Walking the City of London

Author: The City Gent Page 36 of 132

Another look at Smithfield pubs.

I found myself in Smithfield last weekend and thought it might be nice to write again about some of the local pubs.

This is the Fox & Anchor in Charterhouse Street …

I’m indebted to the Hidden London website for the following background information.

The pub’s present, four-storey incarnation was built in 1897–9. The architect was Lambeth-born Latham A Withall, who trained and practised in Australia before returning to Britain in the late 1880s. The Art Nouveau tiling and grotesques that grace the pub’s facade were the work of William J Neatby, who at that time was head of the architectural department at Doulton and Company of Lambeth, where all the ceramics were produced …

The street across the road has an odd name …

There is, of course, a blogger who writes about street names and they have established that it’s named after a pub that was demolished to make way for the market. They have consulted the Dictionary of Pub Names, which reckons that a landlord of the tavern was called Fox. Furthermore, his wife made headdresses that incorporated the fashionable ‘topknot’ of the time. Therefore, Fox and Knot. Here’s a link to the Street Names blogger.

The Smithfield Tavern has been renamed but has retained its rather attractive old pub sign …

A nod to the market … golden bulls’ heads …

This plaque intrigued me …

But I couldn’t find out any more about J. H. Schrader.

The Old Red Cow has an impressive exterior even on a miserable dull day …

It boasts of its connection to two very famous characters of the mid-20th century world of entertainment – Lord Bernard Miles and Sir Peter Ustinov

In a walking guide to City pubs published in 1973 the authors Richards and Curl wrote : ‘The origin of this pub name is simplicity itself … As old red cows are a rare sight in this country, it follows that their milk (beer) is of great value.’

The Sutton Arms is another fine Victorian building …

The Rising Sun lives just across the road from the magnificent St Bartholomew the Great church …

You can also see its conveniently close location relative to the market at the end of the alley …

This is The Hope in Cowcross Street …

It is still recognisable from the description back in 1973 – ‘an unusual front, with bow window and large fanlight over a granite plinth’ …

And Richards and Curl also celebrated the ‘encaustic tiles in the corridor and entrance’ …

The entrance to the Sutton Arms has similar decoration …

Two other pubs of interest are The Bishop’s Finger and the Hand & Shears – you can read about them in an earlier Smithfield blog of mine from January last year.

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https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent/

Searching for mice at the Guildhall Art Gallery.

If you get the chance, do visit the Guildhall Art Gallery to see The Big City exhibition. It’s superb, and admission is ‘pay what you can’. The challenge of finding the mice was keeping kids (and adults) very amused during my visit! More about that later.

Here’s my personal selection, starting with City Streets.

Cheapside 10:10 am, 10 February 1970 by Ken Howard (1932-2022)

This picture of Fleet Street in the 1930s is by an unknown artist and has a fascinating back story …

If you look at the characters in the foreground you’ll see that the picture is unfinished. Why is this? The label puts forward a suggestion …

The pedestrian crossing outside Barbican Tube station …

Walk (1995) by Oliver Bevan (Born 1941)

And now some pageantry …

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Service 22 June 1897 by Andrew Carrick Gow (1848-1920)

Suffering from severe arthritis and unable to climb the St Paul’s Cathedral steps, the Queen remained in her coach, so the short service of thanksgiving was held outside the building. Some amazing old film footage has survived and you can view it here and here.

This is a more intimate picture of City pageantry and its participants (with some splendid beards on display) …

A civic procession descending Ludgate Hill, London 1879 by James Jacques Joseph Tissot (1836-1902)

Can you recognise the characters in this little group …

Reception of George V and Queen Mary at the West door of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, Jubilee Day, 6 May 1935 by Frank O. Salisbury (1874-1972)

Now for the mice.

These are two of the most impressively detailed paintings on display …

The Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Banquet, 13 January 1969

And this one …

The Coronation Luncheon to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the Guildhall, London, 12 June 1953

Both are by Terence Cuneo (1907-1996).

