York House

York House, Strand, was built before 1237 for the Bishops of Norwich, and first known as Norwich Place. In 1536 Henry VIII granted it to his brother-in-law Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, in exchange for the Duke's house in Southwark and provided the Bishop of Norwich with a house in Cannon Row, Westminster.

The property was known as Suffolk Place until 1556 when it was surrendered to Mary I, who gave it to Nicholas Heath, Archbishop of York. In 1558 York House became the official residence of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, Sir Nicholas Bacon. His son, future philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon, was born here in 1561. The Earl of Essex was tried here before the Privy Council in 1597 and imprisoned here until he was beheaded as a traitor in the Tower of London in 1600–1. Francis Bacon lived here as Lord Keeper from 1617 until 1621, when he was dismissed following his trial for corruption.

George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, took possession of the house in 1622, and received a formal grant of the house in 1624. After his murder in 1628 by John Felton, Buckingham's widow, Katherine, continued to live at this house, now more commonly known as Buckingham House. She married Randal Macdonnell, 2nd Earl and 1st Marquess of Antrim, in 1635. In the Civil War the property was confiscated and afterwards taken over by General Fairfax. In 1657 George, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, married Fairfax's daughter Mary, and at the Restoration the house was given back to his family.

The house was demolished in the 1670s.

York House. Next beyond this Durham-House, is one other great House, sometime belonging to the Bishop of Norwich, and was his London Lodging, which now pertaineth to the Archbishop of York, by this Occasion: In the Year 1529, when Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop of York, was indicted in the Premunire, whereby King Henry the Eighth was entitled to his Goods and Possessions, he also seized into his Hands the said Archbishop's House, commonly called York Place, and changed the Name thereof into Whitehall.

This House was called anciently, The Archbishop of York's Inn by Westminster.

York House, in the Strand, or York Place, Charing Cross, an old London lodging of the Archbishops of York, obtained by Heath, Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor in Queen Mary's reign, in exchange for Suffolk House, in Southwark, presented to the see of York by Queen Mary, "in recompense of Yorke House [Whitehall], near to Westminster, which King Henry, her father, had taken from Cardinal Wolsey, and from the see of York."¹

The said Archbishop, August 6, 1557, obtained a license for the alienation of this capital messuage of Suffolk Place; and to apply the price thereof for the buying of other houses called also Suffolk Place, lying near Charing Cross; as appears from a register belonging to the Dean and Chapter of York.—Strype, B. iv. p. 17.

This York House does not appear to have been inhabited by any Archbishop of York except Heath, and by him only for a very short time. Young, Grindall, Sandys, Piers, and Hutton, successively Archbishops of York (1561 and 1606), appear to have let it to the Lord Keepers of the Great Seal. Lord Chancellor Bacon, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper, was born at York House, in the Strand, in 1560–1561, and here his father, the Lord Keeper, died in 1579. Lord Keeper Puckering died here in 1596; Lord Chancellor Egerton in 1616–1617. The Commissioners to inquire into the cause of the death of Sir Thomas Overbury sat at York House; and from here are dated the Orders, October 17, 1615, to Somerset "to keep his chamber near the Cockpit," and to his countess "to keep her chamber at the Blackfriars, or at Lord Knollys's house near the Tiltyard."

An attempt was made, in 1588, to obtain the House from Queen Elizabeth, probably by the Earl of Essex, to whom the custody of the House was subsequently committed, as Norden mentions in his Survey of Middlesex. Strype has printed part of a secret letter from Archbishop Sandys to Lord Burghley, entreating his lordship "to be a means to the Queen that he might refuse his yielding therein."² The Earl of Essex, when committed to the charge of Lord Keeper Egerton, was for six months—October 6, 1599 to March 20, 1600—under surveillance or ward in York House. When the Duke of Lennox wished to bargain for his life interest in York House, Lord Bacon replied: "For this you will pardon me: York House is the house wherein my father died, and wherein I first breathed, and there will I yield my last breath, if so please God and the King will give me leave."³

