Mark Noble for John Stockdale (publisher) The history of London and its environs, volume 2 London 1811 THE HISTORY OF LONDON, AND ITS Environs: CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN OF THE CITY; ITS STATE UNDER THE ROMANS, SAXONS, DANES, AND NORMANS; ITS RISE AND PROGRESS To its Present State of Commercial Greatness: INCLUDING AN HISTORICAL RECORD OF EVERY IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING PUBLIC EVENT, FROM THE LANDING OF JULIUS CAESAR TO THE PRESENT PERIOD; ALSO, A DESCRIPTION OF ITS ANTIQUITIES, PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND ESTABLISHMENTS; OF THE REVOLUTIONS IN ITS GOVERNMENT; AND OF THE CALAMITIES TO WHICH ITS INHABITANTS HAVE BEEN SUBJECT BY FIRE, FAMINE, PESTILENCE, &c. LIKEWISE AN ACCOUNT OF ALL THE TOWNS, VILLAGES, AND COUNTRY, WITHIN TWENTY-FIVE MILES OF LONDON. BY THE LATE REV. HENRY HUNTER, D. D. AND OTHER GENTLEMEN. Embellished with Maps, Plans, and Views. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: PRINTED FOR JOHN STOCKDALE, PICCADILLY. By S. Gosnell, Little Queen-Street, Holborn. 1811. ... 155 KENT. GREENWICH. HAVING in a preceding part of this work taken a general survey of the county of Kent, with regard to its rivers, agriculture, and population, we now pro- ceed to a particular description of such places as from local or other circumstances most deserve our notice, and seem necessarily to fall within the limits of our under- taking. It is not remarkable that the town of Greenwich should first present itself, whe- ther we consider its proud connexion with the metropolis; its situation on the river, than which nothing can impress foreigners with a more striking idea of our progress in every civilized art; or the noble institution of its hospital, majestic in its appear- ance, and the benevolent object of which is so widely and so effectually diffused. According to the best and most authentic writers, Greenwich received its name from its situation on the banks of the river. In Saxon it was Grenawic, or the Green Town; in Latin, Grenovicum. In the reign of Henry V. it was a mean fishing town, but was in great esteem for the secure harbour it afforded to ships. It was in this place that for four succeeding years the Danish fleet remained, whilst their army occupied the eminence above. Greenwich is in the hundred of Blackheath; its manor was in possession of the monks till the time of Henry the Eighth, who annexed it to the crown, where it remained till the time of Charles the First: it was then sequestered for the benefit of the state; but at the Restoration it reverted to the crown, with which it has since continued. To enter minutely into its history till it became a royal residence, can be neither interesting nor important. The first period on record of its having been honoured by containing a palace for our princes was about the year 1300. From that time till the reign of Charles the Second it was the scene of royal mag- nificence and courtly splendour. The palace was extended and improved by Hum- phrey duke of Gloucester – Edward the Fourth added to its grandeur. In this place Henry the Eighth was born, and it was ever the favourite abode of this great and powerful sovereign. Greenwich was also the birth-place of queen Mary and her sister Elizabeth, and 156 the latter princess particularly preferred it as the place of her summer residence. The last of our monarchs who inhabited Greenwich palace was Charles the First, though it was occasionally visited by the Protector, and, after him, by Charles the Second. It was in the reign of William and Mary that the plan of converting the palace into an hospital for disabled seamen first originated. This was progressively extended, meliorated, and improved, till it became what it now remains, a truly magnificent monument of national liberality and benevolence. This noble institution provides for the relief and support of seamen for the royal navy, who from wounds or other circumstances are unqualified for farther service at sea, or unable to maintain themselves. But its benevolence does not ter- minate here – there is provision also for the maintenance of the widows of such seamen, and the education of the children of such as shall be killed or disabled in the service of their country. The following account of this noble edifice is suc- cinct and abridged, but we trust it will be found sufficiently comprehensive. Greenwich Hospital. – This noble institution was founded, not on the ruins of a royal palace, but has by gradual steps grown out of one, till it has eclipsed, both in extent and external magnificence, many of those at present existing, and which are now occupied by royal or imperial tenants. On its site originally stood the ancient royal palace called