Lost London (18 page)

Mr Shepley and I to the new play-house near Lincoln’s Inn
Fields, which was formerly Gibbon’s Tennis Court. ... Here I saw for the first time one Moone
[Michael Mohun, 1616?–84], who is said to be the best actor in the world, lately come over with the king; and, indeed, it is the finest play-house, I believe, that ever was in
England.

Thomas Betterton, one of the great actors of the age, made his debut here in
Hamlet.
Pepys was present again, noting: ‘Betterton did the Prince’s part beyond all
imagining.’

Having sworn off plays in favour of hard work and advancement, Pepys was in the locale again in May 1667 and, seeing Charles
II
’s mistress there, was sorely tempted
to break his vows: ‘... but Lord! how it went against my heart to go away from the very door of the Duke’s play-house, and my Lady Castlemayne’s coach, and many great coaches
there, to see
“The Siege of Rhodes”
.’

By then under the management of Betterton, the Duke’s Company moved out of the theatre in 1674 and the building was once again used as tennis courts until Betterton led a return in 1695.
After a ten-year stint, the Company moved on once more in 1705 and the theatre fell into disrepair until it was taken over by Christopher Rich, a lawyer, and his son John Rich, a talented dancer.
Having renovated the building and installed seating for 1400, the Riches staged John Gay’s
The Beggar’s Opera
, the most successful play of the century. Based loosely on the lives
of Jack Sheppard and Jonathan Wilde, it was the production that was said to have made ‘Gay rich and Rich gay’. The last performances at the theatre were in 1744 and afterwards it was
used as an auction house before being demolished to make way for an extension to the Royal College of Surgeons.

Some notable decapitated heads displayed thereon

L
ONDON
B
RIDGE HAS LONG BEEN CENTRAL TO LIFE
in the capital but one of its more macabre purposes was as a site for the display of
traitors’ heads, impaled upon spikes to serve as a warning to others.

In the late 16th century, Paul Hentzner, a German visitor to the city, made some notes on the bridge: ‘Upon this is built a tower, on whose top the heads of such as have
been executed for high treason are placed on iron spikes: we counted above thirty.’ Here is a roll call of a few of the unfortunates from throughout the centuries.

1305 William Wallace (Scottish rebel)

1306 Sir Simon Fraser (Scottish rebel)

1407 Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland

1408 Lord Bardolf

1431 A rebel weaver from Abingdon

1450 Jack Cade and nine of his captains (Kentish rebels)

1496 Flamock and Joseph (Cornish rebels)

1500s Several Lollards

1535 John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester

1535 Sir Thomas More, former Lord Chancellor

1540 Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex

1605 Father Garnet (Gunpowder Plot conspirator)

Granted a lease for 500 years at 10 shillings (50p) per annum, he built his first waterwheel in 1581 and began pumping water supplies to the city on Christmas Eve of 1582. The
success of the scheme enabled him to lease another arch shortly afterwards so that by the time of the Great Fire in 1666, Morice’s descendants were generating an income of over £1000 a
year from the business he started.

However, the enterprise fared badly in the conflagration and had to be rebuilt, reopening for business in 1669. The Morices sold their stake in 1701 and by 1737 a fourth
wheel had been added to those already operating. Together they pumped over 100,000 gallons per hour, with supplies to the south of the city aided by the presence of another wheel at Southwark.

By 1821 it is estimated that 4 million gallons of water were being supplied daily. Although its quality was admittedly foul, if allowed to stand for twenty-four hours it was adjudged to be
‘finer than any other water that could be produced’. However, when the bridge was rebuilt in 1822, its new design precluded the use of waterwheels and responsibility for the
city’s water supplies was transferred to the New River Company.

Therefore, eighteen companies, including Lloyd’s of London, banded together to form the London Salvage Corps.

Working alongside the Fire Brigade, its personnel attempted to salvage property before it became too seriously damaged by water or smoke. Made up mainly of members recruited from the Royal Navy,
it was based in Watling Street and used horse-
drawn carriages until 1923, when a variety of red motor tenders were added. When the Corps was disbanded in 1984, its duties were
taken over by the London Fire Brigade.

The Strand

O
NCE ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS SIGHTS IN
London, this was a 210ft glass-covered shopping arcade known especially for its toy shops.

Built after the 1830 improvement works on the Strand, it was the delight of countless Victorian children.

In the arcade’s northern part was the Adelaide Gallery, also know as the ‘National Gallery of Practical Science, Blending Instruction with Amusement’.
In Sketches of London
Life and Character
(1849), Albert Smith gave an account of it:

Clever professors were there, teaching elaborate sciences in lectures of twenty minutes each; fearful engines revolved, and hissed, and quivered, as the fettered steam that formed their
entrails grumbled sullenly in its bondage; mice led gasping subaqueous lives in diving-bells; clock-work steamers ticked round and round a basin perpetually, to prove the efficacy of invisible
paddles; and on all sides were clever machines which stray visitors were puzzled to class either as coffee-mills, water-wheels, roasting-jacks, or musical instruments. There were artful snares laid
for giving galvanic shocks to the unwary; steam-guns that turned bullets into bad sixpences against the target; and dark microscopic rooms for shaking the principles of teetotalers, by showing the
wriggling abominations in a drop of the water which they were supposed daily to gulp down.

In 1840 the hall was an amusement arcade and by 1852 the Adelaide Gallery was housing the Royal Marionette Theatre. Lowther Arcade itself was demolished in 1904, with Coutts Bank building new
premises on the site.