De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito B Mk IV Series 2n (Wikipedia CCO), parts of it were made in Broadway
On December 11th 1940 a bomb dropped on a barn in a beautiful village in the Cotswolds. Broadway is a tourist attraction. It was considered one of the most beautiful villages in Britain. It was the playground for many artists, writers, actors, designers and other bohemians of the late 19th Century.
‘There were several large fires in Broadway during the war. On the night of December 11th 1940 a German bomber dropped a quantity of incendiary bombs on the village. A number of them fell on Gordon Russell’s furniture factory setting light to a large wooden, thatched barn. The building containing fine furniture and textiles, brought from London for safe keeping, was quickly destroyed. Ironically, the barn also contained a large order of furniture for Sir John Anderson – the Minister for Air Raid Precautions!‘
‘Another incendiary landed on the machine shop roof burning a hole, before being extinguished, it is believed, by a factory worker who lived nearby. The temporary plywood patch which was nailed on the underside of the hole was still in place when the factory was demolished in 2004. When a cottage adjacent to the factory was recently re-thatched, an unexploded incendiary bomb was discovered lodged in the old thatch. According to an Evesham Journal report, published at the end of the war, bombs fell in the Broadway area on seven separate occasions.‘
So, the Broadway fire brigade history pages suggests the raid was on December 11. But other sources prefer the night of November 14th. The night of the infamous Coventry Raid. But I have found another site claiming the raid that destroyed the barn was in October! But I’ve moved this blog post from November 14th to December 11th because I think the Fire Brigade should know what it is talking about!
Gordon Russell
Gordon Russell was a famous furniture designer. During the War, he turned over his carpentry workshops to the war effort. They made the wings of the famous World War Two Mosquito fighter bombers in Russell’s modernist furniture factory. This was in the Back Lane of Broadway. And next to the bombed barn is now a Co-Op supermarket.
The Mosquito was fast enough to be a fighter and could carry a decent payload of bombs. Because of their flexibility and speed, they had many roles in the war, including being the pathfinder for many of the nighttime raids on Germany.
Russell’s factory also made ammunition boxes, and high-precision aircraft models for wind tunnel testing and other purposes. Gordon himself designed a utility range of furniture to minimise the amount of wood needed for new furniture during the war.
Gordon Russell’s Utility Range WW2The Barn destroyed by bombing by Frank WhittonModel Spitfire for wind tunnel testingGordon and Don Russell 1917
Images above taken by Kevin Flude of the displays at the Gordon Russell Museum, Broadway. The Museum is well worth a visit, and Broadway itself remains a delight.
My Father & the Mosquito
My father, I discovered a couple of nights ago, worked on Mosquitoes in his time in the RAF. His job was to salvage instruments from crashed aeroplanes. Mosquitoes were, along with Spitfires, and Hurricanes, amongst the ones he worked on. To buy his war time autobiography follow this link!
Robins brought water to relieve tormented souls in Hell and, so, got their breasts scorched; their breasts were stained with Jesus’ blood; they fanned, with their wings, the flames of a fire to keep baby Jesus warm and got scorched. All these associations with Jesus make their association with Christmas and Christmas cards perfect sense.
They are the Celtic Oak King of the New Sun. The Wren is the bird of the Old Sun. The Robin is the son of the Wren. The Robin kills his father. So the New Sun takes over from the Old Sun at the Winter Solstice. And the Robin takes over from the Wren.
The blood of the father Wren stains the Robin’s breast. In Celtic Folklore, Robins are said to shelter in Holly trees. Robins appear when loved ones are near. If a Robin comes into your house, a death will follow.
Perhaps this gives a context for Shakespeare’s mention of a robin (a ruddock he called it) which he grants the power of censure. In the play Cymberline, Innogen has been found dead, and amidst the floral tributes mentioned is the following (cors is corpse):
the ruddock would with charitable bill (Oh bill sore shaming those rich-left-heirs, that let their Father’s lie without a Monument) – bring thee all this; Yea, and furr’d Mosse besides. When Flowres are none To winter-ground thy cors
(Cymbeline, Act 4 scene 2)
Robin’s Habits
They are one of the few birds to be seen all year round, and they sing all year too. But they have different songs for autumn and spring. Robins sing from concealed spaces in trees or bushes. They are the first to sing in the morning, the last to stop at night, and can be triggered by street lights turning on. A Robin can sing all the notes on the scale and can sing for half an hour without repeating a melody.
