Alfred Carpenter VC

Even in these times of lockdown we are permitted to take outdoor exercise once a day.  I take mine in the form of a walk – a constitutional as an earlier generation would have called it.  I’m lucky in that I live beside the Thames in South-west London and there are many pleasant routes I can take starting straight from my door.  One of my favourites is to start off following the Thames Path and then go along Queen Elizabeth’s Walk, passing the London Wetland Centre (now closed like everything else), to reach leafy suburban Barnes with its village green and pond.  The buildings on my right as I go along the section of Church Road once called Lowther Parade are impressive.  First up is the Olympic Cinema, Café and Dining Room built as an entertainment centre in 1906 and from 1966 until 2009 famously used as a recording studio by bands such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.  Next to the cinema is the 18th century building, Homestead House and beside that the moderner Homestead Cottage with the parish church, St Mary’s, a little further along.  The distraction of these buildings to my right had always, up until the most recent occasion I did this walk, caused me to miss a memorial stone to the left of the pavement outside Homestead Cottage.  The stone has a Victoria Cross at its top and is inscribed ‘Captain Alfred Carpenter, Royal Navy, 22nd – 23rd April 1918’.  No additional information is provided so I decided to try to find out who Alfred Carpenter was and what happened on those days and why the memorial is placed on Church Road, Barnes.

A quick Google search provides a simple answer to the third question.  Barnes was his place of birth in 1881.  Some sources say he was born in Byfield Cottage.  As the information board outside the building which is now the Olympic Cinema, Café and Dining Room tells us that it was built on the site of Byfield House, then it is perfectly reasonable to assume that Byfield Cottage was nearby and that the memorial stone is very appropriately sited.  Some brief biographical details are that he was born into a family that had associations with the Royal Navy dating back to the Napoleonic era and that he joined up as a midshipman in 1898 and rose through the ranks to become a vice-admiral (retired) in 1934.  In World War 2 he commanded the Wye Valley section of the Gloucestershire Home Guard.  He died in St Briavels, Gloucestershire in 1955.

The Royal Navy website turned out to be the best source of information on the memorial stone and the events of 22nd – 23rd April 1918.   Carpenter, then ranked Commander, captained HMS Vindictive, a cruiser which led a raiding party on the port of Zeebrugge.  The object of the raid was to block the harbour to prevent German submarines from leaving the port.  The action was ultimately unsuccessful in that the waterway remained blocked for only a few days, but it was initially hailed as a triumphant incursion into German-held territory and eight VCs were awarded, including the one for Alfred Carpenter who was selected to receive the honour by a ballot of his fellow officers.  Paving slabs to commemorate all eight who were awarded the Victoria Cross for their part in the Zeebrugge raid were installed near to their homes on the centenary of the action.

Carpenter wrote a book about the raid called The blocking of Zeebrugge, which was published in 1922.

Further information –

The Barnes Trail – http://www.barnesvillage.com/barnes-village-trail.html

The London Wetland Centre – https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/london/

Olympic Cinema, Café and Dining Room – https://www.olympiccinema.co.uk/history

St Mary’s Barnes – https://www.stmarybarnes.org/history-architecture/

Alfred Carpenter’s memorial stone – https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2018/april/17/180417-zeebrugge-heroes-honoured-with-ceremonial-paving-stones-in-the-capital

Timeline of Alfred Carpenter’s life – https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/6889414

Alfred Carpenter’s VC citation – https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30807/supplement/8585

image  [Image taken from the Royal Navy website]

Paul Stokes

A Folkmoot

The word ‘folkmoot’ means a general assembly of the people of a town. It can also refer to a citizens’ court.

The folkmoot was an ancient institution with judicial and legislative functions. Amongst other things it was a place for declarations of outlawry.  It was the source of authority for local government and a voice for the community or for individual members of the community. When claiming the ancient origins of London, and connecting them with legendary figures, Arthur was a popular choice. Attendance at the folkmoot was compulsory for all free members of a tribe, community or district until the reign of Edward II at the beginning of the 14th century.

In Anglo-Saxon times Londoners were summoned to the folkmoot by the ringing of the bells of St Paul’s three times a year. Sessions were held at Michaelmas, Christmas and Midsummers as well as in emergencies.  It was the citizens’ right to go into the bell tower and ring the bell to convene the folkmoot. Initially people gathered in the northeast corner of the churchyard which was more extensive then than it is now. The size of the area was allegedly 30ft by 20ft but this is probably too small to be correct.   It was close to the food markets of Cornmarket and Cheapside which were the effective trading centres of the city.  The location might have been chosen because it was near to a church and you were expected to act honestly before God, but it could have been chosen for more practical reasons as it was a large open area. The first building dedicated to St Paul was built on Ludgate Hill in 604 AD but St Paul’s Cross, which was used as a focal point for later folkmoots, was first used in 1236, so later than the Anglo-Saxon folkmoots.

