Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1891-10-24 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

THE LAST OF ST. CLEMENT'S INN.  With the demolition of St. Clement's Inn another of the Old Inns of Chancery and another picturesque bit of "Old London" will cease to exist. Lyon's Inn was razed to make room for the Globe Theatre; St. Clement's is to give place to more of the palatial " mansions " which are springing up on all hands. There is this in common with both Inns, that they outlived their original purpose, and after a lingering after-life as tenements, have passed into the hands of the builder, unwept and unhonoured, if not altogether unsung. Both have had associations calculated to perpetuate their memories. Lyon's Ifin was associated with the still quoted Thurtell-Weare tragedy; St. Clement's, not altogether free from tragic connections, will in the future be principally, if not solely, remembered by reason of its introduction into one of Shakespeare's plays. It was here Falstaff heard the chimes at midnight— the chimes that are heard still, though "grown hoarse with age and sitting up." Here, too, Shallow earned the prefix "mad "by his pranks with the curiously-named trio Doit. Pickbone, and Squele. Antiquarians will not care much about its removal, because, with the exception of the old and somewhat ornate hall, dating back to 1715, where many generations of " ancients " and " principals " dined royally on the profits of the rents, the buildings are modern and dingy. True, the gardens have been well-kept; and have been an acceptable oasis in a desert of brick and mortar; but once having started on the down-hill of life, the Inn was sure to deteriorate, and it would have been a pity for it to have emulated the condition to which Lyon's Inn sank. The outcry against its condition wane years ago was doubtless largely undeserved, but with its lordly Tuscan hall, oak-panelled and glazed with stained glass windows, given over to printer's ink and the ceaseless roll of machinery; with chambers once sacred to the study of the law open to the first comer; and its gardens a play-ground for the denizens of Clare Market, its complete decay was beyond a doubt.  The breaking-up of St. Clement's as an Inn began a few years ago, when the society sold it for coins , £68,000, and divided the proceeds among them. Then it was that the valuable painting, of legal celebrities were sold at a private auction, to which "ancient." and "modems" were invited, but from which the public were excluded. The residents certainly made a good bargain; and it must be admitted to have been a curious state of affairs that simple residence, without initial payment of any kind, should have given a right to the proceeds of such a valuable place. Who first endowed it is a matter of doubt. What can be said is that the new residents found the place under the zuanagement of those living there, who, after a lapse of years, were denoniianted "ancients." They elected their "principal," collected the rents, and after paying expenses spent the rest in dinners, of which there were a certain number each year. When they sold the premises by mutual consent they divided the money according to seniority, end there was no one to say them nay. A very happy and satisfactory state of things for the residents, who, no doubt, further congratulated them selves on not having been as other dwellers in cities, in that they paid no rates. Exciting tales are still told of the gallant efforts of sturdy youths, engaged in beating the bounds, to enter the place, and so make it amenable to the rate collector. But they never succeeded, and St. Clement's Inn was never rated. The curious sun dial, held by a black man, which at the time of the sale was removed to the Temple.. gardens, has a rather remarkable history. The realdents at the Inn were always proud of their gardens, and the time came when they thought the natural beauties of the place would be enhanced by some sort of a monument. There was no one connected with the place who could claim a statue ; and considerable difficulty was experienced in choosing a subject. However, just about that time em of the residents, who had brought a native servant from India, was murdered in his chambers by the boy; and that gave rise to the suggestion that a black boy should be the chosen subject, and he was doubtless doomed to the holding up of a sun dial in perpetuity by way of additional torture. • .  ----The chambers of St. Clement's cannot reveal such exciting stories as those with which Mr. Pickwick was enlivened at the Magpie and Stump; but the murder by the Indian boy thus perpetuated in bronze was not the only tragic incident. It is within the memory of many that when the plans of the present Law Courts were chosen, Mr. John Brandon, who was second, was so chagrined at his defeat, that he committed suicide in his chambers in the Inn. Beyond these incidents the place has little history that is worth reproducing. Its effacement, however, removes mother old land-mark, and will largely contribute to the complete alteration of an historic part of London which will soon have little in common , with the district known to Dr. Johnson, whose pew in the adjoining church is still a place of pilgrimage.  ' ' , - • ' 1-- ":- r •'' 1/ ••' 114, .4 ------;-7,:, • riktiwipt ' -=,-F--;,:z_._.„0A,?,,,y A. ' 'Of; .'‘,-,l' I - . (~., (.:,..; r 1 ---- 1.• i E.,' :. :7-- '.:'• -i±4z....zedf I. ''l',' lg. - - 1 ',', -•,,.„,.:*,. _' ~..4, .).--- -= -II -. -----. _ ..z.... 1.11,....< ,-,- -,..z1e......• `ll-Ff. 7,' 1 F ' - ' i, _...., „...5... IC, ~ . • -IT ...-4., ,4t • • sl. a 4•• -% , i ,