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A Bit of Bishopsgate

Visit the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington and, among its many treasures, you’ll find a rare survival of pre-Great Fire architecture from the city of london. Peter Pindar’s house originally stood on Bishopsgate, about where Liverpool Street Station now stands. When the station was developed the Chairman and Directors of the Great Eastern Railway Company gave it to the museum.  It’s made of oak and dates from around 1600, when merchant Paul Pindar had it built - more of him later. The impressive full-height windows would have originally been glazed, either with imported glass or local greenish glass. The semi-circular window shap...

The door, the statue and the city of london

200 miles north of london, near the cathedral city of Ripon, lies Newby Hall. It’s a handsome house, originally built by Sir Christopher Wren and enlarged and improved by John Carr of York and Robert Adam. It was once owned by the Weddell family, and later became the home of the Marquesses of Ripon. Today it’s owned by the Compton family, who are descendants of the family and who have maintained its beautiful gardens. They’ve even installed a miniature railway (and Gyles Brandreth’s collection of teddy bears). Walk around the extensive grounds and aside from the herbaceous borders, an enchanting rock garden and the gentle River Ure, you’ll find a weat...

Feeling CoLD

In Bride Lane, a narrow street off Fleet Street, you’ll find the city’s only gin distillery. Walk down the steps and it seems you’re entering a smart gentlemen’s club, with leather sofas and dimmed lighting. A quick glance to the right, however, and you’ll spot a still, all gleaming copper and twisted pipework. In recent years gin has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance. It was only a few years ago that Beefeater was the sole london maker but now a whole load of boutique businesses have cropped up: Sipsmith, Portobello Road and Bloom. It seems the thirst for a G & T is unquenchable! The city of london Distillery was founded in November...

Bath time, Londinium style

Under an undistinguished office block in Lower Thames Street, opposite the Custom House and below St Dunstan-in-the-East lies a hidden gem of Roman london: a Roman house and bathhouse. It lies some way back from the river but in its heyday this building complex would have overlooked the River Thames from its hillside location. It may have been a ‘mansio’, which offered comfortable accommodation to officials - a bit like the nearby Premier Inn! When you venture down there’s a surprising amount to see. What survives are the north and east wings of the L-shaped house but there’s no trace of the west wing. The east side was kept warm with u...

At Sixes and Sevens

If you walk along Cloak Lane, just off Dowgate in the city of london, look up and you’ll see some interesting plaques on the wall. They show the numbers 6 and 7. What are they doing there? Cloak Lane - nothing to do with outer garments but a corruption of the latin word for drain, cloaca - includes buildings owned by the Worshipful Company of Skinners. This ancient livery company, whose history dates back to the 14th century, is sometimes listed as 6th in the Great Twelve of the city livery companies - but sometimes 7th. They share this interchangeable position with the Merchant Taylors. In the fifteenth century there was great competition be...

A Small But Important Document

One of the oldest documents the Corporation hold is a slip of parchment that's over  950 years old It is the Charter of King William I to the city of london and it is the oldest document in the Corporation’s archives. After defeating Harold II at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William marched on london. He never conquered the city - that’s why he’s never referred to as ‘William the Conqueror’ there. Instead he came to an agreement with the city that he would uphold the rights and privileges of all londoners if they would acknowledge him as sovereign - which they did. Apart from its amazing survival, what makes this document so remarkab...