Proposals of a New Model for Rebuilding the City of London...

ID:

Z2833

Production date:

1666

Location:

In Store

On 20 September 1666, Captain Valentine Knight published this description of how London should be rebuilt after the Great Fire of London. He suggested a new street layout and that a canal should loop through the City of London from Billingsgate in the east to Bridewell Dock in the west. He listed improvements, such as the creation of common sewers (named 'shores' in his proposal) taking waste from houses to the Thames. Knight recommends building arcades (he calls them 'Peyatsoes') along the streets, which would provide covered walkways for pedestrians. He also proposed that people would pay fees to the king when renting houses. King Charles II was very offended by the suggestion that he would want to 'draw a benefit to himself, from so public a calamity of his people' and had Knight arrested. After Knight was in prison for two weeks, he submitted a petition for a pardon to the Privy Council. He claimed that he had discussed his proposal with members of the Privy Council who had seemed to like it. Knight had then arranged the printing of some copies to share with friends but had not intended to publish his ideas more widely. Unfortunately Mr Speed, the stationer, had printed more copies for sale. The Privy Council believed Knight's story and released him from prison.
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On 20 September 1666, Captain Valentine Knight published this description of how London should be rebuilt after the Great Fire of London. He suggested a new street layout and that a canal should loop through the City of London from Billingsgate in the east to Bridewell Dock in the west. He listed improvements, such as the creation of common sewers (named 'shores' in his proposal) taking waste from houses to the Thames. Knight recommends building arcades (he calls them 'Peyatsoes') along the streets, which would provide covered walkways for pedestrians. He also proposed that people would pay fees to the king when renting houses. King Charles II was very offended by the suggestion that he would want to 'draw a benefit to himself, from so public a calamity of his people' and had Knight arrested. After Knight was in prison for two weeks, he submitted a petition for a pardon to the Privy Council. He claimed that he had discussed his proposal with members of the Privy Council who had seemed to like it. Knight had then arranged the printing of some copies to share with friends but had not intended to publish his ideas more widely. Unfortunately Mr Speed, the stationer, had printed more copies for sale. The Privy Council believed Knight's story and released him from prison.

Valentine Knight had been a captain in the Royalist army during the English Civil War. He lived in London and owned a brewery and several other London properties. He appears to have been a rather shoddy landlord who subdivided his properties into tiny dwellings and carried out substandard repairs. Knight was frequently in debt and was imprisoned at one time for failing to repay loans. He was involved in government business, becoming overseer of hackney coachmen in 1662. He probably died in 1679.

For more information on Knight and his proposal, see Jenner, M (2017): Print Culture and the Rebuilding of London and the Fire: The Presumptuous Proposals of Valentine Knight, Journal of British Studies, Vol. 56, pg. 1-26. < Hide

Measurements

H 351 mm; W 275 mm (false margin not included)

Materials

paper

Last Updated

2024-03-26