All posts by Black-Rat

Auctions, Bridges, Creatures, Events, Food and Drink, Free, Freemen, Lord Mayor, Morris Dancing, Processions, Sheep, Tangential Topics, Xmas

Events

Upcoming events involving or sometimes merely tangential to the City and Docklands. Dates a little sparse at the moment as many places have not yet released their 2024 schedule.

2024

April 7th. London Landmarks Half Marathon. Alongside the Marathon, free walking tours in several parts of the City. [Details to follow]

June 2024. Knolly’s Rose Procession. Delivery of a single rose to the Lord Mayor to settle a 600 year old planning permission problem (don’t you just love the City?!) . [Details to follow, date unconfirmed].

Sunday September 21st. Sheep Drive. Freemen exercise their right to drive animals across a City bridge. Details to follow, [date unconfirmed].

Tuesday September 24th. City Giving Day.

Saturday November 10th. Lord Mayor’s Show. Welcoming in the new Lord Mayor. Details to follow.

Saturday December 14th. North Wood Morris Xmas Day of Dance. All day traditional entertainment opposite the City on the South Bank. [Recheck date nearer the time].

Saturday December 22rd, 10:00am to 11:30am. Head for Smithfield Market and grab a meaty bargain at the Annual “Xmas Eve” meat and turkey auction [not confirmed]

2025

Dates provisional

Sunday January 5th, 12:30. Blessing Of The River. Takes place on London Bridge. Details will be at calendarcustoms.com/articles/blessing-the-river-thames . [Date not confirmed].

Creatures, Fake facts and folklore, Plague, Tangential Topics

The Black Rat

Rats are not indigenous to the UK. The first rat, Rattus Rattus or the Black Rat or Ship Rat came from India and arrived with the Romans during their occupation of England (43-410ad) . Despite being called black, some were light or dark brown.

The rat was unjustly blamed for spreading the Bubonic Plague.

Rattus Norvegicus– the Brown Rat or Sewer Rat – arrived in the 1700s and this is the rat you’ll see these days.

Despite the Latin name, the Norwegian connection is uncertain and the Brown Rat is believed to have come from China.

They don’t make themselves evident in the City except on the site of St Gabriel Fenchurch off Fen Court where they may be seen quite often, day and night.

The Brown rat is in the same category the Grey Squirrel and Signal Crayfish: a successful invasive species which ousted its incumbent counterpart.

In the UK the Black Rat was last recorded in the Hebrides in 2018 but is now probably extinct in the wild in the UK, though small colonies may survive on some offshore islands and across the river in Southwark. It is still bred in captivity and sold as pets or used in laboratory experiments.

SQUIRRELS

It amuses me that people will feed a squirrel but run away from a rat. They are very similar and both, of course, vermin. A squirrel is effectively a rat with a hairdresser and a PR agent.

Churches, Ruins

City Churches

There fifty churches in the City. Of these seven are no longer functioning and are either in ruins or only the tower survives.

Here is the list, a * indicates an ‘extinct’ church.

All Hallows by the Tower
All Hallows on the Wall
*Christ Church Greyfriars
City Temple
Holy Sepulchre
*St Alban
St Andrew by the Wardrobe
St Andrew Holborn
St Andrew Undershaft
St Anne and St Agnes
*St Augustine
St Bartholomew the Great
St Bartholomew the less
St Benet Paul’s Wharf
St Botolph without Aldersgate
St Botolph without Aldgate
St Botolph without Bishopsgate
St Bride’s
St Clement Eastcheap
*St Dunstan in the East
St Dunstan in the West
St Edmund, King and Martyr
St Ethelburga
St Giles Cripplegate
St Helen’s Bishopsgate
St James Garlickhythe
St Katherine Cree
St Lawrence Jewry
St Magnus the Martyr
St Margaret Lothbury
St Margaret Pattens
St Martin without Ludgate
St Mary Abchurch
*St Mary Aldermanbury
St Mary Aldermary
St Mary at Hill
St Mary le Bow
St Mary Moorfields
*St Mary Somerset
St Mary Woolnorth
St Michael Cornhill
St Michael Paternoster Royal
St Nicholas Cole Abbey
St Olave Hart Street
*St Olave Old Jewry
St Paul’s Cathedral
St Peter Cornhill
St Stephen Walbrook
St Vedast Foster
Temple

50 churches in total, 43 extant, 7 in ruins or repurposed.

Railways, Tunnels

James Greathead

1844-1896

Born in South Africa, Greathead arrived in the UK in 1859 and studied under a noted engineer called Peter Barlow.

