The Rose, Manor of

A Dictionary of London by Henry A Harben.

On the west side of Laurence Pountney Hill, extending to 8uffolk Lane. In Dowgate Ward (S. 239). Part of the site being afterwards occupied by Merchant Taylors' School.


Called "Redde Roos," "Red Rose," 13 and 30 H. VIII. (L. and P. H. VIII. III. (1), 508 XIII. (2), 395).

By careful study of old records it appears that this place was, in the 14th century, the principal residence of Sir John Poultney, and for this reason designated " Poulteney's Inn." It has been on this account confused with his other London mansion of Cold harbour, but the two were distinct residences and are referred to separately in his Will (Ct. H.W. I. 609).

The first reference to it seems to be in the 15 Ed. III., when Sir John de Pulteneye obtained permission to crenelate or fortify his mansion in London (Cal. P.R. Ed. III. V.331), and it is certainly depicted in Van Wyngaerd and Agas' views of London as an embattled mansion.

By his will 23 Ed. III. (Ct. H.W. I. 669-10) Sir John de Poulteney left this residence to his widow and son, and failing them to his College of Corpus Christi, to whom eventually it passed and who by royal licence exchanged it with the Earl of Arundel for the church at Napton (Arch. LVII. p.267).

The next notice of it is contained in an Inquisition 29 H. VI. 1450, in which it is referred to as " messuagium sive hospitium vocatum Poultenaysin."

It had belonged to John Holland, Duke of Exeter, who disposed of it to W. de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. On his attainder it passed to the Crown, but belonged to his son John in 1483 at the time of his attainder, when it again reverted to the Crown. It was restored in 1495 to Edmund de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. During his tenure of it, it is referred to in Holinshed's Chronicle and in Shakespeare's H. VIII. Act I. Sc. I. as "the Rose" in the parish of St. Laurence Poultney.

In 10 H. VIII. the King gave the mansion to Henry Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire and Marquis of Exeter, and after his execution for high treason it was granted to Robert Reddiffe, Earl of Sussex, by whose descendants it was sold to John Hethe, citizen of London and Cooper. He divided it into two moieties and sold one to Richard Botyl, Merchant Taylor, and the other to Wm. Beswicke, draper. The moiety sold to Ric. Botyl comprised the west gate house, long Court or yard, and part of the chapel, etc. Botyl had only purchased it for the Merchant Taylors' Company, to whom it was conveyed 1561, and appropriated for the erection of the Grammar School, which they then founded and which occupied this site as the Merchant Taylors' School, until its removal to the Charter house in 1875.

The other moiety was occupied by the residence of Sir Patience Ward (q.v.), and afterwards by Laurence Pountney Place. Beneath the residence of Sir John Poultney was a beautiful crypt, extending east and west from Laurence Pountney Hill to Suffolk Lane, in the style of the late 13th or early 14th century, so that if the mansion was built by Sir John Poultney the crypt itself may have been earlier in date than the rest of the house. The crypt was under No.3 Laurence Pountney Hill, and there are admirable illustrations of it in Archæologia, LVII. p.271, etc. The crypt was in existence until 1894, when it was swept away for the erection of new buildings (ib.).

The origin of the name " The Rose is wrapped in obscurity, and, at any rate, it seems to be late in date and not the original designation of the mansion.

The word" manor here seems to be used in the sense of" messuage" or" mansion and not in its original feudal signification.

A Dictionary of London by Henry A Harben.

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