Precinct of Well Close

The Precinct of Well Close ~ Wellclose Square

Well Close became part of the Liberty of the Tower of London. It fell outside the County of Middlesex, in Portsoken Ward, over which the City of London exercised control. By Letters Patent of 1688, King James II included the areas of Minories, the Old Artillery Ground and Wellclose among the Tower Liberties, although the Tower held no land in the area. The western edge of the Precinct of Wellclose was Well Street [now Ensign Street], its southern edge Neptune Street, and to the north was Graces Alley, home to WILTON'S MUSIC HALL. See also THIS PAGE on Rosemary Lane [now Royal Mint Street].

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There was an earlier theatre in Well Street - the Royalty Theatre was built, by subscription, in 1786 but was not licensed. After the opening performances of As You Like It and the farce Miss in her Teens, the profits given to the new London Hospital, it closed until a licence was granted, when interludes, pantomimes and other species of the irregular drama were put on. Later it fell into the hands of various adventurers (Nightingale, London and Middlesex 1815). In 1820 it was bought by Peter Moore MP, but burned down in 1826. A replacement building was erected in seven months, with a heavy iron roof. A few days after it opened, during a rehearsal of Guy Mannering, the roof fell in, crushing to death Mr Maurice, one of the proprietors, and twelve others.

In the centre of Wellclose Square - also known at one time as Marine Square, and described by Nightingale in 1815 as a pretty little neat square - was the DANISH CHURCH, on the site now occupied by St Paul's Whitechapel CE Primary School, next to which is now another primary school, Shapla.

Until the dissolution of the monasteries, the abbey of St Mary Graces stood near Tower Hill. An old map shows a river running down each side of Nightingall Lane (now Thomas More Street), in Wapping. It has been suggested that this was one of London's lost rivers and ran from Well Street into the Thames. Daniel Defoe mentions Wellcose Square in his book A tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724), and says that there used to be a well in the centre of the square. It was also known as Goodman's Field's Well.

What were the implications of this 'Liberty'? It meant that authority for the maintenance of law and order within the area lay with the Governor of the Tower, sitting with appointed magistrates. They dealt with all criminal charges, great and small, and those accused were committed to Newgate for safe custody. In civil matters, it served as a Court of Record and Request for the recovery of small debts (like a modern-day County Court), and had its own 'gaol of the Tower Royalty'. [Left: Court House c1910]

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The prison in Neptune Street was commonly known as the 'Sly House', because felons who entered it left by a subterranean passage to the Tower and the docks, from which the convict ship Success left. When it closed and the King's Arms public house took over the site, the landlord would open the cells, with their heavily-bolted doors, grilles, plank beds, fetters and straitjackets, to visitors.

These have now been preserved at the Museum of London, including inscriptions scratched with pine cones on the wooden panels. Among them is one to Stockley, who invented the 'pitch plaster' which was clapped on victims' mouths to keep them silent; the optimistic verse The cupboard is empty, to our sorrow; let's hope it will be full to-morrow; and the pathetic plea Please to remember the poor debtors, 1758.

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All this ceased to have any significance as new legislation took effect, relating to police and local government, but the traditional triennial Beating of the Bounds, on Ascension Day, continued until 1897 for the Liberty of Wellclose. The Lieutenant of the Tower came, accompanied by an escort of Tower warders, followed by officials and schoolboys wearing ribbons red, white and blue on their bosoms, and carrying willow wands. These boys were the sons of soldiers quartered at the Tower.

beatingbounds1910 Many parish churches, including St George's, used to beat the bounds, to mark out their territory - as this 1882 programme shows. Here is the Tower's own ceremony from 1910.

The tradition still continues in Aldgate: a family from our church school, who live in the Tower of London, takes part in it.

ship alley

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Wellclose and Prince's Squares were originally inhabited by well-to-do merchants. Wellclose Square was laid out by Nicholas Barbon in 1682-3. {pictured above are Ship Alley and a wooden cottage]

Down the years it had a number of famous residents, and became something of a haven for free-thinkers, before it fell into decline. Indeed, from 1744-62 it housed a small DISSENTING ACADEMY, in the home of Dr Samuel Morton Savage (1721-91). Students boarded with families, and the library and lectures were in the house. Morton taught classics and maths, and Dr David Jennings, the Principal, taught theology.

Other residents included:

Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) - see SWEDISH CHURCH
Dr Hayyim Samuel Jacob Falk (c1708-1782) was a Kabbalistic rabbi and alchemist. Charged with sorcery in his native Westphalia, he fled to London and settled in Wellcose Square in 1742 where he lived until his death. The Jews of London called him the 'Baal Shem of London' because of his alleged miraculous or magical powers involving the divine Name. He kept a diary of dreams and the Kabbalistic names of angels, now held in the library of the United Synagogue in London.
Revd Dr Henry Mayo (1733-93), minister of the INDEPENDENT CHAPEL in Nightingale Lane, Wapping, known as the 'literary anvil' - and not to be confused with Dr Herbert Mayo, Rector of St George's during the same period.
Thomas Day (1748-89), author, politician and disciple of Rousseau, was born and lived at 32 Wellclose Square (which a century later housed a Mission to the Jews). His 1773 poem The Dying Negro, written with John Bicknell, was an early inspiration to the anti-clavery campaign, and The Devoted Legions (1776) argued for the rights of the American colonists. He is most remembered for his children's book The History of Sandford and Merton (1783) which espouses Rouseau's ideals.
The scientists John and Edwin Quekett lived at no.50 - John founded the Royal Microscopical Society. Their brother William was the first Vicar of CHRIST CHURCH WATNEY STREET.
Dr Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1791-1868) invented around 1829 the terrarium or 'Wardian case' [pictured], a dry version of an aquarium, because his ferns were being poisoned by the London air.
Charles Eaton died in the Square in 1879. With William Smith he made lead-cast 'Billy and Charley' forgeries of antiquities, which dealers bought despite the fact that the lettering was a meaningless jumble.

Here is a picture from 1 September 1911; follow the links for accounts of the Square from 1911 and 1934.

In 2008, Tower Hamlets proposed a new conservation area centred on Wilton's Music Hall and Wellclose Square.