The folkmoot could attract an unruly crowd and decisions were reached on the ‘loudest shout’ principle’, so there was often little democratic discussion and there was probably manipulation of the results by bribery and ‘persuasion’. There was also a more formal court known as the ‘hustings’ which could meet more frequently and under a roof with a more controlled space. This was concerned with the regulation of trade and was in existence in the tenth century. The word ‘husting’ is of Scandinavian origin, and so may have been created when there was a need for negotiation between Scandinavian and English tradesmen in London.  After 1066 it met once every week but it probably existed before then.  There was a larger court that met in the open air three times a year, and dues to be paid  by foreign merchants importing goods as well as tolls to be levied on visiting ships were settled at this court in the reign of Ethelred the Unready

 

Penny Gamez

ST. BOTOLPH

St. Botolph of Thorney, (also called Botwulf, Botulph or Botulf), died around 680 AD and was an English Abbot and Saint, also the Patron to travellers and to various aspects of farming.
His Feast Days are 17th June in England.
                                 25th June in Scotland.
St. Botolph is remembered in St. Botolph’s Church in Boston, Lincolnshire, which is known as “The Stump” and one of the most famous Sr. Botolph churches in “Botolph’s Town”.  Also in Boston Massachusetts and according to the Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 64 ancient English churches were dedicated to him but later research says 71 were discovered, with a high concentration of dedication in East Anglia.
St. Botolph churches were found near The City gates, to welcome travellers and give thanks for their safe arrival and for those outgoing to pray for a safe journey
or
churches were dedicated to him as his relics came through four gates, when Edgar moved them from Iken to Westminster Abbey.
Billingsgate but destroyed by The Great Fire of 1666.
Without Aldersgate.
Without Bishopsgate.
Without Aldgate
An account written 400 years later by the 11th Century monk Folcard, in The Anglo Saxon Chronicle Records, for 653 AD that Botolph founded the Monastry of Incanho, (means Ox Hill) and identified as Iken, on the estuary of the river Aide in Suffolk.  The church still remains on the top of an isolated hill in the parish.
In the time of Bede and written by an unknown author about the Life of St. Ceofrith, he mentioned an abbot, Botolphus in East Anglia, as “A man of remarkable life and learning full of grace of the Holy Spirit.”
St. Botolph was supposed to have been buried in the foundations of Icanho but in 970 AD Edgar1 gave permission for his remains to be taken to Burgh, near Woodbridge and after 50 years, to Edgar’s tomb at Bury St. Edmonds, on instructions from King Chut.
The saint’s relics were later transferred, with his brother Aduph, to Thorney Abbey, his head to Ely Abbey and various body parts to other houses eg. Westminster Abbey.
Source:  Wikipedia.
Elisabeth Yates.

 

St Edmund King and Martyr

St Edmund couldn’t be more topical, because among other things he’s the patron saint of pandemics!

Edmund was a 9th-century king of East Anglia, who reigned from about 855 until his death in 869 at the hands of Viking invaders. His demise is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:

‘This year the army rode over Mercia into East Anglia, and there fixed their winter quarters at Thetford. And in the winter King Edmund fought with them; but the Danes gained the victory, and slew the king; whereupon they overran all that land, and destroyed all the monasteries to which they came.’

That was written some years after Edmund’s death, and any contemporary evidence about him was destroyed by the Vikings, so almost nothing is known about him for certain. The only surviving accounts of his life and death were written much later and were probably embellished to make him more worthy of veneration.

The accounts say that Edmund was born in 841 and was crowned king at the age of 14 on 25 December 855, after which he became a model king noted for his religious faith. As for his death in 869, when he would have been just 28 years old, the traditional version is that he refused the demands of the Danes that he renounce his Christian faith and so he was tied to a tree, shot full of arrows and then beheaded. A more unlikely part of the legend is that Edmund’s head was thrown into the forest, but was found by searchers with the help of a talking wolf! The whole story appeared in a biography of Edmund written more than a century later by a monk named Abbo, who got it from Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, who in turn said he had heard it long before – in the presence of King Æthelstan – from an old man who swore an oath that he had been Edmund’s sword-bearer on the day it happened. (Whatever the truth, Edmund is also the patron saint of wolves.)

Soon after Edmund’s death, a small wooden chapel was built over the spot where he was buried, and people soon began visiting. So popular did the chapel become that, in the 890s or very early 900s, Edmund’s body was exhumed and moved into a shrine – meaning he was now considered a saint. The shrine was in a place called Beodericsworth, now Bury St Edmunds.

In 1010 the saint’s remains were temporarily moved here to London for safekeeping and remained for three years. Then in 1020, King Canute built a stone abbey at Bury St Edmunds to house the shrine – a big commemoration is planned there this year for the 1000th anniversary. The abbey grew immensely wealthy thanks to grants of land and its popularity as a place of pilgrimage, and St Edmund was regarded as the patron saint of England until 1348, when Edward III replaced him with St George. The abbey continued to flourish until 1539, when it was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. St Edmund’s jewelled shrine was plundered, but his body was missing and has never been found.

Edmund’s saint’s day is 20 November, the day he died. Churches dedicated to him are to be found all over England, including St Edmund King and Martyr on Lombard Street. There is known to have been a church on the site by the 1150s, though it may go back much earlier. The church burned down in the Great Fire and was rebuilt by Wren in the 1670s. Today it houses the London Centre for Spiritual Direction, though it is still a consecrated church. Its parish is united with no less than seven others: St Nicholas Acons, St Leonard Eastcheap and St Mary Woolchurch Haw, whose churches were all lost in the Great Fire and not rebuilt; St Benet Gracechurch and St Dionis Backchurch, demolished by the Victorians; All Hallows Lombard Street, pulled down in 1937; and St Mary Woolnoth, the only church still standing.

Carol Stanley

image from Wiki

King Alfred Mural – London Exchange

King Alfred the Great, 847/9 – 899BC, wanted to protect his kingdom from Viking attacks and so he built forts and walled towns, known as burhs.
From 1892, twenty-four scenes from London’s history were painted on the first floor walls of the Royal Exchange, by artists including Sir Frederick Leighton, Sir Frank Brangwyn and Stanhope Forbes.
The murals run in sequence and the second mural is of King Alfred the Great “Repairing the Walls of The City of London” by Francis (Frank) Owen Salisbury, 1874-1962, in 1912 or 1919.
Frank was an English artist who specialised in large canvas portraits of historical and ceremonial events, stained glass, (eg. windows in the Wesley Chapel) and book illustrations.  He was also a huge success in the USA and painted forty large historical/national events there as well as portraits of Franklin Roosevelt, Rockefeller, also Winston Churchill, General Mongomery and Richard Burton for just a few.
Frank Salisbury was sponsored by the First Viscount Wakefield, 1859-1941, an English businessman who founded the Castrol Oil Company, was the Lord Mayor of London, 1915-16 and a significant philanthropist.
Elisabeth Yates.

 

King Alfred and Queenhithe

Major redevelopment schemes along the Thames in the past have meant that the site at Queenhithe Dock is a rare survival of a sequence of waterfront constructions dating from the Roman period. The timber quays, revetments and the occupation levels are well preserved as buried features. It provides evidence for the riverside development of London including archaeological and environmental remains and deposits.

Queenhithe Dock is a rectangular inlet in the modern waterfront of the River Thames. Archaeological watching briefs and partial excavation on the site and along adjacent parts of the riverfront, particularly at Bull Wharf, show that a sequence of waterfront constructions dating from the Roman period to the post-medieval period survive beneath the ground surface. Although partially robbed, the large timbers of the Roman quay are known to survive in situ as buried features. By the Saxon period there was a dock on the site, the quayside of which is situated to the south of the Roman quay. It was formed by a build up of the ground surface behind a line of timber revetments. The revetment itself was constructed from reused timbers, originally used within buildings and in boats, and they were held in place by vertical posts. The buried ground surface behind the Saxon revetment will retain evidence of occupation levels and structures of several periods associated with activities at the waterfront. A third sequence of timber revetments and associated deposits which date from the 12th to the 14th century are situated to the south of the Saxon revetment and survive as buried features.

Following the decline of the Roman Empire in the late 4th century, it was not until the late 9th century that London, or Lundenburh as it was then known, was re-established as a major port under Alfred the Great. The land around Queenhithe Dock was one of the first areas of the city to be occupied following the re-foundation by Alfred the Great. The siting of the Saxon harbour is thought to have been greatly influenced by the existing Roman or post-Roman topographic features which were present here. Two charters, written in AD 889 and AD 899, make references to the harbour and market of Queenhithe, indicating that both were established by AD 889. At this time and through the later medieval period, Queenhithe would have been involved in transport and trade of fish, grain, salt and timber, and eventually also iron and coal.

Archaeological watching briefs at Queenhithe in 1990, 1997 and 2005 recorded a series of timbers consistent with the position of the medieval waterfront. Other finds on the site have included a Neolithic flint flake and fragments of a sixth century gold pendant.

Source:-  HistoricEngland.org.uk

Dilys Cowan

Alfred’s Clock

(From ‘Johnson’s Life of London. The people who made the city that made the world’ by Boris Johnson)

‘Alfred invented his own special Alfred clock – so that he could give up precisely half his hours to worshipping the Lord and half to earthly matters.  After a great deal of experiment, he ordered his chaplains to gather together blobs of wax equivalent to the weight of seventy-two pennies.  This block of wax was then to be divided into six very thin candles, each of them twelve inches long.  Alfred had somehow worked out that each candle would burn for exactly four hours, and his plan was to have a permanent supply and burn them continuously, day and night, so that he could mark the exact passage of time.

Alas, the various tents and churches he occupied were so breezy that he found it very hard to keep his Alfred-o-meter going.  Hmm, said Alfred, stroking his beard. We need something that lets the light through and keeps the wind off ….

So he ordered his carpenters to make a wood-framed box, with side panels of horn so thin as to be translucent – and lo! The King had invented the lantern!

As it happens, modern scholars have struggled to replicate his candle-powered clock.  They claim a thin twelve-inch candle burns out much sooner than four hours.  That feels like pedantry.  This was a man who not only beat back the Vikings and united his country; ships, clocks, lanterns – he had a string of major patents to his name.’

Penny Gamez

Alfred The Great Pinnacle Statue Law Courts

High up on pinnacles on the front facade of the building are three statues, visible to all with good eyesight or a zoom camera. Alfred is to the right of the entrance. Jesus Christ is in the middle and the statue to the left with a crown and clutching a model church is Solomon. At the back of the building, visible from Carey Street, is another statue teetering on a pinnacle, Moses with his tablets. We thank Jean Haynes of Original London Walks for identifying these statues. All three are appropriate to be overseeing a place where laws are enforced.
the laws of Alfred.
The Doom Book, Code of Alfred or Legal Code of Ælfred the Great was the code of laws (“dooms” being laws or judgments) compiled by Alfred the Great (c. 893 AD). Alfred codified three prior Saxon codes – those of Æthelberht of Kent (c. 602 AD), Ine of Wessex (c. 694 AD) and Offa of Mercia (c. 786 AD) – to which he prefixed the Ten Commandments of Moses and incorporated rules of life from the Mosaic Code and the Christian code of ethics.
The title Doom Book (originally dom-boc or dom-boke) comes from dōm (pronounced “dome”) which is the Anglo-Saxon word meaning judgment or law — as in Alfred’s admonishment to “Doom very evenly! Do not doom one doom to the rich; another to the poor! Nor doom one doom to your friend; another to your foe!”[1] This reflects Mosaic Law, which says “You shall do no injustice in judgment! You shall not be partial to the poor; nor defer to the great! But you are to judge your neighbour fairly!” (Leviticus 19:15).
The Christian theologian F. N. Lee extensively documented Alfred the Great’s work of collecting the law codes from the three Christian Saxon kingdoms and compiling them into his Doom Book.[2] Lee details how Alfred incorporated the principles of the Mosaic law into his Code, and how this Code of Alfred became the foundation for the Common Law. In the book’s extensive prologue, Alfred summarises the Mosaic and Christian codes. Dr Michael Treschow, UBC Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, reviewed how Alfred laid the foundation for the Spirit of Mercy in his code,[3] stating that the last section of the Prologue not only describes “a tradition of Christian law from which the law code draws but also it grounds secular law upon Scripture, especially upon the principle of mercy”.
The law code contains some laws that may seem bizarre by modern standards, such as: “If a man unintentionally kills another man by letting a tree fall on him, the tree shall be given to the kinsmen of the slain.”
Jonty

Somerset House

Walk:  Ludenwic to Ludenberg and After…..

Somerset House is an impressive public building built on the site of two former royal palaces, Somerset Place (Tudor) and later Denmark house

(Stuart).

After 1688, Denmark house went into decline.  It was used as barracks and also ‘Grace and Favour’ flats.  Little money was spent on it.  It was demolished in 1775.

Built in 1776, –Sir William Chambers was the architect (1723-1796) -Parliament wanted to have all government offices in one place, rather than spread over the city.

Somerset House contained most notably the Naval offices, but also Stamp offices, Tax offices and Probate and Record offices.

The North Wing was the first the first to be completed in 1780 – its design being based on Inigo Jones’ (1573-1652) design for the river front of  the former Stuart Palace.  It housed the Government school of Design ( RA) and also the site for Royal Academy Exhibitions (1834)

The Riverside wing, the East and West wings followed . The project was completed in 1790.

Additional buildings to the East and West were added in the 19th century, notably Kings College London in 1834, in accordance with Sir William Chambers designs.

Somerset House in the 20th Century-

Somerset house suffered bomb damage in the London Blitz and work to restore the building was finished in 1952.

1984 Somerset House Act – Legislation was passed for Somerset House to be redeveloped as a Centre for Arts.

1989 The Courtauld Institute of Art and Courtauld Gallery moved into the North Wing

1997 Somerset House Trust charity was established to maintain the building and develop the centre for Arts and Culture.

Somerset House in the 21st Century

2003          Records Office moved to Kew

2009-2013 Revenue and Customs moved to other parts of the building

Somerset House Trust – overseas the entire complex.  The upper floors are let to creative businesses, the ground floors to public realm activities.

The North Wing is currently undergoing extensive renovations to create a world class Artworks, research and teaching facilities.  It is to be opened in 2021…..

From 21st Century to Ludenwic ?

During the development of North wing excavations by the Museum of London revealed an enormous medieval Cesspit. It took a month to excavate by hand and was 15 feet deep.

This was a significant find as this part of London was settled by Anglo Saxons in the 7th century. The pit was believed to be part of the 15th century Chester inn, a residence which existed on the site of the Somerset House. It was one of many mansions owned by dukes, royalty and bishops which lined the river / ‘Strand’. The cesspit has revealed many artefacts, Tudor and possibly Saxon.

Click on the link below to see more information.

https://londonist.com/london/history/medieval-cesspit-somerset-house-courtauld

Mary Reeves

 

The Savoy Hotel

the history of the Savoy goes back to at least 1246 when the land was gifted to Count Peter of Savoy by King Henry III, to build his Savoy Palace next to the river Thames.
The name Sabaudia evolved into Savoy or Savoie.   Count Peter was the maternal uncle of Eleanor of Provence, Queen Consort to Henry III and he had travelled with her to London.  When the count died the land was passed back to the Monarch.
In the mid 14thC, a royal palace  built on the site was destroyed shortly afterwards by The Peasant’s Revolt in 1381.
In 1512 Henry VII used the last surviving building and founded a hospital for 100 homeless men, with the rent for the land being three barbed arrows for all services, paid annually to the Exchequer.  Never being rich it was dissolved in 1702 and in 1864 all but the chapel were burned down.
In 1889, Richard d’Oyley Carte built the Savoy Hotel on this site, payed for by the success of his production of the “Mikado”
Lavish parties took place in the Savoy and in 1905  an American millionaire had the courtyard flooded to the depth of a metre and held a Venetian style party.  He had his guests carried around in a silk-lined gondola and a five foot cake was carried by a baby elephant.
For over a hundred years horses and cars have entered the Savoy courtyard on the right and left on the right handside of the driveway.  This was primarily due to the construction of the court and made it easier for the drivers…”a turning circle”
The Savoy was the first hotel to have electric light, ensuite bathrooms, telephones in the rooms and for “ascending rooms” which we know as electric lifts.
Elisabeth Yates.
Sources:

Savoy Hotel History Site.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was not one document but a collection of chronicles documenting history from Caesar’s invasions of Britain onwards. Originally there was one manuscript, written by monks in the late 9th century, of which copies were made and distributed to other monasteries, where they were copied and recopied and independently updated as the years went by. What survives today is all or part of nine manuscripts, though none of them are the original versions. Seven of the manuscripts are in the British Library, one in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and one in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

The original chronicle was written somewhere in Wessex, probably during the reign of Alfred the Great (reigned 871-899). Alfred encouraged education, but it’s not known whether he had anything to do with the chronicle being started. The oldest surviving version is from Winchester and was written by one scribe up to the year 891, after which other scribes added new entries. Other surviving versions were written in Abingdon, Worcester, Canterbury and Peterborough at varying dates. The Peterborough chronicle is the latest, a copy made after a fire at the monastery in 1116 and then updated until 1154, the year Henry II came to the throne.

The chronicles are in the form of annals, a year-by-year account of events. The historical material came from a variety of sources, especially the Venerable Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, but also including some small encyclopedias of world history, and sagas. Contemporary material was then added year by year at the different monasteries. This meant that national events were often recorded in different ways – some in great detail, some as just bare facts – and there are many entries about purely local events that appear only in one chronicle.

One remarkable fact about all the chronicles – and the reason they’re called Anglo-Saxon – is that they’re written not in Latin but in the vernacular, i.e. Old English. One chronicle, written in Canterbury, includes a Latin translation alongside, while the last entries in the Peterborough chronicle, added in 1154, are in Middle English.

How reliable is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as a source? There are certainly some errors and also discrepancies between the surviving versions, not surprisingly as they were written in different places and by scribes with different biases, so that some entries look like political propaganda. There is some variation in dates, partly accounted for by different calendars being used – some began the new year at Christmas, some on 25 March and some even in September. Overall, though, the chronicles aimed to record historical facts – rather than, for instance, making things up in the style of Geoffrey of Monmouth. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the single most important source for the period in England between the departure of the Romans and the decades following the Norman Conquest. It contains much information not recorded anywhere else, and it’s also important for the history of the English language.

A few entries that mention London:
457. This year Hengest and Esc fought with the Britons on the spot that is called Crayford, and there slew four thousand men. The Britons then forsook the land of Kent, and in great consternation fled to London.
604. This year Augustine consecrated two bishops, Mellitus and Justus. Mellitus he sent to preach baptism to the East-Saxons. Their king was called Seabert, the son of Ricola, Ethelbert’s sister, whom Ethelbert placed there as king. Ethelbert also gave Mellitus the bishopric of London; and to Justus he gave the bishopric of Rochester, which is twenty-four miles from Canterbury.

851. This year Alderman Ceorl, with the men of Devonshire, fought the heathen army at Wemburg, and after making great slaughter obtained the victory. The same year King Athelstan and Alderman Elchere fought in their ships, and slew a large army at Sandwich in Kent, taking nine ships and dispersing the rest. The heathens now for the first time remained over winter in the Isle of Thanet. The same year came three hundred and fifty ships into the mouth of the Thames; the crew of which went upon land, and stormed Canterbury and London; putting to flight Bertulf, king of the Mercians, with his army; and then marched southward over the Thames into Surrey. Here Ethelwulf and his son Ethelbald, at the head of the West-Saxon army, fought with them at Ockley, and made the greatest slaughter of the heathen army that we have ever heard reported to this present day. There also they obtained the victory.
886. This year went the army back again to the west, that before were bent eastward; and proceeding upwards along the Seine, fixed their winter-quarters in the city of Paris. The same year also King Alfred fortified the city of London; and the whole English nation turned to him, except that part of it which was held captive by the Danes. He then committed the city to the care of Alderman Ethered, to hold it under him.

Sources
Wikipedia
Anne Savage, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Book Club Associates, 1992
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle online: http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/657/pg657-images.html

Carol Stanley

Early Medieval Treasure Hoards

Visit to the Early Medieval Treasure Hoards that can be seen in The British Museum.
SUTTON HOO HOARD.
Anglo Saxon treasures from the early 600’s, in a boat for 40 oarsmen, found in Suffolk, including a magnificent helmet, casket and sword.
HOXNE HOARD.
Late Roman, 4thC – 5thC  gold and silver coins etc. found in Suffolk.
MILDENHALL HOARD.
Roman, 4thC silver table ware and found in Suffolk.
CUERDAL HOARD.
Viking, believed to be 903AD – 910AD, silver coins and jewellery, found near the river Ribble, Preston, Lancashire.
Source:
Sutton Hoo exhibition gallery and room 41.
British Museum information site.

Byzantine Ivory Diptych Leaf, c. AD 525-550

Image downloaded from British Museum Collections Online and released under the Creative Commons license.

This object in Room 41 of the British Museum stood out for me because of the exquisite skill and delicacy of its carving.  The caption describes it as ‘one of the largest surviving ivories from the Byzantine Empire’ and states that it ‘comes from a hinged two-leaf diptych possibly used as a writing tablet’.  It goes on to say that it was made in Constantinople in around 525-550 AD and was perhaps commissioned by the Emperor Justinian 1.  It depicts the Archangel Michael, dressed in a toga and wearing sandals, holding an orb and sceptre.

I thought that the caption raised rather more questions than it answered and considered the failure to provide a translation of the Greek inscription at the top of the carving annoying.

