Tag: city of london

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St Giles Day and Cripplegate September 1st

Public domainThe Master of St Giles, National Gallery. ‘St Giles and the Hind’
This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 100 years or fewer.

St Giles

Today, is St Giles’ Feast Day. His story is mostly unknown, but his legend holds that he was a hermit who had a pet Hind in the Arles District of France sometime after the fall of the Roman Empire. The hounds of King Wamba (a Visigothic King) were chasing the deer, and shot an arrow into the undergrowth. The King and his men followed to discover Giles wounded by the arrow, protecting the hind, who he held in his arms. The hounds were miraculously stayed motionless as they leaped towards the hind. Wamba, which apparently means ‘Big paunch’ in Gothic, also had a Roman name: Flavius. Giles was injured in the leg, although the image above shows the arrow hit his hand. Wamba set him up as an Abbot of a Benedictine Monastery.

St Giles is, therefore, the patron saint of disabled people. He is also also invoked for childhood fears, convulsions and depression. He was very popular in medieval Britain, with over 150 churches dedicated to him, including four in London. Perhaps the two most famous are St Giles Without Cripplegate in London and St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

St Giles Cripplegate, photographed by the Author at night from the Barbican Centre.

St Giles Cripplegate

St Giles was built in the 11th Century, rebuilt in the 14th Century and again in 1545-50 after nearly being destroyed by fire. It survived the Great Fire of London, being just beyond the extent of the Fire. But it was badly damaged in the Blitz, although the Tower and the outer walls survived.

Oliver Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier here. John Foxe of the Book of Martyrs, John Speed, the Cartographer, Martin Frobisher, the explorer and John Milton, the Poet were buried here.

Shenanigans with Milton’s Coffin

Milton’s coffin was opened in 1793 and he was said to have looked as if he had just been buried. One of those present, then, had a go at pulling Milton’s teeth out. A bystander helped by hitting his jaw with a stone. The few teeth Milton had left in his head were divided between the men, who also took a rib bone and locks of his hair. The Caretaker then opened the coffin for anyone who wanted to see the corpse!

From the London City Wall Trail.

Cripplegate

St Giles is without Cripplegate. It is one of the Gates in the City Wall (originally the North Gate of the Roman Fort). It may be named because St Giles made it agood place to gather for those trying to beg alms for their disabilities. An alternative explanation it from the Anglo Saxon crepel, which is an underground tunnel which is said to have run from the Gate’s Barbican to the Gate. Or perhaps because of the cure of cripples when Edmund the Martyr’s remains passed through the Gate in 1010.

The Corner Tower of the London City Wall, the Barbican in the background, and the tower of St Giles’ Church behind the Tower. Photo by the author

First Published in September 2024, and revised in 2025.

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St Clare’s Day & the Minoresses of St. Clare August 11th

The ‘Agas’Map of 16th Century Map of London showing the Abbey of the Minoresses of St Clare with the yellow circle and St Botolphs in mauve just outside Aldgate. from the Map of Early Modern London project.

Today is the Feast day of St Clare of Assisi.  An area of the City of London, called the Minories, is still to this day named after the Abbey of the Minoresses of St. Clare without Aldgate. This was was founded in 1294. The Abbey was part of the Order of St Clare or the Poor Clares as they were known . A minoress was a nun from the Order of Friars Minor (aka Franciscans) .who were also known as the Minoresses of St Clare.

Fresco of Saint Clare and sisters of her order, church of San Damiano, Assisi Wikipedia

Clare Sciffi was born in Assisi to a rich family. On Palm Sunday, 20 March 1212 Clare left her house, after refusing offers of an advantageous marriage. She had been inspired by hearing St Francis the founder of the Franciscan Monks who was also from Assisi. St Francis facilitated her transfer to Benedictine Nunneries. Her sisters followed her, one renamed Agnes became an Abbess and eventually a saint in her own right. Her family tried repeatedly to take her back into secular life. Eventually, they gave in – apparently when they saw that she had cut her flowing locks off and donned a plain robe.

