New Artillery Ground

New Artillery Ground

In Moorfields. So named to distinguish it from the Old Ground near St. Mary Spittel, where formerly the Artillery Company exercised themselves. They moved to the new ground about the latter end of the reign of James I, described in Strype as being the third great field from Moorgate next to the six Windmills (Strype, Ed. 1720, I. iii. 70).

Shown in O. and M. 1677, to the North of Chiswell Street, on Bunhill Fields, where it still exists between Bunhill Row and City Road.

Artillery Ground, betn Bunhil W. and upper More Fields E. and betn. Chiswel str. S. and the City Churchyard N. Here the Artillery Company, and train'd Bands of the City, are exercised in the Art of Martial Discipline. This Artillery Company is in No. uncertain, and have for their Captain General Prince George of Denmark, out of which Company the Officers of the train'd Bands are often chosen, as being Men very well instructed in the Art of Military Exercise.

[New Artillery Ground.] Here, in Moorfields, is the new Artillery Ground; so called, in distinction from another Artillery Garden, near St. Mary Spittal, where formerly the Artillery Company exercised. Who about the latter end of King James I. his Reign, were determined to remove thence; and to hold their Trainings and Practice of Arms here; being the third great Field from Moorgate, next to the six Windmills. Which Field, Mr. Leat, one of the Twenty Captains, with great pains, was divers Years a preparing to that purpose. The Reason of this their Remove, was, because now their Meetings and Number, consisted of many more Soldiers, than the old Ground could well contain; being sometimes 6000. Though, sometimes, notwithstanding, they went to the old Artillery, and continued so to do in my memory.

[New Artillery Ground.] At length this [Artillery] company being so much increased that this [Old] artillery ground was scarcely able to contain them, for they amounted to about 6000: they removed to the New Artillery Ground near the upper end of Moorfields, where they still continue to assemble.

King Charles II. when Prince of Wales enlisted himself into this company, as did his brother James Duke of York, at the same time; who after the restoration took upon himself the command, and named it his own company.

The Artillery company consists of about 300 men. It is governed by a President, Vice-president, Treasurer and Court of Assistants. The Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Sheriffs for the time being, &c. with the Field Officers of the militia or trained bands, are of the honorary court, these with 24 gentlemen annually elected, compose the court of Assistants. His Majesty is Captain-General, and all the other officers are elected annually, and serve by rotation.

The New Artillery Ground is a spacious square walled round. In the center of the north side is the Armoury, a neat building of brick and stone strengthened with rustic quoins at the corners; before it is a flight of steps, and there are a few others at the door, which is in the center, and is large, lofty, and adorned with a porch formed by two Tuscan columns and two pilasters supporting a balcony. The front is ornamented with a pediment supported at the corners by quoins. On the top are placed several large balls, and on the apex of the pediment is a lofty flag staff. On each side the main building, stands at some distance backwards a small edifice, where the provisions are dress'd at the company's feasts. The hall of the armoury is hung round with breastplates, helmets and drums; and fronting the entrance is a handsome pair of iron gates which lead to a spacious staircase, painted with military ornaments, and adorned with the statue of a man dressed in a compleat suit of armour. This staircase leads into a very spacious room, which has the King's arms over one fire place, and those of the company over the other. It has two chandeliers, and is adorned with very fine guns, swords and bayonets, presented by the officers of the company, and handsomely disposed on the walls. There are here also tables hung up, containing the names of the subscribers to the iron gates and other ornaments, among whom is King George I. who gave 500l. Besides the rooms already mentioned, there are two others above, and two below.

Artillery-Ground, Finsbury, is on the west of Finsbury-square, and has three entrances, viz. up Artillery-court, Chiswell street, at the top of Bunhill-row, and at 18, Artillery-place.

It is part of the ancient manor of Finsbury, or Fens-bury, which was granted, in 1215, by Robert de Baldock, Prebendary of Haliwell and Finsbury, with the consent of the dean and chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral, to the mayor and citizens of London. This portion of the manor was afterwards demised to the Honourable Artillery Company, from which it derives its name. In the middle of the north side is a substantial brick building, called the armoury. The lower room is approached by a flight of steps, on which is the door, under a portico of the Tuscan order, which supports a balcony. The upper story is finished with a cornice, and over the central part is a pediment, on the apex of which is a lofty flag-staff. Near to this building, on the side next Bunhill-row, is a brick building used as the headquarters of the London Militia, and as a town residence for its Colonel, Sir C.I. Hunter, Bart. This large site of open ground is the exercising place of the ancient and Honourable Artillery Company, a volunteer association of armed citizens. The following is the account given by Strype, the historian, from Stowe's chronicle of the origin of this company.

