Below the Bridge House, on the banks of the Thames; stood the abbot of Battle's Inn. The walks and gardens belonging to the abbot, on the other side of the way before the gate of that house, was called THE MAZE.

There was also an inn called the Flower de Lis, on the site of which was afterwards built several small tenements, for the accommodation of strangers and poor people.

BATTLE BRIDGE was so called, because situated on the ground and over a watercourse flowing out of the Thames, pertaining to BATTLE ABBEY; and was both built and repaired by the abbots of Battle, on account of its contingency to the abbot's lodging.

Farther to the east is the parish of Horslydown, corruptly so called from Horse-down, as having been originally a grazing ground for horses. The great increase of the parish of St. Olave, occasioned this spot of ground to be constituted a parish, which, from the saint to whom the church is dedicated, is called

ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST.

THIS church was finished in the year 1732, and is one of the fifty new churches ordered to be built by act of parliament; and an act was also passed for making a provision

for

for the minister. The body of the church is enlightened by two ranges of windows, with a Venetian one in the centre. The tower rises square, with a balustrade on the top; from whence rises a spire, in form of a Corinthian pillar, which is well wrought and very properly diminished. In the tower are ten good bells. The church is handsomely and neatly ornamented, and is graced with a good organ.

Returning westwardly we arrive at Bermondsey Street, at the south end of which was a priory, dedicated to St. Saviour, founded by Alwin Child, a citizen of London in the year 1081.

In 1094, William Rufus endowed it with the manor of Bermond's Eye, which was confirmed by Henry I. in 1127, who at the same time gave unto this priory the manor of Rotherhithe and Dulwich: and William Maminot gave them a moiety of the manor of Greenwich. In 1159 king Henry II. confirmed to them the donation of the church of Camberwell, and others. And Henry III. granted these monks a market every Monday at their manor of Charlton, in the county of Kent; and a fair on Trinity Sunday yearly. The manor of Bermond's Eye was an antient demesne of the crown, and all the lands and tenements belonging to it, among which were Camberwell, Rotherhithe, the hide of Southwark, Dulwich, Waddon, and Reyham, with their appurtenances, and were impleadable in the court of this manor only, and not at the common law: this house was, however, no more than a cell to the priory of Charity in France; and therefore accounted a priory alien till, the year 1380, when Richard II. in consideration of two hundred marks paid into his exchequer, made it a denizen; when it was also made an abbey. After its dissolution it was valued at 474l. 14s. 4d. and was granted by king Henry VIII. to Sir Thomas Pope, who pulled down the church and built a large house upon its site, which afterwards became the possession and residence of the earls of Sussex, who were obliged to build a place for public worship, which was done in or near the place where the church now stands.

It received the addition of Bermondsey from its situation in or near the royal manor, called Bermond's Eye, corruptly Bermondsey; on which there stood a royal mansion in the reign of Henry VIII. the remains of which are still to be seen in the gateway that leads into a court at the south end of the church-yard.

was built in 1680, at the charge of the parish; and is a plain structure, seventy-six feet long, sixty-one feet broad, thirty feet high to the roof, and eighty-seven feet to the top of the steeple. The walls are brick, covered with stucco, and the door cases and arched windows are cased with stone. The advowson of this church is in lay hands; and the rectory is valued at 2001. per annum in lieu of tythes.

Here is an organ and eight bells.

Bermondsey Street is mostly inhabited by fellmongers, hat manufacturers, and other respectable tradesmen whose businesses require extensive premises.

Here is a very old inn, called Christopher's Inn, on which is a rude emblem in stucco of St. Christopher. Chris

topher's