They eat worms, seeds, fruits, insects and other invertebrates. Robins are aggressively territorial, and are our favourite birds. (RSPB)
On this Day
1554 – ‘the same day at after-noon was a bear bitten on the Bank side, and broke loose and in running away he caught a serving man by the calf of the leg, and bit a great piece away and after by the ‘hokyl-bone’ within 3 days after he died.’
Henry Machyn’s Diary quoted in ‘A London Year’ complied by Travis Elborough & Nick Rennison.
Hokyl-bone might be the holbourne stream inn what we now call holborn. Or it might be another name for the tarsus bone, the heel bone. But it doesn’t really make sense if it’s a bone. But the bear dying 3 days later by the steam makes some sort of sense.
Written December 9th 2024, revised and the Bank side incident with the Bear added 2025
Mulled Wine? German Glühwein? Danish Gløgg? Wassail?
The time for hot drinks is upon us. The season for Wassail. Here are Northern European variations on a theme. My favourite, is Gløgg, unless the Glühwein is taken with a Bratwurst in Köln.
Danish Gløgg
The Danish version has the following ingredients 2 oranges, organic, 2 dl / 0,8 cups water, 3 cinnamon sticks, 10 whole cloves, 5 cardamom pods, 6 tbsp dark brown sugar, 1 bottle red wine, 1-2 slices fresh ginger (optional), Raisins, whole blanched almonds and orange slices for serving.
These are the instructions, which I have tested from the original version.
Mix all the ingredients in a large pot. Heat up the mixture for a few minutes (until the sugar is melted). Be careful not to bring it to a boil!
Next, you will have to let the mixture rest for minimum 2 days. Preferably, let it rest for 3–4 days in the refrigerator in the pot under a lid. Finally, after a few days of rest, you sieve the mixture and pour the extract into glass bottles.
Store the extract in the refrigerator. Use within a month. Now you have the gløgg extract to make a portion of mulled wine.
First mix 1/4 of the extract with a bottle of red wine in a large pot. Also add 1 cup of chopped, blanched almonds and 1 cup of raisins. Heat up the mixture slowly (do NOT boil!) To sum it up; simply serve the warm gløgg with almonds and raisins in tall glasses with a spoon – to dig up the almonds and raisins!
The Swedish version has a lot more of a kick. It’s an infused wine. Port Wine is the base, and adds bourbon whiskey and white rum. Cloves, cinnamon sticks and cardamom pods with orange peel. Sugar 3/4 of a cup and Raisins and Almonds. Here is the recipe for the Swedish version.
Put the orange slices, wine, sugar, cloves, cinnamon, star anise and ginger in a large pan. Warm gently for 10–15 mins, being careful not to let the mixture boil. Add the alcohol, pour into glasses and serve warm.
Remove the zest from the lemon and one of the oranges with a potato peeler in thin strips, then juice the zested orange. Push the cloves into the remaining orange.
Put the zest, orange juice and clove studded orange in a large pan along with 2 cinnamon sticks, the ginger, sugar, port, red wine and 750ml (1 1/2 pint) water.
Put over a low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves, then turn up the heat slightly and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes before ladling into glasses. Garnish with the orange and lemon slices and a cinnamon stick.
Waisal!
You can also have mulled beer or mulled cider. These would probably be most common in the Waissall Bowl. Read about Waissall! in my post of Wassail. Also recipe for mulled beer or cider.
First Published January 2023, republished January 2024, moved to December 10th 2024, Revised 2025
Monday’s child is fair of face, Tuesday’s child is full of grace. Wednesday’s child is full of woe, Thursday’s child has far to go. Friday’s child is loving and giving, Saturday’s child works hard for a living. And the child born on the Sabbath day Is bonny and blithe, good and gay.
Fortune-telling poems are a big part of folklore. It says something about the power of the rhyme that people can believe a random rhyme can shape someone’s whole life. Interesting that there are many versions of this rhyme. I chose one that had an optimistic Thursday. Two year’s ago, my second Grandson was born, on a Thursday, just like me. And I’ve still got far to go.
Tinker Tailor
The Tinker Tailor rhyme is another example of a fortune-telling rhyme. This is the extended version, I found on wikipedia.
When shall I marry? This year, next year, sometime, never.
What will my husband be? Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich-man, poor-man, beggar-man, thief.
What will I be? Lady, baby, gypsy, queen.
What shall I wear? Silk, satin, cotton, rags
How shall I get it? Given, borrowed, bought, stolen.
How shall I get to church? Coach, carriage, wheelbarrow, cart.
Where shall I live? Big house, little house, pig-sty, barn.
One person recites the power verse by verse. The subject of the fortune-telling does something like counting petals on a flower, counts bounces of a ball, or gives a number between one and four. The outcome determines the future.
