Tag: London

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Francis Drake Knighted at Deptford April 4th

Sketch from an old print. Francis Drake being knighted by Queen Elizabeth I.  In fact, the Queen delegated the dubbing to a French Diplomat

The Queen’s half share in the profits of the Golden Hind’s circumnavigation of the world, amounted to more than her normal annual income. So it is no wonder she knighted the Captain, Sir Francis Drake. The ceremony took place in the dock in what is now South East London at Deptford.

The Spanish were furious that a Pirate should be so honoured. The Queen may have given a French man the honour of dubbing Sir Francis. She did this, perhaps to encourage the French to support the English against the Spanish?

The annual Royal Income for King Charles III is £86.3 million.  This is paid in the Sovereign’s Grant.  It gives you an idea of Drake’s booty. But I imagine she had a greater share of the nation’s wealth than Charles, as she was the Government not just a honorific cutter of ribbons.

Francis Drake. Hero or Bloodthirsty Pirate?

Francis Drake was one of the British heroes I read about as a child. I had a thick book with stories about people King Alfred the Great, Hereward the Wake, Robin Hood, Drake, Charles II, Bonny Prince Charlie, Flora MacDonald, Florence Nightingale, David Livingstone etc. Some of them horrifically Imperialist and racist!

Drake is remembered for being the first English person to sail around the world. And his exploits in ‘singeing the beard of the King of Spain’ on his piratical raids on the Spanish Main.

In the books I read, the Spanish were the bad guys, and we were on the side of the Angels. Drake was one of the swash-buckling heroes who turned Britain from a not very important country on the edge of Europe, to one of the World’s Great Powers.

Portrait of Francis Drake with Drake Jewel given to him by Queen Elizabeth I

On the other hand, he was also a pioneer of the Slave Trade, was involved in atrocities in Ireland and in the Spanish Territories. He summarily executed one of his crew in dubious circumstances. Perhaps more significantly, his contemporaries did not entirely trust him.

Francis Drake and the Spanish Armada

As the Spanish Armada sailed along the southern coast of England, the English Navy sniped at the heels of the Spanish ships. Drake was tasked with leading the nighttime harrying of the Armada up the Channel. The idea was to stop them landing and to drive them away and into the hostile waters of the North Sea. Drake in the Revenge was leading the pursuit, and the other ships were told to follow. He was to keep a single lantern alight in the stern of his ship. But the Lantern went out, and the British pursuit was disrupted.

The next morning, Drake comes back having captured the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora del Rosario, flagship of Admiral Pedro de Valdés.  The ship contained the gold to pay the Spanish Armada, which Drake seized. Was this a fortuitous accident which rebounded to Drake’s considerable financial advantage or something more deliberate?

In the end, the lantern incident did not stop the British forcing the Spanish to flee around the North of Scotland.  On this perilous voyage only about 60 of their ships returned to Spain out of about 130. And Britain was saved from the Spanish Armada.

Nuestra Señora del Rosario and Agatha Christie

I used to lead an Agatha Christie program which included a visit to Torre Abbey in Devon.   And it was here that the Spanish ship’s crew were imprisoned after Francis Drake took the ship.

The Abbey was a Premonstratensian Abbey. Its tithe barn was used to hold the prisoners of war from the ship of whom there were 397.

The Spanish Bar, Torre Abbey. Photo 2012 Kevin Flude
The Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey. Photo 2012 Kevin Flude

Sir John Gilbert, who was Sheriff of Devon at the time, used 160 Spanish Prisoners of War to develop his estate above the River Dart. The Estate is in a magnificent position, overlooking the drowned valley of the Dart. It is now enjoyed by those millions of visitors to what became the summer home of Agatha Christie (Greenway). The Poison Garden in the Garden of the Abbey is themed around poisons used in Agatha Christie’s books.

View of the River Dart from Greenway, photo KFlude
View of Greenway from the River Dart. Photo KFlude

The Golden Hind & Deptford

Queen Elizabeth I decided that the Golden Hind should be permanently docked in Deptford.  So the ship was placed in a ‘dry’ dock filled with soil.  The ship decayed and by 1660 nothing much was left. 

