John Stow, historian 1525 - 1605

The merry old man. That was the way this extraordinary character was described by some. I think it only fair and fitting that he gets a mention here, as he is still used as a reference by many people hunting for the secrets of a London long gone.
He spent almost his entire life and all of his money delving into the history of the City of London. He wrote a great deal on the subject, his most famous work was ‘A Survay of London’, first published in 1598 and a revised edition in 1603. Below is a very brief history of the man who’s passion was the streets of the square mile.

It was a year before he died that the king bestowed him with this ‘honour’!
Most of his life and all of his assets spent gathering information to produce some of the most valuable insights into life in England, especially London, and he was rewarded with a license to beg. I dare say he did get a few sums of money made available to him by some of his patrons during his life, but it still was not a lot to show for his sacrifices.

The Survey of London was his last work, published in 1598 and a revised edition in 1603, the same year that ended the Elizabethan era.
At the start of the 17th century as Stow’s work and life were both nearing their ends the population of England was around four million. An eighth of these lived in London. 250,000 people may not be a lot by today’s standards but it was massive in the square mile of the time, and Stow gave glimpses of what life was really like. Some humorous, some sad, but all interesting to the hobbyist historian.

John Stow was born in Saint Michaels parish, Cornhill when Henry VIII was on the throne of England. He also lived through the reigns of Edward VI, Elizabeth I and part of James I. It is believed that he spent his childhood living in what is now Throgmorton Street somewhere near the site of the old Stock Exchange building near Threadneedle Street.
He came from a line of tailors, and for a time took up the trade himself. After completing his apprenticeship in 1549 he worked until he was about forty, when he gave up the business to concentrate on his historical projects full time. He had been spending all his spare time engrossed in his information gathering, and at 36 he published ‘A Summarie of English Chronicles’. He published another ten of these up until 1604. From the time he gave up tailoring all his money was used to finance his research and writings.
It was sometimes extremely dangerous, as being a catholic put him in a precarious position when suspicions were raised about his wanderings and his collections of ancient documents

I have used his work sometimes, mainly for geographical reasons. On occasion I have had to make a guess at certain place names from the old English he used, but in the main they are straightforward. One instance of this as an example would be what he calls the Grass Church, called so because it was near the grass market. This leads us to find that the street where the Grass Church stood is now called Gracechurch Street. It is amazing how the names get corrupted over the years.