1624 Item, paid for two pieces of broad cloth for children's

...il. ijs. ixl. xivs.

Item, paid for two pieces of cotton
Item, paid for twenty flock beds and bolsters, and for
twenty ruggs and twenty blankets
Item, paid for one hundred of muckenders, at ijd. apiece,
and for tape

...

. xxvjl. ...xvijs. viijd.

Item, paid for one hundred and six ells and a quarter of
canvas at xvd. the ell, to make shirts for the children vjl. xijs. xd.
Item, paid for making of an hundred shirts at ijd. the
piece
Item, paid for a hundred and fifteen ells and half of
canvas to make sheets at xvd. the ell

...

...

...

...

...

...

xvjs. viijd.

xiijl. ivs. ijd. Item, to making forty-eight pair of sheets, at vjd. a pair il. ivs. Item, paid for seven dozen and four double bands, at iijd. a band il. ijs. Item, paid for two dozen of single bands, at iijd. a band... vjs. Item, paid for twenty-four pair of shoes for the children il. ivs. Item, paid for forty coyses, at ivd. a piece Item, paid for gartering for the children

Item, paid for four and forty coats for children
Item, paid for making of forty petticoats ...

WORK ABOUT GREEN COAT HOSPITAL.

[This was on the west side of Cobourg Row. Having received a measure of the King's favour, it found ardent supporters in the Duchess of Somerset, Emery Hill, Dr. Busby, and Rev. James Palmer. The site was sold in 1877, when the present "Westminster City School," in Palace Street, grew out of the proceeds of the sale. The foundation is noticed in the Parochial Charities of Westminster, 1890.]

1624

xivl. xviijs. xd.

Item, paid to Robert Bishop, bricklayer, more at several
times for workmanship by him, and his men, in building
and finishing the said hospital with bricklayers work,
plaisterers work, and tilers work, as appeareth by his
bills, and the particular book
Item, paid to John Middleton, carpenter, more for work-
manship by him and his men, about the hospital, as
appeareth, etc.
Item, paid to the smith, for iron works, casements, locks,
keys, iron bars, and other work about the hospital,
as appeareth, etc.
Item, paid to the painters, for work done about the
hospital, as appeareth, etc.

1626 Item, to the graves of 1447 poor people this year
1627 Item, paid for bread and wine, when the Right
Honourable the Commons House of Parliament (being
468 persons) received the communion in the parish
church, 1626
Item, given to Mr. Vincent Peris, curate by their appoint-
ment, for his pains in the administration of the Sacra-
ment unto them

ijli. ixs. ivd.

il.

vs.

vl. xvijs.

vl.

Item, paid to Walter Hall, bricklayer, for making and
building the new church-yard wall near Tutle Fields,'
containing in the whole compass thereof threescore and
two roods, at ijl. xiijs. ivd. the rodde, viz., for brick,
lime, sand, and workmanship
clxvl. vjs. viijd.

*This relates to the land surrounding the "New Chapel," on the site of which the present Christ Church was erected in 1842-3. The Churchyard was acquired and consecrated sixteen years before

Item, paid to George Butt, for making a ditch about the
new church-yard wall, containing lij rods, at js. the
rodd

...

ijl. xijs. vjd.

Item, paid for twelve bundles of rushes to fit the church-
yard for consecration

...

Item, paid for herbes and spices to make diet-drink for the
(hospital) children in the spring

...

1628 Item, paid to George Edgelie, by consent of the Vestry,
towards his charge to proceed master of arts
Item, to Richard Goodwin, by consent of the Vestry,
towards proceeding bachelor of arts

.vl.

vjs. xd

ivl.

.. vjl.

Item, to Mr. Hennam, the husband of William Bowyer's
widow, for carrying snow and ice out of King Street after
a great frost by consent of the Vestry
Item, receaved of divers persons the parishoners of this
parish for their fines for swearing, and being drunk, and
for breach of the Sabaoth, and being otherwise presented
according to the penal laws, as by a particular of their
names and several fines appeareth, which hath been
employed to the use of the hospitall children, the some of iijl. ixs. ivd.
Item, to Richard Busby, by consent of the Vestry, towards
enabling him to proceed bachelor of arts

...

...

vl.

