Twenty centuries ago, the ground the hall now stands on was not here at all, only the river lapping the edge of a waterside path that was to become Thames Street. The riverbank was gradually extended into the river - first by the Romans, then the Anglo-Saxons and then by the medieval merchants - with man-made ground for the wharves and warehouses of marine traders. The shoreline reached its present extent by the late fourteenth century, with fishmongers having set up shop on the riverbank no later than the thirteenth century.

In the latter half of the fourteenth century, one long slice of land between Thames Street and the river became, in succession, the domestic and commercial premises of three prominent fish-merchants, John Lovekyn, Sir William Walworth and William Askham - each one having been Mayor of the City. They each improved the great tenement, with its counting house and dwelling at the Thames Street end and its warehouses and wharf at the river end. The premises included a great hall, large enough for a newly-important Livery Company to meet and eat in, and this was secured for the Fishmongers' Company during 1433-44 with the aid of several carefully staged transactions. One of these was made more impressive with the name of Henry IV's brother-in-law, John Cornwall, Baron Fanhope. Lord Fanhope never owned or occupied the old great tenement himself - he simply lent his name in a friendly manner!

The Saltfishmongers (dried-fish traders) and the Stockfishmongers (wet-fish traders) disagreed about most things and this prevented their united occupation of the premises, but, after they got together in 1536, some rebuilding of the premises took place. Two drawings of around 1540 (now in the Ashmolean Museum) show a stout stone building, which the Company built for itself alongside the wharf, but later views show a steep-roofed dining hall of brick and timber that was erected in Elizabeth 1's time. Wenceslas Hollar's long view of the City shows Fishmongers' Hall as it was just before the Great Fire.

Until 1666, the Company had sole use of its wharf which lay some 75 yards upstream of Old London Bridge and was not then part of any common quay.

THE MEDIEVAL SITE AND THE TUDOR HALL CONTINUED

Current as at August 10, 2003