St. Mary Overie Stairs
St. Mary Overie Stairs and its adjoining dock functioned as
a large wharfe and landing placeon the southern bank of Thames, which provided river access to Winchester House and the Priory of St. Mary Overies (Stow 1598, sig. Y7v). While the stairs were commonly known as either Winchester Stairs or St. Mary Overie Stairs, they were sometimes referred to as St. Saviour Stairs after the Dissolution of the Monasteries (Rendle 203; Cave 225). Howard and Godfrey note that in 1174, the Bishop of Winchester granted the Priory of St. Mary Overies full access to the quay (Howard and Godfrey). In return, the Bishop of Winchester was given the right to travel across the London Bridge freely. Both St. Mary Overie Stairs and St. Mary Overie Dock are labelled on Rocque and Pine’s 1746 map (A Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster, and Borough of Southwark with Contiguous Buildings). The landing site is also visible on the Agas map, though it is not labelled. While the stairs themselves are not depicted on Google’s modern map, St. Mary Overie Dock remains visible to this day (Google Inc.).
St. Mary Overie Priory likely derives its provocative name from the necessary activity of crossing over
the Thames in order to reach it. But the stairs more aptly evince that meaning since they would
be the main point of accessing their religious namesake after crossing the river.
Either way, the emphasis on crossing over to this location was very likely due to
the constant traffic into the south bank in Southwark where these stairs were built. This location ironically abetted immoral permissiveness
because it fell out of the jurisdiction of the City of London and into the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Winchester, whose manor, Winchester Palace, stood adjacent to St. Mary Overie Stairs. The Diocese would have collected rents and fees from the many brothels and gaming
houses in that district (Livingstone and Cross,
Southwark).
Though these stairs do not carry any significant literary references, a plaque near
the present location of the stairs, tells of the legend of St. Mary Overie, which challenges the
crossing overdesignation:
Legend suggests that before the construction of London Bridge in the tenth century a ferry existed here. Ferrying passengers across the River Thames was a lucrative trade. John Overs who, with his watermen and apprentices, kept thetraverse ferrie over the Thames,made such a good living that he was able to acquire a considerable estate on the south bank of the river.John Overs, a notorious miser, devised a plan to save money. He would feign death believing that his family and servants would fast out of respect and thereby save a day’s provisions. However, when he carried out the plan, the servants were so overjoyed at his death that they began to feast and make merry. In a rage the old man leapt out of bed to the horror of his servants, one of whom picked up a broken oar andthinking to kill the Devil at the first blow, actually struck out his brains.The ferryman’s distressed daughter Mary sent for her lover, who in haste to claim the inheritance fell from his horse and broke his neck. Mary was so overcome by these misfortunes that she devoted her inheritance to founding a convent into which she retreated.This became the priory of Saint Mary Overie, Mary having been made a saint on account of her charity. During the Reformation the church of St Mary Overie was renamed St Saviour’s Church. In 1905 it became Southwark Cathedral and the collegiate church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie(The Legend of St. Mary Overie Priory.)
Aside from the rumor and legend linked to these stairs, some extant tradesman coins,
which were small private tokens used for paying watermen at locations specified on
the coin, hint at the popularity or necessity of these stairs for river navigation
and access to Southwark. Guild regulations often dictated
that no whyrrye take for his fare fromnumerous nearby locations to
Sayncte Marye Oueryes stayres(Watermen’s Company 2), hence the trade tokens were used to either circumvent or maintain that restriction.1
Notes
- See trade token O.NN19814 (
Obverse inscription: John / Standbrooke / Lymeman. at / St. Mary. Overs / Stairs
) and R.NN19814 (Reverse inscription: In / Southwarke / His. halfe / Penny / I.S.S. [in cursive script with triad of initials in Roman capitals below, in field]
). (JLS)↑
References
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Citation
Cave, Edward, ed. The Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chroncles. Vol. 85. London: Nichols, Son, and Bentley, 1815. Remediated by Google Books.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
Google Inc. Google Earth (Version 6.0.3.2197). [Software. Available from www.google.com/earth/download/.]This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
Livingstone, E.A. and F.L. Cross, eds. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
Rendle, William. Old Southwark and Its People. London, 1878. Remediated by Google Books.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
Roberts, Howard and Walter H. Godfrey, eds. Bankside (The Parishes of St. Saviour and Christchurch Southwark). Vol. 22 of Survey of London. London: London County Council, 1950. Remediated by British History Online.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
Rocque, John. A Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster, and Borough of Southwark with Contiguous Buildings. London: Printed by John Rocque, 1746. Reprinted as The A to Z of Georgian London. Introduced by Ralph Hyde. London: London Topographical Society, 1982. [We cite by index label thus: Rocque 15Db.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
The Legend of St. Mary Overie Priory.
