Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

that instead of pushing on that night, as he easily could, he should defer his arrival till the morning, for, he adds, "I shall not trust my throat on Finchley Common in the dark."* At the London end of what was once the common, nearly opposite the "Green Man" Inn, at a place called "Brown's Wells," on the Barnet Road, and a little way north of the St. Pancras Cemetery, is an old oak, behind which it is traditionally stated that Dick Turpin used to take up his position. The tree, which is still called "Turpin's Oak," is green and flourishing, though considerably shorn of its upper branches. Pistol-balls, it is stated, which are supposed to have been fired at the trunk to deter highwaymen, have been frequently extracted from the bark. Mr. Larwood, in his "History of Signboards," tells us that the "Green Man" has the following verses under two pipes crossed over a pot of beer :—

"Call softly, drink moderate;

Pay honourably, be good company;
Part friendly; Go home quietly;
Let these lines be no man's sorrow;
Pay to-day and trust to-morrow."

The notorious Jack Sheppard, who kept half London in terror, and who once, at least, effected his escape out of Newgate, was captured on Finchley Common in 1724. He was disguised in a butcher's blue frock and a woollen apron.

As to the life of a highwayman, a writer in the London Magazine some years ago remarks :

--

"An highwayman is a wild Arab, that lives by robbing of small caravans, and has no way o living but the king's highway. Aristotle held him to be but a kind of huntsman; but our sages of the law account him rather a beast of prey, and will not allow his game to be legal by the forest law. His chief care is to be well mounted, and, when he is taken, the law takes care he should be still, while he lives. His business is to break the law of the land, for which the hangman breaks his neck, and there's an end of the controversie. He fears nothing, under the gallows, more than his own face, and, therefore, when he does his work, conveys it out of sight, that it may not rise up in judgment, and give evidence against him at the sessions. His trade is to take purses and evil courses, and when he is taken himself, the laws take as evil a course with him. He takes place of all other thieves as the most heroical, and one that comes nearest to the old knights-errant, though he is really one of the basest, that never ventures but upon surprisal, and where he is sure

[ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

341

of the advantage. He lives like a Tartar, always in motion; and the inns upon the road are hordes, where he reposes for awhile, and spends his time and money, when he is out of action. He is more destructive to the grazier than the murrain. When he despatches his business between sun and sun he invades a whole county, and, like the Long Parliament, robs by representative. calls concealing what he takes from his comrades sinking, which they account a great want of integrity. After he has roved up and down too long, he is at last set himself and conveyed to the jail, the only place of his residence, where he is provided of a hole to put his head in, and gathered to his fathers in a faggot cart."

Mr. Harrison Ainsworth, in his "Rookwood," has turned the life and career of a highwayman to good account. We quote from it the following

"CHAPTER OF HIGHWAYMEN.

"Of every rascal of every kind,

The most notorious to my mind

Was the royalist captain, gay Jemmy Hind!
Which nobody can deny.

"But the pleasantest coxcomb among them all
For lute, coranto, or madrigal,

Was the galliard Frenchman Claude Du Val !
Which nobody can deny.

"Yet Tobygloak never a coach could rob,
Could lighten a pocket or empty a fob,
With a neater hand than Old Mob, Old Mob!
Which nobody can deny.

"Nor did housebreaker ever deal harder knocks
On the stubborn lid of a good strong box,
Than that prince of good fellows, Tom Cox, Tom Cox!
Which nobody can deny.

"And blither bellow on board highway
Did never with oath bid traveller stay,
Than devil-may-care Will Holloway!
Which nobody can deny.

"Then in roguery naught could exceed the tricks
Of Gettings and Grey, and the five or six
Who trod in the steps of bold Neddy Wicks!
Which nobody can deny.

"Nor could any so handily break a lock

As Sheppard, who stood in the Newgate dock,
And nicknamed the gaolers around him "his flock!"
Which nobody can deny.

"Nor did highwayman ever before possess,

For ease, for security, danger, distress,
Such a mare as Dick Turpin's Black Bess, Black Bess!
Which nobody can deny."

Finchley Common was the scene of the depredations of most of the worthies whose names are introduced in the above piece of verse; but a great change has taken place in it since their time. In fact it is now nearly entirely blotted out of the map, being either enclosed or built over.

