KINGSTON HUNDRED 



Gildhall, for the terms were synonymous. In the 

 upper rooms, then as now, were kept the records of 

 the borough, for in July 1684 the Court of Assembly 

 ordered that the bailiffs and nine others should meet 

 to sort out their writings and leases." The assizes 

 were held here, and in the 1 7th century the hall was 

 then decorated with hangings brought from Hampton 

 Court." In 1670 'Mr. Marriott' received z for 

 their use." In 1 572 two watchmen were paid 6</. ' for 

 watching under ye court hall at ye syes,' and in 1 670 

 were in special charge of the hanging. 7 * ' The arm* ' 

 were painted in the Gildhall in 1572, and in 1660 

 the painted window still in the council-room was 

 presented in honour of the Restoration ; in 1670 

 John Baylis was paid ' for taking down the glasse in 

 Guildhall att Session times.' " Several important 

 trials took place here, perhaps the most sensational 

 being that before Blackstone in which George Onslow 



KINGSTON- 

 UPON-THAMES 



offices, and here the public library was housed until 

 in 1904 it was moved to its present building 

 in the Fair Field, given by Mr. Andrew Carnegie. 

 Clattern House stands at the southern end of the 

 market-place opposite the town hall on the bank 

 of the Hogsmill, Maiden River, or Lurteborne as it 

 seems to have been called in 1439." 



Clattern House preserves the name of Clattering 

 Bridge, which though but 8 ft. wide in 1 83 1 n had at 

 least one house on its western side, for which I rent 

 was paid to the corporation in 1620 and 1670. 

 The bridge was widened in about 1882 and the 

 present coping erected." Across the road and next 

 to the bridge is a row of gabled houses with plastered 

 fronts, all more or less restored or altered for modern 

 shops ; near these must have stood ' The Crane,' * 

 the most important inn in Kingston during the i6th 

 and 1 7th centuries. It had belonged to the free 



KINGSTON : HIGH STREET 



brought an action for libel against John Home Tooke 

 the politician and philologist. 7 * The poorness of the 

 accommodation provided caused much grumbling 

 among both judges and counsel, and in 1808 the 

 corporation obtained an Act of Parliament authorizing 

 the sale of the common lands to raise funds for build- 

 ing a new court-house. In 1811 they purchased 

 Clattern House for the judges' lodging and added on 

 its eastern side a court-house which cost them about 

 i 0,000. When Kingston ceased to be an assize 

 town Clattern House was made the municipal 



chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, and was held in 1 546 

 by John Agmondesham and inherited by his son, but 

 in 1564 it formed part of the endowment of the 

 grammar school." It was much frequented by the 

 Court, and in 1526 was the lodging-place of the 

 Imperial Ambassadors. 83 When they passed through 

 the town the Chamberlain's Accounts show items 

 such as ' Payd at ye Crane for wyen and pypens 

 geven to ye Byshops,' for a gallon of sack for my 

 Lord Mayor at the Crane ;/. and ' to the goodman 

 of the Crane for frewt I2</.' 81 During the Common- 



> Ct. of Assembly Bk. 3 July 1684. 

 The 17th-century transcriber who filled 

 I.ansd. MSS. 225, 226, had before him 

 documents which have now disappeared, 

 as have some of those mentioned by the 

 Inspector in 1872 ; Hiit. MSS. Ctm. Ref. 

 iii, App. J3I-3. 



" J Chamberlain's Accts. patiim. 

 T Ibid. 1670. 



~ 4 Ibid. 1571, 1670. f'lbid. 



'* Diet. Nat. Biog. Ivii, 40. 

 f> Lansd. MS. 226, fol. 27. 

 " 8 Merryweather, op. cit. 14 ; 17 B.M. 

 King's Maps and Plans, xl, 15, z, 



491 



" Chamberlain's Accts. 1620, 1670. 



80 Merryweather, op. cit. 1 5. 



81 Chapman, llandbk. to Kingston, 16. 

 * Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Uxxr, 65 ; 



Surr. Arch. Call, viii, 318. 



L. and P. Hen. VIU, IT, 2397. 



Hia. MSS. Cm. Rif. iii, App. 332. 



