St Clement Danes (parish)

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St Clement Danes
Civil parish
Westminster Civil Parish Map 1870.png
Area
  188153 acres (0.21 km2)
  1901/192157 acres (0.23 km2)
  Coordinates 51°30′50″N0°06′57″W / 51.5138°N 0.1158°W / 51.5138; -0.1158 Coordinates: 51°30′50″N0°06′57″W / 51.5138°N 0.1158°W / 51.5138; -0.1158
Population
  188110,280
  19016,090
  19211,905
Density
  1881194/acre
  1901107/acre
  192133/acre
History
  Origin Ancient parish
  Createdbefore 1190
  Abolished1922
  Succeeded by City of Westminster (parish)
Status Civil parish
GovernmentSt Clement Danes Vestry (16th century–1855)
  Type Vestry
   HQ Vestry Hall, Strand
Contained within
  District Strand (1855–1900)
  Poor Law Union Strand (1836–1913)
City of Westminster (1913–1922)

St Clement Danes was a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England; an ecclesiastical version remains (see its Anglican church, St Clement Danes). The parish was split between the Liberty of Westminster and the Liberty of the Duchy of Lancaster (also known as of the Savoy). The area is colloquially split between Aldwych and Adelphi areas associated with the larger Strand area in the extreme east of the City of Westminster. It includes hotels, restaurants, the Indian and Australian High Commissions and the London School of Economics. To its west is Charing Cross station which faces Trafalgar Square.

Contents

Toponymy

King's College Hospital in Portugal Street, Lincoln Inn Fields c1840s King's College Hospital, Portugal-Street, Lincoln's Inn. Wellcome L0004847.jpg
King's College Hospital in Portugal Street, Lincoln Inn Fields c1840s
Plaque marking where King's College Hospital once stood, now on LSE grounds Plaque commemorating King's College Hospital building situated on LSE grounds.jpg
Plaque marking where King's College Hospital once stood, now on LSE grounds

It took its name from the dedication of the church of St Clement Danes. It is recorded in the early 12th century as parochia Sancti Clementis ecclesie Dacorum or 'the parish of St Clement's church of the Danes'. The name suggests there were Danes living in the area, to the west of the City of London. [1]

Governance

It was first recorded in 1190, [2] being as such a relatively ancient parish; about half was in the Liberty of Westminster and half in the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex until its final forms when other parishes had been created absorbing parts of its earlier area. [3] The medieval parish lay partly in the vill of Westminster, being one of four parishes of Westminster, and partly in the soke of Leicester a city in the English Midlands. [2] The Ossulstone section formed part of the Liberty of the Duchy of Lancaster. The parish was included in the returns of the Bills of mortality from 1604. [4]

In 1826 the stocks belonging to the parish, situated in Portugal Street were removed and destroyed. They were thought to be the last remaining in London. [5]

The parish was grouped into the Strand District in 1855 when it came within the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works. In 1889 the parish became part of the County of London and in 1900 it became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. It was abolished as a civil parish in 1922.

Hospital

The lower right box of Booth's poverty map, 1889 shows the dotted lines of the parish containing a greater than average proportion of blue, poor streets relative to other areas of the broad West End of London Descriptive map of London poverty, 1889 Wellcome L0074436.jpg
The lower right box of Booth's poverty map, 1889 shows the dotted lines of the parish containing a greater than average proportion of blue, poor streets relative to other areas of the broad West End of London

King's College Hospital was originally opened in 1840 in the disused St Clement Danes parish workhouse in Portugal Street, as a training facility where medical students of King's College London could practice and receive instruction from the college's own professors. Booth's poverty map shows a generation later remnant streets of the intense poverty which formed much of the parish of the 1840s overcrowded tenements characterised by poverty and disease and the hospital was treating annually 1,290 inpatients in 120 beds, with two patients sharing a bed by no means unusual. [6] The hospital later moved to its present site in Denmark Hill.

Geography

The parish consisted of two areas extending into the left (north) half of the Thames.

