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The overlays that highlight 17th century London features are approximate and derived from Wenceslaus Hollar’s maps:

Open location in Google Maps: 51.547615, -0.079993

5 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Kingsland

Kingsland derives its name from being the hunting grounds of a Tudor royal residence at Newington Green – hence King's Lands. At the time, the area was still heavily forested – as part of a forest stretching from Shoreditch to Enfield Chase – and roamed by wild bulls, stags and wild boars. Deforestation occurred quickly as the demands of the nearby City took wood for building and firewood, and the cleared land was quarried for brick clay. There were many wells and springs in the district....[A] halybeate spring beyond Dalston was tapped and its water piped to Aldgate in 1535....

In 1672, Kingsland had 28 householders assessed for hearth tax, but expanded rapidly in the 18th century, along the line of Kingsland Road....

In his youth, Samuel Pepys lodged in the village, for a while with his brother Tom and his nurse, Goody Lawrence.[6] Also, it is recorded that Pepys "used to shoot with bow and arrows" here in the 17th century.[1][7]

Kingsland had a six-penny bath and a leper hospital, south of the green, also known as the 'Lock Hospital'. This was founded in 1280 by the City of London, as one of ten located on the main roads from the City. This continued until 1559 and the last case of leprosy in London. From 1549, the hospital was administered by St Bartholomew's Hospital, and treated other infectious diseases. After the Great Fire, St Bartholomew's no longer had the funds to support the Lock hospital, but patients were accepted if they could fund their own care – this continued until 1680, when again the main hospital was able to resume funding.[8] By 1669, there were six wards, by then for women only – male patients were sent to Southwark. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King…

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

Kingsland, a populous district in the parish of Hackney, except a small portion which belongs to Islington. Kingsland was noted for its fields and market-gardens, but is now wholly built over.

May 12, 1667.—Walked over the fields to Kingsland and back again; a walk I think I have not taken these twenty years; but puts me in mind of my boy's time, when I boarded at Kingsland, and used to shoot with my bow and arrows in these fields. —Pepys.

---London, Past and Present. H.B. Wheatley, 1891.

Bill  •  Link

Kingsland, a hamlet of the parish of Islington, lying between Hoxton and Clapton. Here was anciently an hospital for lepers, which is now appropriated to the cure of the venereal disease, and is an appendage to St. Bartholomew's and St. Thomas's hospitals. The edifice is a plain modern brick building, without ornamental decorations; it is large and proper for the use to which it is applied, and on the end of it is a dial, which has the following suitable motto, Post Voluptatem Misericordia; that is, After pleasure comes pain. This structure joins a little old chapel; but it is wisely contrived that the patients, who are obliged to attend divine service, can neither see nor be seen by the rest of the audience. This hospital is called The Lock.
---London and Its Environs Described. R. Dodsley, 1761.

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References

Chart showing the number of references in each month of the diary’s entries.

1661

1664

1666

1667

1668

1669

  • Apr