LONDON, 
The alms-houfes on Peter’s Hill, and contiguous to 
the Heralds’ College, were founded by David Smith, em¬ 
broiderer, for fix poor widows ; each to have twenty (hil¬ 
lings per annum. Before the fire of London, there ftood 
on the eaft fide of tliefe houfes an ancient building be¬ 
longing to the abbot of St. Mary at York, there to abide 
when he repaired to London. The corner houfes at the 
top of the hill were called Peter’s Key, mod: probably 
from fome public houfe with the fign of the Key of St. 
Peter, as we find in feveral places under the denomination 
of Crofs Keys. 
From Paul’s Wharf weftward, Thames-ftreet extends to 
Puddle Wharf, fo called from its fituation, being a fmall 
creek or dock where barges ufually repair in order to be 
laden with dung, dirt, and other materials of no great 
value. At low water it is indeed a puddle 4 exhaling the 
mod difagreeable fmell, which the inhabitants in the neigh¬ 
bourhood pretend to be very wholefome. It is at the 
bottom of St. Andrew’s Hill, and receives all the mud 
of the Commons, running down there in torrents when¬ 
ever a fmart fnower cleanles the lireets above. Lad win¬ 
ter, immenfe loads of ice and congealed fnow were con¬ 
veyed there, and formed a heap as high as the top of the 
neighbouring houfes, and which will not foon be melted. 
—About this place was anciently the leydow of which 
Stow or his editor fpeaks in the following words:—“At 
a common-councell, Augud 7, the third and fourth of 
Philip and Mary, it was agreed, at the requed of the earle 
of Pembroke, that the cities leydow' adjoining to his lord- 
fhip’s houfe, and being'noyfefome to the fame, fitouId be 
removed, upon condition that he ftiould give the city, to¬ 
wards the making of a new leydow in another place, aoco 
foot of hard done to make the vault and warfe thereof, 
or elfe forty markes in ready money to buy the fame done 
withall.” This leydow, or lay (tall, was a place not un¬ 
like the prefent Puddle-dock, where dirt and mud and 
all deferiptions of filth and nadinefs united, before their 
mixing with the water of the river—Cloacinse Londi- 
uenfes—the common fewer. 
St. Andrew’s Hill is very deep. On afeending it, we 
find on the right feveral deps leading to Wardrobe Ter¬ 
race, as it has been lately called, a fort of court furround¬ 
ing the church, and leading to Knightrider-dreet; and 
on the north, Wardrobe Place, a fquare neatly encom- 
pafled with private houfes and planted with trees. The 
entrance is in Great Carter-lane.—Annexed to the church 
is a fmall cemetery planted tadefully with (lirubs. It is 
a redlory of very ancient foundation, originally denomi¬ 
nated St- Andrew juxta Baynard Cadle, from its vicinity 
to that palace; but, the office of the king’s wardrobe be¬ 
ing removed to a houfe in Carter-lane, built by fir John 
de Beauchamp, fon to Guy de Beauchamp, earl of War¬ 
wick, (fee p. 400.) and afterwards fold to king Edward III. 
the fite of which is now occupied by Wardrobe-court, 
the diltinftive appellation of this church was changed to 
that of St. Andrew Wardrobe. 
It is very probable that this church was founded about 
the fame time as Baynard Caftle, and perhaps by the fame 
nobleman : for the advowfon was anciently in the noble 
family of Fitzwalter, from whom it pafled through many 
hands, until the year 1663, when it came to the crown, 
in , which it flill remains. But the pariffi of St. Anne, 
Blackfriars, being annexed to it after the fire; the right 
of prefentation is alternately in the crown and the pa- 
riffiioners of St. Anne. The prefent ftruflure was erected 
on the ruins of the old one, in the year 1670. It is a 
handfome building of brick, ornamented with (tone, and 
l'upported by twelve pillars of the Tufcan order, in allu- 
lion to the twelve apoltles, to one of whom it is dedicated. 
The body is enlightened by two rows of windows; but 
the tower has neither turret, pinnacle, nor fpire. The 
roof is adorned with fretwork of flowers, fruits, See. The 
pews are very neat, and the walls well wainfeoted, with 
two handfome galleries, a carved pulpit, a veneered found- 
Vol. XIII. No. 916. 
ing-board, and a very Complete altar-piece. It is feventy- 
five feet in length, fifty-nine in breadth, and thirty-eight 
in height, to the roof; and the altitude of the lower is 
eighty-fix feet. 