Today, is St Budoc’s Feast Day. However, it’s held on the 9th if you are in Brittany. Boduc is a Celtic name which either means “saved from the waters” or more likely ‘Victory’ or ‘Victorious’.
This etymology is shared by Queen Boudicca. Budoc lived in the 5th Century, after the Fall of Roman Britain. His mother was a Princess whose evil step-mother (or mother-in-law), persuaded her son that she was unfaithful. The Prince ordered the pregnant Princess to be thrown into the sea in a wooden cask. They floated around for 5 months, until Budoc was born. (Saved by the intercession of St Bride?). So, they landed safely in Cornwall, and afterwards went to Ireland. (Or they landed in Ireland.)
Eventually, Budoc’s dad realised his wife was faithful. So he came to rescue his wife. Sadly, they soon both died. (Or the wife survived). Budoc became a monk, and then a famous Bishop in late 5th Century Brittany at Doll. St Budoc is worshipped in several place: Pembroke, Cornwall, Devon, Brittany, and Oxford. But we have very little reliable evidence about him.
Monday’s Child published in 2023. St Budoc added in 2024, Revised 2025.
According to the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly, this is the time when Robins are much to be seen singing their winter song, and when it is time to protect plants, particularly Rosemary, against winter frosts.
In December, rosemary flowers with a delicate blue flower. Rosemary was one of the most important plants, metaphorically and medically. Mrs Grieve, in her ‘Modern Herbal’ says it is used in medicine for illnesses of the brain and was thought to strengthen the memory. And as rosemary helps the memory, they are symbolically/metaphorically associated with friendship, love, worship and mourning. A branch of Rosemary was given as a gift to wedding guests, so they would remember the love shown at the ceremony. It was also entwined in the Bride’s wreath.
Shakespeare uses Rosemary in his plant lore in Hamlet.
OPHELIA: There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts.
LAERTES: A document in madness: thoughts and remembrance fitted.
OPHELIA: There’s fennel for you, and columbines. There’s rue for you, and here’s some for me. We may call it herb of grace o’ Sundays. O, you must wear your rue with a difference.
There’s a daisy. I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died. They say ‘a made a good end.
(sings) For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.
Ham IV.v.176
Rue is the herb of grace and has the sense of ‘regret’. Pansies are also for remembrance, and their heart shaped flowers are for love and affection. Fennel represents infidelity and Columbines insincerity or flattery. Daisies are for innocence. Violets are associated with death, particularly of the young. As to how Orphelia means them all to be understood is not entirely clear, particularly Fennel and Columbine. Some think they are directed towards Claudius and/or Gertrude.
Being evergreen, Rosemary was associated with religion and everlasting life. It was called the rose of the Virgin Mary. Lying on a bed of rosemary, the Virgin’s cloak was said to have been dyed blue. Indeed, Mary is mostly depicted in a blue cloak in Renaissance paintings.
And so Rosemary is especially important for Christmas. At Christmas, it was used to bedeck the house and used at funerals to remember the dead.
The Virgin Mary Googled.
Its strong aroma means it was used as an incense and also used in magic spells
Thomas More let rosemary ‘runne all over my garden walls’ because bees love it and as sacred to remembrance, therefore to friendship.
Rosemary flowering in December
I mostly use Rosemary for the very rare occasions when I cook lamb, but it is much more versatile than that, or so the SpruceEats website tells me:
‘Rosemary is used as a seasoning in various dishes, such as soups, casseroles, salads, and stews. Use rosemary with chicken and other poultry, game, lamb, pork, steaks, and fish, especially oily fish. It also goes well with grains, mushrooms, onions, peas, potatoes, and spinach. ‘
1917- End of the Battle of Cambrai in which Tanks were first used. The tanks had initial success when over 400 hundred of them were used by the British on the first day of the battle. Because the British Army did not precede the attack with the usual artillery barrage, the attack was a complete surprise and the British penetrated deep into the German Lines. But the army had too few troops to exploit the breakthrough and by early December the Germans had mostly recaptured the territory the tanks had won. So the battle was indecisive, but successfully showed the role of the tank in future battles. Casualties amounted to about 45,000 on each side.
1941 – Pearl Harbour bombed. The Japanese attack killed more than 2,300 U.S. military personnel were killed. Another 1,100 at least were wounded, and eight battleships were damaged or destroyed.
On December 8th,Congress approved Roosevelt’s request for a declaration of war on Japan. In the Senate, the vote was 82 – 0 and 388–1 in the House.
On 11 December 1941. Germany declared war on the US, in line with the Tripartite Pact between the two countries and Italy. Later that same day, the US declared war on Germany, with no dissenters from the vote.
St Nicholas saving citizens from poisoned olive oil. Detail of painting by Margarito of Arezzo. National Gallery
Santa Klaus was, originally a 4th Century Bishop from Asia Minor who saved three girls from prostitution. He throw golden balls through their window enabling the girls to marry with a good dowry and live a moral life. Saint Nicholas, also, saved three boys from beheading. So he became the patron saint of children. He died on the 6th of December in Myra, present day Turkey. From the moment of his internment, his tomb flowed with myrrh. There are many other miracles. Once St Nicholas appeared on a storm tossed boat and saved the sailors. Another has him saving people from poisoned olive oil. (see picture above.)
In 1087, the Normans from Apulia raided Myra, then under the control of the Seljuk Turks. The gang of 67 men stole the Saint’s remains, to bring them to Bari, in Southern Italy. Bari already had 6 churches dedicated to St Nicolas. In 1969, Pop Paul VI revoked his Feast Day as he decided there was no evidence St Nicholas was a real person.
Despite this, he is the ‘patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, toymakers, unmarried people, and students in various cities and countries around Europe’ (Wikipedia). He is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker.
It’s all about the Balls
Representation of the balls can still be seen hanging in front of pawnbroker’s shops. The gifts Nicholas gave led to the exchange of gifts to honour him. Originaly, gift giving took place on December 6th, his feast day. The Dutch took the tradition of Santa Klaus to the United States. Here it mixed with other traditions, including the English Father Christmas, to create our modern spirit of Christmas, and Santa Klaus.
Boy Bishops
By Unknown author – fullhomelydivinity.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6709993
The idea of Boy Bishops may come from a tradition established by Saturnalia. This was the festival, in the Roman world, when servants exchanged duties with their masters and mistresses. Tthe Lord of Misrule presided over Medieval Christmas. While Church ceremonises were presided over by Boy Bishops. The tradition was attacked in some quarters but defended by others. They felt it engendered empathy. had an element of humanity and instigated seasonal fun. The Boy Bishops were elected on December 6th. Their reign might continue until Childermas (Holy Innocents Day December 28th).
The custom was stopped by Henry VIII. It was then revived and is still practised to this day in the Cathedrals of Hereford and Salisbury. The Boy Bishops wears full ceremonial gear and takes part in ceremonies and services for three weeks.
Boy Bishops in London
There are also medieval records that speak of the custom:
“two children’s copes, also a myter of cloth of gold set with stones.” 1549 “For 12 oz. silver, being clasps of books and the bishop’s mitre,
St. Mary-at-Hill, London Church Accounts
“The vj myter of Seynt Nycholas bysshoppe, the grounde therof of whyte sylk, garnysshed complete with ffloures, gret and small, of sylver and gylte, and stones
Westminster Abbey, St Pauls & St Nicholas Cole Abbey London inventories
Also records at St Pauls record: una mitra alba cum flosculis breudatis ad opus episcopi parvulorum baculus ad usum episcopi parvulorum;’
St Nicholas Cole Abbey in the City of London has an inventory dating to the Reformation that records vestments for children at St Nicholas. The Church is first mentioned in the 12th Century and was never an Abbey. The Cole part of the name refers to a ‘Coldharbour’ which was a traveller’s or poor persons shelter from the cold. The Church was rebuilt by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire. This is, probably, the location where Trotty Veck stands awaiting employment as a messenger or runner, in Dickens’s second greatest Christmas Book after the Christmas Carol. The story is more a New Year story than a Christmas story. (I tell the story in my post here).
For more on boy bishops look at this, and look at this 1935 film about Boy ~Bishops in Compton, Guildford.
The Lord of Misrule.
Middle Temple, like the other Inns of Court in London, also had a Winter period of ‘condoned disorder’. This continued through to Christmas and beyond to Candlemas. It was presided over by a Lord of Misrule, or in the Middle Temple’s case a Prince of Love. The Revels of 1597-8 were republished in 1660. Each December, students, barristers and Benchers create and perform the Inn’s annual Christmas Revels. With thanks to https://www.middletemple.org.uk/about-us/history/elizabethan-and-jacobean-times
On This Day
1648 Pride’s Purge. The day that the New Model Army had had enough, and Colonel Thomas Pride, excluded members of the Long Parliament from sitting in Parliament. This led to the Execution of Charles I, and the establishment of Britain’s first and only Republic. (see my post on the execution of Charles I)
1964 Martin Luther King made a flying visit to St Pauls to deliver a sermon on his way to pick up the Noble Peace Prize in Oslo. He based his sermon on the following poem. The visit is described on the St Pauls Web Site here
Be The Best Of Whatever You Are
By Douglas Malloch
If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill, Be a scrub in the valley — but be The best little scrub by the side of the rill; Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.