London: Clink Street. http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMDVH0_The_Legend_of_Mary_Overie_London_UK.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
Trade Token ID no: O.NN19814.
Museum of London Collections Onliine.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
Trade Token ID no: R.NN19814.
Museum of London Collections Onliine.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
Watermen’s Company. The prices of fares and passages to be paide unto watermen from London to Grauesende. London: John Cawood, 1555. STC 16787.2.This item is cited in the following documents:
Cite this page
MLA citation
St. Mary Overie StairsThe Map of Early Modern London, Edition 7.0, edited by , U of Victoria, 05 May 2022, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/STMA10.htm.
Chicago citation
St. Mary Overie StairsThe Map of Early Modern London, Edition 7.0. Ed. . Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed May 05, 2022. mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/STMA10.htm.
APA citation
The Map of Early Modern London (Edition 7.0). Victoria: University of Victoria. Retrieved from https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/editions/7.0/STMA10.htm.
, & 2022. St. Mary Overie Stairs In (Ed), RIS file (for RefMan, RefWorks, EndNote etc.)
Provider: University of Victoria Database: The Map of Early Modern London Content: text/plain; charset="utf-8" TY - ELEC A1 - Smith, Joul A1 - Rothwell, Molly ED - Jenstad, Janelle T1 - St. Mary Overie Stairs T2 - The Map of Early Modern London ET - 7.0 PY - 2022 DA - 2022/05/05 CY - Victoria PB - University of Victoria LA - English UR - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/STMA10.htm UR - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/xml/standalone/STMA10.xml ER -
TEI citation
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Personography
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Molly Rothwell
MR
Project Manager, 2022-present. Research Assistant, 2020-2022. Molly Rothwell was an undergraduate student at the University of Victoria, with a double major in English and History. During her time at MoEML, Molly primarily worked on encoding and transcribing the 1598 and 1633 editions of Stow’s Survey, adding toponyms to MoEML’s Gazetteer, researching England’s early-modern court system, and standardizing MoEML’s Mapography.Roles played in the project
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Molly Rothwell is mentioned in the following documents:
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Kate LeBere
KL
Project Manager, 2020-2021. Assistant Project Manager, 2019-2020. Research Assistant, 2018-2020. Kate LeBere completed her BA (Hons.) in History and English at the University of Victoria in 2020. She published papers in The Corvette (2018), The Albatross (2019), and PLVS VLTRA (2020) and presented at the English Undergraduate Conference (2019), Qualicum History Conference (2020), and the Digital Humanities Summer Institute’s Project Management in the Humanities Conference (2021). While her primary research focus was sixteenth and seventeenth century England, she completed her honours thesis on Soviet ballet during the Russian Cultural Revolution. During her time at MoEML, Kate made significant contributions to the 1598 and 1633 editions of Stow’s Survey of London, old-spelling anthology of mayoral shows, and old-spelling library texts. She authored the MoEML’s first Project Management Manual andquickstart
guidelines for new employees and helped standardize the Personography and Bibliography. She is currently a student at the University of British Columbia’s iSchool, working on her masters in library and information science.Roles played in the project
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Kate LeBere is mentioned in the following documents:
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Joey Takeda
JT
Programmer, 2018-present. Junior Programmer, 2015-2017. Research Assistant, 2014-2017. Joey Takeda was a graduate student at the University of British Columbia in the Department of English (Science and Technology research stream). He completed his BA honours in English (with a minor in Women’s Studies) at the University of Victoria in 2016. His primary research interests included diasporic and indigenous Canadian and American literature, critical theory, cultural studies, and the digital humanities.Roles played in the project
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Contributions by this author
Joey Takeda is a member of the following organizations and/or groups:
Joey Takeda is mentioned in the following documents:
Joey Takeda authored or edited the following items in MoEML’s bibliography:
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Jenstad, Janelle and Joseph Takeda.
