cxlii Journal of Proceedings.
Street, or Gipsy Lane, down which Miss Fry conjectures the good Duke
of Gloucester was hurried from Stratford to the Thames, and to his
murder at Calais, by his treacherous nephew Richard II., on a summer
night in 1397. The whole story may be read in Froissart. At the
ancient Tudor mansion, " Green Street House," of late years known as
Boleyn Castle, the company was received by Father Kemp, and shown
over the quaint, old-fashioned grounds, in which the magnificent cedars
still flourish unharmed by the deep drainage which has been the ruin of
many fine trees in the neighbourhood. Here Mr. Crouch read the
following account of the house : —
This old mansion, which was for many years commonly known as
Morley Castle, on account of the Morleys having resided there for over
half a century, abuts on the Green Lane (the division of the parishes
of East and West Ham) about a mile N.W. from East Ham Church.
There are few noticeable features about the house except some old panel
work, a black and white marble-paved banquet-room, some coloured
marble chimney-pieces, and in one of the upper rooms a quantity of old
Dutch tiles, with their curiously painted blue designs, which adorn one
of the tire-places. Exteriorly, facing N., are some old red brick gabies
of the Carolean period, and fronting the Green Lane, a long gallery, at the
north end of which stood (until 1869) a red brick ivy-crowned Tudor arch-
way. The grounds on the south of the mansion are prettily laid out and
stocked with trees, amongst which are some tine cedars and mulberries ;
but the chief feature connected with this place is an old embattled
octagon red brick tower in the garden, on the wall which divides it from
the lane, and a short distance from the house. This tower, commonly
called Anne Boleyn's Tower, contains four rooms, and a smaller octagonal
tower contains the newel staircase leading to them and thence to the
roof, with an embattled turret above, which had, until some fifteen years
ago, a short flagstaff with a curious old vane. From the roof a fine view
is obtained for many miles around, and southward over the Thames may
be seen Greenwich Hospital, Shooter's Hill, and other places in the
county of Kent. In the third story is a stone Tudor-arched fire-place,
with carved spandrels, and this room was formerly hung with leather
richly decorated with gold. These costly hangings were burnt about
the end of the last century by the then owner (Mr. Barnes), in order to
collect the gold, which was sold for £80. The lead also from the roof
was sold by him, and the top of the tower much damaged. When
Mr. Morley bought the property (circa 1795-1800) he repaired this tower
and re-covered the roof with copper. Tradition asserts that King Henry
VIII, resided here occasionally, coming over from his palace at Green-
wich to hunt in the forest; and this tower is said to have been built by
him for Anne Boleyn (or Bullen) to enjoy the fine prospect: but this
tradition, especially as it respects the "fair ladye of his love," is en-
tirely erroneous. The early registers of East Ham, up to Anno 1096, are
missing, and I have not been able to trace in any way the earlier
occupants of this house; but we find it belonged in the middle of the
seventeen h century to Sir Henry Holcroft, Kt., who conveyed it to
Sir Thomas Garrard, Bart., from whom it descended to Sir Jacob Garrard
Downing, Bart. It subsequently became the property of a Mr. Barnes, who
resided here for more than fifty years, and from whom it was conveyed
by sale to William Morley, Esq., whose descendants sold it in 1869 to
Archbishop Manning. The old Tudor gateway was then pulled down,
and rooms and dormitories erected to the north of the mansion, and it was
opened as a reformatory school for boys about the end of the year 1870.