The Green Gate
The Green Gate was a house on the south side of Leadenhall Street, east of Leadenhall in Lime Street Ward. It appears that this
house was in between Leaden Porch to the east and Leadenhall to the west (Harben; BHO and BHO).
Stow describes the house as
a fayre house of olde time(Stow; BHO). Stow’s interest went beyond the building itself and its location; he was confounded by the misdemeanours that occurred within it. The Green Gate was the site of not one but two robberies. The first occurred in 1449 when Alderman Philip Mulpas
was there robbed and spoyled of his goods to a great value, by lacke Cade, and other Rebels.The second was sixty-eight years later in 1517. By that time the house was owned by
Iohn Mutas (a Picarde) or Frenchman [who] harbored in his house many Frenchmen, that kalendred wolsteds, and did other things contrarie to the Franchises of the Citizens(Stow; BHO). Stow takes great pleasure in reporting to his readers that the Frenchman got his comeuppance when
the Prentizes and other spoyled his house: and if they could haue found Mutas, they would haue stricken off his heade(Stow; BHO). Fortunately for the house, in Stow’s opinion, it was sold back into the possession of Alderman John Moore years later (Stow; BHO).
The notorious Green Gate does not appear on the Agas map,
but the house would have been on the site of the rectangular-shaped house drawn
immediately east of Leadenhall.
References
-
Citation
Harben, Henry. A Dictionary of London. London: Henry Jenkins, 1918. British History Online. Reprint. Open.This item is cited in the following documents:
-
Citation
Stow, John. A Survey of London. Reprinted from the Text of 1603. Ed. Charles Lethbridge Kingsford. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1908. Reprint. British History Online. Subscription. [Kingsford edition, courtesy of The Centre for Metropolitan History. Articles written 2011 or later cite from this searchable transcription. In the in-text parenthetical reference (Stow; BHO), click on BHO to go directly to the page containing the quotation or source.]This item is cited in the following documents: