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Leadenhall Market was located at the junction of Cornhill and Gracechurch Street. On the Agas Copperplate (Ledden hall
) is featured as an open, square courtyard structure with four towers at each corner (Prockter and Taylor 25). This large, central building functioned as a market, a granary, a storage facility, and a mustering place. It is known to students of pageantry as the place where the pageants were stored between days of triumph, and to students of English Renaissance drama as the building that
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The Leadenhall area is, according to classicist John Morris, the most excavated and best understood place in Roman London (Morris 99). When Sir Horace Jones began excavations to rebuild Leadenhall market in 1881–1882, the architect unwittingly discovered part of a Roman basilica that was buried beneath the original seventh-century building (Hanson 15; see also LAARC GM326). In fact, further excavations undertaken in the 1930s revealed that Leadenhall market covered the east side of a 153.924 by 45.72 metre basilica (Hanson 15), which lay north of a 152.4 metre open forum that stretched east bordering Leadenhall Street and extended south to Fenchurch Street (Marsden 99).
Built in approximately administrative and legal functions of the state
(Sorrel 48). Far from a simple marketplace, the Roman forum and basilica represented, as Mary Cathcart Borer writes in her history of London, the heart of business life of the city
(Borer 19).
While numerous fragments of Roman walls and Italic pottery have been uncovered at Leadenhall, archaeologists know little about the Leadenhall site in Anglo-Saxon and Norman London. Scholars do reason that a building must have occupied the site (Gomme 94). The earliest mention of Leadenhall market occurs in in the yeare
, Leadenhall belonged to
(Stow 1598, sig. I2v).
The function of Leadenhall changed over its early history. Leadhall Market was initially a food market. The courtyard was a meeting place for all poultry brought to London had first to be taken to Leadenhall for sale
(Barker and Jackson 71). In
doing ſo notable a worke for the common weale, alſo left example to other Citizens comming after him, whõ God likewiſe exalteth with ſuch temporall bleſſings(Stow sig. 2S5r). Completed in
Just as it had expanded Eastcheap market, the City maintained Leadenhall as an important centre of commerce. In
The vſe of Leaden Hall in my youth was thus: In a part of the North quadrant on the Eaſt ſide of the North gate, was the common beames for weighing of wooll, and other wares, as had béene accuſtomed: on the weſt ſide the gate was the ſcales to way meale: the other thrée ſides were reſerued for the moſt part to the making and reſting of the pageants ſhewed at midſommer in the watch: the remnant of the ſides and quadrantes were imployed for the ſtowage of wooll ſackes, but not cloſed vp: the lofts aboue were partly vſed by the painters in working for the decking of pageants and other deuiſes, for beautifying of the watch and watchmen, the reſidue of the loftes were letten out to marchantes, the wooll winders and packers therein to wind and pack their wools
Archaeologist Christopher Thomas observes that the ground floor (partially covered with arcades around the perimeter) was a common market selling butter, cheese, poultry, grain, victuals, and eggs. The first and second floors were used to store grain for the City, and a spiral staircase was situated at each corner to allow sacks of grain to be transported up and down (Thomas 124).Ledden hall
) is featured as an open, square courtyard structure with four towers at each corner. Scales for weighing meal and the chapel also appear on each map (Prockter and Taylor 25).
Leadenhall’s importance as a centre for trade is demonstrated by the numerous negotiations regarding the use and governance of the site. In
While certain tradesmen, such as foreigners, could sell only on specific days, other sellers were permitted to sell each market day. In his historiography
Butchers ſhould ſell their meat by weight, Beef for a half-peny the pound, and Mutton for three farthings, alſo at this time forraigne Butchers were permitted, their fleſh in Leadenhall-market, which before was not allowed(Baker sig. 3H4r). But not every company was pleased with the City’s market policies. In
Perhaps due to its spaciousness, Leadenhall Market was used as a place of storage. Besides grain, it stored timbers for reparation of tenements, artilleries, guns, and other armors for the safeguard and possible defense of the city (Stow 1598, sig. I5r). Guns were stored in the Market since at least all the stockes for Guns
(Stow 1598, sig. I4r). Sacks of wool were stored in the remnant of the sides and quadrantes
of Leadenhall Market (Stow 1598, sig. I6r). It was responsible for keeping the donated largess and dole for the poor as well (Stow 1598, sig. I5v).
Leadenhall functioned as a place for assembly. Because its location near the major east-west route and the major north-south route through the city made for a direct march towas at the pivot of Aldgate, Newgate, Bishopsgate and London Bridge, the city could be mustered in Leadenhall for military purposes. there is none so conuenient méet and necessarie a place to assemble them in, within the said cittie, as the said Leaden hall, both for largenes of roome, and for their sure defence in time of their counselling together about the premises
(Stow 1598, sig. I5r). In his
my lord mayor did warn all the crafts to bring in their men in harness to Leadenhall with pikes and guns and bows and bills in blue cloaks bordered with red(Machyn 1562-09-18). When
any triumph or noblenesse were to be done(Stow 1598, sig. I5r), Leadenhall Market was used to prepare and order celebration. About the year
As an integral part of London life, Leadenhall was featured in various pageants and plays. Leadenhall was situated on the royal procession route, so it was a main location for pageants. In
From thence the Quéene wyth hir traine paſſed to Leaden hall, where was a goodly Pageaunte with a tipe and heauenly Roſe, and vnder the tippe was a goodly roote of Golde, ſette on a little mountaine enuironed wyth red Roſes and white, oute of the typpe came downe a Faulcon all whyte, and ſette vppon the roote, and incontinent came downe an Angel wyth greate melodie, and ſette a cloſe Crowne of Gold on the Faulcons head: and in the ſame Pageant ſateSaint Anne wyth all hir iſſue beneath hir: and vnderMary Cleophe ſate hir foure children, of the whiche chyldren, one made a goodlye Oration to the Quéen of the fruitefulneſſe ofSaint Anne , and of hir generation, truſting, that lyke fruite ſhoulde come of hir.
Midsummer pageants were also held at Leadenhall. When the City prepared for processions, pageants, or festivals, they also used Leadenhall’s second floor as both a year-round storage area and as a place where painters, carpenters, and other craftsmen could prepare for the upcoming festivities (Thomas 124; Stow 1598, sig. I6r).
In his
that in the middeſt thereof there ſhould bée a Market place kept euery Monday for Leather, where the Shoomakers of London, for their more eaſe, might buy of the Tanners, without ſéeking any further(Deloney sig. J4r). Although
wéele haue it cald, / The Leaden hall, because in digging it, / You found the lead that couereth the same(Dekkersig. K3v). The king also illustrates his supremacy by passing policies regarding Leadenhall’s business. Speaking for the plight of his fellow shoemakers,
[t]o hold two market dayes in Leden hall, / Mondayes and Fridayes(Dekker sig. K4r). As we know, Leadenhall was a public building owned by the City. If the king wished to pass any policies regarding the marketplace, he would have had to consult the City council first. By allowing the king to name and pass policies regarding Leadenhall,
Leadenhall continued to prosper as a central marketplace until the fire of