ABSTRACT
In his final years Ramsden embarked on a major undertaking, to rebuild his property at 199 Piccadilly, at a cost of £200. A survey dated 18 October 1799 yielded a detailed ground plan and the statement that the house had a basement kitchen, three stories above, and a garret in the roof. The timber workshop at the rear had four stories. The negotiations took some time, for the Crown lease for 60 years and 36 days and a yearly rent of £51, 7s is dated 30 April 1798 and refers to 199 Piccadilly and workshops to the rear, ‘the messuage lately rebuilt’.1 Another copy of the lease, still among the Crown Estate documents, is also dated 30 April 1798 and states that the annual rent is to be £55, 11s, with a requirement to show each year the certificate of £700 fire insurance cover. Ramsden’s insurance policy of 1800 listed the rebuilt house, covered for £700, the brick workshops for £1,000, with £400 cover for utensils and stock in the house and the same in the workshop, giving a total cover of £2,500.2 In his will, written in March 1800, Ramsden bequeathed these premises to Matthew Berge on condition that he paid the outstanding bills.