I remember as a young archaeologist that some of our team took time out to work with Peter Marsden. He is one of the great experts in Naval archaeology, and he led a search to find Drake’s ship.  There was a huge fanfare in the London newspapers. ‘Find the Hind’ I think must have been the hopeful Headlines. But, rather embarrassingly, given the build up, they failed to find anything of significance.

Further exploratory excavations took place in 2012, with no greater success.

The defeat of the Spanish Armada 1588 showing July22nd Start Point Devon with English ships pursuing the Spanish
Panorama biew of the Spanish Army from an old history book

Golden Hind souvenirs

Chair made from timbers of the Golden Hind in the Dinity Hall, Oxford, photo K Flude

The Keeper of the Naval Stores at Deptford made chairs from the ruins of Drake’s ship, and one of them is on display at the Divinity Hall, Oxford.

Information panel on the Chair made from the ruins of the Golden Hind, photo K Flude

Sir Francis Drake and Middle Temple Hall

In London, Sir Francis Drake visited Middle Temple Hall, off of Fleet St regularly. A table (called the cupboard) is reputedly made from the hatch cover of the Golden Hind.  This is where the newly qualified barristers stood to have their registration entered into the Inn’s books. Sadly, it did not survive the bombing of 1941.

Middle Temple Hall. Photo K Flude 2021

The lantern which hung in the entrance Hall allegedly came from the ship’s poop deck (so not the one he failed to keep lit!). Other famous mariners associated with the Middle Temple include Sir Martin Frobisher and Sir Walter Raleigh. Shakespeare’s company performed Twelfth Night in the Middle Temple Hall

https://www.middletemple.org.uk/about-us/history/elizabethan-and-jacobean-times

On this day

The Romans celebrated the Great Mother, the Cybele in the festival of the Megalesia. To celebrate bringing a meteorite of Cybele to her temple in Rome in 204BC. Celebrated by the Games of the Great Mother

1660 – Declaration of Breda by King Charles II promises a general pardon to all royalists and opponents of the monarchy for crimes committed during the English Civil War. Excluded were the Regicides who signed Charles I’s death warrant.

1814 – Napoleon abdicated and on April 11 ordered into exile in Elbe.

1949  Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO. They were the Western Union – ( France, UK, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) and the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland

1968 – Martin Luther King Jr.  assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee

First published 2024, revised 2025, On This Day added 2026

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Sandals at the Last Supper and Vortigern April 2nd

Copy of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinca at the Collection Gallery, Royal Academy, UK
(Copy made 1515-1520, and was in the Carthusian Monsatery at Pavia in the 17th Century before being brought to the RA in the 19th Century) Photo K flude

April 2nd, 2026 is the day before Good Friday. It was on the Wednesday or the Thursday that the Last Supper took place. So I have relocated my ‘Sandals of the Saints’ post to here.

Whilst visiting Flaming June at the Royal Academy, it was nice to have another look at the RA’s copy of the Last Supper. What strikes me most is their sandals (and the beautifully pressed table cloth).

Detail of the RA Sandals in the copy of the Last Supper Photo Kflude

Details that bring the past to life. The shoes would surely sell today, while the table cloth really destroys the common idea that the past was dirty and smelly. It wasn’t. People took pride in their appearance and surroundings. Just look at the ironing!

Here, by way of contrast, is a medieval shoe from the 14th Century from the Museum of London. And this is a link to the Museum of London’s collections of medieval shoes, most have been collected from excavations, and it is one of the best collections.

On This Day

Today is St. Urban of Langres Day.

He is the patron of Langres; Dijon; vine-growers, vine-dressers, gardeners, vintners, and coopers. And invoked against blight, frost, storms, alcoholism, and faintness. (www.catholic.org/saints/) But is also called upon to make maid’s hair long and golden.

On the feast of St Urban, (forsooth) maids hang up some of their hair before the image of St Urban, because they would have the rest of their hair grow long and golden.