Bacon's Latin letter to the University of Cambridge, on sending them his Novum Organon, is dated Ex Ædibus Eborac, 3mo October 1620. Aubrey says that Bacon built an aviary at York House which cost him £300; but the story of his jesting with the fishermen, which Aubrey says occurred in the garden here, Bacon himself places at Chelsea.⁴ It was from York House that, May 1, 1621, the Great Seal was "fetched from" Lord Bacon. A few months later the disgraced Chancellor had "leave to repair to York House for a fortnight, but remained so long that he had warning to return to Gorhambury."⁵ The next summer (July 1, 1622) we find that "Viscount St. Albans has filed a bill in Chancery against Buckingham, on account of the non-performance of his contract for taking York House."⁶ Somehow York House passed to Buckingham, the first Duke of the Villiers family. He obtained it not apparently from Bacon, having, as was said, "borrowed" it of Archbishop Matthew, till such time as he could persuade him "to accept as good a seat as that was in lieu of the same, which could not be so soon compassed, as the Duke of Buckingham had occasion to make use of rooms for the entertainment of foreign princes."⁷ An exchange, however, was subsequently effected.

May 15, 1624.—Whitson-Eve. The Bill passed in Parliament for the King to have York House in exchange for other lands. This was for the Lord Duke of Buckingham.—Archbishop Laud's Diary.⁸

The duke pulled down the house and erected a large and temporary structure to supply its place, the walls of which were "covered with huge panes of glasse," as mirrors were then rather commonly called.⁹ The Water Gate, on the margin of the Thames, at the bottom of Buckingham Street, which, though nearly entombed by the Thames Embankment, still remains to show the stately scale on which the whole house was designed to have been erected, is attributed to Inigo Jones.

I am confident there are some that live, who will not deny that they have heard the King of blessed memory, graciously pleased to avouch he had seen in Anno 1628, close to the Gate of York House, in a roome not above 35 foot square, as much as could be represented as to Sceans, in the great Banqueting Room of Whitehall.—Sir Balthazar Gerbier, Discourse on Building, 1662.

Thursday, October 8, 1626.—Towards night I went to see the Duke of Boukingham at his residence called Jorschaux [York House], which is extremely fine, and was the most richly fitted up than any other I saw.—Bassompierre's Embassy to England in 1626.

For the more magnificent adornment of York House, Buckingham purchased of Rubens for a hundred thousand florins the splendid collection of paintings, antiques, gems, etc., "more like that of a prince than a private gentleman," with which the great painter of Antwerp had enriched his own dwelling. Among the pictures were no fewer than 19 by Titian; 21 by Bassano; 13 by Paul Veronese; 17 by Tintoretto; 3 by Raphael; 3 by Leonardo da Vinci; and 13 by Rubens himself.

The duke did not live in York House, but used it only for state occasions. He was assassinated August 23, 1628. His son, the second Duke of Buckingham, was born in Wallingford House in 1627.

At York House, also, the galleries and rooms are ennobled with the possession of those Roman Heads and statues which lately belonged to Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Knight, that exquisite painter of Antwerp: and the garden will be renowned so long as John de Bologna's Cain and Abel stand there, a piece of wondrous art and workmanship. The King of Spain gave it to his Majesty at his being there, who bestowed it on the late Duke of Buckingham.—Peacham, Compleat Gentleman, ed. 1661, p. 108.

The "superstitious pictures in York House" were ordered to be sold, August 20, 1645¹⁰ but not before, as Brian Fairfax tells us, his "old trusty servant Mr. John Trayleman" had contrived to smuggle some of the best of them over to Holland, where they were purchased by the Archduke Leopold, and are now in the Belvedere Gallery at Vienna.¹¹ The house itself was given by Cromwell and his colleagues to General Fairfax, whose daughter and heiress married the second and last Duke of Buckingham of the Villiers family. The young Duke of Buckingham thought the easiest way to regain the estate was to marry the heiress. He came over to England the year before Oliver died, proposed, was accepted, and, September 1657, was married at Nun Appleton, near York. When the Protector was told of the marriage he gave the duke liberty to reside at York House, but not to quit it without permission. Buckingham broke his promise and was sent to the Tower. Lord Fairfax went to remonstrate with Cromwell, lost his temper, and the Protector and his old General parted in anger, never to meet in life again.

