History of the Company. 65 



had withdrawn the despotic Injunction imposed by 

 the Conqueror upon the citizens. Nearly opposite 

 Foster Lane stood the Little Conduit/ a famous 

 meeting place for the city housewives and others 

 who gossiped over their buckets and pitchers ; 

 and a rendezvous for City apprentices after their 

 day's work was over. Nearly opposite Wood 

 Street stood the famous Cheapside Cross, one of 

 a number erected by Edward L to perpetuate the 

 memory of his beloved Queen Eleanor.^ Close 

 to It, and nearly opposite Honey Lane, stood the 

 Standard, with its executions, and Its readings of 

 royal edicts and State decrees. Every house 

 or shop was known by Its distinctive sign, which 

 projected over the footway to the road to such 

 an extent, moreover, as sometimes to require its 

 temporary removal to make way for public pro- 

 cessions passing through the street. The houses 

 belonging to the Company, and let out by them, 

 are generally spoken of in the Order Books by 

 the signs by which they were known. Thus, for 



^ So called in contradistinction to the Great Conduit at the 

 east end of Chepe, between Bucklersbury and the Poultry, 

 which brought the first supply of sweet water from Paddington 

 to London. 



2 There were twelve in all, viz., at Lincoln, Grantham, 

 Stamford, Stoney Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St. Albans, 

 ^Vestcheap, Charing, Geddington, Northampton, and Waltham 

 — the several stages at which the body of the Queen rested 

 during the journey from Hardeby, near Lincoln, where the 

 Queen died, and Westminster. Cheapside Cross was erected 

 in 1293, rebuilt in 1441, defaced in 1581, and demolished in 



1643- 



