Restoration of the Monarchy

May 29^th  

On this day in 1660, Charles II was restored to the throne at the end of the Commonwealth and Protectorate of Oliver and Richard Cromwell.

The Civil War that led to the creation of the Commonwealth is discussed in Spital Square on our Thursday morning “Aldgate, Bishopsgate and beyond – Priories and Play-Houses” walk (see also our May 19^th “Civil War and Commonwealth” blog post). 

Other notable Civil War localities in Greater London include Brentford and Turnham Green, where battles were fought in 1642 (see “The Battle for London” by Stephen Porter and Simon Marsh).

The site of the Battle of Brentford is marked by a granite memorial and by a commemorative and informative plaque (pictured, above).  According to the plaque, what happened here was as follows:

“Parliamentarians had arrived in the prosperous market town on Friday 11 November.  The following day the royalists marched from Hampstead Heath and in the early afternoon broke through a parliamentary barricade at the bridge over the Brent.

Near this information panel, the royalists were delayed, fighting two or three hours until the parliamentarian soldiers fled.  This position was defended by about 480 of Lord Brooke’s regiment and survivors of the earlier fighting, with two small pieces of artillery.   

The royalists soon gained the upper hand.  There seem to have been no civilian dead despite the capture of the town.  About 20 royalists were killed, and perhaps 50 parliamentarians died in the fighting with more drowning in the Thames.  Parliamentary Captain John Lilburne was amongst those captured”.

And what happened next was as follows:

“Later that afternoon the royalists pressed on towards London.  There were more parliamentary troops in a large open area, probably Turnham Green and Chiswick’s Common Field.  These green-coated men of John Hampden’s regiment of foot charged five times, holding the royalists back.  But with night coming and the royalists exhausted from fighting both sides disengaged.

The royalist soldiers who had captured Brentford ransacked the town ...

The Battle of Turnham Green took place the following day”.

John Gwyn, a royalist soldier, wrote:

“We beat them from one Brainford to the other, and from thence to the open field, with ... resolute and expeditious fighting, ...  push of pike and the butt-end of muskets, which proved so fatal to Holles’ butchers and dyers that day”.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

To book a place on any of our walks please either e-mail lostcityoflondon@sky.com 

or phone 020 8998 3051.

Further information is available on our website www.lostcityoflondon.co.uk

and on the Lost City of London Facebook page

A Voice from the Past

26th May - 

On this day in 1703 Samuel Pepys died. 

The following are selected extracts from the entries in his famous diary for the days of the Great Fire of London in 1666:

“September 2d .  ... Jane called us up about three in the morning, to tell us of a great fire ... in the City.  So I rose, and slipped on my night-gown, and went to her window; and thought it to be ... far enough off,   and so went to bed again ... .  ... By and by Jane comes and tells me that ... the fire ...  is now burning all down Fish Street, by London Bridge.  So I made myself ready presently, and walked to the Tower; and there got up upon one of the high places ... ; and ... did see ... an infinite great fire ... , ... a lamentable fire.  ... Every body endeavouring to remove their goods, and ...  bringing them into lighters that lay off; poor people staying in their houses as long as till the very fire touched them, and then running into boats, or clambering from one pair of stairs, by the waterside, to another.   ... Having staid, and in an hour’s time seen the fire rage every way ... ; I to White Hall, ... and did tell the King ... what I saw; and that, unless his Majesty did command houses to be pulled down, nothing could stop the fire”.

September 3d. (M)y Lady Batten sent me a cart to carry away all my money, and plate, and best things, .., which I did, riding ... in my night-gown, in the cart ... .

September 4^th.  ... (T)o the Tower Street, and there met the fire burning ... .  And ... Sir W. Pen and I did dig [a pit], and put our wine in it, and I my parmazan cheese ... .

September 5^th.  ... About two in the morning my wife ... tells me of new cryes of fire, it being come to Barking Church ... .    I up; and finding it so, resolved ...  to take her away, and did, and ... my gold ... ; but, Lord! what a sad sight it was by moone-light, to see the whole City almost on fire ... .  Home, and whereas I expected to have seen our house on fire, ... it was not.  ... (G)oing to the fire, I find, by the blowing up of houses ... by Sir W. Pen, there is a good stop given to it ... ; it having only burned the dyall of Barking Church, and part of the porch, and ... was there quenched.  I up to the top of Barking steeple, and there saw the saddest sight of desolation I ever saw... ”. 