CHAPTER XXXV.

COLNEY HATCH AND SOUTHGATE.

"Insanire juvat."-HORACE

Rapid Extension of Colney Hatch, or New Southgate-Its Situation and Etymology-Middlesex County Lunatic Asylum-St. Paul's ChurchThe Pumping Station of the New River Waterworks-Wood Green-The Drinking Fountain-Nightingale Hall-St. Michael's Church-The Printers' Almshouses-Fishmongers' and Poulterers' Asylum-Fullers' Almshouses-Royal Masonic Institution for Boys-Clock and Watchmakers' Asylum- -The Great Northern Cemetery-Southgate-The Village Green and "Cherry-tree" Inn-The Church-Arnold's Court, now Arno's Grove-Minchenden House-Bromefield Park-Bowes Manor-Bowes Park-St. Michael's Church-Culland's GroveGrovelands-Palmer's Green-Southgate Village Hall--Winchmore Hill-The Church, &c.-Bush Hill Park-Sir Hugh Myddelton and the New River.

[merged small][merged small][graphic][merged small]

part was rural and retired; but the construction of the Great Northern Railway, with its modern station and the accessories of villas and shops, and that of the still more modern County Asylum for the Lunatics of Middlesex, have largely altered the appearance of the place-it is needless to add, scarcely for the better. As the Asylum is officered by a staff of some three hundred persons, a small village has sprung up, as if by magic, round its gates; and the population of Colney Hatch itself has been doubled in little more than a quarter of a century.

assigned to it the name of New Southgate; and it forms, as it were, a connecting link between Friern Barnet on the west, and Edmonton and the district once known as Enfield Chase on the east. The name of Colney--or Colne-Hatch is mentioned in a Court Roll of the reign of Henry VII. ; and in a map published in the last century it is printed Coney Hatch. The term "Hatch" evidently has reference to a side gateway or entrance to the Royal Chase of Enfield. Numerous instances of the term occur in various parts of the country. The "Pilgrims' Hatch," near Brentwood.

[blocks in formation]

is a name well known, as marking the south entrance to the once great forest of Waltham.

The Asylum, which stands close to the west side of the railway station, is a handsome Italian structure, though plain and to a great extent void of ornament. The late Prince Consort laid the first stone of it in 1849, and it was opened for the reception of patients two years later. It has since been considerably enlarged, and now holds a little over two thousand inmates, of whom, as we saw was the case also at Bedlam,* the majority are females.

343

for which their previous education or trade fits them-as, for instance, in gardening, baking, cooking, &c. In fact, steady kindness and constant employment are the chief machinery used in humanising these waifs and strays of humanity. Such work as painting and decorating the wards, and also the necessary repairs or alterations in the building, are mostly executed by the patients, of course under proper supervision. By this means the Asylum is partly self-supporting, or, at all events, the expenses are largely diminished.

[graphic][merged small]

The discipline exercised over them seems to be one of kindness, not of fear or of punishment; and the whips and strait-waistcoats of the days before Dr. Conolly and Dr. Elliotson are not called into requisition, though some cases require to be isolated in rooms with softly-padded walls. The patients enjoy as much liberty as is possible consistent with the maintenance of order; and the monotony of their lives is occasionally varied by dancing. Music they have in plenty, not only in the chapel, but in the larger rooms.

(See page 346.)

It is stated that the cost of erecting the Asylum was a little over half a million, and that about £60,000 a year is devoted to its maintenance out of the rates of the metropolitan county.

The building, which is of brick with stone dressings, was erected from the designs of Mr. S. W. Daukes, and covers about four acres of ground. It occupies an elevated and healthy site, and its ventilating towers and central cupola are conspicuous objects for some distance round. The principal front of the building, nearly 2,000 feet in length, The patients are employed in various industries faces the north, and is the only part of the exterior

See "Old and New London," Vol VI., p. 359.

upon which any attempt at architectural embellishment is visible; and even this is not very profuse.

The grounds of the Asylum are enclosed by a one-third greater than that for the males. The brick wall of moderate height, which extends along ground-plan of the Asylum somewhat resembles the the roadway from New Southgate westwards towards Finchley. In the centre, facing the principal entrance, are some iron gates and the gatekeeper's lodge. A carriage-drive extends from the gates to the main entrance, in the centre of the north front, having on either side a broad piece of greensward, with gravel-walks, shrubs, and evergreens.

