CHAPTER XVII.
BLACKHEATH, CHARLTON, AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.
"And eastward straight from wild Blackheath the warlike errand went,
And roused in many an ancient hall the gallant squires of Kent."
Macaulay's Ballad of "The Armada."
Situation and Description of Blackheath—Derivation of its Name—Discovery of Numerous Tumuli—Encampment of the Danish Army—Wat Tyler's
Rebellion—Reception of Richard II. at Blackheath—The Emperor of Constantinople—Reception of Henry V. on his Return from Agincourt—Other Royal Receptions—Jack Cade and his Followers—Henry VI. and the Duke of York—The Cornish Rebels—The Smith's Forge—Reception of Cardinal Campegio, and of Bonevet, High Admiral of France—Princess Anne of Cleves—Arrival of Charles II., on his Restoration—Blackheath Fair—The "Chocolate House"—Present Condition of Blackheath—East Coombe and West Coombe—Lavinia Fenton
("Polly Peachum"), Duchess of Bolton—Woodlands—Montagu House—The Princess Charlotte—Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke and the Duke of
York—Flaxman, the Sculptor—Maize Hill—Vanbrugh Castle—The Mince-pie House—Charlton—St. Luke's Church—Charlton House—Horn
Fair—Shooter's Hill—The Herbert Hospital—Severndroog Castle—Morden College—Kidbrook.
Blackheath, which is divided from its aristocratic
neighbour only by a wall, pleasantly overlooks a
portion of the counties of Kent and Surrey, and
affords such extensive views of the distant scenery
as can be exceeded only by climbing Shooter's Hill,
or some of the neighbouring heights on the left
of the heath. In past times it was planted with
gibbets, on which the bleaching bones of men who
had dared to ask for some extension of liberty, or
who doubted the infallibility of kings, were left year
after year to dangle in the wind. In the distance
the ancient palace of Eltham may just be seen
between the trees, heaving up like a large barn
against the sky.
Blackheath—which furnishes the name to the
hundred to which it belongs—lies chiefly in the
parishes of Greenwich and Lewisham, a portion,
however, being in the parish, or "liberty," of
Kidbrook, while a part of Blackheath Park is in
Charlton parish. The name is variously derived
from its bleak situation, and from its black appearance. The heath is a broad expanse of open greensward, intersected by several cross-roads. Nearly
in the line of the present Dover Road, which
traverses the centre of the heath from the top of
Blackheath Hill eastward towards Shooter's Hill,
ran the ancient Watling Street or Roman Road;
and along this road were numerous tumuli. Many
of them, including those within Greenwich Park,
near Croom's Hill Gate, of which we have spoken
in the previous chapter, were opened towards the
end of the last century. They were found to be
mostly small conical mounds, with a circular trench
at the base, and are presumed to have been RomanoBritish. No skeletons were discovered in them,
but there were "some locks of hair, and one fine
braid of an auburn hue was 'tenacious and very
distinct,' and 'contained its natural phlogiston.'
The spolia were chiefly iron spear-heads (one fifteen
inches long and two inches broad was found 'in
the native gravel'), knives, and nails, glass beads,
and woollen and linen cloth. At the south-west
corner of the heath, by Blackheath Hill, urns (some
of which are in the British Museum) and other
Roman remains have been found." Near the
summit of the hill, at a spot called "The Point,"
a remarkable cavern, extending several hundred
feet under ground, was discovered about the year
1780, in laying the foundation of a house. "The
entrance," writes Richardson in his "History of
Greenwich," "was then through a narrow aperture, but a flight of steps have since been made.
It consists of four irregular apartments, in the
furthest of which is a well of pure water, twentyseven feet in depth. They are cut out of a
stratum of chalk and flint, and communicate by
small avenues; the bottom of the cavern is sand.
From the well at the extremity of this singular
excavation, it seems probable that it has, at some
distant period, been used as a place of concealment, and the general supposition is that it was
used for that purpose during the Saxon and Danish
contests, but nothing has been discovered to assist
inquiry."
Previous to the erection of the several villa
residences with which the heath is now nearly surrounded on three sides, this place was the scene of
many important historical and political events.
Here, as we have already had occasion to
remark, the main body of the Danish army lay
encamped in the reign of Ethelred, while their
ships held possession of the river for three or four
years in succession. Several places in the neighbourhood are still called "Coombs" and "Comps."
East Coombe and West Coombe, two estates on
the borders of the heath, are presumed to trace
their names from the encampments of the Danes at
this place—coomb as well as comp signifying camp;
coomb being probably the Saxon term, and comp
the Danish or corrupt Saxon, both of which tongues
were then in use. The manors of East and West
Coombe are situated at the north-east corner of the
heath; and there was formerly one called Middle
Coombe, otherwise Spittle Coombe, which in all
probability, was attached to that of West Coombe.
Vestiges of intrenchments were, some years ago,
distinctly traced in different parts of the heath,
some formed doubtless by the Danes, and others
by the various bodies of insurgents who have encamped here at different times. Of these, the most
formidable was that in 1381, raised by Wat Tyler,
a blacksmith of Dartford, on account of the imposition of a "poll tax" of three groats on all persons
above fifteen. When the insurgents of Essex arose,
they were joined by those of Kent, and began to
assemble on Blackheath; whence, having in a few
days increased to 100,000 men, they marched on
to London under the command of their principal
leaders, Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, and afterwards
separated into three parties; one of these proceeded
to the Temple, which they burnt to the ground,
with all the books and papers deposited there;
another party burnt the monastery of St. John of
Jerusalem, at Clerkenwell; while the third took
up its position at the Tower. Wat Tyler, as all
readers of English history know, was soon afterwards slain in Smithfield by William Walworth,
Lord Mayor of London; and Jack Straw, with
many others, was beheaded.
