ST PAUL'S AREA COPPER PLATE MAP 1550s

This detail from the third discovered part of the Copper Plate London map gives a better idea of the closeness of the buildings at the time. This section, containing valuable information of the area around St Paul's Cathedral, was discovered in the 1990s in Germany and it is thought that there are fifteen sections in all, making up the first map of London. The map predates 1561 since it was then that lightning struck and demolished the spire and masonry below and was not rebuilt until after the Great Fire. Its proximity to Blackfriars can be seen clearly from the winding lanes between. Carter Lane, just below St Paul's, still exists and was a notorious parking place of horses and coaches on performance nights at the Blackfriars Theatre. It is hard not to imagine how chaotic it must have been when looking at the width of the street today. Now some fifteen years since the dissolution the fragmentation and rebuilding of the monastic buildings can be seen as depicted from the actual time. The blue fill is the area covered in this chapter.