November 27, 1655.—I went to see York House and gardens, belonging to the former greate Buckingham, but now much ruin'd thro' neglect.—Evelyn.

He [Lord Fairfax] lived in York House, where every chamber was adorned with the arms of Villiers and Manners, lions and peacocks. He was descended from the same ancestors, Earls of Rutland.—Brian Fairfax, Memoirs of the Life of the D. of Buckingham.

In 1661 it was occupied by Baron de Batteville, the Spanish ambassador; in 1663 the Russian ambassador was lodging here.

May 19, 1661 (Lord's Day).—I walked in the morning towards Westminster, and, seeing many people at York House, I went down and found them at masse, it being the Spanish Ambassador's; and so I got into one of the gallerys, and there heard two masses done, I think not in so much state as I have seen them heretofore. After that, into the garden, and walked an hour or two, but found it not so fine a place as I always took it for by the outside.—Pepys.

June 6, 1663.—To York House, where the Russia Embassader do lie. ... That that pleased me best, was the remains of the noble soul of the late Duke of Buckingham appearing in his house, in every place, in the door cases and the windows.—Pepys.

By a deed, dated January 1, 1672, the duke sold York House and gardens for the sum of £30,000, to Roger Higgs, of St. Margaret's, Westminster, Esq.; Emery Hill, of Westminster, gentleman; Nicholas Eddyn, of Westminster, woodmonger; and John Green, of Westminster, brewer, by whom the house was pulled down, and the grounds and gardens converted into streets and tenements, bearing the names and titles of the last possessor of the house, George Street, Villiers Street, Duke Street, Of Alley, Buckingham Street. The rental, in 1668, of "York House and tenements, in the Strand," was £1359 : 10s. There is an engraving of York House in the Londina Illustrata, from a drawing by Hollar, in the Pepysian Library at Cambridge. [See York Watergate.]

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¹ Stow, p. 153.
² Strype, B. vi. p. 3.
³ Letter in Lamb MSS., vol. viii. No. 936.
⁴ Aubrey, Lives, vol. ii. pp. 223, 224; Bacon, Apoph., p. 95.
⁵ Cal. State Papers, 1619–1623, p. 301.
⁶ Ibid., p. 418.
⁷ Sir B. Gerbier.
⁸ See also Rushworth's Histor. Collect., fol. 1659, p. 149; and Strype, B. vi. p. 4.
⁹ MS. Contemporary Poem "Uppon severall pieces of Worke in the Duke's gallery at Yorke House," formerly in the possession of the late Mr. W.J. Thorns.
¹⁰ Whitelocke, p. 167.
11 Walpole, vol. ii. p. 99; Smith, vol. xxxi. etc.; Sainsbury, Rubens's Papers, p. 65.

York House. The York Water Gate [which see] in the Victoria Embankment Gardens is now almost the sole surviving relic of the great houses which in the mediæval and Renaissance periods bordered the Strand between the Temple and Charing Cross.ⁿ¹ York House, to which the York Water Gate formed the river approach, was originally the town house of the Bishops of Norwich and, like its easterly neighbour, Durham House, it fronted the river. The earliest reference to Norwich Inn which has been found is an order issued in 1237 to the Bishop to repair the Quay.¹⁸⁸ Little is known about the house during the mediaeval period,ⁿ² but it is probable that the street frontage was built on at quite an early date, for the inquisition post mortem on Bishop William Alnewick in 1437 states that he held five cottages in addition to his "hospicium" in Westminster.¹⁸⁹ These cottages formed the nucleus of what became known as Norwich Rents [which see].

In 1536, the King, after providing the Bishop of Norwich with a house in Cannon Row, Westminster, granted¹⁹⁰ Norwich Place to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, in exchange for the Duke's house in Southwark. This grant preserved the rights of William Hale, Richard Hale and "Katheryn," his wife, to the office of "kepying of ... the Bysshop of Norwyche place ... with the profightes of the gardeyns there." The Duke had already a London residence in Barbican, and he seems to have used the Strand house only occasionally.ⁿ³ Early in 1556 the Duke's heirs surrendered¹⁹¹ it to the Queen, by whom¹⁹² it was almost immediately granted to Nicholas Heath, Archbishop of York, under the description of "the capital messuage commonly called Suffolke Place alias Norwiche place with the appurtenances and 50 messuages, 10 cottages, 4 stables and 7 gardens in the parish of St. Martin in the Fields." Thenceforward "Suffolk Place" became "York House," but the Archbishop seems to have lived there only during the reign of Mary. In December, 1558, he gave up the charge of the Great Seal to Nicholas (afterwards Sir Nicholas) Bacon, who also took possession of York House, and during the greater part of the next 70 years the house was in lease to successive lord keepers.

