For, since the Cardinal fell, that title's lost;
'Tis now the King's and call'd Whitehall."
It must be remembered that there was then no Parliament Street, and the palace buildings occupied all the ground from Old Scotland Yard to Downing Street, from St. James's Park to the river. King Henry added very much to the land belonging to the palace, also to the buildings. He was fond of sport, and his additions show his tastes in this direction; he built a tennis-court, a tilt-yard,—on the site of the Horse Guards—a bowling-green, and a cockpit. The exact site of the cockpit has long been a matter of uncertainty, but it is now very generally believed that the entrance was just where the present Treasury entrance is.
The palace does not seem to have been very homogeneous; it contained three courts, including Old Scotland Yard, in which was the Guard House. The King and Queen occupied the first court, where was what remained of old York House; here also was the great Hall, the Presence Chamber, and the Banqueting House. In the second court was the way to the Audience and Council Chambers, the Chapel, the offices of the Palace, and the Watergate.
Henry VIII. died in this palace, and all the noble names of his and the succeeding reigns seem to haunt the site of the now vanished building. Here came Sir Thomas More, Erasmus and Thomas Cromwell; Holbein occupied a set of apartments, and received a salary of 200 florins for painting and decorating the rooms. Here are the ghosts of Cranmer, Katharine of Aragon, Jane Seymour, Latimer and Ridley; later we see a courtlier gathering—Cecil, Essex, Leicester, Raleigh, Drake, Walsingham, Philip Sydney. So true it is, the King doth make the Court. Some time later, in the reign of Charles II., we have a different class of men altogether—Monk, Clarendon, Sedley, Rochester, Wycherley, Dryden, Butler, Suckling, Carew. Here came crowds to be touched for the King's evil. Here the unfortunate Duke of Monmouth implored pardon at his uncle's feet in vain. Whitehall was also the home of the short-lived masque, a form of entertainment extremely costly.
In 1691 a fire broke out, and all the buildings between the stone gallery and the river were burned down, and six years later another fire finished nearly all that the first had left.
Inigo Jones prepared plans for a new palace that should eclipse the old, and his designs lacked not anything on the side of magnificence; if the palace had been built as he designed, it would have exceeded in splendour any building now in London, but he did not finish it. Like William Rufus with Westminster Palace, like many another architect, his plans demanded more than his allotted span of years, and before he could do more than put his imagination upon paper, and realize but a fragment of it in stone, he was called away from a world dependent on the "work of men's hands."
The fragment he has left us still stands; it was to be the banqueting-hall, but no Royal banquets were held there; it was used as a Chapel Royal for many years, and is now the home of the United Service Museum. For the magnificent ceiling painted by Rubens we are indebted to Charles I., who also designed to have the walls painted by Vandyck, a still more costly operation, which was never carried out. The weathercock on the north end was put up by order of James II., so that he might see whether the wind was for or against the dreaded Dutch fleet. The building has one association never to be forgotten. On that black day when England shamed herself before the nations by spilling the blood of her King, the scaffold was erected before this building, though the exact site is unknown. It is believed that the window second from the north end is that in front of which it stood, and that the King stepped forth from a window in a small outbuilding on the north side; he came forth to die, the only innocent man in all that great crowd, who watched him suffer without raising a finger to save him. At that time the present windows were not glazed, but walled in. William III. talked of rebuilding the palace, but he died too soon. Queen Anne went to St. James's, and Whitehall was never rebuilt.
The Horse Guards is almost directly opposite the Banqueting House, and stands on the site of an old house for the Gentlemen Pensioners who formed the guard when there was not a standing army in England. This itself superseded the tilt-yard built by King Henry VIII., though the actual yard was the wide space at the back of the building, which still witnesses the trooping of the colours and other ceremonies on state occasions. It is interesting to notice that the words "Tilt-yard Guards" still occur in the regulations hung up inside the sentry-boxes where the magnificent sentries keep guard, to the wonder and admiration of every small boy who passes.
The whole of St. James's Park is now included in the City of Westminster, but only the south-east part is in the parish of St. Margaret's, which we are now considering. The remainder will be found described in the parish of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, which is included in the electoral district of the Strand in the same series. In "The Strand District" there are also full accounts of St. James's Palace, and of Buckingham Palace.
