The Record Office, Fetter Lane

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Arthur H. Beavan continued his survey of the City of London in Imperial London, 1901, with this look at the Record Office:

The Record Office in Fetter Lane and Chancery Lane was in 1900 one of the most interesting places in London to historians and archaeologists.

Prior to 1856, the records of public affairs were distributed over no less than sixty places, and were as inaccessible to the searcher as they were widely scattered.

When they were brought together under one roof in the present building on the Rolls estate, which was erected from the designs of Sir J. Pennethorne, they formed a collection of great size and greater importance.

They have no equal, says Sir Francis Palgrave, in the civilized world in antiquity, continuity, variety, extent, and amplitude of facts - containing full materials for the history of the country, civil, religious, political, social, moral, or material, from the date of the commencement of the Domesday Book to the present day.

The building - in 1900 not yet quite completed, as there was to be a further block on the vacant site in Fetter Lane - was stately and worthy of its purpose.

At the exterior of the Chancery Lane block was a handsome Gothic doorway flanked by two square towers, and two large windows above.

At the extreme corners were hexagonal towers, and all the towers had stone turrets.

In order to ensure as much as possible the contents of the Record Office from the danger of fire, the most elaborate precautions were taken.

Only the smallest necessary quantity of wood was used.

All the rooms were lined with iron, and doors of iron were provided everywhere.

Everything that could be, was fireproof; floors, staircases, etc., being of iron and stone, the roof of iron, while the windows had stone mullions and iron lights.

Apart from the student, there was much here to greatly interest the ordinary sightseer.

First and foremost were the Domesday Books, which, singularly enough, had an even greater fascination for Americans than for English people.

The greatest surprise is often created by the fact that there are two Domesday Books, though the singular number is always used in speaking of them.

Those who see them for the first time are also surprised to find them no larger than a Family Bible.

The various old charters are curious and fairly complete, though lacking the most important, the "Magna Charta," which is in the possession of the British Museum.

A very interesting charter is the one creating the first Prince of Wales.

Here were also kept the military and naval dispatches, foremost in importance among which are those of Marlborough and Wellington.

The department containing royal letters was enriched from time to time, and those of Mary Queen of Scots to Bothwell are most frequently brought to the light of day.

Next: The City of London in 1900: Cheapside