Suffolk Place

Even here in Savoch, the old priory of St Mary Overy has been closed and its church handed to the parish under a new name, St Saviour's.

A few streets away, Suffolk Place, the grand house once owned by the king's friend Charles Brandon, now holds a royal mint, where coins are being struck in the king's name.

as you will discover those coins are not quite what they seem the lane leads you to the river front where a row of houses stands with their painted walls turned towards the thames by now some of their names are well known the bell the cross keys the castle the crane the swan the cardinal's hat your house to-night is the crane its sign a long-legged white bird so faded that it might equally be a heron a stork or a drunken goose at the door stands a tall broad-shouldered man in a leather jerkin with a cudgel at his belt and a bandaged ear he looks you up and down without any sign of interest and steps aside Beside him, chained to a ring in the wall, sits a huge brindled dog with a wide, scarred muzzle.

It is a bandog, the kind of heavy mastiff kept on a chain to guard houses and, in this neighbourhood, to face bears in the baiting ring.

At the crane, the debasement is a constant headache.

The customers pay with a bewildering mixture of coins, old good pennies and groats from the reigns of earlier kings.

Newer debased coins from the King's Mints, including the one just up the road at Suffolk Place, foreign coins from France, Spain and the Low Countries, and the occasional clipped or counterfeit piece.

Mother Harrow examines every coin by candlelight.