I began my search to find more by looking for the ivory in the British Museum Collections Online database.  I found it listed but discovered little extra information other than it did give a translation of the inscription, which is ‘Receive this man although you know his sin’.  I then investigated why the carved figure was believed to be the Archangel Michael.  The figure has wings which clearly suggest he is one of the angels but does not have a halo.  I decided that the absence of a halo was not especially significant.  I have often seen depictions of Michael in shining armour subduing either a serpent or the devil.  These depictions indicate his role as the leader of the army of God in its fight against and eventual victory over the powers of evil led by Satan.  Other images of Michael show him as the angel of death who gives each soul the chance of redemption.  These images usually portray him holding scales which he uses to weigh the value of souls.  Although this ivory carving does not show him holding scales I thought that the inscription was pertinent to this role of his and so supported the identification.  A quick check in Wikipedia revealed that in Byzantine art Michael is sometimes shown as a court dignitary, so I concluded that his attire here resembling a Roman senator together with the inscription were proof enough that it is Michael who is depicted.  However, I was still puzzled by his holding of an orb and sceptre.

In the UK we associate the orb and sceptre with the coronation ceremony of our monarch.  Judy pointed out that they have been part of this ceremony since at least the time when St Dunstan was Archbishop of Canterbury in the 10th century.  It is, therefore, not too great a stretch of the imagination to believe that the symbolism of the orb and sceptre was the same in 6th century Byzantium as it is today.  The orb represents Christ’s dominion over the world.  At the coronation the Archbishop of Canterbury says to the monarch ‘Receive this orb set under the cross, and remember that the whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer’.  The monarch takes the orb in his or her right hand as shown in the ivory carving.  The sceptre is associated with good governance.  The Archbishop says ‘Receive the rod of Equity and Mercy.  Be so merciful that you be not too remiss; execute justice that you forget not mercy.  Punish the wicked, protect and cherish the just, and lead your people in the way wherein they should go’.  The sceptre is then held in the monarch’s left hand just the same as in the ivory.  I could find no reason why the Archangel Michael should be holding the orb and sceptre unless to suggest that he is in effect the king of the angels.  As an alternative explanation I wonder whether the British Museum’s assertion that the diptych was possibly commissioned by Justinian himself has relevance here and that the second lost leaf would have shown the Emperor waiting to receive the orb and sceptre from the Archangel.

Following on from this I decided to find out a little bit about Justinian.  He was born in c. 482 AD in Dardania, a Roman province in the central Balkans.  He was Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire from 527 until his death in 565.  He was possibly the last Emperor to have been a native speaker of Latin.  His reign was notable for three achievements.  Rome was recaptured from the Ostrogoths and other territories were also recaptured meaning that for a time the Eastern Roman Empire established control over the Western Mediterranean.  Roman law was rewritten and codified and became the basis of civil law in many states right up to the present day.  There occurred a blossoming of Byzantine culture and building, including the Hagia Sophia.

Lastly I wondered about the British Museum’s claim that this is one of the largest surviving examples of ivory carving from this period.  This is true but many smaller examples have also survived.  In fact, there are examples of the craft dating from prehistory.  It is believed that ivory objects survive more successfully than gold or silver objects because gold and silver can be melted down and used for other purposes whereas ivory is not so readily reuseable.  The diptych is thought to have been used as a writing tablet presumably because of its size and shape.  Other similar but smaller carved ivory leaves are known to have been used as book covers.

Paul Stokes

Lothair Crystal

This crystal was made for Lothair II, king of the Franks. It depicts the biblical story of Susanna and the elders, in which Susanna is accused of adultery before being proved innocent by the Prophet Daniel. From the tenth century until 1793 the crystal was in the abbey of Waulsort in Belgium. Supposedly the crystal was cracked when thrown into the Meuse during the sack of Waulsort by the French in 1793.

The crystal weighs 650 grams and is mounted in a 15th century gilt frame. The crystal originated in Lotharingia (site of Aachen in modern Germany sometime between 843-855)

The subject matter may reflect Lothair’s own marital problems. He attempted to divorce his wife, accusing her of incest. Lothair’s queen was forced, possibly through torture, to confess to incest with her brother by the bishops of Cologne and Trier After the pope refused the divorce, Lothair forgave his wife and this crystal may have been made to reflect his acceptance of his wife’s innocence.

Lothair’s great grandfather Charlemagne created the largest state in Europe since the Roman Empire. Charlemagne’s sons divided this empire into France, Germany and Lothair’s middle kingdom, probably the area of modern Lorraine. Lothair was desperate for a divorce because his wife could not provide him with an heir. This failure to produce a son led to Lothair’s kingdom being divided between his uncles. If he had produced an heir Lorraine might now rank with France and Germany, as one of the great states of Europe.

Lothair II (855-869), was the son of the Carolingian Emperor Lothair I and king of Lotharingia, an artificial kingdom which lay between Saxony and France with its capital at Aachen in modern Germany.

The Carolingians were the second ruling dynasty of the Franks and their name derives from that of Charlemagne, the great king (reigned 768-814) who established an empire in Western Europe reaching from northern Spain and France to northern Germany, Austria and northern Italy.

In 800 Charlemagne was crowned Emperor by the Pope at Rome. Under the tutelage of men of learning such as Alcuin of York and Paul the Deacon, he also initiated a great renaissance of art, architecture and learning, drawing on both the Antique culture of the Mediterranean world and Christian scholarship for inspiration. Aachen became the capital of the empire, where Charlemagne had a grand palace built.

