Category: Maps Page 1 of 5

Epping Forest at the Guildhall Heritage Gallery. And some very sad news regarding the author Gillian Tindall.

On 27th November 2025

In Maps, Social History, Special Exhibitions

Firstly, another really interesting visit to the Heritage Gallery, housed in the same building as the Guildhall Art Gallery.

Stretching from the suburbs of East London to Epping in Essex, Epping Forest offers nearly 6,000 acres of ancient woodland and open heath for recreation, conservation, and enjoyment. I like this old map I found from about 100 years ago (not on display at the exhibition) …

The land has a long and layered history shaped by royal privilege, commoning traditions, and conservation efforts. Its roots go back to at least the early Middle Ages, when the area formed part of the vast Forest of Essex, a legally defined royal forest subject to forest law. These laws were designed not simply to protect trees, but to safeguard game animals, particularly deer, for royal hunting. From the Norman period, successive monarchs used it for sport and prestige.

From the thirteenth century onward, local people asserted customary rights such as grazing, collecting firewood, and foraging, contributing to a distinctive woodland landscape of pollarded trees and open glades. These traditions helped preserve the forest, even as other woodlands across England were cleared for agriculture.

By the nineteenth century, however, pressures from enclosure and private development threatened to fragment the forest. A crucial turning point came with the Epping Forest Act of 1878, championed by the City of London Corporation. The act ended enclosure, protected commoners’ rights, and placed the forest under the Corporation’s stewardship. Today, Epping Forest remains a rare ancient woodland, valued both for its biodiversity and its cultural heritage. On display at the Heritage Gallery are a selection of items showcasing this rich history.

The map on display …

It was drawn by local surveyor William D’Oyley and shows the boundaries and ownership of land in Epping Forest as reached by 1876. Oriented with west at the top, it highlights areas unlawfully enclosed. D’Oyley was appointed as the forest’s first (if temporary) Superintendent.

Queen Victoria visited Epping Forest in 1882 and formally dedicated it ‘to the use and enjoyment of my people for all time’. A decorative invitation to the event is on display along with one commemorating a visit by the Lord Mayor …

Management of the forest was entrusted by the City to the Superintendent and his team of Forest Keepers who enforced bye-laws, supported conservation efforts and enabled visitor access.

The keepers kept daily diaries to record patrols, seasonal changes and incidents. An example from 1903 is on display which describes the apprehension of a man with a catapult who is duly hauled off to the police station …

There is a 1912 report by Forest Keeper Sidney Butt concerning illegal bird trapping …

Seen in the photograph above, Sidney joined the service in 1894, following in the footsteps of his father who had been one of the original Keepers of 1876. A Forest Keeper until 1938, Sidney emboied the dedication of those who cared for the forest.

Uniforms such as the one in the photograph were a point of pride and discipline for Keepers while everyday attire had to be robust and practical for regular woodland patrols.

I like this correspondence from clothes outfitters Hyam & Co Limited regarding Forest Keeper Mutch who, between 1892 and 1894 had ‘got very much stouter’ …

There’s a section on visiting the forest …

… and some fascinating signage with a detailed background history …

It’s a terrific little exhibition and it’s always a pleasure to visit the Guildhall Art Gallery as well. Entry is free as are the regular, informative guided tours. You can also visit the beautiful works by Evelyn De Morgan but hurry because the event closes on 4th January next year. You can read more about it here.

There are also lots of nice things for sale in the Gallery shop. That little book in the middle of the top shelf looks interesting!

Finally, some sad news. Last week I was privileged to attend the launch of Gillian Tindall’s book Journal of a Man Unknown at Hatchards, Piccadilly. Gillian died on 1st October but, although tinged with sadness, it was also a joyous occasion with a speech by Colin Thubron and a reading from her novel. Click here for the eulogy which Thubron read at her memorial gathering held at Cecil Sharp House in Regent’s Park on Friday last week. Click here for her obituary in The Guardian newspaper.

Click here to order a copy of the book.

If you have not read anything by Gillian before you are in for a treat. May I suggest two of my favourites: The House by the Thames and The Tunnel Through Time. She was also a regular guest author of Spitalfields Life and you can read one of her contributions (on the history of the underground railway) here.

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

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent

Lots to see at the Guildhall Art Gallery – William the Conqueror, Peabody Buildings, the regulation of bread and Lord Mayors’ Shows.

By The City Gent

On 12th January 2023

In Art, Maps, Social History

Visiting the Guildhall Art Gallery is always a treat. Exhibitions change all the time and, tucked away near the cloakroom, is the small City of London Heritage Gallery, which is free to enter.

There are not many exhibits but they are usually all fascinating.

Seek out this little display. It contains the William Charter of 1067, the City of London’s oldest document, which tells us what happened when William I reached London after the Battle of Hastings …

Written on vellum (parchment) in Old English, it measures just six inches by one-and-a-half inches. It also comes complete with one of the earliest surviving seals from William the Conqueror’s reign …

Translated into modern English, the Charter reads as follows:

‘William the king, friendly salutes William the bishop and Godfrey the portreeve and all the burgesses within London both French and English. And I declare that I grant you to be all law-worthy, as you were in the days of King Edward; And I grant that every child shall be his father’s heir, after his father’s days; And I will not suffer any person to do you wrong; God keep you.’

City of London historians point out that one of the citizens’ primary concerns, as expressed by the words – “And I grant that every child shall be his father’s heir, after his father’s days” – was to ensure that their property handed down to the son and heir, rather than attracting the interest of the Crown.

Nearby there’s a cabinet dedicated to the great philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869). In retirement he devoted himself to charitable causes setting up a trust, the Peabody Donation Fund, to assist ‘the honest and industrious poor of London’. The Peabody Trustees would use the fund to provide ‘cheap, clean, well-drained and healthful dwellings for the poor’ with the first donation being made in 1862. The exhibition contains an illustration of the estate at Clapham Junction …

My ‘local’ estate is the one on Whitecross Street and dates from 1883 – the design is very typical Peabody, with honey coloured bricks and a pared down Italianate style …

Here he sits, looking pretty relaxed, at the northern end of the Royal Exchange Buildings …

You can read more about him here in my blog City Living.

The Assize of Bread and Ale was a 13th-century law which regulated the price, weight and quality of the bread and beer. This medieval custumal (collection of customs) has drawings of bakers at work and others being punished for selling underweight loaves …

The punishment for the first offence was to be dragged through the city with the offending loaf around the person’s neck …

Incidentally, a second offence punishment was to be put in the pillory for an hour …

This may not sound like much but in addition to being jeered and mocked, those in the pillory might be pelted with rotten food, mud, offal, dead animals, and animal excrement. Sometimes people were killed or maimed in the pillory because crowds could get too violent and pelt the offender with stones, bricks and other dangerous objects.

On committing a third offence the baker’s oven was pulled down. This was the end of the person’s business, so unless someone bailed them out, they would be destitute.

The legislation was continually updated as this poster from 1905 illustrates …

At the Gallery there are films running showing, among other scenes, glimpses of the 1960 Lord Mayor’s show …

There are two paintings of a show near the main gallery entrance. This is 12:18 and 10 seconds (2010) by Carl Laubin …

The other is one of my favourites, William Logsdail’s painting entitled The Ninth of November 1888 …

Although it’s the Lord Mayor’s procession in this picture he is nowhere to be seen and the artist has concentrated on the liveried beadles (who he actually painted in his studio)…

… and the people in the crowd …

There is a minstrel in blackface with his banjo and next to him a little boy is nicking an orange from the old lady’s basket. On the right of the picture the man in the brown hat, next to the soldier with the very pale face, is Logsdail’s friend the painter Sir James Whitehead.

Naughty boy!

It’s a sobering thought that, not far away in the East End that afternoon, police were discovering the body of Mary Kelly, believed to be the last of Jack the Ripper’s victims.

By the way, the Heritage room also has on permanent display a back lit illustration of the famous Agas Map …

I have spent ages looking at it spotting street names that still exist today and open speces like Moorfields …

You’ll find an interactive version here, have fun exploring it.

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

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The history of Passing Alley and other St John Street features.

By The City Gent

On 14th October 2021

In Architecture, Commerce, Maps

You may remember that last week I suggested you reflect on the origin of the name of this narrow thoroughfare which has this entrance in St John’s Lane …

And another in St John Street …

As you have probably guessed, it was originally called Pissing Alley and appears as such in John Roque’s map of 1776 …

By 1792, however, according to Horwood’s Plan, it had become Passing Alley. See if you can spot it …

The blog A London Inheritance tells us that, although Passing Alley gives the impression of being one of London’s ancient alleys, in London terms it is relatively recent. It was originally around 40 feet to the north of its current location, however late 19th century development, which included the building that now provides access to the alley, required the shift of the alley to the south. The name does not necessarily refer to 18th century chaps bursting for a wee but may actually reference the location of cesspits in the area.

Incidentally, there was a Pissing Lane in the City. It’s shown on the Agas Map of 1561 but has since disappeared under Cannon Street Station …

Another walk along St John Street has revealed some more interesting buildings.

Number 16 was the former Cross Keys inn. It was rebuilt in 1886–7 for Lovell & Christmas, provision merchants. It has been closed as a pub since the Second World War and was occupied during the 1980s as the London headquarters and library of the Communist Party of Great Britain, before being refurbished as offices in the early 1990s …

You can see the cross keys symbol at roof level.

18-29 is a Gothic-style warehouse of 1886–7. It was built speculatively by Richard Curtis, builder and contractor of Aldersgate Street. Curtis went bankrupt during the work, and the building was completed for his mortgagee, the Nineteenth Century Building Society, who let it in 1889 to S. Oppenheimer & Co., sausage-skin manufacturers …

For more sausage-related history have a look at last week’s blog.

The exact date of construction of Number 22 next door is not known, but the little house is evidently of the early eighteenth century …

It appears to be the survivor of a row of three similar houses mentioned in the will of Frances Ashton, née Chew, proved in 1727. The house was in commercial use by the 1820s, and was occupied from then until the 1890s by a succession of wire-workers, manufacturing being carried on in a workshop in the back yard.

Here it is with its neighbours in 1946 …

*Picture credit : British History Online*.

Number 24 was erected in 1863–4 for George Penson, provision merchant, replacing the Golden Lion inn. It’s is a tall, narrow house faced in brick, with, originally, a ground-floor shop …

One can’t fail to be impressed by the Farmiloe building. Until their departure to Mitcham in April 1999, the lead and glass merchants George Farmiloe & Sons were one of Clerkenwell’s longest-established firms, and this was their headquarters.

During the company’s heyday in the first half of the twentieth century, the firm was supplying a variety of materials to the building trade, including paint, brasswork and sanitary ware, as well as lead and glass.

It’s a fine example of Victorian commercial architecture, featuring an attractive Italianate palazzo-style frontage executed in Portland stone, white Suffolk brick and polished Aberdeen granite.

The stonework is embellished with delicate decoration, both incised and in relief …

To the right is an archway leading to a courtyard facing a large covered warehouse at the rear of the building …

Numbers 44-46 are intriguing …

Here they are in 1877 …

At the back of the warehouse, which included offices and a manager’s flat, are outbuildings ranged round a courtyard, originally bacon stoves, stores and stabling but now converted to offices and business units …