Hermes the ram-bearer, Roman 1st BCE copy of 5th Greek statue
My apology of the day is to Diane Stein, the author of the ‘The Goddess Book of Days’ because of the implied error in the book in the sentence (below). Republished yesterday:
Before we read Ovid’s ‘Fasti’ first note that he locates the Day on the 16th January rather than the ‘Book of Goddesses’ which puts her on the 17th
Not only did I get the name of the book wrong (which is ‘The Goddess Book of Days’, but I had another look at what Ovid actually said and I saw this:
‘Book I: January 16 Radiant one, the next day places you in your snow-white shrine,’
So, ‘the next day’, so Ovid agrees that January 17th is the appropriate day to honour Concordia.
Lambing
If a lamb be born sick and weak, the Shepherd shall fold it in his cloak, blow into the mouth of it and then, drawing the Dam’s dog, shall squirt milk into the mouth of it. If an Ewe grow unnatural, and will not take her Lamb after she has yeaned it, you shall take a little of the Clean of the Ewe (which is the bed in which the Lamb lay) and force the Ewe to eat it, or at least chew it in her mouth and she will fall to love a Lamb naturally. But if an Ewe have cast her Lamb, and you would have her take to another Ewe’s Lamb, you shall take the Lamb which is dead, and with it rub and daub the live Lamb all over, and so put it to the Ewe, and she will take to it as naturally as if it were her own.
Gervase Markham, ‘Cheap and Good Husbandry’ 1613 (quoted in the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly.
Lambing can begin about now in the south-west, but it gets progressively later as you travel north. Itinerant shearers, now often from New Zealand, travel the country shearing sheep. They will begin in the south and then progress north.
March and April are peak lambing time in the UK, although the season runs from February to April, but some farmers even lamb before Christmas (and even November). If ewes are tupped in October, they will lamb in March. www.nationalsheep.org.uk
The country expression is ‘in with a bang and out with the fool’ which suggests an ideal time to tup, is November 5th, on Fireworks Night. So that the lambs will be born, 5 months later, around the 1st of April.
A litter is normally one or two but occasionally more. Ewe’s get fed depending on how many lambs they will be having.
In the ‘Return of the Native’, Thomas Hardy has a character called Diggory Venn, he is a reddle man. He travels the country in a little pony and trap selling reddle, a red ochre dye with which shepherds mark their flock. Part of the plot is about the reluctance of women to marry a man whose red, reddle-stained face, makes him look like a devil.
The reddle is used to mark sheep. The ram is given a collar or girdle with a marker full of reddle in it. When he mounts the ewe, she will have a red mark on her back. Once she has been tupped twice, she will have two red marks on her back, and she will be taken out of the field, to encourage the ram to impregnate the others. Reddle could also be used to mark lambs chosen for slaughter, or dipping, or weighing etc.
(Tup is a country verb: I tup. You tup, we are tupping etc, and means what happens when the ram ‘covers’ the ewe).
Today is the day after the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth 1’s coronation 1559. She soon developed enduring relationships with the senior members of her Government. For example, William Cecil, Lord Burghley served the Queen for the rest of his life – from 1558 to 1598 when he died.
Elizabeth gave leading members of her Court, nicknames. My interest in the nicknames was revived, a few days ago, by a post on the subject in an interesting blog called The Chronicles of History, whose author became a follower of this blog. She listed a few of the nicknames. I had a record of all the nicknames I had come across but can never find it when I want it. The Chronicles mentioned three of them so I went in search for the rest and here is what the internet says:
Her chief minister, William Cecil Lord Burghley, was called her ‘spirit’, and her alleged lover, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was her ‘eyes’. Rather more cheekily, she called François, Duke of Anjou, her ‘frog’.
Elizabeth called Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester her “Eyes” William Cecil was her “Spirit” Robert Cecil was her “pigmy” or “elf” Sir Christopher Hatton was her “mutton” or “lids” Francis Walsingham was her “Moor” Francis, Duke of Alencon, (her French suitor) her “frog”
A comment on the same page says the moor was, in fact, Edward De Vere Earl of Oxford and that the attribution to Walsingham is a mistake. De Vere had a house in Clapton, Hackney, very near to where I lived, and is one of the many people conspiracy theorists think wrote Shakespeare (as is Queen Elizabeth 1).
