Various sums
of money have been voted at different times for its repair or
embellishment. It has once been damaged by fire, and on another occasion
severely threatened. In 1825 the entrance into Wood Street was blocked
up and the entrance into Silver Street opened. The hall has been a
favourite place of meeting for several other companies--the Fruiterers'
Company, the Tinplate Workers' Company, the Society of Porters, and
other private companies have been their tenants.
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM ROPER SON-IN-LAW AND BIOGRAPHER OF
SIR THOMAS MORE, BENEFACTOR OF THE CLERKS' COMPANY]
[Illustration: THE GRANT OF ARMS TO THE COMPANY OF PARISH CLERKS.]
I had recently the privilege of visiting the Parish Clerks' Hall, and
was kindly conducted there by Mr. William John Smith, the "Father" of
the company, and a liberal benefactor, whose portrait hangs in the
hall. He has been three times master, and his father and grandfather
were members of the fraternity.
The premises consist of a ground floor with cellars, which are let for
private purposes, and a first floor with two rooms of moderate size. The
old courtyard is now covered with business offices. Over the court-room
door stands a copy of the Clerks' Arms, which are thus described: "The
feyld azur, a flower de lice goulde on chieffe gules, a leopard's head
betwen two pricksonge bookes of the second, the laces that bind the
books next, and to the creast upon the healme, on a wreathe gules and
azur, an arm, from the elbow upwards, holding a pricking book, 30th
March, 1582.
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