At this time, Marc Brunel had developed his Tunnelling Shield and used it to eventually dig the Wapping Tunnel.

Barlow created a smaller version of the shield which in turn was further adapted by Greathead to build the Tower Subway in 1870.

In 1886 a shield developed from this one was used to bore the City and South London railway (which become today’s Northern Line) and, in 1898, the Waterloo and City line – something Greathead never lived to see.

Navigation, Tangential Topics

Sextant and Octant

Many of us have heard of a sextant – but maybe not an octant.

So called because it traverses an arc covering 60 degrees or one sixth of a circle.

It would be used on a ship to measure the elevation of celestial objects – sun, moon, planets or stars – and then by reference to tables, clock or calendar determine how far north or south the vessel was – to an accuracy of around a thousand feet.

The sextant was preceded by the octant which worked through an arc of 45 degrees or an eighth of a circle. As a navel cadet, engineer Marc Brunel made his own octant.

The sextant found favour in the late 1700s when new navigational techniques required a device which would compare the elevations of the sun and moon. The octants 45 degree ‘sweep’ was often insufficient as larger angle were needed.

1500s, DRAFTS, Livery Companies

Order of Precedence

In 1515 it was decided to rank the livery companies in order of importance and their position depended on their wealth. Companies incorporated after this were numbered chronologically.

This order of precedence is manifest in events such as the Lord Mayor’s show, the annual procession to welcome in the new mayor.

1400s, 1500s, Candles, Embalmers, Livery Companies

Wax Chandlers

So, who are the Wax Chandlers?

Think candles and you’d largely be right. The Company’s powers date back to 1484, when King Richard the 3rd  issued them with a Royal Charter granting them control over the Wax trade in the City – the wax being beeswax.

They are number twenty in the order of precedence.

What business did the Chandlers regulate?

Candlemaking was certainly a trade regulated by the Company – but only those made from beeswax, candles made from tallow were overseen by the Tallow Chandlers company.

Funerals as well were with the company’s remit and its members included the City’s embalmers.

Members producing candles not made from pure new beeswax could be imprisoned, fined, made to endure a spell in the pillory or even expelled from the Company. The latter sanction meant that they would no longer be allowed to trade in the City.

The importance of purity is echoed in the Company’s coat of arms which features unicorns.

Beeswax was a valuable commodity and was even used as a barter currency.

Aside from candles they also made wax images, wax moulds and seals for documents as well as candles, tapers and torches.

Today the Company is no longer a regulatory body but does support the beekeeping and beeswax industries.

It’s also involved with initiatives with what is called CleanTech – the promotion of sustainable and non-polluting technologies.

They support education charities helping children from poor families, those with language or communication challenges and those with special needs.

Creatures, Fake facts and folklore, Tangential Topics, Unicorns, Virgins

Unicorns

Unicorns are found in several City churches including St Benet Paul’s Wharf and St James Garlickhythe. They also appear on the coat of arms of the Wax Chandlers’ livery company.

In heraldry they signify purity.                         

Belief in Unicorns survived in medieval times.

Here is how to capture one.

As dusk falls, obtain a lady who is a virgin.

Take her into the woods and sit her down against a tree.

Tie her to the tree so she cannot escape and leave her there.

Tip toe back in the middle of the night.

Hopefully you will find a Unicorn resting its head in her lap because she is so pure.

1100s, 1400s, 1600s, Anti-semitism, Blood LIbel, Jews

Blood Libel

The City’s first Jews arrived in 1066 and England’s Jewish community was to endure what was called Blood Libel.

This was an accusation made against Jews concerning matzahs which is the unleavened bread used in the Passover ceremony which takes place every March or April.

This was an allegation that Christian children were sacrificed and their blood used as an ingredient in the matzahs.

This showed ignorance to begin with as Jewish diet forbids the consumption of blood.

Going a long way from the City the most infamous case took place in a town called Trent in Italy in 1475 when a two year old boy named Simon disappeared. It was rumoured that he’d been taken for a ritual sacrifice. The whole local Jewish community was massacred as a result.

The infant Simon was made into a saint and this led to the cult of Simon of Trent which had followers all across Europe and ascribed hundreds of miracles to him.

It took until 1965 for Simon to be unsainted.

First recorded UK case was in 1144 when an English boy, William of Norwich, was found brutally murdered with strange wounds to his head, arms, and torso. His uncle, a priest, blamed local Jews, and a rumour spread that Jews crucified a Christian child every year at Passover.

More persecution resulted.

The Jews were expelled by Edward 1 in 1290 and remained exiled for almost 400 years until the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, invited them back in the mid 1600s.