From the accession of Elizabeth until his death in 1579, Sir Nicholas Bacon played a prominent part in affairs of state. He had married, as his second wife, Ann, the learned daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, whose sister, Mildred, had become the second wife of William Cecil, Lord Burghley. Francis Bacon, the second son of Nicholas by this marriage, was born at York House on 22nd January, 1561,¹⁹³ and lived there during his early years when the family was in town. Sir Nicholas won golden opinions from his contemporaries, one of whom described him as "a man of great diligence and ability in his place, whose goodnesse preserved his greatnesse from suspicion, envye and hate."¹⁹⁴ The unwieldiness of his body is frequently the subject of amusing comment in his own letters. As Elizabeth said of him, "his soul lodged well."¹⁹⁵ He died at York House on 20th February, 1578–9, "about eight in the morning,"¹⁹⁶ and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. He left all his "intereste in Yorke House" to his wife.¹⁹⁷

Sir Thomas Bromley succeeded Bacon as Lord Keeper, but no direct evidence has been found that he lived at York House, though several of his letters among the State papers are dated from Charing Cross.

In his introduction to the Speculi Brittanniæ Pars, published in 1594, Norden stated that, "Her Highnis hath now committed [York House] unto the right honorable Earl of Essex."ⁿ⁴ Essex was certainly there several years prior to this date,¹⁹⁸ but his tenure came to an end soon after, for on 2nd December, 1594, Sir John Puckering, the Lord Keeper, wrote to Matthew Hutton, "Understanding her Majestie's gracious resolution ... to call you to the see of York ... I am therby occasioned to make a request unto you concerning this house wherein I now dwell, belonging to that See which, as the Archbishop that first purchased it did ... purposely destine ... for a dwelling house for thoes that shuld have the charge of the great seale ... I so desier to hold it of your Lordship [not] as a badd tenant (which I have not hitherto ben, for I have in this litle time bestowed above 200l in reparations about the house) but either to have it by leasse for some certein terme at a reasonable rent, as the late Lord Keeper had it, or otherwise by promis from your Lordship to enjoy it for your time mainteyning the house in due reparations and furnishing you with a convenient house for your owne use when you shall have occasion to be here at London."¹⁹⁹

Apparently Puckering obtained a short lease, for after his death in 1596 the Archbishop wrote²⁰⁰ to Sir Thomas Egerton, then Lord Keeper, who had also asked for the use of the house, that "My Ladie Puckering hathe a state in it for one yere after her husbands death."ⁿ⁵ Egerton took possession in 1596. In January, 1596–7, he wrote to the Earl of Essex, with whom he was on friendly terms, that he proposed to take a few days' holiday in the country "to air both myself and my house."²⁰¹ When Essex returned from his ill-fated expedition to Ireland in October, 1597, he was committed to Egerton's custody and lodged at York House, where his trial before the Privy Council took place. In December Essex fell sick, but he remained a prisoner, in spite of the petitions of his friends that he might be "removed to a better air, for he is somewhat straitly lodged in respect the Lord Keeper's household is not great."^{n6, 202} Lady Egerton died in January, 1599–1600, and Rowland Whyte commented that: "My Lord Keeper sorrows more than so great a man ought. He is discontented that his house is made a prison of so long continuance."²⁰² In the following month there was a report that the mother and friends of Essex had gained access to a house overlooking "York garden where he uses to walk" and had "saluted" him there.²⁰² In March, Egerton wrote to Sir Robert Cecil praying to be relieved of his charge, for "my indisposition of health increases, and the physicians promise me small comfort in this unsavoury house."²⁰¹ When Essex was finally removed from his custody Egerton was as grateful for his "liberty" as if he himself had been the prisoner.