Again, when Richard II. took for his second
wife Isabel, the "little" daughter of the King of
France, the royal train, on approaching London,
was met on Blackheath by the lord mayor and
aldermen, habited in scarlet, who attended the
king to Newington (Surrey), where he dismissed
them, as he and his youthful bride were to "rest
at Kennyngtoun."
In 1400, Manuel Palæologus, Emperor of Constantinople, who had come to England to entreat
the assistance of King Henry IV. against Bajazet,
Emperor of the Turks, was met on Blackheath by
the king, who conducted him to the City with great
state and magnificence. In 1415, Henry V. was
met here by the lord mayor and aldermen, and
a large number of citizens, on his return from the
battle of Agincourt; and in the following year
this spot was the scene of the reception of the
Emperor Sigismund, on his arrival in this country
to treat for peace between the crowns of England
and France.
On the 21st of February, 1431, Henry VI., who,
twelve months after his coronation in England,
had gone to France to be crowned in the church
of Notre Dame in Paris, was received with great
pomp on Blackheath, upon his return, by the lord
mayor and aldermen of London.
The following is an extract from a curious
poem (transcribed by Sir Harris Nicolas from
the Harleian and Cottonian MSS. in the British
Museum) written by John Lydgate, the "Monk of
Bury," and entitled, "The Comynge of the Kyng
out of France to London," when the citizens of
every craft—
"Statly horsyd, after the Mair ridyng,
Passyd the subbarbes to mete with the Kyng,"
attended by all their officers and servants.
"To the Blakeheth whanne they dyd atteyne,
The Mair of prudence in especialle
Made them hove in renges tweyne,
A strete betwen, ech party lik a walle,
Alle clad in whit, and the most principalle,
Afore in red, with the Mair ridyng,
Till tyme that he saw the Kyng comyng;
Thanne, with his sporys, he toke his hors anone,
That to beholde it was a noble sight,
How lyk a man he to the Kyng is gone,
Right well cheryd of herte, glad, and light,
Obeienge to hym, as hym ought of right." (fn. 1)
During Jack Cade's noted rebellion in 1449 and
1450, his followers—
"Rebellious hinds, the filth and scum of Kent"—
were twice encamped "on the plaine of Blackheath
between Eltham and Greenwiche," as we learn from
Holinshed's "Chronicle." Of Cade's subsequent
capture and death we have already spoken in our
account of the "White Hart" Inn in the Borough. (fn. 2)
On the 23rd of February, 1451, his followers came
"in their shirts," and with "halters on their necks,"
to the king on Blackheath, and begged his pardon
on their knees, professing themselves ready to
receive from him their "doom of life or death."
In 1452, Henry VI. pitched his tent on Blackheath, when opposing the forces of his cousin, the
Duke of York, father of King Edward IV. In
1471 the "bastard" Falconbridge (fn. 3) encamped here
with his army against Edward IV.; and three years
later the lord mayor and aldermen of London,
with four hundred citizens, here met the king on
his return from France, where he had been with an
army of 30,000 to conclude a treaty of peace with
Louis, the French monarch.
In 1497, the Cornish rebels, (fn. 4) amounting to
6,000, headed by Lord Audley, Michael Joseph, a
farrier, and Thomas Flammock, a lawyer, were
defeated on this heath by the forces under King
Henry VII. Two thousand of the insurgents were
slain, and the rest forced to surrender. Lord
Audley was beheaded on Tower Hill, and Joseph
and Flammock were hanged at Tyburn. Lambarde,
the Kentish historian, who at the beginning of the
seventeenth century lived at West Coombe, and
was therefore familiar with the locality, writes in his
"Perambulation of Kent," "There remaineth yet
to be seen upon the heath the place of the smith's
tent, commonly called his forge, and the grave-hills
of such as were buried after the overthrow." The
Smith's Forge is a mound of earth partly surrounded
by fir-trees, to the south-west of Montagu Corner,
which is at the end of Chesterfield Walk. Down
to a comparatively recent date, this mound was
frequently called "Whitefield's Mount," from the
circumstance of that celebrated preacher having
delivered from it some of what are termed his
"field discourses." The spot seems also to have
been used in former times as a butt for artillery
practice; for Evelyn in his "Diary," under date
of March 16, 1687, writes, "I saw a trial of those
develish, murdering, mischief-doing engines called
bombs, shot out of a mortar-piece on Blackheath.
The distance that they are cast, the destruction
[which] they make where they fall, is prodigious."
In 1519, Cardinal Campegio, the Pope's Legate,
was received on Blackheath with great state by the
Duke of Norfolk, and a large retinue of bishops,
knights, and gentlemen, "all richly apparelled."
His Eminence was conducted to a tent of cloth
of gold, "where," as Hall's "Chronicles" relate,
"he shifted himself into a robe of a cardinal, edged
with ermines, and so took his moyle [mule], riding
towards London. Soon afterwards, another pretty
sight was witnessed here, when Bonevet, High
Admiral of France, attended by a splendid cavalcade of twelve hundred noblemen and gentlemen,
was met by the Earl of Surrey, as High Admiral of
England, with a still more gorgeous retinue. Hall
tells us how that "the young gallants of France
had coats guarded with one colour, cut in ten or
twelve parts, very richly to behold; and so all the
Englishmen coupled themselves with the Frenchmen lovingly together, and so rode to London."
On the public entry of the Princess Anne of
Cleves, Henry VIII.'s new bride, she was met on
Blackheath on the 3rd of January, 1540, by the
king, accompanied by the lord mayor, aldermen,
and citizens of London, with all the foreign merchants resident in the City, and escorted in grand
state to the royal palace at Greenwich. The old
chroniclers record how that on the eastern side of
the heath "was pitched a rich cloth of gold, and
divers other tents and pavilions, in the which were
made fires and perfumes for her and such ladies as
should receive her grace;" and "from the tents to
the park gate . … a large and ample way
was made for the show of all persons." Along this
way were ranged the mayor and aldermen, citizens,
and foreign merchants, all in their richest liveries,
esquires, gentlemen, pensioners, and serving-men,
"well horsed and apparelled, that whosoever had
well viewed them might say that they, for tall and
comely personages, and clean of limb and body,
were able to give the greatest prince in Christendom
a mortal breakfast if he were the king's enemy."
