51°31′7″N 0°6′25″W / 51.51861°N 0.10694°W / 51.51861; -0.10694

The beadles' gatehouse

Ely Place /ˈli/ is a gated street of Georgian terraced houses in Holborn, London, at the southern tip of the Borough of Camden. It was privately built in 1773 on the site of the old London residence of the Bishop of Ely, retaining his medieval chapel, which since 1879 has been St Etheldreda's, a Roman Catholic church. Ely Place runs from a southern vehicular entrance at Holborn Circus to a northern pedestrian gate leading to Bleeding Heart Yard. Adjacent parallel streets are Hatton Garden to the west and Saffron Hill to the east. Ely Court, which links Ely Place to Hatton Garden, includes Ye Olde Mitre, a Tudor public house rebuilt in 1773.

Historical uncertainty and controversy about jurisdiction over Ely Place has fostered an urban myth that it is or was an exclave of Cambridgeshire, where the see of Ely is located.[1] The Commissioners of Ely Place, a body of improvement commissioners established in 1842, have residual authority, employing the beadles who occupy the gatehouse at the entrance to the street.

History

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An 18th-century plan of Ely House

Ely House

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Ely Place stands on land that had been the site of Ely Palace or Ely House, the London townhouse of the Bishops of Ely from 1290 to 1772.[2] Land in the Holborn area was bought by John de Kirkby in 1280. He was appointed Bishop of Ely in 1286 and on his death in 1290, he left the estate to the see of Ely.[2] In medieval times, bishops of Ely frequently held high state office requiring them to live in London; Ely Palace was the bishop's official residence.

References to Ely Palace grounds occur in Shakespeare’s plays. It was at the house that in King Richard II, the Bard had John of Gaunt – who was living there in 1382 – says his "This royal throne of Kings, this sceptre’d isle" speech.[3]

 
Ely House and St Ethedreda's chapel in 1772, wood engraving of 1878 after an old drawing

On 17 October 1546, James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond, a powerful Munster landowner who had served in the household of Cardinal Wolsey in his youth, and who had crossed the quarrelsome Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Anthony St Leger, was visiting London with his household. They were invited to dine at Ely Palace, where Ormond was poisoned along with his steward and 16 of his household, it was widely assumed, at the instructions of St Leger.

The estate was granted to Sir Christopher Hatton in 1577 after a commission was set up by Queen Elizabeth I, headed by John Aylmer (Bishop of London) to investigate the claims that Sir Christopher Hatton should be granted the freehold of the land after he acquired a 21 years lease on the estate and spent a sum of the £1,887 5s 8d (equivalent to £679,211 in 2023) on renovations and repairs. The commission declared in June 1577 that Ely Place should stay with Bishop Cox if he could reimburse Sir Christopher Hatton in whole for the outlay but he could not. A new lease was drawn up giving Sir Christopher Hatton control of the property freehold. He gave his name to Hatton Garden which occupies part of the site.

The estate was sold to the Crown in 1772. Let or sold on to Cole, pre-empting plan to build Middlesex Sessions House on the site.[4] The cul-de-sac was constructed in 1772 by Robert Taylor.[2] Edmund Keene as Bishop of Ely commissioned a new Ely House, also built by Taylor, on Dover Street, Mayfair.[2]

Ely Rents

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Some sources give Ely Rents as the address of printers William Seres, John Day, and Robert Crowley c.1547; OTOH Wikipedia's article on Crowley says Seres and Day were "in Holborn Conduit in St Sepulchre's parish at the sign of the Resurrection" rather than in St Andrew's parish.

St Etheldreda's Church

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St Etheldreda's Church in Ely Place is the former private chapel of the Bishops of Ely. It is one of two surviving buildings in London from the reign of Edward I (1272–1307) although it was badly damaged during World War II. St Etheldreda, a seventh-century queen and founding abbess of the monastery at Ely, was the saint in whose name Ely Cathedral was dedicated. The gardens of St Etheldreda were said to produce the finest strawberries in London and a Strawberry Fayre is held here every June. In Shakespeare’s Richard III, Gloucester tells the Bishop of Ely: "My Lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn, I saw good strawberries in your garden there. I do beseech you, send for some of them".

In the 1870s it was sold to settle a lawsuit between descendants of Cole.[5]

 
Ely Place in the sixteenth century.

Local jurisdiction

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Ely House was under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishop of Ely rather than the Bishop of London, as provided under the Bishoprics of Chester and Man Act 1541 for the London residences of all the Lords Spiritual,[6] and marriages and baptisms in the chapel were recorded in the Ely diocesan register. However, this did not apply to civil jurisdiction, and was ended altogether when the bishop sold out in 1772. On the other hand, Ely Place remained an extra parochial place, not subject to tithes or vestry charges under the Elizabethan Poor Law, both of which were levied by parish. [citation needed] In 1520 it was outside City but inside parish of St Andrew Holborn, per Historic Towns Trust.[7] As regards civil jurisdiction, there was a longstanding controversy as to whether it was inside the boundary of "London within the Bars" (the corporate county subject to the Corporation of the City of London) or "outside the Bars" and thus part of the county of Middlesex. In 1464 City officials left a banquet given at Ely House by the serjeants-at-law, in protest at the Lord Treasurer (Edmund, Baron Grey de Ruthin) getting the precedence to which the Lord Mayor (Ralph Josselyn) was entitled within the City.

The adjoining extra-parochial areas of "Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents" were regarded as a single liberty. "Ely Rents" was an area still owned by the bishops after 1659 but outside the walls of Ely House, and excluded from the 1772 sale. In 1730 the liberty opened a workhouse in Saffron Hill.[8] The 1831 census enumerated Ely Place population separately from this liberty,[9] although a private act of George III established a single body of improvement commissioners for "paving, lighting, watching, cleansing and improving" the area of "Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents and Ely Place".

A New History of London Including Westminster and Southwark Originally published by R Baldwin, London, 1773:

  • Book 2, Ch. 22: Farringdon Ward Without; p. 642 Ely house: :Near the top of Holborn-hill on the north side, stands Ely-house, the antient town residence of the bishops of Ely. It occupies a great extent of ground; before it is a spacious court, and behind it a garden; the buildings are very old, and consist of a large lofty hall, several old-fashioned apartments, and a good chapel. But the expensive state which these large old town mansions required the owners to maintain, have occasioned them in general to be deserted, for more private houses; and Ely house is neglected among others. When a more convenient Excise office was lately wanted, the ground on which Ely-house stood was thought of for it; but its situation was objected to: when an intention was formed of removing the Fleet-prison, Ely-house was judged proper on account of the quantity of ground about it; but the neighbouring inhabitants in Hatton Garden petitioned against the prison being built there: a scheme is now said to be in agitation for converting it into a stamp office, that business at present being conducted in chambers in Lincoln's-inn
  • Book 5, Ch. 2: The suburbs of the City; p.750 Saffron hill liberty: On the north side of Holborn-hill lies the liberty of Saffron-hill and Ely rents; consisting of part of Hatton-garden, including Ely-house already mentioned , with Saffron-hill and a number of poorly built courts and alleys in the neighbourhood. These lie in the parish of St. Andrew's Holborn, but out of the city jurisdiction, in the county of Middlesex.

In 1841 the courts determined that the agents of these commissioners had no authority to act within Ely Place, because it was private property. So another private act was passed created separate commissioners for "Ely Place and Ely Mews, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex".[10] The Metropolis Management Act 1855 made the area of the 17zzz commissioners' jurisdiction into a civil parish within the Holborn District. The district board superseded the 17zzz commissioners for all purposes but the 1842 Ely Place commissioners only as regards drainage and sewerage.[11] Benjamin Hall complained that "Ely-place is 326 yards long, and £156 2s. is paid for its superintendence, being at the rate of £842 15s. per mile."[12] The London Government Act 1899 abolished the Ely Place commissioners' responsibility for lighting, paving, and cleansing, but not for "watching", a duty still discharged by beadles.

Transport

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The nearest underground stations are Farringdon to the north-east and Chancery Lane to the west.

Ely Place, Hoxton

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A different street, in Hoxton, 1893-7 London OS map shows between Lynedoch St and Harman St, demolished by 1950 for St Leonard's Hospital, Hackney.