A small nunnery was set up for them next to the church of San Damiano. More women joined, and they became known as the “Poor Ladies of San Damiano”. They undertook to live impoverished, and secluded.

The Franciscan friars were an itinerant order where the Friars preached to the people and were supported by begging. But this was not possible for women at that time so they lived a simple life of labour and prayer.:

‘The nuns went barefoot, slept on the ground, ate no meat, and observed almost complete silence.’ Wikipedia

Here is a site that gives information about the new Museum that will be established on the site of the Poor Clares. It also gives an outline history of the site.

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/new-museum-to-show-archaeology-from-the-abbey-of-st-clare-70048/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email

The following link explores the illustrious noble women who choose to be buried in the Minories. It shows how important the Poor Clares were considered to be. It was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539.

The Abbey of the Minoresses of St Clare without Aldgate and the Ladies of the Minories

To read about the nearby Roman Bastion at Crosswall see my post here:

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June & July – Street Parties in London on the Vigils of Feast Days

Image from the Agas Map of London Civitas Londinum is a bird’s-eye view of London first printed from woodblocks in about 1561
Civitas Londinum is a bird’s-eye view of London first printed from woodblocks in about 1561

John Stow tells us that there were bonfires and street parties in London throughout June and July. These were held on the Vigils of Saints’ Feast Days. The Vigil is the evening before a festival. A custom that might owe a little to the Celtic choice of dusk as the beginning of the new day.

Front cover of the Survey of London by John Stow
Front cover of the Survey of London by John Stow

Stow was the author of the ‘Survey of London‘ first published in 1598. Unfortunately, he does not give a list of the vigils thus celebrated. He only mentions those of St John the Baptist and of St Paul and St Peter. For these he gives a very vivid description, which I included in my post on June 24th here.

The other festivals would be for prominent Saints, particularly those with London Churches or Chapels named after them. These might include: St Botolph, St Alban, St James, St Thomas, St Margaret, St Wilgerfortis, St. Mary Magdalen, St Bridget, St James, as well as Saints John, Peter, and Paul. I’m guessing that City wide street parties would be reserved for the most important Saints. But with local celebrations for the Saint on the local Church. I am assuming these celebrations were ended or much reduced after the Reformation.

This is what Stow says of the Vigil celebrations.

‘In the months of June and July, on the vigils of festival days, and on the same festival days in the evenings after the sun setting, there were usually made bonfires in the streets, every man bestowing wood or labour towards them; the wealthier sort also, before their doors near to the said bonfires, would set out tables on the vigils, furnished with sweet bread and good drink, and on the festival days with meats and drinks plentifully, whereunto they would invite their neighbours and passengers also to sit and be merry with them in great familiarity, praising God for his benefits bestowed on them. These were called bonfires as well of good amity amongst neighbours that being before at controversy, were there, by the labour of others, reconciled, and made of bitter enemies loving friends; and also for the virtue that a great fire hath to purge the infection of the air. ‘

John Stow is one of the most important sources for Tudor and Medieval London. He was a Londoner, buried in St Andrews Undershaft (see map above), who wrote up all he could glean about London. I use him all the time – for example, on my Wolf Hall Tudor London Walk. Stow’s Survey of London can be accessed online, in full, here: or via the wonderful online Agas Map, from which the map above came from.

First Published 2022 and republished 2025

John Stow, London’s Historian 22nd April
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Festival of St John the Baptist June 24th

Two of the biggest feast days in London were held in late June. The Feast Days of St John the Baptist (June 24th) and of St Peter and Paul (29th June) were remarkable in the scale and the expense of the celebrations.

Here is what John Stow tells us about the processions on the night before the feast of St John (24th June) and St Peter and Paul (29th June):

On the vigil of St. John the Baptist, and on St. Peter and Paul the Apostles, every man’s door being shadowed with green birch, long fennel, St. John’s wort, orpin, white lilies, and such like, garnished upon with garlands of beautiful flowers, had also lamps of glass, with oil burning in them all the night; some hung out branches of iron curiously wrought, containing hundreds of lamps alight at once, which made a goodly show, namely in New Fish street, Thames street, etc.

