Leadenhall Market

Leadenhall Market

On the south side of Leadenhall Street between Gracechurch Street and Lime Street, at No. 88 Gracechurch Street (P.O. Directory).

Partly in Lime Street Ward, partly in Bishopsgate Ward Within.

After the acquisition of the Leadenhall estate by the City in 1411, and the erection of the Granary in 1446, the Hall seems to have increased rapidly in importance. Besides being used for the weighing and sale of cloth and wool, it was ordained in 1488 that the assay of leather should be held there only (Cal. L. Bk. L. p. 251), and the petition of the citizens set out in Stow (p. 160) against the leasing of the Hall by the City shows the value they attached to its use for public purposes in the 16th century.

From this petition it appears that the Leadenhall was used at that time for storing munitions of war and timber for repairing the buildings of the Corporation, for the preparation of Pageants and triumphs and for market people bringing victuals to the City to have a standing place under cover (S. 160 and 161).

In 1534 an attempt was made to remove "the Burse" here from Lombard Street (S. 161).

In addition to the above-mentioned uses we find: In 1622 it was enacted that all cutlery was to be sold at Leadenhall and nowhere else in the City (Remembrancia, p. 260), while it appears that shops and warehouses of freestone had been built there for the purpose (ib. 262).

The butchers had stalls there in 1595 (ib. 202) and a regular Meat Market was held there (p. 289).

The whole place was destroyed in the Great Fire in 1666, and after its rebuilding it is described by Strype in 1720 as a very large building of Freestone, wholly converted into a Market, with three Courts, the Beef Market at the north-east corner of Gracechurch Street properly Leadenhall, the Green Yard, with shops in the middle and on the south and west sides, and the Herb Market also with stalls (Strype, ed. 1720, I. ii. 89).

The Market House was at the east end, inhabited by Fishmongers, etc., and the passages into the Markets by Poulterers, Fishmongers, etc. (Strype, ed. 1720, I. ii. 89).

Under the Act for the Improvement of Leadenhall Market, 1879–80, the old buildings, etc. were demolished and the first stone of the New Market was laid in 1881, with an area of about 26,900 ft., the principal entrance being out of Gracechurch Street.

The Green Market is shown in Rocque, 1746, on the eastern side of the market, east of the Hide Market, between that market and the East India House.

Places for "Hides" and "Horns" to be sold, shown in O.S. 1880.

The remains of a Roman building were discovered on the site in 1880, the walls extending east and west having been unearthed near Half Moon Passage in 1848, now covered by the avenue of the market along to Gracechurch Street. The principal wall was 12 ft. 7 in. in thickness, running 150 ft. in length, due east and west. It has been suggested that the building was a Roman forum or a basilica.

