This is astonishing prehistoric find. A huge circle of pits surrounding Durrington Walls which is itself Britain’s biggest henge, and a mile or so away from Stonehenge, and Woodhenge. Continuing the golden age of Stonehenge archaeology.
Black Lives Matter & London Heritage
A couple of my regular places have been affected by the effects of the toppling of the Colston Statue in Bristol.
Firstly, the statue of Robt Milligan outside the Museum of London, Docklands has been taken down. I have often used this as a meeting point for my students from Westminster University as we explore the Docks and the Docklands Museum.
Slavery was a big part of the visit, although we didn’t make Milligan the villain.
Another site is the Geffrey Museum which is going to open as the Museum of the Home, although this was determined before the George Floyd murder, but now I expect the Geffrey part of it to quietly disappear, as he is also contaminated by slavery.
Interesting fact about slavery, is that UCL have done a brilliant study of all the recipients of the compensation for the end of slavery. The govt at the time paid compensation of £20m to the slave OWNERS. This was a vast amount said to be 45% of the GDP for the year. It was funded by a long term loan which was paid back, as late as, 2015. In modern terms it was 16 billion £.
This has completely changed my mind on compensation for slavery which I was against. But it seems to me if we know that £16 billion was spent then to compensate the owners we could set up a fund of £16 billion now to give, for example, educational grants and start up grants for black people to give them the boost they need to make up for centuries of oppression..
Tudor Babies
Some cute pictures of chubby fat Tudor babies and their highchairs and walkers.
Early Neolithic Pottery found in Shoreditch.
This is a great find – very little neolithic pottery has been found in or near the City so this fills in a blank. It still doesn’t give us enough information to write authoritatively about the City before the Romans, but its a significant step forward.
Tudor words for sex
Just some:
bob clip dance hornpipe leather pleasure roust sport stroke till trade trick bed foin foutre frig frisk have jape juggle jumble leap niggle nock occupy plough rifle seal sport swive thrum thump tick-tack till towze tread tumble twang vault wap.
source:
https://www.salon.com/2014/10/05/tickle_gizzard_and_the_pleasure_pivot_a_history_of_sex_slang_and_the_coolest_ancient_dirty_words/
Myths, Legends and the Origins of London
Myths, Legends and the Origins of London
2.30 Sat 2 May 2020 Tower Hill Tube (meet by the Tower Hill Tram)
Please check that the walks have not been cancelled.
The Head of Bran by John Everett Millais
The walk is led by Kevin Flude, a former archaeologist at the Museum of London, and it looks at the archaeological evidence for the origins of London and reconsiders London’s myths and legends.
London has a rich set of origin myths and legends which are not as well known as they should be. This walk is designed to set that right and give an insight into London’s myths and legends.
Worth knowing for their own right do these origin myths have anything to say about the actual origins of London? This is what this walk explores. It is split into two halves – the first reveals the myths and the second finds out where the ‘truth’ of the origins of London may lie.
This is a London Walks Guided Walks. Look at their web site for a list of other of their amazing walks
Victoria & Albert & Albertopolis Guided Walk
Victoria & Albert & Albertopolis March 28 2020
2.30 High Street Kensington Tube
All London Walks have been cancelled until further notice due to Social Isolation
If this is a disappointment please email me and I’ll send you a print out.
On this walk we discover the story of the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the foundation of the one of the world’s Greatest Museums.
Led by Kevin Flude, who worked as an Assistant Keeper at the V&A, We begin in the new Victorian suburb of Kensington, prospering in the shadow of Kensington Palace, birthplace of Queen Victoria. We then explore the site of the Great Exhibition, and the great buildings inspired by Albert around the Albert Hall, before ending the walk with a tour of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The area was originally part of the lowly area of Brompton until the huge success of the Great Exhibition created by Prince Albert and his right-hand man Henry Cole, the first Director of the V&A. The area became known as Albertopolis,as a memorial to a remarkable man, and a testament to the energy and wealth of Victorian England.
This is a London Walks Guided Walk by Kevin Flude
Medieval London Walk. April 18th 2020
Medieval London Walk. April 18th 2.30
Liverpool St Bishopsgate Exit top of escalator
All London Walks have been cancelled until further notice due to Social Isolation
If this is a disappointment please email me and I’ll send you a print out.
A walk which explores London in the Middle Ages. By 1400 London was dominating the affairs of the Kingdom and was growing into a sophisticated medieval Capital. We begin in the extra-mural area amongst the Monasteries and burial grounds before entering the City via Bishopsgate. and to the site of one of the few remaining medieval Churches at St Helens. We then look at everyday life in the City in the main markets streets of Cornhill, Poultry, Bucklersbury and Cheapside before visiting the Guildhall and ending at the City Wall. We will walk in the footsteps of Geffrey Chaucer, in the muddy City Streets, exploring the unhealthy conditions and poverty amidst great riches and pageantry. We will see where the Italians, the German, the Dutch, the Jews, and the French lived cheek by jowl with native Londoners and immigrants from the Midlands.
This is a London Walks Guided Walk by Kevin Flude
Southwark & Bankside Pub Tour. London Bridge Tube, 7.15 22nd Feb Tooley St Exit
Southwark & Bankside Pub Tour.
London Bridge Tube, 7.15 22nd Feb Tooley St Exit
Southwark has a unique historic and literary heritage and an authentic historic ambiance, with beautiful views of the Thames and the City of London. Plus some of London’s most famous Pubs!
Historic Southwark is chock-full of famous people, and we encounter traces of Chaucer, Shakespeare and Dickens as we explore the history of London’s most famous suburb. Its location at the south end of London Bridge made it a key strategic and commercial site. This was where the great Medieval Inns were located, and from where Chaucer’s pilgrimage set off for Canterbury. Its independence from the City made it a haven for ‘undesirable’ elements and it became the home of the Medieval Stews (Brothels), and also the home of the Shakespearean Stage. On the walk we explore the sites of the Globe, the Rose, the Swan and the Bull and Bear Baiting Pits and Shakespeare’s role in the area. By the Victorian period its nature had changed completely into an industrial centre, home of notorious slums, of debtors prisons, and of charitable hospitals. It became one of the main inspirations for Dickens London fiction whose father was imprisoned here for debt when Dickens was a young boy. It was at the White Hart that Dickens introduced Sam Weller into the flagging story of the Pickwick Sporting Club – the character who saved Dickens literary career.
This is a London Walks Guided Walk by Kevin Flude
Bermondsey – Archaeology & History. 2.30 Feb 22
Bermondsey – Archaeology & History. 2.30 Feb 22 2020
Bermondsey Tube
Bermondsey has a fascinating history which can be traced back to important prehistoric discoveries. It was home to one of Britain’s leading Monasteries, and was, for a time, fashionable. But as London swallowed it up, it became a very polluted and over-crowded industrial area. It was an important part of Britain’s economy and saw the invention of the tin can. It also housed the largest hat making and leather working factories in the world. Of course it attracted the attention of Dickens and it is here that the devilish Bill Sykes met his end.
Although parts of Bermondsey have become fashionable again much of its heritage and charm remain intact which will make a pleasant afternoon stroll.
This is a London Walks Guided Walk by Kevin Flude