Then had ye besides the standing watches all in bright harness, in every ward and street of this city and suburbs, a marching watch, that passed through the principal streets thereof, to wit, from the little conduit by Paule’s gate to West Cheape, by the stocks through Cornhill, by Leaden hall to Aldgate, then back down Fenchurch street, by Grasse church, about Grasse church conduit, and up Grasse church street into Cornhill, and through it into West Cheape again.

(Grasse Church Street is Gracechurch Street.)

The whole way for this marching watch extendeth to three thousand two hundred tailor’s yards of assize; for the furniture whereof with lights, there were appointed seven hundred cressets, five hundred of them being found by the companies, the other two hundred by the chamber of London.

(Note a cresset is: a ‘metal container of oil, grease, wood, or coal set alight for illumination and typically mounted on a pole’ (Wikipedia).)

Besides the which lights every constable in London, in number more than two hundred and forty, had his cresset: the charge of every cresset was in light two shillings and four pence, and every cresset had two men, one to bear or hold it, another to bear a bag with light, and to serve it, so that the poor men pertaining to the cressets, taking wages, besides that every one had a straw hat, with a badge painted, and his breakfast in the mornings amounted in number to almost two thousand.

The marching watch contained in number about two thousand men, part of them being old soldiers of skill, to be captains, lieutenants, serjeants, corporals, etc., wiflers, drummers, and fifes, standard and ensign bearers, sword players, trumpeters on horseback, demilances on great horses, gunners with hand guns, or half hakes, archers in coats of white fustian, signed on the breast and back with the arms of the city, their bows bent in their hands, with sheaves of arrows by their sides, pike-men in bright corslets, burganets, etc., halberds, the like bill-men in almaine rivets, and apernes of mail in great number;

There were also divers pageants, morris dancers, constables, the one-half, which was one hundred and twenty, on St. John’s eve, the other half on St. Peter’s eve, in bright harness, some overgilt, and every one a jornet of scarlet thereupon, and a chain of gold, his henchman following him, his minstrels before him, and his cresset light passing by him, the waits of the city, the mayor’s officers for his guard before him, all in a livery of worsted, or say jackets party-coloured, the mayor himself well mounted on horseback, the swordbearer before him in fair armour well mounted also, the mayor’s footmen, and the like torch bearers about him, henchmen twain upon great stirring horses, following him.

The sheriffs’ watches came one after the other in like order, but not so large in number as the mayor’s; for where the mayor had besides his giant three pageants, each of the sheriffs had besides their giants but two pageants, each their morris dance, and one henchman, their officers in jackets of worsted or say, party-coloured, differing from the mayor’s, and each from other, but having harnessed men a great many, etc

John Stow, author of the ‘Survey of London‘ first published in 1598. Available at the wonderful Project Gutenberg: ‘https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42959/42959-h/42959-h.htm’

Pagan Rituals

There are also pagan rituals associated with the Feast of St John. Here is an example of French pagan solstice fires:

“They were lit at the crossroads in the fields to prevent witches and sorceresses from passing through during the night; herbs gathered on Saint John’s Day were sometimes burned to ward off lightning, thunder and storms, and it was thought that these fumigations would ward off demons and tumults.”

For more information, have a look at ‘French Moments’ here:

Summer Solstice?

The Feast of St John is often described as being on the Summer Solstice, it isn’t by modern reckoning, but nor is December 25th the Winter Solstice. But they were celebrated as such by Christians, and the Solstice can be thought of as spread over 3 or 4 days (or more if taking into account Solstice Old style). The major events of the sun and the moon were linked into Christian theology and symbolism. Jesus, son of God, would clearly have arrived at the auspicious time of the Winter Solstice. His cousin, John the Baptist, came to tell the world about the coming of Jesus and so his birthday was exactly 6 months before the Winter Solstice.

St John is also special as most Saint’s Days are linked to the day of their death, but June 24th is the birthday of St John. His beheading by Herod is commemorated on 29th August.