The main part formed the east part of Westminster vill which was largely gardens and rural until the late medieval period. It adjoined the Liberty of the Rolls and the Temple area of the City of London. To the west it had a straight boundary with two parishes of contrasting size: St Martin in the Fields (large) and St Mary le Strand (very small). To the north it was bounded by St Giles in the Fields.

The western detached part was very small; it lay between an arm of St Martin in the Fields by the river and the few-acres Precinct of the Savoy of similar size to St Mary le Strand also by the river. [7]

Demography
YearPopulation [8] Initial acreage and changes [9]
180113,001not known
181113,706not known
182114,763not known
183115,44252 acres (0.21 km2)
184115,602unchanged
185115,662Decrease2.svg9
188110,280Increase2.svg10
18918,492Increase2.svg2
19016,090Increase2.svg2
19113,152unchanged
19211,905unchanged
Ecclesiastical successor

The boundaries are the same in the Church of England as the final form of the civil parish save that St Mary le Strand is combined; it has a third place of worship, King's College Chapel, London. [10] The two churches are known as the "island churches" forming traffic islands.

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St Clement Danes Church in London, England

St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th century by the Danes, the current building was completed in 1682 by Sir Christopher Wren. Wren's building was gutted during the Blitz and not restored until 1958, when it was adapted to its current function as the central church of the Royal Air Force.

Ossulstone

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The Holborn Division was one of four divisions of the Hundred of Ossulstone, in the county of Middlesex, England. The other divisions were named Finsbury, Kensington and Tower.

City and Liberty of Westminster

The City and Liberty of Westminster was a unit of local government in the county of Middlesex, England. It was located immediately to the west of the City of London. Originally under the control of Westminster Abbey, the local authority for the area was the Westminster Court of Burgesses from 1585 to 1900. The area now forms the southern part of the City of Westminster in Greater London.

Precinct of the Savoy

The Precinct of the Savoy, also known as Savoy St John the Baptist, was a component of the Liberty of the Savoy in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was located between the Strand and the River Thames. Formerly extra-parochial, it was a civil parish between 1866 and 1922. It now forms part of the City of Westminster in Greater London.

Liberty of the Savoy

The Savoy was a manor and liberty sandwiched between the Liberty of Westminster, on two sides, the Inner and Middle Temple corner of City of London and a steep bank of the Tideway. It was in the county of Middlesex. It was all held by the Duchy of Lancaster, and was also known as the Liberty of the Duchy of Lancaster. The duchy (monarch) has kept some reversionary interests and the Savoy Chapel outright. The manor, enjoying the status of a liberty, comprised the precinct of the Savoy, the southern half and detached south-west of the parish of St Clement Danes and about three quarters of St Mary le Strand as it only, in a tiny part, extended north of the Strand whereas those parishes straddled this ancient road.

Liberty of the Rolls

The Liberty of the Rolls was a liberty, and civil parish, in the metropolitan area of London, England.

Strand District (Metropolis)

Strand was a local government district within the metropolitan area of London, England, from 1855 to 1900.

St George Hanover Square

St George Hanover Square was a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. The creation of the parish accompanied the building of the St George's Hanover Square Church, constructed by the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches to meet the demands of the growing population. The parish was formed in 1724 from part of the quite early medieval parish of Saint Martin in the Fields in the consequent Liberty of Westminster, hundred of Ossulstone and county of Middlesex. It included some of the most fashionable areas of the West End of London, including Belgravia and Mayfair. Civil parish administration, known as a select vestry, was dominated by members of the British nobility until the parish adopted the Vestries Act 1831. The vestry was reformed again in 1855 by the Metropolis Management Act. In 1889 the parish became part of the County of London and the vestry was abolished in 1900, replaced by Westminster City Council. The parish continued to have nominal existence until 1922. As created, it was a parish for both church and civil purposes, but the boundaries of the ecclesiastical parish were adjusted in 1830, 1835 and 1865.

