Category: 19th Century

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Collect your Holly & Ivy December 18th

Picture of Christmas greenery on a gift box
Holly and Ivy by Tjana Drndarski-via unsplash

So, the old Sun is dying, and if the Sun keeps going down we are all going to die. With all of nature dying or hibernating, evergreens are a symbol of a promise/proof that life will continue through the dark days. So, with its bright-green leaves and its luminous berries, Holly is the ideal evergreen for the Solstice. And as the prickles symbolise Christ’s Crown of Thorns, and the berries the red blood of Jesus, the symbolism works, too, for Christians.

Henry Mayhew (editor of Punch) in his ‘London Labour and London Poor’ (1851–62) talks of Christmasing for Laurel, Ivy, Holly, and Mistletoe. He calculated that 250,000 branches of Holly were purchased from street coster mongers every Christmas. He says that every housekeeper will expend something from 2d to 1s 6d, while the poor buy a pennyworth or halfpennyworth each. He says that every room will have the cheery decoration of holly. St Pauls Cathedral would take 50 to a 100 shillings worth.

He also calculates that 100,000 plum puddings are eaten. Mistletoe he believes is less often used than it used to be, and he hopes that ‘No Popery’ campaigners will not attack Christmassing again.

Hot plum pudding seller from Sam Syntax Cries of London 1820s from the Gentle Author Spitalfields Life web site
Hot plum pudding seller from Sam Syntax Cries of London, 1820s
from the Gentle Author Spitalfields Life website

Culpeper on Ivy (1814 edition):

‘Ivy’ says Culpeper in his Herbal of 1653, its winter-ripening berries are useful to drink before you ‘set to drink hard’ because it will ‘preserve from drunkenness’. And, moreover, the leaves (bruised and boiled) and dropped into the same wine you had a ‘surfeit’ of the night before provides the ‘speediest cure’. (The Perpetual Almanac of Charles Kightly)

It is so well known to every child almost, to grow in woods upon the trees, and upon the stone walls of churches, houses, &c. and sometimes to grow alone of itself, though but seldom.

Time. It flowers not until July, and the berries are not ripe until Christmas, when they have felt Winter frosts.

Government and virtues. It is under the dominion of Saturn. A pugil of the flowers, which may be about a dram, (saith Dioscorides) drank twice a day in red wine, helps the lask, and bloody flux. It is an enemy to the nerves and sinews, being much taken inwardly, out very helpful to them, being outwardly applied. Pliny saith, the yellow berries are good against the jaundice; and taken before one be set to drink hard, preserves from drunkenness, and helps those that spit blood; and that the white berries being taken inwardly, or applied outwardly, kills the worms in the belly. The berries are a singular remedy to prevent the plague, as also to free them from it that have got it, by drinking the berries thereof made into a powder, for two or three days together. They being taken in wine, do certainly help to break the stone, provoke urine, and women’s courses. The fresh leaves of Ivy, boiled in vinegar, and applied warm to the sides of those that are troubled with the spleen, ache, or stitch in the sides, do give much ease. The same applied with some Rosewater, and oil of Roses, to the temples and forehead, eases the head-ache, though it be of long continuance. The fresh leaves boiled in wine, and old filthy ulcers hard to be cured washed therewith, do wonderfully help to cleanse them. It also quickly heals green wounds, and is effectual to heal all burnings and scaldings, and all kinds of exulcerations coming thereby, or by salt phlegm or humours in other parts of the body. The juice of the berries or leaves snuffed up into the nose, purges the head and brain of thin rheum that makes defluxions into the eyes and nose, and curing the ulcers and stench therein; the same dropped into the ears helps the old and running sores of them; those that are troubled with the spleen shall find much ease by continual drinking out of a cup made of Ivy, so as the drink may stand some small time therein before it be drank. Cato saith, That wine put into such a cup, will soak through it, by reason of the antipathy that is between them.

https://www.complete-herbal.com/culpepper/ivy.htm

Happy Eponalia

Roman Horse from Bunwell, Norfolk. Illustration by Sue Walker.

In 2021 I posted about Eponalia for the 18th Dec but I have now added the text to this page.

I’ve been too busy working on my Jane Austen and Christmas Virtual Tour ) to post over the last few days. And I have, therefore, shamelessly stolen this post off my Facebook friend Sue Walker, who is a talented archaeological illustrator, artist and a very good photographer.

She wrote: ‘the 18th December is the festival of the Celtic goddess Epona, the protector of horses, she was adopted by the Romans and became a favourite with the cavalry. This finely sculpted bronze horse with a head dress and symbol on its chest is 37mm high – found in Bunwell #Norfolk #Archaeology’

First published on December 17th 2022, Revised and republished December 2023

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Trotty Veck, the Chimes and Charles Dickens’ Christmas Books December 16th

Dickens character Trotty Veck waits to run a message
Trotty Veck 1889 Dickens The Chimes by Kyd (Joseph Clayton Clarke)

As Christmas looms, seasonal publications have a mixture of wonder and joy at the coming family reunions and festivities mingled with an awareness that, for some, Christmas will depend on the Food Bank or the Charity Shelter. The weather is now cold, living costs continue to rise at the very time extra spending is needed to unlock the joy of the Season. Also to counter the dark, the cold, and the spectre of death which, in fact, has always been central to the season of winter.

Charles Dickens’ Christmas Books epitomise this dichotomy.And by adding an element of the supernatural, provided a vehicle for joy and hope. It also came with a forceful political message that the authorities and the rich were not doing their Christian duty to alleviate poverty. Christmas Carol contrasts the wealth of a mean rich Stockbroker with the family of his poor employee Bob Cratchit, and provides a powerful tale of redemption.

The Chimes

But in this post I want to concentrate on his second Christmas Book, ‘The Chimes’. It was published on December 16th, 1844. And tells the story of the stick-thin Trotty Veck who is an aged City messenger, nicknamed Trotty because of his habit of keeping himself warm by running on the spot. He is afraid to let his daughter, Meg, marry as he has so little hope for the future. While he is worrying, he, Meg and her intended Richard are approached by Alderman Cute and Mr Filer.

Meg, Richard, Mr Filer, Gentleman, Alderman Cute and Trotty Veck. Probably located by the door of St Nicholas, Colechurch, City of London.

Cute represents the financial industries in the City of London and the Law. Filer the new breed of political economists. These, working with the ideas of Malthus and the new science of Statistics, had proved, that generous support for the poor would, inevitably, lead to a country full of poor people and no rich people. And thus, they justified the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1832. At this time Dickens was a Parliamentary reporter (1831-1834), and he observed the cruelty and absurdity of this piece of iniquitous legislation. In 1929 my mother was born in a workhouse, where she had been taken by her unmarried mother. She was so ashamed she didn’t tell her children until she was in her 70s.

The Workhouse

That is the legacy of the cruel Workhouse system. It was based on providing the lowest possible level of support offering separation from family, meagre food, and sparse comforts. This the rate payers believed would encourage the poor to stop being lazy and get back out there to earn their own living. Thus allowing taxes to fall. (brilliantly satirised by Dickens’ Oliver Twist, asking for ‘More’).

Below, I enclose the scene from the Chimes, which satirises the attitude of the governing classes.

‘And you’re making love to her, are you?’ said Cute to the young smith.

‘Yes,’ returned Richard quickly, for he was nettled by the question.
‘And we are going to be married on New Year’s Day.’

‘What do you mean!’ cried Filer sharply?Enough  ‘Married!’

‘Why, yes, we’re thinking of it, Master,’ said Richard.  ‘We’re rather in a hurry, you see, in case it should be Put Down first.’

‘Ah!’ cried Filer, with a groan.  ‘Put that down indeed, Alderman, and you’ll do something.  Married!  Married!!  The ignorance of the first principles of political economy on the part of these people; their improvidence; their wickedness; is, by Heavens! enough to—Now look at that couple, will you!’

...

‘A man may live to be as old as Methuselah,’ said Mr. Filer, ‘and may
labour all his life for the benefit of such people as those; and may heap up facts on figures, facts on figures, facts on figures, mountains high and dry; and he can no more hope to persuade ’em that they have no right or business to be married, than he can hope to persuade ’em that they have no earthly right or business to be born.  And that we know they haven’t.  We reduced it to a mathematical certainty long ago!’

Alderman Cute was mightily diverted, and laid his right forefinger on the side of his nose, as much as to say to both his friends, ‘Observe me, will you!  Keep your eye on the practical man!’—and called Meg to him. 

...

‘Now, I’m going to give you a word or two of good advice, my girl,’ said the Alderman, in his nice easy way.  ‘It’s my place to give advice, you know, because I’m a Justice. ...

‘You are going to be married, you say,’ pursued the Alderman.  ‘Very
unbecoming and indelicate in one of your sex!  But never mind that.
After you are married, you’ll quarrel with your husband and come to be a distressed wife.  You may think not; but you will, because I tell you so. Now, I give you fair warning, that I have made up my mind to Put distressed wives Down.  So, don’t be brought before me.  

You’ll have children—boys.  Those boys will grow up bad, of course, and run wild in the streets, without shoes and stockings.  Mind, my young friend!  I’ll convict ’em summarily, every one, for I am determined to Put boys without shoes and stockings, Down.  Perhaps your husband will die young (most likely) and leave you with a baby.  Then you’ll be turned out of doors, and wander up and down the streets.  Now, don’t wander near me, my dear, for I am resolved, to Put all wandering mothers Down.  All young mothers,of all sorts and kinds, it’s my determination to Put Down.  Don’t think
to plead illness as an excuse with me; or babies as an excuse with me;
for all sick persons and young children (I hope you know the
church-service, but I’m afraid not) I am determined to Put Down.  

And if you attempt, desperately, and ungratefully, and impiously, and
fraudulently attempt, to drown yourself, or hang yourself, I’ll have no pity for you, for I have made up my mind to Put all suicide Down!  If there is one thing,’ said the Alderman, with his self-satisfied smile, ‘on which I can be said to have made up my mind more than on another, it is to Put suicide Down.  So don’t try it on.  That’s the phrase, isn’t it?  Ha, ha! now we understand each other.’

Project Gutenberg - The Chimes by Charles Dickens

It is a savage burlesque of a satire but at its core, Filer provides the economic/statistical justification. Cute enforces it by legal harassment of the poor. Dickens was writing after a recent introduction of legislation making suicide a punishable offence.

Government Cruelty

This has a contemporary resonance. During my lifetime, the first British Government to be cruel in its provision of benefits, in my opinion, for the poor was Teresa May’s Conservative Government. Her laws made getting help so difficult that people died as a result of the deliberately difficult system. ‘I, Daniel Blake’ a 2016 film by Ken Loach brilliantly captured the essence of this system. That government’s treatment of the Windrush generation was a similar example of bureaucratic cruelty. And the continual decline of the benefit system over the 14 years of Conservative Government meant that the poor bore the brunt of austerity. Keir Starmer started his period in office on the wrong foot too cutting benefits to the poor.

Dickens, progressive propagandist

The piece above reminds us what a brilliant propagandist Dickens was. Every generation of children, since he wrote Christmas Carol, has read it or seen it in popular retellings such as The Muppet Movie. I think it could be argued that the ‘More’ scene in Oliver Twist and the Christmas Carol have made the case for compassionate care and redemption far better than contemporary Christianity or political parties.

In the Chimes. these two men discourage Trotty from letting the young ones marry. He has a dream and sees the hopeless result of his decision: suicide, prostitution, crime. When he wakes up, he realises that what they do have is hope. Hope springs eternal and he lets them marry.

For more on this scene, have a look at the Victorian Web

Dickens was not a socialist. ‘Hard Times’ shows that Dickens was against strikes, despite leading a strike when he was a young newspaper man. He was a free trade Liberal; a reformer who believed that the rich needed to do their Christian duty and provide charitable support, pay decent wages and look after their dependents and servants. He thought society should care less about the dogma of Christianity but look to its essence, ‘love your neighbour like yourself’. This, alone, was sufficient to right the wrongs caused by the selfish.

First Published on December 16th 2022, republished and revised in December 2023, 2024, 2025

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How to make a Dish of Snow & Ice Houses November 29th

Photo Zdenek Machacek -unsplash

Yesterday, I posted about the exciting discovery that Ann Shakespeare might have stayed in London with her husband. Here you can read the academic article about the research. Really worth reading!

A Dish of Snow

There is a 0% chance of snow, in London and 90% chance of snow in Glen Shee, Scotland, according to the Snow Risk Forecast. And here is an appropriate medieval recipe:

To make a dish of Snowe

Take a potte of sweete thicke creme and the white of eight egges and beate them altogether with a spoone then putte them into your creame with a dish full of Rose Water and a dishfull of Sugar withall then take a sticke and make it cleane and then cutt it in the ende fowre square and therewith beate all the aforesayd thinges together and ever as it ariseth take it of and putte it into a Cullander thys done take a platter and set an aple in the middest of it and sticke a thicke bush of Rosemarye in the apple then cast your snowe upon the rosemarye and fill your platter therewith and if you have wafers cast some withall and thus serve them forth

From Medieval Manuscripts, British Library. Blog. https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/medieval-history/page/2/

BF – Before Fridges

Before fridges, snow gave the chance for ice cream and other cold desserts. The problem was keeping it for longer than the cold spell. So many Stately Homes had ice-houses. The V&A had an ice-house just outside their glorious, Henry Cole commissioned restaurant. There is an ice house preserved at the Canal Museum, in Kings Cross. It was set up by Carlo Gatti in 1857 to store ice shipped in from Norway. Another one, in Holland Park, dates from 1770 and served the infamous Fox family (PM Charles James Fox etc).

The first ice house was in Mesopotamian, but in the UK they were introduced by James 1 at his palaces in, first, Greenwich Park, and then Hampton Court. An ice house generally consists of a pit in the ground, brick lined, which tapered to a point. Above was a circular, often domed building. The ice was protected by insulation such as straw, and this structure would allow ice to be available all through the summer.

Ice House Dillington, Somerset
Ice House Dillington, Somerset, photo K Flude

My great-grandmother hung a basket outside the window in winter to keep things cold. On my fridge-less narrow boat, I have been known to keep milk and butter outside the door on the front deck. And to suspend and submerge wine in a plastic bag in the canal in high summer. Butteries and Pantries were typically cut into the ground to make them cooler. A Roman Warehouse in Southwark, of which the wooden floor still survived, had a ramp down to the floor which was cut into the ground surface. The ramp suggests it was used for storing barrels, where they were kept cool.

Sketch of Roman Warehouse found in Southwark.

For more on Icehouses (and an Icehouse in York) and the history of ice cream, see my post from August.

Time for Ice Cream August 20th

Written November 28th 2022, revised and republished 2023, 2024,2025

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Stir Up Sunday! Late November

1803 Christmas Cartoon of Napoleon and Mr and Mrs John Bull
By William Holland, 1803 showing plum pudding probably stirred-up on Stir-up Sunday.

Stir-up Sunday is the last Sunday before advent and the day for stirring the Christmas Pudding. And I missed it! Last year it was on the 24th November. This year, November 23rd. Stir-up Sunday gets its name from the Book of Common Prayer, which has a verse:

“Stir-up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people;
that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,
may of thee be plenteously rewarded, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.’

So, the Christmas pudding was made with dried fruit and had 13 ingredients for Jesus and the Disciples. It is stirred from west to east, in honour of the Three Wise Men, and stirred by every member of the household who get to make a secret wish.

These are the ingredients, and here is the recipe.

Ingredients
225g/8oz golden caster sugar
225g/8oz vegetarian suet
340g/12oz sultanas
340g/12oz raisins
225g/8oz currants
120g/4oz chopped candied peel
120g/4oz plain flour
120g/4oz fresh white breadcrumbs
60g/2oz flaked almonds
Zest of 1 lemon
5 eggs, beaten
1level tsp ground cinnamon
1level tsp mixed spice
1 level tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of salt
150ml/5fl oz brandy or rum

Add a Silver Joey to Stir-up Sunday Christmas Pudding.

Normally, a coin in put in the pudding for the lucky one to get. My grandma, a Londoner, used to put in a couple of ‘silver joeys’, long out of legal tender even when I was young. She would watch us like a hawk while we ate, and claim the coins back as soon as we found them! She would then put them in an old folded brown envelope and put them away for next year.

MJ Hughes Coins website gives the following excellent history of the Silver Joey:

‘Originally a Joey was the nickname given to a groat (4 pence) but when that went out of circulation in 1855 the silver 3 pence inherited the name. The name came about due to the reintroduction of 4 pence coins in the 1830s by the politician Joseph Hume, MP (1777-1855).‘

For some great, coin-based facts! Look no further.

https://mjhughescoins.com/how-quids-bobs-florins-tanners-and-joeys-got-their-names

A Digression on Nicknames: Toad Testicles, Foul-Beard and Broad-Arse’

Joey is a nickname. This digression is prompted by my ‘rediscovery’ of a History Today essay from March 2023. It is by PhD student Tristan Alphey. entitled ‘Toad Testicles, Foul-Beard and Broad-Arse’ Tristan is researching nicknames before 1000. It’s a tough gig but someone had to do it!

I have long had an interest in nicknames, since a school bully, when I was about 7, decided he was going to call me Acid. He explained his logic. Flude sounds like fluid and acid is a fluid. It never caught on perhaps because chanting ‘Fludey is a rudey’ in the playground was more fun! In my dad’s day, anyone called Clarke was nicknamed Nobby, and anyone small ‘Lofty’. Why Clerks are ‘nobby’ no one really knows. But the best bet is because clerks were well educated, and with a public facing role had to be smarter that the average member of the public. So clerks were posh. Posh people were called ‘nobs’. Hence, Nobby Clark. (for more on nobby look here.

Generally, only a few people got themselves primarily identified by nicknames. This will, of course, be the meat of Tristan’s PhD. The social significance of the nicknames.

The Border Reivers

My interest was revived when reading a book about the Border Reivers, (by Allistair Moffet). These clans terrorised the borders between Northumberland and Scotland, particularly in the 13th – 17th Century. The people were controlled by a clan leader of ‘Heidsman’ and all his followers being in the same clan had the same surname. And the Names were many Armstrongs, Batesons, Bells, Croziers, Elliots, Glendinnings, Hendersons, Irvines, Johnstones, Scots, Moffets, Nixons, Routledges, Thomsons, Maxwells, Kers, And not to forget the Carletons, Fenwicks, Forsters, Robsons, Turnballs, Selbys, Storeys, Guthries.

The problem arose because there were so many with the same surname, and with the restricted use of a small number of first names (John being by far the most popular) a way of differentiating people was necessary. As I am short of time, I will cut and past from the Wikipedia page:

‘Some Border Reiver nicknames referred to physical injuries or impairments, such as “Fingerless,” “Gleyed” (blind in one eye), “Burnt Hand,” “Half-Lugs,” or “Lugless” (missing ears). Others followed a tradition similar to Highland naming customs, where the father’s (and occasionally the mother’s) name was added to the son. Many nicknames described physical appearance, such as “Black Heid,” “Hen-Heid,” “Sweet Milk” (meaning beautiful), or “Fergus the Plump.” Some appear to reference mental health or emotional states, including “Unhappy Anthone” and “Jock Unhappy.”‘

‘A number of nicknames seem metonymic or ironic, reflecting professions or roles, such as “The Sheriff,” “The Lawyer,” or “The Priest.” Intriguingly, certain names may hint at queer or LGBT identities, including “Buggerback,” “The Lady Elliot,” “The Lady Scott,” “The Lady Kerr,” “Bang-tail,”[108] and “Sym ‘the Lady’.” Other nicknames defy easy interpretation, such as “Hob-Wait-About-Him,” “Laird-Give-Me-Little,” “Bide Him Jock,” “the Pleg,” “Dog-Pyntle” (Dog Penis),[109] “Geordie Go Wi Him,” and “Cheesebelly,” illustrating the creative and often enigmatic nature of Border Reiver culture.’ Wikipedia entry

By the way ‘Buggerback’ Elliot was related to ‘the Lady Elliot’, and also, if I recall correctly, to Dog pyntle.

Tristan Alphey’s study takes the study back before 1100, wwhere wecan find King’s nicknames such as

Edward the Confessor, Alfred the Great, Edmund Ironsides, and Aethelred the Ill-advised (redeless). Further down the scale he presents: Alfred ‘Toad-Testicles from Winchester, where were also Alwin ‘Pebbles, Aelfstan ‘Broad-Arse’, Aelfstan ‘the Bald’, Thurstand ‘Buttock’, Aethelstan ‘The fat’, Osferth ‘Blackbeard’, Aelfstan ‘Limping’. Elsewhere we have Alvin ‘Sardine’, Wulfric ‘Large Pole’, Eadwig ‘the Wholly Drunk’, Wulfwiug ‘Wild’, Aelfric ‘Foul-Beard’.

Women are less frequently given nicknames, but we have Athelgifu ‘the Good’ and King Harold’s first wife, the beautiful Edith ‘Swan-Neck’.

To finish my look at nicknames, we go to Viking York among whom are the peerless warriors: ‘Ivarr the Boneless’, Sihtric ‘the Squinty-eyed’and Erik Bloodaxe. Other Vikings include Thorkell the Tall and Thorkell Thorfinn. An archaeologist believes he has found the burial place of Ivar the Boneless – have a look here for more details.

First Published Nov 27th 2022. The Jimi Hendrix content transferred to its own page, and this post republished Nov 26th 2023, revised with a section on nicknames in 2024,2025

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Beginning of the Month of Frimaire November 21st

The frosty month of the French Revolutionary calendar.

The rational calendar divided the year into twelve 30-day months, plus 5 days for end of year festivities. And a leap year every 4 years.

Weeks were 10 days long, 3 per month. Days were named first day, second day, third day up to tenth day. There were ten hours in a day, 100 minutes per hour, and 100 seconds per minute. But this last part didn’t last very long, French people really objected to their day and hours being mucked up.

Revolutionary period pocket watch

The Revolutionary Year was adopted in 1793 but began retrospectively from September 22nd, 1792 commemorating when the Republic was proclaimed. Thereafter, the First Republic started on: Le premier Vendémiaire de l’an 1.

Napoleon gave it up as a bad job in 1806, and restored the Gregorian Calendar.

For my fuller explanation of the French Revolutionary Calendar click here).

On this Day

1847 James Young Simpson wrote an account of his testing of Chloroform for use as an anaesthetic. It was published in the medical journal, the Lancet. Chloroform was invented in 1831, used on animals successfully in 1842. But it was considered too dangerous for humans.

Simpson and his two assistants were in the habit of meeting in his Edinburgh house, at 52 Queen Street, in the New Town. There they tested new chemicals. He obtained some Chloroform, for the three of them to try. They found themselves merry, and the next thing they remember was waking up to a new dawn.

Chloroform is more effective than Ether, but the margin of error is tighter. Simpson and his friends were lucky the chosen dose didn’t kill them. Nor did the sudden unconsciousness  knock them out or injure them.

They then tried it on his niece, Miss Petrie.  Success meant it was set to become the anaesthetic of choice, particularly for childbirth, for the next 100 years.

1877 Thomas Edison announced the invention of the phonograph.  This ushered in a new age of inexpensive recordings of music. Musicians feared it meant the end of the careers of most musicians.  And indeed, it had profound effects, but live music survived.  And so we hope it will also survive AI.

Wikipedia describes the process that produces the music for the gramophone, as:

The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physical deviations of a helical or spiral groove engraved, etched, incised, or impressed into the surface of a rotating cylinder or disc, called a record.

First published on November 21st 2022, republished on November 21st 2023, 2024, 2025

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St Cecilia’s Day, Henry Wood and the BBC Proms November 17th

St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, Musician’s Chapel, St Cecilia window. 17 August 2022, Andy Scott

November 17th is St Cecilia’s Day She is the patron saint of musicians and was martyred in Rome in the Second or Third Century AD. The story goes that she was married to a non-believer. During her marriage ceremony she sang to God in her heart (hence her affiliation with musicians). She then told her husband that she was a professed Virgin. So, if he violated her, he would be punished by God. Cecilia told him she was being protected by an Angel of the Lord who was watching over her. Valerian, her husband, asked to see the Angel. ‘Go to the Third Milestone along the Appian Way’ he was told where he would be baptised by Pope Urban 1. Only then would he see the Angel. He followed her advice, was converted and he and his wife were, later on, martyred.

The Church in Rome, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, is said to be built on the site of her house, and has 5th Century origins. My friend, Derek Gadd, recently visited and let me use these photographs:

Santa Cecilia in Trastevere Photo by Derek Gadd
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere Photo by Derek Gadd

St Cecilia in London

There is a window dedicated to her in the Holy Sepulchre Church-without-Newgate, In London, opposite the site of the infamous Newgate Prison.  Henry Wood, one of our most famous conductors and the founder of the Promenade Concerts, played organ here when he was 14. In 1944, his ashes were placed beneath the window dedicated to St Cecilia and, later, the Church became the National Musician’s Church.

This window is dedicated to the memory of
Sir Henry Wood, C.H.,
Founder and for fifty years Conductor of
THE PROMENADE CONCERTS
1895-1944.
He opened the door to a new world
Of sense and feeling to millions of
his fellows. He gave life to Music
and he brought Music to the People.
His ashes rest beneath.

The Concerts are now called the BBC Proms and continue an 18th and 19th Century tradition of, originally, outdoor concerts, and then indoor promenade concerts. At the end of the 19th Century, the inexpensive Promenade Concerts were put on to help broaden the interest in classical music. Henry Wood was the sole conductor.

Wikipedia reports :

Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek described the Proms as “the world’s largest and most democratic musical festival”.

The Eight-week Festival is held at the Royal Albert Hall. It moved here during World War 2 after the original venue, the Queen’s Hall, was destroyed in the Blitz in May 1941.

On This Day

1278 Edward 1 had over 600 Jews imprisoned in the Tower of London for coining, clipping and other counterfeiting. Of these, 269 Jews, along with 29 Christians, were executed. They were hanged at the Guildhall in the City of London. By 1290, the King had squeezed all the money he could from the Jews, and they were expelled, not to be let back into the Kingdom until the reign of Oliver Cromwell in the 17th Century. This ended a long period of savage state run antisemitism. Click here for further information.

First Published on November 17th 2023 and revised in November 2024, 2025.

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Time to Tup your Sheep – November 7th

City Farm, Hackney. Small flock of Bluefaced Leicester Sheep, the big golden one is the Ram, the others are the ewes he has tupped. Photo K Flude

The old Shepherd’s saw is:

‘In with a bang and out with the fools’.

The bang is Guy Fawkes Day on November 5th, and the fools are a reference to All Fools Day on April 1st. The gestation period of a ewe is 147 days (on average). (sheep-farmers-year). So farmers introduce the Ram into a field of Ewes on or around November 5th. This means the lambs will be born around the beginning of the traditional lambing season.

(see my posts on Guy Fawkes Day and All fools Day)

Tupping Times

The Ewes have been enjoying themselves in the fields, The flocks have been thinned out, with the young ones being sent to market, mostly for meat. The grass has been growing at the end of the summer, with the wetter weather. The ewes will be in excellent condition, and will have been thoroughly checked by the shepherd.

The chosen ram will be dressed with a harness on his chest, which will have a sheep’s crayon on it. The crayon is known as raddle or reddle. The ram, also know as a tup, will mate with whichever of the ewe(s) that catch his eye. Each one he tups (mounts or covers) will be left with a paint mark, from the reddle on his chest, on her back. The farmer will inspect the ewes periodically. A ewe with two or more reddle marks on her back, will be taken out of the field. This will force the ram to spread his attentions to the, as yet, untupped, ewes. He will continue until all ewes have been tupped. And then onto the next field full of ewes. Diggory Veen is the Reddleman in Hardy’s ‘Return of the Native’. I talk about him, lambing and reddle in my post here.

Some of the young ewes will be kept to reinforce the flock. Males will only be kept if they will be sold to another farmer as a tupping ram. They cannot breed on the farm as this will lead to inbreeding. So, a ram will be purchased or swapped from another farm. The farmer will want to choose one that fits into his/her idea of what the ideal sheep is. whether it is grown for meat, or to be hardy, or for its wool etc.

Raddled

To be raddled is to be flushed, red with drink, or over made up. It has a sense of dissipation about it. One might have more sexual encounters than is normal. Just like the ewe with too many raddle marks on her back? Or the Raddle man with a red face and hands from all the raddle he handles?

Bluefaced Leicester Sheep and my Hat!

I was delighted to see my local City Farm had a small herd of Bluefaced Leicester Sheep. I was visiting with my Grandson when I took the photograph at the top of the page. The sherderdess told me the blue-marking in this case was not a result of mating. She thought 2 or more of them were already pregnant, however.

My association with the breed comes from a lovely yarn shop in Conwy (Ewe Felty Thing) which had a rail of clothes marked ‘wearable art’. I bought a woolly beanie which they told me was:

‘Hand-spun, hand knitted from a bluefaced leicester sheep.‘

Hand-spun, hand knitted Beanie from a Bluefaced Leicester sheep. purchased at (Ewe Felty Thing) Photo K Flude

I still have it. It cost a small fortune, but worth every penny!

A bluefaced Leicester Ram, might cost £1000 if a bought as a lamb, £4,000 if bought as a shearling, or up to £40,000 if a prize lamb. It is one of the biggest lambs with a long back, and longwool with ringlets. There is no wool on the face and neck so you can see its blue-grey skin, below the white hair – hence its name. It is often bred with hill sheep ewes, which combines the prolificacy of the ram with the mothering abilities of the ewes.

Generally, nowadays the wool from a shearing will only be worth about 80p in today’s market. This will not pay for the cost of the shearing, but it is necessary for health and hygiene reasons.