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol8/pp47-72

in 1665–6, the Joiners' Company purchased an estate at Hoxton and an indenture of 9th June, 1669, by which the Company sold the estate to the overseers of the poor of the Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden and Ely Rents, describes the property in precisely the same terms as those used in the deed of 1657. Its identity is thus established. It now consists of Nos. 186 and 188, Hoxton Street, Nos. 199, 201 and 203, Kingsland Road, and 77 houses in Ely Place. [ref. Endowed Charities (County of London), III., p. 260] -- "77" is not a typo, cf. Google Books snippet
the map referred to earlier in that section is Plate 1

Photo "Ely Place from Kingsland Road" 1937 "The archway has since been covered up but is still partially visible at 199 Kingsland Road" 51°32′00″N 0°04′37″W / 51.5333246°N 0.0770828°W / 51.5333246; -0.0770828

For review

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https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2019/05/27/londons-alleys-ely-place-ec1/ London’s Alleys: Ely Court, EC1 -- some new info, plus dubious claim: "The first maps to make reference to the alley, which at the time was known as Mitre Court, is Horwood’s of 1799. It was renamed Ely Court at the turn of the 20th century."

https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:cbb82559-34fb-46dc-ada1-5ddb1be85247/download_file?file_format=pdf&safe_filename=602450640.pdf&type_of_work=Thesis The City of London and the Problem of the Liberties, c!540 - c!640. A P House, Christ Church, DPhil, Trinity 2006. pp 14-15

https://books.google.com/books?id=bPGarwfQBO8C&pg=PA593 Endowed Charities of the City of London p.593

The parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, is divided into three Liberties; viz. The London Liberty: The Upper Liberty; and The Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents. The first of these liberties lies within the city of London, and the other two in the county of Middlesex. The Upper Liberty lies to the westward of the place where Holborn Bars formerly stood, which divided the city of London from the county of Middlesex, and is commonly designated as that part of the parish which lies above the Bars. Both the other liberties lie to the eastward of that place, and are generally understood to be comprised in the description of that part of the parish which lies below the Bars. In the distribution of the charities, those which were given by the donors to the parish generally are shared in equal thirds by the three liberties. With respect to those charities which are directed by the donors to be given half to the poor above the Bars and half to the poor below the Bars, different modes of construction have prevailed in different cases. In some of them the poor of the Upper Liberty receive half, and the poor of the other liberties a quarter each. In others half is given to the poor of the London Liberty, and half to the poor of the two county liberties. The reason of these different constructions does not appear; but they have now been established, in each instance, for so great a length of time, that it seems too late to endeavour to reduce them to one uniform rule.
p.621 Elizabeth Hatton's gift of 500l. to the poor of this parish, both above and below the Bars, we have seen that one half was appropriated to the poor of the London Liberty, by a separate investment, in the purchase of houses in St. John's-street. The other moiety appropriated to the use of the poor of the other two liberties was invested in the purchase of two houses in Gray’s-inn-lane. The earliest document that we have been able to discover relating to this property is an indenture of feoffment, bearing date 17th June, 1785, between Joshua Cox, of Hatton-street, of the first part, and Thomas Sherrin, and eleven others, trustees, appointed by the rest of the parishoners of that part of the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, which lies within the county of Middlesex, (that is to say) six by the parishioners of that part of the parish usually called the Upper Liberty, or the Liberty above the Bars, and six of the parishioners of that part of the parish called the Lower Liberty, or the Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents

https://books.google.ie/books?id=bPGarwfQBO8C&pg=PA621#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/dictionary-of-london/ely-court-essex-court#h2-0002

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol2/pp514-526#p26

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/survey-of-london-stow/1603/pp20-52#p72

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/court-husting-wills/vol1/pp88-95#fnn8

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/court-husting-wills/vol1/pp130-139#fnn17

Kyrkeby bequest -- vineyards outside City, rest inside. "The question whether Ely House stood within or without the liberties of the City has more than once given rise to dispute" ref to

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol22/xvi-xix

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol22/pp75-85

https://books.google.ie/books?id=n9Ni1Hzeu1gC&pg=PA122

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Great_Britain/England/_Topics/churches/_Texts/KINCAT*/Ely/2.html