His most celebrated commission was the official picture of the Coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953. One day, as he was painting the huge canvas, his cat brought a dead fieldmouse into his studio. As a distraction from the task in hand, Cuneo painted a portrait of it. Subsequently, a mouse became his ‘signature’ and can be found in every one of his paintings.

There are actually two mice in the first picture above and one in the second.

They are so tiny you won’t be able to find them using this blog and will have to visit the Gallery. They are very difficult to identify, especially the second one, so to help you I took the following pictures …

Good luck!

At the far end of the gallery, in a space specially designed for it, you will find at the action-packed painting by John Singleton Copley: Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar 1782

The painting is best viewed from the balcony above

A Spanish attack on Gibraltar was foiled when the Spanish battering ships, also known as floating batteries, were attacked by the British using shot heated up to red hot temperatures (sailors nicknamed them ‘hot potatoes’). Fire spread among the Spanish vessels and, as the battle turned in Britain’s favour, an officer called Roger Curtis set out with gunboats on a brave rescue mission which saved almost 350 people.

Look at the painstaking detail in the faces of the officers and Governor General Augustus Eliot, who is portrayed riding to the edge of the battlements to direct the rescue …

The officers were dispersed after the Gibraltar action and poor Copley had to travel all over Europe to track them down and paint them – a task that took him seven years at considerable expense. He recouped some of his cash in 1791 by exhibiting the picture in a tent in Green Park and charging people a shilling to see it.

Incidentally, just outside the entrance is the lovely little Veterans’ Garden created by the Worshipful Company of Gardeners to support the Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch which takes place today (Thursday 30th March). Read all about it here

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https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent/

‘On safari’ plus a pink banana and other random images.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of getting off the train at what must be one of the most strangely named stations in London …

Apparently the name derives from it being the former dumping ground for mud dredged from the Millwall Docks, which had to be regularly dredged to prevent silting up.

Very close by was the place where my safari started …

I suppose calling my visit a safari is a slight exaggeration but hopefully it sparked your interest to look at the blog.

Having browsed the Internet, this was the image I was hoping to replicate …

Sheep grazing with Canary Wharf in the background – what a great shot.

Unfortunately, on the day I visited the weather was awful and the sheep unobliging …

‘Just what do you think you’re staring at?’

The donkeys looked pretty fed up too …

‘Put that camera away – I’m not looking my best!’

Even the llamas didn’t want to know …

The goats, on the other hand, were delighted to see me …

I have a suspicion that not everyone obeys the ‘Do not feed the animals’ rule.

And I must say, this Ack-ack gun was an unexpected discovery …

These guns were a crucial part of London’s defence system during the War. Scroll down to the end of the blog to see a map of the damage bombs did around St Paul’s Cathedral.

Walking nearby along the river there are some great views and, of course, an interesting bollard or two …

So I’ll try to return when the weather is nicer.

Here are some more random images that I have recorded on my walks.

Outside St Giles the Magnolia trees are blossoming …

Daffs are popping up everywhere. They cheer me up even when the weather is rubbish …

And they’re not alone …

I came cross some Barbican acrobatics …

Barbican water feaures …

Water feature plus residents …

I went to a meeting in Finsbury Circus recently and they had a rather nice roof terrace so I snapped this city skyline view …

I’m not a great fan of that new monster building on Bishopsgate, but it does generate interesting reflections at certain times of day. In the foreground is St Giles Church and on the left Tower 42 …

And finally, an apartment hosting a giant pink banana being cuddled by a furry white poodle. I so wish I knew their background story!

PS Don’t forget, the excellent Magnificent Maps exhibition at the Metropolitan Archive finishes on 29th March, so no time to lose if you want to visit.

This is a screen shot of one of the displays showing the bomb damage around St Paul’s Cathedral …

Here is the key – just look at the devastation and wonder how the Cathedral survived …

If you would like to follow me on Instagram here is the link …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent/

Page 36 of 132

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