The spot now known as St. James's Park was once a dismal marshy field. In 1531 Henry VIII. obtained some of the land from the Abbey of Westminster, and in the following year he proceeded to erect what is now St. James's Palace, on the site of a former leper hospital. The park, however, seems to have remained in a desolate condition until the reign of James I., who took a great interest in it, and established a menagerie here which he often visited. The popularity of the park continued throughout the Stuart period. Charles II. after the Restoration employed a Frenchman, Le Nôtre, to lay out the grounds, and under his advice the canal was formed from the chain of pools that spread across the low-lying ground, and also a decoy, where ducks and wildfowl resorted. Rosamund's Pond, an oblong pool, lay at the south-west end of the canal. Of the origin of this name there is no record, though Rosamund's land is mentioned as early as 1531. A new Mall was laid out soon after the Restoration, and preserved with great care. Powdered cockleshells were sprinkled over the earth to keep it firm. As the game of pall-mall went out of fashion the Mall became a promenade, and was the resort of the Court. A pheasant-walk was also formed where Marlborough House now stands. There are two ancient views of the park extant, in one of which the heads of Cromwell, Ireton and Bradshaw stuck upon poles at the end of Westminster Hall are visible, and in the other, a figure walking in the foreground is supposed to be Charles II. himself. The park was not opened to the public at this time, but those whose houses bordered it appear to have been allowed free entrance. Milton, the poet, certainly strolled here from his house in Petty France.
Charles II. himself frequently used it, and kept his pet animals here, and the lords and ladies of his time made it their fashionable rendezvous. The park is mentioned constantly by Pepys and Evelyn. A couple of oaks planted by Charles from acorns brought from Boscobel survived until 1833, when they were blown down.
The origin of the name of Birdcage Walk has been disputed. It has been derived from "boccage," meaning avenue; another account says it was from the bird-cages of the King's aviary, which were hung in the trees. This seems more probable.
For many reigns St. James's Park continued to be a fashionable place of resort. In 1770 Rosamund's Pond was filled up, and the moat round Duck Island was filled in. In 1779 a gentleman was killed in a duel in the park.
In 1827-29 the park was finally laid out and the canal converted into a piece of ornamental water under the superintendence of Nash. In 1857 the lake was cleared out to a uniform depth of four feet and the present bridge erected, and the park became something like what we see at the present time. The vicinity of Marlborough House and Buckingham Palace still give it a certain distinction, but it cannot be called in any sense fashionable, as it was in the later Stuart times. And in the midst of the park we must take leave of our present district, having rambled within its borders east and west, north and south, and having met in the process the ghosts of kings and queens, of statesmen and authors, of men of the Court and men of the Church, those who have made history in the past and laid the foundations for the glory of the future.
INDEX
- Abbey, The, 45
- Almonry, 34, 36
- Almshouses:
- Antelope Alley, 80
- Aquarium, The, 34
- Artillery Row, 6
- Ashburnham House, 65
- Atterbury, Bishop, 65
- Axe Yard, 80
- Banqueting-hall, 88
- Barton Street, 20
- Bell Yard, 80
- Bentham, Jeremy, 14, 29, 30, 32
- Betterton, Thomas, 34
- Big Ben, 75
- Birdcage Walk, 30, 91
- Black Horse Yard, 33
- Blood, Colonel, 18
- Boar's Head Court, 82
- Boswell, 83
- Bowring, Sir John, 33
- Brewers' Yard, 82
- Bridewell, 5
- Bridge Street, 42, 75
- Broad and Little Sanctuary, 42
- Broadway, The, 33
- Burke, Edmund, 34, 39
- Busby, Dr., 64
- Cannon Row, 76
- Capel, Lord, 69
- Carew, Thomas, 80
- Castle Lane, 26
- Caxton, 35
- Caxton Street, 27
- Chapel Street, 27
- Charles I., 73, 79, 88
- Charles II., 90
- Chaucer, Geoffrey, 69
- Churches:
- St. Ann's Chapel, 37
- Cathedral (Roman Catholic), 4
- Chapel Royal, 88
- Christ Church, 28
- Duke Street Chapel, 81
- Guards' Chapel, 31
- St. John the Evangelist, 17
- St. Margaret's, 57
- St. Mary's, 9
- St. Matthew's, 23
- New Chapel, 28
- St. Stephen's, 8
- St. Stephen's Chapel, 70
