her outgoings.

Another consequence of the war was the influx of people who moved to the area to avoid the conflict and battles that broke out like fires around the land. London was considered a safe place to be by the Cromwell sympathisers. In particular there was an influx of weavers from Mortlake. The King had left his Palace of Whitehall on 10th January 1642 and moved away from London.

St Andrew’s School building, 1910.

Christopher Hatton III was made Baron Hatton of Kirby in 1643 and Comptroller of the King’s Household in an impoverished Court at Queen’s College, Oxford. The Royalists of London abandoned their homes. Some were demolished and others boarded up. Less than a hundred years earlier, Queen Elizabeth had held meetings in Ely Palace.

On 12th June 1654, Christopher Hatton III, short of funds, made over ‘the great capital messuage Hatton House … and all its appurtenances’ to one Robert Smythe of Upton for a 200-year lease, for the sum of £1,500 with minute provisos for its speedy redemption.

In 1659, the new road, 60 feet wide, was laid out. On 7th June 1659, the famous diarist and admirer of architecture, John Evelyne wrote: ‘To London to take leave of my brother and see the foundations now laying for a long street and buildings in Hatton Garden, designed for a little town, lately an ample garden. Approx. 14 acres.’

Fairthorne’s map of London from 1658 still shows some of the garden laid out with its knot beds, typical of the era, intersected by paths bordered by box hedges. At the centre there still stood a statue and a fountain. The fountain was still there in September 1672.

When Bishop Wren was released from the Tower in 1660 at the Restoration of the Monarchy, he found half his house demolished. The garden, which every bishop since Elizabeth’s day had cherished a hope of regaining, was now in the hands of a speculative builder. The Restoration of the Monarchy led to a building boom. The old medieval style gave way to the neoclassical look.

In State Papers of 1661, there is a record of a petition from Christopher, son and heir of Lord Hatton, to the King, for ‘pardon for tenements already erected, and leave to build others on ground already let for the purpose at Hatton House, Holborn, for which, till the restoration, no licence could be obtained.’

The last Lord Hatton proceeded to dismantle Hatton House to make room for more development. By 1661 Hatton House was gone and the new houses continued to be built on Hatton’s Garden. Prior to its final demise, the house had fallen into disrepair and became dilapidated – as a result of which, part was demolished. Ironically, it had become a dance academy, which may or may not have been approved by the original Sir Christopher Hatton, who had been renowned for his dancing skills. It was also used as a printing office and at the back there was a small chapel. This was originally used by the congregation of the New Jerusalem Church, and followers of Emanuel Swedenborg. Subsequently, it was used for Calvinistic followers.

The disputed title of the land between the Hatton family and the Church continued. In 1662 Bishop Wren took legal action, but the new building development continued apace. Hatton and his contractors were constantly served with injunctions regardless. To add insult to injury, the new buildings encroached further into the Bishop’s domain – so much so that he was forced to bring his horses through the Great Hall of the palace to get to his house. The Bishop died in 1667 and his successor agreed on a rent of £100 per annum for the see. Hatton was able to continue the development without further hindrance.

The plague that hit London in 1665 killed over 100,000 people. In 1665 St Andrew’s Church Holborn buried a total of 3,958 people. Of these, 3,103 had succumbed to the plague (over 78%). It was reported that one day in July as many as a hundred houses were shut up in the Parish of St Andrew’s. The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths lost its Prime Warden, Mr Charles Everard, although most of the wealthy people had left the city to escape death. A small committee of Aldermen consisting of Sir William Peake, later Lord Mayor and President of St Thomas’ Hospital, and Sir William Turner, a Master of the Merchant Taylors Company, asked the College of Physicians to set up of a committee for the prevention and the cure of the plague within the city and its liberties. They nominated Sir William Turner and Dr Thomas Witherley of Hatton Garden.

Map showing the walled garden with a fountain and gates, 1658.

London after the 1666 fire.

Hardly had London recovered from the plague than it was devastated by the Great Fire of 1666. Hatton Garden was spared from the conflagration thanks to a change in the direction of the wind that had driven the fire. The fire had reached Holborn Bridge and was about to leap across Holborn when the wind changed. Not only was Ely Palace and Hatton Garden spared but also the Tudor buildings along Holborn, which are part of Staple Inn. At that time Hatton Garden was largely a building site. It became a refuge for Londoners and their rescued goods. There was an assortment of goods including tapestries, paintings, books, silver and silks all heaped up. Some of the richest houses in the country were destroyed and only a few owners managed to salvage their property. The problem in part had been that there weren’t enough carts to transport the goods and the streets were crowded with other people all trying to do the same thing. As the fire subsided, Hatton Garden was left in a thick layer of soot and ash. The residents had a Herculean task in cleaning up the mess.

In the aftermath of the fire there was a large-scale rebuilding of London, which demanded more and more craftsmen and tradespeople. Some of those who were displaced by the fire chose to live in the new houses in Hatton Garden.

We have another snapshot of Hatton Garden from John Evelyn as he wrote on 23rd September 1673:

I went to see Paradise, a room in Hatton Garden furnished with the representations of all sorts of animals handsomely painted on boards of cloth, and so cut out, and made to stand, move, fly, crawl, roar and make their several cries. The man who showed it made us laugh heartily at his formal poetry.

Paradise was a popular exhibition in the latter part of the 17th century in which models of birds and other animals were made to move and make their natural sounds to the delight of the audience.

One of the best records we have is the detailed map and survey by Abraham Arlidge produced in 1694 for Lord Hatton at the completion of the development begun thirty-five years earlier. It was made on vellum and measured 32 by 26 inches, using a scale of 48 feet to one inch. It shows a total of 372 properties on the 14-acre estate. Each site shows the length of the frontage, the site number and the leaseholder’s name.

In 1671, a house with a 22-foot frontage attracted a rent of £6 12s. The graceful and refined architecture and wide street succeeded in attracting gentry and professional people. Hatton Street, which we know as Hatton Garden, was laid down as close to the west side of Ely Palace as possible. The buttresses from St Etheldreda’s encroach on 13 and 15 Hatton Garden. The houses originally had gardens, many backing on to open fields, but these were built over as the properties were extended and later redeveloped. No. 51 Hatton Garden was the last to succumb as an old will had forbidden the development of its garden.

Abraham Arlidge had started his career as a carpenter and progressed to be a master builder and property speculator. His map makes it clear how the garden was used for the development as the original footprint of Hatton House is still visible to the west of Hatton Street (Hatton Garden) and the much-reduced ground occupied by Ely Palace also features as a white space. There are still in existence a few documents in the form of leases to the new owners. The earliest is to Robert Smythe from Lord Hatton. Most of the original buildings survived until late Victorian times when some were redeveloped as larger properties. Arlidge succeeded Sir John Cass as Master of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters in 1712.

The white area to the south-east still belonged to the Bishops of Ely and the smaller white area to the south-west shows the footprint of Sir Christopher Hatton’s House.

The houses were built of red brick and had two rooms to each of three floors, plus a basement and sometimes an attic, a closet at the back, a wide oak staircase, casement windows and a carved wooden entrance doorway. It is said that the old cisterns contained a high percentage of silver. The rooms were beautifully panelled and when number 27 was pulled down in 1907, the panelling was acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum and preserved for posterity.

Part of the development was to include a new church building. This was constructed in 1687 on the corner of Hatton Street and Cross Street. However, St Andrew’s feared a loss of tithes and objected. The building was only used for a short while but was subsequently put to good use in the form of a schoolhouse.

The new street attracted many notable names of their day. In 1666, Gilbert Thomas Marshall, wrote from Hatton Garden to Lord Arlington. Lord Fanshawe lived there in 1667. The Countess of Drogheda lived there prior to her marriage to the dramatist William Wycherley on 29th September 1679. Sir George Treby MP married Rachel Standish of Hatton Garden on 12th April 1681. Christopher Merret FRS lived and died there on 19th August 1695. George Bate, doctor to Oliver Cromwell, lived and died there in 1669. In a list of London merchants published in 1677, six are named as resident in Hatton Garden and two are still there in Arlidge’s survey of 1694.

There is a record of a new playhouse and training school for young actors in Hatton Garden in 1667. It was called the ‘Nursery’ and a play by James Shirley called ‘The Constant Maid’ was performed there at that time.

Lord Hatton, Christopher IV, died in 1670.

Ogilby’s map of 1677 shows clearly the progress of development at that time. In 1686, a new stone church was built on Holborn Hill to replace the somewhat dilapidated parish church of St Andrew. The architect was Sir Christopher Wren, and this would have increased the desirability of this part of London as a residence. By the end of the century the development was all but complete.

In 1711, Hatton Street was described as a spacious and fashionable place – ‘an esteemed place for the gentry’. To the eyes of the connoisseur, Nicholas Hawksmoor, it was ‘one of the best streets in London’. It was still the home to professional people, including doctors, solicitors and merchants. In Cross Street lived William Whiston, a famous preacher of his day, from 1712 to 1715. Other residents in the 18th century included such names as Captain Thomas Coram, who started the Foundling Hospital, who lived there in 1741, and John Stanley, the blind composer and organist at St Andrew’s Church, who lived there from 1751 and died at his home on 19th May 1786. Mirabeau, the French revolutionary, lodged there in 1784. Mazzini lived at No. 2. Other famous residents included Alderman Daniel Baker and Samuel Wilson, who died in 1766 leaving £20,000 in trust as a loan fund for young men setting up in business in the city. In Kirby Street lived William Bowyer, an 18th-century printer.

In 1720, Richard Blome produced a map that shows progress in the area. John Strype wrote in 1728:

Hatton Garden is a very large place now containing several streets viz. Hatton Street, Charles Street, Cross St and Kirby Street., all which tract of ground was garden and belonged to Hatton House, now pulled down and built into houses, which streets are very gracefully built, and well inhabited by gentry, especially Hatton Garden which is spacious.

A curious excerpt from the British Magazine of 12th February 1747 reports:

A woman about 40 years of age having poisoned herself was buried in the cross roads at the bottom of Hatton Gardens leading to Hockley in the Hole, and a stake drove through her heart.

Robert and James Dodsley, the writers of London and its Environs in 1761, said: