23. SMITHFIELD AND CLERKENWELL.
STATIONS: Farringdon and Aldersgate on the Metropolitan Railway; Post Office, on the Central London Railway; Holborn Viaduct, on the Southern Railway. TRAMWAYS Nos. 43, 55, 65 and 79.
From St. Sepulchre's Church, at the east end of Holborn Viaduct, Giltspur Street, continuing the line of Old Bailey, runs north to Smithfield, passing the loading yard of the General Post Office and some new buildings belonging to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. In the middle of the loading yard, below the surface, is an admirably preserved Bastion of the Roman Wall (apply to the Secretary of the Post Office). A small gilt figure of a naked boy on the corner-house of Cock Lane, on the left, marks Pye Corner, where the Great Fire of 1666, which started at Pudding Lane, is generally but erroneously said to have stopped.
In 1762 the 'Cock Lane Ghost' created a nine days' wonder. A man named Parsons and his daughter, who lived in Cock Lane, pretended that a spirit ('Scratching Fanny') was in the habit of answering questions by means of rapping; but when an undertaking was given that the ghost would rap on its coffin in the crypt of St. John's, a committee of investigation (including Dr. Johnson) was formed, and the imposture was discovered.
Smithfield, more particularly known as West Smithfield to distinguish it from the less important East Smithfield near Tower Hill, is a place of great historic interest, though now noted mainly as the site of the principal London meat market. Originally a spacious 'smooth field' or grassy expanse just outside the City walls, it was the scene of various famous tournaments, and from 1150 to 1855 it was the chief horse and cattle market of London. From an early period until the reign of Henry IV. it was a usual place of execution, and here Sir William Wallace, the Scottish patriot, suffered in 1305. In 1381 the rebel Wat Tyler was slain here by Sir William Walworth, the Mayor, in presence of Richard II. Under the Tudors many persons were burned at Smithfield for their religious convictions. Anne Askew perished here in 1546. A memorial on the exterior wall of St. Bartholomew's Hospital commemorates the Protestant martyrs put to death here in Mary's reign. From 1133 till 1840 Smithfield was the scene of Bartholomew Fair, held every year for several days about the feast of St. Bartholomew (August 24th). Originally a cloth fair of considerable importance, this later degenerated into a resort of showmen, jugglers, and strolling players, frequently referred to in Elizabethan and later literature. Cloth Fair, an old street on the north-east side, marks the site once occupied by the booths of the drapers and clothiers.
