94
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
heresy, in the reign of Mary, but he may have confused this place with Strat-
ford proper.
This village was then a pleasant excursion from London in the summer
days. Will Kemp (a comedian in the same company as Shakspeare), in his
Morris Dance from London to Norwich, "Kemp's nine daies wonder," thus
mentions Bow :—
" But eyther to keepe a custom which many holde, that Mile End is no
walke without a recreation at Stratford Bow with creame and cakes, or else
for love they beare toward me . . . however many a thousand brought me to
Bow, where I rested awhile from dancing, but had small rest with those that
would have urg'd me to drinking. . . . The Tabrer strikes alarum. Tickle it,
good Tom, I'll follow thee. Farewell Bowe, have over the bridge where I
heard say honest conscience was once drown'd . . . let's now away to Stratford
Langton."
Among the many reminiscences of Bow, stands the famous Bow Fair—a wild
carnival held on Whitsun Thursday, in the Fair-fields, now but a name in connec-
tion with the road so called. Then on Easter Monday the famous Cockney Hunt
in Epping Forest was a feature, a subject which has been so humorously treated
by Tom Hood, a halt being called here for the entertainment of man and
beast.
Old Samuel Pepys was often here, sometimes for an airing, or to dine with
Lady Pooly, or breakfasting here on eggs on his way to Waltham Forest, "where
we saw many trees of the King's a-hewing."
Another gay time was the first Friday in July, on the occasion of Fairlop
Fair, when the procession of watermen's boats passed, and halted on their journey
to Hainhault Forest.
A large amount of washing was done here in the last century, and a short
account in 1761 notes that "this village is inhabited by many whitsters and scarlet
dyers," a whitster being a laundress. "Carry it among the whitsters in Datchet
mead."—Merry Wives of Windsor,
About this time, or rather earlier,2 the celebrated Bow China Works were
established, the precursor of the better known Chelsea. The exact spot, however,
was unknown until 1868, when a large quantity of patterns, broken pieces, etc.,
were found on the Essex side, when some alterations were in progress at the
works of Bell and Black, now Hogarth's pickle-and-jam factory.
In 1770 the bodies of two notable highwaymen—Conway and Richardson—
after execution at Tyburn, were hung in chains on Bow Common, and over
43,000 people went to view the sight in the first week.
At Old Ford, in the track of the Old Roman Road, but close to the river, there
existed, until some thirty years ago, an ancient gateway of brick, with stone
mouldings and carved corbel heads, which marked the position of a fine mansion
which formerly stood there, called "Old Place." It was standing in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, but was pulled down before 1665, when the site was presented
to Christ's Hospital. In Bearbinder Lane, between the Roman Road and the main
road, a quiet, shady lane surrounded by fields, when I was a boy, I first saw
mistletoe glowing on one of the tall elm trees.
Just beyond Bow Bridge, on the Essex side, is a side branch of the Lea which
splits up into the Pudding Mill river, the City Mill river, and through the Mill
Pool to the Waterworks river. These three rivers again join the Lea close by
2 In the account quoted in the last paragraph, 1761, we find, "Here has lately been set up
a large manufactory of porcelain, which is brought to such perfection as to be very little inferior
to that of China."