Bassishaw is a

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. Small, it is bounded by wards:

Coleman Street Coleman Street is one of the Wards of the City of London, 25 ancient wards of the City of London, England, and lies on the City's northern boundary with the London Borough of Islington. The ward, which includes land lying on either side of the ...

, east; Cheap, south;

Cripplegate Cripplegate was a city gate, gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London, England. The Cripplegate gate lent its name to the Cripplegate Wards of the City of London, ward of the City, which encompasses the area where the gat ...

, north;

Aldersgate Aldersgate is a Wards of the City of London, Ward of the City of London, England, named after one of the northern City gate, gates in the London Wall which once enclosed the City. The Ward of Aldersgate is traditionally divided into Aldersga ...

, west. It first consisted of

Basinghall Street Basinghall Street (sometimes written as "Bassinghall") is a street in the City of London, England. It lies chiefly in the ward of Bassishaw (originally the street and the courts and passages leading off from it) with the southern end in Cheap ( ...

with the courts and short side streets off it,''Book 2, Ch. 6: Bassishaw Ward'', A New History of London: Including Westminster and Southwark (1773), pp. 549-51
accessed: 21 May 2007 but since a boundary review in 2003 (after which the ward expanded into Cripplegate Within) it extends to streets further west, including Aldermanbury, Wood Street, and, to the north, part of

London Wall The London Wall is a defensive wall first built by the Ancient Rome, Romans around the strategically important port town of Londinium in AD 200, as well as the name of a #modern, modern street in the City of London, England. Roman London was ...

and St Alphage Garden. The ward was historically the City's smallest.''A Topographical Dictionary of England'', Samuel Lewis, 1831, p 134

History

Toponymy

The ward is named for Basinghall, the mansion house of the Bassing (or Basing) family, who were prominent in the City beginning in the 13th century. King Henry III granted

Adam de Basing Adam de Basing (died 1266) was a 13th-century English politician and Mayor of London. The scion of a London political family, he was the son of alderman Peter Basing and grandson of an earlier mayor, Salomon de Basing.Fox, Christine M. (2014)"A ...

"certain houses in Aldermanbury and in Milk-street; the

advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a ...

of the church at Bassings hall; with other liberties and privileges". John Leake's 1667 map of the City of London refers to the ward as "Basinghall ward".

Guilds and churches

In this ward was a weekly cloth market, authorised by

King Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

. The coopers' guild hall was first founded in this ward in 1522, at The Swan, a

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

, and, from 1547, their purpose-built hall. Their hall was destroyed in the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extendi ...

in 1666 but later rebuilt in situ. They rebuilt again in 1865, selling a part of the site to the

City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the local authority of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United Kingdom's f ...

for the expansion of the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a guild hall or guild house, is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Europe, with many surviving today in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commo ...

. This hall was destroyed by fire on the night of 29 December 1940.''History of the Coopers'' (Company of Coopers)
accessed 21 May 2007 The masons' hall was constructed in 1463 in Mason's Avenue which today is a southern limit. Their hall was also sold to the Corporation in 1865. The

weavers Weaver or Weavers may refer to: Activities * A person who engages in weaving fabric Animals * Various birds of the family Ploceidae * Crevice weaver spider family * Orb-weaver spider family * Weever (or weever-fish) Arts and entertainment ...

and girdlers also had their guild halls in the ward. The modern livery halls of the pewterers, salters and brewers are in Bassishaw. There were two churches, neither of which remain. St Michael Bassishaw, dedicated to St Michael, the archangel, which was founded in the 12th century.''Churches of the City of London'' Reynolds,H (Bodley Head 1922) At that time, the rectorship was included in the gift of

St Bartholomew-the-Great The Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great, sometimes abbreviated to St-Barts-the-Great, is a medieval church in the Church of England's Diocese of London located in Smithfield, London, Smithfield within the City of London. The building was ...

, but, over time, it came to be associated with

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

itself. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, and rebuilt in 1679. It was united with

St Lawrence Jewry St Lawrence Jewry next Guildhall is a Church of England guild church in the City of London on Gresham Street, next to the Guildhall. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and rebuilt to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren. It is ...

in 1897; the site was sold in 1899 and the church was demolished in 1900. St Alphage London Wall, also damaged in the Great Fire but not rebuilt until 1777, was eventually demolished in 1924.

Points of interest

The ward contains a large part of the

buildings, the main administrative centre for the

. (A small, but important, part of the Guildhall lies within Cheap ward.) The

Guildhall Art Gallery The Guildhall Art Gallery houses the art collection of the City of London, England. The museum is located in the Moorgate area of the City of London. It is a stone building in a semi-Gothic style intended to be sympathetic to the historic Guil ...

and

Guildhall Library The Guildhall Library is a public reference library in London, England, specialising in subjects relevant to London and its history. It is administered by the Corporation of London, the government of the City of London, which is the historical ...

both lie in Bassishaw, as part of the Guildhall buildings. Also in the ward is Wood Street police station, the former headquarters of the

City of London Police The City of London Police is the territorial police force#United Kingdom, territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, England, including the Middle Temple, Middle and Inner Temple, Inner Temples. The for ...

(not to be confused with the Metropolitan Police Service whose headquarters are at

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

). It used to host a small police museum, which relocated in 2016 to the Guildhall Library, replacing the Clockmakers' Museum and Library. The prominently motifed

Chartered Insurance Institute The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) is a professional body dedicated to building public trust in the insurance and financial planning profession. The CII's purpose, as set out in its 1912 royal charter, is to 'Secure and justify the conf ...

at 20 Aldermanbury has its own hall (''Insurance Hall'') and a small museum. The building itself is Grade-II listed.

Pedestrian route

Aldermanbury has broad pavements and remains a pedestrian link from

Gresham Street Gresham Street in the City of London is named after the English merchant and financier Thomas Gresham. It runs from the junction of Lothbury, Old Jewry and Coleman Street at its eastern end, to St. Martin's Le Grand in the west. Gresham St ...

to the road aspect of, the main successor of,

Politics

Bassishaw is one of 25 wards in the City of London, each electing an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

to the

Court of Aldermen The Court of Aldermen forms part of the senior governance of the City of London Corporation. It comprises twenty-five Aldermen of the City of London, presided over by the Lord Mayor (becoming senior Alderman during his or her year of office). ...

and commoners (the City equivalent of a

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

) to the

Court of Common Council The Court of Common Council is the primary decision-making body of the City of London Corporation. It meets nine times per year. Most of its work is carried out by committees. City of London Corporation elections , Elections are held at least eve ...

of the

. Only electors who are Freemen of the City of London are eligible to stand for election, though all candidates who stand are granted this status.

References

External links

Map of Early Modern London: Basinghall Ward
- Historical Map and Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's London (Scholarly) {{City of London wards Wards of the City of London