BY J. B. NICHOLS AND SONS, PARLIAMENT STREET. PUBLISHED BY J. H. AND J. PARKER, 377, STRAND. (TO BE OBTAINED BY THE PUBLIC THROUGH ALL BOOKSELLER3.) MDCCCLX. PREFACE. IN presenting to the Members of the London and Middlesex Archæological Society the First Volume of its Transactions, the Council have to express their deep regret at the long and wearisome delay which has attended its publication-a delay, however, which has arisen from circumstances entirely beyond their powers of control. They trust, nevertheless, that it will be found worthy alike of the Authors and of the Members at large, and that the length of time which has elapsed since the issue of the first portion in the July of 1856 will not be considered unpardonable, when the varied and interesting nature of the contents of the entire volume are duly taken into consideration. The period which it will be found to embrace is from the 30th of July, 1855, on which the Provisional Committee held its first meeting, to the Eighteenth General Meeting of the Society, which took place at Harrow on the 6th of October, 1859. The Council deem it unnecessary to enter in this place into any details connected with the formation of the Society, or the peculiar scene and objects of its study. The former will be found minutely recorded in the Prolegomena at page 1, and the latter in the Inau gural Address at page 23, furnished by one of its Members and read at its Second General Meeting. Most of the departments of Archæological Science, so far as the Metropolis and its neighbourhood can supply materials, will be found represented in the following pages. For example: There are,-Primæval History, in a paper on London and Middlesex during that period; Roman Antiquities, in a contribution on a supposed amphitheatre on the descent towards the former site of the Fleet prison, and numerous notices of tessellated pavements, pottery, coins, &c. at Suffolk Lane and its neighbourhood, Newgate Street, Bow, &c.; Manuscripts, in papers on the Middlesex of the Domesday Survey, on the Corporation Records, the "Liber Albus," the grant of the Manor of Holborn in the time of Richard II., the Inquisitions post mortem of Richard III. and Henry VII., and the Registers of Harrow; Architecture, as well Ecclesiastical, in the paper on the Church of St. Mary Aldermary; as Civil, in the Memoir of the Bell Tower in the Tower of London; and Domestic, in the paper on Crosby Place, and the first number of Walks in the City, containing a profusely-illustrated Itinerary of the Ward of Bishopsgate; Monumental Brasses, in the account of those to Alianore Duchess of Gloucester, Joice Lady Tiptoft, John de Valence, and the fine series at Harrow; and Biography, in the memoir of Sir Richard Whittington, the sketches of the Lieutenants of the Tower, and the eminent persons who lie buried in the Church of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate. Together with these will be found notices of a more brief character, but referrible to one or other of these departments, on the Tower, Westminster Abbey and Chapter House, the Churches of St. Bartholomew the Great, St. Giles's Cripplegate, and St. Mary-le-Bow, Lambe's Chapel, Christ's and St. Bartholomew's Hospitals, Guildhall, London generally in the time of Queen Elizabeth, Marylebone, Harrow, the Frauds of Antiquity Dealers, &c. &c. The Council entertain the hope that in future volumes more than one of these latter subjects will receive further attention, and be presented in more complete detail. It must be evident to all who recollect the expensive nature of the General Meetings of the Society, and the meagre funds at its command, that the publication of a volume so large and highly illustrated as the present was altogether beyond its power, unless aided by additional and liberal help. The Council have the pleasing duty, therefore, in conclusion, of expressing their cordial thanks to the following gentlemen for donations towards the cost both of printing and of illustrations. Towards the expenses of Part I. they have much satisfaction in mentioning as donors: The Lord Londesborough, President G. B. Acworth, Esq. The Rev. C. Boutell, a plate, including the £ 8. d. 20 0 0 0 10 0 |