The Carolingian rulers subdivided the realm between their heirs, which frequently led to civil war in a bid for power. Also, local officials and aristocrats took advantage of such events to assert semi-independent local rule in some regions.

To avoid dying without an heir, which would have meant his kingdom would be divided between its neighbours, Lothair II attempted to divorce his barren wife Theutberga and marry his mistress Waldrada, who had given him a son. Pope Nicholas intervened, compelling him to take back Theutberga or face attack from his uncles, who wished to share his kingdom between them.

On Lothair’s death, the inevitable happened: Charles the Bald and Louis the German seized his lands by the Partition of Mersen (870). In 888 the realm was partitioned into the kingdoms of France, Germany, Italy, Provence and Burgundy, and the Carolingian empire finally came to an end in 987, but the name of his kingdom survives even today in that of the rather smaller region of Lorraine in eastern France.

 

BBC (100 objects that changed the World Neil McGregor)  photo British Museum

Dilys Cowan

Cosmetics in Roman London

Cosmetics were first used in ancient Rome for ritual purposes but were also part of daily life for women – especially prostitutes and the wealthy. Cosmetics were applied in private in a small room where men did not enter. Female slaves or cosmetae adorned their mistresses.

Face masks were used before applying make-up.  One recipe was the application of sweat from a sheep’s wool to the face before bedtime but the smell was criticised by men.  Other ingredients were excrement, placenta, bile, animal urine, sulphur, onions with poultry fat, white lead.

Gladiator sweat and fats from animals fighting in the arena were sold in souvenir pots outside the games to improve complexion.

The expansion of the Empire brought ideas of beauty from the Greeks and Egyptians but Romans felt the ‘preservation of beauty’ was acceptable, but  ‘unnatural embellishment’ was not. Natural implied chastity but artificiality denoted a desire to be seductive.

Make-up used

  • Foundation cream – white lead paste or chalk and orris root or fat, starch and tin oxide or crocodile dung.
  • Rouge to stain cheeks and also lips – although according to some sources there is no evidence that Roman women coloured their lips. The colour was from red ochre in clay. Also used bromine, beetle juice and beeswax with a little henna. They sometimes rubbed brown seaweed into their cheeks.
  • Eye shadow and eye liner – Kohl from galena (a form of lead sulphide). Galena was mixed with soot.  Eye shadow – made from saffron or from crushed malachite. Eyebrows were very dark and extended to meet in the centre.  Eyelashes were thickened with burnt cork and had to be long to prove their chastity, according to Pliny the Elder who wrote that eyelashes fell out from excessive intercourse.
  • Perfume – from flowers, plants and seeds. They were blended into a cream made from animal fats and oils. Exotic perfumes were made with myrrh, frankincense, cardamom and cinnamon. Scent was important.  Women who smelt good were presumed to be healthy. Many of the ingredients of cosmetics smelt horrible so women drowned the stench with perfume.
  • White teeth were highly prized and so false teeth made from bone, ivory and paste were popular.

Make-up was so important to Roman women that even the poet Ovid wrote a book about it called ‘Women’s Facial Cosmetics’ or ‘The Art of Beauty’. He included beauty tips for women!

On the other hand, there appears to be no evidence that Anglo-Saxon women wore make-up apart from perhaps colourants for hair and skin made from herbal sources such as walnuts, chestnuts, berries, skins of plums, some flowers, and leaves of common woad.  The same colourants were probably used by men in battle. Naked blue bodies and hair in spikes stained with yellow clay probably terrified the Roman legions!

Penny Gamez

 

Leadenhall Market

has always been a centre of commerce and was the centre of Roman London.
After the Roman invasion a Basilica and Forum were built originally in 70AD and expanded by 120AD, covering two hectares.
The Forum was a large open-air square and a popular meeting place with market stalls.  Some think it was within walls but that’s not conclusive and it was also the centre for Civic Administration.

Destroyed by Rome in 300AD, as punishment for London supporting CARAUSIUS (d. 283AD) who declared himself the Emperor of Britain, to the chagrin of Rome.  The Romans left London and Britain in the 5th Century Britain was independant of Rome.
The market was abandoned when the Anglo Saxons left but was gradually repopulated when they returned around 866AD but until that time, little is known of what was happening to Leadenhall.

In1309 the Manor of Leadenhall is listed as being owned by Sir Hugh Neville and the surrounding area of Leadenhall may have been the home of the Ironmongers.  Originally the local area was a meeting place for the Poulterers and then the Cheesemongers from 1397.
The market sprang up as a series of courts behind Neville’s house, known for its lead roof on Leadenhall Street, (maybe the origin of the name or from the Leatherers later).   Quickly it became one of the best markets for meat, game, poultry and fish.  In 1411 The Corporation of London aquired the freehold of the land, a gift from Dick Whittington, who in 1408 aquired the lease of the building and then site.

Fire destroyed the manor house and in 1440 John Coxton takes on the rebuilding, finishing it in 1449, as a gift to the public from Mayor Simon Eyre.
Coxton expanded the original hall into a large rectangular quadrangle, two stories high, complete with a public granary, massive storage rooms, a single side chapel and even a grammar school.
The building included battlements and turrets, which suggests the market could have been fortified as a precaution in the event of food shortages, or some kind of social unrest.  Previously, the market was set up in narrow streets surrounding the building but on completion, trading takes place inside the arcade.
Leadenhall Market was the most intergral part of the surrounding community with the school and chapel, suggesting it was not just for buying goods.