On 9th June, 1600, Essex was again brought before the Lords of the Council, and was at York House from "8 of the clock in the morning until almost 9 at night without either meat or drink."¹⁹⁶ He was finally sentenced to dismissal from all his offices and to remain a prisoner at Essex House. In August he was again summoned to York House and was given his liberty, but a bare pardon was insufficient for him, and when his efforts to press his claims at court failed he resorted to force. On 7th February, 1600–1, he tried, with a small band of followers, to raise the citizens of London in his cause. The attempt failed, and Essex was beheaded as a traitor within the Tower of London on 25th February.

In 1600 Egerton had married as his third wife, Alice, daughter of Sir John Spencer of Althorpe, and widow of Ferdinando, 5th Earl of Derby. She was a well-known patron of English literature and added a number of books to the large library at Bridgewater House, which Egerton founded. At the accession of James I, Egerton was reappointed Lord Keeper, and was given the title of Baron Ellesmere.ⁿ⁷ He continued to reside at York House until his death there on 15th March, 1616–7. On the 20th of that month his widow wrote to Sir Edward Montagu, asking for a lease of a house in "Little Brytayne,"²⁰⁴ and Sir Francis Bacon, who succeeded Ellesmere in office, seems to have moved into York House as soon as it was vacated, for on 25th July he applied to the City authorities for a supply of water to be laid on there.⁶²

In January, 1619–20, Bacon was created Viscount St. Albans, and on the 22nd of that month the new Viscount celebrated his sixtieth birthday by giving a banquet at York House, at which Ben Jonson saluted him with some very bad verse beginning:

"Hail happy genius of this Ancient Pile,
How is it all things so about thee Smile?"²⁰⁵

Three months later fortune's smile was turned to a frown, for Bacon was arraigned before the House of Lords on a charge of corruption. In May he was sentenced to a fine of £40,000, was imprisoned during the King's pleasure, and was disabled from sitting in Parliament and from coming within the verge of the court. The greater part of this sentence was remitted soon after, but the King's favourite, George, Duke of Buckingham, coveted possession of York House, and it was not until the spring of 1622, when Bacon consented to give it up, that he was allowed to come to London.

Buckingham took possession of his new residence at once, but did not obtain a formal grant of it until 1624, when the compliance of the Archbishop had been obtained by means of a promise that "lands of greater profit"⁹³ should be granted to the see in exchange.ⁿ⁸ Prince Charles and Buckingham repaired to York House on their return from their unsuccessful visit to Spain in October, 1623, and in the following month the Duke entertained the Spanish and Austrian ambassadors to a supper at which both King and Prince were present.⁹³ It is usually stated that as soon as Buckingham gained possession of York House he set about rebuilding it, but Sir Balthazar Gerbier, in his Discourse concerning the ... Principles of Magnificent Building, suggests that the Duke was so impatient to make use of York House that he waited neither for the completion of his title nor for a systematic repair of the fabric, but that he had the buttresses removed from the "old rotten decayed walls ... the Seelings of Roomes supported with Iron-bolts, Belconies clapt up in the old wall, daubed over with finishing Morter; and all this (as a Toadestoole groweth in a night) to serve until a Model for a Solid Building (to stand even with the Street) were made, and to be built of such stone as the Portico or Water-Gate at the River side is; and this was done on a Moorish Ground, whereon no New Building could stand any time without Proppings." Gerbier was in Buckingham's employ and should therefore have known the truth of the matter, but the statement quoted above was written many years after Buckingham's death, and it must be accepted with caution, since by that time Gerbier had developed a grudge against the whole family of Villiers. The facts that York House was certainly in use at frequent intervals during the years 1624–8,ⁿ⁹ and that the Duke was invariably out of funds (his wife, Katherine, daughter of the Earl of Rutland, wrote to her cousin in July, 1625, wondering how they should "redeem themselves out of debt"⁹³), make it unlikely that building operations on a large scale were carried out. On the other hand, the view of York House given by Norden (Plate 1b) shows a very different building from that represented by Hollar (Plate 2b), though both represent the house in the same position—i.e. set back from the river and to the west of the main waterstairs, with a garden or orchard on the east side. In the Norden view there is a one-storey structure on the riverside of the main building which seems to be absent in the Hollar view. The latter shows the main building with a battlemented parapet and projecting wings at either end. The only definite evidence that has come to light in support of the rebuilding theory is the fact that James I gave Buckingham 2,000 tons of Portland stone for that purpose,²⁰⁶ and only 200 tons at the outside could have been used for the Water Gate. It is probable that Buckingham having built the Water Gateⁿ¹⁰ contented himself with patching up the rest of the building.ⁿ¹¹

Bassompierre relates that on Sunday, 15th November, 1626, "he went to the King at Withal (Whitehall), who placed me in his barge and took me to the Duke's at Jorschau (York House). The King supped at one table with the queen and me, which was served by a complete ballet at each course, with sundry representations, changes of scenery, tables and music. The Duke waited on the King at table, the Earl of Carlile on the Queen, and the Earl of Hollande on me. After supper the king and we were led into another room where the assembly was, and one entered it by a kind of turnstile as in convents, without any confusion, where there was a magnificent ballet, in which the Duke danced: and afterwards we set to and danced country-dances till four in the morning, thence we were shown into vaulted apartments where there were five different collations."²⁰⁹

During the few years that Buckingham possessed York House he collected a large number of art treasures there. Peacham in The Compleat Gentleman, published in 1634, says, "the Galleries and Roomes are ennobled with the possession of those Romane Heads and Statues, which lately belonged to Sir Peter Paul Rubens Knight, that exquisit painter of Antwerp: and the Garden will bee renowned so long as John de Bolognas Cain and Abel stand erected there, a peece of wondrous Art and Workemanship. The King of Spaine gave it his majestie at his being there, who bestowed it on the late Duke of Buckingham."ⁿ¹² Gentileschi painted several of the ceilings, one of which was moved to Buckingham House, in St. James's Park, when York House was dismantled.²¹⁰

On 23rd August, 1628, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, was murdered by John Felton, and with his death all schemes for the rebuilding of York (or Buckingham) House were at an end. His widow, Katherine, continued to occupy the house, and on 28th July, 1631, wrote to Secretary Dorchester asking that the painter, Gentileschi, might be paid the money due to him from the King so that "he could leave England, and be gone into his own country," and she could "have York House free to herself, for want whereof she is constrained to keep a family at Chelsea to look after her laundry."⁹³ The Duke had granted Gentileschi lodginges adjoining Gerbier's house, which was on the east side of the gatehouse to the Strand.ⁿ¹³ The Duchess also tried to expel Gerbier from his house on the ground that he was an alien, but the attempt seems to have failed.ⁿ¹⁴

In August, 1637, Mary, daughter of the 1st Duke of Buckingham, and widow (at the age of 11) of Charles, Lord Herbert, was married to James Stuart, 4th Duke of Lennox and 1st Duke of Richmond. The wedding dinner was held at York House. where there were said to be "more cooks than guests."^{196, n15} Two years previously Buckingham's widow had married Randal Macdonnell, 2nd Earl and 1st Marquess of Antrim, who lived in magnificent style and contracted enormous debts. He supported the Royalist cause in the Civil War, and his possessions, including the York House property, which he held during the life of his wife, were sequestrated. The Dowager Duchess of Buckingham died in November, 1649, and York House devolved upon her son, George, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. As, however, the latter was also a "delinquent" the property remained in sequestration. Several informations were laid concerning the "picktures and other Rich goods"²¹³ in York House, but nothing was done to claim them for the Commonwealth until 1649, by which time a large proportion had been sent secretly by a faithful servant to the young Duke of Buckingham in Antwerp.²¹⁴ In that year the house was granted to Thomas, Lord Fairfax,²¹⁵ in recognition of his services to Parliament, and during the next few years the 19 houses along the Strand frontage known as York Rents were granted to various purchasers (see p. 59).

