Vandon Passage SW1
It was on the site adjacent to this Passage that Cornelius Van Dun, a Dutchman and Yeoman of the Guard to Henry VIII, built a row of almshouses in 1575 for the well being of eight deprived women of the district. Not content with this singular generous deed, he provided the cash for the building of twelve more at St Ermin’s Hill, round the back of St James’s Park Station.
At the time the almshouses were built, Petty France had already been in existence for about 100 years as a continuation of Tothill Street, the main west road from the Abbey. For those living in the alleys to the south of here, Vandon Passage was a vital link with civilisation, long before the roadway of Buckingham Gate was constructed and when the line of Victoria Street was still a dusty track. Vandon Street, still almost as narrow as it was 400 years ago, is a survivor of one of these alleys and marks the southern limit of the plot purchased by Van Dun.
Tucked away from the scurrying rat race, Vandon Passage has little to show for its long years of existence. Surfaced in Tarmac, its only hint of attention-worthy artefacts are the two gas-style standard lamps, long since converted to electricity. For much of the day this Passage reclines in an almost hushed withdrawal from existence, but rises during the lunchtime and early evening hours as an indispensable cut-through for those mortals eager to take refreshment in the Buckingham Arms at 62 Petty France. The Buckingham is a superb pub, which on weekday lunchtimes always seems to give the impression of being filled with the entire workforce of Victoria. Just how close this notion is to absolute accuracy I have no idea but it is certainly very busy. Try it – but go early.
Vine Hill EC1
As will probably be your expectation, Vine Hill now displays not the faintest shred of evidence that vines once flourished in the grounds on which it stands. When we stand outside the Duke of York public house, on the corner, it seems beyond our wildest fantasies to conceive that even a blade of grass would have dared to poke through the surface. It was, of course, over 400 years ago when the gardens of the Bishops of Ely covered the land between here and their town house east of Hatton Garden. By the late 16th century the Diocese of Ely had temporarily abandoned the house, during which time Sir Christopher Hatton, with the help of Queen Elizabeth, had seized most of the estate. The Hatton estate passed down through three generations of the family to Baron Hatton of Kirby in 1640. Financial difficulties caused him to dispose of the entire holding and by 1660 Hatton Garden and a series of smaller roads had replaced the house and grounds. The northern extent of the Hatton estate lay barren for a few years longer and the vineyard was swept away in about 1710 when this area was developed.
Vine Hill is effectively a cul-de-sac although a steep flight of steps leads up to busy Rosebery Avenue. All has changed greatly over the years and where the grapes once grew, an uninviting block of flats frown sourfully on the lacklustre below.
Vine Yard SE1
UG: Borough
Bus: 21 35 40 133 P3
From Borough Station turn into Marshalsea Road, by the station and in about 100 yds turn left into Sanctuary Street. Vine Yard is about 25 yds on the left.
This strangely curved passageway probably encircled the Vine tavern, which stood on the corner of Lant Street and Sanctuary Street in the early 19th century. It was known locally as the Grapes.
In 1824 Charles Dickens took lodgings around the corner in Lant Street to be near his father who was then serving time in the Marshalsea Prison. During that time, while still only twelve years old, he was employed in the local shoe polish factory as a means of raising funds to pay his way. Anyone who has read The Old Curiosity Shop will already have met the Garland family of Abel Cottage, Finchley, where Kit observed, on the occasion of meeting the family, that old Mr Garland kept a garden which ‘seemed to be the perfection of neatness and order.’ This was the family who in Dickens mind represented the image of the family in Lant Street who looked after him in desperate times. The Garland family may also have inspired the characters of Mrs Raddle and her husband, of Lant Street, who offered lodgings to Bob Sawyer of Pickwick Papers.
Vinegar Yard SE1
UG: London Bridge
Bus: 47 P11
From the southern end of London Bridge pass under the railway bridge into Borough High Street and turn left into St Thomas Street, signed Guy’s Hospital. On the left pass Joiner Street and in about 155 yds, on the right, pass Weston Street. In about 155 yds cross Fenning Street. Vinegar Yard is about 70 yds on the right.
‘Tis melancholy, and a fearful sign
Of human frailty, folly, also crime,
That love and marriage rarely can combine,
Although they both are born in the same clime;
Marriage from love, like vinegar from wine –
A sad, sour, beverage – by time
Is sharpened from its high celestial flavour,
Down to a very household savour.’
In our day there are perhaps not many couples who would associate their progression from love to marriage with the maturing process of vinegar; but Lord Byron was talking of a different time.
In France they make it from wine, reflecting the precise definition – vin aigre, but in England we have traditionally favoured beer. Because of the convenience of transporting hops from Kent, the brewing industry has had a home in Southwark for centuries, and as a by-product, barrels of the soured beverage have been hauled by the cart load from the breweries south of the Thames. We can well imagine the brewers jumping with glee when the first fish and chip shop opened its doors.
The method of producing vinegar is not a difficult one – it produces itself – a perfectly natural bacteriological process of exposing the fermented liquor to the atmosphere. In the days of rather less meticulous cellar management it was not uncommon to be served with a pint of vinegar in the local pub; the landlord had gone to bed the previous night a little the worse for ware and forgotten to knock the spile home.
Vinegar Yard is a strange place, it is not really a yard at all, but a narrow road forming the access to a National Car Park. Along its twisting route between St Thomas’s Street and Melior Place there is an old four-storey warehouse with red painted doors on each level, at one time used for storing vinegar.
The alleyways and courtyards of London
This page is taken from Ivor Hoole’s defunct GeoCities site listing the alleys and courtyards in Central London, last updated in 2004 and now taken offline.
The Underground Map blog lists this information as is, with no claim of copyright.