Posted on 7th November 2025

Posted on

St Etheldreda October 17th 679

St Etheldreda or St Audrey By monk – [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32907989

I’m republishing this post as I dated it to February 17th rather than October 17th and a few other egregious typos.

Etheldreda, also known as Audrey or Æthelthryth or Æðelþryð or Æþelðryþe is celebrated on October 17th, (the date her remains were ‘translated’ from her burial place to the Church at Ely) and on 23 June the date she died,

She lived from March 4th 636 to June 23rd 679. She is one of the well-born Saxon Virgin Saints of the 7th Century. This is when many royal Abbeys were founded by female members of the Anglo-Saxon Royal families, in the years following the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. She is the daughter of King Anna of East Anglia, and the sister of Saint Sexburga (widow of King Erconbert of Kent).

Etheldreda is said to be a Virgin despite being married twice. Etheldreda was widowed after three years of her first marriage. Then she married Egfrid, son of King Oswy of Northumbria. Egfrid got fed up with her virgin state. With the support of St Wilfrid, St Etheldreda was released to a Nunnery run by Wilfred’s aunt. In 672 she founded the famous double monastery at Ely, which is where the wondrous Cathedral of Ely still stands.

Here she died, and the many miracles that followed, led to Ely being one of the main destinations for Pilgrimages. St Sesxburga took over as Abbess after her death. By the number of Churches and holy days remembering Etheldreda show she was perhaps the most famous female saint of the era.

Tawrdy Audrey

Etheldreda died of a neck tumour, which she blamed on the heavy jewellery she wore around her neck before she became a nun. So she is a patron of those with neck or throat ailments. Accordingly, on February 3rd St Etheldreda’s Church in London holds the Blessing of the Throats ceremony. St Blaise is also a saint protecting the throat and you might like to read my post about him and throats here.

Pilgrims used to buy cheap, old-fashioned linen from the market at Ely, which they would wear around their neck to protect or cure them of throat illnesses. Puritans satirised the practice by coining the word Tawdry, from St Audrey, which came to represent cheap goods sold to gullible pilgrims.

Mopsa the shepherdess in Shakespeare’s Twelfth night says to her sweetheart:

“Come, you promised me a tawdry-lace and a pair of sweet gloves.

Have a look at this excellent article to read more about Tawdry and St Etheldreda.

However, I thought something was amiss and searched for Tawdry in the excellent website SHAKESPEARE’S WORDS by DAVID CRYSTAL & BEN CRYSTAL (which I use all the time). And indeed Mopsa is not in Twelfth Night but in the Winter’s Tale which I saw recently at the RSC. Mopsa’s man can’t buy it for her as he has been cheated out of his money by the fey Autolycus.

St Etheldreda’s Church in Ely Place London

Church of St Etheldreda., Ely Place London
Church of St Etheldreda., Ely Place London

St Etheldreda’s in London is in Ely Place, near Hatton Garden. There is a lovely old pub there called the ‘Ye Olde Mitre’ (which is a reference to a Bishop’s Mitre). The Church was founded (1250 and 1290) as the London residence of the Bishops of Ely. Inside are memorials to Catholic martyrs executed during the Reformation. (see my post on the Douai Martyrs here).

Ely place was lived in by John of Gaunt following the destruction of his Savoy Palace in the Peasants Revolt. Christopher Hatton rented parts of it in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. During the Civil War it was used to hold Royalist Prisoners of War. Agnes Wicks fictionally lives at Ely Place. (Agnes is the woman David Copperfield should have married, rather than the ridiculous Dora).

In the 19th Century, the former Chapel was bought by the Catholic Church and restored by George Gilbert Scott.

Etheldreda is remembered in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on 17 October according to Book of Common Prayer tradition, and alternatively 23 June in the Common Worship calendar of Saints. (Wikipedia.

First Published on October 17th 2025

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Tally Sticks & Parliament burning down October 16th 1834

The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16th October, 1834. Joseph Mallord William Turne Public Domain (Wikipedia). Cleveland Museum of Art

In 1834, the Government decided to end the use of Tally Sticks by the Exchequer and replace them with paper ledgers. They decided to burn the sticks that had been used to record financial transactions for six hundred years. Richard Weobley, the Clerk of Works decided not to give the Tallies to staff as firewood, but to burn them in two stoves below the House of Lords. The chimney was designed for coal not for wood, and it started a fire that destroyed virtually the entire Houses of Parliament and most of the ancient Palace of Westminster.

Engraving of the Old , Pre-fire, Palace of Westminster.

Architects including Sir John Soane and Robert Adams warned about the dangers of a fire at the complex which were built before modern fire prevention methods, such as fire walls, and fire doors. But they were ignored. There was no Fire Brigade just a few antiquated old Parish Engines. but, the Insurance companies had created the London Fire Engine Establishment (LFEE) led by the charismatic James Braidwood. However, the Palace was not covered by insurance.

None the less the LFEE turned up. Initially they could do little as the Thames was low and they could not get enough water to help stop the fire. But later as the Tide rose, the water supply improved. Also, the LFEE could now bring up its LFEE’s floating fire engine from storage in Rotherhithe. Braidwood got his men to spray the famous Hammer beam roof with water, and the 11th Century, Westminster Hall survived. The roof was installed by Master Carpenter, Hugh Herland in the 14th Century when the Hall was reroofed. The timber came from the Farnham area of Surrey. (for more on the Fire look here).