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40646055

http://www.historictownsatlas.org.uk/atlas/volume-iii/city-london-prehistoric-times-c1520-volume-iii/view-text-gazetteer-and-maps-early http://www.historictownsatlas.org.uk/sites/historictownsatlas/files/atlas/town/maps/london_1520_map_2_north.pdf

http://www.historictownsatlas.org.uk/sites/historictownsatlas/files/atlas/town/maps/wards_1520_west_half.pdf

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/726471/Things-that-go-bump-on-the-map.html Until recently, the night watchman used to call out the hours all through the night. The tradition was stopped after residents complained about the noise. Now the quirky little lane basks in silence when darkness falls.

https://archive.org/details/boroughsofmetrop00hopk/page/159 (v) Sect. 237 [of the Metropolis Management Act 1855] saves the powers and property of the Paving Commissioners of Ely Place, and the repealed [by London Government Act 1899] passage [of s.237] exempted them from contribution to the expenses of the Holborn District Board in respect of paving, lighting, watering, and cleansing. Those services in respect of Ely Place have hitherto been performed by Commissioners under a local Act (5 and 6 Vict., c. xlviii). In other respects it contributes to the rates of the Holborn District Board, within whose area it lies, being part of the "Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents," and, of course, it is assessed to the central rates. The repeal of the above exemption will render Ely Place assessable in the new borough of Holborn for all administrative purposes.


https://archive.org/details/memorieswiseothe00robiuoft/page/126

https://books.google.com/books?id=mQ1KAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA2059

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp129-170#p104 Lewis Topog Dict puts Lib Ely-place in city and Lib SH, HG, ER in Mx.

https://books.google.com/books?id=3ANAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR111 "Report from Committee (1793) ... appointed to enquire into the State of the Nightly Watch within the City and Liberty of Westminster ... directed the several Parishes to lay before them":

N° 4. Liberty of Saffron Hill. The rate at 5d. in the pound, amounts to about 280l. per annum; they employ 13 Watchmen all the year, and two Patrole Men for four Winter months; the pay of the Watch is 1s. 2d. per night in Winter, and ls, in Summer, and the pay of the two Patrole Men is 10s. 6d. per week each. The Watch and Beadles are regulated by Act 10th Geo. II. which appoints 40 Trustees to manage the affairs of the Parish.

'The Manor and Liberty of Norton Folgate', in Survey of London: "Volume 27, Spitalfields and Mile End New Town", ed. F H W Sheppard (London, 1957), pp. 15-20 -- for comparison, a good history of a liberty's obscure origins, governance (or lack thereof) and relation to adjoining/enclosing parish(es).

Middlesex County Records

  • Volume 3, 1625-67; 10 October 1653 the inhabitants of the Saffron Hill liberty are further ordered to survey the ruinous bridge, "take a full estimate of the charge" and levy the requisite money by rate amongst and from themselves
  • Calendar of Sessions Books 1689-1709
    • Order for the constables and headboroughs of the liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents, in the parish of St. Andrew's, Holborn, with the overseers of the poor and some of the inhabitants of the said liberty, to make a rate for reimbursing William Price, constable of the said liberty, the money by him expended in receiving and conveying away, with passes, "cripples, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars through the said liberty.
    • Order for the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of Saffron Hill liberty to receive and provide for Sarah, child of John Early, who has left his habitation.
    • Order for the late overseers of the parish of St. Andrew, Holbom, and the overseers of the liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents to submit their accounts to certain of the Justices for audit

Four Shillings in the Pound Aid 1693/4 ; index of streets in Middlesex > St Andrew Holborn > Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden and Ely Rents

The_Childrens_Newspaper No. 483 1928-06-23 "Ely Place"

The beadles of Ely Place ... receive their appointment from the Crown, and no mere City policeman may enter its gates unless he has been summoned by the beadles to their aid. All through the night the senior beadle cries out the hour, and up to the war he cried the state of the weather as well ... it was only some 20 years ago that its Parliamentary voters began to vote in London instead of Cambridgeshire"

The Story of the Shire p.179:

When the first great Reform Bill came to be passed, a rectification of the frontiers had to be made for electoral purposes, to overcome the difficulties arising from detached portions of some counties lying within the confines of other territorial counties. A few years later, other legal and administrative anomalies, which naturally attached to isolated fragments of a county lying away in some "foreign" area, were remedied by the Statute 7 and 8 Victoria c. 62 [recte c.61; Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844], which generally made them parts of the counties by which they were respectively surrounded.
No more absurd instance of this inconvenient arrangement could be found than that of Ely Place, Holborn, which was supposed to be ID the county of Cambridge the locality having anciently been the "inn" of the Bishop of Ely, the tenements known as "Ely Rents," though within the liberties, franchises, and jurisdiction of the City of London, long remained a "peculiar" jurisdiction of the Bishop of Ely, and was therefore accounted "part of the city of Ely in the county of Cambridge."