Reginald Scott, the Discovery of Witchcraft, 1584. (Thanks to the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly.) For more on Reginald Scott and Witches see my post.

1744 – First Golf Tournament. No, not at St Andrews but at Leith Links, Edinburgh.

Bill for the 1796 play Vortigern and Rowena Public Domain Wikipedia

1796 – A great cast at the Drury Lane Theatre, owned and managed by Sheridan, put on a newly discovered play by William Shakespeare. The cast included Kemble, Barrymore, and Mrs Jordan, who was the mistress of Prince William (aka William III). Rumours swirled around about the authenticity of the play. Shakespeare was interested in Britain’s legendary history, having written Cymberline and King Lear. But critics thought it was too simple to be genuine. Eventually, William Henry Ireland admitted he was the author.

‘A London Year’ by Travis Elborough and Nick Rennison has a great quote from a visit to the play. It took place on April 2nd 1796 and is recorded in Joseph Farington’s diary. Compare this description to your last polite experience at the Theatre.

Shakespeare’s forgery staged

‘Island’s play of Vortigern, I went to. Prologue, spoken in 35 minutes past six, play over at 10. A strong party was evidently made to support it, which clapped without opposition frequently through near three acts. When some ridiculous passages caused a laugh, which infected the house during the remainder of the performance, mixed with groans. Kemble requested the audience to hear the play out about the end of the fourth act, and prevailed. The epilogue was spoken by Mrs. Jordan, who skipped over some lines which claimed the play as Shakespeare’s

Barrymore attempted to give the play out for Monday next, but was hooted off the stage. Kemble then came on. And after some time, was permitted to say that ‘School for Scandal’ would be given, which the house approved by clapping.

Sturt of Dorsetshire was a Stage Box drunk and exposed himself indecently to support the play. And when one of the stage attendants attempted to take up the green cloth, Sturt seized him roughly by the head. He was slightly pelted with oranges. Ireland, his wife, a son and a daughter and two others were in the centre box at the head of the Pitt. Ireland occasionally clapped. But towards the end of the fourth act, he came into the front row and for a little time, leaned his head on his arm. And then went out of the box and behind the scenes. The Playhouse contained an audience that amounted to £800 pounds.’

April 2nd 1796 from Joseph Farington’s Diary, (I have changed some of the punctuation.)

Who Was Vortigern?

Vortigern’s history is shrouded in Myth. But he was chosen as leader of Britannia after the Romans withdrew in the early 5th Century AD. His name means Great Leader in Brittonic. He is one of the few leaders we know to be a real person in what used to be called the Dark Ages. We accept him as real, as he appears in the near contemporary source by the Monk Gildas.

However, very little is known of him except legends. He was associated with Merlin. Legend accuses him of betraying the British for the lust for Rowena. She was the daughter of the Saxon Leader Hengist. Whatever the truth of this, Vortigern continued the late Roman policy of hiring Germanic mercenaries. They defend Britannia against Picts, Irish, Scotti,and, of course the Saxons. The legends say that Hengist and Horsa were hired with their three ‘keels’ of Saxon mercenaries. In payment for services rendered, or for lust, Vortigern surrendered the sovereignty of Kent to the Saxons. Thus began the so-called ‘Adventus Saxonum’, and the destruction of the power of the Britons.

Kent and the Survival of pre-Saxon names

Medieval portrait of Vortigern

How much of this is ‘true’ we have no idea. But the name of Kent survives from the prehistoric, into the Roman, unlike most tribal names. And unlike most tribal names survives to the modern day. Who now has heard of the Trinovantes, the Catuvellauni, Regneses or the Atrebates. The pre-Roman tribe were called the Cantii, or the Cantiaci. Caesar says they had 4 Kings, and the Cante part of Canterbury comes from their name. Why did the name survive? Probably because it was the first Roman Civitas to be taken over by the Saxons. Most likely still largely a working political unit. So it kept its name. The other Roman political units mostly lost their names in the anarchy of this period. The political boundaries from the Prehistoric period survived through the Roman period. But the names at least do not survive the fall of Rome.