Various localities of interest with regard to Pepys, including the aforementioned church of All Hallows Barking, are visited on our Friday morning “London Wall – A Story of Survival” and Friday afternoon “Tower to Temple – Heart of the City” walks.

All Hallows, Barking

Pepys Memorial, inside St Olave's Church Hart Street

Pepys Statue, Seething Lane (not currently on view,
due to redevelopment of the site)

Pre-booking is required for all our walks. To reserve a place, please email lostcityoflondon@sky.com or ring 020 8998 3051

Further information is available from our website www.lostcityoflondon.co.uk

and our  Facebook page

Civil War and Commonwealth

19th May - According to Peter de Loriol’s endlessly fascinating  “The London Book of Days”, on this day in 1649,  at what was effectively the end of the Civil War, “the Rump Parliament passed an Act ... which created all people of the realm and territories of England a Commonwealth and Free State where Parliament would constitute the officers and ministers of the people without any kings or lords”.  

The Civil War is covered on our Thursday morning walk “Aldgate, Bishopsgate and beyond – Priories and Play-Houses”.

Civil War Lines of Communication, Spital Square

(Photograph by Bob Jones)

To book a place on the Thursday morning walk, please email lostcityoflondon@sky.com 

or ring 020 8998 3051

Further information about this and other walks is available on our website www.lostcityoflondon.co.uk

And for updates, news and promotions, why not visit (and 'Like') the Lost City of London Facebook page

EVIL MAY DAY

The so-called “Evil May Day” riots, marked by attacks on foreigners and on their places of residence and of business, took place in the City of London on and around May Day 1517, following an inflammatory speech by a Dr Beal or Bell at St Paul’s Cross,  inciting the crowd “to cherish and defend themselves, and to hurt and grieve aliens for the common weal".  At the time there was considerable popular resentment towards foreigners in general and foreign merchants in particular, on account of their perceived preferential treatment by City authorities.

The riots were eventually broken up only after thousands of troops were called in and  hundreds of rioters taken prisoner.  The ring-leaders were then more or less immediately hanged, drawn and quartered, and their remains gibbeted.  The remainder, though, despite also facing the death penalty for the treason of “breaking the peace of Christendom”, were eventually pardoned by the king, Henry VIII, probably largely thanks to pleas for mercy made by his queen, Catherine of Aragon, and by Thomas Wolsey. At this, the prisoners "took the halters from their necks and danced and sang".

In the aftermath of the riots, the annual May Day celebrations that had taken place for hundreds of years were discontinued, and the May Pole that gave Undershaft its name was taken away.

St Paul’s Cross.  

The present cross was put up in 1910.  The previous one was put up on the same site,  where the Saxons had held their “folkmoot”, in around 1191, damaged in 1382, possibly by the earthquake of that year, repaired in 1387, rebuilt in 1449, and taken down by order of Parliament in 1643 (during the Civil War).

Plaque on St Paul's Cross

The wording on the Plaque reads as follows:

ON THIS PLOT OF GROUND

STOOD OF OLD "PAULS' CROSS" WHEREAT AMID SUCH

SCENES OF GOOD AND EVIL AS MAKE UP HUMAN AFFAIRS

THE CONSCIENCE OF CHURCH AND NATION THROUGH

FIVE CENTURIES FOUND PUBLIC UTTERANCE

THE FIRST RECORD OF IT IS IN 1191AD. IT WAS REBUILT

BY BISHOP KEMP IN 1449 AND WAS FINALLY REMOVED

BY ORDER OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT IN 1643

THIS CROSS WAS RE-ERECTED IN ITS PRESENT FORM

UNDER THE WILL OF H C RICHARDS

TO RECALL AND TO RENEW

THE ANCIENT MEMORIES

St Paul's  features on four of The Lost City of London Guided Walks - further details on our website www.lostcityoflondon.co.uk

Shakespeare in London

To mark Shakespeare’s birthday, which falls this week, we are here highlighting some of the sites in London that are associated with the Bard, and that we visit on various of our walks (note that it is not really practicable to visit them all on one walk, as they are in such disparate locations).

St Olave Silver Street (visited on our Wednesday morning “Historic Smithfield ... ” walk).  A church that Shakespeare would certainly have known, having lived for a while in Silver Street.  Burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666, and never rebuilt. The churchyard survives as a city garden.

Curtain Playhouse, Shoreditch (visited on our Thursday morning “Aldgate, Bishopsgate and Beyond” walk).  Plays by Shakespeare are known to have been performed here, and he is known to have performed here (see Julian Bowsher’s “Shakespeare’s London Theatreland”).  Built in 1577, and was pulled down some time in the 1620s.

The Theatre [Playhouse], Shoreditch (visited on our Thursday morning “Aldgate, Bishopsgate and Beyond” walk).  The first building in London devoted to the performance of plays.  Shakespeare is known to have performed here.  Built in 1576 on the site of the dissolved Holywell Priory, and pulled down in 1598, some of the building materials being used in the construction of the Globe.

George Inn, Southwark (visited on our Thursday afternoon “Historic Southwark” walk).  An inn Shakespeare is known to have frequented (see Pete Brown’s “Shakespeare’s Local”).  Burnt down in the Great Fire of Southwark in 1676, and rebuilt in 1677.

Globe Playhouse, Southwark (visited on our Thursday afternoon “Historic Southwark” walk).  “Shakespeare’s (own) playhouse, and the venue where many of his plays were first performed” (Bowsher). Built in 1599, and burnt down in a fire in 1613, after sparks from a theatrical cannon set some thatch alight during a performance of Henry the Eighth.  Rebuilt in 1614.  Fell into disuse sometime around 1642, when the performance of plays was banned by the Puritan Parliamentarians, and was pulled down in 1644.

Reconstruction, Globe Playhouse, Southwark (visited on our Thursday afternoon “Historic Southwark” walk (entry not included)).  Built by the late American  film director and all-round good guy Sam Wanamaker (memorialised, alongside Shakespeare, in nearby Southwark Cathedral).  Here it is possible to experience performances as the common man would have in the early seventeenth century, standing in the open as a “groundling”.

Rose Playhouse, Southwark (visited on our Thursday afternoon “Historic Southwark” walk).  Another venue where Shakespeare’s plays were performed.  Built in 1587, and demolished in 1606. The foundations were recently rediscovered and are preserved in the basement of an office building. Occasionally open to the public for performances.  And/or for perusal of the free display of artefacts uncovered during the archaeological excavation of the site (see also the Museum of London Archaeology Service  Monograph on the Rose and Globe by Bowsher and Miller). 

Cockpit (visited on our Friday morning “London Wall” walk).  This pub is built on the site of a house owned by Shakespeare in Ireland Yard (for which, according to the Deed of Conveyance in the City Archive, he paid £140), and burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666.

In nearby Playhouse Yard is the site of the - covered - Blackfriars Theatre, built in 1576 on the site of the dissolved Blackfriars Priory, and burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666. 

Bust of Shakespeare, Aldermanbury Square (visited on our Friday morning “London Wall” walk).  Situated in the ruins of the church of St Mary Aldermanbury, where Shakespeare’s colleagues Condell and Heminge, who after his death oversaw the publication of the First Folio of his works, were parishioners.  The church was burnt down during the Great Fire of 1666, and rebuilt by Wren in 1671-5, only to be destroyed during the terrible incendiary air raid of Sunday 29^th December, 1940.  There is a faithful reconstruction, using salvaged materials, and Wren’s designs, in Fulton, Missouri!

Parallel Worlds (Part 2 - Roman)

While in Florence last week, we took the opportunity to travel by bus to Fiesole, a hilltop town just 5 miles to the North East of Florence itself. In particular we wanted to see the Roman Amphitheatre and other Roman ruins there. As mentioned in our previous blog post (about the Ponte Vecchio), we couldn't help but notice parallels between the features we were discovering in Italy and aspects of The Lost City of London - in this case Roman Londinium.