Leadenhall Market

Leadenhall is a very large Building of Free Stone, containing within it three large Courts, or Yards, all encompassed with Buildings; wherein is kept a Market, one of the greatest, the best, and the most general for all Provisions in the City of London, nay of the Kingdom; and if I should say of all Europe, I should not give too great a Praise. The Building hath flat Battlements leaded at the Top: And for the Conveniency of People's coming to this great Market, (which is kept every Day of the Week except Sundays) for one thing or the other) besides the principal Entrance out of Leadenhall Street, there are two or three others, one out of Limestreet, and the rest out of Gracechurch Street.	The present State of Leadenhall Market.
Of the three Courts or Yards that it consists of, the first is that at the North East Corner of Gracechurch Street, and opens into Leadenhall Street: This Court or Yard contains in Length from North to South 164 Foot, and in Breadth from East to West about 80 Foot; within this Court or Yard round about the same, are about 100 Standing Stalls for Butchers for the selling only of Beef, and therefore this Court is called the Beef Market, many of which Stalls are 8, 10, or 12 Foot long, and 4, 5, or 6 Foot broad, with Racks, Hooks, Blocks, and all other Conveniences for the Sale of their Meat. All which Stalls are either under Warehouses above Head, or sheltred from the Weather by Roofs over them. This Yard is on Tuesdays a Market for Leather, to which the Tanners do resort. On Thursdays the Waggons from Colchester and other Parts come with Bayes, &c. and also the Felmongers with their Wool; and on Fridays it is a Market for Raw Hides, besides Saturdays for Beef, as also other Provisions.	The Yards belonging to it.
The second Market Yard is called the Green Yard, as being once a green Plot of Ground. Afterwards it was the City's Store Yard for Materials for Building and the like, but now a Market only for Veal, Mutton, Lamb, &c. This yard is 170 Foot in Length from East to West, and 90 Foot Broad from North to South. It hath in it 140 Stalls for the Butchers all covered over, and of the Bigness of those in the Beef Market. In the middle of this Green Yard Market North to South is a Row of Shops, with Kitchins, or Rooms over them for Fishmongers; and also on the South Side and West End are Houses and Shops also for Fishmongers. Towards the East End of this Yard is erected a fair Market House standing upon Columns, with Vaults underneath, and Rooms above, with a Bell Tower, and a Clock, and under it are Butchers Stalls. The Tenements round about this Yard are for the most part inhabited by Cooks, Victuallers, and such like; and in the Passages leading out of the Streets into this Market are Fishmongers, Poulterers, Cheesmongers, and such like Traders for Provision.	The Green Yard for small Meat. Fishmongers in this Green Yard.
The third Market belonging to Leadenhall is called the Herb Market, for that Herbs, Roots, Fruit, &c. are only there sold. This Market is about 140 Foot Square, the West, East, and North Sides have Walks round them covered over for Shelter, and standing upon Columns; in which Walks there are 28 Stalls for Gardiners with Cellars under them. There is also in this Yard one Range of Stalls covered over for such as sell Tripe, Neats Feet, Sheep's Trotters, &c. And on the South Side, the Tenements are taken up by Victuallers, Poulterers, Cheesemongers, Butchers, and such like. And for the regular ordering of this Market, and those Numbers of People that resort thither with their Goods, see in the Chapter of Civil Government.	The Herb Market. Sellers of Tripe, Neats Feet, &c.
The Rooms in the Stone Building about the Beef Market (which is properly Leadenhall) is employed for several Uses, as the West Side is wholly used for the Stowage of Wares belonging to the old East India Company; on the East Side is the Meal Warehouse, and the Wool Hall; on the South End is the Colchester Bay Hall; and at the North End is the Warehouse for the Sealing of Leather.	The Rooms how employed.
The general Conflagration of this City in 1666 terminated in that Part of the City near adjoining to this Hall: all the Houses about it, and within the Yards belonging unto it, being destroyed, there did (of this Fabrick) only remain the Stone Work. Since which, the Courts and Yards belonging to this Building, and some other adjacent Grounds purchased by the City, are wholly converted into a Market for the City's Use; the Place for the Reception of Country Butchers, and others who brought Provisions before to the City, being then only in Leadenhall Street, between Gracechurch Street and Limestreet, which was very incommodious both to the Market People as well to the Passengers.

Leadenhall Market, the largest market in the city of London, and perhaps in Europe, consists of five considerable squares, or courts, the first of which opens by a large Gothic gate into Leadenhall street. This court, which is surrounded by the buildings called Leadenhall, is surrounded with sheds for butchers, tanners, &c. As there is but little meat sold here except beef, this is called the Beef market. This square is on Tuesday a market for leather; on Thursdays the waggons from Colchester, and other parts, come with baize, &c. and the felmongers with wool; on Fridays 300it is a market for raw hides, and on Saturdays for beef.

Behind this market are two others separated by a range of buildings of a considerable length, with shops and rooms on each side. In both these are principally sold small meat, as mutton, veal, lamb, and pork, and some of the shops sell beef. In the easternmost of these markets is a market house supported on pillars, with vaults underneath, and rooms above, with a clock and a bell tower, and underneath are sold various sorts of provision. Beyond these is a very spacious market for fowl. There is another called the Herb-market, which has an entrance into Leadenhall street, but this does not succeed. The passages into the above markets from Lime street and Gracechurch street, are filled with the dealers in provisions of various kinds.

Leadenhall-Market. See the last article [Leadenhall-Buildings]; it communicates also with Leadenhall-st. at 6, and with Lime-st. at various places.

Leadenhall-Market, is one of the largest general provision markets in London, and perhaps in Europe. It derives its name from being on the site of the ancient Leadenhall, which was built in 1419, at the sole expense of Sir Thomas Eyre, Lord Mayor of London, who being moved with compassion at the distresses of the poor from a deficiency of corn, gave it to the corporation to be used as a public granary for laying up corn in cheap times, against periods of scarcity. It was originally a manor-house belonging to Sir Hugh Neville in 1309, which was purchased by Sir Richard Whittington in 1408.

It is used as a market for butchers' meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, leather, hydes, bacon, and such like.

Leaden Hall and Leadenhall Market. The name of Leaden Hall, which was afterwards to become so famous from association with the career of the grand old East India Company, traces its origin to a period long previous to the discoveries of Vasco de Gama. Stow says of Leaden Hall, "I read that in the year 1309 it belonged to Sir Hugh Nevill, knight;" and he then enters into a long detail of subsequent ownerships, in which hopeless confusion is made between the manor of Leaden Hall and the building from which it derived its name. Happily we are enabled, through the researches of Mr. Riley, to say for certain that the Hall belonged to the City as early as 1320, when one silver mark, the rent (accumulated apparently for thirteen years) "of a certain small garden annexed to Leaden Hall," was appropriated "for completing the pavement belonging to the Court of the said Leaden Hall." At this time, and as early as 1302, "it was occasionally used as a Court of Justice; and in October 1326, after the flight of Edward II., the Commons of London met there when making terms with the constable of the Tower." The bulk of the land still, perhaps, pertained to the old family, for in 1343 mention is made of the garden of Sir John Nevill, "which is called Leaden hall Gardyn." Meantime the site had taken the position, which it has maintained to our own day, of being the great market for all poultry brought into London for sale. Proclamations are so illustrative of the ways of our forefathers that room may well be spared for these as they appear in Mr. Riley's skilful translation:—

Proclamation made at the Leaden Hall, for men of the poultry trade, on the Saturday next before Palm Sunday, 19 Edward III., A.D. 1345:—

Whereas heretofore folks bringing poultry to the City have sold their pooltiy in lanes, in the hostels of their hosts, and elsewhere in secret, to the great loss and grievance of the citizens, and at extortionate prices, and to the enhancement of the said poultry: We do command, on behalf of our Lord the King, that all strange folks [that is non-freemen] bringing poultry to the City, shall bring the same to the Leaden Hall, and there sell it, and nowhere else, on pain of forfeiting the poultry and going bodily to prison, there, at the discretion of the Mayor and Aldermen, to remain.

Also, that no person resident in the City who sells poultry, shall be so daring as to come to the Leaden Hall, to sell or buy poultry there among the strangers, on pain of imprisonment; but let such persons sell their poultry at the stalls [in the Poultry] as of old they were wont to do.

Also, that no cook or regrator shall buy any manner of poultry at the Leaden Hall, nor yet at the stalls, before Prime rung at the Church of St Paul; on pain of forfeiting the poultry bought, and going bodily to prison.—Riley's Memorials, p. 220.

Within a few days, however, some modification of this last rule was deemed necessary, and a new regulation was issued:—

That all foreign poulterers [i.e. non-freemen] bringing poultry to the City shall take it to the Leaden Hall, and sell it there between Matins and the hour of Prime [3 A.M. and 6 A.M.] to the reputable men of the City, and their servants, for their own eating; and after the hour of Prime, the rest of their poultry that shall remain unsold, they may sell to cooks, regratresses, and such other persons as they may please; it being understood that they are to take no portion of their poultry out of the market to their hostels, on pain of losing the same.—Riley's Memorials, p. 221.

The following are both curious and interesting. The first is of 31 Edward III., A.D. 1357.'

