Bill on 13 Jul 2013  •  Link

Stocks Market. A market for fish and flesh in Walbrook Ward, on the site of the present Mansion House. It was established in 1282 by Henry Walis, Lord Mayor, "where some time had stood (the way being very large and broad) a pair of stocks for punishment of offenders; this building took name of these stocks."

The Stocks Market remained a market for the sale of meat and fish until destroyed in the Great Fire of r666. When rebuilt it was converted into a market for fruit and vegetables.

In the market stood a statue of Charles I. and one intended to be taken for Charles II., of which latter, however, Pennant gives the following account:—

In it stood the famous equestrian statue, erected in honour of Charles II. by his most loyal subject Sir Robert Viner, lord mayor. Fortunately his lordship discovered one (made at Leghorn) of John Sobieski trampling on a Turk. The good knight caused some alterations to be made, and christened the Polish monarch by the name of Charles, and bestowed on the turbaned Turk that of Oliver Cromwell.
---London, Past and Present. H.B. Wheatley, 1891.

And so, of course, Andrew Marvell had a little fun:

But now it appears, from the first to the last.
To be all a revenge, and a malice forecast;
Upon the King’s birth-day to set up a thing.
That shows him a monkey more like than a King.

When each one that passes finds fault with the horse,
Yet all do affirme that the King is much worse;
And some by the likeness Sir Robert suspect.
That he did for the King his own statue erect.
...
But Sir Robert, to take all the scandal away.
Does the errour upon the artificer lay;
And alledges the workmanship was not his own,
For he counterfeits only in gold — not in stone.
---A Poem on The Statue at Stocks–Market

Terry Foreman on 15 Oct 2015  •  Link

THE MANSION HOUSE

The present palace of the Lord Mayor stands on the site of the old Stocks' Market, built for the sale of fish and flesh by Henry Walis, mayor in the 10th year of the reign of Edward I. Before this time a pair of stocks had stood there, and they gave their name to the new market house. Walis had designed this market to help to maintain London Bridge, and the bridge keeper had for a long time power to grant leases for the market shops. In 1312–13, John de Gisors, mayor, gave a congregation of honest men of the commonalty the power of letting the Stocks' Market shops. In the reign of Edward II. the Stocks let for £46 13s. 4d. a year, and was one of the five privileged markets of London. It was rebuilt in the reign of Henry IV., and in the year 1543 there were here twenty-five fishmongers and eighteen butchers. In the reign of Henry VIII. a stone conduit was erected. The market-place was about 230 feet long and 108 feet broad, and on the east side were rows of trees "very pleasant to the inhabitants." On the north side were twenty-two covered fruit stalls, at the south-west corner butchers' stalls, and the rest of the place was taken up by gardeners who sold fruit, roots, herbs and flowers. It is said that that rich scented flower, the stock, derived its name from being sold in this market.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

Terry Foreman on 29 Jan 2017  •  Link

The Stockes Market was a market building at the junction of Cornhill, Threadneedle St. and the Poultry; once the site of the city stocks. It was now built further back from the cross-roads and was repurposed as the Lord Mayor's Mansion House, which can been seen on the left of this map. http://www.motco.com/map/81002/Se…

San Diego Sarah on 16 Sep 2021  •  Link

The Mansion House that we know wasn't begun until 1739, so there are a few years for the stocks and the market to exist as Pepys is describing the layout.
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/a….