No, not some obscure 1970s animated children’s TV series with characters made from pepper pots (That’s an idea, perhaps I could pitch it to Cbeebies) but a group of merchants that inhabited the City of London in the early 1100s In last Friday’s post, I expressed my fondness for the 1893 OS map of London… Continue reading The Pepperers
Tag: London
Cartophilia
I’m a Cartophile loud and proud and don’t care who knows it. Sound dramatic, but actually its only the love of maps. Old or new I can spend long periods of time perusing them without any plan in mind. If you can have such a thing, one of my favourites and an item I would… Continue reading Cartophilia
Three London Friars, Two Without Shoes
Six word Saturday Before the Henry VIII and his right hand man, Thomas Cromwell embarked upon the Dissolution more than thirty monasteries, convents, priories and hospitals jostled for room within the City’s ‘square mile’ or sheltered outside in the shadow of the still surviving Roman wall. Two of these orders that are commemorated with statues… Continue reading Three London Friars, Two Without Shoes
Washing History
2020 saw a spate of statue removals throughout the UK. Characters no longer deemed to be politically correct were consigned to the storeroom or in one case the dockside of history. I came across this empty plinth in Cavendish Square, and wondered who it was that had upset public opinion. Looking at the plinth I… Continue reading Washing History
Time and tide wait for no man
A saying that perhaps conjures up visions of King Canute, though some scholars attribute it to Geoffrey Chaucer. I’ve used it in the context of if you wait long enough then something that you’re waiting for will wash up at your feet. Actually it’s been a week of having long standing mysteries solved just by… Continue reading Time and tide wait for no man
Not Avenues, But Alleyways
Once you’ve designed a tour, walked it countless times, discovered new things along the way to add in and found bits to leave out, you do have a slight proud parent vibe going on. I’m please to say that I’ve finished tinkering with this tour and it’s probably my favourite of all of them. There… Continue reading Not Avenues, But Alleyways
Morning sun rays on Gresham Street
Six Word Saturday Weekend Sky#30 7.58 am outside St Lawrence Jewry on Gresham Street. In the distance are the buildings of 22 Bishopsgate (known as Twentytwo) and 122 Leadenhall Street (known as the Cheesegrater). As usual with the pace of change in the City both of these buildings will at some point be dwarfed by… Continue reading Morning sun rays on Gresham Street
Please Sir, I want some more
The immortal line penned by Dickens in Oliver Twist which was serialised from 1837. I actually have a connection to Oliver, we’re both “Workhouse Boys”, well that is to say I live in a converted workhouse, where the only deprivation suffered is if the WiFi goes down. London as you’d expect had many workhouses throughout… Continue reading Please Sir, I want some more
Written in tablets of stone
Enter the shiny glass and steel station facade at Blackfriars and the world is your Oyster(card) as to your destination. Places as diverse as Upminster and Ealing Broadway, as glamorous as Turnham Green or East Putney can be easily reached. When the main line station was opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway with the name… Continue reading Written in tablets of stone
Getting back on the horse
Picture the scene, it’s March 2020 and my fledgling guided walking tour business, A London Miscellany Tours is getting up a nice head of steam. Then on the 13th March I wake up with a persistent cough and begin feeling quite unwell, the rest as they say is history. Fast forward to April 2021 and… Continue reading Getting back on the horse
A LONDON MISCELLANY 