St Mary le Strand (parish)

St Mary le Strand was an ancient parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was partly within the Liberty of the Savoy and partly within the Liberty of Westminster. It took its name from the church of St Mary and the Innocents. The church was demolished in 1548 during the construction of Somerset House and not rebuilt until 1723. The parish was de facto merged with the Precinct of the Savoy as "St Mary Savoy", but an attempt to merge the parishes de jure in the early 18th century failed. It was restored as a separate parish following the construction of the New Church in the Strand in 1723. The parish was grouped into the Strand Poor Law Union in 1836 and the Strand District in 1855. In 1889 it became part of the County of London and the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster from 1900. It was abolished as a civil parish in 1922.

St Martin-in-the-Fields (parish)

St Martin-in-the-Fields was a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. It took its name from the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields and was within the Liberty of Westminster. It included within its boundaries the former extra-parochial areas of Buckingham Palace and St James's Palace.

St Anne Within the Liberty of Westminster

St Anne Within the Liberty of Westminster, also known as St Anne Soho, was a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. The creation of the parish accompanied the building of St Anne's Church, Soho to meet the demands of the growing population. The parish was formed in 1687 from part of the ancient parish of St Martin in the Fields in the Liberty of Westminster and county of Middlesex. It included the eastern section of the contemporary districts of Soho to the north of Shaftesbury Avenue and Chinatown to the south of it. Initially controlled by a select vestry, the parish was governed by an open vestry of all inhabitants until 1855, when the vestry was superseded for most purposes by the Strand District Board of Works. In 1889 the parish became part of the County of London and in 1900 the local authority became Westminster City Council. The parish continued to have nominal existence until 1922.

Westminster St Margaret and St John

St Margaret was an ancient parish in the City and Liberty of Westminster and the county of Middlesex. It included the core of modern Westminster, including the Palace of Westminster and the area around, but not including Westminster Abbey. It was divided into St Margaret's and St John's in 1727, to coincide with the building of the Church of St John the Evangelist, constructed by the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches in Smith Square to meet the demands of the growing population, but there continued to be a single vestry for the parishes of St Margaret and St John. This was reformed in 1855 by the Metropolis Management Act, and the two parishes formed the Westminster District until 1887. St Margaret and St John became part of the County of London in 1889. The vestry was abolished in 1900, to be replaced by Westminster City Council, but St Margaret and St John continued to have a nominal existence until 1922.

Cleveland Street Workhouse

The Cleveland Street Workhouse is a Georgian property in Cleveland Street, Marylebone, built between 1775 and 1778 for the care of the sick and poor of the parish of St Paul Covent Garden under the Old Poor Law. From 1836, it became the workhouse of the Strand Union of parishes. The building remained in operation until 2005 after witnessing the complex evolution of the healthcare system in England. After functioning as a workhouse, the building became a workhouse infirmary before being acquired by the Middlesex Hospital and finally falling under the NHS. In the last century it was known as the Middlesex Hospital Annexe and the Outpatient Department. It closed to the public in 2005 and it has since been vacated. On 14 March 2011 the entire building became Grade II Listed. Development of the site began in 2019 by current owner University College London Hospitals (UCLH) Charity as a mixed-use development including residential, commercial and open space, but construction has been held up by the necessity to remove human remains stemming from the use of the area around the workhouse as a parish burial ground between 1780 and 1853. There has also been controversy about the amount of social housing to be included in the development.

Glasshouse Yard

The Liberty of Glasshouse Yard was an extra-parochial liberty adjacent to the City of London. The liberty took its name from a glass manufacturing works established there. The area now forms part of the London Borough of Islington.

References

  1. Mills, D. (2000). Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names. Oxford.
  2. 1 2 "Middlesex and London".
  3. Youngs, Frederic (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England. Vol. I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. ISBN   0-901050-67-9.
  4. Reginald H. Adams (1971). The Parish Clerks of London. Phillimore.
  5. Richardson, John (2000). The annals of London : a year-by-year record of a thousand years of history . Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN   0520227956.
  6. "Charles Lucas" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49439.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  7. Port, M. H. (Edr.) (1986). "Illustrative map of London parishes". The Commissions for building fifty new churches: The minute books, 1711-27, a calendar. London Record Society.
  8. University of Portsmouth and Others 'A Vision of Britain'
  9. University of Portsmouth and Others 'A Vision of Britain']
  10. "St Clement Danes Church the Central Church of the Royal Air Force".