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  • Norwich – St. Stephen’s Church (Gates)

    Norwich – St. Stephen’s Church (Gates)

    I’ve learned something new today….. These are the gates of St. Stephen’s Church in Norwich where it meets Chapelfield (Chantry) shopping centre. I hadn’t given them much attention before, but they are finely made and add some character to the entrance to the churchyard. Anyway, what I didn’t know is that the stones set within the gate are there for a reason, they represent the stones that killed St. Stephen, who was stoned to death for his Christian beliefs.

    I admit that this probably isn’t the sort of fact that someone will want to rush to tell others, but I’ll look out for similar such projects when I visit churches dedicated to St. Stephen. As an aside, if the UK had remained Catholic, it’s unlikely we’d have anything called Boxing Day, we’d be like many other European countries and have a St. Stephen’s Day on 26 December.

  • Norfolk – Hundreds and Parishes of Norfolk

    Norfolk – Hundreds and Parishes of Norfolk

    Hundreds of Norfolk (in .pdf format)

    The hundreds are the old administrative divisions of Norfolk, in place from the Anglo-Saxon period to the nineteenth century civic reforms. I hadn’t seen this Hundreds of Norfolk map before, which has the parishes and the hundreds marked on it, which is rather useful. The PDF has been produced by the wonderful Norfolk Record Office and it’s a handy way of seeing how the old parishes and hundreds were made up. There were surprisingly few changes over the centuries, with 36 hundreds in Anglo-Saxon times and 33 by the middle of the nineteenth century.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 257, 258 and 259

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 257, 258 and 259

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…. And to catch up after getting behind with these posts, and because I’m getting towards the end of the book, I’m doing three days at once now. How lovely….

    Pin Money

    This is defined by Grose as “an allowance settled on a married woman for her pocket expenses” and it would have primarily been used to buy clothing and accessories (accessories here more defined as pins than anything more decadent). Sometimes it meant the sum of money given to the woman to run the household and there are some legal cases where pin money was given to women as settlements (not unlike today’s divorce arrangements). The phrase came into use in the mid-sixteenth century and is still used today, although usually in a wider meaning of just giving or paying someone a small amount of money.

     

    Plumb

    The definition here is “an hundred thousand pounds”, with Grose’s use of the word ‘an’ being common at the time as the ‘h’ of hundred was often not very clearly pronounced. This word could be spelled as ‘plum’ without the ‘b’ and the word ‘plum’ also meant wealthy, although I’m unsure why it came to mean £100,000 in particular. The word was mostly used by the criminal underworld and there were references to a ‘quarter of a plum’ and ‘half a plum’, so £25,000 and £50,000 respectively. It faded out of usage by around the middle of the nineteenth century.

     

    Porridge Island

    This is another one of Grose’s geographical definitions, “an alley leading from St. Martin’s church-yard to Roundcourt, chiefly inhabited by cooks, who cut off ready-dressed meat of all sorts, and also sell soup”.

    This is Horwood’s map of London from 1790, so from the same time as Grose’s book. St. Martin’s churchyard and the Roundcourt can be seen on the map (clicking on the map makes it larger). This is today a much visited part of London, as St. Martin’s Church still stands and is now on the edge of Trafalgar Square, which was laid out in the 1820s. Unfortunately, nothing else remains of the street plan where Roundcourt once stood, although the line of The Strand is unchanged. This part of London is now relatively modern and in places quite soulless, it must have been rather a sight to have seen this area inhabited by cooks selling their soup.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Victoria and Albert Museum (13th Century Doors from Gannat)

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Victoria and Albert Museum (13th Century Doors from Gannat)

    OK, I’ll admit that this doesn’t perhaps seem like fascinating blog content. It’s some old wooden doors from the thirteenth century with ironwork and they’re from Gannat, a commune in central France. The museum has some notes about just how rare these are and how they can be dated from their design and also as it was a transitional process of how chisels were used on the iron scrollwork.

    To be honest, that level of detail is a little over my head, I just like the element of history here. These doors would have been in use for hundreds of years and at one stage they were hung upside down, which is evident from the much later keyhole and lock. It’s not known which building these doors are originally from, but such decorative iron would have been expensive, so this would have been a substantial property.

    What does interest me here is just imagining how many people used these doors over the centuries. There are several church doors in Norfolk that date from the Norman period and there’s something quite magical about the thought of just how many people have passed through the doors for baptisms, marriages, funerals and the more routine sermons (of which I’m sure at least a few have been quite dull and mundane). The next stop on the church tour that Richard and I are doing is Runhall Church, where the tower door is thought to be contemporary with the building of the tower itself in the twelfth century. More on this in the next few weeks hopefully….

    The V&A likely have these doors on display as they want to show the design of the ironwork from the period, but I just liked that things such as this have survived and are visible to the general public. For anyone fascinated by old doors (I’m not sure how big that niche is….), there is just one left in the UK which is made from wood felled in Saxon times and it’s at Westminster Abbey.

