the South, from the Pump aforesaid, is called Fenchurch Street, and is of Ealdgate Ward, till ye come to Culver Alley, on the West Side of Ironmongers Hall. Where sometime was a Lane which went out of Fenchurch Street to the midst of Lime Street: But this Lane was stopped up, for Suspicion of Thieves that lurked there by Night. [This Passage is of late opened again.]

Again to Ealdgate, (out of the principal Street, even by the Gate and Wall of the City) runneth a Lane South, [to Crossed or Crowched Friers, and then Woodrofe Lane,] to the Tower Hill. And out of this Lane West, a Street called Hart Street, which of that Ward stretcheth to Sydon Lane, by St. Olave's Church. One other Lane more West from Ealdgate, goeth by Northumberland House toward the Crossed Friers: Then have ye on the same side, the North End of Mart Lane, and Blanch [Appleton or] Chappelton, where that Ward endeth.

In short, the ancient Bounds of this Ward may be taken from the Extent of the Soke of the Priory of Christ's Church. And what that is may be known from what is wrote by one of that Convent, and preserved in an old Book, called Dunthorne. Where we read, Sciendum igitur quanta sit Soka, cujus fines tales sunt. A Porta de Algate, &c. i.e. " We must know therefore how great the Soke is, which hath such Bounds. From the Gate of Algate as far as the Gate of the Bailey of the Tower, called Cungate, and all Cheken Lane towards Barking Church, as far as the Churchyard, except one House nearer than the Churchyard. And the Journey is returned the same way as far as the Church of Saint Olaves; and then we come back by the Street which goes by the Church of Colemanchurch; then it goes forth towards Fenchurch; and so there on this side our Houses is a Lane, thro' which we went unto the House of Theobald Fitz-Ivo, Alderman; which Lane now is stopped up, because it had been suspected for Thieves in the Night. Therefore because a Way was not open there, we come back again by a Lane towards the Church of St. Michael; and so as far as Lime Street, to the House of Richard Cavel. This therefore is our inward Soke, and these are the Bounds of it. This the Queen Mother gave to us with the Gate of Algate. From Lime Street we go through the Street by the Church of St. Andrew's, as far as the Chapel of St. Augustine upon the Wall; then as far as the Gate of the Churchyard. This is the Circuit of our inner Soke." ]

Thus much for the Bounds: Now for Monuments, or Places most ancient and notable. I am first to begin with the late dissolved Priory of the Holy Trinity, called Christ Church, on the right hand within Algate. This Priory was founded by Matilda the Queen, Daughter to Malcolm King of Scotland, Wife to Henry the First, in the same place where Siredus sometime began to erect a Church, in Honour of the Cross, and of Saint Mary Magdalene, of which the Dean and Chapter of Waltham were wont to receive thirty Shillings. The Queen was to acquit her Church thereof; and in exchange gave unto them a Mill. King Henry her Husband confirmed her Gift. This Church was given to Norman, the first Canon regular in all England.

The said Queen also gave unto the same Church, and those that served God therein, the Port of Aldgate, and the Soke thereunto belonging, with all Customs, so free as she had held the same, and 25l. Blanks, which she had of the City of Excester, as appeareth by her Deed, wherein she nameth the House Christ Church, and reporteth Aldgate to be of her Demains; which she granteth, with two parts of the Rent of the City of Excester.

The Deed of Queen Maud follows, as it was taken out of the Register of the said Priory, called there Prioratus de Crichurch.

" MATILDIS Dei Gratia Anglorum Regina R. Episcopo London & omnibus Sanctæ Ecclesiæ fidelibus, Salutem. Notum sit vobis me consilio Archiepiscopi Anselmi, & concessione & confirmatione Domini Regis HENRICI dedisse & confirmasse Ecclesiam Christi infra muros London. veram, liberam & quietam ab omni subjectione tam Ecclesiæ de Waltham, quam aliarum Ecclesiarum, præter Ecclesiæ Sancti Pauli London. & Episcopi cum omnibus ad eam pertinentibus ad honorem Dei Canonicis in ea regulariter cum Normanno Priore Deo servientibus, in perpetuum, pro redemptione animarum nostrarum, & parentum nostrorum, Scil. dedi eis Portam de Aldgata cum Soca ad eam pertinente quæ fuit mea Dominica, & duas partes reddit. civitatis Exoniæ. Et volo & præcipio, quod iidem Canonici bene & in pace & honorifice, & libere teneant terras suas & omnia ad Ecclesiam suam pertinent. cum omnibus libertatibus & consuetudinibus quas Dominus meus Rex Henricus eis per cartam suam confirmavit ita, ne eis injuria vel contumelia fiat. Teste Episcopo Wint. &c. "

The Charter of King Henry, whereby, as before was said, he confirmed theQueen's Gift, ran in this Tenor, viz.

"HENRICUS Rex Angliæ Williemo Exoniæ Episcopo & Baliv. Vic. & Præposit. Exoniæ, & omnibus Baronib. & Fidelibus suis Devenecestr. & omnibus Burgens. & Ministris suis Exoniæ, Salutem. Sciatis me concessisse Ecclesie Sancte Trinitatis London. & Canonicis ibidem Deo servientibus pro anima Matildis Reginæ conjugis meæ xxv libr. ad scalam * per annum de reddit. ipsius Reginæ in Exoniæ, quas pred. Regina Matild. iis dedit in vita sua. Et volo & firmiter præcipio, quod Vicecom. quincunque sit aut fuerit in Exonia, eas reddat ipsis Canonicis singulis annis, sicut unquam melius & plenius reddit. fuerunt, & eisdem terris quibus reddi solebant. Teste Galfrid. Cancellar. & Niger. de Albium. & Galfrid. de Clinton, apud Postesmudam."

He writ also to Roger Bishop of Sarum, and to the Barons of his Exchequer, for the Payment of the 25l. Blanc. as followeth,

"HENRICUS Rex Angliæ Rogero Episcopo Sarum, & Baronibus Scaccarii Salutem. Sciatis me concessisse, esse stabile Donum quod MATILDIS Regina Uxor mea dedit & concessit Canonicis Sanctæ Trinitatis London, viz. xxv lib. Blanc. "

"Quas ei dedit de Firma Civitatis Exoniæ. Et præcipio vobis, ut ita inde constringatis Vicecom. ut eas reddat eis, sicut faceretis de mea propria Firma. Test. Galdfrid. de Clynton apud Wint."

King Stephen also confirmed this Payment of 25l. ad Scalam by a Charter, directed to William Bishop of Exeter, the Sheriff, &c.

And when Henry II. styled Fitz Empress, Anno 1180, and the 26th of his Reign, made a new Money current, the Sheriff of Exeter would not pay the Prior of Christ's Church at Michaelmas the half Years Rent, viz. 12l. 16s. 3d. Secundum pondus Blanc, i. e. according to the Weight Balnk, (this new Money being of less weight than Money was, when Queen Maud gave the said Gift,) the said Prior, whose Name was Ste-