Robert Cecil was Lord Burghley’s son and largely took over his father’s role. Christopher Hatton was a handsome aristocrat who had a lovely house and garden in Holborn which is now called Hatton Garden. Francis Walshingham was the ruthless spy master. Duke of Alencon was one suitor she seemed to take seriously, although she gently mocked him. Dudley was her favourite and almost her official escort/companion.
Illustrations from a Victorian History of England.
First Published in January 2023, republished in January 2024
Queen Elizabeth’s litter at her royal entry, accompanied by footmen and Gentlemen Pensioners. Unidentified engraver. (Wikipedia)
Today is the most depressing day of the year, so called Blue Monday. It was only a marketing stunt but seems to have stuck. So, ‘officially’ Blue Monday is the third Monday of the year – in 2024 156 January. It was worked out using this ‘equation’:
[W + (D-d)] x TQ M x NA
(W) weather, (D) debt, (d) monthly salary, (T) time since Christmas, (Q) time since failed quit attempt, (M) low motivational levels and (NA) the need to take action. (https://news.sky.com )
Queen Elizabeth 1’s Coronation
Queen Elizabeth 1 ascended the throne on 17 Nov 1558. Her courtiers immediately began work on the Coronation, scheduled for January 15th 1559. In terms of Coronations, this was rushed. The precise date was, in fact, chosen by the Royal Astrologer, John Dee on a date that the celestial bodies deemed propitious, and which was sooner rather than later because Elizabeth’s position was not secure.
Her accession was certainly greeted with an outbreak of joy by the Protestant population. But the supporters of her dead sister Mary 1 did not want a Protestant monarch. On hearing the news of the death of her sister, Elizabeth rushed to occupy the Tower of London, even shooting London Bridge, such was her haste. She consulted lawyers about the legal position. Elizabeth, and her sister Mary, had been declared bastards by two Succession Acts passed during Henry VIII’s ‘troubled’ married life. The Third Succession Act of 1543/44, following Henry’s marriage to Katherine Parr, had restored Mary and Elizabeth to the Royal line but did not restore their legitimacy. Rather than tackle the complex legislation, Sir Nicholas Bacon, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, advised:
“the English laws have long since pronounced, that the Crowne once worn quite taketh away all Defects whatsoever“.
Which, when you think about it, basically legitimises successful any ‘Coup’! And, from a legal perspective, she was still, arguably, illegitimate.
The Coronation began with a procession from the Whitehall Palace in Westminster back to the Tower of London for the Vigil, then a Royal Procession through the City of London to Westminster Abbey for the Coronation service, followed by the traditional Coronation Banquet at Westminster Hall.
The Vigil Procession was on the Thames where she was escorted to the Tower by ‘ships, galleys, brigantines‘ sumptuously decorated. The Royal Entry consisted of 5 Pageants and 11 Triumphal Arches.
The first pageant showed the Queen’s descent from Henry VII and his marriage to Elizabeth of York. This marriage effectively ended the Wars of the Roses by linking the House of York and the House of Lancaster. The pageant also emphasised her ‘Englishness’ as opposed to the Spanish affiliations of Mary. The second pageant demonstrated that the Queen would rule by the four virtues of True Religion, Love of Subjects, Wisdom and Justice, while trampling on Superstition, Ignorance and other vices.
The third pageant, at the upper end of Cheapside near the Guildhall, provided the opportunity for the City to give Elizabeth a handsome crimson purse with 1000 marks of gold, showing the closeness of the City and the Crown. The fourth pageant, contrasted a decaying country during the time of Mary with a thriving one under Elizabeth. It featured the figure of Truth, who was carrying a Bible written in English and entitled ‘the Word of Truth’. The Bible was lowered on a silken thread to the Queen, who kissed it and laid it on her breast to the cheers of the crowd. She promised to read it diligently. The final pageant was Elizabeth portrayed as Deborah, the Old Testament prophet, who by rescuing Israel and ruling for 40 years was an ideal role model for Elizabeth. (https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/queen-elizabeth-coronation)
‘All the houses in Cheapside were dressed with banners and streamers, and the richest carpets, stuffs and cloth of gold tapestried the streets’.