References

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Sources

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Primary

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  • London Gazette matches
  • "Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Place and Ely Rents". National Archives. Retrieved 10 January 2020. records are in Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre
  • "The Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden and Ely Rents". Copy of the Register of the Electors of the borough of Finsbury, for the year 1833–4. 1834. pp. 192–197. Retrieved 10 January 2020. includes Ely-place
  • Owen, Dorothy Mary (1971). "B/7/12 & 13 Correspondence and memoranda of Chamberlain about parochial matters, especially non-residence and religious teaching, 1783–90". Ely Records: A Handlist of the Records of the Bishop and Archdeacon of Ely. Chichester, Sussex: Diocese of Ely. p. 15. 9 v° Copy of a licence for the exercise of episcopal functions in Ely Place, Holborn by Bishop of London, 1386/7
  • Gibbons, A. (1891). Ely Episcopal Records. Lincoln: James Williamson for Alwyne Compton. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
    • A13 : Ely Chapel Register pp.27–37; addendum p.432 (list matches C. St. G.'s description);
    • D9 p.110 "Bill for vesting Ely House, Holborn, &c., in the Crown, and the Site of the Fleet Prison, &c., in the Corporation of London, and for making compensation to the Lord Bishop of Ely and his successors." -- did 12 George 3 c.43 relate to Fleet?
  • John Ecton [1789 judg] says "In the older editions of Ecton, I perceive that Ely Chapel is classed in London"
  • Maps:
    • Rocque 1746 shows "Ely C" on the far side of Hatton Garden from "Bishop of Ely's".
    • Sheet 035, Ordnance Survey, 1869-1880 has Ely Court likewise and "Ely Mews" beside Ethelreda's; all in "Liberty of Saffron Hill (Extra-Parochial)"
    • "Site of Ely House" w "City and County of the City of London & Parly. Boro. Bdy." 1:1,056 London VII.55, Revised: 1894, Published: 1896
    • "Liberty of Saffron Hill" w "Union & Parly.Boro.Bdy" 25-inch London (1915- Numbered sheets) V.10, Revised: 1914, Published: 1936
  • Parl papers:
    • 1738 report on petition "of the Church Wardens, Overseers of the Poor, and great Numbers of the Inhabitants of the several Parishes of St. Giles in the Fields, the Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents, in the Parish of St. Andrew, Holbourn; St. Dunstan, Stepney; St. Paul, Shadwell; St. Anne in Middlesex; St. Sepulchres in Middlesex; St. Luke, Middlesex; and St. James, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex; whose Names are thereunto subscribed, in behalf of themselves, and the rest of the Parishes of the said County"
      [p.4] Mr. Alexander Clarke, High Constable of Holbourn Division, being examined, said, That he received an Order dated fully the 13th, 1734; and signed by John Higgs Treasurer, for collecting the Sum of £156/8s on his Division, for passing of Vagrants; that he received of the said Rate £96/0s/10d and that there remains in Arrear the Sum of £60/7s/2d from the Parish of St. Giles, and the Liberty of the Rolls; that he paid £74/3s/9d to Mr. Higgs; that he retained the Remainder in his Hands, because he had a Prosecution against him, at the Suit of Thomas Wyborn, Constable of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents, for levying the said Rate in that Division; and Mr. Robe advised him, not to pay the Money, and said that he would want it again
      [p.61] At a Quarter Sessions of the Peace in the Year 1734, an Order was made by the Justices then and there present, for the raising the Sum of £800 on the County of Middlesex, for Passing, Conveying, and Maintaining Vagrants: After which Alexander Clarke, then High Constable of Holborn Division, received a Warrant, or Precept, under the Hand and Seal of John Higgs, then Treasurer of such Monies, commanding him the said High Constable, to issue his Precepts to the several Parish Officers within his Division, thereby to order and require the said Parish Officers to raise and levy such Sums of Money, for the Purposes aforesaid, as was mentioned in the said High Constable's Precept to them directed, as aforesaid; by virtue of which the Sum of £800 has been raised on the County of Middlesex; amongst which was raised and paid by the Inhabitants of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents, in the Parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, in the said County, the Sum of £11/4s/3d; upon which the Court of King's Bench was moved, by Counsel, for a Certiorari to be allowed, to remove the said Order into the said Court, which was granted; and upon hearing the same, the Court adjudged all the Justices Proceedings in raising the said Sum of £800 to be illegal, and their Order to be quashed.