For more legends of this period look at my post

First Published, 2nd April 2025, Last Supper and Vortigern brought together and titled renamed 2nd April 2026

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Blossom and Haggerston Park March 18th

Blosson in Haggerston Park on 9th March 2025, photo by kevin flude
Blosson in Haggerston Park on 9th March 2025, photo by K Flude

Peak Blossom varies year by year. Two years ago, I declared it on March 19th, last year it was later. Normally, it is late March – Early April.However, walking around my local Park Haggerston Park today, Haggerston is whitewashed with amazing blossom. I thought it was Blackthorn, until I read that Blackthorn was the tree from which Sloes are grown.

My ‘Flora Incognita’ app tells me that it is Cherry Plum, Prunus cerasifera. This makes sense as in the summer, there were people collecting the small plums that were growing on the trees. The pink variety of cherry are not yet at peak blossom. I will post about peak blossom, later today.. To read about Cherry Blossom read my post here.

Local magnolia’s are beginning to come out, although I noticed a lot more in my Dad’s area which is 40 miles south. I bought a magnolia about 18 months ago, had quite a fine show in its first year, but this year the scaffolders managed to destroy all the buds, and the squirrels did further damage. So keeping my fingers crossed.

Haggerston Park

I am using this occasion to write about my local park which I have been saving up for a ‘vacant day’. (see my post of Ovid and Vacant days)

Haggerston Park was built on the site of derelict houses, a tile manufacturer and a Gas Works in the post war years. The Gas works was situated by the Regent’s Canal with its own basin for loading supplies. In the 80s the Park expanded to take in some areas which were formerly residential streets. All that really remains of the Gas works are the perimeter walls, and the outline of the canal basin.

The park is a well-loved local facility with green lawns, trees and flowers. It also has a great new playground for kids; astroturf football pitches; tennis courts, toilets, cafe, City farm, and a wild wooded area. This is dominated by the Cherry Plum trees and is a haven for squirrels. Rats loved it too, but I haven’t seen one for 2 years or so. I think they have been successfully ‘controlled’.

There are some strange parts of the design which, I hoped, were traces or inspired by industrial archaeology, but it turns out the designer wanted a maritime theme. So there are flagpoles, tripods and brick structures which are supposedly somewhat maritime.

Park Henges

The Gardeners obviously like the hengiform design because the Park has a lot of henges, and circles. I have my own name for most of them.

Snowdrop Henge

Snowdrop henge Haggerston Park, photo K Flude
Snowdrop henge Haggerston Park, photo K Flude

Silver Birch & Crocus Circle

Silver Birch Circle Haggerston Park, Photo Kevin Flude

The beautiful crocuses are not so clear in this picture, but they are really lovely! (See my post on Croci here). Last year I got a better photo of the croci.

Haggerston Park, 2024 Photo K Flude

Oak Tree Cluster

Oak Tree Cluster, Haggerston Park photo by Kevin Flude
Oak Tree Cluster, Haggerston Park photo by Kevin Flude

This wonderful Oak tree is surrounded by daffodils and crocuses.

Oak Tree and flowers, Haggerston Park Photo K Flude
Oak Tree and flowers, Haggerston Park Photo K Flude

Primula Patch

Primula Patch, Haggerston Park, Photo K Flude

The circle is in the middle of the Basin that connected the Gas Works to the Regent’s Canal. Theh patch would have been in the middle of the water, and the stone and brick walls, are the edge of the Basin. See the map below. I do hope they flowers are primulas. If not viola’s, primroses or other winter, spring flowering plants.

Rose and Tripod Circle

Rose and Tripod Circle. This becomes particularly beautiful at the height of summer.

