2015-08-24 Pilgrim Press Plaque

Pilgrim Monuments in Leiden

Jean Pesynhof Plaque
neither clean nor beautiful
John Robinson Stone
the First Pilgrim Memorial in Leiden
Pilgrim Fathers Monument De Vliet
their names mark the spot?
John Robinson Memorial Tablet
more than a stone...
Pilgrim Press Plaque
William Brewster Alley
Strangers and Pilgrims
Separatists buried in Leiden
Pastor John Robinson Memorial Tablet
Mayflower Descendants
Vrouwekerk Plaque
new plaque unveiled

William Brewster Alley

William Brewster had his home in the Stinksteeg (Smelly Alley), a name that reflects the less than sanitary conditions of the time.
In 1984, the alleyway in which the house stood was renamed William Brewstersteeg (William Brewster Alley), in honour of its most famous resident.

William Brewster started a clandestine printing shop in his house together with Thomas Brewer and Edward Winslow, under the name Vicus Chorali. Nowadays, it is best known as the Pilgrim Press. The Pilgrim Press published religious and political pamphlets for sale in England.

The William Brewstersteeg is a narrow alley, and easy to miss if you aren't looking for it. When you walk from the town hall to the Pieterskerk, you're likely to do so via the Pieterskerk-Choorsteeg (St. Peter’s Church Choir Alley). The William Brewstersteeg is halfway, and on the stone archway is a plaque.

Pilgrim Press Plaque

The plaque is on the archway to alley, more than two meters above street level, and because of that most photos of it suffer from a clear perspective distortion caused by a street level vantage point. I used a stepladder to take this photo just from half a meter right in front of the plaque.

Site of the Vicus Chorali (or Pilgrim) Press, on Pieterskerkkoorsteeg
(St. Peter’s Church Choir Alley), Leyden, Netherlands, in the (1609-1620)
home of separatist Pilgrim Father, elder William Brewster of Scrooby,
Nottinghamshire, England, the spiritual leader of Plymouth in New England
until his death in 1643-44

The General Society of Mayflower Descendants (U.S.A., 1897)
Waldo Morgan Allen, Governor General
on their first Pilgrimage - 152, by planes - to the Netherlands and England
September 22 - October 8, 1955
335 years after the sailing of the Mayflower

The dates on the plaque correspond to the three-week pilgrimage that members of the Mayflower Society undertook to visit places of interest in England and the Netherlands.
A quick bit of research in old newspapers reveals that the plaque was unveiled on Sunday 1955 Sep 25, and gratefully accepted by burgomaster François Henri van Kinschot.

spelling

Leiden natives and observant visitors will notice that the plaque spells Pieterskerk-Choorsteeg as Pieterskerkkoorsteeg. This is a relatively rare alternative spelling, one that occurs in several places, even some old city maps. It cannot be misunderstood as any other street, but street names have only one official spelling…

Today, the spelling Pieterskerkkoorsteeg is wrong. The only correct spelling is Pieterskerk-Choorsteeg (with a dash and capital C).
City councils have been determining the names of new streets for decades, but the official spelling of older, already existing streetnames has long been neglected; as long as the civil registration, maps and the phone book all used the same name and mostly the same spelling, there was hardly a problem. The law Basisregistraties Adressen en Gebouwen (BAG, Basis Registration Adresses and Buildings) that demanded settling the official names was passed in 2008, and the city of Leiden settled the official names of many older street in a decision passed on 2014 Aug 24.
Until that date, spelling variations and truncated names, such as Pieterskerkchoorsteeg and Choorsteeg weren't wrong. Thus, back in 1955, the spelling Pieterskerkkoorsteeg wasn't wrong, it was merely unusual.

updates

2015-09-09 streetname spelling

Added information on the spelling of Pieterskerk-Choorsteeg obtained through communication with Mr. Miolet, charmain of Leiden's streetname commission.