    • 1832 Parl Boundaries report V.2 Pt.2 Middlesex:
      • map No.3 (in Finsb bor) "Libs of SH HG ER and EP"
      • p.112 metropolitan boroughs (1) parish vestries as parliamentary registrars problematic vis-a-vis extra-parochial places refusing to pay vestry rates (2) 1821 census report incorrect divisions
      • p.114 Finsbury "difficulties about southern boundary" but no mention of libs in that regard. Prop is "THAT the Finsbury Borough do consist of the whole of the several Parishes of St. Luke, St. George-the-Martyr, St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and St. George, Bloomsbury; of the several Liberties of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents, Ely Place, the Rolls, and Glass House Yard; of the Extra-parochial Place called The Charter House; of Lincoln's Inn and Gray’s Inn; of the Parish of St. James and St. John, Clerkenwell, except that part thereof which is situate to the North of the Parish of Islington; of the several Ecclesiastical Districts of Trinity, St. Paul's and St. Mary, in the Parish of St. Mary Islington, as such Districts are at present established; those parts of the respective Parishes of St. Sepulchre and St. Andrew, Holborn, and of Furnival's Inn and Staple Inn respectively, which are situated without the Liberty of the City of London"
      • p.130: 1830 rates separate lines for "SH HG ER " and "EP" with note on EP.
    • 1870 Metropolis House Duty by "parish or place" includes line item "Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Place, Liberty", not marked "extra parochial"
  • Census:
    • Mx C; Ossulstone H; Holborn D; separate "Parish, Township, or Extra-Parochial Place" line items for "Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents — Liberty" and "Ely Place — Extra-P." in 1801, 1811, 1821
    • 1861 census; Mx; Sup Reg District 14 Holborn; Subdistrict 3 Saffron Hill includes three line items, the first being "Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents, and Ely Place", braced together as "Liberties"; others are "St Sepulchre part of (in Middlesex)" and "The Charterhouse", each called "Parish"; by contrast 13.3 includes "The Rolls" a "Liberty"
  • Acts:
    • "Until 1797 there were two official series of Acts - Public and Private - but in that year the Public Acts were divided into two further series of Public General Acts and Public Local and Personal Acts" -- so no need to scour private acts, relate to persons not places
    • 31 Henry 8 c.xii/c. 26 (An Act for an Exchange between the Bishops of Rochester and Carlisle and the Lord Russell) [1789 judg quotes relevance] "that they should have the same authority in their new houses at Lambeth and Chiswick as they had exercised in their old houses"
    • 33 Henry 8 c.31 (Bishoprics of Chester and Man Act 1541) [1789 judg quotes relevance] "he shall be held resident in the diocese of Chester, and have jurisdiction in his house at Weston, within the diocese of Coventry and Litchfield, during his abode there, as other Bishops have in the houses belonging to their sees, wheresoever they lie"
    • 10 Geo. 2 c.25 (1737) -- night watch and bedels in Lib SH HG ER
    • 12 George 3 c.43 (1772) -- Ely Place vested in crown [1841 judg]; Ely retains Cambridge visitation rights from new house [1789 judg]; s.13
      • [s.2 defines area ceded] all that house called Ely House, situate in Holbourn, in the county of Middlesex, and all that and those the chapel, coach-houses, stables, and other offices, gardens, and yard thereto belonging, with all the rights, members, privileges, immunities, exemptions, ways, paths, passages, sages, casements, commodities, emoluments, advantages, and appurtenances to the said house and premises, or any part thereof, had usually held and enjoyed therewith, (save and except hereout all the ancient wall and fences, which circumscribe the several messuages or tenements now held by the right honourable Anthony earl of Shaftsbury, under a lease from the late lord bishop of Ely, with free liberty of ingress and egress, to repair or rebuild the said walls, and without prejudice to all lights necessary to the said messuages or tenement, or such other buildings as may hereafter be erected on the scite of the said premises,)
    • 14 George 3 c.90 -- s.1 continues 10 Geo. 2 c.25
    • 15 George 3 c.33 ss.18–19 Ely Place vested in Treasury, allowing conveyancing to Cole [1841 judg]
    • 8 Geo 3 c.21 (London Paving Act 1768, replaced 6 Geo 3 c.26 London Paving Act 1766)
    • Metropolitan Police Act 1829 (10 Geo.4, c.44, Schedule) In the definition of "The Metropolitan Police District", under Middlesex, "The Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents" is in the "Holborn Division" whereas "Ely Place" is under "Extra-Parochial Places" -- ianvisits says "There is a note in the Police Act of 1829 that Ely Place was extra-parochial, but that was probably because anyone who paid the poor-rate had to pay for the police — and the residents of Ely Place didn’t pay a poor-rate to their local parish." A 1901 book says 'The Metropolitan police district is partitioned off into various "divisions" according to counties, those of Middlesex being as follows, Westminster, Holborn, Finsbury, Tower, Kensington, Brentford, and a division comprising certain extra-parochial places such as Grays Inn, Furnivals Inn and Ely Place'.[13]
    • Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 Sched, 22, Finsbury Division includes