British History.ac.uk Vol 1 pp315 -332.
The Coronation was traditional – in Latin and presided by a Catholic Bishop, but there were significant innovations. Important passages were read both in Latin and in English, and the Queen added to the Coronation Oath that she would rule according to the ‘true profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom.’ This showed the way forward, introducing innovation gradually into tradition, but emphasizing that the fundamentals had indeed changed. This was going to be a Protestant reign.
Please do remember, I wrote a best-selling book on the Kings and Queens of Britain which k has been reprinted several times and is available below.
The Decline And Fall Of Roman London Walk Sat 1.30pm 25th May 2024 Exit 2 St Pauls Underground Station. To Book Jane Austen’s London Sat 6pm 25th May 2024 Green Park Tube (Green Park exit, by the fountain) to Book The Peasants Revolt Anniversary Walk Thurs 6.30 13th June 2024 Aldgate Tube. To book Chaucer’s Medieval London Guided Walk Sat 2.30pm 6th July Aldgate Tube. To Book Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London Sat 6pm July 6th 24 Tower Hill Underground To book Roman London – A Literary & Archaeological Walk Sun 11.30 am 4th August 2024 Monument Underground Station To book 1066 and All That Walk Sat 2.30pm 9th Nov 24 Blackfriars Underground Station To book For a complete list of my walks for London Walks in 2024 look here:
1375, French Caesarian Birth, (most likely to have killed the mother or be performed when she was already dead or dying.)
When Britain reluctantly joined the Gregorian Calendar, in 1752, we lost 11 days, so if you add 11 to 31st December you get to New Year Old Style. You can do this with any date, and when celebrating, feel you are being really authentic.
So, anything you did on the New Year’s Eve New Style (31st Dec), you can do today. Except, of course, you will need to convince your boss of the illegitimacy of the Gregorian Calendar, when you call in sick because of a hangover! In case you have forgotten what you should be doing on New Year’s Eve you can look here to look back on for New Year’s Eve, New Style.
It’s a particularly ‘witchy’ evening because it is the traditional Eve, not the newfangled one. Reginald Scot in his ‘Discovery of Witchcraft’ first published in 1584 reports on a way to find witches:
‘a charm to find who has bewitched your cattle. Put a pair of breeches upon the cow’s head, and beat her out of the pasture with a good cudgel upon a Friday and she will run right to the witch’s door and strike it with her horns‘
When I first posted this in 2022. I did not, to my shame, know the background to the book, assuming it ‘believed’ this nonsense that a cow could lead you to whoever bewitched it. On the contrary. Reginald Scot was trying to debunk the absurd claims for witchcraft and magic. His book tries to prove that witchcraft and magic were rejected both by reason and religion, and that manifestations of either were ‘wilful impostures or illusions due to mental disturbance in the observers’ .
The book shows that the large number of people who were executed as witches in the 16th and 17th Century, were the victims of a QAnon-like conspiracy which was rejected by many educated and rational people who did not believe there were evil people with supernatural powers. Have a good look at the cover of this 17th Century edition of Reginald Scot’s book to get an idea of his standpoint. Scot was a member of Parliament for New Romney, in Kent.
Carmentalia
Carmenta or Nicostrata , Goddess of Prophecy, Childbirth, Midwives and Technical Innovations. Published by Guillaume Rouille (1518?-1589) – “Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum”
It is also Carmentalia, the festival for the Roman Goddess of prophecy and childbirth. She was a much loved Goddess in the Roman pantheon, but little is known about her, perhaps because she has no clear match in the Greek.
She has a long history in Roman history, being said to be the mother of…. Well this may surprise you, she was the mother of Evander. And Evander is the founder of Pallantium, which was a City on the site of Rome that predated Rome!