[The famous Dr. Busby, afterwards Head-Master of Westminster, who at one time could point to no less than sixteen bishops who had been educated at his school, and "who bred up the greatest number of learned scholars that ever adorned any age or nation." When he became prosperous he was found in the forefront of every movement for the education of the children of the poor of the parish.] 1629 Item, to Augustine Morgan, a constable in the Great Sanctuary being fined twenty shillings for suffering vagrants to wander in the streets, to him of his said fine being a poor man Item, to a poor man that lost DCCl. at sea by Dunkerkers 1630 Item, to John Martin, having his Majesty's privy seal to begg relief towards his travel to Persia

...

xviijs.

vjd.

iijd.

1633 Item, of the Right Honourable Henry, Earl of Man-
chester, lord privie seale, the pardon of his lordship's
fees for passing our licence in mortmaine for King
Charles's hospital in Westminster, which his lordship,
as the prime benefactor to that good worke, hath most
freelie and nobly remitted unto us; in like manner
hath Sir Sidney Montague, Knight, his lordship's
brother, one of the Masters of the Requests, remitted to
us his fees; and so likewise did Mr. William Noye,
attorney general to his Majestie, not only restore to us
twenty pounds, which we gave him for his pains therein,
but of his owne bounty gave us more ten pounds
Item, disbursed and paid for fees to divers officers at the
greate seale privie seale and signett, and for drawing the
books, and to Mr. Attorney General, his servants, and
other necessary charges, in passing his Majesty's grant
of license in mortmaine for King Charles his hospitall
Westminster, as by severall billes thereof appeareth xxxvl, is. iijd.

the original church was finished, owing, as the entry against the year 1626 suggests, to the pressing need of more space for interments. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the burial ground was described as "the pleasantest churchyard all about London and Westminster "; but as it became surrounded by narrow streets of small houses it lost its distinction, and notwithstanding the curtailment of its dimensions by the formation of Victoria Street (1847-51) and the widening of "Chappell Street," the condition of the churchyard remained a disgrace long after the rebuilding of the new church, and well within the recollection of those who would still like to be called young. The erudite Walcott, in his Memorials of Westminster, ed. 1849, pp. 285 9, briefly describes some of the features of the original church and the present edifice. The former is stated to have been used as a stable for the chargers of the Commonwealth troopers, as a council room by Cromwell and his officers, and as a prison for the Scotch soldiers taken at the battle of Worcester, of whom 1200 are shown by the churchwardens' accounts for 1652 (q.v.) to have been buried in Tothill Fields, close by on the south. See the items under the year 1651 and 1652 at p. 61.

[This Hospital became merged in the "St. Margaret's Hospital," or Green Coat School, and is now incorporated with the Westminster City School, mentioned at the year 1624.]

1634

1637

Item, paid for our part of the charges towards th' obteyn-
ing of a corporation for this citie and liberties, wherein
nevertheless we lost our endeavour

...

vijl. xjs. xd.

Item, for a pair of sheetes for Jane Clare, when wee sent
her to the Spittle at Knightsbridge
Item, to Mrs. Stone, the wife of John Stone, for bad
farthings which her husband had received when he was
overseer of the poor, as part of the stock brought in by
his predecessois*

...

iijs. vjd.

...il. viis.

Item, to Mr. Anthony Cliffe, deputie clerk of the peace,
for renewing the commission of sewers for this citie and
liberties

...il. xs.

...

XS.

Item, to the clarke of the counsell, for the coppie of an
order touching the parson's tythes of this parish
Item, to Mr. John Glynne and Mr. Maynard for their
advice concerning the parson's tythes of this parish iijl. xjs. vjd.
1638 To Mr. Thomas Falconbridge, by order of the Vestry,

at four several payments, twoe hundred pounds towards
the building of the new chapell in Tuttle-fields; which
sum of two hundred pounds was disbursed by the said
Mr. Thomas Falconbridge.

...

Item, to Mr. Winter, keeper of the hospital at Knights-
bridge, for the keeping of the Three Innocents for one
month

...

...

Item, to William Lynes, for removing the stocks from
the sheds in Tuttle
1640 For ringing on that day which the Triennial Parliament
was agreed upon in the Howse of Parliament

1641 Item, paid to Joane Parkinson and Mary Clarkson for
making cleane the church and pews against the 7th day
of September, 1641, when there was a thanksgiving for
our unity with the Scotts

...

Item, given to the ringers that day
1642 Item, paid for twoe pints of sack for the ministers that
preached the fast-day, which was the 30th of March...
Item, receipts of moneys collected towards the payment
for the building of the courts of guard, making posts
and chains, and other works for the safety of this town,

xvjs.

...cc l.

