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Free Metropolitan Hospital, Hackney

Photo of Metropolitan House built in 1886 part of the Free Metropolitan Hospital Hackney (as was)
Part of the Metropolitan Hospital

I have walked past this building many times, and only just decided to find out what it was.

It was a Free Hospital, founded by Jonathan Fry, a son of Elizabeth Fry, to provide medical treatment for the poor. It was originally founded in 1836, and had various sites – Carey Street, Bishopsgate, Spitalfields before moving to Kingsland Road Hackney, near my home.

Its mission? ‘to grant immediate relief to the sick poor of every nation and class whatever may be their diseases, on presenting themselves to the charity without letter of recommendation; such letters being always procured with difficulty and often after dangerous delay’.

It became part of the NHS when it was established after WW2 and then closed in 1977.

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Restarting Real, Physical Guided Walks

on 27th May 2021! T 6.30PM, Bank Tube

Kevin Flude leading a guided walk on the South Bank
Kevin Flude leading a guided walk on the South Bank

The good news is that I am starting doing real physical Guided Walks again.

Leo Heaton and I are doing an Archaeology walk every Thursday evening at 6.30.  We alternate as the Guide.

The plan is to do another walk in the afternoon.  I am also putting together a series of special, repertory walks for London walks running throughout the summer. 

Here are the details of the walk on 27th May.

ARCHAEOLOGY OF LONDON WALK

Thursday 6.30pm Exit 3 Bank Underground Station
Short Description
A TALE OF FOUR CITIES
Description
Legend says that London was founded as New Troy. Historians believed it was founded as Londinium after the Bridge was built by the legionaries of the Emperor Claudius in AD 43.   Archaeologists in the 1970s and 1980s discovered that London was refounded as Lundenwic in the 7th Century and again in the 9th Century when it was called Lundenburg.

This walk tells the epic tale of the uncovering of London’s past by Archaeologists. And provides an insight into the dramatic history of the Capital of Britannia, and how it survived revolts, fires, plagues, and reacted to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.  It became the foremost English City but with periods under Viking and Norman control.

We tell the story in the streets of the City of London, beginning in the valley of the River Walbrook by the Temple of Mithras, and visit many sites where important archaeological discoveries were made, including the Roman Forum, Amphitheatre. Bath Houses, Temples, Roman roads and the City Walls.

To book click here

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THE DECLINE AND FALL OF ROMAN LONDON ARCHAEOLOGY VIRTUAL WALK

Reconstruction of Dark age London
Reconstruction of Dark Age London


Thursday 13th May April 2021 6.30pm

An exploration of what happened at the end of the Roman Period, and how the City became first deserted, and then a Saxon, German speaking English City.

The first British Brexit?   The Roman Britons kicked out the Romans in 407AD, and, soon, asked them to come back after a catastrophic collapse.  Faced with plaque, civil war, invasion, mass immigration,  industrial decline, reversion to barter; the authorities struggled against anarchy and descent into a Dark Age.

But was that how it was?  Wasn’t it a rather a transition into the Late Antique period in which life for most people went on much as before except paying taxes to local rulers rather than distant Romans? This virtual walk explores why the Roman system in London broke down, and what really was the impact of the end of the Roman system in London?
What is the evidence?  and can we trust it? Or can we really do nothing much more than guess? 

We tramp the virtual streets of London in search of light to shine on the Dark Ages in London.

This is a London Walks event by Kevin Flude, ex Museum of London Archaeology and Museum Curator

To Book:

Introductory podcast (note the walk is on Thursday 6.30 13th Mary 2021)

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Sex in the 15th Century – Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles

The Monk-Doctor the 2nd story based in London about a merchant’s daughter with piles. After many unsuccessful ‘cures’ a monk takes on the task. He in blowing a medicine through a tube to cure the piles but he spends too long examining the girl through a hole in a cloth that has been draped over her bottom. She tries to stifle a fit of giggles which becomes a fart and blows the corrosive medicine into the Monk’s one remaining eye and blinds him. The case is taking to the courts and becomes a celebrated and much discussed case.

This is a 15th Century French collection of bawdy tales. The illustrated version in the Hunterian, Glasgow has some marvellous illustrations.

To read the stories follow this link to the Project Gutenberg.

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PREHISTORIC SITES IN THE LONDON AREA

London before the Romans
View of London from the SE as it might have looked before the Roman Invasion

In researching my Prehistoric Virtual Walk (Sunday 25/04/21 Details) I came across many great sites of interest. Here are a few

Barn Elms – London’s Oppidum?

This is a lecture by Alex Barnes – only 15 minutes, long and about a site in South West London that just might be an important Iron Age centre of power, which might explain all that great metalwork found in the River Thames over the centuries.

Barn Elms talk

The Early River Thames – the Iron Age and Before

This is a lecture by Jon Cotton in the Gresham College Series.

Gives interesting insights.

The Early River Thames

Horton Neolithic Houses

I don’t know how I missed this site, as it was reported in archaeological magazines I read, but it is an amazing multi-period site in the Thames Valley. Excavations before gravel extraction have shown a particularly amazing sequence of Neolithic and Bronze Age discoveries.

They found 4 or 5 early Neolithic Houses, about 15% of those that have been found in the entire UK, and an amazing placed deposit, which contained a collection of objects dating back thousands of years. In effect, a ‘museum’ collection.

I’ll let you read it from the horse’s mouth. To read click here.

Screenshot of Wessex Archaeology's page on the excavations of Kingsmede Quarry, Horton.

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LONDON BEFORE LONDON – PREHISTORIC LONDON VIRTUAL WALK

This has been a long time coming and only made possible by the need to go Virtual during the Pandemic. I have never done a prehistoric walk around London as such. I have done sections of it, and given lectures on the subject. But they were mostly overviews. This has therefore been a challenge putting this together, but a necessary revision of my knowledge.

So please do join me on:

Sunday 25th April 2021 6.30pm

An exploration of London before the foundation of Londinium

It was long thought that London was founded by a Trojan Exile in the Late Bronze Age. But historical analysis and archaeological excavation gradually demoted the idea to a myth.

On this tour we explore what was in the London area before the Romans. We begin at Heathrow and tour Greater London for evidence from the Paleolithic to the invasion of the Emperor Claudius.

We concentrate on the period since the introduction of farming, and bring together evidence for the prehistoric Kingdoms that controlled the area on the eve of the Invasion. We look for henges, barrows, hill forts, hut circles and look at genetic evidence for identity of prehistoric Londoners. The tour will end in the City.

This is a London Walks event by Kevin Flude, ex Museum of London Archaeology and Museum Curator

To book

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VIRTUAL GUIDED WALKS COMING UP

THE REBIRTH OF SAXON LONDON ARCHAEOLOGY VIRTUAL WALK

Reconstruction of Dark Age London Bridge
London in the 5th Century Reconstruction painting.

Sunday 4th July 2021 6.30pm

An exploration of what happened following the Roman Period. How did a Celtic speaking Latin educated Roman City become, first deserted, then recovered to become the leading City in a Germanic speaking Kingdom?

To book

THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON ANNIVERSARY VIRTUAL WALK

Virtual Zoom Walk on Sunday Sept 5th 6.30pm

On the Anniversary of the Great Fire of London we retrace the route of the fire of 1666 from Pudding Lane to Smithfield.

To book

RING IN THE EQUINOX VIRTUAL WALK

Tuesday 21st September 2021 7.30pm

On this walk we look at London at the Equinox, its calendars, folklore and events associated with the beginning of Autumn

To book

MYTHS, LEGENDS, & HALLOWEEN VIRTUAL WALK

SUNDAY 31st October 2021 6.30pm

The walk tells the story of London’s myths and legends and the celtic origins of Halloween. .

To book

ZEPPELIN NIGHTS – A VIRTUAL WALK FOR REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY

Sunday 14 November 2021 6.30pm

We follow the route of a Zeppelin Raid through London. On the way we discover London in World War 1

To book

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Reconstruction of the newly discovered Thermopolium at Pompeii

posted on YouTube by Pablo Aparicio.

Salon Issue 466 from the Society of Antiquaries says:

‘Choices for dinner from this thermopolium would have included duck, goat, pig, fish, and land snails, all of which were found in the deep terracotta jars embedded in the stone counter. It appears that wine was also on offer; fava beans, which were used to modify the taste of wine, were been found in a different container.’