During Tudor and Stuart reigns the market was also used for shows and festivals.
The market expanded with traders selling poultry, grain, eggs, butter, cheese and herbs and at this time, Leadenhall was considered the most important market in London.  It was a tourist attraction and visitors marvelled over the bustling trade and the chapel was used by vistors for worship.
However, the market was dirty and smelly where butchers cut and sold all kinds of meat and before it was forbidden, cattle were slaughtered and the meat cleaned there.

Over the 15th and 16th Centuries the market offered wool, leather and cutlery for sale and in 1622, cutlery was only made available from Leadenhall market.
Pepys wrote in his diary in 1663 that he had bought a leg of beef there for six pence.
In the Great Fire of 1666, the stone building prevented the flames from spreading north east and was largely unscathed in comparison to most of The City.  Subsequently, George Dance the Younger rebuilt the market and it was divided into three courts.

The Beef Market.

The Green Yard, listed as having 140 butchers at one time with the fishmongers in the middle.

The Herb Market.
(Building plans of the site can be seen on Leadenhall Market – Medieval London.  Building plan, site plan and the Agas map.)

OLD TOM.
Came from Ostend, Belgium.  Hatched out in 1797 in the countryside around London.
Always made a “dash for freedom” every time he was “up for the chop” and was a fugitive for days.  Folk left him in peace as he was quite a character and became the mascot of Leadenhall market.  He would waddle around the market, in and out of the taverns and fans were happy to feed him.
He died a natural death in 1835 aged 38 and the traders were heartbroken and Old Tom was “laid in State” for public respect.

Elisabeth.

Sources: Wikipaedia.   Cabbies London.   Medieval London

image wiki

Smithfield Market Notes

Introduction

These notes have been tidied up and expanded a little but were just my headings and notes to jog my memory while talking in the group about the timeline.

The timeline uses Horace Jones’ Smithfield Market buildings as the centre piece and is a sample of elements and events that contribute to the continuing processes that created and change Smithfield Market in its various formations. There is a strong fault line that marks the end of the live meat market in 1855 and the reopening as a dead meat market from 1868.

Attempting to categorise the fragments of the timeline is unavoidably arbitrary and the categories overlap but doing so helped me think about the processes at work in the past and now.

Boundaries, Charters/Acts and Revenue

Charters haves underpinned the City’s jurisdiction over Smithfield from early days and continue to be the subject of debates in present times. References to Charters in the timeline are only a sample of the number of charters and their complexity.

The topic of Liberties and how they are managed could be a major topic on its own. There is a link to the establishment and maintenance of the City boundary and the relationship to neighbouring (e.g. now Islington) and overarching (e.g. now GLA) authorities.

There is also the matter of buying land outside the City boundary.

Anxiety about mess and order

This anxiety seems to have led to a ‘Push / Pull’ effect. Extend the boundary to include revenue producing markets then push the unwanted elements of the market and associated activities over the boundary.

Anxiety about Health

For example, fears about imported disease helped create the need for the Foreign Cattle Market at Deptford while in more modern times the late 1960s foot and mouth scare curtailed imports from Argentina

Relationship between smell and disease

In the present time there is increased anxiety about meat eating itself.

Urban Improvement

Right from paving and draining the market through to roads and fine buildings

There were times when meat markets were held to be incompatible with urban improvement and modern city life.

Administration and Control

Emergence of administration (rules about markets amongst other things), banks, telegraph and a need for offices. At first it was offices to run the Market then it became offices to replace the market.

The Metropolitan Market Banking Block around the base of the Clock Tower; the New Smithfield with fine bank buildings and offices nearby. 

Technological Change

Live animals on hoof à Live animals by rail à dead animals by rail à frozen animals by rail à frozen animals by ship and rail

Abattoirs in the City à London’s abattoir in Aberdeen and other far flung places.

Agricultural revolution, feed and crop cycles, an end to wholesale slaughter in the autumn, higher body (and later carcase) weights.

Railways

Refrigeration

Supermarkets

The seeds of Metropolitan Market’s demise were present as it was being built, the causes of the re-emergence of Smithfield as a dead meat market were present as its closure was being advocated.

Railways ought to have a heading of its own

Plans for the Metropolitan Railway were advancing alongside the removal of Smithfield live market. The railway was the strongest reason for the return to Smithfield as a dead meat market.

Jones’ skill in building over the developing railway

The link to the rest of the country and to the Docks (takes some unpicking), the Snow Hill Tunnel and lines under Smithfield

1960s Move to road transport.

Animal Welfare and Sensibility

A Victorian concern but it is also very much a modern concern. There were early concerns and pressure for animal cruelty and slaughter to be out of central London/out of sight. There is a parallel concern about not wanting to lose old traditions. The City’s relationship with meat and markets. Exciting stories about animals getting loose, dark tourism of Smithfield. Modern tours and glimpses of carcases. Apologising to Vegetarians. Interplay with reduced meat eating, health and animal welfare. Recent examples of Feminism and Smithfield / Markets generally being held as male space.

Emergence of Pressure Groups, Democracy/Public Opinion, Hungry Years

Complexity of interest groups and stakeholders, not simple City resistance to change, the City spent more money on resisting Acts for removal than they gained in revenues.

Can be seen in later 21st C. conflicts with addition of Heritage concerns and associated pressure groups although again individual organisations adopt contradictory positions at times.

The role of newspapers / popular publishing.

David Beer