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The Survey of London (1633): Town Ditch

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The Survey of London (1633): The Thames
The Survey of London (1633): Bridges
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The Towne-ditch without the Wall of
the CITIE.
THe Ditch, which partly
now remaineth,
Lib. Dunsta
ble.
and com
passed the wall of the Ci
tie,
Ditch a
bout Lon
don 200. foot broad Lib. Trin.
was begun to be made
by the Londoners, in the
yeere 1211. and finished 1213. the 15.
of K. Iohn: this ditch being then made
of 200. foot broad, caused no small hin
drance to the Canons of the holy Trini
tie, whose Church stood neere Ealdgate,
for that the said ditch passed through
their ground from the Tower unto Bi
shopsgate. This Ditch being originally
made for the defence of the Citie, was
also long time together carefully clean
sed and maintained, as need required:
but now of late neglected, and forced
eyther to a very narrow, and the same a
filthy channell, or altogether stopped
up, for Gardens planted, & houses buil
ded thereon, even to the Wall, and in
many places upon both Ditch & Wall,
houses are builded, to what danger of
the Citie, I leave to wiser consideration
than mine owne: and can but wish that
reformation might be had.
In the yeere of Christ 1354. 28. Ed. 3.
the ditch of this Citie flowing over the
banke into the Tower ditch,
Ditch of the Citie overflow
ed the banke, in
to the Tower Ditch.
the King
commanded the said ditch of the Citie
to be cleansed and so ordered, that the o
verflowing thereof, should not force any
filth into the Tower ditch.
Ann. 1379. Iohn Philpot, Maior of Lon
don, caused this ditch to be clensed, and
every houshold to pay 5. d. which was
for a dayes worke toward the charges
therof. R. 2. in the 10. of his reigne, gran
ted a Toll to be taken of wares sold by
water or by land for 10. yeeres, towards
repairing the wall, & clensing the ditch.
Thomas Fawconer Maior, 1414. caused
the ditch to be clensed.
Ralph Ioseline Maior, 1477. caused the
whole ditch to be cleansed, and so from
time to time it was cleansed and other
wise reformed: namely, in 1519. the 10
of Hen. 8. for clensing and scowring the
Ditch
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Bridges of this Citie.

ditch, betweene Ealdgate and the Po
sterne next the Tower ditch: the chiefe
ditcher had by the day 7. pence, the se
cond ditcher 6. pence, the other dit
chers, 5. pence. And every vagabond
(for so were they then termed) one pen
ny the day, meat and drink, at the char
ges of the Citie.
Sum. 95. l. 3. s. 4. d.
In my remembrance also the same
was cleansed, namely the Moore ditch,
when Sir William Hollies was Maior, in
the yeere 1540. and not long before,
from the Tower of London to Ealdgate.
It was againe cleansed in the yeere
1549. Henry Ameotes being Maior, at
the charges of the Companies. And a
gaine 1569. the 11. of Q. Eliz. for clean
sing the same Ditch, betweene Ealdgate
and the Posterne, and making a new
Sewere, and Wharfe of Timber, from
the head of the Posterne into the towne
ditch, 814. l. 15. s. 8. d. Before the
which time, the said ditch lay open,
without wall or pall, having therein
great store of very good fish,
Plenty of good fish in the Towne ditch.
of divers
sorts, as many men yet living, who have
taken and tasted them, can well witnes:
but now no such matter, the charge of
cleansing is spared, and great profit
made by letting out the bankes, with
the spoile of the whole ditch.
I am not ignorant of two Fifteenes
granted by a common Councell, in the
yeere 1595. for the reformation of this
ditch, and that a small portion thereof,
to wit, betweene Bishopsgate and the Po
sterne called Mooregate, was cleansed,
and made somewhat broader than it
was before: but filling againe very fast,
by reason of over-raising the ground
neere adjoyning, therefore never the
better: and I will so leave it, for I can
not helpe it.
The Survey of London (1633): The Thames
The Survey of London (1633): Bridges

Cite this page

MLA citation

Stow, John, Anthony Munday, Anthony Munday, and Humphrey Dyson. The Survey of London (1633): Town Ditch. The Map of Early Modern London, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 15 Sep. 2020, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/stow_1633_ditch.htm. Draft.

Chicago citation

Stow, John, Anthony Munday, Anthony Munday, and Humphrey Dyson. The Survey of London (1633): Town Ditch. The Map of Early Modern London. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed September 15, 2020. https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/stow_1633_ditch.htm. Draft.

APA citation

Stow, J., Munday, A., Munday, A., & Dyson, H. 2020. The Survey of London (1633): Town Ditch. In J. Jenstad (Ed), The Map of Early Modern London. Victoria: University of Victoria. Retrieved from https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/stow_1633_ditch.htm. Draft.

RIS file (for RefMan, EndNote etc.)

Provider: University of Victoria
Database: The Map of Early Modern London
Content: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

TY  - ELEC
A1  - Stow, John
A1  - Munday, Anthony
A1  - Munday, Anthony
A1  - Dyson, Humphrey
ED  - Jenstad, Janelle
T1  - The Survey of London (1633): Town Ditch
T2  - The Map of Early Modern London
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/09/15
CY  - Victoria
PB  - University of Victoria
LA  - English
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/stow_1633_ditch.htm
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/xml/standalone/stow_1633_ditch.xml
TY  - UNP
ER  -

RefWorks

RT Unpublished Material
SR Electronic(1)
A1 Stow, John
A1 Munday, Anthony
A1 Munday, Anthony
A1 Dyson, Humphrey
A6 Jenstad, Janelle
T1 The Survey of London (1633): Town Ditch
T2 The Map of Early Modern London
WP 2020
FD 2020/09/15
RD 2020/09/15
PP Victoria
PB University of Victoria
LA English
OL English
LK https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/stow_1633_ditch.htm

TEI citation

<bibl type="mla"><author><name ref="#STOW6"><surname>Stow</surname>, <forename>John</forename></name></author>, <author><name ref="#MUND1"><forename>Anthony</forename> <surname>Munday</surname></name></author>, <author><name ref="#MUND1"><forename>Anthony</forename> <surname>Munday</surname></name></author>, and <author><name ref="#DYSO1"><forename>Humphrey</forename> <surname>Dyson</surname></name></author>. <title level="a">The Survey of London (1633): Town Ditch</title>. <title level="m">The Map of Early Modern London</title>, edited by <editor><name ref="#JENS1"><forename>Janelle</forename> <surname>Jenstad</surname></name></editor>, <publisher>U of Victoria</publisher>, <date when="2020-09-15">15 Sep. 2020</date>, <ref target="https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/stow_1633_ditch.htm">mapoflondon.uvic.ca/stow_1633_ditch.htm</ref>. Draft.</bibl>

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