In the summer of 1657 Buckingham, who was tired of exile and out of favour with King Charles, returned to England and courted Fairfax's only daughter. Mary Fairfax had been promised to the Earl of Chesterfield, and the banns had been read at St. Martin-in-the-Fields for the second time, but Buckingham proved irresistible, and in September his wedding with Mary took place at Bolton Percy in Yorkshire.¹¹⁹ The Council ordered that Buckingham should be arrested, but Fairfax interceded for his son-in-law, and Cromwell allowed him to live in honourable confinement at York House. Buckingham soon found this restraint irksome and broke his parole, with the result that he was sent to the Tower. He was released in February, 1658–9, on condition that he promised not to aid the enemies of the Commonwealth, a promise which did not prevent his taking the field with Fairfax against Lambert in January, 1660. All his estates were restored to him after the return of Charles II, and he resumed his father's practice of living at Wallingford House when in town and using York House only for ceremonial occasions, as e.g., in June, 1671, when he was fromally installed there as Chancellor of Cambridge University.⁹³ The house was hired in turn by the Spanish, the Russian, the Danish, the French and the Portuguese Ambassadors, but so much had to be spent in reparis to keep the place habitable, that Buckingham found he was out of pocket, even when he charged £450 a year rent for it,²¹⁶ and since, although he was reputed the richest man in England, he was always in debt, he decided to sell or lease the property for building.

Owing to the fact that the ground was mortgaged two or three deep the transactions which led up to the sale of York House and its garden in building plots, were very involved.ⁿ¹⁶ Sir Philip Matthews, Matthias Bowman and Sir Anthony Deane respectively seem to have bought the largest shares, but their purchases were in the form of separate plots scattered over the estate, and not in compact blocks. Many purchasers bought only one site (or one house, for in some cases the plots were built on before they were sold). Edward Christian appears to have been responsible for the erection of a large number of the houses. The streets seem to have been laid out during 1674, their names being taken from the name and title of their erstwhile owner, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. The original names have been retained, except in the case of George Street, which was renamed York Buildings circa 1852, and Of Alley, which is now York Place. A Terrace Walk was formed with the York Water Gate in the centre, and until well on in the nineteenth century leases or sales of houses on the estate always contained a clause granting the right to use both terrace and gate. Long before the erection of the Victoria Embankment the river frontage must have been offensive at low tide, for, as can be seen on the plan reproduced on Plate 28, embankments and piers had been built out on either side, leaving a muddy foreshore in front of the terrace, on which rubbish of all kinds could accumulate.

[See Norwich Rents, (on the Strand frontage of York House)]

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ⁿ¹ The gateway at the end of Essex Street was not built until after the demolition of Essex House.

ⁿ² On 5th December, 1382, the Bishop of Norwich "at his inn at Charryng" executed a deed of manumission of his bondman, John Drolle.

ⁿ³ Like its neighbour, Durham House, Norwich Place was occasionally used by persons about the Court even while it was still in its original ownership. Thus in 1532 there are letters of the Duke of Norfolk and of Sir Thomas Audley dated thence, and in October, 1534, the Duke of Richmond gave it as his address. In 1528 it had been suggested that Cardinal Campeggio should be lodged there, but Bishop Clerk wrote to Gardiner that "that lewd knave Jamys that nevyr did good hath so paynted Norwyche place to the Cardynall that it seemyth that logyng hym ther ye wold have logyd him in a pygge stye."

ⁿ⁴ It was not, of course, the Queen's to give, but Essex may have had a lease from the Archbishop. In March, 1592–3, the latter granted to Edwin Sands, of the Middle Temple, London, and Milo Sands, of York, the custody of York House with the gatehouse, porter's lodge and garden house.

ⁿ⁵ In a previous letter Hutton remarked that he had been informed that Egerton did not desire the house because it stood "nere the water and is thought to be somewhat rheumaticke."

ⁿ⁶ Elizabeth is stated to have paid a visit to York House in December, but if she saw Essex her anger was not pacified.

ⁿ⁷ In 1602 Egerton and his wife were forced to move into the country for fear of the "small pockes," with which members of their household at York House had become infected.

ⁿ⁸ The King exchanged property in Yorkshire for York House by Act of Parliament (21 James I, cap. 30).

ⁿ⁹ When in London, Buckingham mainly resided at Wallingford House, Whitehall, where his son, George, was born on 30th January, 1627–8, but part at least of York House was in use for entertainments on a lavish scale.

ⁿ¹⁰ For an account of the Water Gate, see p. 59.

ⁿ¹¹ Gerbier refers to a room "not above 35 Foot square" near the York Water Gate, of which he had heard Charles I remark that in it "as much could be represented (as to sceans) as in the Banqueting House in Whitehall." Vertue suggests that Gerbier designed this room.

ⁿ¹² There is a note in a letter from Dudley Carleton, dated 24th January, 1624–5, concerning marbles brought by lighter to York House Stairs.

ⁿ¹³ The gatehouse was at the west end of the strand frontage adjoining the entrance to Bell Yard. (see p. 57).

ⁿ¹⁴ In an inquisition on the subject dated 12th May, 1629, Gerbier is stated to have been born in "Middleborough in Zealand," but to have become a British subject on 21st January, 1629.

ⁿ¹⁵ Algernon, 1st Earl of Northumberland, who was appointed Lord High Admiral in 1638, was in residence at York House in 1641 and 1642. The Duke of Buckingham had previously held this office.

ⁿ¹⁶ There is a very long indenture dated 10th November, 1674, entered on the close roll which recites most of the preceding transactions. There are also a number of Chancery suits concerning the rights of the various trustees and mortgagees. Unfortunately no contemporary plan of the estate has been found.

⁴ Cal. of Pat. Rolls.
⁷ Cal. of L. and P. Henry VIII.
⁶² Index to the Remembrancia of the City of London.
⁹³ Cal. of S.P.Dom.
¹¹⁹ D.N.B.
¹⁸⁷ Archaoælogia,Vol. 73.
¹⁸⁸ Cal. Close Rolls.
¹⁸⁹ P.R.O., E. 153/1026.
¹⁹⁰ P.R.O., C. 65/144/11.
¹⁹¹ Cal. of Feet of Fines, Middlesex, II, p. 98.
¹⁹² P.R.O., C. 82/1026.
¹⁹³ Lambeth MSS., Gibson Papers VIII, f. 159.
¹⁹⁴ Hayward, Annals, Camden Soc, p. 13.
¹⁹⁵ R. Naunton, Fragmenta Regalia.
¹⁹⁶ Hist. MSS. Comm., App. to 4th Report.
¹⁹⁷ Ibid., Marquess of Townshend's MSS., p. 5.
¹⁹⁸ Ibid., App. to 4th Report, p. 329 (b) and Ibid., MSS. of the Earl of Ancaster, p. 307.
¹⁹⁹ Correspondence of Matthew Hutton, Surtees Society.
²⁰⁰ Egerton Papers, Camden Society.
²⁰¹ Hist. MSS. Comm., MSS. of Marquess of Salisbury.
²⁰² Ibid., MSS. of Lord de L'Isle and Dudley.
²⁰³ Chamberlain's Letters, Camden Society, p. 171.
²⁰⁴ Hist. MSS. Comm., MSS. of Duke of Buccleugh, I, p. 214.
²⁰⁵ The Poems of Ben Jonson, Oxford, 1936, p. 164.
²⁰⁶ P.R.O., E. 351/3259.
²⁰⁷ Discourse Concerning the Principles of Magnificent Building, B. Gerbier.
²⁰⁸ Vertue's Notebooks, Walpole Society, Vol. XX, p. 49.
²⁰⁹ Embassy to England, Bassompierre.
²¹⁰ Life and Times of George Villiers, Thomson, III, p. 177.
²¹¹ P.R.O., E. 178/5973.
²¹² Hist. MSS. Comm., App. to 5th and 12th Reports.
²¹³ P.R.O., S.P. 19/99/15, etc.
²¹⁴ Bodl. Library, Cal. MSS., 2732.
²¹⁵ B.M. Add. Ch., 1800.
²¹⁶ P.R.O., C. 5/447/128.
²¹⁷ P.R.O., C. 54/1414/28.
²¹⁸ P.R.O., C. 2 Jas. I, D. 5/38 and C. 2 Jas. I, D. 1/36.
²¹⁹ P.R.O., C. 54/37181/27.