"In the year 1585, the city having been greatly troubled, and charged with continual musters and training of soldiers, certain gallant, active and forward citizens, having had experience both at home and abroad, voluntarily exercised themselves and trained up others for the ready use of war, so as within two years, there were almost two hundred merchants, and others of like quality, very sufficient and skilful to train and teach common soldiers the management of their pieces, pikes and halberds, to march, countermarch and ring. Which said merchants, for their own perfecting in military affairs and discipline, met eery Thursday in the year, practising all usual points of war, and every man, by turn, bare orderly office, from the corporal to the captain. Some of them, in the dangerous year of 1588, had charge of men in the great camp at Tilbury, and were generally called captains of the Artillery Garden, the place where they exercised. These took precedent of the merchants of Antwerp.

"But this useful Artillery exercise became afterwards discontinued for a great while, till the year 1610; when by means of Philip Hudson, Lieutenant of the said Company, Thomas Laveroch, Robert Hughes, Samuel Arthors, Robert Greenhurst, and divers other gentlemen and citizens of London, this brave exercise was renewed and set on foot again. These gentlemen associated in the said garden, having sufficient warrant and toleration granted them by the Lords of King James's Privy Council, to whom they became humble suiters in the beginning, for the prevention of all future misconstructions of their honest intent and actions therein. And having duly considered the necessity of the knowledge of arms in so populous a place, and the inconveniences that happened to Antwerp, and other their late populous and flourishing neighbour-cities, principally by reason of their neglect of that most noble exercise of arms and martial discipline in times of wealth and peace, these, therefore, now undertook, at their own private and particular charge, a weekly exercise of arms, after the modern and best fashion and instruction then in use. And, moreover, for their better ease and conveniency, they erected a strong and well-furnished armoury in the said ground, in which were arms of several sorts, and of such extraordinary beauty, fashion, and goodness for service, as were hardly to be matched elsewhere."

From this period, the Artillery Company increased greatly. Gentlemen resorted to the Artillery-Ground from all parts, to learn military discipline, and having acquired a competent knowledge of the art of war, returned home to instruct the trained bands in every part of the kingdom.

At length, the company grew so numerous, amounting to nearly six thousand men, that the old Artillery-Ground, or garden, as it was then called, was too small to contain them. Therefore, they were obliged to seek a more convenient and capacious place for their exercises, and having procured a large field without Moorgate (the present Artillery-Ground), they removed thither about the end of the reign of James I. King Charles II., when Prince of Wales, enlisted himself in this company, as did his brother James, Duke of York; who, after the restoration, took upon himself the command, and named it his own company. Our late King George IV., also, wen Prince of Wales, was Captain-General of this Company, and paid it many honourable attentions. Among other donations to the company, King George I. gave £500, and its late President, Sir William Curtis, a pair of very handsome brass field pieces.

The Artillery Company is governed by the King, who is Captain-General,——, President; Sir James Shaw, Bart., Vice-President; His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, Colonel; Charles Edward Cox, Esq., Lieutenant-Colonel; James W. Freshfield, Esq., major; Bewley W. Hemans, Esq., Adjutant; the Rev. Andrew Hatt, D.D., Chaplain; Ralph J. Kirby, Esq., Quarter-Master; James A. Gordon, Esq., M.D., Physician; Robert Pugh, and William Kingdon, Esqs., Surgeons; F.W. Bossy, Sergeant-Major, and William Henry White, Esq., Secretary.

Artillery Ground, between the west side of Finsbury Square and Bunhill Row, and extending northward from behind the houses in Chiswell Street and Bunhill Fields Burial Ground; the exercising ground of the Honourable Artillery Company of the City of London. The Honourable Artillery Company is sometimes confounded with the old City Train Bands, but was, from its origin, a distinct and additional company, formed as "A Nursery for Soldiers" for the defence of the city.¹ A charter was granted to the Fraternity of Artillery, in great and small ordnance, by Henry VIII.,² but surrendered for a new charter with larger powers in 1585, during the fear of the Spanish invasion. The City troops mustered in great strength at the camp at Tilbury, when the captains were selected from the Artillery Company and called Captains of the Artillery Garden. But, the danger past, the assemblies and exercises were neglected, the Company fell into decay, and the Artillery Garden was reserved for the practice grounds of the Tower.

April 20, 1669.—In the afternoon we walked to the old Artillery Ground, near the Spitalfields, where I never was before, but now by Captain Deane's invitation did go to see his new gun tryed, this being the place where the officers of the Ordnance do try all their great guns.—Pepys.

About 1610 Philip Hudson, a lieutenant of the Company, set himself energetically to bring about its revival. A considerable number of wealthy citizens, as well as many country gentlemen, joined the Company and undertook to bear the necessary expenses; the King, James I., gave them his patronage, and Prince Charles entered the ranks. It is from the year 1610 that the Honourable Artillery Company itself dates its present existence.

July 3, 1612. Order in Council that the citizens of London be permitted to exercise arms in the Artillery Garden, or other convenient place, provided their number be not more than 250. Calendar of State Papers, James I., 1611–1613, p. 137.

January 1, 1616.—Grant to Sir Richard Morrison of the Lieutenancy of the Ordnance and keeping of the storehouses near Aldgate, and the Artillery Garden, for life.—Cal. James I., 1611–1613, p. 342.

Henry VIII. gave to the Fraternity of Artillery, for their exercise ground, a field belonging to the dissolved priory and hospital of St. Mary Spital, beyond Bishopsgate, known as the Teazle Close, and this was the original Artillery Garden so often mentioned: the site is now marked by Artillery Lane and Artillery Street, Bishopsgate Street Without. According to Petowe, the poet of the Company, writing shortly after its revival—

The Teazle ground ... by indenture bearing date,
January's third day in Henry's time,
Th' Eighth of that name; the convent did conjoin
Unto the Guild of all Artillery,
Cross-bows, hand guns, and of archery,
For full three hundred years, excepting three.

Then is there a large close called Tasel Close, for that there were tasels planted for the use of cloth-workers, since letten to the crossbow-makers, wherein they used to shoot for games at the popingay: now the same being enclosed with a brick wall, serveth to be an Artillery Yard or Garden, whereunto the gunners of the Tower do weekly repair, namely every Thursday; and there, levelling certain brass pieces of great artillery against a butt of earth made for that purpose, they discharge them for their exercise. Present use is made thereof, by divers worthy citizens, gentlemen and captains, using martial discipline, and where they meet (well near weekly) to their great commendation in so worthy an exercise.—Strype's Stow, B. ii. p. 96.

When the Civil War broke out, the citizens of London took up arms against the King; and on all occasions, more especially at the battle of Newbury, the London regiments, Train Bands and Artillery, behaved with admirable conduct and courage.

The London trained-bands and auxiliary regiments (of whose inexperience of danger or any kind of service beyond the easy practice of their postures in the Artillery Garden men had till then too cheap in estimation) behaved themselves to wonder, and were in truth the preservation of that army that day. For they stood as a bulwark and rampire to defend the rest; and when their wings of horse were scattered and dispersed, kept their ground so steadily, that though Prince Rupert himself led up the choice horse to charge them, and endured their storm of small shot, he could make no impression upon their stand of pikes, but was forced to wheel about; of so sovereign benefit and use is that readiness, order, and dexterity, in the use of their arms, which hath been so much neglected.—Clarendon, Hist. of the Rebellion, ed. 1826, vol. iv. p. 236.

London hath twelve thousand Trained-Band Citizens, perpetually in readiness, excellently armed; which when Count Gondomar saw in a muster one day, in St. James's Fields, and the king asking him what he thought of his citizens of London; he answered, that he never saw a company of stouter men and better arms in all his lifetime; but he had a sting in the tail of his discourse; for he told the king, that although his Majesty was well pleased with that sight at present, he feared that those men handling their arms so well might do him one day a mischief; which proved true, for, in the unlucky wars with the Long Parliament, the London firelocks did him most mischief.—Howell's Londinopolis, fol. 1657, p. 398.

Cromwell knew their value, and gave the command of them to Major-General Skippon, under whom and for some years subsequently the strength of the corps was 18,000 Foot and 600 Horse, thus divided: 6 regiments of Trained Bands; 6 Regiments of Auxiliaries; 1 regiment of Horse. This strong force was disbanded at the Restoration; but the Company still continued to perform their evolutions, though on a less extensive scale, the King and the Duke of York becoming members and dining in public with the new Company. Since the Restoration they have led a peaceable life, and, except in 1780, when their promptness preserved the Bank of England, have only been called out on state occasions, such as the public thanksgiving for the victories of the Duke of Marlborough, when (August 23, 1705) Queen Anne went to St. Paul's, and the Westminster Militia lined the streets from St. James's to Temple Bar, and the City Trained Bands from Temple Bar to St. Paul's. The Trained Bands have long merged in the Royal London Militia, but the Artillery Company remained a distinct body, though the Artillery Ground serves as headquarters and exercising ground of both. During the first half of the present century the strength of the Company fell gradually off. In 1708 they were about 700; in 1720 about 600; and in 1844 about 250. Prince Albert became their Colonel, and an attempt was made to restrengthen the force. The volunteer movement came in aid of the effort. The Company has been to a great extent reorganised, and is now in a flourishing condition. The present colonel is H.R.H. The Prince of Wales. The Royal London Militia has also been reorganised and is prosperous.

Having outgrown the capacity of the original Artillery Gardens, the members moved in 1641 from Bishopsgate to Finsbury, where they now are. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood strongly objected to this removal. In their petition, May 19, 1641, they state that

The military gentlemen of London are making suit to have their fields for their military garden, and intend to build a high brick wall about it, to the great inconvenience of those who dwell in the neighbourhood of the Archer, who go out this way to recreate themselves; to the danger of riders whose horses will be frightened by the guns; of travellers who will have no opportunity of escaping thieves, or sextons conveying the plague-stricken to the pest house, besides the disturbance of the sick and damage to house property. They accordingly pray that the military may be restrained from building the wall and the rights of petitioners be preserved.—Fourth Report of Historical MSS. Comm., pp. 64, 71.

The ground is described as "the third great field from Moorgate, next the six windmills. [See Windmill Street.] It is a large piece of ground, containing about ten acres, enclosed with a high brick wall... . And, moreover, for their better ease and conveniency, they erected a strong and well-furnished Armoury in the said ground, in which were arms of several sorts, and of such extraordinary beauty, fashion, and goodness for service, as were hardly to be matched elsewhere."¹

Within Strype's memory (1670–1720) they were occasionally in the habit of resorting to their old locality.

Well, I say, thrive, thrive, brave Artillery Yard,
.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   that hast not spar'd
Powder or paper to bring up the youth
Of London in the military truth,
.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   as all may swear that look
But on thy practice and the posture-book.

Ben Jonson, Underwoods lxii.

A new armoury, barracks, and drill-room, castellated in style and of much architectural pretension, was erected on the City Road side of the ground in 1857–1862, from the designs of Mr. Jennings, the old armoury being at the same time remodelled. The buildings are probably the largest and showiest possessed by any volunteer corps. The buildings facing the City Road are the headquarters of the Royal London Militia.

Besides their walled exercise ground in Bunhill Fields, the Artillery Company had prescriptive right of marching way through Finsbury Fields to Islington Common [see Finsbury Fields], and of keeping open certain fields for the exercise of the "Archers' Division" of the Company. As late as 1786 and 1792 the Company enforced its right by marching to Finsbury Fields and thence to Islington Common to view their marks and rovers, their pioneers by their orders removing all obstructions and breaking down and levelling fences, etc., where there had been encroachments.¹

The musters and marchings of the City Trained Bands are admirably ridiculed by Fletcher, in The Knight of the Burning Pestle; and the manner in which the Company were in the habit of issuing out their orders, by Steele, in No. 41 of The Tatler. From Ben Jonson (Every Man in his Humour, 1st ed. Act. iii. Sc. 2) to Foote (Mayor of Garrat) and Sheridan (The Critic) our dramatists found a ready resource for their art in the deeds and prowess of Train-band officers and men: but the volunteer feeling has turned their shafts from citizen soldiers. John Gilpin, as all will remember, was a Train-band Captain.

A Train-band Captain eke was he
Of famous London town.

Lunardi, September 15, 1784, made his first balloon voyage from these grounds. There is a view of the ascent in the European Magazine for 1784.

---

¹ Strype's Stow, B. v. p. 457.
² Ibid., B. ii. p. 96.

¹ Strype's Stow, B. iii. p. 70; B. v. p. 457.

¹ Highmore, History of the Artillery Company, pp. 398, 410.