# Bassishaw

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bassishaw
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bassishaw.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassishaw
> Source revision: 1354807824
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Ward of the City of London}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2014}}
{{infobox UK place
| official_name            = Ward of Bassishaw
| map_type                 = Greater London
| country                  = England
| region                   = London
| london_borough           = City of London
| coordinates              = {{coord|51.51649|-0.0926|display=inline,title}}
| os_grid_reference        = TQ325815
| post_town                = LONDON
| postcode_area            = EC
| postcode_district        = EC2
| dial_code                = 020
| constituency_westminster = [Cities of London and Westminster](/source/Cities_of_London_and_Westminster_(UK_Parliament_constituency))
| mapframe                 = yes
| mapframe-custom          = {{maplink|raw={{Wikipedia:Map data/Bassishaw (2013)}}|frame=yes|plain=yes|frame-align=center|frame-width=245|frame-height=245}}
| mapframe-caption         = Bassishaw ward boundaries since 2013
}}
'''Bassishaw''' is one of [the 25 wards](/source/Wards_of_the_City_of_London) of the [City of London](/source/City_of_London), with the City forming the historic and financial centre of [Greater London](/source/Greater_London), England. While all 25 wards within the small, {{convert|1.12|sqmi|km2|2|abbr=on}}, City are themselves small, Bassishaw is historically the City's smallest.<ref name="Dictionary">''A Topographical Dictionary of England'', Samuel Lewis, 1831, p 134</ref> It is bounded by four wards: [Coleman Street](/source/Coleman_Street), east; [Cheap](/source/Cheap_(ward)), south; [Cripplegate](/source/Cripplegate), north; [Aldersgate](/source/Aldersgate), west.

It first consisted of [Basinghall Street](/source/Basinghall_Street) with the courts and short side streets off it,<ref name=new>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=46749 ''Book 2, Ch. 6: Bassishaw Ward'', A New History of London: Including Westminster and Southwark (1773), pp. 549-51] accessed: 21 May 2007</ref> but since a boundary review in 2003 (after which the ward expanded into Cripplegate Within) it extends to streets further west, including '''Aldermanbury''', [Wood Street](/source/Wood_Street%2C_London),<ref>'Cripplegate, one of the 26 Wards of the City of London' [Baddesley, J.J](/source/Sir_John_Baddeley%2C_1st_Baronet) p46: London; Blades, East & Blades; 1921</ref> and, to the north, part of [London Wall](/source/London_Wall) and St Alphage Garden.<ref>[http://217.154.230.195/NR/rdonlyres/8F2B7608-35C1-4D39-90BE-2EA03B556BAC/0/bassishaw.jpg  City of London Corporation] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110704190808/http://217.154.230.195/NR/rdonlyres/8F2B7608-35C1-4D39-90BE-2EA03B556BAC/0/bassishaw.jpg |date=4 July 2011 }} Map of Bassishaw ward (2003 —)</ref>

==History==
===Toponymy===
The ward is named for Basinghall, the mansion house of the Bassing (or Basing) family, who were prominent in the City beginning in the 13th century.<ref name=new/> [King Henry III](/source/Henry_III_of_England) granted [Adam de Basing](/source/Adam_de_Basing) "certain houses in Aldermanbury and in Milk-street; the [advowson](/source/advowson) of the church at Bassings hall; with other liberties and privileges". [John Leake](/source/John_Leake)'s 1667 map of the City of London refers to the ward as "Basinghall ward".

===Guilds and churches===
thumb|left|upright|Cole's 1755 map of Bassishaw ward.
In this ward was a weekly cloth market, authorised by [King Richard III](/source/Richard_III_of_England). The [coopers'](/source/Worshipful_Company_of_Coopers) guild hall was first founded in this ward in 1522, at The Swan, a [public house](/source/pub), and, from 1547, their purpose-built hall. Their hall was destroyed in the [Great Fire of London](/source/Great_Fire_of_London) in 1666 but later rebuilt in situ. They rebuilt again in 1865, selling a part of the site to the [City of London Corporation](/source/City_of_London_Corporation) for the expansion of the [Guildhall](/source/Guildhall%2C_London). This hall was destroyed by fire on the night of 29 December 1940.<ref>[http://www.coopers-hall.co.uk/coopers/index.htm ''History of the Coopers'' (Company of Coopers)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629035550/http://www.coopers-hall.co.uk/coopers/index.htm |date=29 June 2007 }} accessed 21 May 2007</ref>

The [masons'](/source/Worshipful_Company_of_Masons) hall was constructed in 1463 in Mason's Avenue which today is a southern limit. Their hall was also sold to the Corporation in 1865. The [weavers](/source/Worshipful_Company_of_Weavers) and [girdlers](/source/Worshipful_Company_of_Girdlers) also had their guild halls in the ward.<ref name=new/> The modern livery halls of the [pewterers](/source/Worshipful_Company_of_Pewterers), [salters](/source/Worshipful_Company_of_Salters) and [brewers](/source/Worshipful_Company_of_Brewers) are in Bassishaw.