      The several Parishes of Saint Luke, Saint George the Martyr, St Giles in the Fields, Saint George Bloomsbury, Saint Mary Stoke Newington, and St. Mary, Islington; the several Liberties or Places of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents, Ely Place, the Rolls, Glass House Yard, and the Charter House; Lincolns Inn and Grays Inn; the Parish of St. James and St. John Clerkenwell, except that Part thereof which is situate to the North of the Parish of Islington; those Parts of the respective Parishes of Saint Sepulchre and Saint Andrew Holborn and of Furnivals Inn and Staple Inn respectively, which are situated without the Liberty of the City of London
    • 5 & 6 Will 4 c.xviii Local (1835) 1841 judgment calls them "commissioners for paving and improving the Liberty of Saffron Hill, in the county of Middlesex" and says they claimed "Ely Place was or had been a paved way and place
      • within the limits of the local paving act, 5 Will. 4, cap. xviii.,
      • or within that part of the Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents, which had not been paved, lighted, and cleansed by virtue of the London Paving Act, 8 Geo. 3, c. 21,
      • or was and had been within and under the jurisdiction and control of the said commissioners for paving and improving the Liberty of Saffron Hill"
      which 3 alternatives seem to be the same thing
      • thegazette notice of intent to introduce bill commissioners authority over area including "the liberty of Saffron-hill, Hatton-garden, and Ely-rents, in the said county of Middlesex (except such part of the last-mentioned liberty as has been paved, lighted, and cleansed by virtue of [8 Geo 3 c.21])"
      • 21 & 22 Vict c.xxxii (1858) preamble gives name "An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, and regulating the several Parishes of Saint Margaret, Saint John the Evangelist, and Saint James, within the Liberty of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, and the Precinct of the Savoy, and also Part of the Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents, within the same County, and for other Purposes therein mentioned"
    • 5 & 6 Vict c.xlviii Local (18 June 1842) "An Act for pavings lighting, watching, cleansing, and improving Ely Place and Ely Mews, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex"
    • Burial Acts defining "Metropolitan Burial District" including separate line items "The liberty of Hatton Garden, Saffron Hill, and Ely Rents" and "Ely Place":
  • Trials:
    • 1789 Barton v Wells consistory court service in Ely Chapel — which bishop should license? London since alienation — decided by William Scott, later Lord Stowell, also dubious of 1781 extra-parochial jury verdict
    • oldbaileyonline WILLIAM DAWSON. Theft: theft from a specified place. 16th September 1824 Cross-examined by Mr. BRODRICK. Q. I believe Ely-place is extra parochial - A. It is considered so; we pay for lighting, paving, &c. ourselves, but we consider ourselves in St. Andrew's parish. They call on us occasionally for particular rates; we are exempted as belonging to the Bishop's Palace; Ely-place and Thaves-inn are both in the the same situation; we pay no poor-rates.
    • A Collection of Decisions in the Courts for revising the Lists of Electors 1832 Reform Act election cases; extra-parochial places: Ely Place excluded by Lib SH HG ER from roll of Finsbury parl bor electors due to rates dispute; decision affected by "the question, whether Ely-place is or is not parochial, is in the course of investigation in a trial in the Court of King's Bench"
    • 1834 report on extra-parochial St Margaret's case mentions 1781 Ely Place case on pp. 121-2, 138, 163-4, 207-8
    • Griffith, Edward (1831). "The Ely Church Estate". Cases of Supposed Exemption from Poor Rates: Claimed on the Ground of Extra-parochiality, with a Preliminary Sketch of the Ancient History of the Parish of St. Andrew, Holborn. Butterworth. pp. 192–201. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
    • 1838:
      The parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, was divided, under [Poor Relief Act 1662] stat. 13 & 14 Car. 2. c. 12, s. 21, into three liberties, each maintaining its own poor; one of which was called The Upper Liberty. The commissioners under the Church Building Act of l0 Ann. c. ll, made part of The Upper Liberty, by the name of St. George the Martyr, a separate parish for ecclesiastical purposes only, under sect. 8, not separating it for other purposes under sect. 22; the residue of The Upper Liberty was afterwards called St. Andrew, Holborn, above Bars. St. George the Martyr and St. Andrew Holborn above Bars were never separated as to the relief of the poor; but, by stat. 6 G. 4, c. clxxv., a board of governors and directors of the poor of the district comprehending the two was to be chosen in certain proportions from each of the two. [...]
      The order [of the PLC making Holborn PLU] then referred to stat. 10 G. 4, c. xxxii. (local and personal, public),(a) and provided that the Holborn Union should not include the part of Lincoln's Inn which, by that act, is made extra-parochial.
    • Gale, Charles James; Davison, Henry (1842). "1841 June 1st. Paul v James". Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Queen's Bench: And Upon Writs of Error from that Court to the Exchequer Chamber. S. Sweet. pp. 316–. Retrieved 6 January 2020.