Making the RA Matter: Pedagogy, Interface, and Practices.
Making Things and Drawing Boundaries: Experiments in the Digital Humanities. Ed. Jentery Sayers. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2018. Print.
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Janelle Jenstad
JJ
Janelle Jenstad is Associate Professor of English at the University of Victoria, Director of The Map of Early Modern London, and PI of Linked Early Modern Drama Online. She has taught at Queen’s University, the Summer Academy at the Stratford Festival, the University of Windsor, and the University of Victoria. With Jennifer Roberts-Smith and Mark Kaethler, she co-edited Shakespeare’s Language in Digital Media (Routledge). She has prepared a documentary edition of John Stow’s A Survey of London (1598 text) for MoEML and is currently editing The Merchant of Venice (with Stephen Wittek) and Heywood’s 2 If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody for DRE. Her articles have appeared in Digital Humanities Quarterly, Renaissance and Reformation,Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Early Modern Literary Studies, Elizabethan Theatre, Shakespeare Bulletin: A Journal of Performance Criticism, and The Silver Society Journal. Her book chapters have appeared (or will appear) in Institutional Culture in Early Modern Society (Brill, 2004), Shakespeare, Language and the Stage, The Fifth Wall: Approaches to Shakespeare from Criticism, Performance and Theatre Studies (Arden/Thomson Learning, 2005), Approaches to Teaching Othello (Modern Language Association, 2005), Performing Maternity in Early Modern England (Ashgate, 2007), New Directions in the Geohumanities: Art, Text, and History at the Edge of Place (Routledge, 2011), Early Modern Studies and the Digital Turn (Iter, 2016), Teaching Early Modern English Literature from the Archives (MLA, 2015), Placing Names: Enriching and Integrating Gazetteers (Indiana, 2016), Making Things and Drawing Boundaries (Minnesota, 2017), and Rethinking Shakespeare’s Source Study: Audiences, Authors, and Digital Technologies (Routledge, 2018).Roles played in the project
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Janelle Jenstad is a member of the following organizations and/or groups:
Janelle Jenstad is mentioned in the following documents:
Janelle Jenstad authored or edited the following items in MoEML’s bibliography:
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Jenstad, Janelle and Joseph Takeda.
Making the RA Matter: Pedagogy, Interface, and Practices.
Making Things and Drawing Boundaries: Experiments in the Digital Humanities. Ed. Jentery Sayers. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2018. Print. -
Jenstad, Janelle.
Building a Gazetteer for Early Modern London, 1550-1650.
Placing Names. Ed. Merrick Lex Berman, Ruth Mostern, and Humphrey Southall. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana UP, 2016. 129-145. -
Jenstad, Janelle.
The Burse and the Merchant’s Purse: Coin, Credit, and the Nation in Heywood’s 2 If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody.
The Elizabethan Theatre XV. Ed. C.E. McGee and A.L. Magnusson. Toronto: P.D. Meany, 2002. 181–202. Print. -
Jenstad, Janelle.
Early Modern Literary Studies 8.2 (2002): 5.1–26..The City Cannot Hold You
: Social Conversion in the Goldsmith’s Shop. -
Jenstad, Janelle.
The Silver Society Journal 10 (1998): 40–43.The Gouldesmythes Storehowse
: Early Evidence for Specialisation. -
Jenstad, Janelle.