Who knew that? (the people at Vindolanda Roman Fort know, and they have a great page on Carmenta here. ) Carmenta had two sidekicks who were her sisters and attendants. Postvorta and Antevorta, They might be explained by Past and Future. (or, After and Before) as part of her role in prophecy. Or the two figures might represent babies that are either born head or legs first. She also commanded one of the fifteen flamen. These were priests of state-sponsored religions. One of their jobs was to ensure no one came to the temple wearing anything of leather because leather was created from death, and not suitable for the Goddess of Childbirth.
The Vindolanda post makes the point that 2% of births in the past are likely to have caused the death of the mother. Because there was a high child mortality the Roman Mother would have to have 5 children on average to keep the population stable. With a 2% death rate, and 5 children, they estimate that each mother had a 12% chance of death by giving birth. Good reason to have a Goddess on the Mum’s side. She is also the Goddess of Midwives.
She was originally known as Nicostrata, and was credited with creating the Latin Alphabet by adding additional letters to the Greek one. So, she is also the Goddess of Technological Innovation.
Gervase Markham was born in 1568, in Nottinghamshire, and was a prolific writer. Today, prompted by the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly, I am looking through Markham’s eyes at Apples. Apples were an important source of joy as well as nutrition through a cold winter, as fresh produce became unavailable.
Markham wrote detailed books for use by the householders, the Husbands and the Housewives. And with the coming of frost, you would be advised to look at Markham’s books to ensure the survival of food in your food store. When the frosts hit, as they are now doing in the UK, you had to look after your store of apples, which were an important sweet food source over the winter, and Markham is the source of extensive advice on keeping your food deep into winter.
For the women, he wrote the English Housewife, published in 1615. Here is his recipe for Apple Tart (more of an apple purée tart, I think).
How to Make Apple-tart
Take apples and peel them and slice them thin from the core into a pan with white wine, good store of sugar, cinnamon and rosewater, and so boil it all shall it be thick. Then cool it and strain it, and beat it very well together with a spoon, and then put it into your coffin or crust and bake it. It carrieth with the colour red.
Gervais Markham, the English Housewife 1683 version (quoted by Charles Kightly).
For the men, he wrote the English Husbandsman, published in 1613 and ‘Printed by T. S. for Iohn Browne, and are to be sould at his shop in Saint Dunstanes Church-yard.’ This is the St Dunstan’s in Fleet Street, I think. The book is available on Project Gutenberg (Gervase Markham the English Husbandman. Project Gutenberg).
So to the frost – Markham ends his extensive piece on the best way to store apples as follows:
To keepe Fruit in frost. If the frost be very extreame, and you feare the indangering your fruit, it is good to couer them somewhat thicke with fine hay, or else to lay them couered all ouer either in Barley-chaffe, or dry Salte: as for the laying them in chests of Iuniper, or Cipresse, it is but a toy, and not worth the practise: if you hang Apples in nettes within the ayre of the fire it will kéepe them long, but they will be dry and withered, and will loose their best rellish.
I remember my Grandmother would store her excess apples from the tree, wrapped in paper and stored in cupboards in the pantry or outbuilding. I cannot remember which. They were often wrinkled but always delicious, and I think were Russets, which still remain my favourite apple.
At the bottom of the piece, I include the rest of his advice for storing apples. To summarise it, don’t store them near the ground, and put them on shelves ordered by variety based on which variety lasts longest. So at the back will be the long-lived species such as Russets and Pippins, to eat as spring approaches and at the front the ones you need to eat now such as the ‘Costard, Pome-water, Quéene-Apple‘ varieties.
Markham wrote many books, including one on the famous performing horse Marocco which starred in shows at the Bell Savage, just outside Ludgate in the City of London. Marocco would whinny in triumph with the naming of an English King, and snort with derision with the naming of a Pope, and could count and add up. He was rumoured to have been burnt at the stake as a witch in Edinburgh. But this does not appear to be true. Pocahontas also was shown at the Bell Savage, as was a Rhinoceros and other prodigies.
The Storage of Apples
If you want a more modern text on what to do with excess apples from your tree, have a look here, but do read on to get an insight into life in the 17th Century.