  • London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Ibis Shoreditch

    London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Ibis Shoreditch

    Back a few weeks to when people could actually visit London, this is the Ibis Hotel in Shoreditch which is just a short walk from London Liverpool Street. Ideally also, it’s opposite Aldgate East Underground station, so it’s an easy hotel to get to.

    This visit was at a time when people could have a drink if they were also ordering a substantial meal. But, although the hotel was offering meals, there wasn’t much of a take-up.

    Part of the hotel’s decor, trying to give that East London theme to proceedings. The whole arrangement felt modern and welcoming, with something of an Ibis Styles type approach to the design rather than Ibis.

    This is the free welcome drink, one of the better ones which I’ve been offered. It’s not the finest in the Brewdog range, but I do very much like Punk IPA, nice and citrusy…. I look forwards to other Ibis hotels offering something slightly more exciting than Budweiser.

    The bedroom, all clean and comfortable. And it was located on the top floor and away from the elevator, just where I like. There were no noise issues either, although I’m not sure that the 348-room hotel was actually that busy. The hotel also had windows that could open, as I’m one of those slightly strange customers who likes the noise of city traffic and police sirens. It also meant that the temperature in the room was easy to control, something which I do most appreciate.

    I did very much appreciate the gesture and that’s a nice handwritten card, although secretly (well, not that secretly actually) I would have preferred chocolate…..

    Anyway, the stay as all sufficiently uneventful, which is ideally how hotel stays should be if it means that no disasters took place. Staff seemed friendly, although slightly underworked through the lack of guests, and I’ll come back here again.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 254, 255 and 256

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 254, 255 and 256

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…. And to catch up after getting behind with these posts, and because I’m getting towards the end of the book, I’m doing three days at once now. How lovely….

    Pigeon’s Milk

    And a prank from times gone by, defined by Grose as “boys and novices are frequently sent on the first of April to buy pigeon’s milk”.

    Google Ngram shows how the prank has slowly fallen out of favour.

     

    Pillaloo

    This word is defined by Francis Grose as “the Irish cry or howl at funerals”, although it originated as a hunting cry. The word dates to at least the early seventeenth century and is derived from the old Irish word puilliliú.

    And Google Ngram’s history of the word, which is now used relatively infrequently.

     

    Pin Basket

    One of the more simple definitions, this is “the youngest child”. This harks back to a long lost tradition of when a pincushion used to be given as a present to a new mother, with pins inserted of various lengths to indicate the children by age. The youngest would thus have the shortest pin, with this phrase dating from around the middle of the eighteenth to the middle of the nineteenth century.

  • Streets of Norwich – Barwells Court

    Streets of Norwich – Barwells Court

    Part of my Streets of Norwich project….

    This court connects St. Stephen’s Church to St. Stephen’s Street and isn’t the easiest of pathways to socially distance on, although fortunately I didn’t see anyone when walking down it.

    There is very little visually that is of much interest along this court, but its survival is quite remarkable as nearly every building along its route has changed over the last century. This was once where people lived and worked, but is now the rear of shops which stretch along St. Stephen’s Street. Norwich once had hundreds of courts and yards, although relatively few of them have survived in anything like their original form.

    This is the original width of the path and it has always been a thoroughfare and not just a court which has been opened up.

    This is looking towards St. Stephen’s Street and there is now a connection between the two properties which joins the buildings.

    Looking at the entrance to Barwells Court from St. Stephen’s Street, where there is now a Superdrug on one side and M&S on the other (formerly an H Samuels before M&S kept making their shop bigger).

    The court takes its name from Barwells Wine Merchants, which had been set up by John Barwell (1798-1876) and he was married to Louisa Barwell, the musician and educational writer. As ever, George Plunkett has a photograph here of interest, which shows damage from the Second World War and also what was underneath what is now Superdrug, but was then the premises of Barwells Wine Merchants.

  • Streets of Norwich – Fishers Lane

    Streets of Norwich – Fishers Lane

    Part of my Streets of Norwich project…. I hadn’t forgotten about it, and perhaps in 2021 I might finish it.

    This is Fishers Lane (Fisher Lane on the above map) which is between Pottergate and St. Giles Street. The map above is around 100 years old, the one below is around 150 years old and maps in general alternate between Fisher and Fishers Lane (as well as Fisher’s Lane).

    Clicking on the image will make the map larger and it’s possible to see there were two courts off this street, the Bear & Staff Court and Roache’s Court.

    From 1907.

    The police didn’t like the pub called the Bear & Staff and in 1908 they complained to magistrates that the customers were of a lower class and criminals frequented it. Its location, tucked away in that court, does give it a feel of being somewhat of a vibrant location. The pub sadly closed in 1910, if it had survived I imagine it would have been one of Norwich’s quirkiest drinking options. Unfortunately, the entire street has been lost, although George Plunkett was able to get a photograph of the southern side in 1938.

    The entrance to Fishers Lane from St Giles Street and that is St Giles Hotel on the left hand side.