The Hammerbeam Roof of Westminster Hall, Saved by James Braidwoof’s Fire Engine Establishment.

The fire was such a conflagration that thousands of Londoners came to see it. It was not long after very unpopular Acts of Parliament including the Great Reform Bill of 1832, which failed to give the vote to the working class, and the Poor Law Amendment which Dickens attacks in Oliver Twist. (see my post of the Chimes for more on Dickens’s Social Journalism).

It is said the Londoners cheered as the Palace burnt down. Thomas Carlyle, remembered: ‘the crowd was quiet, rather pleased than otherwise; whew’d and whistled when the breeze came as if to encourage it: “there’s a flare-up (what we call shine) for the House o’ Lords.”—”A judgment for the Poor-Law Bill!”—”There go their hacts” (acts)! Such exclamations seemed to be the prevailing ones. A man sorry I did not anywhere see. (reported in Wikipedia.

Tally Sticks

Sketch up Sketch of Tally sticks. The Foil is the shorter part at the bottom of the picture, and the Stock is the longer L-shaped piece. The lines represent pounds, shillings and pence. The V represents £20.

From the Medieval period, England used Tally Stick for public finances. These were held by the Exchequer. The Government’s financial division gets this name from a chequered cloth which was used to help reckoning up revenues. They used 6 inch lengths of Willow cut on the banks of the Thames, to keep records of transactions. The willow would be marked with lines to represent the amount of money involved in transactions – say a sale of a farm. The willow tally would be split longways about 5 inches of its length. One piece the foil would be given to the debtor, and the other piece, the stock, would be kept by the creditor ~(usually the Government). Each part of the Tally also had the details of the transaction in ink. The pieces could also be used to transfer the debt, and could act almost like currency.

But the genius of the ideas is that it is effective against fraud. The two parts of the stick, would not only have to match with the lines which were cut across them but also the natural grain of the wood, which would provide a unique fingerprint, proof against fraud.

Screenshot from UK Parliament Web site https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/estatehistory/from-the-parliamentary-collections/fire-of-westminster/tallysticks/

To read more about Tally Sticks, please read:

https://www.geoffreymhodgson.uk/secret-history-of-tally-stick

Or BBC’sTim Harford https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40189959

Exchequer, in British history, the government department that was responsible for receiving and dispersing the public revenue. The word derives from the Latin scaccarium, “chessboard,” in reference to the checkered cloth on which the reckoning of revenues took place. (https://www.britannica.com/money/Exchequer)

First Published on October 16th, 2025

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First & Last Coal-fired Power Stations September 30th 2024

Holborn Edison Electric Light Station First & Last Coal-fired Power Stations

On this day, last year, Britain’s last coal-powered power station generated its final watt of electricity.  Ratcliffe-on-Stour’s closure means Britain is the first country to meet its target of phasing out coal.

The Nottingham power station opened in 1968, and once employed over 3000 people.

For more details follow this link https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/sep/30/end-of-an-era-as-britains-last-coal-fired-power-plant-shuts-down

Edison Electric Light Station

The first coal-fired power station in Britain was at Holborn Viaduct in London, opened as the Edison Electric Light Station on 12th January 1882.

The power was generated by a steam engine powered by coal.  The electricity powered incandescent electric carbon-filament lights which lit up 986 lights to illuminate the road from Holborn Viaduct to St Martin’s-le-Grande.  The light bulb was invented 3 years previously. 

The number of lights was soon increased to 3,000. But the Station made a loss and was closed down 2 years later. The lights converted to gas.  Sadly, the building was destroyed in the Blitz.

Shoreditch Electric Light Station

A couple of miles to the East, in 1895, the Shoreditch Electric Light Station was established.   It used waste to produce electricity and steam for the local public baths.  The generating and combustion chambers, now houses a Circus School which my children attended.

It was officially opened by Lord Kelvin, the famous physicist in 1897. The Consulting Engineer was Edward Manville who came up with a scheme for a ‘dust destructor’. This comprised: an electricity generating station; a public bath heated by the waste heat from the generator; a library and museum.  It cost 200,000 pounds.  In 1899, in nearby Nile Street, the Shoreditch Vestry Council set up the first municipal housing scheme powered by electricity.

This level of enterprise by a local council seems like a fantasy of a distant past but also, given the sustainability of the project, unbelievably modern.

The motto on the side of the Power Station was ‘Light and Power from Dust’. The scheme was run by the local vestry council which adopted the motto ‘More Light, More Power’. This was also adopted by the new municipal Borough of Shoreditch when it was formed as part of the new London County Council.  The Power Station was renamed as the rather wonderful: Shoreditch Borough Refuse Destructor and Generating Station and adorned with the motto: PULVERE LUX ET VIS ‘Out of the dust, light and power’.

The story of the dust destructor and the generating station is told in some detail here and well worth a read.

Municipal Electricity in Shoreditch: ‘More Light, More Power’

First Written 2024 and updated in 2025