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191
Burghley papers, describes the Lammas lands of St. Martin's
and St. Margaret's parishes as being enclosed in Elizabeth's
time, and refers to "the Neat" as comprising 108 acres.
The same gentleman adds that Burghley, High Steward of
Westminster in 1592, ordered a special enquiry, but
about forty inhabitants of both parishes with spades and
pickaxes had meanwhile broken down the fence, Mr. Cole,
the High Constable for Westminster, who " led the way from
field to field with a written roll in his hand " being among
those who thus forcibly asserted their rights. At the
commencement of the last century "the Neat" of 108
acres was leased by Linde and Turner, who kept the same
enclosed, converting it into pasture, and planting new
hedges, whereas "the most part thereof ought to be
common, and hath been usually common at Lammas until
within these nineteen years." In Horwood's map of
London, published about 1819, the Neat Houses and "Neat
House Gardens" are clearly marked as covering the area
lying between the King's Scholars' Pond Sewer, which
divides the parish of St. John the Evangelist from that of
St. George, Hanover Square, and the Millbank Distillery,
and between the river and "Willow Walk," comprising the
site of the present St. George's Square, part of St. George's
Road and Belgrave Road, with some of the streets by
which they are Intersected. The area of the Hamlet of
Knightsbridge was 384 acres—more than three times that
of the Neat Houses and Gardens—which may account for
the proposed exchange not having been effected. In any
case the reasons which guided the Vestry to that end are
left to be inferred, for no further entry on the subject
appears in the minutes of the Vestry.
Miscellaneous
Matters.
A few examples, taken quite at random, of the
diversity of subjects to which the Vestry
directed their attention, are all that can be given. These
are so varied as to forbid any attempt at arrangement or
classification.