The Dolphin (Tower St)

Map

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

Open location in Google Maps: 51.509706, -0.080289

4 Annotations

First Reading

Glyn  •  Link

Has Sam been in?

There are 45 (!) references to the Dolphin in the Diaries, from 11 July 1660 to 26 June 1668, so is the one that he probably liked the best (out of his very wide range of experience) and where you stood the greatest chance of finding him. It must definitely been the bar where everyone knows his name.

It was very close to his home in Seething Lane (see map)and was larger than most London taverns, with plenty of small rooms and alcoves. Of course it burned down in the Great Fire of 1666 but was soon rebuilt. Its owners throughout the years of the Diaries were Richard and Elizabeth Weedon.

David Quidnunc  •  Link

Weedons: relatives of Andrew Pearse

Or possibly they were relatives of Pearse's wife. Pepys says on 23 November that Pearse and his wife are "akin to the people of the house" and Pearse had been an apprentice there.

Andrew Pearse's page:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/689

23 November 1660
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Glyn  •  Link

There is now a pub almost exactly at this location called the 'Hung Drawn and Quartered' owned by Fullers brewery which has a quotation by Pepys in large lettering on the outside of it.

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

in 2023 MartinVT observed that Sir W. Batten hangs out at the Dolphin just about every night. Pepys mentions going to see him at The Dolphin several times in the diary.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

In "London, Past and Present" H.B. Wheatley tells this story:
By the beginning of the 17th century Bethlehem Hospital had become one of the London sights, and it so continued till the last quarter of the 18th century.
In Webster's Westward Ho! (1607), some of the characters, to pass the time while their horses are being saddled at "the Dolphin, Without Bishopsgate," resolve to "crossover" the road "to Bedlam, to see what Greeks are within," and a highly comic scene ensues.
One of the party happening to turn his back, the rest persuade the keeper that their friend is a lunatic, that his "pericranium is perished."

So it was close to Seething Lane, and rented out horses. Ah-Ha.

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