About mid-day Anne came down Shooter's Hill,
accompanied by the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk,
and a large number of other noblemen and bishops,
besides her own attendants, and was met and conducted to her tent by the lord chamberlain and
other officials. Magnificent as was the suite of
Anne, it seems to have been outshone in splendour
by that of the king, while Henry himself, if we may
trust the description given in Hall's "Chronicles,"
was all ablaze with gold and jewellery. Here is
his portrait as sketched by the old chronicler:—"The king's highness was mounted on a goodly
courser, trapped in rich cloth of gold, traversed
lattice-wise square, all over embroidered with gold
of damask, pearled on every side of the embroidery;
the buckles and pendants were all of fine gold.
His person was apparelled in a coat of purple
velvet, somewhat made like a frock, all over embroidered with flat gold of damask with small lace
mixed between of the same gold, and other laces
of the same so going traverse-wise, that the ground
little appeared: about which garment was a rich
guard very curiously embroidered; the sleeves and
breast were cut, lined with cloth of gold, and tyed
together with great buttons of diamonds, rubies,
and orient pearl; his sword and sword-girdle
adorned with stones and especial emerodes; his
night-cap garnished with stone, but his bonnet was
so rich with jewels that few men could value them.
Beside all this, he wore in baudrick-wise a collar of
such balystes and pearl that few men ever saw the
like . … And notwithstanding that this rich
apparel and precious jewels were pleasant to the
nobles and all other being present to behold, yet
his princely countenance, his goodly personage,
and royal gesture so far exceeded all other creatures being present, that in comparison of his
person, all his rich apparel was little esteemed."
The royal pair were conducted from Blackheath
to the palace at Greenwich by a procession of the
chief nobles, and afterwards conveyed in the grand
City barges, with the lord mayor and chief citizens,
to Westminster, where they were married; a few
months after, they were divorced; and on the 8th
of August of the same year, Catherine Howard,
to whom the king had been some time privately
married, was publicly declared Queen of England.
On May-day, in the year 1645, Colonel Blunt,
in order to gratify the Kentish people, who were
partial to old customs, drew up two regiments of
foot, and exercised them on the heath, representing a mock fight between the Cavaliers and the
Roundheads.
One of the most memorable scenes witnessed
on Blackheath, however, was the arrival here of
Charles II., on his Restoration, on the 29th of
May, 1660, whilst on his way from Rochester to
London, "all the ways thither," says Clarendon,
"being so full of people, as if the whole kingdom
had been gathered there." Macaulay, in his
"History of England," gives us the following
striking description of the king's reception here:—"Everywhere flags were flying, bells and music
sounding, wine and ale flowing in rivers to the
health of him whose return was the return of
peace, of law, and of freedom. But in the midst
of the general joy, one spot presented a dark and
threatening aspect. On Blackheath the army was
drawn up to welcome the sovereign. He smiled,
bowed, and extended his hand graciously to the
lips of the colonels and majors. But all his
courtesy was vain. The countenances of the
soldiers were sad and lowering; and, had they
given way to their feelings, the festive pageant of
which they reluctantly made a part would have
had a mournful and bloody end."
Numerous reviews, &c., of militia and other
troops have, at various times, been held on Blackheath. Under date of June 10, 1673, Evelyn
writes in his "Diary:"—"We went after dinner
to see the formal and formidable camp on Blackheath, raised to invade Holland, or, as others
suspected, for another designe."
Blackheath Fair was a celebrated place of resort
every year in the months of May and October;
and, like its neighbours at Greenwich, Peckham,
and Camberwell, was always well supplied with
startling monsters, with some of which we have
since been familiarised by our Zoological Gardens.
These fairs were first established by Lord Dartmouth, as we learn from the following entry in
Evelyn's "Diary:"—"May 1, 1683. I went to
Blackheath to see the new faire, being the first,
procured by Lord Dartmouth. This was the first
day, pretended for the sale of cattle, but I think,
in truth, to enrich the new tavern at the bowlinggreene, erected by Snape, his Majesty's farrier, a
man full of projects. There appeared nothing but
an innumerable assembly of drinking people from
London, pedlars, &c.; and I suppose it is too neere
London to be of any greate use to the country."
In "Merrie England in the Olden Time" is
printed the following announcement of the exhibition of one of the "strange monsters" above
referred to:—
Geo. II. R.
This is to give notice to all gentlemen, ladies, and others,
That there is to be seen from eight in the morning till nine
at night, at the end of the great booth on Blackheath, a West
of England woman 38 years of age, alive, with two heads,
one above the other; having no hands, fingers, nor toes; yet
can she dress or undress, knit, sew, read, sing [Query—a
duet with her two mouths?]. She has had the honour to be
seen by Sir Hans Sloane, and several of the Royal Society.
N.B.—Gentlemen and ladies may see her at their own
houses if they please. This great wonder never was shown
in England before this, the 13th day of May, 1741. Vivat
Rex!
