Old Cock and Pie

This snowy view of Drury Court was painted from Drury Lane and shows Bates's Coffee House on the corner of Wych Street on the left with St. Mary-le Strand in the distance. The seventeenth-century house on the right was occupied by E. Crafter, watchmaker, and by Stockley, bookseller, believed to have been the house of Nell Gwyn. The coal and coke merchant, J. Johnson, operated from the house next door. While two ladies stand in the doorways of these buildings (one in a red shawl, the other in a white apron), a man is shown shovelling snow into the cart; it would subsequently be emptied into the river.

Drury Court, the continuation of Drury Lane southwards was cleared away in 1900-5 for the Kingway Improvements and already by the date of this work , 1880, improvements had begun following the Artisans Dwellings Act particualry in relation to Wych Street considered to be filled with brothels.

Philip Norman (1842-1931) captured many of these former streets and the Museum has a strong collection of his works.