- Westminster Abbey, 45
- Westminster Chapel, 26
- Church House, 22
- Church Street, 17
- Clinker's Court, 82
- "Clochard," 67
- Clock Tower, 75
- Cockpit, 86
- Cock public-house, 34
- Commons, The, 73
- Cowley, 65
- Cowper, Thomas, 65
- Cromwell, 79
- Dacre, Lady, 26
- Delahay Street, 81
- Derby, Earl of, 76
- Derwentwater, Lord, 73
- Dorset, Marquis of, 76
- Douglas, Earl, 69
- Douglas, Sir William, 69
- Douglas Street, 9
- Downing, George, 83
- Downing Street, 83
- Dryden, 64, 65
- Duck Lane, 23, 27
- Duke Street, 81
- Gardener's Lane, 43, 80
- Gatehouse, 37
- Gibbon, 20, 65
- Glover, 25
- Goodman, Bishop of Gloucester, 39
- Great College Street, 20
- Great George Street, 76, 81
- Great Peter Street, 23
- Great Queen Street, 33
- Great St. Ann's Lane, 19, 23
- Great Smith Street, 21
- Greycoat Place, 6
- Grosvenor Road, 12
- Guildhall, 41
- Gwydyr House, 84
- Halifax, Lord, 76
- Hamilton, Duke of, 69
- Hampden, 39
- Hastings, Warren, 65, 73
- Hazlitt, 29
- Herrick, 23
- High Gate, 39, 78
- Holbein Gate, 84
- Holland, Earl of, 69
- Hollar, the engraver, 80
- Home and Colonial Offices, 83
- Horseferry Road, 10, 16
- Horse Guards, 89
- Hospitals:
- Houses of Parliament, 67
- Howard, 14
- Howard of Effingham, Lord, 78
- Hudson, Sir Jeffrey, 39
- Keats, 20, 21
- Kenmure, Lord, 73
- Kennet, Dr. White, 25
- King's Gate, 80
- King's House, 70
- King's slaughter-house, 20
- King Street, 42, 78
- Lady's Alley, 82
- Leighton, Alexander, 69
- Lewisham Street, 40
- Liddell, 65
- Lilly, the astrologer, 39
- Litlington, Abbot, 16, 20, 64
- Little Chapel Street, 29
- Little College Street, 20
- Little George Street, 42
- Little Peter Street, 23
- Little Queen Street, 33
- Little Smith Street, 18
- Long Ditch, 40, 42
- Long Lane, 43
- Lovelace, Colonel, 38
- Lovelace, Thomas, 69
- Manchester, Duke of, 77
- Marlborough House, 90
- Marsham Street, 18
- Marvell, Andrew, 29
- Millbank Penitentiary, 14
- Millbank Street, 16
- Mill, James, 33
- Milton, 29, 91
- Montagu House, 83
- Monuments. See Abbey
- More, Sir Thomas, 73
- Oates, Titus, 39, 69
- Oldfield, Anne, 79
- Old Palace Yard, 69
- Old Pye Street, 22
- Old Rochester Row, 6
- Orchard Street, 22
- Page, Robert, 68
- Palace Hotel, 34
- Palmer's Passage, 29
- Palmer's Village, 4
- Parker Street, 40
- Parliament Street, 78, 82
- Peabody's Buildings, 22
- Peel, Sir Robert, 83
- Pensioners' Alley, 82
- Pest-houses, 12
- Peterborough, Bishop of, 76
- Peterborough House, 15
- Petty France, 29
- Prince's Street, 40
- Prior, Matthew, 81
- Privy Council Office, 83
- Privy Gardens, 83
- Public Baths and Wash-houses, 22
- Purcell, 19, 23
- Pye, Sir Robert, 22
- Pye Street, 22
- Raleigh, Sir Walter, 37
- Rhenish Wine Yard, 82
- Richmond Terrace, 83
- Rochester Row, 7
- Romney Street, 18
- Royal Architectural Museum, 19
- Royal Maundy, 36
- Royal United Service Institute, 84
- Russell, Lord John, 65
- Sanctuary, The, 41
- Sanquire, Lord, 69
- Savage, Richard, 39
- Schools:
- Sea Alley, 80
- Seven Bishops, 73
- Smith Square, 18
- Southerne, Thomas, 21
- Spenser, 79
- Stafford Place, 25
- Stafford, Viscount, 25
- Stanley, Dean, 21
- St. Ann's Street, 23
- Stationary Office, 40
- Steele, Sir Richard, 21
- Stephen's Alley, 82
- St. Ermin's Mansions, 28
- St. James's Park, 89
- St. John's Burial-ground, 10
- St. John's snuff-box, 18
- St. Margaret's loving-cup, 61
- St. Matthew's Street, 23
- Stourton Street, 24
- Strutton Ground, 23
- St. Stephen's Club, 77
- Stubbs, John, 68
- Sussex, Earl of, 76
- Tart Hall, 25
- Tate Gallery, 13
- Taverns, 80
- Thieving Lane, 39, 42
- Thorne, Mr., 20
- Thorney, the Isle of Bramble, 43, 44
- Tothill Fields, 9
- Tothill Fields Prison, 5
- Tothill Street, 19, 34
- Town Hall, 28
- Treasury, 83, 86
- Tufton Street, 18
- Turpin, Dick, 33
- Union Street, 43
- Vandon, Cornelius, 29
- Vauxhall Bridge Road, 12
- Victoria Embankment, 77
- Victoria Public Garden, 21
- Victoria Street, 4
- Victoria Tower, 74
- Vincent Square, 9
- Walcott, 20
- Waller, Sir William, 29
- Walpole, Sir Robert, 83
- Warbeck, Perkin, 68
- Watney's Brewery, 24
- Wellington Barracks, 30
- Wesley, Charles, 65
- Wesley, John, 22
- Westminster Bridge Station, 77
- Westminster Hall, 72
- Westminster Review, 33
- Westminster School, 62
- Whitehall Gardens, 83
- Whitehall Palace, 85
- White Horse Yard, 82
- Wilberforce, 65
- Woffington, Peg, 33
- Wolsey, 85
- Woolstaple, 75
- Wootton, Sir Henry, 79
BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD