Appendix: Limits of the site

XIV. LIMITS OF THE NORTH-EASTERN PART OF THE SITE.

A grant of part of the site of Greyfriars to Sir John Williams and Sir Edward North in February, 1543, is defined in the extract given below. It is not altogether easy to follow; since the boundary of the grant starts from the northeast corner of the Church and runs through the length of the Choir, "orientaliter" must be used in the sense of easterly, from the east. The first door of the Cloister is at the entry from the Walking-place. The next door is in the south-west corner of the Cloister, which is described as "angulum concavum in convexione maioris et minoris Dormitorii," for this the St. Bartholomew's plan seems to supply an explanation; in the plan the vaulting at this point is indicated in a somewhat different manner to that adopted for the other corners; here was the principal entry into the Cloister, by a way that led from the Friars' cemetery; we may conjecture that the meetingplace of this way with the South and West Walks was provided for by a more spacious vaulting than was required elsewhere. The next stage in the description would seem to fix the Chapter house at the south end of the West Walk, and shows that the Great Dortor ran the whole length of the Cloister; but as regards the position of the Chapter-house this is probably incorrect (see p. 43 above). The boundary on the north is clear till it reaches "the little garden that belonged to the City"; the St. Bartholomew's plan shows a garden against the City Wall as marked on the plan in this volume, and this is probably the one intended. But the whole description is vague and difficult to interpret; possibly the boundary ran round this garden, finally going northwards, we can thus give "australiter" a signification analogous to that which is clearly applied before to "orientaliter"; in that case the Friars must have had a garden east of the City Garden and the words "per murum ut ibidem stat" may then apply to the irregular outline of Northumberland House garden on the east side of Stinking-Lane. The plan shows "a court" on the west of the Lane, immediately north of the Vestry; this Court clearly communicated with the Lane, but apparently not with the Greyfriars; I conjecture that it represents the tenements which had belonged to the Charterhouse. We then reach "the pale of the Friars garden"; the description seems to be imperfect and is difficult to follow, but the boundary ran at one point "occidentaliter" (from the west) and finally came out on the east front [of the Church] and so to the north-east corner of the Choir whence it started; it does not seem to be possible to get any meaning out of this except on the theory that it relates to a garden on the east side of the Lane; there was a garden in this position, with a door nearly opposite to the Friars Vestry, and with its south-west corner over against the centre of the east front of the Church. See further on p. 31 above, and the plan p. 52. The Grant is calendered in Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., xviii., p. 132.

Videlicet ab angulo orientali chori Ecclesie dicte dudum fratrum Minorum, qui est versus partem borealem, decurrendo orientaliter contigue per longitudinem eiusdem chori versus primum ostium ad porticum magni claustri ibidem et abinde usque ad proximum ostium claustri iuxta capitalem domum orientaliter usque ad angulum concavum in convexione maioris et minoris Dormitorii, et ab eo angulo per directam lineam decurrendo ab eadem ecclesia a parte australi per longitudinem dicti magni Dormitorii et Domus Capitularis ibidem et per residuum dicti magni Dormitorii contigue septentrionem versus usque ad murum dicte ciuitatis London., et abinde eundo in longitudine eiusdem muri ad orientem usque ad angulum cuiusdam orti pertinentis dicte ciuitati et ab eo angulo orti a septentrione et ad austrum per longitudinem muri adiacentis mansionem vocatam Northumberland place et deinde continuando australiter versus contigue per murum ut ibidem stat usque quedam tenementa dudum pertinencia nuper prioratui siue domui Carthusie prope civitatem nostram London. predictam modo dissoluto usque le Garden pale orti dudum pertinentis dictis nuper fratribus modo vel nuper in tenura cuiusdam Johannis Clynton, ciuis et Grocer London., directe usque ad orientem partem dicti chori versus austrum et inde occidentaliter per longitudinem pale dicti orti usque ad orientalem frontem et sic ad angulum primum dicti chori; ac omnia et omnimoda domos, aedificia, cameras, curtilagia et gardina infra bundas, metas, et limites predictas situata, jacentia, sive existentia, unacum omnibus et omnimodis aquis et aqueductibus, viis, ingressibus et egressibus ad et in premissa dicto nuper domui dudum fratrum Minorum spectantia et pertinentia, ac ad et in quamlibet inde parcellam ab antiquo habita, consueta sive usitata, necnon libertatem, facultatem et auctoritatem de tempore ad tempus haurendi, accipiendi et habendi apud aqueductum sive canalem vulgariter nuncupatum le Conduyte situatum et existentem infra claustra sive claustrum dicti nuper domus dudum fratrum Minorum. Ac omnia et singula alia libertates privilegia, commoditates, easiamenta et proficua quecunque eedem (sic) domui concessa, spectantia aut quoquo modo pertinentia.