The place where you shall lay your fruit must neither be too open, nor too close, yet rather close then open, it must by no meanes be low vpon the ground, nor in any place of moistnesse: for moisture bréedes fustinesse, and such naughty smells easily enter into the fruit, and taint the rellish thereof, yet if you haue no other place but some low cellar to lay your fruit in, then you shall raise shelues round about, the nearest not within two foote of the ground, and lay your Apples thereupon, hauing them first lyned, either with swéet Rye-straw, Wheate-straw, or dry ferne: as these vndermost roomes are not the best, so are the vppermost, if they be vnséeld, the worst of all other, because both the sunne, winde, and weather, peircing through the tiles, doth annoy and hurt the fruit: the best roome then is a well séeld chamber, whose windowes may be shut and made close at pleasure, euer obseruing with straw to defend the fruit from any moist stone wall, or dusty mudde wall, both which are dangerous annoyances.
The seperating of Fruit. Now for the seperating of your fruit, you shall lay those nearest hand, which are first to be spent, as those which will last but till Alhallontide, as the Cisling, Wibourne, and such like, by themselues: those which will last till Christmas, as the Costard, Pome-water, Quéene-Apple, and such like: those which will last till Candlemas, as the Pome-de-roy, Goose-Apple, and such like, and those which will last all the yéere, as the Pippin, Duzin, Russetting, Peare-maine, and such like, euery one in his seuerall place, & in such order that you may passe from bed to bed to clense or cast forth those which be rotten or putrefied at your pleasure, which with all diligence you must doe, because those which are tainted will soone poyson the other, and therefore it is necessary as soone as you sée any of them tainted, not onely to cull them out, but also to looke vpon all the rest, and deuide them into thrée parts, laying the soundest by themselues, those which are least tainted by themselues, and those which are most tainted by themselues, and so to vse them all to your best benefit.
Now for the turning of your longest lasting fruit, you shall know that about the latter end of December is the best time to beginne, if you haue both got and kept them in such sort as is before sayd, and not mixt fruit of more earely ripening amongst them: the second time you shall turne them, shall be about the end of February, and so consequently once euery month, till Penticost, for as the yéere time increaseth in heate so fruit growes more apt to rot: after Whitsontide you shall turne them once euery fortnight, alwayes in your turning making your heapes thinner and thinner; but if the weather be frosty then stirre not your fruit at all, neither when the thaw is, for then the fruit being moist may by no meanes be touched: also in wet weather fruit will be a little dankish, so that then it must be forborne also, and therefore when any such moistnesse hapneth, it is good to open your windowes and let the ayre dry your fruit before it be turned: you may open your windowe any time of the yéere in open weather, as long as the sunne is vpon the skye, but not after, except in March onely, at what time the ayre and winde is so sharpe that it tainteth and riuelleth all sorts of fruits whatsoeuer.
Bob Cratchet is back to work by Boxing Day, some of us are back to work on 27th or 28th but increasing numbers holiday until January 2nd. But medieval society had even longer off. Distaff Sunday (yesterday) was the day that women traditionally went back to work and Plough Monday was the men’s turn. Plough Monday was not just a normal day of work though. Particularly in the North, it was celebrated with a procession of ‘plough boys’, with a decorated plough and team and known as ‘Fool Plough’. Mumming, sword dancing and foolery propelled people back to work.
Here is a lovely recipe for a ‘Norfolk Plough Pudding‘ brought to my attention by Sue Walker. The author is Karen Burn Jones who talks about her Grandmother’s plough pudding recipe, which is a great winter warmer being made of sausage meat and bacon. Norfolk also had traditions for Plough Monday, when the plough was blessed and the plough boys (Plough Jacks, Plough Bullocks or Plough Stots) performed “Molly Dances” partly to make up their income they had lost when the ground was too icy to plough.
The Christmas/Mid Winter break went on for some until Candlemas in early February, and in Jane Austen’s day the school boys had a 6 week holiday at Christmas much to the distress of Mary Musgrove in ‘Persuasion’, Chapter 18. She complains bitterly of children being left with her during the long winter holiday. But as it was written on 1st February I will leave the joy of that great FOMO letter till then.
On the 11th day of Christmas My true love sent to me 11 pipers piping; Ten lords a-leaping; Nine ladies dancing Eight maids a-milking; Seven swans a-swimming Six geese a-laying Five golden rings (five golden rings) Four calling birds; Three French hens; Two turtle-doves And a partridge in a pear tree.