Placentia, built by Humphrey duke of Gloucester, in the reign of Henry the Sixth. It was taken by Edward the Fourth, who deposed that monarch, into the hands of the crown, where it remained, having experienced a variety of additions under different sovereigns, till the reign of king Charles the Second. Being then found extremely decayed by time, and the want of necessary repairs, it was dismantled soon after the Restoration, and the erection of one on a more magnificent plan undertaken. It remained, however, with many other build- ings of the same aera and description, in a very unfinished state, at the accession of king James the Second, under whom every thing of this nature continued dormant. It was by royal grant from king William and queen Mary, bearing date on the 20th of October, in the sixth year of their reign, conveyed to certain commis- sioners, of whom the great officers of state formed a part, for the purpose of being converted to the noble purpose, which in a more enlarged extent it has ever since been applied to. Its original foundation extended only to the reception of three or four hundred seamen; the alterations and additions to the original building necessary to this pur- 157 pose were completed under the superintendance of Sir Christopher Wren, in the year 1698, and now constitute the north-west pile or building of the four which at the present period collectively form this stupendous erection. Scarce was this first part of the noble undertaking carried into execution, when, to the great honour of national liberality, a building since called queen Anne’s was planned and undertaken. It is opposite to that erected by king Charles, and preserves in its principal fronts, the west and north, the same exterior. The foundation of a third pile called king William’s, was laid nearly at the same time on the south-west. It contains that superb apartment, the great dining or painted hall, the decorations of which were executed by Sir James Thornhill, and was originally designed by the architect Sir Christopher Wren, for the use of the officers and men. It has, however, long ceased to be applied to that purpose, the men dining in spacious halls on the lower story, and the officers in their own apartments. In 1699 the foundation of the eastern colonnade, attached to that quadrangle since called queen Mary’s building, was laid; and without entering into a tedious reca- pitulation of dates, the whole building was finished, nearly in its present form, about the year 1752. Considerable sums have at different times been bequeathed and given by various persons for this highly honourable purpose, and the deficiency has been made good either by parliamentary grants, or the appropriated rents and profits of estates forfeited by families of rank heretofore engaged in rebellion. Among these, the possessions of the unfortunate earl of Derwentwater form a con- spicuous and principal part. The hospital, thus divided into four distinct piles, each of which forms an oblong square with its fronts outwards, contains, by some recent additions and internal improvements, derived particularly from the erection of an infirmary, independent of the hospital itself, nearly two thousand four hundred pensioners, exclusive of their different officers, necessary as well for their government as their comfort. To the northward, adjoining to the river Thames, is the principal or grand square, the width nearly 280 feet, bounded on the north by the grand parade or wall washed by the river; on the east and west, by the grand fronts of the quadran- gles, named in honour of king Charles and queen Anne; and on the south by a flight of steps extending the whole length, in consequence of their more elevated 158 situation between king William and queen Mary’s buildings, as well as in a small degree by the east and west corners of those stupendous piles. In the centre is the statue of his late majesty king George the Second in white marble, executed by Rysbrack, and highly esteemed by all judges of sculpture. Upon the whole, the magnificent appearance of the different buildings when viewed on the north side from the Thames, has never in any part of the world been hitherto equalled in a similar erection. The annexed view, taken from the north side of the Thames, will give some idea of the magnitude of the building. On the 1st of January 1779, a most dreadful fire, occasioned by causes never hitherto known, or at least made public, broke out in a part of queen Mary’s build- ing, as is generally supposed, above the chapel. By the greatest exertions it was in a few hours got under, though not till it had entirely consumed the chapel itself, and as many of the adjacent wards as were capable of containing nearly five hun- dred pensioners.