....11.
Item, received out of the black chest at several tymes for
the building of the new pest howses
1642 Item, Nov. 3, given to the officers of the Tower of London,
and labourers that delivered the powder, bullett, and

xijs.

VS.

is. vjd.

VS.

is.

*The possibility of a person accumulating 1296 bad farthings will probably need but little explanation when the want which existed at the time of an authorised coinage as small change is called to mind. It is just possible, also, that those who resented the increasing compulsory levies regarded the parish treasury as a convenient receptacle for such spurious moneys as might have passed into their hands Although the farthing, or four-thing, had existed from the time of William the Conqueror, when it was literally the fourth part of a penny-a cross being deeply cut so that the penny could be broken in half or quarters-the few penny pieces which were cast by the Government were in silver, and were so small and thin as to cause considerable loss to traders. From this grew the private mintage of their own coins or tokens by innkeepers and other tradesmen, who exchanged each other's tokens as if they were small accommodation bills payable at sight. Attempts were made in the reign of Elizabeth and James 1. to supersede this pseudo moneta by a legitimate copper currency; but the remedy was not resolutely taken in hand until the Restoration. During the reign of Charles I. and throughout the Commonwealth, the private coinage' became so general that nearly every tradesman struck his own tokens "for necessarie change" They were prohibited by royal proclamation in 1674, and were not again brought into use until the end of the last century, when several of the Municipal Corporations issued them in their own Boroughs as a temporary expedient.

1643 Item, paid for twoe paper books, that were provided for
taking of the covenant

...

...

[On 25th September, 1642, the Solemn League and Covenant was taken in the Church by both Houses of Parliament, the Assembly of Divines, and the Scottish Commissioners. The troubled times of the following forty years may be gathered from a perusal of the entries, many of which furnish confirmation of the contemporary history.]

...

. vl.

1644 Item, of Edward Tasker, by the hands of his daughter
Aylett for the stuff and materialls of the court of guard
erected upon his ground at the Horse-ferrie
Item, for xxix pounds of fine brasse, at ivd. a pound, and
xcvj pounds of coarse brasse, at iijd. a pound, taken off
from sundrie toombe stones in the church
il. xiijs. vjd.

...

Item, of Arthur Condall, in part of vl. for the screene
and organ-loft
Item, of Edward Stanthwaite, for having companie in his
howse on a fast-day, xs., and for swearing, is.

...

ls.

xjs.

[Many such receipts as these are credited in the contemporary overseers' accounts, the moneys beng employed by them in the relief of the poor.]

...

...

...

Item, for a quire of printed warrants for putting the
statutes in execution concerning the Lord's Day, etc
Item, for a table with the Covenant to hang in the church
Item, for a dozen of ordinances for observing the Lord's
Day
1645 Received of Captain White for the organ-pipes
Item, for seaven lanthorns to hang in the streets
Item, for a dozen of candles to set in the lanthornes
Item, for the beadles to drink while they watched the
chaines
Item, to Captain White for a bason to baptize withall...
Item, to the ringers for ringing the 5th of February, being
a day of publick thanksgiving for Dartmouth, Hereford,
and the West

...

1647 Item, paid for rosemarie and baies, that was stuck about
the church at Christmas

...

...

...

is. vjd.

iijs.

ixd.

ivl. xviijs.

ixd.

is. vjs.

is. vjd.

xijs. vjd.

Item, paid in fees unto Mr. Friend and Mr. Denham,
twoe of the messengers unto the sergeant att armes,
attending the Commons House of Parliament, when theis
accomptants were committed for permitting ministers
to preach upon Christmas-day, and for adorning
the church
iijl.
1648 Item, laid out in expenses, when (by order) were sent forth
scouts to bring intelligence of the armies' approach
towards the citie*
Item, paid to Nicholas Edlyn, for half a chaldron of coles
and half a hundred of faggots, that by command were
sent to a regiment of souldiers at Goringe howse
Item, paid to William Newington, tallow-chandler, for
one dozen of candles, sent to the same regiment at
the same time, as etc....
1649 Item, paid to Mr. Philip Greenwood, high constable, for
half a year's assessment of the viijd. a weeke laid upon
this parish towards the reliefe of maimed soldiers within
the hundred of Osoulston, due at our Lady Day last 1649,
as, etc.

1650 Item, paid for herbs that were strewed in the windows of
the Church and about the same, att two severall daies
of humiliation

It was in this year that Milton wrote his sonnet "To the Lord General Cromwell," having just previously penned that “On the assault intended to the City."