If you can’t be a bush be a bit of the grass, And some highway happier make; If you can’t be a muskie then just be a bass — But the liveliest bass in the lake!
We can’t all be captains, we’ve got to be crew, There’s something for all of us here, There’s big work to do, and there’s lesser to do, And the task you must do is the near.
If you can’t be a highway then just be a trail, If you can’t be the sun be a star; It isn’t by size that you win or you fail — Be the best of whatever you are!
Worlidge’s ‘Systema Agriculturae’ of 1697 says this is the time to destroy snails. He suggests that, at Michaelmas, you create a shelter for snails against a wall using bricks or boards. In Early December the plantsman can get his revenge on the little blighters, all unsuspecting and snuggled up in their cosy den. (More from Worlidge see my post here:)
The RHS has some more modern advice, but generally takes a negative opinion of snails. The Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust take a much more positive view of snails and slugs. They propose their contribution to nature should be rewarded by our learning to love and live with the little critters.
(Thanks to Charles Knightly’s Perpetual Almanac)
Improving the cider before Christmas
Old Cider Tree Illustration
Britain is by far the largest Cider drinking nation, drinking 32% of the global total. South Africa is second at 15%. One of the reasons is that Britain does not have the climate for mass wine making, while it has an excellent climate for growing apples, particularly in the West Country. But other counties also produce it including: Somerset, Devon, Dorset, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucester, Kent, Sussex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cider has expanded into other counties such as Buckinghamshire and Cheshire.
As Cider makers approach Christmas, they will be worrying what their Cider is doing. If the cider was a bit off, an old trick was to add half a peck of wheat to restart the fermentation. This would make it more mild and gentle. Also, adding mustard or two or three rotten apples could clear the cider.
Although it’s all a little Thomas Hardy, Cider expert Gabe Cook provides instruction here in how to make cider from your own cider tree without investing in a huge fruit press. To buy small cider presses and cider making kits click here.
1791 Death of Mozart. ‘Mozart appears as a being eccentrically formed to be a medium for the expression of music and no grosser purpose. Iin this he was strong: in everything else of body and mind, he remained a child during the 36 years to which his life was limited. Chambers Book of Days, 1864.
1872 Mary Celeste,a brig, carrying a cargo of alcohol, found abandoned off the Azores
1933 Prohibition Ended
First Published on December 5th 2022, revised and republished on December 5th 2023, 2024 and 2025
Today is the anniversary of the Great Smog. What happened in 1952 changed Britain forever. A terrible smog developed which lasted for a week, beginning on December 5th 1952. It killed probably 12,000 people. The hospitals, the emergency services, the mortuaries, the funeral parlours had more work to do than during the Blitz or the Cholera epidemics. Higher deaths than normal were still occurring as late as January 1953.
A temperature inversion kept a blanket of cold damp air over London. This stoped the pollutants being dispersed and blown away. But post-war austerity (this time introduced by the Labour Party) made it such a killer. Britain was exporting our top grade coals. And allowing domestic users to use terrible stuff called ‘nutty slack’. This was sludge, dust, and fragments of very low grade and therefore very smokey coal. 18% of the coal used was domestic, but it contributed 60% to the emissions. The fog was yellow and sulphuric. Public Transport had to be halted as no one could see beyond their hands in front of their faces. People had to leave cinemas because no one could see the screens.
What changed Britain was that it finally persuaded people that coal-polluted air was a killer. People had debated it since the Victorian period, but did very little about it, some even believing smoke was good for you. In World War II the government encouraged smog near Cities, to cloak the industrial areas from the Luftwaffe Bombers. After 1952, it was clear what a killer smog was. In 1956, the Clean Air Act established zones where only smokeless fuels could be used. Polluting industries were dispersed from the towns. Taller chimneys were used. This eventually cleared up the problem.
Pollution still killing people
Job done, or so we all thought. Dr Gary Fuller (see below) tells us that we are incapable of dealing with more than one pollution threat at a time. In 1962, another smog, created by sulphur dioxide pollution, killed perhaps 1,000 people in London. And London still has a lot of air pollution, not just from traffic fumes, and it is still killing people.
