At all events, the fort at Mount Pleasant was raised, although never used, and it belongs to the history of the Fleet River--as, close by, a little affluent joined it. Gardens sloped down to its banks, notably those of the great Priory of St. John's Clerkenwell, and, like Bermondsey, with its "Cherry Gardens"--the names of "Vineyard Walk" and "Pear Tree Court" bear testimony to the fruitfulness of this part of London. There is also "Vine Street" in Saffron Hill, which latter name is extremely suggestive of the growth of a plant which, in old times, was much used both in medicine and cooking. It was called "The Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Place"--which was in the Manor of Portpool.
Saffron Hill, nowadays, is the home of the Italian organ-grinder, who, although not unknown to the police, is undoubtedly a better citizen than previous dwellers therein. Specially was West Street, or Chick Lane, as it was formerly called, a neighbourhood to be avoided by all honest men. It ran both east and west of the Fleet, which it crossed by a bridge. Stow calls it Chicken Lane, but it certainly was not inhabited by young and innocent birds. It ran into Field Lane, of unsavoury memory, and now done away with.
This was the state of West Street, as exemplified by a cutting from the _Morning Herald_ of Feb. 11, 1834:
"Yesterday an inquest was held at the Horse Shoe and Magpie, Saffron Hill, before THOMAS STIRLING, Esq., Coroner, on the body of James Parkinson, aged 36, who came by his death under the following circumstances.
"The Jury proceeded to view the body of the deceased, which lay in the upper part of a low lodging-house for travellers, in West Street, Saffron Hill. It was in a high state of decomposition, and a report was generally circulated that he had come by his death by unfair means.
"Mary Wood being sworn, deposed that she was the landlady of the house in West Street, which she let out in lodgings. The deceased occasionally lodged with her, and he was a dealer in cat's meat. On Tuesday night last he came home and asked her for a light, and proceeded to his bedroom. On the Wednesday witness proceeded upstairs to make the beds, when she saw the deceased lying on his bed apparently asleep, but she did not speak to him. On the Thursday she proceeded to the upper part of the house for the same purpose, when she again saw the deceased lying as if asleep, but she did not disturb him, and he was ultimately discovered to be a corpse, and his face quite black.