Page:Archaeologia volume 38 part 1.djvu/56

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Remains of an Anglo-Norman Building

After the death of Earl John, King Edward III. by letters patent in the twenty-third year of his reign, granted that all the castles, manors, and tenements which were of John de Warren, Earl of Surrey, in the counties of Surrey and Sussex, and in Wales and the Welsh Marches, and which the said Earl gave with warranty to the King in fee, should remain to Richard Earl of Arundel in fee, to be hold by the services therefore due and of right accustomed.[1]

After the attainder and execution of Richard FitzAlan (second Earl of Arundel and Surrey of that name), in 1397, a commission was issued to the sheriff of Surrey, reciting that the King had granted to his well-beloved servant John Serle, valet of his chamber, the office of Bailiff of that part of Southwark which late was of Richard late Earl of Arundel, to hold to the said John, with the fees, &c., in the same manner that Henry Champneys, late one of the King's doorkeepers, had that office by the King's grant, while he lived; and that the said John had humbly represented to the King that a certain tenement in Southwark, called "The Cage" with one acre and three rods of land in Suthwark, appertained to the office, but that he was kept out of possession by John Surert and Walter Bishop, valets of the King's dear brother the Duke of Exeter; therefore the sheriff was commanded to inquire, &c. And on an inquisition, taken by the Sheriff of Surrey, at Suthwark, on Wednesday next after the Feast of St. Katharine the Virgin, 22nd Richard II. it was found that a house called "The Cage" in Suthwark, and one acre and three rods of land, with the appurtenances, in Suthwark, belonged to the office of Bailiff of the third part of Suthwark which late was of Richard late Earl of Arundel.[2]

The house called "The Cage" was situate in Saint Olave's Street, opposite to the Church, on the east side of Churchyard Alley, and adjoining to the Vestry-hall and the Flemish Burial-ground. It was probably the town prison, as it appertained to the office of Bailiff. The acre and three rods of ground comprised (as I think) the Flemish Burial-ground, and both adjoined to the building which forms the subject of Mr. Gage Rokewood's paper, as will be seen by the annexed plan.[3]

Thomas Fitz Alan, son of Earl Richard, was restored as Earl of Arundel and

  1. 1st Patent, 23 Edw. III. m. 28.
  2. Esc. 22 Ric. II. no. 65.
  3. The Cage afterwards became the property of Adam Boston or Byston, citizen and girdler of London, who by his will dated 27th May, 1554, devised his great messuage called "The Cage," with the tenements thereunto belonging, situate in the parish of Saint Olave, to his son Cuthbert Beston (also citizen and girdler of London), who (Stow says) died seised of The Walnut Tree Inn, and who by his will dated 5th July, 1582, gave to the Girdlers' Company his capital messuage called The Cage, and seven messuages in the said parish of Saint Olave.