Traffic pollution in London is being dealt with more aggressively by the current Mayor. Partly as a response to a brave coroner who found that a 9-year-old girl, Ella Kissi-Debrah, died because of air pollution. (girls-death-contributed-to-by-air-pollution-coroner-rules-in-landmark-case). The London Mayor began addressing the issue by first creating and then expanding, the Ultra Low Emission Zone, to encompass all the London Boroughs. This has been very controversial as it has meant many people having to sell cars that do not meet the standard. This had the unfortunate byproduct which was that it enabled the unpopular Conservative Party hanging on, by the skin of their teeth, in Boris Johnson’s old constituency.
The creation of Local Traffic Neighbourhoods are another front against diesal pollution. They allow local authorities to introduce traffic reduction methods by blocking off many neighbourhood roads from through traffic. These have been fought tooth and nail by its opponents. But have been a success, cutting local pollution.
Freedom from Air Pollution?
But much less well known are other threats. For example, there is an increasing threat from trendy wood burning stoves which are very polluting. I very reluctantly decided to install a diesal heater in my narrowboat as it is less polluting that a cosy Wood Burning Stove. Yet their sales are soaring as people seek ways of mitigating soaring post-Ukraine war electricity prices.
Agriculture is very polluting too, with fertiliser, and manure mixing with urban pollution to create dangerous particulates. It turns out that the most polluting time of the year is not Autumn, nor Winter but Spring because of this agricultural activity.
Listen to the BBC’s excellent episode of ‘Inside Science: Killer Smog’. If you cannot use BBC Sounds, then go to the link to a Podcast at the bottom of the piece. These are both based on the work of Dr. Gary Fuller of King’s College, London, detailed in his book ‘Air Pollution: The Invisible Killer’.
We need to stop being short-sighted, not just ‘solving’ one problem before moving onto the next. We need a fundamental revision of our systems to allow us to enjoy the last two of the four freedoms so eloquently expressed by Roosevelt (the subject of the 2024 BBC Reith Lectures):
Winter. Photo by Harriet Salisbury of Abney Park Cemetary, Hackney, London
When icicles hang by the wall, And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, And Tom bears logs into the hall, And milk comes frozen home in pail, When blood is nipp’d and ways be foul, Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit; Tu-who, a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow, And coughing drowns the parson’s saw, And birds sit brooding in the snow, And Marion’s nose looks red and raw, When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit; Tu-who, a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
William Shakespeare - Love's Labours Lost
Winter Song by William Shakespeare – Love’s Labours Lost (LLL V.ii.901)
Winter Song is near the end of the play. By way of the conclusion, two works are composed for the King of Navarro in praise of the Cuckoo and the Owl. One read by a representation of the Spring and the other, shown above, by ‘Hiems’ the representation of winter.
Is it very Shakespearean? No, not if you are expecting ‘sweet and honeyed words’ but it brings us deep into the heart of cold winter. With the icicles on the wall, the fouled muddy roads, the cold wind, the nip in the air, and the outbreak of winter colds.
The focus is either from a working-class perspective or from a member of the gentry looking at his servants. The owl and Greasy Joan stirring the food ends each verse. Roasted crabs are crab apples. The apples were heated in the oven then thrown into a dish of beer where they would hiss. So there is a hint of winter conviviality.
The nail means warming your fingers by blowing on them. Alternatively, it means twiddling your fingers. Greasy Joan is probably a cook or kitchen maid, and she is cooling the pot by stirring it. But some suggest that ‘Greasy Joan’ might refer to a prostitute. But it doesn’t really fit the poem? Although the spring part of the poem, narrated by Cuckoo refers to cuckolding. Tu-whit, tu-whoo is, in fact, two tawny owls calling to each other, the female calling first and the male answering. John Lyly first used the call in 1595. Some suggested it can also be read ‘To it, to who?’ In Shakespeare’s day. To go ‘to it’ was a sexual reference, but then he also uses that phrase mostly innocently. The parson’s saw is a reference to the the parson’s sermon. The coughing in the cold nave of the Parish Church makes it difficult to hear.
This is a YouTube piece setting the poem to music by Ralph Vaughan Williams
‘Rowena rings to say in a dead, sort of voice, ‘The worst has happened. Billy Bolitho says I’m definitely pregnant. Can you lend me 15 quid to Saturday?’ I said I could give her six, which is all I had because I know just how she feels, and if she doesn’t have an abortion before Saturday, it will be too late. I meet her in Dean Street, and we wandered down to Duran’s in the icy cold for a delicious lunch. Christ, their pastries are good! Poor Rowena couldn’t eat anything. She says her only chance is to put lots of ether soap up her bottom for 10 days. Billy Bolitho says, it’s tough going, but infallible. But R says, How will I keep it from my mum if I go around smelling like an operating theatre?’
Reported in ‘A London Year’ Compiled by Elborough and Rennison. Needless to say, this could be dangerous and it is better to seek advice from a Doctor.
