Holborn and Bloomsbury | Page 6

pulled down to increase its size. It was enlarged again in 1666. Part of the old hospital wall enclosing it remained until 1630, when it fell down, and after the lapse of some time a new wall was built. In St. Giles's Churchyard were buried Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Shirley, Roger L'Estrange, Andrew Marvell, and Richard Pendrell, who assisted in Charles II.'s escape; his altar-tomb is easily seen near the east end of the church. By 1718 the graveyard had risen 8 feet, so that the church stood in a pit or well. The further burial-ground at St. Pancras was taken in 1805, and after that burials at St. Giles's were not very frequent. Pennant was one of the first to draw attention to the disgraceful overcrowding of the old graveyard. There seem to have been several gates into the churchyard with the right of private entry, one of which was used by the Duchess of Dudley. The most remarkable gate, however, was at the principal entrance to the churchyard, and was known as the Resurrection Gate, from an alto-relievo of the Last Day. This was erected about 1687, and was of red and brown brick. The composition of the relievo is said to have been borrowed, with alterations, from Michael Angelo's work on the same subject. In 1765 the north wall of the churchyard was taken down, and replaced by the present railing and coping. In 1800 the gate was removed, and replaced by the present Tuscan gate, in which the sculpture has been refixed. This stood at first on the site of the old one on the north of the churchyard, but was removed to the west side, where it at present stands in an unnoticeable and obscure position. It was probably placed there in the idea that the new road, Charing Cross Road, would run past.
Denmark Street "fronts St. Giles Church and falls into Hog Lane, a fair broad street, with good houses well inhabited by gentry" (Strype).
This description is no longer applicable. Denmark Place was once Dudley Court, and the house here with a garden was given by the Duchess of Dudley as a rectory for the parish. The Court or Row was built on the site of the house previous to 1722.
Broad Street is one of the most ancient streets in the parish, and there were a few houses standing on the north side when the rest of the district was open ground. It was the main route westward for many centuries, until New Oxford Street was made.
The procession from Newgate to Tyburn used to pass along Broad Street, and halt at the great gate of the hospital, in order that the condemned man might take his last draught of ale on earth. An enterprising publican set up a tavern near here in 1623, and called it the Bowl. He provided the ale free, and no doubt made much profit by the patronage he received thereby. The exact site of the tavern was in Bowl Yard, which ran into Broad Street near where Endell Street now is. Among Cruikshank's well-known drawings is a series illustrating Jack Sheppard's progress to the gallows.
The parish almshouses were built in the wide part of Broad Street on ground granted by Lord Southampton, but were removed as an impediment to traffic in 1783 to the Coal Yard, near the north of Drury Lane. A row of little alleys--Salutation, Lamb's, Crown, and Cock--formerly extended southward over the present workhouse site. There are still one or two small entries both north and south. The immense yard of a well-known brewery fills up a large part of the south side, and a large iron and hardware manufactory on the north gives a certain manufacturing aspect to the street. The Holborn Municipal Baths are in a fine new building on the south side.
About High Street, which joins Broad Street at its west end, there is surely less to say than of any other High Street in London. In 1413 the gallows were set up at the corner where it meets Tottenham Court Road. But even previously to this executions had taken place at Tyburn, and soon Tyburn became the recognised place of execution. Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, is the most notable name among the victims who suffered at St. Giles. He was hung in chains and roasted to death over a slow fire at this spot as a Lollard.
After they had been removed from the end of Broad Street, to make way for the almshouses, the parish pound and cage stood on the site of the gallows until 1765. There was here also a large circular stone, where the charity boys were whipped to make them remember the parish bounds.
The space to the north of the High and Broad Streets was previously a