St John Walbrook

St John the Baptist upon Walbrook in the City of London is first mentioned in the 12th Century, burnt down and not rebuilt after the Great Fire of London. The parish was, later, united with St Antholin, Budge Row, The Graveyard survived until 1884 when the District Line destroyed most of the Graveyard and the bones were reinterred below a monument, which can still be seen in Cloak Lane.

A Day Off for Anglo Saxon Freemen

In the Laws of King Alfred the Great, this day was a day off for freemen.  I will be writing about Days off in the Anglo Saxon Calender on August 15th.

First published June 2023 republished in 2024, and reorganised in 2025

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Death of Luca Pacioli the Father of Double Entry Bookkeeping June 19th 1517

Luca Pacioli, father of double entry book keeping.

Luca Pacioli was a mathematician, whose mathematical text book had a section on Venetian book-keeping.  It was published in 1494 although double entry booking keeping was probably being used earlier.  The accountancy is a 27-page section called “Particularis de computis et scriptus.  It is part of the compendious ‘Summa de Arithmetica, Geometrica, Portiona et Proportionali’.

It is the source of modern double entry accounting, which spread from Venice as it was the printing capital of Southern Europe.

The key discovery, reported by Luca Pacioli, was that every transaction had to have an entry in both a debit and credit account.  So if I lend you £10,000 then my account is debited by 10k and yours is credited by the same amount.  Fra Luca (he was a Franciscan Friar) would have it that the accountant could not go to bed until the ledgers balanced. That is, that all the credits and balances in all the ledgers balance.

Double entry bookkeeping has prevented numberless frauds, kept many businesses on the straight and narrow. But it is of course not proof against sophisticated fraud.

Assyrian Double Entry booking keeping?

The gypsum stone reliefs shown below on display in the British Museum show clerks recording booty plundered in the Assyrians’ wars.  The soldiers are bringing goods in to be counted.  In the first picture, the goods are severed skulls.  In the second are a wide range of booty.

In every scene like this, there are two scribes writing notes on clay tablets with styli.  They stand side by side.  I presume their role is to make sure the other man doesn’t cheat, rather than to facilitate double entry book keeping as such.  Assyrians paid their soldiers for each enemy soldier they killed, and the head was the proof. You will see a little pile of severed heads between the soldier and the scribes.

Assyrian scribes recording severed heads.. British Museum. Photo Kevin Flude

Assyrian scribes recording war booty. British Museum.  Photo Kevin Flude

Italians, Accountancy and London.

The earliest work on double entry in England was by Oldcastle in 1543.  There were a lot of Italian businessmen in Tudor London. Thomas Cromwell was friends, and indeed neighbours, with some. As a young man he was helped out by the head of one of the great Florentine Finance houses, Frescobaldi.  They had branches in Bruges and London, and were major financiers to the Kings of England. Thomas More lived among the colony of Merchants from Lucca. The business centre of London before the building of the Royal Exchange was in Lombard St, where the Lombardian bankers hung out. 

More on the British Museum in my post here

First Published on June 19th 2025

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Murder of St Alphage April 19th 1012

St Alphage. Church Tower on right, City Wall to left. Photo K Flude

I first came across St Alphage when I was working at the Museum of London. The Museum was built on the High Walk at London Wall. The raised Courbusian Walkway looked down on a ruin of a Gothic Church Tower, almost destroyed during the Blitz. This was St Alphage, a Church dedicated to the Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury. (Alphage is also spelt Alphege or Alfege).

On the other side of the Walkway was the old graveyard of the Church. This preserved one of the very best sections of the old London Wall. Special because on one side its huge height was displayed. On the other, the only crenelated bit of the City Wall. And the only surviving part of the Wall dating to the War of the Roses.

St Alphage Roman and Medieval Wall
St Alphage Roman and Medieval Wall
The Crenelated Red Brick Section dates to 1477, during the War of the Roses
The Crennelated Red Brick Section dates to 1477, during the War of the Roses
St Alphage Wall explained in an information plaque.
St Alphage Wall explained on an information plaque.