The Venerable Bede tells us that King Lucius converted to Christianity in around 180AD. He says that the King asked Pope Eleutherius to send teachers to instruct him. The Venerable Bede (died 735 AD) got this from the Liber Pontificalis of c 590. There is also a tradition that St Peter’s Cornhill in London was set up by King Lucius, and that St Peter’s is the oldest Church in London.
13th Pope Eleutherius
What to make of this? Bede is considered to be a reliable historian and got his information, in this case, from the Vatican. Pope Eleutherius is held to be a real Pope. He reigned at the right time, from perhaps as early as c. 171, and to his death which may be as late as AD 193. (Wikipedia). But the tradition of Lucius has been written off as a legend.
But to my mind there are questions that need asking. Not the least of the questions to ask about the veracity of this legend is: ‘What does it mean to be called the King of Britain in the middle of the Roman occupation?’
St Peters Church First Cathedral in Britain?
As to the early origin of St Peters Church, archaeologists dismissed the tradition of a Roman St Peters Church because it is built over the Roman Forum. So how can it have been the site of a Christian Church?
St. Peter’s seen from Cornhill in a rarely seen view as there is normally a building in the way. (Photo K Flude)
But the balance of possibilities, arguably, changed in the 1980s, when archaeologists led by Gustav Milne showed that the Basilica of the Forum was pulled down in about 300AD. So from being practically an impossibility, there is now a possibility that this subsequently became the site of a Roman Church. It doesn’t make it true but it makes it more of a possibility.
We know London sent at least one Bishop to Constantine the Great’s Council of Arles in AD 314. So a Christian community in London must have predated this time. There must have been Churches, here. And a site at the prestigious centre of the Capital of Londinium, makes a lot of sense. There are, in fact, three Churches on the site of the Roman Forum: St Peters, St Michael and St Edmund the Martyr.
Constantine the Great
In AD 306, Constantine was acclaimed Emperor on the death of his Father, Constantius Chlorus. Constantius’s wife was Helena, a Christian. He and his mother were in York when his father died. He was recognised as Caesar, (but not Augustus) by Emperor Galerius and ruled the province for a while. Then he moved to Trier, then moved on Rome, where he accepted the Christian God’s help to win the Battle of Milvian Bridge. This led him to supreme power in the Roman Empire. And might give a context for the demolished Basilica to be replaced by a Church.
There is, however, no archaeological evidence for St Peters being Roman in origin apart from the demolition of the Basilica and the legends. And there is certainly no evidence of the Basilica being turned into a Church as early as the 2nd Century.
Early Christianity in Britain
Where does that leave King Lucius? There are well attested Christian traditions that Britain was an early convert to Christianity. (The following quotes are from my book ‘In Their Own Words – A Literary Companion To The Origins Of London‘ D A Horizons, 2009 by Kevin Flude and available here.)
‘In Their Own Words – A Literary Companion To The Origins Of London‘ D A Horizons, 2009
So, an early date for an active Christian community is likely. A Church, replacing the Basilica, is plausible, particularly, after Constantine the Great probably passed through London on his way to seize the Roman Empire. So an early date for St Peters in possible. But there is no evidence for its origin as early as the late 2nd Century, the time of King Lucius.
A King of Britain in the Roman Era?
And could anyone, claim to be the ‘King of Britain’ at this date? We do know that King Togidubnus was called Great King of Britain in a Roman Temple inscription in Chichester in the First Century.
Altar Dedication, Chichester
To Neptune and Minerva, for the welfare of the Divine House by the authority of Tiberius Claudius Togidubnus, Great King of Britain, the Guild of Smiths and those therein gave this Temple from their resources, Pudens, son of Pudentinus, presenting the site.
Togidubnos seems to have been placed in control of a large part of Southern England, centred around Chichester, after the invasion of 43AD. He is thought to have been the successor to Verica, who was exiled and called on the Romans to restore his throne. Tactitus says that Togidubnos remained loyal down ‘to our own times’ that is to the 70s AD. So he presumably held the line for the Romans against the Boudiccan revolt in 60AD.
The Romans had used Verica’s fall as their excuse for invasion, and so an honorific of Great King to him and his successors makes sense. It is assumed that after Togidubnos’s death after 80AD, the title lapsed. But it might have stayed with the family as an empty honour? Furthermore, we know that Britain had a plethora of Kings and Queens before the Roman period. Also, the Romans never conquered the whole of Britain. There were, therefore, many British Kings all the way through the period of Roman control, not least beyond Hadrian’s Wall.