The author of the above-mentioned work adds,
as a foot-note, "That the caricaturist has been outcaricatured by Nature no one will deny. Wilkes
was so abominably ugly that he said it always
took him half an hour to talk away his face; and
Mirabeau, speaking of his own countenance, said,
'Fancy a tiger marked with the small-pox!' We
have seen an Adonis contemplate one of Cruikshank's whimsical figures, of which his particular
shanks were the bow-ideal, and rail at the artist for
libelling Dame Nature! How ill-favoured were
Lord Lovat, Magliabecchi, Scarron, and the walleyed, bottle-nosed Buckhorse the Bruiser! how
deformed and frightful Sir Harry Dimsdale and
Sir Jeffry Dunstan! What would have been said
of the painter of imaginary Siamese twins? Yet
we have 'The true description of two Monstrous
Children, born in the parish of Swanburne, in
Buckinghamshyre, the 4th of Aprill, Anno Domini
1566; the two Children having both their belies
fast joyned together, and imbracing one another
with their armes; which Children were both alyve
by the space of half an hower, and were baptised, and named the one John, and the other
Joan.' A similar wonder was exhibited in Queen
Anne's reign, viz., 'Two monstrous girls, born in
the kingdom of Hungary,' which were to be seen
'from 8 o'clock in the morning till 8 at night, up
one pair of stairs, at Mr. William Suttcliff's, a
Drugster's Shop, at the sign of the Golden Anchor,
in the Strand, near Charing Cross.' The Siamese
twins of our own time are fresh in every one's
memory. Shakespeare throws out a pleasant
sarcasm at the characteristic curiosity of the
English nation. Trinculo, upon first beholding
Caliban, exclaims, 'A strange fish! were I in
England now (as I once was), and had but this
fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would
give a piece of silver; there would this monster
make a man: when they will not give a doit to
relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see
a dead Indian.'"
Blackheath Fair lasted, till a very recent date,
as a "hog and pleasure" fair—being held on the
12th of May and 11th of October—till the year
1872, when it was suppressed by order of the
Government; and the swings, roundabouts, spiced
gingerbread, penny trumpets, and halfpenny rattles
have now become things of the past.
From the early part of the present century, down
to the year 1865, a considerable part of the surface
of Blackheath has been greatly disturbed and cut
up, owing to the Crown having let, for a rental of
£56, the right to excavate an unlimited quantity
of gravel. All these, and other such encroachments, however, were brought to an end by the
Metropolitan Commons Act of 1866, when Blackheath was secured to the public as a place of
healthful recreation. During the summer months
the heath is largely resorted to by holiday-makers,
and, like Hampstead Heath, it is much infested
with donkeys; but owing to the stringent bye-laws
that have been passed of late years, the donkeydrivers are not the nuisance that once they were.
Cricket matches take place here in the summer;
the Royal Blackheath Golf Club also use the heath
as their play-ground, and in winter a well-contested
match at foot-ball may often be witnessed here.
WEST COOMBE, IN 1794.
In the last century Blackheath was a notorious
resort of highwaymen. Under the Reform Bill of
1832, it was made one of the polling places for
members of Parliament for the western division
of Kent. Of late the heath has been built up to,
wherever land was available. On the south side,
near Tranquil Vale, stands All Saints' Church, a
neat Gothic edifice, erected in the year 1859, from
the designs of Mr. B. Ferrey. The village, or—as it is beginning to call itself—town of Blackheath, is built chiefly about Tranquil Vale; it has
its churches and chapels, assembly-rooms, railway
station, skating rink, banks, besides several good
shops. At the end of the heath, near Blackheath
Hill, is another collection of shops and dwellings,
with a church and schools; here, too, is the
principal inn, the "Green Man," well known to
holiday-makers. In former times there was a
house of entertainment here, called the "Chocolate
House;" it is mentioned by the Duke of Richmond, Master-General of the Ordnance, in a private
letter; and it would seem to have been largely
patronised by the heads of Woolwich Dockyard
and the college hard by, and by their friends. The
name of this house was long kept in memory
by "Chocolate Row." Lord Wrottesley had an
observatory on Blackheath for some time, previous
to his accession to the title, when he removed the
astronomical apparatus to his seat in Staffordshire.
The Manor of East Combe, which lies near the
Charlton Road, on the north-eastern side of the
heath, was appended for several centuries to that
of Greenwich, and was settled, in 1613, on Queen
Anne of Denmark for life. It was afterwards
leased out by the Crown, and has since been held
by several private families; in the early part of
the present century it was the seat of the Countess
of Buckinghamshire. A little to the west, and
near the north-east corner of Blackheath, is West
Coombe, the manor-house of which was at one time
the residence of William Lambarde, the learned
antiquary, and author of the "Perambulation of
Kent," who died there in 1601. Early in the last
century the estate was purchased by Sir Gregory
Page, who soon afterwards granted a lease of the
house to Captain Galfridus Walpole. This gentleman pulled down the old manor-house, and erected
the present mansion at a short distance from the
original site, from, it is said, the designs of the Earl
of Pembroke. The lease came afterwards into
the possession of Charles, Duke of Bolton, who
resided here for several years with Lavinia Fenton
(the original "Polly Peachum" in the burletta of
the Beggar's Opera), whom he married after the
death of his duchess, in 1751—twenty-three years
after he had taken her from the stage. Of this
lady, Lysons, in his "Environs of London," gives
the following particulars:—"The year 1728 is
famous in theatrical annals, for having produced
the favourite burletta of the Beggar's Opera. Its
success surpassed all precedent: it was acted more
than sixty nights during the first season. The part
of 'Polly' was performed by Lavinia Fenton, a
young actress, whose real name, in some of the
publications of that day, is said to have been
Beswick. Her performance of this character raised
her very high in the opinion of the public; and it
is uncertain whether the opera itself, or 'Polly
Peachum,' had the greater share of popularity.
Her lovers, of course, were very numerous: she
decided in favour of the Duke of Bolton, who,
to the great loss of the public, took her from
the stage, to which she never returned; and on
the sixty-second night of the performance, a new
'Polly' was, to the great surprise of the audience,
who expected to see their old favourite, introduced
on the boards. After the death of his first wife,
from whom he had been long separated, the duke,
in 1751, married Miss Fenton, who, surviving him
a few years, resided at West Coombe Park, in this
parish, and died Duchess-dowager of Bolton, in
the month of January, 1760." We have already
spoken of her interment in Greenwich Church in a
previous chapter.
THE "GREEN MAN," BLACKHEATH.
Between East and West Coombe, in the Charlton
Road, is Woodlands, long the residence of the
Angersteins. The mansion was erected and the
grounds laid out about the year 1770; they
command a beautiful view of the valley of the
Thames and the opposite coast of Essex. Here,
in 1823, died Mr. John J. Angerstein, whose
splendid collection of pictures—of which Waagen
gives an account in his "Art and Artists" in
England—formed the nucleus of our National
Gallery. (fn. 5) Caroline, Princess of Wales, resided
here for a short time. In a letter from Geneva,
dated May 20, 1820, she tells Miss Berry that she
shall go to "the Maison Angerstein à Blackheath"
on her return to England. St. John's Church, in
Charlton Lane, was built at the cost of the late
Mr. W. Angerstein.
In former times, apparently, Blackheath was not
considered an aristocratic neighbourhood; at all
events, Horace Walpole contrasts the genealogies
of illustrious families with those of the denizens of
"Paddington and Blackheath," whom he classes
epigrammatically together. Nevertheless, the place
seems to have improved as time wore on, for from
about 1797 to 1814, the Princess Caroline, the
much-injured but foolish and frivolous Consort of
George IV., was living here at Montagu House.
This was after the birth of her child, the Princess
Charlotte, whom she saw once every week at
the house of the Duchess of Brunswick, close by.
"The princess's villa at Blackheath," wrote Miss
Aikin, "is an incongruous piece of patchwork;
it may dazzle for a moment when lighted up at
night, but it is all glitter, and glare, and trick;
everything is tinsel and trumpery about it; it
is altogether like a bad dream. One day the
princess showed me a large book in which she had
written characters of a great many of the leading
persons in England; she read me some of them;
they were drawn with spirit, but I could not form
any opinion of their justice."
"About this time" (1811), writes the Hon.
Miss Amelia Murray in her "Recollections,"
"there was an extravagant furore in the cause of
the Princess of Wales. She was considered an
ill-treated woman, and that was enough to rouse
popular feeling. My brother was among the young
men who helped to give her an ovation at the
opera. A few days afterwards he went to breakfast at a place near Woolwich. There he saw the
princess in a gorgeous dress, which was looped up
to show her petticoat covered with stars, and with
silver wings on her shoulders, sitting under a tree
with a pot of porter on her knee; and as a finale
to the gaiety, she had the doors opened of every
room in the house, and selecting a partner, she
galloped through them, desiring all the guests to
copy her example. It may be guessed," adds the
writer, "whether the gentlemen were anxious to
clap her at the opera again."
Here, too, was living the celebrated Mrs. Mary
Anne Clarke when she first made the acquaintance
of the Duke of York. She is said to have been the
daughter of a journeyman-printer, named Farquhar,
who lived in a court between Fetter Lane and
Cursitor Street, though Cyrus Redding affirms that
she was the daughter of a Colonel Frederick, and
granddaughter of Theodore, King of Corsica. A
parliamentary inquiry in 1809 brought to light the
extent to which she and the duke had trafficked
in the sale of commissions in the army; for
though nominally acquitted of that offence, the
duke had to retire from the post of Commander-inchief.
Flaxman, the sculptor, when tired of his town
rooms near Buckingham Gate, would take country
lodgings in Blackheath; Crabb Robinson tells us
in his "Diary" that he visited him here in 1812.
From the north-eastern corner of Blackheath, a
somewhat steep and winding road, called Maze
Hill, leads down to East Greenwich. On this hill,
nearly opposite the eastern gate of Greenwich Park,
which opens upon the pathway leading to OneTree Hill, stands an irregular castellated brickbuilt structure, called "Vanbrugh Castle." It
stands on the Page-Turner estate, and was erected,
about the year 1717, by Sir John Vanbrugh. It
is entered by an embattled gateway, profusely
overgrown with ivy; the "castle" itself is a large
red-brick building, resembling a fortification, with
battlements and towers. The edifice, which has
for some years been used as a ladies' boardingschool, was in former times called the "Bastille,"
from a fancied resemblance to its prototype at
Paris. At a short distance from this building are
the Vanbrugh Fields, in which is another singularlooking house, also built by Vanbrugh, and still
called after his name. It was at one time called
the "Mince-pie House," doubtless having been
used as a place of public entertainment. An arched
gateway, with a lodge on each side, now standing
some distance within the principal field, appears to
have formed the original entrance from the heath.
Vanbrugh House is a brick building, ornamented
with raised bands: it has a round tower at either
end, and a central porch.
Passing along Charlton Road, which runs eastward from Vanbrugh Park, a short walk brings us
to the pretty little village of that name, which
stands on the high ground between Greenwich and
Woolwich, and has a charming look-out over the
valley of the Thames. Here we find ourselves
upon the chalky soil of Kent; and although the
place has within the last few years lost much of its
rural character, through the gradual extension of
buildings, it is still green and pleasant. In this
neighbourhood, if we may believe the Gentleman's
Magazine, in 1734, a large eagle was captured, and,
strange to say, by a tailor. Its wings, when expanded, were three yards eight inches in length.
It was claimed by the lord of the manor, but was
afterwards demanded by the king's falconer as a
royal bird, and carried off to Court. Its subsequent fate is not recorded.
In Philipott's "Survey of Kent" (1659) we find
that Charlton was "anciently written Ceorlton, that
is, the town inhabited with honest, good, stout,
and usefull men, for tillage and countrye business;"
the Saxon word ceorl signifying a husbandman, or
churl, as it is termed in old English, whence
Churlestown or Charlestown was easily derived,
and so by abridgment Charlton.
The church, a red brick-built edifice, dedicated
to St. Luke, has a lofty embattled tower, which
serves as a landmark for those who sail up or
down the river. It has a double roof, supported
by pillars, forming arches down the centre of the
building. The edifice was erected by the trustees
of Sir Adam Newton, in 1630–40. The chancel
was added by the rector in 1840; in it is a handsome stained-glass window. Among the monuments in this church is one for the Hon. Brigadier
Michael Richards, Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, who died in 1721; he is represented by a
life-size figure of a man in armour, holding a
truncheon in his right hand, with military trophies,
&c. A marble statue, by the younger Westmacott,
commemorates Sir Thomas Hislop, G.C.B., who
died in 1834; and there is also a monument to
Sir William Congreve, the inventor of the rockets
which bear his name: he died in 1814. A neat
tablet by Chantrey records the interment in the
vaults below of the Right Hon. Spencer Perceval,
the Prime Minister, who was assassinated by John
Bellingham, in the lobby of the House of Commons, (fn. 6) on the 11th of May, 1812. In the churchyard, close by the porch, lies buried Mr. Edward
Drummond, who was shot in the neighbourhood
of the Houses of Parliament, in January, 1843,
in mistake for Sir Robert Peel, the then Prime
Minister, whose private secretary he was. Here,
too, is buried James Craggs, Postmaster-General,
and father of Pope's friend, Mr. Secretary Craggs,
who, in consequence of the scandal occasioned by
their connection with the South Sea Bubble, destroyed himself by poison in March, 1721; there
is a monument to his memory in Westminster
Abbey. (fn. 7)
Immediately to the south of the church stands
Charlton House, the seat of the lord of the manor,
Sir Spencer Maryon-Wilson. The manor of Charlton was given by William the Conqueror to his
half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, from whom it
passed to Robert Bloet, Bishop of Lincoln, who,
about the end of the eleventh century, gave it to
the priory of St. Saviour's, Bermondsey. Having
reverted to the Crown at the Dissolution, it was
given by James I. to one of his Northern followers,
John, Earl of Mar, by whom it was sold in 1606
to Sir James Erskine, who, in turn, disposed of it
in the following year to Sir Adam Newton, Dean
of Durham, tutor to Henry, Prince of Wales. In
1659 it passed to Sir William Ducie, afterwards
Viscount Downe, and subsequently it was owned
successively by the Langhornes, Games, and
Maryons, and also by Lady Spencer Wilson, from
whom it has descended to the present owner. The
mansion, which Evelyn describes as "a faire house
built for Prince Henry," is pleasantly situated in
extensive park-like grounds; it was commenced
by Sir Adam Newton in 1607, and completed in
about five years. The house is very pleasantly
situated on rising ground overlooking the Thames
and the opposite shores of Essex, and commands
a most delightful prospect, which has been described by Evelyn as "one of the most noble in
the world for city, river, ships, meadows, hill,
woods, and all other amenities"—a prospect, by
the way, which has been considerably abridged of
late years by the growth of the surrounding trees.
Its situation might indeed well recall to memory
those charming lines by Mrs. Hemans, descriptive
of the halls of our old nobility:—
"The stately homes of England,
How beautiful they stand!
Amid their tall ancestral trees,
All o'er the pleasant land."
The mansion is certainly one of the finest speci
mens extant of the domestic architecture of the
time of James I., having been erected when the
architecture then in vogue was about to be supplemented by what was then thought to be a purer
style. When first erected, its appearance must
have formed a striking contrast to the more sombre
structures of a preceding age. Red brick—so
popular in that era—is the material used in its
construction; this, however, is relieved with white
stone quoins and dressings, and mullioned windows.
Its form is an oblong, with slightly projecting
wings at each end. The centre of the principal
front also projects, but to a less extent than the
wings; this compartment has a richly decorated
porch, and is entirely of stone. The principal
ornamentation of the exterior appears to have been
bestowed on this central projection; the arched
doorway has plain double columns of the Corinthian
order on each side, whilst above it there is a niche
containing the bust of a female figure. The first
storey has quaintly-carved columns on either side
of its mullioned window, and over it a series of
grotesquely sculptured brackets. To this succeeds
another storey, with another row of similar brackets.
Along the entire front is carried an open stone
balustrade of somewhat peculiar character, and at
each end of the building there is a small square
turret, surmounted by a cupola, one of which contains a clock.
The entrance-hall is spacious and oak-panelled,
with a gallery at the western end of a comparatively
recent date; whilst a deep central pendant hanging
from the ceiling adds considerably to the general
ornamentation. At the bottom of the grand staircase is the dining-room, a very handsome apartment, the side of which overlooks the garden and
forms a kind of arcade, separated from the room
by a row of elegant marble columns with semicircular arches. Adjoining the dining-room, and
occupying the north-east angle of the building, is a
small chapel, dedicated to St. James. The apartment—for it can hardly be called by any other
name—is furnished in accordance with the rest of
the building; each side is occupied by a row of
pews, and in the recess formed by the bay-window
at the eastern end is the communion-table, enclosed
by a wooden railing. In the centre of the chapel
is a curious font, the circumference of which is
almost equal to that of a quart basin. The ancient
doors of both the chapel and the dining-room are
elaborately carved in oak, and ornamented with
bright steel hinges and fastenings.
The upper floors are reached by a spacious
and richly-ornamented staircase of chestnut, its
arabesque balusters being surmounted by capitals
of the Tuscan, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, and
also the armorial bearings of the Wilson family,
supported by a wolf, whilst the walls are enriched
with arabesque mouldings, intermixed with fruit and
flowers. The principal or "state" apartments are
situated upon the second floor. The first of these,
which is entered from the grand staircase, is the
gallery (seventy-six feet in length), extending the
whole depth of the house. The walls of this room
are wainscoted with oak, the ceiling is elaborately
moulded with arabesque ornamentation; and in
the bay-windows at either end are stained-glass
armorial bearings of the Ducies (former owners of
Charlton) and their alliances. In the room adjoining the gallery, called the north sitting-room,
the ceiling of which is also very rich, is a most
elaborately carved chimney-piece, representing the
mythological story of Medusa, beneath which are
two allegorical basso-relievos. From this room
we enter the saloon, a lofty and well-proportioned
apartment, lighted at either end by large mullioned
windows; in the ceiling of one of the recesses are
the royal arms of James I., the ostrich feathers—the cognisance of the Prince of Wales—occupying a similar position opposite. This room has
some highly-wrought marble chimney-pieces, and its
ceiling is likewise enriched with arabesque ornamentation, intermixed with fruit and flowers, and
decorated with elaborate pendants. In the room
next entered, called the south sitting-room, it is
traditionally related, on the authority of Dr. Plot,
that the marble chimney-piece—a very handsome
piece of workmanship in black marble—was so
exquisitely polished, that Lord Downe, one of the
former owners of the mansion, "did see in it the
reflection of a robbery committed on Blackheath,
whereupon, sending out his servants, the thieves
were taken."
Interspersed throughout the various rooms are
some choice works of art, and also a very fair collection of family portraits; and one of the outbuildings, at a short distance from the house, has
been converted into a museum, in which are
several interesting objects of natural history, chiefly
brought together by Lady Wilson, but greatly augmented by the late Sir Thomas Maryon-Wilson
during his travels in the north and south of
Europe.
The park, although containing but about one
hundred acres, is well timbered with trees of magnificent growth, among which are several venerable
yews; whilst the gardens are laid out with considerable taste, and abound in shrubs and plants,
both native and foreign. In the grounds in front of
the mansion is a picturesque building of red brick.
said to have been originally erected as a "drinking
house," but now made use of as an orangery.
Until very recently, this structure had been for
several years overshadowed by a solitary cypresstree, the only one at that time remaining of a long
row mentioned by Evelyn as having adorned the
front of the mansion, and which Hasted refers to
as seeming "to be of great age, and perhaps the
oldest in England." The ancient gateway, immediately in front of the principal entrance, has long
been disused. The mansion is presumed to have
been erected from the designs of Inigo Jones, who
resided for some time in a house, said to be still
standing, in the immediate neighbourhood; and
from the fact of the principal apartments being
situated on the second floor, it is inferred that it
was built shortly after the return of that celebrated
architect from Italy, where the state apartments are
usually placed upon the uppermost storey.
Henry III. granted to Charlton a market and
also a fair, both of which appear to have been
given up prior to the middle of the seventeenth
century. Notwithstanding the discontinuance of
the fair, the village had been for ages, until late in
the last century, famous for a "disorderly fair"
held there on St. Luke's day, October 18. It was
called "Horn Fair," according to Philipott, "by
reason of the great plentie of all sorts of winding
hornes and cups and other vessels of horne there
brought to be sold." Concerning the origin of this
fair there are several wild traditions, but that most
usually accepted is that it was held to keep in
remembrance the little episode between King John
and the miller's wife, of which we have already
given the details in dealing with Cuckold's Point. (fn. 8)
Mr. S. C. Hall, however, in his "Baronial Halls,"
observes that the more probable origin of the
term "horn fair" is that it was symbolic of the ox
of St. Luke, by which he is usually distinguished
in ancient paintings. The fair was formerly held
upon a green opposite the church, and facing
Charlton House; but this piece of ground having
some years ago been enclosed so as to form part
of the gardens belonging to the mansion, the fair
was subsequently held in a private field at the
other end of the village, under the auspices of
a few speculative publicans. During the reign
of Charles II. it was a carnival of the most unrestrained kind, and those frequenting it from London
used to proceed thither in boats, "disguised as
kings, queens, millers, &c., with horns on their
heads; and men dressed as females, who formed in
procession and marched round the church and
fair." Nicholas Breton, in a poem published in
1612, entitled "Pasquil's Nightcap, or Antidote
for the Headache," gives an amusing account of
these annual gatherings, which shows that they
were held in great pomp, and with an immense
concourse of people, all of whom
"In comely sort their foreheads did adorne
With goodly coronets of hardy horne;"
but the decadence of this ancient custom was at
that time evidently anticipated, for Breton ends his
poem by indignantly telling us that—
"Long time this solemne custome was observ'd,
And Kentish-men with others met to feast;
But latter times are from old fashions swerv'd,
And grown repugnant to this good behest.
For now ungratefull men these meetings scorn,
And thanklesse prove to Fortune and the horn;
For onely now is kept a poor goose fair,
Where none but meaner people doe repaire."
The reader, of course, will not have forgotten
the mysteries attached to "swearing in" on the
horns at Highgate, of which we have already
spoken at some length. (fn. 9)
In "Merrie England in the Olden Time" we
read that "at Horn Fair, a party of humorists of
both sexes (query, of either sex) cornuted in all the
variety of bull-feather fashion, after perambulating
round Cuckold's Point, startled the little quiet
village of Charlton on St. Luke's Day, shouting
their emulation, and blowing voluntaries on rams'
horns, in honour of their patron saint." Ned Ward
gives a curious picture of this odd ceremony, and
the press of Stonecutter Street (the worthy successor of Aldermary churchyard) has consigned it
to immortality in two broadsides—"A New Summons to all the Merry (Wagtail) Jades to attend at
Horn Fair," and "A New Summons to Horn Fair,"
both without a date, inspired by the Helicon of the
Fleet—
"Around whose brink
Bards rush in droves like cart-horses to drink,
Dip their dark beards among its streams so clear,
And while they gulp it, wish it ale or beer."
Leaving Charlton House behind us, and pursuing a south-western course, we make our way to
the southern side of the Great Dover Road after it
crosses Blackheath. Here we pass, at a short
distance on our left, the steep ascent of Shooter's
Hill, which, as Philipott writes, was "so called for
the thievery there practised, where travellers in
early times were so much infested with depredations and bloody mischiefs, that order was taken in
the sixth year of Richard II., for the enlarging the
highway, according to the statute made in the time
of King Edward I., so that they venture still to
rob here by prescription." The road continued a
steep and narrow thoroughfare, closed in by thick
woods—a convenient harbour for highwaymen—down till about the year 1733, when, as Hasted
informs us, "a road of easier ascent and of great
width was laid out at some distance from the old
one;" but still the highwaymen lingered about the
neighbourhood, and consequently the hill main
tained its reputation long after the new road was
made. Byron has rendered the spot familiar to
his readers by his description of the prospect from
the summit of the hill looking towards London—
"A mighty mass of brick, and smoke, and shipping,
Dirty and dusky, but as wide as eye
Could reach, with here and there a sail just skipping
In sight, then lost amidst the forestry
Of masts; a wilderness of steeples peeping
On tip-toe through their sea-coal canopy;
A huge dim cupola, like a foolscap crown
On a fool's head—and there is London town."
VANBRUGH CASTLE.
Here, too, probably, was the scene of Don Juan's
musings on the morality, or immorality, of "the
great city"—"Here are pure wives, safe lives;"
a reverie which was destined to be broken off
rather abruptly—if there be any truth in the poet's
words which follow—by the sudden attack of a
highwayman.
For the discouragement of these knights of the
road the usual methods were adopted here; and in
former times Shooter's Hill was seldom without
the ornament of a gibbet. Pepys tells us in his
"Diary," under date of April 11, 1661, how that of
all the journeys he ever made, "this [from Dartford
to London] was the merriest. … Amongst other
things," he adds, "I got my lady to let her maid,
Mrs. Anne, ride all the way on horseback. …
Mrs. Anne and I rode under the man that hangs
upon Shooter's Hill, and a filthy sight it was to
see how his flesh is shrunk to his bones." With
the improved condition of the times in which we
live, however, an end came some years ago to
the practice of the highwaymen; but a somewhat
ludicrous attempt at its revival was made in the
year 1877, and in this very neighbourhood, with
some little success; but the young ruffians having
been brought to justice, it is to be hoped that
henceforth the midnight wayfarer may proceed
on his way over Blackheath or Shooter's Hill in
security.
CHARLTON HOUSE IN 1845.
On the western slope of the hill, close by the
road leading to Eltham, stands the hospital for the
Woolwich garrison, called the Herbert Hospital,
after Mr. Sidney Herbert, afterwards Lord Herbert
of Lea. The building was erected in 1866, from
the designs of Captain Galton, R.E., during the
period when Lord Herbert was Secretary of State
for War. It is constructed on the pavilion system,
and comprises six parallel blocks, in which are
the hospital wards, providing accommodation for
between 600 and 700 patients. On the summit of
the hill beyond we just catch a glimpse of Severndroog Castle, which was erected by Lady James,
in 1784, in commemoration of the gallantry of her
husband, Sir William James, who died in the preceding year, "and in a peculiar manner to record
the conquest of the Castle of Severn Droog, on the
coast of Malabar, which fell to his superior valour
and able conduct on the 2nd day of April, 1755."
The castle is a triangular brick edifice, of three
floors, with turrets at the angles, and contains a
few specimens of armour, weapons, &c., captured
at Severndroog.
Since the close of the last century considerable
progress has been made in the erection of villas in
the immediate neighbourhood of Blackheath, particularly in that part lying to the south-east, known
as Blackheath Park. This park forms an estate
anciently called Witenemers, or Wricklesmarsh,
which during the reign of William the Conqueror
formed part of the possessions of Odo, Bishop of
Bayeux. At the close of the seventeenth century
it came into the possession of Sir John Morden,
the founder of Morden College, who, dying in
1708, bequeathed the estate to his widow. Soon
after Lady Morden's death, in 1721, it was sold to
Sir Gregory Page, who pulled down the old house
and erected a large edifice of stone, consisting of a
centre and two wings, united by a colonnade; and
this mansion is described in the "Ambulator" for
1774 as "very magnificent, and one of the finest
seats in England belonging to a private gentleman."
The writer enters into almost as many details about
it, and the picture-gallery which it contained, as he
does in describing Lord Burlington's mansion at
Chiswick; and the catalogue of the paintings alone
occupies three pages. On the death of Sir Gregory
Page, the mansion and estate passed to a greatnephew, who sold the estate, and the house was
soon after pulled down.
At the south-east extremity of Blackheath, but
in Charlton parish, is Morden College, so named
from its founder, Sir John Morden, a wealthy
Turkey merchant, mentioned above. He erected
this structure in Great Stone Field, near his own
residence, in 1695, and placed in it, during his lifetime, twelve decayed merchants; and by his will
(dated October 15, 1702) devised all his real and
copyhold estates, after the decease of Lady Morden,
to the Turkey Company, in trust, for the support
of this college, and for the maintenance of poor,
aged, and decayed merchants of England, "whose
fortunes had been ruined by the perils of the sea,
or other unavoidable accidents." The premises
occupy a spacious quadrangle, and are built of
brick, with stone quoins and cornices. There is
a lofty entrance gateway, and the lodgings of the
inmates, dining-hall, and chapel form a quadrangle.
Over the entrance are statues of the founder and
his wife. The college provides a comfortable home,
including lodging, maintenance, and attendance, for
about forty pensioners, who have each an annual
stipend of £72.
From the grounds attached to Morden College
a walk of a mile and a half by the footpath by
Kidbrook Church, and across some pleasant fields,
brings us to Eltham, which will be the limit of our
perambulation in this direction.