In the 1980’s fellow Museum of London Archaeologist, Paul Herbert and I set up a Guided Walks company (Citisights of London) . Our walks started from outside the Museum of London, and so St Alphage formed a big part of our success. It led to a life giving Guided Walks and tours. So, St Alphage, thank you!

A Citisights Day Tour of the 1980s

St Alphage Elsyng Spittle St Mary ?

The Church was previously a monastic settlement called Elsyng Spittle (aka St Mary within Cripplegate). The Augustinian Canons looked after 100 blind men. It was refounded by Williain Elsing, and dissolved by Henry VIII in 1536. The Church was kept for a Parish Church. But the Puritans were not keen on dedications to St Mary. So, they renamed it after a London based Christian Martyr.

It remained a Parish Church until damaged in an air raid in World War One. (possibly on 8th September 1916 in a Zeppelin Raid – but I am speculating). The Church was partly demolished in 1923, leaving the Tower. The lower part of the Medieval Tower survived bombing in the Blitz. At 12.15 am on 25th Aug 1940, the first bombs on the City of London fell nearby in Fore Street. But the tower was hit in 1940. It was listed Grade 1 in 1950. Kept by the rebuilding of London Wall, and the Barbican area. Then substantially benefitting from a remodelling of the area in an excellent scheme of 2022.

St Ælfheah of Canterbury and Greenwich

StAlfege Greewich - Doyle own work Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0
StAlfege Greewich – Doyle own work Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

St Ælfheah was captured during a Viking attack on Canterbury. The Viking hoard relocated to Greenwich where they tried to negotiate a fat ransom for him. He was one of the richest men in the Kingdom. This is what the Anglo Saxon Chronicle says:

.. the raiding-army became much stirred up against the bishop, because he did not want to offer them any money, and forbade that anything might be granted in return for him. Also they were very drunk, because there was wine brought from the south. Then they seized the bishop, led him to their “hustings” on the Saturday in the octave of Easter, and then pelted him there with bones and the heads of cattle; and one of them struck him on the head with the butt of an axe, so that with the blow he sank down and his holy blood fell on the earth, and sent forth his holy soul to God’s kingdom.

St Alfege Greenwich, which is now a lovely Hawksmoor Church is said to be on the site of St Ælfheah‘s death.

St Alphage’s body was taken to St Pauls Cathedral where it was venerated. His remains were removed in suspicious circumstances by soldiers of King Cnut who translated the Saint’s bones to Greenwich. It is suggested King Cnut was punishing London for their opposition to him.

The Minotaur by Michael Ayrton

Also, part of the experience of visiting St Alphage from the High Walk was the statue of the Minotaur. I first came across this phallic Bull in the Postman’s Park and am very fond of it. Then it disappeared and reappeared on the High Walk. Now it is on the ground level near in the garden of St Alphage.

I understand that Michael Ayrton wanted to make a point about the destruction of London. He felt that the developers were more destructive than the Luftwaffe. They were like a Bull in a China Shop! So he created this statue of a very vigorous Bull representing the Minotaur. It is a very unusual work of art in that it sports a fully erect penis. Art History is full of naked women, but the male organ is largely left to pornography. For more about Ayrton follow this link.

The Minotaur in its present position
The Minotaur on the High Walk

First Written on April 19th 2025

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Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation January 15th

Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation. Litter at her royal entry, accompanied by footmen and Gentlemen Pensioners. Unidentified engraver. (Wikipedia)
Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation. Litter at her royal entry, accompanied by footmen and Gentlemen Pensioners. Unidentified engraver. (Wikipedia)

Queen Elizabeth 1 Accession

Queen Elizabeth 1 ascended the throne on 17 Nov 1558. Her accession was greeted with an outbreak of joy by the Protestant population. But the supporters of her dead sister Mary 1 did not want a Protestant monarch. On hearing the news of the death, Elizabeth rushed to occupy the Tower of London. She even risked shooting London Bridge, such was her haste. (see my post of the accession of Queen Elizabeth I)

She consulted lawyers about the legal position. Elizabeth, and her sister Mary, were declared bastards by two Succession Acts passed during Henry VIII’s ‘troubled’ married life. The Third Succession Act of 1543/44, following Henry’s marriage to Katherine Parr, restored Mary and Elizabeth to the Royal line. But it did not restore their legitimacy. Rather than tackle the complex legislation, Sir Nicholas Bacon, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, advised:

“the English laws have long since pronounced, that the Crown once worn quite taketh away all Defects whatsoever“. (Wikipedia)

Which, when you think about it, basically legitimises any successful ‘coup’! And, from a legal perspective, she was still, arguably, illegitimate.

Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation

Her courtiers immediately began work on the Coronation, scheduled for January 15th 1559. In terms of Coronations, this was rushed. The precise date was, in fact, chosen by the Royal Astrologer. John Dee, a famous mathematician and credulous astrologer, found a date that the celestial bodies deemed propitious. But it needed to be sooner rather than later because Elizabeth’s position was so insecure.

Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation Procession

The Coronation began with a procession from the Whitehall Palace in Westminster. Then back to the Tower of London for the Vigil. Followed by a Royal Procession through the City of London to Westminster Abbey for the Coronation service. After the Coronation, there was the traditional Coronation Banquet at Westminster Hall.

The Vigil Procession was on the Thames where she was escorted to the Tower by ‘ships, galleys, brigantines‘ sumptuously decorated. The Royal Entry consisted of 5 Pageants and 11 Triumphal Arches.

The first pageant showed the Queen’s descent from Henry VII and his marriage to Elizabeth of York. This marriage effectively ended the Wars of the Roses by linking the House of York and the House of Lancaster. The pageant also emphasised her ‘Englishness’ as opposed to the Spanish affiliations of Mary. The second pageant demonstrated that the Queen would rule by the four virtues of True Religion, Love of Subjects, Wisdom and Justice. At the same time she was shown trampling on Superstition, Ignorance and other vices.

The Procession at Cheapside

The third pageant, at the upper end of Cheapside near the Guildhall, provided the opportunity for the City to give Elizabeth a handsome present. This was a crimson purse with 1000 marks of gold, showing the closeness of the City and the Crown. The fourth pageant, contrasted a decaying country during the time of Mary with a thriving one under Elizabeth. It featured the figure of Truth, who was carrying a Bible written in English and entitled ‘the Word of Truth’. The Bible was lowered on a silken thread to the Queen. The Queen kissed it and laid it on her breast to the cheers of the crowd. She promised to read it diligently. The final pageant was Elizabeth portrayed as Deborah, the Old Testament prophet. Deborah rescued Israel and ruled for 40 years. So she was an ideal role model for Elizabeth. (For more details, look here.)

‘All the houses in Cheapside were dressed with banners and streamers, and the richest carpets, stuffs and cloth of gold tapestried the streets’.

British History.ac.uk Vol 1 pp315 -332

Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation in Westminster Abbey

The Coronation was traditional – in Latin and presided by a Catholic Bishop, but there were significant innovations. Important passages were read both in Latin and in English. The Queen added to the Coronation Oath the promise that she would rule according to the:

‘true profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom.’

This showed the path Queen Elizabeth was going to take. She would introduce innovation gradually into tradition, but emphasizing that the fundamentals had indeed changed. This was going to be a Protestant reign.

See also tomorrow’s post on the Nicknames the Queen gave to her advisors.

Can I remind you that I wrote a best-selling book on the Kings and Queens of Britain? It has sold over 130,000 copies, has been reprinted several times and in several editions and is available here.

Books
First published in January 2023, republished January 2024, 2025
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The Lord of Misrule & London, December 30th

black and white illustration of John Stow memorial in St Andrew's Church
John Stow memorial in St Andrew’s Church

On the sixth day of Christmas

My true love sent to me
6 Geese a Laying;
5 Golden Rings;
4 Calling Birds; 3 French Hens; 2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

The Lord of Misrule, Masters of the Revels, and Boy Bishops

The Roman festival of Saturnalia, held between 17th and 23rd of December, included reversing rules so that slaves, ruled and masters served. In the medieval period, the disorder of Christmas was continued with the election of Lords of Misrule, Masters of the Revels, and Boy Bishops.

