Barbican Living
A new Sodom and Gomorrah
In Tudor times, the denizens of the Barbican area were not genteel. The drawback of being outside the City wall was that you lost even the little protection of the law which the City government provided. But that was what drew the Barbican inhabitants. They included receivers of stolen goods, silver refiners to dispose of any silver plate that might come to hand, makers of fake jewellery and coin clippers (before coins had milled edges), and kept their melting-pot ready day and night for. Tanners and skinners, catgut makers, tallow melters, dealers in old clothes, and charcoal sellers were some of the legitimate businesses of the area. Ale and beer houses and gambling joints stood at the edge of the moor. Many ale houses included bear baiting pits. Murders were frequent, but there was no facility for investigating them. Forgers, professional pick-purses (there were no pockets), thieves, conjurors, wizards and fortune tellers, beggars and prostitutes all found the Barbican particularly congenial.
The population was altered by an influx of immigrants. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which had given French protestants or Huguenots some protection from persecution as Protestants in Catholic France, many Huguenots fled to England and took refuge in Cripplegate. The Irish also settled in large numbers. It became renowned as the area for gambling houses and bowling alleys. Pillories and whipping posts were standard street furniture. By the end of the 18th century it was the City’s red light district.
In 1665 the Great Plague hit the City. St Giles Church still has the parish registers showing the names of some of the people who died during the Plague. Almost eight thousand people died in the Barbican area, out of a total population of no more than eleven thousand. There were so many burials at St Giles that eventually the surface of the graveyard rose by two feet. Many of the dead were buried in plague pits dug at Crowder’s Well.
During the Great Plague, the Cripplegate clergy deserted the parish. Most non-conformist ministers stayed put. When the church clergy did return, their main concern was to alleviate the unpleasing smell of the hastily buried dead, by tipping quantities of frankincense, rosemary and bay leaves on top of the graveyard. The population drew their own conclusions and there was a considerable move to non-conformist chapels and meeting houses. The Barbican area became the centre for non-conformists.
The next year, the City was devastated again, by the Great Fire. The Barbican and Smithfield were largely spared. In some ways that wasn’t fortunate. New houses in the destroyed areas away from the Barbican were rebuilt in more spacious and luxurious style and the wealthier folk moved out of the cramped and unsanitary Elizabethan tenements which remained in the Barbican area. The area became even more poverty-stricken. Some improvements occurred. The main streets, such as Redcross Street, Whitecross Street and Barbican Street were paved for the first time. Stone slabs were used for the pavement and round cobbles for the roadway.