The front part of the central block of building is flanked on either side by a slightly projecting ventilating tower, whilst from the roof rises an octagonal-domed cupola. Across the base of this building runs an open arcade, a doorway in the centre opening into a long corridor, which extends right and left to the wards and offices. In the wall opposite the door is the foundation-stone, bearing an inscription, to the effect that it was laid by the Prince Consort on the 8th of May, 1849. The stone is carved with an ornamental bordering, together with the arms of the county. The chapel, which occupies the centre of the north front, immediately at the back of the corridor mentioned above, is a large square, or rather oblong, room. It is lighted from the roof, and also by windows of tinted glass above the communion-table. It was originally fitted with galleries, the rows of seats rising gradually from one end of the building to the other; but in 1874 the galleries were removed and the seats levelled. The walls of the chapel are painted with a delicate blue tint, and enriched with stencilling and texts of Scripture. The chapel will seat 600, and the services are held twice every week-day and four times on Sundays. The Rev. Henry Hawkins, who has held the chaplaincy since 1867, was for some time chaplain of the Sussex Asylum, at Hayward's Heath. Under his wardenship is an "Association of Friends of the Infirm in Mind." It was instituted in 1871, and has for its object the "after care" of convalescents. The Asylum cemetery was consecrated by Bishop Blomfield in 1851. The wards and infirmaries are light and airy, and fitted up with every attention to the comfort of the unfortunate inmates. The building includes residences for the principal officers connected with the institution, airing courts, laundry, and workshops, which, with the gardens and airing grounds, cover rather more than one hundred acres. In addition to this, there is a farm adjoining, which comprises another one hundred and fifty acres.

There are separate departments for the several classes of patients, and separate buildings for the two sexes, either wholly unattached, or connected only by the chapel and offices common to both. The accommodation for the female patients is fully

[ocr errors]

letter E, and it is so situated as to afford an uninterrupted view of the country, and to admit the free access of air and sun; whilst the several galleries and wards are so arranged that the medical officers and others may pass through all of them without retracing their steps. On the male side have lately been added two new infirmaries, fitted up after the most approved principles.

As the treatment administered here is in principle the same as that which has long prevailed in Bethlehem Hospital, or "Bedlam," our readers may consider that the remarks on that subject to be found in OLD AND NEW LONDON may be repeated here—mutatis mutandis, of course. As the Colney Hatch Asylum has been in existence for so short a period it has few historical reminiscences, and fewer romantic stories attach to this institution than to its elder sister. This could hardly be otherwise.

A new church, dedicated to St. Paul, was erected in 1873 for this neighbourhood. It is of Gothic design, one of Sir Gilbert Scott's most successful imitations of the Early English period. Not far from it is a pumping-station of the New River Waterworks-a low and unsightly structure, with a lofty campanile in the semi-Italian style.

On the east and south-cast sides of the Asylum the land slopes away gradually into a pleasant valley, on the opposite side of which are the rising grounds of Wood Green and Muswell Hill, the latter crowned by the Alexandra Palace and gardens. Twenty years ago, or even less, Wood Green was a retired country spot, hemmed in by green lanes and shady hedgerows, and having here and there a cosy tavern and "tea-garden," whither the ruralising cockney might betake himself-or herself, or both-in the summer-time. The transformation here, however, is almost as great as at Finchley, which we have lately visited. Since the establishment of the Alexandra Palace, and the formation of a railway through its centre, Wood Green has become quite a busy town, built round about the large open space which was once a green and fringing the Southgate road. In the centre of the Green is a drinking-fountain, surmounted by a tall granite obelisk; it is inscribed to the memory of Mrs. Catherine Smithies, of Earlham Grove, Wood Green, the founder of the "Band of Mercy" movement. Not far off is the pleasant seat of Nightingale Hall, standing in its own grounds, and showing by its name that it was once a rural and sequestered spot. St. Michael's Church, on the

* See Vol. VI., pp. 353-360.