The Northern Sky at Night in January.
The Quadrantid meteor shower appears from the point of the Plough’s handle about January 3rd/4th. At the peak there may be 100 meteors an hour, but it will be low in the north-eastern sky and best seen from low light pollution areas. Twinkling above the Southern Horizon will be Sirius and this month’s brightest star. In the NE, the Plough can easily be seen. The Orion nebula south of Orion’s belt will be seen as a hazy patch with the naked eye. (from the Night Sky. Month by Month by Gater and Sparrow)
Twelfth Night Cake
Now is your last chance to make your Twelfth Day cake. This is a recipe from 1604 by Elinor Fettiplace:
Take a peck of flower, and fower pound of currance, one ounce of Cinamon, half an ounce of ginger, two nutmegs, of cloves and mace two peniworth, of butter one pound, mingle your spice and flower & fruit together, but as much barme [the yeasty froth from the top of fermenting beer barrels] as will make it light, then take good Ale, & put your butter in it, saving a little, which you must put in the milk, & let the milk boyle with the butter, then make a posset with it, & temper the Cakes with the posset drink, & curd & all together, & put some sugar in & so bake it.
I found this on the excellent www.britishfoodhistory.com, where you can find more cooking instructions for Twelfth Night Cake.
If you want a more modern recipe, the following is from the BBC. Please remember to add a pea, and a bean to the recipe. These will be useful once you have read my Twelfth Night post.
I keep an archive of the walks I have done each year. This is the first entry for 2024.
My new year’s resolutions for my walks are:
Make the Virtual tours shorter.
Try some new technology to make the virtual tours more like a walk.
Begin publishing them.
I should note that 1 and 3 have long been on my list of desired improvements.
Ring in the New Year Virtual Walk
Old New Year Card
Monday 1st January 2024 7.00pm On this Virtual Walk we look at how London has celebrated the New Year over the past 2000 years.
The New Year has been a time of review, renewal and anticipation of the future from time immemorial. The Ancient Britons saw the Solstice as a symbol of a promise of renewal as the Sun was reborn. As the weather turns to bleak mid winter, a festival or reflection and renewal cheers everyone up. This idea of renewal was followed by the Romans, and presided over by a two headed God called Janus who looked both backwards and forwards. Dickens Christmas Carol was based on redemption and his second great Christmas Book ‘The Chimes’ on the renewal that the New Year encouraged.
We look at London’s past to see where and how the New Year was celebrated. We also explore the different New Years we use and their associated Calendars – the Pagan year, the Christian year, the Roman year, the Jewish year, the Financial year, the Academic year and we reveal how these began. We look at folk traditions, Medieval Christmas Festivals, Boy Bishops, Distaff Sunday and Plough Monday, and other Winter Festival and New Year London tradition and folklore.
At the end we use ancient methods to divine what is in store for us in 2024
ROMAN LONDON – A LITERARY & ARCHAEOLOGICAL WALK
Reconstruction View of Roman Riverside Wall being built
Sunday 21st Jan & 3rd March 2023 11.30 am Monument Underground Station
Our Guides will be Publius Ovidius Naso and Marcus Valerius Martialis who will be helped by Kevin Flude, former Museum of London Archaeologist, Museum Curator and Lecturer.
We disembark at the Roman Waterfront by the Roman Bridge, and then explore the lives of the citizens as we walk up to the site of the Roman Town Hall, and discuss Roman politics. We proceed through the streets of Roman London, with its vivid and cosmopolitan street life via the Temple of Mithras to finish with Bread and Circus at the Roman Amphitheatre.
REVIEWS “Kevin, I just wanted to drop you a quick email to thank you ever so much for your archaeological tours of London! I am so thrilled to have stumbled upon your tours! I look forward to them more than you can imagine! They’re the best 2 hours of my week! 🙂 Best, Sue
Jane Austen’s London Sunday Jan 21st 2.30 pm Green Park underground station,
An exploration of Mayfair, the centre of the London section of Sense & Sensibility and where Jane came to visit her brother
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a Jane Austen devotee in possession of the good fortune of a couple of free hours today must be in want of this walk.”
