There was a wall with four towers surrounding the White
Tower, and this castle was known as the Tower of London. Another
wall and a moat were built around it and it has reached its final
form. Hovels, shops, and waste patches alternated with high walls
and imposing gateways protecting mansions. The mansions had
orchards, gardens, stables, brewhouses, bakeries, guardrooms, and
chapels. London streets were paved with cobbles and sand. Each
citizen was to keep the street in front of his tenement in good
repair. Later, each alderman appointed four reputable men to
repair and clean the streets for wages. The repair of Bishopsgate
was the responsibility of the Bishop because he received one stick
from every cart of firewood passing through it. Rules as to tiled
roofs were enforced. A 1297 ordinance required all taverns to
close at curfew, an hour that fluctuated. Prostitutes were
expelled from the city because the street with their bawdy houses
had become very noisy. Women huckster-retailers, nurses, servants,
and loose women were limited to wearing hoods furred with lambskin
or rabbitskin and forbidden to wear hoods furred with vair or
miniver [grey or white squirrel] in the guise of good ladies. An
infirmary for the blind was founded by a mercer, who became its
first prior.
The London mayoral elections were hotly fought over until in 1285,
when the aldermen began to act with the aid of an elected council
in each of the twenty-four wards, which decentralized the
government of the city.
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