Southwark, Sewers, 1589/90

Surrey and Kent Commissioners for Sewers' Court Minutes and Orders

LMA: SKCS/018

f 160 (27 February)

...

Pope &     
Napton      
Item we present Morgann Pope or his Landlord (blank) Napton to pyle borde and fill vpp 10 poles more or les of their wharfe lyeng against the Thames by our Lady daye next vppon paine of euery pole then vndonne v s.
piled and borded but
not filled vpp.

...

  • Endnote

    Morgan Pope rather than John Napton held the sublease of the property concerned, so the term 'landlord' is used in error.

  • Document Description

    Record title: Surrey and Kent Commissioners for Sewers' Court Minutes and Orders
    Repository: LMA
    Shelfmark: SKCS/018
    Repository location: London

    Most of the pre-1642 records of the Surrey and Kent commissioners for sewers are now deposited at the London Metropolitan Archives. The LMA online catalogue succinctly describes the sewer records as follows: 'Early Commissioners of Sewers were solely concerned with land drainage and the prevention of flooding, not with the removal of sewage in the modern sense. In 1531 an Act of Sewers was passed which set out in great detail the duties and powers of Commissioners and governed their work until the 19th century. Gradually a permanent pattern emerged in the London area of seven commissions, five north and two south of the Thames, with, after the Great Fire, a separate commission for the City of London.... Letters Patent for the Surrey and Kent Commissioners of Sewers were issued in 1554. Its minutes begin in 1570 and it was the earliest of the London Commissions to be established on an organised basis. The area of its jurisdiction ran from East Molesey in Surrey to the River Ravensbourne, and included Lambeth, Southwark, Bermondsey, Newington, Deptford, Rotherhithe, Clapham, Battersea, Camberwell, Vauxhall, Wandsworth, Putney, Barnes, Kew, Lewisham, Walworth, Kennington, Nine Elms, Peckham and New Cross. The area of jurisdiction remained the same throughout the three centuries during which it functioned.' See further Ida Darlington, 'The London Commissioners of Sewers and their Records,' in Prisca Munimenta: Studies in Archival & Administrative History presented to Dr A.E.J. Hollaender, Felicity Ranger (ed) (London, 1973), 282–98.

    John Norden's 1593 map shows the lines of the Bankside sewers (or drainage ditches). There were three running along the Little Rose property: to the south along Maiden Lane and one on the west side adjacent to the Bear Garden property.

    3 January 1568/9–25 April 1606; English with some Latin; paper with parchment fly leaves; i + 520 + i; 410mm x 280mm; index foliated in pencil 1–24 relating to ff 1–210 of the text, ink foliation follows, 1–444, pencil foliation 445–70 (all blank), a second index numbered in pencil 1–21, 21b, 22, 22b, 23, 23b follows the text for ff 211–444; restored, conserved and rebound in beige vellum with corded bands on spine with leather ties. Now stored in a box: within the box also are the previous red leather boards and spine with 'SEWERS | SURREY & KENT | MINUTES | 1 | 1557–1606.'

  • Manuscript Images

    © London Metropolitan Archives (City of London), SKCS/018

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