There were two churches, neither of which remain. [St Michael Bassishaw](/source/St_Michael_Bassishaw), dedicated to [St Michael](/source/Michael_(archangel)), the archangel, which was founded in the 12th century.<ref name=churches>''Churches of the City of London'' Reynolds,H (Bodley Head 1922)</ref> At that time, the rectorship was included in the gift of [St Bartholomew-the-Great](/source/St_Bartholomew-the-Great), but, over time, it came to be associated with [St Paul's Cathedral](/source/St_Paul's_Cathedral) itself. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, and rebuilt in 1679.<ref name=new/> It was united with [St Lawrence Jewry](/source/St_Lawrence_Jewry) in 1897; the site was sold in 1899 and the church was demolished in 1900. [St Alphage London Wall](/source/St_Alphage_London_Wall), also damaged in the Great Fire but not rebuilt until 1777, was eventually demolished in 1924.<ref name=churches/>

==Points of interest==
[[File:Bassishaw Tower.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The Tower on [Wood Street](/source/Wood_Street%2C_London).]]
thumb|right|upright|View up Wood Street.
The ward contains a large part of the [Guildhall](/source/Guildhall%2C_London) buildings, the main administrative centre for the [City of London Corporation](/source/City_of_London_Corporation). (A small, but important, part of the Guildhall lies within Cheap ward.) The [Guildhall Art Gallery](/source/Guildhall_Art_Gallery) and [Guildhall Library](/source/Guildhall_Library) both lie in Bassishaw, as part of the Guildhall buildings. 

Also in the ward is [Wood Street police station](/source/Wood_Street_police_station), the former headquarters of the [City of London Police](/source/City_of_London_Police) (not to be confused with the [Metropolitan Police Service](/source/Metropolitan_Police_Service) whose headquarters are at [Scotland Yard](/source/Scotland_Yard)). It used to host a small police museum, which relocated in 2016 to the Guildhall Library, replacing the [Clockmakers' Museum](/source/Clockmakers'_Museum) and Library.

The prominently motifed [Chartered Insurance Institute](/source/Chartered_Insurance_Institute) at 20 Aldermanbury has its own hall (''Insurance Hall'') and a small museum. The building itself is [Grade-II listed](/source/Listed_building).<ref name="a247">{{cite web | title=20 Aldermanbury, Non Civil Parish | website=Historic England | date=2025-01-03 | url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1428998 | access-date=2025-02-25}}</ref>

==Pedestrian route==
'''Aldermanbury''' has broad pavements and remains a pedestrian link from [Gresham Street](/source/Gresham_Street) to the road aspect of, the main successor of, [London Wall](/source/London_Wall).

==Politics==
Bassishaw is one of 25 wards in the City of London, each electing an [alderman](/source/alderman) to the [Court of Aldermen](/source/Court_of_Aldermen) and commoners (the City equivalent of a [councillor](/source/councillor)) to the [Court of Common Council](/source/Court_of_Common_Council) of the [City of London Corporation](/source/City_of_London_Corporation). Only electors who are [Freemen of the City of London](/source/Freemen_of_the_City_of_London) are eligible to stand for election, though all candidates who stand are granted this status.

==Notable people==
*[Camilla Dufour Crosland](/source/Camilla_Dufour_Crosland) (1812–1895), writer of fiction, poetry, essays<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Toulmin, Camilla Dufour|volume=57}}</ref>
*[Philip Rashleigh](/source/Philip_Rashleigh_(1729%E2%80%931811)) (1729–1811), politician and antiquary<ref name="dnb">{{DNB Cite|wstitle=Rashleigh, Philip}}</ref>

==See also==
*[St Mary Aldermanbury](/source/St_Mary_Aldermanbury)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
A History of Bassishaw Ward c.1200 &ndash; c.1600 (2014, Christine M. Fox, PhD) ebookpartnership.com

==External links==
{{commons category|Ward of Bassishaw}}
*[http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/BASI1.htm Map of Early Modern London:  Basinghall Ward] - Historical Map and Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's London (Scholarly)

{{City of London wards}}

Category:Wards of the City of London

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bassishaw](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassishaw) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassishaw?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.