People associate Jane Austen and her characters with a rural setting. But London is central to both Jane Austen’s real life and her literary life. So, this tour will explore Jane’s connections with London and give the background to Sense and Sensibility, a good part of which is based in this very area. We begin with the place Jane’s coach would arrive from Hampshire, and then walk the streets haunted by Willougby; past shops visited by the Palmers, the Ferrars; visit the location of Jane Austen’s brother’s bank and see the publisher of Jane’s Books. The area around Old Bond Street was the home of the Regency elite and many buildings and a surprising number of the shops remain as they were in Jane Austen’s day.
This is a London Walk Guided Walk lead by Kevin Flude
Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London
Druids at All Hallows, by the Tower
Sunday 4th February & Saturday 23 March 2024 11.30pm Tower Hill Underground
The walk tells the stories of our changing ideas about the origins of London during the Prehistoric, Roman and Saxon periods.
The walk is led by Kevin Flude, a former archaeologist at the Museum of London, who has an interest both in myths, legends and London’s Archaeology.
The walk will tell the story of the legendary origins of London which record that it was founded in the Bronze Age by an exiled Trojan and was called New Troy, which became corrupted to Trinovantum. This name was recorded in the words of Julius Caesar; and, then, according to Legend, the town was renamed after King Ludd and called Lud’s Dun. Antiquarians and Archaeologists have taken centuries to demolish this idea, and became convinced London was founded by the Romans. Recently, dramatic evidence of a Bronze Age presence in London was found.
When the Roman system broke down in 410 AD, historical records were almost non-existent, until the Venerable Bede recorded the building of St Pauls Cathedral in 604 AD. The two hundred year gap, has another rich selection of legends. which the paucity of archaeological remains struggles to debunk.
The walk will explore these stories and compare the myths and legends with Archaeological discoveries.
The route starts at Tower Hill, then down to the River at Billingsgate, London Bridge, and into the centre of Roman London
Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall
Sunday 4th February 2024 2.15pm Barbican Underground Station
Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall Virtual Tour Sunday 4th February 2024 7.30 pm To book
Thomas Bilney martyred in Smithfield.
The Walk creates a portrait of London in the early 16th Century, with particular emphasis on the life and times of Thomas Cromwell and Thomas More during the Anne Boleyn years.
More and Cromwell had much in common, both lawyers, commoners, who rose to be Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII, and ended their careers on the block at Tower Hill.
The walk starts with an exploration of Smithfield – site of the stake where heretics were burnt alive and of St Bartholomew’s Monastery – given to Richard Rich after his decisive role in the downfall of Thomas More. We continue to St Paul where Martin Luther’s books were burnt, and later, where Puritans preached against dancing round the Maypole.
We walk along the main markets streets of London, to Thomas More’s birthplace, and to the site of More’s and Cromwell’s townhouses before, if time allows, finishing at the site of the Scaffold where More and Cromwell met their ends, overlooking where Anne Boleyn was incarcerated in the Tower of London
The Leap Year Pub Walk Thurs 6pm 29 February 2024 Tower Hill Underground
Sketched from a photo by simple-aign on pixaby
Thurs, 29 February 2024, 6pm Tower Hill Underground
We explore London, the Leap Year and 29th February through history A strange amazing day – and walk – that comes only once every four years. For the rest of the time it does not “exist.” A day – and walk – of temporal tune-up. A day – and walk – of unlocked potential. A day – and a walk – of unlocked London.
As the Sun, Moon and Seasons have different cycles and don’t fit into a set number of days, Londoners have had to cope with fixes to their Calendars to align the Cosmos with everyday life. As we walk through the streets of the ancient City of London, we explore how Londoners organised and celebrated their year throughout history
One of the most popular forms of publication in London was the Almanac. It was full of seasonal advice, of prophecy, traditional wisdom, and important events past and future. We will look at Almanacs and Diaries to find how Londoners spent their Leap Year.
We start with the Romans at the City Wall, near the Tower of London, and walk through history until we reach a historic pub to celebrate the New Year.