That no poulterer, or other person, a freeman of the City, shall stand at the Carfukes of the Leadenhalle, with rabbits, fowls, or other poultry on sale; but let such persons stay within their own houses with their poultry for sale; or otherwise let those who wish to carry out their poultry to sell, stand and expose the same for sale along the wall towards the west of the Church of St. Michael on Cornhulle; and let them be found nowhere else, either going or standing, with their poultry for sale, on pain of forfeiture of all such poultry; that so all foreign poulterers and others, who bring poultry to the City for sale, may stand by themselves, and expose their poultry for sale at the said corner of Leadenhalle, without any freeman poulterer coming to, or meddling with, them.

Also, that no poulterer, a freeman, himself or by his wife, or by any other person on his behalf, shall come to buy any manner of poultry of any one of such foreign poulterers aforesaid, privily or openly, either for himself or for any one else, until the hour of Prime ring out, when the great and other the common people shall have bought what they need for their own use. And, that no person, of whatsoever condition he be, shall bring or expose any poultry for sale, that is rotten or stinking, or not proper for man's body; on pain of forfeiting the said poultry, and of imprisonment of his body.

Also, that no foreigner who brings poultry to the City for sale, shall lodge in or carry his poultry to the house of any free poulterer; on pain of forfeiting the poultry, and of imprisonment of his body, as well as to the buyer and receiver of the same poultry, as to the seller thereof; but let such persons carry their poultry to the said corner for sale in full market there.—Riley, p. 300.

And yet again, in the forty-ninth year of the same King, A.D. 1375:—

That no freeman poulterer shall stand at the Carfukes of the Leadenhalle, within home or without; with rabbits, fowls, or other poultry for sale; but they are to expose the same for sale along the wall towards the west of the Church of St. Michael upon Cornhille; that so, all the foreign poulterers may stand by themselves, and expose their poultry for sale at the said corner of Leadenhalle, without any freeman poulterer coming among them.—Riley, Memorials, p. 389.

The word Carfukes, still preserved at Oxford in the form Carfax—the actual Oxford Carfax being preserved at Nuneham Courtenay—means a place with four faces, and it is evident that some structure for the purpose of the market must have stood at the "said corner" where Gracechurch Street intersects Cornhill. The "Carfukes of the Leadenhall," like the Carfax at Oxford, was in fact a conduit with four spouts; in later days it was best known as "the Standard in Cornhill." It may be doubted whether the hall itself was ever given over to the foreign poulterers. It was at any rate devoted to other uses when, in 1445, Simon Eyre, draper and mayor, nobilis et potens vir, erected a granary on the site, at his own charges, for the common use of the City. It had a chapel on the east side dedicated to the Holy Trinity, which was not taken down till June 1812.¹ The regulations above cited were renewed in the following reign (7 Richard II., 1384), and at the same time an ordinance fixed the maximum prices to be taken for the several kinds of poultry sold at Leadenhall, a few items from which may serve to show the strange fowl eaten by our ancestors, and the price paid for them, five centuries ago. "The best cygnet was to be sold for fourpence; the best heron sixteenpence, and the best egret eighteenpence; the best goose, capon, or hen for sixpence, but the best pullet for twopence. The best rabbit with the skin, fourpence, and no foreigner shall sell any rabbit without the skin. For a river mallard (wild duck) not more than threepence may be taken, for a dunghill mallard (tame duck) twopence halfpenny; teal, twopence. The best snipe must be sold for a penny; woodcock or plover for threepence; the best partridge for fourpence; ciu-lew, sixpence; whilst for the best pheasant twelvepence might be demanded—a proof that it was a rare bird in those days. For a bittern, or a brewe (whatever bird that might be), the extreme price of eighteenpence might be demanded. A dozen pigeons were to be sold for eightpence; four larks for one penny; a dozen thrushes for sixpence; a dozen finches for a penny."² By an Ordinance of 1377 it was directed that "Foreigners (persons residing outside the City liberties) who come to the City with cheese and butter for sale, in carts and upon horses, shall bring their wares into the market of Leadenhalle, or the market between St. Nicholas Shambles and Neugate, and nowhere else, before Noon ring at such place where the purchase shall be made: and shall not put away in houses, or in rooms, privily or openly, either after Noon rung or before, any cheese or butter, on pain of forfeiting the same that shall be so put away."¹ And they are not to sell it in secret to hokesters [hawkers] or others, under a like penalty. Stow thus writes of the Leaden Hall of about 1540:—

The use of Leaden Hall in my youth was thus:—In a part of the north quadrant, on the east side of the north gate, were the common beams for weighing of wool and other wares, as had been accustomed; on the west side the gate were the scales to weigh the meal; the other three sides were reserved for the most part to the making and resting of the pageants showed at Midsummer in the watch; the remnant of the sides and quadrants was employed for the stowage of woolsacks, but not closed up; the lofts above were partly used by the painters in working for the decking of pageants and other devices for the beautifying of the watch and watchmen; the residue of the lofts were letten out to merchants, the wool-winders and packers therein to wind and pack their wools.—Stow, p. 60.

Cutlery must have been sold here. In 1581 Stephen Crosson writes: " This argument cuts like a Leadenhall knife where (as they say in common speech) if one poiu^e on Steele with a ladell, another comes and wipes it of with a fether."* Leadenhall, alike mansion and market-houses, were destroyed in the Great Fire, and not long after re-edified. Strype thus speaks of it in 1720: —

Leadenhall is a very large building of free-stone, containing within it three large courts or yards, all encompassed with buildings; wherein is kept a market, one of the greatest, the best, and the most general for all provisions, in the City of London, nay of the kingdom; and if I should say of all Europe, I should not give it too great a praise.—Strype B. ii. p. 89.

The first court, at the north-east corner of Gracechurch Street, opening into Leadenhall Street, contained "about 100 standing stalls for butchers for the selling only of beef, and therefore this court is called the Beef Market," but it is used on Tuesdays for a leather market, on Thursdays for "the waggons from Colchester and other parts with their bayes, etc., and fellmongers with their wool." On Fridays it is a market for raw hides. The second court, called the Green Yard, "is a market only for veal, mutton, lamb, etc." The tenements round about it are occupied by fishmongers, poulterers, cheesemongers, cooks, victuallers, and such like. The third court is called the Herb Market, and appropriated to green vegetables, roots, fruit, and so forth. The poulterers, it will be observed, are not mentioned as having a court to themselves, but appear to be scattered in the surrounding stalls and tenements. Dodsley, however, in 1761, after mentioning these courts says, "Beyond these is a very spacious market for fowl." Gay sings—

Wouldst thou with mighty beef augment thy meal?
Seek Leadenhall.—Trivia (about 1715).

Leadenhall has lost its fame for mighty beef, and cattle have long ceased to be slaughtered there. The veal trade has been more persistent. But Leadenhall is pre-eminently the poultry market of London, though it has a powerful rival in the new market at Smithfield. A peculiarity of Leadenhall is that the market is by no means limited to dead birds. Every variety of live fowl may, at one time or another, be seen here. Live game and tame fowl, from swans, herons, snipe and pheasants, down to Dorking fowls and the latest novelty in the poultry yard. At the same time it has hitherto retained its character as a general provision market. In 1879–1880 the Corporation obtained an Act for the improvement of Leadenhall Market, which empowers them to "abolish the present Leadenhall Meat and Poultry Markets," and to construct new markets on the site, but on a larger scale, by taking land and removing houses on the east and west, to form new streets, and so forth. The old market has in consequence been swept away and a temporary market constructed for the use of the displaced dealers. The first stone of the New Leadenhall Market, designed by the late Sir Horace Jones, the City architect, was laid June 28, 1881. It has an area of about 26,900 square feet, with a principal entrance from Gracechurch Street, and others from New Street, Lime Street Passage and Beehive Passage.

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¹ There are views of the chapel in Wilkinson's Londina Illustrata.
² Liber Albus, p. 401.

¹ Letter Book II, fol. lxii.; Riley, p. 405.
² Gosson, Players Confuted in Five Actions.