Footnotes

• 'Parishes of the Citty of London burnt downe by the late dreadfull fire' – a register of the Bassishaw Ward of the City of London, including the Guildhall and four livery company halls, drawn up after the Great Fire. The name derives from the Bassing family who were prominent in the City in the thirteenth century. The church of St Michael Bassishaw, one of those rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren after the Fire, was pulled down in 1900; its site now lying beneath the courtyard of the Guildhall offices and the Barbican Highwalk. The ward comprised the church itself and Basinghall Street, in which stood Blackwell Hall (Basing's Haugh), an ancient market for woollen cloth, and several livery company halls, as well as part of the Guildhall. Accordingly, in our assessment we find listed the Guildhall ("The Chamber of London & parts of Guildhall" assessed at £4-7s-6d), entered beneath the name of the Chamberlain of the City, Sir Thomas Player, who had his residence in Basinghall Street and is individually assessed at £1-4s; "Samuel Wilson Blackwilhall" [Blackwell Hall] at £4-12s; "Peter Hopkins for Coopers Hall" at £5-10s, "Richard Davis & for Girdlers Hall" at £3-10s, "James Cole & for Weavers Hall" at £3-5s, and "Dr Hulse & for Masons Hall" at £1-15s.
  
  The heading states that the assessment was to commence on 24 June 1681. A terminus ante quem is provided by the appearance of Sir Thomas Player as second signatory and his assessment as City Chamberlain, for, being a leading Whig opposed to the government of James II, he was removed from this office in September 1683, and died on 14 January 1686.