The Leap Year Almanac of the Past Pub Walk is led by Kevin Flude, a lecturer, curator and former archaeologist at the Museum of London. Join him to explore London’s History through its celebrations, festivals, calendars and almanacs.
This is a London Walks Guided Walk.
Roman London – A Literary & Archaeological Walk Sun 11.30 am 3rd March 2024 Monument Underground Station To book Jane Austen’s London Sun 2.30 pm 3rd March 2024 Green Park Underground station (Green Park Exit. Fountain in Green Park), To book Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London Sunday 11.30am 23rd March 2024 Tower Hill Underground
London. 1066 and All That Walk
Old illustration Chapel of St Johns Tower of London
Sunday 2.30pm 23rd March 2024 Blackfriars Underground Station The Archaeological Walk that explores the City of London at the end of the Saxon period and at the beginning of the Norman.
The Norman Conquest of 1066 defines Britain in a way unmatched by any other event. And on this walk we explore the London that William conquered and how he changed England for all time.
London was England’s most important City, but not yet the capital. It was crucial to William in his attempt to conquer the realm. But his army could not fight their way across the heavily defended London Bridge after the defeat of the English King, Harold, at the Battle of Hastings.
The future of England was in the balance as he ravaged the country seeking a way across the river and to persuade the English that resistance was hopeless.
Once across the river, the English leaders sued for peace, and William was crowned at the newly built Westminster Abbey. The English hoped for a strong King who would rule with the people. But William began by building Castles to oppress the Citizens, and soon swept aside the English Aristocracy and establishment and replaced them with the Conquerors.
This was a death blow to Anglo-Saxon culture, but the City made an accommodation with the new regime and the first Lord Mayor of London was an Englishman.
So, on the walk we explore the Late Saxon City of London, and how it changed in the last 11th and 12th Centuries.
Walk is by Kevin Flude, former Archaeologist at the Museum of London Kevin
Chaucer’s Medieval London Guided Walk
Medieval Newgate
Sunday 7th April 2024 11.30pm & Saturday 6th July 2.30 Aldgate Underground
A Walk around Medieval London following in the footsteps of its resident medieval poet – Geoffrey Chaucer One of the spectators at the Peasants Revolt was Geoffrey Chaucer, born in the Vintry area of London, who rose to be a diplomat, a Courtier and London’s Customs Officer. He lived with his wife in the Chamber above the Gate in the City Wall at Aldgate. His poetry shows a rugged, joyous medieval England including many scenes reflecting life in London. His stories document the ending of the feudal system, growing dissatisfaction with the corruption in the Church, and shows the robust independence with which the English led their lives.
His work helped change the fashion from poetry in French or Latin to acceptance of the English language as suitable literary language. This was helped by the growth of literacy in London as its Merchants and Guildsmen became increasingly successful. In 1422, for example, the Brewers decided to keep their records in English ‘as there are many of our craft who have the knowledge of reading and writing in the English idiom.’
Chaucer and other poets such as Langland give a vivid portrait of Medieval London which was dynamic, successful but also torn by crisis such as the Lollard challenge to Catholic hegemony, and the Peasants who revolted against oppression as the ruling classes struggled to resist the increased independence of the working people following the Black Death.
A walk which explores London in the Middle Ages, We begin at Aldgate, and follow Chaucer from his home to his place of work at the Customs House, and then to St Thomas Chapel on London Bridge, and across the River to where the Canterbury Tales start – at the Tabard Inn.
But is it? Wikipedia says it is the 9th Day as the first is Christmas Day. But the Perpetual Almanac of Folklore by Charles Kightly counts from Boxing Day so for him it is the 8th Day and I have seen this in other older sources. For example: Gervase Markham’s ‘The English Husbandman of 1635 says:
‘What weather shall be on the sixth and twentieth day of December, the like weather will be all the month of January.’
This is the idea that the weather on each day of Christmas is linked to the weather in the corresponding month. So the weather for the first month of the year, will be determined by the weather on the first day of Christmas which for Markham is the 26th not the 25th.
But if it is the 9th Day we can therefore expect the weather in September 2024 to be unusually warm and wet. Otherwise a warm and wet August!
For more on which days are the 12 days of Christmas have a look at my 12th Night post:
