XLVI.—SITE OF LENNOX HOUSE.
In 1590 William Short, the same who ten years later bought Rose
Field, purchased of John Vavasour two messuages, two gardens and four
acres of land, with appurtenances, in St. Giles. (fn. 1) The precise position of
the property is not stated, but from evidence which will be referred to, it
is known that it lay to the west of Drury Lane, and comprised The Greybound inn in Broad Street, with land to the south lying on both sides of
what is now Short's Gardens.
A portion of this property he leased, (fn. 2) in 1623–4, to Esmé Stuart,
Earl of March (afterwards Duke of Lennox), for a term of 51 years as from
Michaelmas, 1617. It is possible to ascertain within a little the boundaries
of this part of the Short estate. In a deed (fn. 3) dated 10th January, 1614–5,
relating to Elm Field, the land lying between Castle Street and Long Acre,
the northern boundary is stated to be "certain closes called by the name of
Marshlands alias Marshlins, and a garden sometime in the tenure of William
Short or his assignes;" and in a later deed, (fn. 4) dated 2nd February, 1632–3,
relating to a portion of the same field, the northern boundary, said to be
249 feet distant from Long Acre, is referred to as "a way or back lane
of 20 feet adjoining the garden wall of the Right Honble. the Duchess of
Lenox."
The distance of the "back lane" from Long Acre corresponds
exactly with that of the present Castle Street, and it is therefore clear that
this was the southern boundary. The property afterwards came into the
possession of the Brownlow family, and an examination of the leases which
were granted in the early part of the 18th century, shows that it reached
as far as Drury Lane on the east and Short's gardens on the north. On
the west it stretched as far as Marshland. (fn. 5)
Esmé Stuart, Seigneur
D'Aubigny, Duke of
Lennox.
Whether the house leased to the Earl of March was one of the two
(the other being The Greybound) purchased by Short in 1590, or a house
quite recently built, there is no evidence to show.
The Earl, in February, 1623–4, succeeded to the dukedom of
Lennox, and on 30th July of the same year he died. His widow (fn. 6) continued
to reside at the house. Letters from her, headed "Drury Lane," and
dating from 1625 to 1629, are extant, (fn. 7) and she also, in 1628, joined with
other "inhabitants adjoining the house of the Countess of Castlehaven,
in Drury Lane," in a petition to the Privy Council. (fn. 8) There is, therefore,
ample evidence that she actually resided at the house.
In 1632 she married James Hamilton, second Earl of Abercorn, and
died on 17th September, 1637, leaving to her husband, in trust for their
son James, "all that my capitall house, scituate in Drury Lane." (fn. 9)
The Earl sold the remainder of the lease (fn. 10) to the Duchess's cousin,
Adrian Scroope, who apparently let the house, as the Subsidy
Roll for 1646 shows the "Earl of Downe" as occupying the premises. (fn. 11) In
1647 Sir Gervase Scroope, Adrian's son, sold the lease to Sir John Brownlow, (fn. 10) who certainly acquired the freehold also, though no record of the
transaction has come to light. Finding the house too large (fn. 12) Sir John
divided it in two, and in 1662 Lady Allington (fn. 13) was paying a rent of £50
for the smaller of the two residences. (fn. 10) Sir John died in November, 1679.
By his will (fn. 14) (signed 10th April, 1673) he left to his wife all the plate, jewels,
etc. "which shall be in her closett within or neare our bedd chamber at
London in my house at Drury Lane … and the household stuffe in the
said house, except all that shall then be in my chamber where the most part
of my bookes and boxes of my evidences are usually kept, and except all
those in the same house that shall then be in the chamber where I use to
dresse myselfe, both which chambers have lights towardes the garden."
He also left to his wife "that part of my house in Drury Lane which is
now in my own possession for her life if she continue my widowe," together
with "that house or part of my house wherein the Lady Allington did
heretofore live, …, by which houses I meane yards, gardens and
all grounds therewith used"; and moreover the furniture "of two
roomes in my house in Drury Lane where I use to dresse myself, and
where my evidences and bookes are usually kept."
Brownlow.
The estate afterwards came into the hands of Sir John Brownlow,
son of his nephew, Sir Richard Brownlow, who at once took steps to develop
the property, letting plots on building lease for a term of years expiring in
1728. Except in one case, information is not to hand as to the date on
which these leases were granted, but in that instance it is stated to be 21st
May, 1682, (fn. 15) a date which may be regarded as approximately that of
the beginning of the development of the interior part of the estate by
building, (fn. 16) though at least a part of the frontages to Drury Lane and Castle
Street had been built on before 1658 (see Plate 3).
At the same time (circ. 1682) apparently Lennox House was, either
wholly or in part, demolished. A deed of 1722 (fn. 17) relates to the assignment
of two leases of a parcel of ground "lately belonging to the capital messuage
or tenement of Sir John Brownlow then in part demolished, scituate in
Drury Lane, in St. Giles, sometime called Lenox House." The description is obviously borrowed from the original leases, since reference is also
made to "a new street there then to be built, intended to be called Belton
Street," which street was certainly in existence in 1683. (fn. 18) What is apparently Lennox House is shown in Morden and Lea's Map of 1682
as occupying a position in the central portion of the estate, with a wide
approach from Drury Lane, and this is to a certain extent confirmed
by the tradition that the first Lying-In Hospital in Brownlow Street
(occupying the site of the present No. 30) was a portion of the original
building. It is remarkable, however, that no hint of a house in this position
is given either in Hollar's Plan of 1658 (Plate 3) or in Faithorne's Map
of the same date (Plate 4).
The name of Brownlow Street was in 1877 altered to Betterton
Street.