    Sadly, most of the historic interest of this street has been lost, the entrance to Bear & Staff Court would have been around where the two buildings on the left hand side join. The ugly cladded building is Vantage House, which was used as offices by the council, but the owners have been granted permission to turn it into 44 flats. That cladding was added by Harley Facades, better known now perhaps for their work on the Grenfell Tower refurbishment. I’m not sure why the council have granted permission for it to be turned into flats (although I think they might have had limited powers to stop it as it’s a conversion), it’s not a pleasant building and I’d have thought it would have been better to demolish it and replace it with something more uniquely designed and purpose built for housing.

    Looking back to St Giles Street.

    The buildings on the other side of the road are older and are former warehouses, although nothing on the street is listed (other than the properties facing onto St Giles Street).

    Standing on Pottergate looking back up the hill.

  • British Library – British Library’s Georeferencer service

    British Library – British Library’s Georeferencer service

    Several years ago, the British Library placed one million images on Flickr as part of their attempt to encourage people to engage more with their collections. The above image is just one of those, it’s from the book ‘A Guide to Cambridge’ by Sir George Murray Humphry which was published in 1883.

    I rather like maps, they can be fascinating in terms of what history they show, or in a modern sense, they can inspire new travel ideas and expeditions. Having written that, I don’t use maps for navigation, I’m sold on devices which use GPS and that can show you exactly where you are on the map with a helpful blue dot.

    Anyway, the reason I mention all of this is that I noticed that the British Library have a service called the Georeferencer Service, which places the old map on top of a modern map. So, the map above is transformed at http://britishlibrary.georeferencer.com/id/11164993723. It’s not the only way to achieve this, but it’s managed well and I hope that the British Library are able to add more maps to this in the future. Individuals can assist the British Library with their efforts and there’s more information on this at https://www.bl.uk/projects/georeferencer.

     

  • London – Hackney (Borough of) – Hackney – St. Augustine’s Church

    London – Hackney (Borough of) – Hackney – St. Augustine’s Church

    The tower is all that is left of St. Augustine’s Church in Hackney, which was known as St. John’s Church between 1660 and 1798, the change being a recognition of the former financial involvement of the Knights of St. John. The main part of the building was demolished in 1798, with a larger replacement church being constructed nearby, which is also known as St. John’s. The tower is now the oldest building still standing in Hackney, although the initial intentions were to also demolish this when the new church opened.

    The tower is visible in the centre of this map from around 100 years ago, with the new church to the north-east of it.

    The former church could hold just 1,000 people and this wasn’t sufficient for the congregation size that wanted to attend. The new building held 2,000 people and was designed by James Spiller, who also designed London’s Great Synagogue which was unfortunately destroyed during the London Blitz.

    There wasn’t initially sufficient money to build a tower at the new church, so this part of the old structure was left standing to hold the bells. The new church didn’t receive its tower until 1814, but it was then discovered that the structure wasn’t strong enough to hold the bells, which wasn’t exactly ideal. Finally, in the 1850s, the work was completed to allow the bells to be moved to the new church, and by this time, it was decided to just leave the tower standing at the old church.

    Some of these tomb stones are from the seventeenth century and I assume that they have been moved from their former location either in the nave or from within chapels. The nave and chancel of St. Augustine’s Church had been rebuilt by Sir John Heron and Christopher Urswick in 1517 and, other than for some additions to add capacity, not much had changed by the time it was demolished.

    Where the nave once met the tower, this is also the meeting point for when tours take place as it’s possible to climb to the top of the tower.

    I’m not at all impressed at this little arrangement, where the stones from the graveyard have all been collected up and placed at the side of the park. Although, this may well have had the effect of saving some of the stones from the damage which would have been done through pollution and weathering. I don’t know when this was done, but, at a guess, I suspect it was in 1885 when the public gardens were laid out. It was certainly done by 1908, as the book mentioned in the next paragraph notes that some gravestones were lost and the rest were stacked three abreast around the outside.

    As an aside, it’s not just me who complains about the poor treatment of gravestones and nor is this a modern concern. The 1908 ‘The Fascination of London – Hackney and Stoke Newington’ book by GE Mitton noted “it is said in the demolition of the old church the monuments were shamefully treated, and some of the stones were broken up and used for paving purposes”.

    One of the memorials in the churchyard.

    Stones have been placed to mark where the corners of the old church used to be, this one marks the north-west corner.

    One of the tombs in the graveyard. There was actually another survivor from the demolition of the church in the late eighteenth century, which was the Rowe Chapel which had been built in 1614. This was kept as it was privately owned and it was protected and given a new roof. Having noted that, the demolition of the church was clumsy and without much care for heritage, it was noted at the time that the figures on the tombs lost their heads and damaged fragments were just kept in the toolshed. Unfortunately, the structure collapsed in 1877, although the chapel was still kept in situ. It was only in 1896 that the chapel was demolished and the now badly damaged monuments taken to the new church.

    Hackney is unfortunate to have lost the church that it did, although at least the remaining tower is Grade I listed. The new church, slightly surprisingly for such an innovative project, was seen by many as quite dull and plain when it opened, and it certainly looks like that internally today. I didn’t find much of interest in terms of the architecture of the new church (I say new, it’s over 200 years old), but the heritage of the former site is fascinating and a number of information boards have been put up around the site.