Lying-in Like a Countess: The Lisle Letters, the Cecil Family, and A Chaste Maid in Cheapside.
Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 34 (2004): 373–403. doi:10.1215/10829636–34–2–373. -
Jenstad, Janelle.
Public Glory, Private Gilt: The Goldsmiths’ Company and the Spectacle of Punishment.
Institutional Culture in Early Modern Society. Ed. Anne Goldgar and Robert Frost. Leiden: Brill, 2004. 191–217. Print. -
Jenstad, Janelle.
Smock Secrets: Birth and Women’s Mysteries on the Early Modern Stage.
Performing Maternity in Early Modern England. Ed. Katherine Moncrief and Kathryn McPherson. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007. 87–99. Print. -
Jenstad, Janelle.
Using Early Modern Maps in Literary Studies: Views and Caveats from London.
GeoHumanities: Art, History, Text at the Edge of Place. Ed. Michael Dear, James Ketchum, Sarah Luria, and Doug Richardson. London: Routledge, 2011. Print. -
Jenstad, Janelle.
Versioning John Stow’s A Survey of London, or, What’s New in 1618 and 1633?.
Janelle Jenstad Blog. https://janellejenstad.com/2013/03/20/versioning-john-stows-a-survey-of-london-or-whats-new-in-1618-and-1633/. -
Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Internet Shakespeare Editions. U of Victoria. http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/Texts/MV/.
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Stow, John. A SVRVAY OF LONDON. Contayning the Originall, Antiquity, Increase, Moderne estate, and description of that Citie, written in the yeare 1598. by Iohn Stow Citizen of London. Also an Apologie (or defence) against the opinion of some men, concerning that Citie, the greatnesse thereof. With an Appendix, containing in Latine, Libellum de situ & nobilitate Londini: written by William Fitzstephen, in the raigne of Henry the second. Ed. Janelle Jenstad and the MoEML Team. MoEML. Transcribed.
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Martin D. Holmes
MDH
Programmer at the University of Victoria Humanities Computing and Media Centre (HCMC). Martin ported the MOL project from its original PHP incarnation to a pure eXist database implementation in the fall of 2011. Since then, he has been lead programmer on the project and has also been responsible for maintaining the project schemas. He was a co-applicant on MoEML’s 2012 SSHRC Insight Grant.Roles played in the project
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Amy Tigner
Amy Tigner is a MoEML Pedagogical Partner. She is Associate Professor of English at the University of Texas, Arlington, and the Editor-in-Chief of Early Modern Studies Journal. She is the author of Literature and the Renaissance Garden from Elizabeth I to Charles II: England’s Paradise (Ashgate, 2012) and has published in ELR, Modern Drama, Milton Quarterly, Drama Criticism, Gastronomica and Early Theatre. Currently, she is working on two book projects: co-editing, with David Goldstein, Culinary Shakespeare, and co-authoring, with Allison Carruth, Literature and Food Studies.Roles played in the project
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Guest Editor
Amy Tigner is mentioned in the following documents:
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Joul L. Smith
JLS
Student contributor enrolled in English 5308: Shakespeare and Early Modern Urban/Rural Nature at the University of Texas, Arlington in Fall 2014, working under the guest editorship of Amy Tigner.Roles played in the project
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Author
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John Overs
John Overa
Dramatic character in The true history of the life and sudden death of old Iohn Overs, the rich ferry-man of London And how he lost his life by his owne covetousnesse. And of his daughter Mary, who caused the Church of Saint Mary Overs in Southwark to be built, and of the building of London-Bridge.John Overs is mentioned in the following documents:
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Mary Overs
Mary Overa
Dramatic haracter in The true history of the life and sudden death of old Iohn Overs, the rich ferry-man of London And how he lost his life by his owne covetousnesse. And of his daughter Mary, who caused the Church of Saint Mary Overs in Southwark to be built, and of the building of London-Bridge.Mary Overs is mentioned in the following documents:
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John Rocque is mentioned in the following documents:
John Rocque authored or edited the following items in MoEML’s bibliography:
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Rocque, John, and John Pine. A Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster, and Borough of Southwark with Contiguous Buildings. London: John Pine and John Tinney, 1746.[See more information about this map.]
