Statute Law Repeals - Law Commission - Ministry of Justice

Bridewell Hospital Chapel Act (1807)
6.24 Bridewell Palace, which was originally a residence of Henry VIII, was built on the
site of the medieval St Bride’s Inn near Fleet Street. In 1553 Edward VI gave the
palace to the City of London for the housing of homeless children and the
punishment of disorderly women. 49 Part of the site of Bridewell Palace became a
school known as Bridewell Royal Hospital. The prison built by the City was closed
in 1855, the school moved to Surrey in 1867 50 and the buildings were demolished
in 1863-64. The chapel was located within the Bridewell Hospital and the
Bridewell precinct. The preamble to the 1807 Act 51 recorded that the chapel “on
account of its decayed state, hath been lately taken down, and another Chapel
built within the Distance of a few Yards from the Scite of the former Chapel.”
However, because the site of the now rebuilt chapel was slightly different from
the original site, doubts had arisen as to whether marriages could still validly be
solemnised there.
6.25 Accordingly the 1807 Act provided that the chapel, once duly consecrated, could
be used for the legal solemnisation of marriages to the same extent as with the
old chapel, together with all the rights enjoyed by the old chapel. The chapel
however no longer exists. It was absorbed, as part of the Bridewell Precinct, into
the parish of St Bride Fleet Street in 1864. The chapel itself was demolished in
1871. The extinction of the chapel means that the 1807 Act has long been
unnecessary.
GROUP 2 – IMPROVEMENTS
Streets (London) Act (1696)
6.26 The Streets (London) Act of 1696 52 was passed to remedy defects in an Act of
1690 53 relating to the paving and cleansing of London streets. The 1696 Act
required everyone living in the area (that now comprises central London) to
sweep and clean the street and public areas in front of their houses every
Wednesday and Saturday morning between six and nine o’clock upon pain of a
ten shilling fine. 54 The fines were to be applied equally to the relief of the poor
and to the repair and paving of the streets. The Act also provided for the removal
of houses situated on London Bridge to permit the widening of the bridge at its
southern end.
6.27 The obligations imposed by the 1696 Act have long ceased to be enforced.
Today the responsibility for cleansing, paving and repairing London’s streets and
highways belongs to the London boroughs and is financed by local taxation
levied pursuant to the Local Government Finance Acts 1988 and 1992.
Accordingly the 1696 Act is now unnecessary.
49 The City converted the Palace into a prison, hospital and workrooms. The name
“Bridewell” was thereafter adopted throughout Britain as meaning a prison or place of
detention.
50
King Edward’s School, Witley is still situated in the village of Wormley, near Witley where it
moved in 1867.
51 47 Geo.3 Sess.1 c.xxviii.
52 8 & 9 Will.3 c.37.
53 2 Will. & Mar. Sess.2 c.8.
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