This church is generally well attended, as the preachers 
endeavour to imitate the late celebrated Mr. Romaine, 
who, having had the (kill of amalgamating the methodif- 
tical with the orthodox dogmas, and thereby conftituting 
a middle nuance between both, drew to his pulpit an im¬ 
menfe audience.—To this excellent man, a monument as 
plain and modeft as himfelf, as neat and elegant as hi* 
eloquence, yet, though in marble, lefs durablqf than the 
impreffion he made upon his followers, and which will be 
handed down to pofterity, has been ereffed by the con¬ 
tributions of his difciples and admirers, at the dextrufft 
cornu, altaris, the right horn or corner of the altar. It con- 
lifts in a pyramidal (lab of white, upon a balls and back 
of black, marble, with a bas-relief very beautifully exe¬ 
cuted, reprefer.ting Religious Zeal preaching before the al¬ 
tar of the fpotlefs Lamb, and under the proteflion of 
Chrilt who is feen above. This is accompanied with a firo- 
ple and appropriate infeription. The whole is furmount- 
ed by a fmall bud of this celebrated divine, the likenefs 
of which is Itrikingly true. 
If from this church we walk eaft ward through Great: 
and Little Knightrider-ftreets, which took their appellation-, 
from the paffing of knights going from Tower Royal to> 
the tournaments and joufts in Smithfield, we (hall enter 
Old Fiffi-ftreet, fo called from a filh-tnarket anciently held 
there, as it is now at Billingfgate ; and on the right we 
meet with the church of St. Gregory and St. Mary Magda¬ 
len mentioned above. This was a vicarage, in the tenure ofi 
the canons of St. Paul’s, in the year 1181 ; but, for fomc 
ages paid, it has been a reilory, in the gift of the dean and 
chapter of St. Paul’s. The old edifice was deftroyed by 
the fire of London ; and the prefent ftruifture was erected 
in the year 1685. It is fmall, but well-proportioned* 
built with (lone, and lighted by a (ingle feries of arched 
windows, each ornamented with a cherub and fcrolls, fup- 
porting a cornice which runs round the building; thefe 
windows are fo high from the ground, that the doors open, 
completely under them. The tower is divided into two 
ftages, in the upper of which is a large window on each 
fide. From the top of the tower the work diminifhes, in 
the manner of high fteps, on each fide; and on the top 
of thefe is a turret, with a very fiiort fpire, on which is 
placed a vafe, with flames. 
Oppoiite to the feite of St. Gregory’s church (fee p. 405.) 
is Lambeth or Lambart hill, running down to Thames- 
ftreet, and parallel with Lakour-in-vain-hill ; the name of 
this narrow lane may be owing to the fteepnefs of it, as 
if it were in vain to endeavour to climb up. Some pre¬ 
tend that it arofe from the fign at a barber’s (hop, which 
exhibited the curious device of ft monkey lathering a ne¬ 
gro’s face with foap. Both conceits are fo nearly con¬ 
nected with each other, that they may have jointly con¬ 
tributed to the denomination of the hill ; but it has been 
lately called Old FifU-Jlreet-hill .—At the corner (lands the 
pariffi-church of St. Nicholas Coleabbey, which was de¬ 
dicated to St. Nicholas, biffiop of Myra in Africa, a com¬ 
mon patron to mariners, as it is related that he miracu- 
loufly faved the crew of a (hip finking in a ftorm ; in al- 
lufion to which, he is generally painted with two or three 
children playing in a tub full of water. But the reafont 
of the additional epithet is not known ; fome conjefluring 
it to be a corruption of Golden-abbey, and others, that 
it is derived from Cold-abbey, or Coldbey, from its cold 
or bleak fituation. It is known that there was a church 
in the fame place before the year 1377, when, according 
to Stow, the fteeple and Couth aide, which were not !o 
old as the reft ot the church, were rebuilt ; but, the lalt 
ftruflure being confumed in the great conflagration in 
1666, the prefent church was built in its place, ar.d the 
paiilh of St. Nicholas Olave united to it. 
Thus 
