Archive for the ‘London’ Category

In my article on Mayors and Lord Mayors  I briefly mentioned the Lord Mayors Show.

The show was first held in 1215, when King John grated the City of London permission to elect its own mayor, but also insisted that the Lord Mayor should travel to the City of Westminster to swear loyalty to the crown. This tradition has continued uninterrupted by the Black Death, the Great Fire of London and the Blitz, it has only been cancelled once – on the occasion of the death of the Duke of Wellington.

The Lord Mayors Show was the first event ever to be broadcast live on television, a tradition that continues to this day.  

The show takes place on the second Saturday in November each year; the date and route of the parade was fixed in the 1950’s as in the past the route would travel through the new Lord Mayor’s electoral ward, which meant that each year’s parade would take a different route, causing much confusion and disruption in the City.

The procession is preceded by a flypast by the Royal Air Force, then leaves the Lord Mayor’s official residence (the Mansion House) at 11 a.m.. The procession heads west along Cheapside towards St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Royal Courts of Justice (also known as the Old Bailey) then down to Victoria Embankment before heading back to Mansion House, the last floats arriving back at around 4 p.m.

Around half a million people pile into the City of London to watch the pomp and pageantry, and around 6,000 people will take part in the three mile long procession, alongside 140 floats, carriages – including the richly gilded State Coach – marching bands, floats and other vehicles.

The parade is then followed by a fair in Paternoster Square near St. Paul’s Cathedral and a firework display on the River Thames, starting at about 5pm.

And for the record, the Mansion House is almost opposite the Bank of England, at the heart of the City, close to ‘Bank’ underground station, several hundred yards away from the underground station that bears the name ‘Mansion House’.

In 2008, when Barack Obama was elected President, an American friend commented to me that he’d seen fireworks on a news feed from Britain and was surprised that we Brits took the US Election so seriously.  

Well the tradition fireworks in the UK in early November date back much farther than the election of Obama!

‘Guy Fawkes Night’ or ‘Firework Night’ is celebrated on November 5th in the United Kingdom and some countries of the Commonwealth. It commemorates the unsuccessful ‘Gunpowder Plot’ of 1605 when a group of wealthy Catholics attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament during the state opening by  King James I. (He was King James VI of Scotland and became King James 1 of England following the death of Queen Elizabeth 1 – who died childless.)

The Catholic plotters had hoped for greater tolerance of Catholicism under James 1st, but were disappointed and decided to assassinate both the King and much of the Protestant aristocracy, and use the destruction of Parliament as an opportunity to start a rebellion and found a Catholic State in England under James’ daughter Princess Elizabeth..

The acknowledged leader of the plot was Robert Catesby, with other plotters including Thomas Winter, Christopher Wright, Robert Keyes, Thomas Percy, John Grant, Ambrose Rokewood, Sir Everard Digby, Francis Tresham and Catesby’s servant Thomas Bates . The plot is remembered, however, for the explosives expert the plotters employed – one Guido Fawkes, who had gained his experience with explosives by fighting for the Spanish against the Dutch in the Spanish Netherlands.

The plot took place over several years, with delays to the opening of Parliament allowing for revisions to the plot; originally the plotters planned to tunnel under the Houses of Parliament from a nearby house, but when Thomas Percy leased a vault (or undercroft) under the palace in early 1605 they used this to store the explosives.

Some 36 barrels of explosive had been stored by the end of May 1605, and the conspirators moved far from London to the Midlands, from where they planned to start the rebellion. The conspiracy had grown, in part because the plotters needed further investment to fund the proposed rebellion, and it is thought that one of the newcomers warned the King and Parliament. Guido (or Guy) Fawkes was caught leaving the explosive filled undercroft and promptly arrested. He was taken to the Tower of London and confessed the names of the other plotters under torture.

Several rhymes exist commemorating the plot – the most common being :

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

the rhyme continues :

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli’ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England’s overthrow;
By God’s mercy he was catched
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holla boys, holla boys, let the bells ring.
Holla boys, holla boys, God save the King!

When I was a child (not so very long ago) children would make effigies of Guy Fawkes and stand on the streets collecting money for fireworks with the cry “Penny for the Guy” but this has almost died out, not least because recent legislation prevents children from buying fireworks.

These days most people attend public firework displays, featuring a large bonfire, often with a ‘guy’ on the top. Refreshments often served include treacle toffee (known as bonfire toffee), jacket potatoes and gingerbread (also known as ‘parkin’).

The plot is referenced in the graphic novel (and subsequent movie) ‘V for Vendetta’ where the main protagonist wears a Guy Fawkes mask, and succeeds in blowing Parliament up.

The River Thames has over 200 river crossings, comprising bridges, railway tunnels, service tunnels and one foot tunnel.

This isn’t really surprising as the Thames runs for over two hundred miles and threads through central London, but it’s the bridges and tunnels of central London that we will focus on.

Dartford Crossing

With one exception, the Dartford Crossing lies to the east of London and forms part of the M25 orbital motorway. The Dartford Crossing comprises two road tunnels (completed 1963 and 1980) and the ‘Queen Elizabeth II Bridge”  – the tallest of London’s bridges (completed 1991).

The bridge carries the M25 traffic north-south while two tunnel bores carry traffic south-north; there are toll charges for both the bridge and the tunnels, but these are reduced after 10pm each evening.

Around 150,000 vehicles use the Dartford crossing each day.

Tower Bridge

The easternmost, and most recognisable of London’s bridges is Tower Bridge, opened in 1894 with two towers, an elevated walkway that can be hired for private functions and the road deck that can be raised to allow shipping through. The bridge is still raised around a thousand times a year.

The area west of Tower Bridge as far as London Bridge was known as ‘the pool of London’ and the refurbished wharves on the south side of the river in this stretch are some indication of the extent of trade that was conducted here until the mid twentieth century.

London Bridge

London Bridge is the oldest of London’s bridges, and one of the newest. There has been a bridge at this site (or thereabouts) since around 55AD during the roman occupation of Britain; the current bridge was completed in 1973, its predecessor famously being transported to Lake Havasu City in Arizona.  

Medieval bridges on this site included houses and shops, and the narrow water flows caused the Thames to flow more slowly, this (along with unusually cold weather) is thought to have contributed to the Thames freezing over. The Thames actually froze on 26 occasions and famously in 1683 and 1814 when the ice was thick enough to hold ‘frost fairs’ on the frozen river.

The next river crossing is Cannon Street railway bridge,which carries rail passengers from Cannon Street to South London and Kent. The bridge was first opened in 1866. The next road/pedestrian crossing is Southwark Bridge.

Southwark Bridge

The present Southwark Bridge was completed in 1921, but its predecessor, completed in 1819 became famous through frequent references by Charles Dickens. The 1819 bridge was constructed from cast iron and as such was known as the ‘iron bridge’.

There is a frieze in a pedestrian subway on the south side of the bridge depicting the Frost Fairs mentioned previously.  

Millennium Bridge

As its name suggests, the ‘Millennium Bridge’ was constructed to celebrate the new millennium, it was opened in the year 2000 and quickly became known as ‘the wobbly bridge’. The large numbers of pedestrians caused a feedback/resonance and the bridge had to be closed for additional dampeners to be fitted. The resulting bridge is perhaps slightly less dramatic that the original design, but it’s very popular with tourists, providing a footbridge link between St Paul’s Cathedral and the City of London with the South Bank and the Tate Modern art gallery.

The Millennium Bridge features in the 2009 Harry Potter film – ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’.

The next crossing is Blackfriars Railway Bridge which carries railway traffic, closely followed by Blackfrairs Bridge.

Blackfriars Bridge

The current Blackfriars Bridge was completed in 1869 replacing an earlier (1769) structure. The name is taken from the Dominican Friars who moved their priory into the area on the nerth bank, close to Ludgate Hill in 1276.

Blackfriars Bridge is perhaps best known for being the place (again on the northern bank) where the body of the Italian banker Roberto Calvi was found hanged in 1982.

In a later article I will cover the next bridges west, from Hungerford Bridge to Albert Bridge.

One of the brightest aspects of the regeneration of London’s South Bank is the renaissance of Borough Market.

Borough Market claims to have roots back in the Roman occupation of Britain and the foundation of Londinium, but the first credible record of a market on the site dates back to 1276. The market grew and prospered outside the influence of the City of London to the point where the City managed to get control of the market by royal charter from Edward VI in 1550, confirmed by Charles II in 1671. Unfortunately this generated so much traffic over London Bridge that the charter was repealed by an act of Parliament 1754.

The present market buildings were constructed in 1851, with additions through the 20th century.

The market continues to operate as a wholesale Fruit and Vegetable market each weekday morning, but the business is concluded by 8am.

When I worked near London Bridge in the 1980’s the site was deserted the rest of the time. This made it ideal for film locations, and both Bridget Jones Diary and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels were filmed in the area.

 In recent years the market has become known as a centre for top quality foods and artisan food shops, every weekend (Thursday through Saturday) the area becomes a bustling retail market and tourist destination.

Sadly, the location of the market also means that it is on the route of the proposed Thameslink 2000 railway upgrade programme and while the upgrades will greatly improve the rail network, a number of well loved and historic buildings will be sacrificed within the development.

Recently I posted an article about the cultural (and less cultural) entertainment on offer on the South Bank of the Thames in central London. It was ever thus, I have mentioned in the past about the Guilds of the City of London, and that while they governed the City of London effectively, their influence ended at the City boundaries, encouraging less regulated development outside the City.

The East End of London – in areas like Spitalfields became home to refugee weavers, while South of the Thames areas like Southwark became synonymous with entertainments. There were theatres – notably Shakespeare’s Globe (recreated in recent years), bear bating pits, taverns and prostitution.

In particular the area surrounding Southwark Cathedral (now the site of Borough Market) was property of the Church – in particular the Bishop of Winchester – and a number of ’stews’ – brothels licensed by the Church were located in the area.

It is said that the Cathedral (along with many others) kept a flock of geese in the church grounds and in time the licensed prostitutes became known as “Winchester’s Geese.

The Cross Bones graveyard near Redcross Street inSouthwark was an unconsecrated graveyard for ’single women’ and recent analysis of skulls from the graveyard have found them to have been syphilitic – so it’s reasonable to assume that these weren’t lonely spinsters looking for a husband.  

Interestingly, over the river in the City of London, the churchyard of St Olave’s church near Fenchurch Street station, which contains the grave of the diarist Samuel Pepys and his wife, is also home to the grave of ‘Mother Goose’ buried in 1586.

Perhaps this lady, far from being the pantomime character we know today, was in fact a 16th century ‘madam’?