The Express.
London, England, 1868-04-08 00:00:00

[3TAMPILD id. ADDITIONAL.]

THE DEMOLITIONS FOR THE NEW LAW 1

COURTS.

Although it is impossible to say when the new
Palace of Justice will be completed, or even when
it will be begun if, indeed, Lord Cairns should
ever allow it to be commenced—at all events some
substantial progress has been made towards clear-
ing
the ground for the proposed erection. For
some time past every one who has had occasion to '
drive or walk between the City and Charing-broom j
has been subjected to the inconveniences =sew- !
able from a " pulling down " upon a large scale ; j
and gradually but steadily the houses have been !
disappearing from the space which the legislature
bas appropnated to the reception of the new build-
ing
in which all the courts and all the offices
attached to them are to find refuge. The area ;
so devoted by legislation includes a space
of between seven and eight acres, and ex- I
tends from Bell-yard on the east to Clement's-
lane and Clement's-inn (the porter's lodge and the'
houses numbered 5,6, and 7, of which will be in-
cluded in the demolition) on the west, and from
Carey-street (prolonged by Yates-court and Horse-
shoe-court) on the north to the Strand and
Pickett-plaoe on the south. The space included
within these boundaries was, when it came into the
hands of the government, occupied by about 400
houses, and traversed by courts and lanes, of which
the principal were Serle's-place, Middle Serle's-
crirNew Boswell-court, Newcaatle-oourt, Hem-
,t-court, Crown-place, Chain-court, Star-court,
H Ship-yard, and Robin Chain
-oourt. Most of these
courts and lanes have already disappeared ; about
three-fourths of the houses have been pulled down ;
and only a quarter, some hundred or so in number,
now remain in position, surrounded by heaps of
broken bricks and shattered timber, which
mark the places where imposing but more or less I
decayed edifices stood a few weeks or months
ago. The work of demolition has already I
occupied about 16 months. The act of I
parliament under which the site was
appropriated was passed during the session of 1865,
but the brat sale of old building materials, the '
natural and almost inevitable prelude to the
process of destruction, did not take place until
about the month of October, 1866. From that
time the sales have gone on pretty regularly, keep-
ing pace with the rate at which the property came
into the hands of the representatives of the govern- ,
memt, and being regulated so as not to entirely ;
flood the market with old building materials, and
thus unduly depreciate the value, small enough at I
the best, of the bricks and timber that have to be
sold. Even at present some " eligible lots " of
most uninviting looking structures are announced !
for sale, but if we are not misinformed, some legal
difficulties which have only recently been discovered,
threaten to interfere with the immediate clearing
of the ground. Some property which has for • I
long period been always treated as freehold has, it !
is said, been found to be only lethehold, held
upon unexpired leases of 300 years, and the legal
advisers of the government have not in all cases
been able to trace the individuals who are the real
freeholders, and whose interests must be considered
before the land is taken possession of by the crown.
The district which has thus been, or is being,
laid waste was one which, considering its position
possessed few objects of interest to attract the
antiquary or interest the student. Nevertheless, I
there were included within its boundaries more
than one street or alley allusions to which are to
be found in English classical literature, and not
a few houses which have been the dwelling-
places or the resorts of eminent public charm-
ters real or imaginary. To begin from the east-
ward. Bell-yard, below the latitude of the highly- ,
respectable law publishers at its northern end, is to I
the minds of most persons associated only with a
curious combination of more or tam dingy shops, in
which greengrocers, small silversmiths and well-
known fishing-tackle makers cheap tailors, fur-
niture dealers, ostentatious oyster-seller, and pie-1
men until recently plied their various callings. But
Bell-yard had come down in the world. It was ;
not always a mere lane of shops. A century i
and a quarter ago it appears to have been tenanted!
by persons of good position and station. Among
them was Fortescue, the friend of Pope, who
occupied a house at the upper end of the yard,
" near unto Linooln's-inn ; and although the
irritable little poet described it as that " filthy old
place, perhaps this was only true of
it from the Twickenham point of view ; and making
all allowance for its being in the heart of London, I
it may have been a very eligible and convenient'
residence for • professional man. The narrow
court of disagreeable appearance and disreputable
associations which enters Fleet-street immediately
to the east of Temple-bar, and the tall houses of
which, though still standing, are menaced with
immediate deetzuction, has since the year 1845 been
called Lower Serle's-place ; but long before that its :
title was " Shire-lane "—" so called," says Stow,
" because it divideth the city from the shire "—or
"Rogue-lane," a title which might have been appli- I
cable a few years ago, and which may possibly have
been equally appropriate when it was originally
conferred. They were not, however, all rogues,
or at all events not always all rogues, who lived in
Shire-lane. At the upper end of the lane, wham;
according to old authorities the houses appear to 1
have been better constructed and inhabited by • '
superior class of people, lodged the venerable Isaac
Bickerstaff, whose lucubration' Steele gave to the ;
world under the title of " The Taller ;" and at al
tavern called the Trumpet, somewhat lower down'
the lane, met the club at which Isaac is reported I
by himself to have been so constant an attendant
that among its members he had " passed almost a
sixth part of my time for this forty year." In Shire-
lane, at the house of • pastrycook named Christo-
pher Katt, originated the Kit Sat Club. In
Shire-lane lived Sir John Sedley, and Elias
Ashmole, the antiquary ; and to come down to I
more modern times, we are informed by Mr. P.
Cunningham, upon the authority of a writer in the
Quarterly Renew, that "in the dwelling and
sponging-house of a sheriff's officer of the name of
Hemp, in this lane, Theodore Hook made the
acquaintance of the late Dr. Maginn." Temple-
bar, which has, indeed, no claims either archi-
tectural or historical to preservation, will, if it
does not fall of its own &bawd, be swept away in
these general demolitions ; but sa some persons
regard it with a sort of sentimental reverence it
is difficult to account for, it will probably be re-
erected at no great distance---let us hope in some
position in which it will offer no obstructionj
to traffic, and will be exposed to as little ob. I
nervation as possible. The bar itself, as most
peopleknow, was erected as lateas 1670 from designs
bySir C. Wren. Although it has on several occasions
seen at its gates a sovereign waiting to receive the
welcome and submission of the Lord Mayor,
it has never served any useful .
iron spikes upon which the heads, or quarters
of traitors used to be exposed have disappeared
with the lapse of years, but the sockets into
which they fitted are still to be pereeived in the
stonework. The houses in the immediate vicinity
of the north aide of the old bar were neither re-
markable in appearance, nor historical in charac-
ter. Close against the northern buttress was, and
'still remains, a barber's shop, one door of which is
in the city of London, while the other open. urn
the borough of Westminster. Grave questxms
have at various times been raised es to what would
have been the consequence if a sovereign annoyed
at the elfsang of the or anxious to avoid
the deny homage of amreriipal dignitaries bad
alighted hoe Ids vehicle, sad pasong Wont the
premises at die bumble basser, had enter the
City witheaMie pensindeari **Lord Weyer. Pat
itis fairto smilimilintaaalliseaduestbathellieees-
, looking pereonAba glagtallpadadolft Sword-bearer,
or some pew sad" herallieellbe
an
belonged,
took all rise pee easlime to grestrat suck an OT&ltte