The Avenue

The Avenue, Haggerston Park, photo Kevin Flude

City Farm

The City Farm was set up in 1984 on a site that was once a brewery. It provides a community and educational resource to give people experience of animals and growing plants. It has poultry, ducks, geese, sheep, pigs, goats, donkeys and bees. There is also a lovely cafe callled Frizzante and a shop that sells groceries without packaging. For more on the bluefaced Leicester Sheep at the farm see my post here, and on City Farm piglets here.

Heron in the Pond, Ancient Wisteria

Heron
Wisteria

Gas Works

Haggerston Park 1877 Ordance Survey Map

The Park covers the area of the Imperial Gas Works shown above. The photos above are in the area of the old Retort House (top left of the Gas works). The Haggerston Basin is to the left of that. To the left of the Basin are a series of Factories and Yards: Stone Yard, Timber Yard. North of the second Stone Yard is the Ice Warehouse. Near the top left. (for my post on Ice Houses please look here). The Regent’s Canal is just below the top of the map. It was constructed in 1820 or so. This stretch is now the ‘Haggerston Riviera’, and is trendy!). The Canal is the reason for the concentration of 19th Century Industry here. There were brick works, cigarette, breweries, gun, gunpowder, chemical, furniture and many other industries strung along the canal and connecting roads.

Here is a more colourful map.

1909 map of Haggerston.

First written on 19th March 2025, revised 2026

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St Totteringham’s Day

I newspaper heading about St Totteringham’s Day

In 2025 April 3rd was St Totteringham’s Day.  In 2024, it was the 28th April. This year, if results go as predicted, it is today.  Quite a sad day for some of us. The prediction comes from https://whenissttotteringhamsday.com/.

St Totteringham, the mythical Saint, born in North London in 1911. He has a variable feast day, but normally, it is in March or April. In some glorious but rare years, there is no feast day for the Saint.  My own hope is that a miracle will take place next year and St Totteringham is denied his customary outing.  But it looks unlikely.

Scholars find that the best predictor of the Saint’s Day is not the Moon but the results of Premier league results in North London. Arch North London rival football teams, Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) and Arsenal (the Gunners) compete bitterly for bragging rights. So, what is St Totteringham’s Day? It is the day that Arsenal are so far ahead of Spurs in the Premier League Table that Spurs cannot possibly overtake them.   If Tottenham draw or lose against Fulham today, or Arsenal beat Chelsea then Spurs cede St. Totteringham’s Day to Arsenal. Mathematically, even if Arsenal lose all their remaining matches and Spurs win all theirs, Spurs cannot beat Arsenal.

https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~mikepitt/totteringham.html tells me the myth began in 1911, since when there have been 55 St Totteringhams Days.  The earliest being the 9th of March. 33 have been in April. So, if today is the day it will be the earliest St Totteringham’s Day in history! No! Don’t cheer! Weep.

Being ‘Spursy’

Another neologism from North London is to be ‘Spursy’.   Espn.co.uk defines it as: (and it breaks my heart to tell you this).

The Year Spurs Won the League Champtionship.

‘The more modern meaning is to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory or to fall short with the prize in sight. This is because, over time, the club’s lack of silverware has come to influence the meaning of “Spursy.” That original 2014 entry reads: “To consistently and inevitably fail to live up to expectations.’ The last time Spurs won the League Championship was in 1961.

Next year, it will be different.

First Published 2024, revised 2025, 2026

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Walk of Socialists 28th February 1887

Victorian lampoon on Socialist Values 'Yes Gentlemen, these is my principles, no King, no Lords, No Parsons, No Police, No Taxes, No Transportation, no No'thing.'
Victorian lampoon on Socialist Values ‘Yes Gentlemen, these is my principles, no King, no Lords, No Parsons, No Police, No Taxes, No Transportation, no No’thing.’

Walk of Socialists at St. Paul’s February 28th & London Socialism 1887

My French friend went yesterday to St. Paul’s and saw a large procession of socialists. It is a strange move of the socialists to visit all the Churches. The Archdeacon of London preached to them from: “the rich and poor meet together, and the Lord is the maker of them all.” A noble sermon, they behaved fairly well.