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Rocque, John.
A Correct Plan of the Cities of London & Westminster & Borough of Southwark, including the Bills of Mortality, with the Additional Buildings &c.
The London Magazine 30 (June 1761): Insert between 288 and 289. -
Rocque, John. A Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster, and Borough of Southwark with Contiguous Buildings. London: Printed by John Rocque, 1746. Reprinted as The A to Z of Georgian London. Introduced by Ralph Hyde. London: London Topographical Society, 1982. [We cite by index label thus: Rocque 15Db.
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John Pine is mentioned in the following documents:
John Pine authored or edited the following items in MoEML’s bibliography:
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Rocque, John, and John Pine. A Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster, and Borough of Southwark with Contiguous Buildings. London: John Pine and John Tinney, 1746.[See more information about this map.]
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John Standbrooke
Lime-man.John Standbrooke is mentioned in the following documents:
Locations
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The Thames
Perhaps more than any other geophysical feature, the Thames river has directly affected London’s growth and rise to prominence; historically, the city’s economic, political, and military importance was dependent on its riverine location. As a tidal river, connected to the North Sea, the Thames allowed for transportation to and from the outside world; and, as the longest river in England, bordering on nine counties, it linked London to the country’s interior. Indeed, without the Thames, London would not exist as one of Europe’s most influential cities. The Thames, however, is notable for its dichotomous nature: it is both a natural phenomenon and a cultural construct; it lives in geological time but has been the measure of human history; and the city was built around the river, but the river has been reshaped by the city and its inhabitants.The Thames is mentioned in the following documents:
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Winchester House
Located directly to the west of St. Saviour (Southwark) on the southern bank of the Thames, Winchester House, also known as Winchester Palace, was the London residence for the Bishops of Winchester from the twelfth century until 1626 (Sugden 567). John Stow notes that Winchester House was originally built by William Giffard around the year 1107 on a plot of land belonging to the Prior of Bermondsey (Stow 1598, sig. Y7r). The palace is labelled on the Agas map, Hogenberg and Braun’s 1572 map (Londinum Feracissimi Angliæ Regni Metropolis), and Visscher’s 1616 map (Londinum Florentissima Britanniæ Urbs; Toto Orbe Celeberriumum Emporiumque).Winchester House is mentioned in the following documents:
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St. Saviour (Southwark)
St. Saviour (Southwark) dates back at least to 1106. It was originally known by the name St. Mary Overies, with Overies referring to its beingover
the Thames, that is, on its southern bank. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the church was rededicated and renamed St. Saviour (Sugden 335). St. Saviour (Southwark) is visible on the Agas map along New Rents street in Southwark. It is marked with the labelS. Mary Owber.
St. Saviour (Southwark) is mentioned in the following documents:
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London Bridge
As the only bridge in London crossing the Thames until 1729, London Bridge was a focal point of the city. After its conversion from wood to stone, completed in 1209, the bridge housed a variety of structures, including a chapel and a growing number of shops. The bridge was famous for the cityʼs grisly practice of displaying traitorsʼ heads on poles above its gatehouses. Despite burning down multiple times, London Bridge was one of the few structures not entirely destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666.London Bridge is mentioned in the following documents:
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Southwark is mentioned in the following documents:
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London is mentioned in the following documents:
Variant spellings
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Documents using the spelling
Biſhop of Wincheſters ſtaires
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Documents using the spelling
Biſhoppe of Wincheſters ſtaires
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Documents using the spelling
Sayncte Marye Oueryes stayres
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Documents using the spelling
St. Mary Overie Dock
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Documents using the spelling
St. Mary Overie Stairs
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Documents using the spelling
St. Mary Overy Stairs
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Documents using the spelling
St. Mary. Overs / Stairs
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Documents using the spelling
St. Saviour Stairs
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Documents using the spelling
Winchester Stairs