128 
A brief glance at the topography of London must suffice, 
In the East, the Tower of London stood almost alone, and a 
little further East was St. Catherine’s Church, surrounded by a 
few houses; to the North was Smithfield, separated by a few 
houses only from the open country. Following the Thames, from 
the Tower to Charing Cross, were clusters of detached buildings 
along the river side, some standing just above high-water line, 
while others stood well back, having sloping gardens down to the 
river ; and further on from the City were the more important 
buildings, such as the Temple, the Savoy, and Somerset House. 
Charing Cross stood in a large open space, and between it and 
Westminster Hall, the Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, 
were the Court of Whitehall and Queen’s Gardens. North of 
Charing Cross was the Mews, forming one side of St. Martin’s 
Lane, to the West of which were only green fields and parks, 
the chief being Hyde Park, to which the public were not 
admitted. The Strand was a well-defined street to the Temple, 
but with the exception of a few houses, its northern side was 
open to the country. The city boundary was marked by posts 
and chains: Temple Bar was not built until after the great fire 
in 1666. Along Fleet Street and Ludgate Hill, on to St. Panl’s, 
there were only few houses outside the street line. Along 
St. Martin’s-le-Grand, Cheapside, Cornhill, Leadenhall, to the 
Old Gate (Aldgate) in the city walls, was a wide thoroughfare, 
with houses here and there in the middle and on either side ; 
but on the South side the population was dense, with narrow 
streets and lanes running towards every point of the compass, 
premises being built regardless of uniformity, so long as the 
owner built on his own land. 
The only bridge across the Thames was London Bridge, with 
its draw-bridge and strong tower, and on it many buildings used 
as shops. As the river formed a ready means of passage, on both 
sides were wharves where boatmen plied for hire, and the 
numerous barges and ferry boats gave the river a lively aspect. 
On the Surrey side of the river, buildings were few and far 
between, and most of them with large gardens and orchards. 
The few ships which came up the river were loaded and 
discharged between the Tower and London Bridge, and on the 
site now used as docks, were villages and green fields. The 
population of London did not then exceed 150,000. 
At the time of the Reformation the number of Churches, &c., 
must have been out of all proportion to the population, and the 
suppression of Monasteries, &c., caused a puritanical re-action, by 
no means favourable to stage plays, but between then and 
Shakespeare’s advent in London, some of this feeling had died 
away. 
