On September 15th 1940 Ray Holmes, World War 2 RAF Pilot, flying a Hurricane, took on three Luftwaffe Bombers over Central London. He shot one down, chased another off and engaged the third which seemed to be heading for Buckingham Palace. Between the 8th and 13th of September 1940, the Palace had been hit 5 times. The London Blitz had only ‘begun’ on September 7th though the first raid on the City of London was on the 25th August on Fore Street.
Holmes, by now had ran out of bullets, but deliberately targeted the fin of the Dornier bomber, and crashed into it causing the bomber to spiral down into Victoria Station. Holmes’ hurricane, spiralled down out of control, but he was able to bail out and landed in a dustbin, much to the bemusement of the locals. Holmes died aged 90 in 2005.
This post is heavily based on the story below, which is told in full detail.
One of my favourite places to go is the Chapel of the Guild of the Holy Cross at Stratford-upon-Avon. It offers a convenient place for a group to sit down and listen to further information about Shakespeare, and the fascinating story of the Guild Chapel.
This is an appropriate place to look at Roodmas which is celebrated today on May 3rd and September 14th because Rood is another word for the Cross. Parish Churches used to have a Rood Screen separating the holy Choir from the more secular Nave. This screen was topped with a statue of the Crucified Jesus.
Roodmas commemorates two events:
The Discovery of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem in 326 by Queen Helena, wife of Constantius Chlorus and mother of Constantine the Great. Most of the Cross was sent back to the care of Constantine the Great.
The part of the Holy Cross that was left in Jerusalem was taken by Persians but recovered by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius in 628.
The Guild Chapel, built in 1269 and developed in the 15th Century, was dedicated to the legend of the Holy Cross which held, that seeds from the Tree of Knowledge were grown on Adam’s Grave, honoured by the Queen of Sheba, buried by King Solomon, possibly used in the building of the Temple, and used as the Cross to crucify Jesus. Then buried and found, with the nails, and the crown of thorns by Queen Helena. She knew it was the real thing we a deathly sick women was revived by contact with the timber of the Holy Cross.
Over the years the cross was shivered into ever smaller pieces as Emperors, Kings, Dukes, Counts, Popes, Bishops, Abbots and Abbesses swopped relics with each other. The fragments were cased in beautiful reliquaries and had enormous power for those of faith and those who could be helped by healing by faith.
This post is still, really, in draft form.
For the story of Charles III, his coronation, and the true cross please look here:
James Lovelock is one of my heroes. He came up with the idea that the Planet Earth is, or can be considered to be, a living being. He named her Gaia, after the Greek Mother Goddess and the mother of all life.
He suggested that the Earth was a self-regulating entity that kept the essentials for life on our planet in balance. Further, he speculated that human activity was putting a strain on the feedback systems that kept the environment sweet for life. Gaia, he suggested, might spit out the cause of the disruption, if we didn’t mend our ways.
Today, a new book on Lovelock was published, and the Guardian ran this lovely article on the contribution of love and Dian Hitchcock to the formation of the theory. Dian and James worked together on the idea when they both worked for Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California in the 1960’s.
My own take on his theory, is that Gaia keeps the atmosphere and climate within a safe range by a series of feedback loops. Lovelock pointed out that as strains in the system develop, the feedback loops might fracture, readjust and the Earth find a new stable feedback system. This new equilibrium may or may not be compatible with a comfortable environment for humans.
Chris Stringer’s book on the Palaeolithic in Britain is called ‘Homo Britannicus’, shows that during the 900,000 years of genus Homo’s life in Britain, five or so times the climate has changed in these mild islands so it has become inhospitable for humans. He also suggests that there is evidence that the last Ice Age ended fairly swiftly, and that Britain changed from being tundra to a temperate climate perhaps in as little as twenty years. It is only for around 12,000 years that Home Sapiens have lived continuously on these islands.
So, we know climate change is inevitable, and that when it happens it may not be a gradual change. We also cannot be sure it will make the UK warmer because Britain’s temperate climate depends on the warm air of the Gulf Stream and if this is affected Britain may revert to the colder climate of other countries at our latitude like Scandinavia,
Model of the Scottish Parliament, with Queensberry House in the bottome right hand corner.
I am working on a booklist for Edinburgh, one of my favourite towns, and this was to be my Edinburgh Booklist post. But the first book has expanded to fill the space.
It is by Ian Rankin and one of the Inspector Rebus series. What makes Rankin a great crime writer is how the author makes Edinburgh central to the story. It adds realism to his stories and as you read the stories you enjoy learning about Edinburgh, its cultural, its history, its people, its streets and its topography. And get insights into Edinburgh’s moods.
I haven’t read all the Rebus books but the one I want to feature is ‘Set in Darkness’ published in 2000. It is set in the period immediately after the success of the Scottish Referendum to set up a Scottish Parliament. The story also takes us back to 1979 when the first Scottish Referendum ‘failed’.
It begins with a body found in Queensbury House, which is being preserved and incorporated into the new Scottish Parliament buildings.
Scottish Parliament Building (photo by the author)
This setting was suggested by the well-known tale of the Queensberry House Cannibal; James Douglas the 3rd Marquess of Queensberry and, for a time, the Earl of Drumlanrig. On the day, in 1707, that the Scottish Parliament agreed to disband itself and voted for an Act of Union with the United Kingdom, the young Lord was left alone in Queensbury House with no one to look after him, except a kitchen boy. James had mental issues, and when the adults came home, they discovered him eating the kitchen boy whom Douglas had spit-roasted in the oven. The ghost of the boy is said to haunt the house. Or so the story goes. It’s always treated as a true story, but there is a suspicion it was a black calumny on those who agreed to the end of the Scottish Parliament.
For more on the event, look here. As you can see, Rankin’s book is keyed into Edinburgh’s deep history as well as contemporary political events.
So, as today (11th September 1997) is the anniversary of the day the Scots voted Yes to a restoration of its Parliament, let’s have a look at the long history of devolution. We will take the story backwards.
The referendum asked the Scots two questions. The first was: did they support a separate Parliament for Scotland? The second. Should it have the power to vary levels of taxation? 74.3% voted yes to the Parliament, and 63.5% voted yes for powers of taxation. On the 1st July 1999 the Scottish Parliament was set up by the Blair Government.
In 1979, the Scottish Act set up a referendum for a Scottish assembly. It was won with a majority of 52%, but an amendment to the Act had a stipulation that there had to be a vote of at least 40% of the registered electorate for the vote to succeed. It won only 32% of the 62% turnout so failed. (if only Cameron had done something similar for the Brexit Referendum!).
So it would be another almost 20 years before the Scots got their own debating chamber.
The Scots lost their Parliament on the 1st May 1707 when the Act of Union with England was enacted. The Scottish Parliament had been in existence since the early 13th Century. The Scots had no House of Commons, but its unicameral Parliament had representatives from the Three Estates: prelates representing the Church; Aristocrats representing the nobility, and Burgh Commissioners representing the Towns. Later, Shire Commissioners were added to represent the countryside.
The decision to disband the Parliament of Scotland was very controversial, and blamed on the self-interest of the Nobility against the wishes of the people. Scotland had lost out on the huge profits being made by the Empire by England, excluded as the Scots were by the Navigation Acts from trading freely within the British Empire. So the Scots set up their own Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies which invested in the disastrous Darién scheme, The idea was to build a colony on the Isthmus of Panama. 80% of the participants in the settlement died, and the 20% of Scottish wealth which was invested in the scheme was lost. Many of the Scottish members of Parliament lost money in the Scheme and compensation and bribery offered by the English encouraged the Parliamentarians to accept the advantages of free trade within the British Empire and to join the Westminster Parliament
In 1603, the Scottish and English monarchies joined in the person of James VI of Scotland and James 1st of England on the death of his childless aunt, Queen Elizabeth 1. But the Scots kept their own Parliament and legal system. There were attempts to bring a closer Union, but these all failed until 1707.
A silhouette of a Zeppelin caught in searchlights over the City of London
On the night of September 8th, Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Mathy piloted Zeppelin L 13 across Central London, dropping bombs as they went. The trail of destruction led from University College London, via Russell Sq. to Gray’s Inn Farringdon, Smithfield and out past Liverpool Street to the East End.
Before World War One London was the centre of the largest Empire the world had ever known. It was the first great era of globalisation; international trade and Finance was booming. London was full of the mega-rich, but poverty and substandard housing was extensive. Inner London was still the home of Industry, and home to large immigrant communities. Political dissent was widespread, with the Labour Party beginning to erode the Liberal Party’s power base, and the issue of Female Suffragette was rocking society. Then, catastrophe as ‘the lights went out all over Europe’.
On October 1 1916, Mathy’s L31 Zeppelin burst into flames after attack by the Royal Flying Corp, and near Cuffley, Potters Bar he decided to jump out. He was found by farmers still alive and lying face up but died soon after.
Here, is a podcast originally written for a Zeppelin Walk for London Walks. It includes an eyewitness account by Hugh Turpin of the shooting down of the Zeppelin. Please ignore the dates of walks, as this was a couple of years ago. But I am planning to repeat the virtual tour during the winter of 2024. I hope to revise this post for the October 1st anniversary.
The Master of St Giles, National Gallery. ‘St Giles and the Hind’ This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 100 years or fewer.
Today, is St Giles’ Feast Day. His story is mostly unknown, but he was thought to be a hermit who had a pet Hind in the Arles District of France perhaps in the 9th Century. The hounds of King Wamba (a Visigothic King) were chasing the deer, and shot an arrow into the undergrowth. The King and his men followed to discover Giles wounded by the arrow, protecting the hind, who he held in his arms. The hounds were miraculously stayed motionless as they leaped towards the hind. Wamba apparently means ‘Big paunch’ in Gothic. He was also called Flavius. Giles was injured in the leg, although the image above shows the arrow in his hand.
St Giles is, therefore, the patron saint of disabled people. He was very popular in medieval Britain, with over 150 churches dedicated to him, including four in London. Perhaps the two most famous are St Giles Without Cripplegate in London and St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.
St Giles Cripplegate, photographed by the Author at night from the Barbican Centre.
St Giles Cripplegate was built in the 11th Century, and rebuilt in the 14th Century and again in 1545-50 after nearly being destroyed by fire. It survived the Great Fire of London, being just beyond the extent of the Fire. It was badly damaged in the Blitz, but the Tower and the outer walls survived. Oliver Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier here. John Foxe of the Book of Martyrs, John Speed, the Cartographer, Martin Frobisher and John Milton were buried here. Milton’s coffin was opened in 1793 and he was said to have looked as if he had just been buried. One of those present, then tried to pull Milton’s teeth out, which a bystander helped by hitting them with a stone. The few teeth Milton had left in his head were divided between the men, who also took a rib bone and locks of his hair. The Caretaker then opened the coffin for anyone who wanted to see the corpse!
From the London City Wall Trail.
Cripplegate, one of the Gates in the City Wall (originally the North Gate of the Roman Fort) may be named because it was a good place to gather for those trying to beg alms for their disabilities. Although it has also been said that there was an underground tunnel from the Gate’s Barbican to the Gate which in Anglo Saxon is a Crepel. Or because of the cure of cripples when Edmund the Martyr’s remains passed through the gate in 1010.
The Corner Tower of the London City Wall, the Barbican in the background, and the tower of St Giles’ Church behind the Tower. Photo by the author
Kalendar of Shepherds illustration of September showing harvesting grapes and the astrological signs for Virgo (August 23 – September 22) and Libra (September 23 – October 22)
It is that time of the year when you say ‘Where has the Summer gone? It can’t be September already?’ But, metrologically speaking, Autumn starts today. September 1st was chosen on a numerical basis for ease of measuring rather than any profound floral, agricultural or solar reason. So, there are three Gregorian Calendar months for each season, and each season starts on the first of the month. Autumn comes from Latin (autumnus) which went into French and then into English. The season was also called Harvest (which went into Dutch herfst, German Herbst, and Scots hairst -Wikipedia) or from the 16th Century the ‘fall of the year’ or ‘fall of the leaf’ which spread to America.
It still feels like summer this year, with flowers doing well in my garden and not looking too tired. In England, we often have a glorious September, and an ‘Indian’ Summer.
Of course, for the real Autumn, we have to wait for the Equinox, the beginning of Astronomical or Solar Autumn. This year (2024) on September 22nd.
The stars signs for astrological September are: Virgo which is linked to Aphrodite (Venus) the Goddess of Love and Libra is linked to Artemis (Diana), virgin goddess of many things, including hunting, wild animals, children, and birth.
Star signs for September
September gets its name from the Romans, for whom it was the 7th Month of the year (septem is Latin for seven). Later, they added two new months so it became our 9th Month. (For more on the Roman year, look at my post here).
It is called Halegmonath in the early English language, or the holy month, named because it is the month of offerings, because of the harvest, and the mellow fruitfulness of September? Medi in Welsh is the month of reaping, and An Sultuine in Gaelic which means the month of plenty.
Roman personification of Autumn from Lullingstone mosaic
Here is an early 17th Century look at September from the Kalendar of Shepherds – for more on the Kalendar, look at my post here.
From the Kalendar of Shepherds
The Kalendar has an additional shorter look at September and continues with its linking of the 12 months of the year with the lifespan of a man – 6 years for each month. So September is a metaphor for man at 56 years of age, in their prime and preparing for old age.
September from the Kalendar of Shepherds. The last sentence beginning ‘and then is man’ shows the link between September and the beginning of the autumn of life.
Keats (1795 – 1821) wrote a great poem about Autumn:
To Autumn
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease, For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep, Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers: And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep Steady thy laden head across a brook; Or by a cider-press, with patient look, Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,— While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue; Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn Among the river sallows, borne aloft Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft, And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
Written September 19, 1819; first published in 1820. This poem is in the public domain and available here:
