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A Deer Little Ship

    Across the river on the Southwark side, opposite Cannon Street Station, you can see a small Tudor-like ship. This is the Golden Hinde II, a full-sized replica of Sir Francis Drake’s famous ship that circumnavigated the globe between 1577 and 1580 and made Drake and Queen Elizabeth I very rich. In December 1577 Drake set out from Plymouth with 5 ships, which included the Pelican; however this was changed to the Golden Hinde, in honour of Sir Christopher Hatton, one of the patrons of the voyage. His coat of arms featured a female red deer - a ‘hinde’. This epic voyage brought Drake into the Pacific, where he managed to plunder Spanish shi...

Track the Vintners' plaques

The Grapes, Lime Street  As you turn right out of Mansion House Station and walk down Garlick Hill, look up to your left and you’ll see two Vintners’ plaques positioned high up on a redbrick building. The property is no longer in the Company’s possession but it reminds us that across the centuries, throughout the City, several addresses were acquired by the Vintners’ Company.  Despite a change of ownership, and indeed in most cases a complete rebuild, you can still find clear signs of our previous extensive involvement in real estate.    Just to the east of Leadenhall Market is Lime Street, a curving street that leads up to the Lloyds building...