Secondary

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Citations

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  1. ^ "Old London Illustrated" (Henry William Brewer, Herbert Arthur Cox) 1921 ed p.34 "Ely Place of the present day still forms part of Cambridgeshire" 1922 ed p.40 "Ely Place till a recent day still formed part of Cambridgeshire" Henry Vollam Morton's "London" [1937] p.137-8: when this backwater was not technically in London, but belonged to the diocese of Ely. It is said that to-day a letter addressed to the “Mitre Tavern', Ely Place, Cambridgeshire, will be delivered in Ely Place, Holborn. John Gibbons "My Own Queer Country" [1937] pp.6-7 premises are still nominally licensed not by London at all but by the Cambridgeshire authority seventy miles away
  2. ^ a b c d Richardson, J., The Annals of London, (2000)
  3. ^ King Richard II Act 2, Scene 1
  4. ^ Surv Lon v46 p96
  5. ^ Jarvis, Stephen Eyre (1911). A history of Ely Place. Market Weighton: St. William's Press. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  6. ^ Hughson 1807 p.81
  7. ^ Darkes, Giles (2018). A Map of Tudor London, in about 1520. Historic Towns Trust. ISBN 978-0-9934698-3-1. Retrieved 28 May 2020 – via Layers of London.; see also
  8. ^ "The Workhouse in Holborn, Middlesex, London". www.workhouses.org.uk. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  9. ^ Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales (1836). Second Annual Report. Charles Knight. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  10. ^ 5 & 6 Vict. c.xlviii
  11. ^ Metropolis Management Act 1855 ss. 237, 247
  12. ^ "Metropolitan Local Management". Hansard. 16 March 1855. c703. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  13. ^ Melville Lee, W. L. (8 September 2014) [1901]. A History of Police in England. Project Gutenberg. p. 233. Retrieved 13 January 2020.

Category:Streets in the London Borough of Camden Category:Holborn Category:Diocese of Ely