So, it is possible there was someone in Britain who had, or made, a claim to be ‘King’. Whether he was ‘a’ or ‘the’ or merely descended from a King of Britain, we don’t know. And that that someone, perhaps converted to Christianity, possibly in the time of Pope Eleutherius. He may have taken the Roman name Lucius. Who knows? Its possible.
Confusing Luci?
It has been suggested that King Lucius of Britain was confused with King Lucius of Edessa, but this is considered unsatisfactory. Also, the link to London and St Peters, need not be a contemporary one. It might be two traditions that are linked together at a later period. But, of course, there is a faint possibility that the Basilica shrine room, above which St Peter’s is built, was converted for Christian use at the earlier time necessary to make sense of the King Lucius story.
King Lucius may not be a proper saint, but he has a feast day. This is because of his connections to Chur in Switzerland. There is a tradition that Lucius was martyred here. This got him an entry in the Roman Martyrology. David Knight proposes that the Chur connection comes from the transplanting of rebellious Brigantes to the Raetia frontier in the 2nd Century AD. He suggests that the Brigantes brought the story of Lucius to Chur. At the end of the King’s life, is it possible he travelled to join his people in exile in Switzerland. Here he met his unknown end. If true, this would base the story of Lucius in the North rather than London. For further reading, see ‘King Lucius of Britain’ by David J Knight.
Early Bishops of London
John Stow in the 16th Century records the tradition of King Lucius, which comes with a list of early British Bishops of London. These he finds are recorded in Jocelin of Furness’s ‘Book of British Bishops’. This book is discussed by Helen Birkett ‘Plausible Fictions: John Stow, Jocelin of Furness and the Book of British Bishops’. In Downham C (ed) /Medieval Furness: Texts and Contexts/, Stamford: Paul Watkins, 2013.
Her analysis concludes that the book is a ’12th-century confection in support of moving the archbishopric from Canterbury ‘back’ to its proper place in London. (This information was included in a comment to the original post by John Clark, Emeritus Curator of the Museum of London.)
To sum up. We can’t bring King Lucius out of legend, nor find any credible source linking him him with St Peters Cornhill. But the site of St Peters is a plausible, though unproven, location for a Roman Church from the 4th Century onwards. It also makes sense of the choice of the Saxons, to name their Church St Pauls. St Peter is more common as a dedication for important Churches and perhaps they chose St Paul as they knew of the ruins of St Peters the old Cathedral.
Any other early Cathedrals?
Archaeologists have also tentatively identified a masonry building in Pepys Street on Tower Hill as the Episcopal Church of late Roman London. The foundations suggest a large aisled building. Its identification as a Cathedral springs from multiplying the found foundations symmetrically by a factor of four and comparing the result to Santa Tecla in Milan. The discovery of Marble and window glass doesn’t sit so well with the alternative suggestion that it is a granary. But, to my mind, it’s not very convincing, although Dominic Perring in his recent book ”London in the Roman World’ makes the most of the case for it being a Cathedral.
And Finally?
Roman ForumSite of Roman Forum Google Maps
If you look at the two maps above. The one on the left shows the Forum, the white lines are the Roman Road system. You might just be able to see the modern road system super-imposed. What this shows is that the Forum is on a different axis than the modern day road system. Cornhill cuts right across the North Western corner of the Forum. Where the letter L is, and to the left is under the modern road. So, that shows that this part of the Forum must have been knocked down before Cornhill was built. On the right hand side you can see the dark grey east-west road which is Cornhill. To the South of it you can see a dark area (above the green of St Peter’s Churchyard). This grey area is St Peters. What the Google map shows clearly, is that the orientation of St Peters, is clearly on a different orientation to that of the modern road of Cornhill. And that orientation is closer to the orientation of the Roman Forum. This makes it more likely that the axis upon which St Peters was originally built (assuming Wren followed the original axis when he rebuilt it after the Great Fire) conformed to the Roman grid pattern. This is by no means proof, and can only be proved by excavation. But, its interesting.
On This Day
1660 – Margaret Hughes became the first woman (we know about) to act on the English Stage. She played Desdemona in Shakespeare’s Othello. It was staged in a converted tennis court called the Vere Street Theatre, which was in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. In 1660 Charles II was restored to the throne, and had got used to watching female actors perform while he was in exile in France. So when he returned, he licensed two theatre managers, Thomas Killigrew and Sir William Davenant to run theatre. Davenant claimed to be the natural son of William Shakespeare, suggesting that Shakespeare stayed in his parents’ Inn, the Crown, in Cornmarket, Oxford on his way home to Stratford-upon-Avon.
First Published on December 3rd, 2022. Revised in December, 2023, 2024 and 2025
