The Fire Court: A gripping historical thriller from the bestselling author of The Ashes of London (James Marwood & Cat Lovett, Book 2)

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Before working on the Fire Court decrees as part of my analysis of the 17th century property market, I studied the various aspects of the City of London, especially in the 18th century. My thesis was on ‘The Government of the City of London, 1694-1767’ (Oxford D.Phil. 1980). This looked at a range of financial and administrative problems faced by the City Corporation as it tried to recover from the bankruptcy caused by a disastrous orphans scheme (as well as the long term effect of Crown ‘loans’ and then the Fire). I published a number of articles based on the thesis, including ones on the City Elections Act (1725), the Sheriffs controversy and (a new approach to) City politics from Shaftesbury to Wilkes: see my Published work for details. In 1478 the City gained the right to appoint the Coroner for the City of London and in 1550 the Coroner for the Borough of Southwark. See Information Leaflet 41 'Coroners' Records for London and Middlesex'.

The Fire Court by Andrew Taylor | Waterstones

Population Growth and Movement in Colchester and the Tendring Hundred, 1500-1800’, Essex Review, 7 (1971) Walking up the steps to the entrance hall, you can picture carriages arriving and guests being greeted by the butler, waiting among the marble sculptures and potted palms to be welcomed for a weekend party. Inside you can see the former drawing room, salons, sitting rooms and library. Alcoves, fireplaces and remnants of wall mouldings help you picture what it would’ve been like, decorated with paintings, sculptures and lavish fabrics. Witley Court is 10 miles north-west of Worcester – the postcode is WR6 6JT. If you don’t have a car, you can catch a train to Worcester Foregate Street and then catch the 758 Yarranton Bros bus (which runs between Worcester and Tenbury). Witley Court is located between Little Witley and Great Witley, and takes around 20 minutes by bus. Witley Court opening hours and prices Book 2, Ch. 15: Cheap Ward', A New History of London: Including Westminster and Southwark (1773), pp. 587–593. Date accessed: 4 April 2011Overlooking the gardens, the conservatory – or orangery – was one of the most impressive in England. It originally had a domed glass roof modelled on Crystal Palace, and was heated by a coal furnace to create an oasis of tropical plants. Although it survived the fire, the glass and lead were stripped out and not much is left. But it’s still a good spot to look out over Witley Court gardens, which have been restored with some of the original planting. In 1921 the City of London Court (formerly the Sheriffs' Courts) amalgamated with the Mayor's Court to form the Mayor and City of London Court, which still exists.

Balancing Acts; Francis I; The Fire Court In brief: Balancing Acts; Francis I; The Fire Court

Husting Books contain brief details of cases heard week by week and include both Pleas of Land and Common Pleas 1448-1484; 1506-1723; 1838-1978 - CLA/023/CT/01/001-017. The Great Refusal” Why does the City of London only govern the Square Mile?’, The London Journal, 39 (2014) I published ‘The City of London in the 18th century: corporate pressures and their implications’ in an Oxford University Press volume honouring one of my History tutors, Paul Langford. The essay draws together much of my previous research.

Contain bonds and deeds relating to orphans' estates. Listed alphabetically under the surname of the deceased freeman. The Crown by a series of charters had granted considerable judicial privileges to the City of London. No citizen was required to plead outside the city. The City of London developed its own courts where the Mayor and Aldermen could settle disputes about urban property, goods and chattels, wills and debts. During the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries the powers of the king's justices in relation to pleas relating to the possession of land in the City were on several occasions in dispute. The archives of the City of London include rolls of pleas held before the Itinerant Justices at the Tower (Iter Rolls) in 1244-1246 and 1276 (CLA/040/01/001-002). These have been published as The London Eyre of 1244 ed. Helena Chew and Martin Weinbaum (London Record Society, 1970) and The London Eyre of 1276 ed. Martin Weinbaum (London Record Society, 1976) 60.9 LRS, available online at http://www.british-history.ac.uk/place.aspx?gid=49®ion=1 However after 1341 there was no further session of the itinerant royal justices at the Tower, and the City's jurisdiction in questions of possession of land and other property was henceforward independent of external interference and control. This leaflet details the civic courts which developed to exercise this jurisdiction. And once more he meets Cat Lovett, daughter of a regicide, now in hiding not just from those who want revenge on her for her father’s sake, but from her own family, who intend to marry her to a rapist. She’s disguised as Jane Hakesby, an architect’s cousin and maidservant. My talk at the famous ‘Quit Rents’ ceremony at the Royal Courts of Justice on 9 October 2013 presented a ‘personal account’ of ‘Quit rents, freeholds and the Fire of London.’

The Fire Court: A gripping historical thriller from the The Fire Court: A gripping historical thriller from the

While in Oxford I helped complete the work of my supervisor, Dame Lucy Sutherland, on the 18th-century volume of the History of the University, with a chapter on the administration of the colleges.

I am currently analysing the Fire Court decrees with a view to understanding the London property market before and after the Great Fire in 1666. Witley Court started life less grandly as a Jacobean manor house. But in 1655 it was sold to the Foley family, who’d made their money in ironmongery, first producing nails and then cannons for the Civil War. Over the next 182 years, eight generations of Foleys (confusingly all named Thomas) reinvented themselves from industrialists to aristocrats and politicians, lavishing money on Witley Court along the way so it matched their new status. Index of names and types of actions appearing within the Court rolls (Pleas of Land), 1272-15th century (1 ring binder available on request) The Effects of the Plague on a Provincial Town in the 16th and 17th Centuries’, Medical History, 19 (1975)