Southgate.j

WATCH AND CLOCK MAKERS' ASYLUM.

west side of the Green, is a large and handsome Gothic building, with a lofty spire. What will, perhaps, most attract the attention of visitors to this locality is the architectural beauty of the various asylums and institutions devised by charity and public spirit for the succour of the aged, and the education and protection of the young and helpless. Of these institutions, the Printers' Almshouses, a handsome Tudor range of buildings near the church, were erected in 1850.* Close by is the Asylum for Aged Fishmongers and Poulterers, a red brick building of Elizabethan architecture, also dating its erection from about 1850. Then there are the Fullers' Almshouses, in Nightingale Lane, and the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys, in Lordship Lane, both of which buildings were erected in 1865.

H. Crabb Robinson, in his "Diary," records a pleasant walk from Hampstead by way of Ken Wood to Finchley Common, and so by "a good turnpike road" to Colney Hatch. "On the heath," he adds, "I was amused by the novel sight of gipsies. The road from Colney Hatch to Southgate very pleasing indeed."

By the side of the pleasant green lane here referred to, and through which we make our way from Colney Hatch in a north-easterly direction towards Southgate, stands the Clock and Watch Makers' Asylum, another picturesque cluster of dwellings, twenty-one in number, that in the centre being occupied by the committee-room, &c. They are of red and black brick, and of Tudor design. This institution was founded in 1853, and is supported by voluntary contributions and by the members of the trades for which it was erected, the funds being largely augmented by the annual subscriptions of the Goldsmiths' and the Clockmakers' Companies.

Leaving on our left the roads to Whetstone and Friern Barnet, and also to the Great Northern Cemetery, which lies stretched out before us like a map on the slope of the opposite hill, we now follow the course of the winding roadway across the valley, and on reaching the summit of the next range of hills find ourselves in the village of Southgate.

Southgate, as its name implies, marks the chief southern entrance into the old Royal Chase of Enfield; and though now possessed of its own church and ecclesiastical district, it is historically but a hamlet of the parish of Edmonton. Though only eight miles from the metropolis, and near stations on two lines of railway, it still retains much of that pleasant rural character which it wore when

* See "Old and New London," Vol. V., p. 562.

345

it was the suburban seat of the Welds of Lulworth and of His Grace of Chandos.

The shops and villas which compose the village border the high road for some distance, or are tastefully grouped round a green, which once was fringed by tall and shady elms. A few of these monarchs of the forest remain, and the "Cherry Tree" is the name of the village inn, which for a century or more has faced the Green. Mr. Larwood, in his "History of Signboards," tells us that the "Cherry Tree" was not uncommon, and that down to the reign of William IV. it was the sign of a famous place of resort in Clerkenwell, with a bowling-green and alley; and doubtless it was not chosen without a like reason at Southgate, as one of the haunts of pleasure-seeking Londoners. The Cherry Gardens" at Bermondsey* will be remembered by readers of Samuel Pepys + as a place of entertainment in the days of the Merry Monarch.

[ocr errors]

"Southgate," writes H. Crabb Robinson in the "Diary," "is a delightful village. No distant prospect from the Green; but there are fine trees admirably grouped, and neat and happy houses scattered in picturesque corners and lanes. The great houses, the Duchess of Chandos's, &c., have, I suppose, a distant view.”

The church, a handsome edifice of the Early English style, built in 1862, from the designs of Sir Gilbert Scott, stands a little to the west of the village, and is said to occupy the site of the chapel attached to the old seat of the Welds, who have always been Roman Catholics. The old chapel was built in 1615 by Sir John Weld, of Arnold's Grove, in this parish. It was a plain brick building, and contained no monument worthy of mention, excepting perhaps that of the founder, who died in 1622. The church, which is built of stone, consists of a clerestoried nave, with north and south aisles, a chancel with aisles, and a tower surmounted by an octagonal spire. Several of the windows are enriched with painted glass, and the picturesque appearance of the exterior of the building in heightened by the thick cluster of ivy which has overgrown its walls. The churchyard is well kept, and prettily laid out with firs and evergreens.

The seat of the Welds stood in an extensive park on the south side of the church, and was called Arnold's Court, probably after a still earlier possessor; but it was demolished in the reign of George I., when the present mansion was built. Fifty years later it was enlarged by an Irish peer, Lord Newhaven, who had purchased the estate

See "Old and New London," Vol. VI., p. 130. † See "Pepys' Diary," June 15, 1664.

« AnteriorContinuar »