spot is certainly as eligible as could have been fixed upon, being very conveniently situated for those inhabitants, who, living remote from the church, stood most in need of the accommodation. Both in length and breadth, it exceeds, by several feet, the dimensions of the parish church; but will not bear comparison with that structure as to architecture. It is, in truth, little more than a mass of brickwork, with a squat tower, emerging from a mountain of roof at one end. The interior, however, is fitted up with neatness and propriety, and presents an agreeable coup d'œil. In the gallery is a very good organ; and the altar-piece, which is arranged in compartments with pilasters of scagliola, contains a painting of the Noli me tangere, from the pencil of Mr. Tibbatts, who was one of the churchwardens at the time the chapel was built. The foundation-stone was laid 16th June, 1812, on which occasion a number of the inhabitants walked in procession. A tablet in front of the building contains the following inscription : The following items, selected from the trustees' accounts of the charges for completing this delectable specimen of parish architecture, may amuse the curious in such matters : Expense of procuring the Act of Parliament ........ Purchase of the Land and Buildings thereon 5,5951. 5s. 9001. Os. Conveyance of Copyhold and Enfranchising.... Building the Wall (enclosing the Ground) ... 2,031 0 0 50 0 0 But the most singular item, perhaps, was that of 4667. 8s. 9d. for the pulpit, the labour in making which was charged 693 days and one half, and one hour, at six shillings per day1! 1 The extraordinary waste of money (as many considered it) which took place on this occasion is in some degree accounted for by the following paragraph of a " Report of the Committee appointed to investigate the Causes," &c. :-" Your Committee have found it very difficult to ascertain precisely what could have led to the great expenditure that has been incurred: they think, however, that the excessive waste of the parish money may be traced, and is ascribable to the Trustees proceeding to build without a specific plan of the intended buildings, &c., and a specific contract for the whole. The Architect having left them in the dark as to certain works, he applied to them from time to time to sanction his proceedings :-Questions were asked as to the expense; they were from time to time assured The junction of the road we are pursuing, with that called, till of late years, the Back Road (now Liverpool Road), has been, time out of mind, known by the name of Ring Cross, it is supposed from a cross which stood there prior to the Reformation. It seems to have been also a place of public execution; for we read, in the Parish Register, that "William Wynche, the first that was executed at Ring Crosse, was buried at Islington the 9th of September, 1600." It may be remembered, that very considerable interest was some time ago excited in consequence of a human skeleton (the relics of a criminal, as the gibbetirons in which they were encased were nearly perfect) having been dug up by some labourers at work near the main road, Holloway, and afterwards exhibited for several days at the Coach and Horses publichouse, close by. From documents in Newgate, it appears that William Johnson was hung in chains at Holloway, in 1712, for shooting the turnkey of Newgate in the open court at the Old Bailey, while the judge was sitting and from a newspaper of the day, we learn that" John Price (formerly the Jack Ketch of Newgate) was convicted in May, 1718, of the murder of Elizabeth White, the wife of a watchman in that each new suggestion would cost but little in the execution;-only about so many pounds;-and the works were ordered to be done without even a memorandum appearing in their minutes as to the directions given, or specific amount of the greater part of them. Hence they had no means of knowing the amount of the debts they had incurred, or were incurring from time to time, till the mischief was past remedy." Moorfields, for which offence he was executed in Bunhill-fields. After his body had hung the usual time, it was conveyed to Holloway, and fixed upon a gibbet, erected on purpose for the defunct executioner, where it remained for many years for the finger of scorn to point at, and was ultimately consigned to the earth at Ring Cross, Holloway, in the presence of an immense crowd of spectators." The London Chronicle of July 28th, 1759, states, that on the preceding Wednesday, "a new gallows, for the execution of criminals, was erected at the beginning of the causeway leading to Holloway, a little beyond the two-mile stone." And now Through HOLLOWAY, famed for cakes 1, we onward tend, Whose care a double charity bestowed, This place seems to have been so named from its situation in the hollow, or valley, between Islington and Highgate Hill. The family of BLOUNT resided at Holloway during a considerable part of the sixteenth century. Sir Henry Blount married the widow of Sir William Mainwaring, who was one of the 1 One of the London cries, within the memory of persons living, was "Holloway cheesecakes." The vender was a man on horseback. The Half-Moon public-house was also long famous for the production of these delicacies. * See page 12. 3 "A journey to Nottingham," a poem in the Gentleman's Magazine for September, 1743. daughters and co-heiresses of Christopher Wase, Esq., Lord of the Manor of St. John of Jerusalem, as before mentioned'. This gentleman, leaving England in the year 1634, visited the Turkish dominions in Europe, and several parts of Egypt. After some stay at Grand Cairo, he returned home in 1636, and published an account of his travels, under the title of "A Voyage into the Levant," &c. (London, 1636, 4to.) Charles I. appointed him one of the band of pensioners; and in the Civil War he joined the King's party, and fought on his side at the battle of Edgehill. He afterwards abandoned the Royal cause, and engaged in that of the Commonwealth, rendering himself very useful to his new friends. In 1651 he became one of the committee for reforming the practice of the law; and was particularly zealous against tithes, as well as for an equalization of the stipends of the clergy. His general knowledge recommended him to the office of one of the Commissioners for advancing the Trade and Navigation of the Commonwealth. At the Restoration he was favourably received by Charles II.; and, in 1661, he served the office of High Sheriff for the county of Hertford, wherein the family possessed considerable property. From this time till his death, in 1682, he lived as a retired English gentleman, and appears to have acquired notoriety chiefly from the freedom of his opinions, and some singular and paradoxical notions which he entertained. Six comedies, entitled "Court Comedies," and published under the name of John 1 See page 42. |