John Stow’s, Survey of London

He was London’s first great historian, wrote of the Lord of Misrule in London. In this section, Stow begins the role of the Lords of Misrule at Halloween and continues it until Candlemas, in erly February. See my post here for more details on Candlemas. This is what Stow says:

Now for sports and pastimes yearly used.

First, in the feast of Christmas, there was in the king’s house, wheresoever he was lodged, a lord of misrule, or master of merry disports, and the like had ye in the house of every nobleman of honour or good worship, were he spiritual or temporal. Amongst the which the mayor of London, and either of the sheriffs, had their several lords of misrule, ever contending, without quarrel or offence, who should make the rarest pastimes to delight the beholders.

These lords beginning their rule on Alhollon eve, continued the same till the morrow after the Feast of the Purification, commonly called Candlemas day. In all which space there were fine and subtle disguisings, masks, and mummeries, with playing at cards for counters, nails, and points, in every house, more for pastime than for gain.

Against the feast of Christmas every man’s house, as also the parish churches, were decked with holm, ivy, bays, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green. The conduits and standards in the streets were likewise garnished; (…) , at the Leaden hall in Cornhill, a standard of tree being set up in midst of the pavement, fast in the ground, nailed full of holm and ivy, for disport of Christmas to the people…

John Stow, author of the ‘Survey of London‘ first published in 1598. Available at the wonderful Project Gutenberg: ‘https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42959/42959-h/42959-h.htm’

Cover page of The Survey of London by John Stow from Project Gutenberg

Holm is an evergreen oak called Quercus ilex. John Stow talks about the Tree in Leadenhall Street being destroyed in the great wind of 1444 which you can read about here. You might also like to see the following posts, which include information about John Stow and London’s customs, and churches.

Childermas, Santa Nicklaus & Boy Bishops December 6th

Festival of St John the Baptist June 24th

St Andrew’s Day November 30th

First Published on December 30th 2023 and revised in 2024,2025

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Walks 2023 – February – June

I am working on a new season, and these are the walks for the first six months – but more to come.

The Archaeology Of London Walk Sunday 2nd April 2023 11:15 Exit 3 Bank Underground Station To book
Jane Austen’s London Sat 2.30 pm 2nd April 2023 Green Park underground station, London (north exit, on the corner). To book
Chaucer’s Medieval London Guided Walk Aldgate Tube Sunday 16 April 2023 11.30pm To book
Chaucer’s London To Canterbury Virtual Pilgrimage Sunday 16th April 2023 7.30pm To book
The Peasants Revolt Anniversary Guided Walk Aldgate Underground Sunday 11th June 2023 10.45am. To book
The Peasants Revolt Anniversary Virtual Tour Sunday 11th June 2023 7.30pm To book

For a complete list of my walks in 2023 look here

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CHAUCER, ST MARY-AT-HILL & ST MARGARET PATTENS

St. Mary-at-Hill, by Christopher Wren, photo K Flude

So, having finished a walk around Chaucer’s London for a mother and her two very bright home educated children. I had to walk back over London Bridge and through the City to Aldgate where Chaucer used to live (and where I had parked my bike).

I took a couple of short cuts which I don’t usually take although often in and around this area. St Mary in Lovat Lane was open so I went in to find this amazing relief.

Judgement Day Relief Sculpture by workshop of Joshua Marshall c 1670

The panel beside it suggests its a sculpture of hope. Well yes, of sorts, if by hope you mean, facing your maker. It represents scenes from the end of days from the Book of Revelation. Jesus stands on a skull, trampling upon Satan, and below the heavenly clouds the Archangels, direct the newly risen from the coffins and graveyards to the Day of Judgement.

St Mary-at-Hill

I then went past St Margaret Pattens, another Wren Church and was delighted to see a little display on pattens – overshoes worn to keep shoes clean. My ancestor was a beadle for the Patten makers.

St Margaret Pattens, Guild Church to the Pattenmakers & the Basketmakers.

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