The Amphitheatre in Fiesole has been extensively restored over the years and is very well preserved. Built into the natural rock of a hill, it dates from the first century BC and is situated where the 'Cardo' - one of the Roman town's main streets - once led to the forum. It had a capacity of about three thousand people. 

By comparison the Roman Amphitheatre in London  - situated where the Guildhall Yard is today - was about twice as big, with seating all the way round. Built first in timber around 70AD, and upgraded to stone (with timber seating) in about 120AD, it had a capacity of six to seven thousand spectators, in a Roman city with a total population, at that time, of about twenty to thirty thousand. The seating would have been tiered around the performance arena. The Amphitheatre was abandoned in the 4th century AD, and all knowledge of its existence had pretty much vanished until the twentieth century

This significant Roman site was in fact only discovered in the 1980s during excavations prior to the building of the Guildhall Art Gallery. Today a dark circle in the Yard marks the line of the Amphitheatre's circumference, giving a good sense of its great size. 

 The basement of the Guildhall Art Gallery (which is normally accessible during the Art Gallery's opening hours)  houses an atmospheric exhibition space where you can see:

* The remains of the stone walls of the eastern entranceway which led into the arena. 
* Part of the wooden drainage system - a rare survival, thanks to the wet burial conditions.
* Remnants of the walls of two antechambers

This exhibition, together with the marking in the Yard above, provides a significant glimpse of the 'Lost' Roman City of Londinium - and it (naturally) features on our Friday afternoon walk, Tower to Temple (the Heart of the City).

Parallel Worlds (Part 1 - Medieval)

Even when away on holiday we can't help noticing connections to the Lost City of London! We've just come back from a wonderful week in Florence and thought we'd show you a couple of interesting parallels between what we saw in today's Florence and the London of Medieval and Roman times. This blog post looks at a key Medieval parallel; part 2 will cover a Roman one.

The only bridge in Florence to survive the second World War is the Ponte Vecchio - 'Old Bridge' in Italian. It dates from 1345 (although there had been previous bridges in that location since at least 996). It was a real thrill to see (albeit in minature) something very similar to what (Old) London Bridge - demolished in 1831 - would have looked like in the Medieval period, with rows of buildings on either side.

The Ponte Vecchio, Florence (April 2013)

London Bridge (1616) by Claes Van Visscher

Ponte Vecchio, from 'Golden View'  on the South Bank

Early morning on the Ponte Vecchio

Jewellry shops on the Ponte Vecchio

In the case of the Ponte Vecchio, the buildings on either side of the narrow thoroughfare - thronging with tourists except for first thing in the morning - are today exclusively gold jewellery shops; when built the shops on the bridge had at first been occupied by butchers - who made use of the river below to dispose of their more unpleasant waste products. The butchers were eventually ousted by the powerful Medicis who disliked the smell.




The Medici family also  built a 'secret' walkway across the upper part of the bridge for their own private use, known as the Vasari Corridor (the upper storey is visible in the photograph below), connecting the Uffizi on the north bank to the Pitti Palace on the south bank.

The Vasari Corridor

Ponte Vecchio is a small bridge with only three arches, whereas London Bridge had nineteen! The Thames back then was a lot wider than either the present day Thames, or the Arno River in Florence. The buildings on London Bridge - 138 shops by 1358 - were a mixture of all sorts, and there were public latrines discharging into the river below, and heads on spikes on the south end.

The Ponte Vecchio was built just before the major outbreak of The Plague - known as the Black Death, which killed between a third and a half of Florence's total population in 1348, a similar proportion to the death toll when the Plague reached London later the same year. Many of the plague burials in London were in the Charter House - the site of which forms part of the Cross Rail archaeological excavation by the Museum of London. This location is on the route of our Wednesday morning walk - Historic Smithfield, Clerkenwell and Holborn.

PLEASE NOTE - Due to the security measures relating to the funeral of Lady Thatcher on Wednesday 17th April, we will not be able to offer either of our usual Wednesday walks on that date - back to normal on 24th April . (The Thursday and Friday walks will be available as usual on 18th and 19th April)