Helen G. McKenney, Diary, 1887 (source: A London Year. Compiled by Travis Eldborough and Nick Bennison)

The quotation is from the Bible, Proverbs 22, where it sits with a number of other wise sayings. Perhaps, number 16:

‘One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty‘

is most likely to stir a Socialist. I imagine the Archdeacon was also making a point that the Lord made the Rich and the Poor. So there is nothing wrong with being Rich, as long as you are generous to the Poor. Equally, nothing wrong with being Poor.

Bloody Sunday

It’s rather lovely to imagine the Walk of Socialists walking around Wren’s masterpieces in the City of London. However, later in 1887, things turned much worse. The Social Democratic Federation and the Irish National League organised a march against Unemployment and the Irish Coercion Acts. Among the 10 to 30 thousand citizens present were William Morris, Annie Besant , George Bernard Shaw and Eleanor Marx.

The Police had been trying to prevent the ever-increasing use of Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park as protest venues. So, on November 13th, Bloody Sunday, the Police Commissioner, Charles Warren, ordered a massive police presence. He backed this up with 400 Soldiers. He aimed to prevent the entry to Hyde Park. Warren was acting as a caretaker until a new Commissioner was in place. He had already resigned following criticism of the failure to find Jack the Ripper. By the end of the day there were 2 people dead, 100 seriously injured, and 45 arrests, as well as 75 accusations of police brutality. On the other hand there were many police casualties.

Engraving from The Graphic (published 19 November 1887). Wikipedia describes it as ‘depicting a policeman being clubbed by a demonstrator as he wrests a banner from “a Socialist woman leader, one Mrs. Taylor”, while other people are covering their heads to protect themselves from raised police batons.’ Pubic Domain

Progressive Politics

Before the Foundation of the Labour Party, progressive politics were in the lukewarm hands of the Liberal Party. This Party developed from the Restoration period Whig Party. Although, the Liberal Party had a radical wing, it had a reluctance to put forward working-class candidates. In the early 19th Century, much of the agitation was led by a movement called the Chartists. But as their goals became adopted by the main two parties, progressive politics was led by various reform, radical, socialist, marxist and anarchic groups.

I have not been able to find out who led the 1887 Walk of Socialists around the City Churches. However, William Morris’ presence suggests the Socialist League? In 1885, the Socialist League was an offshoot of the Social Democratic Federation. But it was not a harmonious group. Its most famous members were William Morris, and Eleanor Marx. It included Fabians, Christian Socialists and Anarchists. By 1887 it was split ideologically into three main factions, Anarchists, parliamentary orientated Socialists, and anti-parliamentary Socialists. William Morris was the editor of their newspaper, ‘the Commonweal’ but he was sacked and replaced by Frank Kitz as the Anarchists took over the organisation.

So, without going into a long history of Socialism in London, what happened was that the Socialist groups made very little impact until the Independent Labour Party was set up in Bradford 1893. And in 1900, Keir Hardie, who was already an independent MP in Parliament, set up the Labour Representation Committee in 1900. This was soon renamed the Labour Party. The Independent Labour Party joined, and Labour began to take over control of the working-class vote. It fought for this with the Liberal Party. The Liberal vote, declined after WW1 and Labour was able to secure minority Governments. After World War 2 the Labour Party replaced the Liberals as one of the two Political Parties which could win a majority in Parliament.

London ‘Soviets’

London was one of the places where the Party experimented with left wing policies. The East End areas of Poplar, Limehouse and Bermondsey were particularly important. Alfred and Ada Salter were ‘typical’ activists. She became the first female Mayor of a London Borough. She was Returning Officer when her husband was elected MP for Bermondsey. His medical practice gave free medical care for poor people. From this they established a free medical clinic, that was a forerunner to the formation of the National Health Service. The London Councils also led the way in promoting mass council housing and Trade Union reform.

Here is a part of a letter from Alfred to Ada:

“Oh, the cruel wickedness of our society today! To thrust down these people by means of low wages and chronic unemployment into hopeless despair, and then leave them in that condition with no organised or conscious effort to rehabilitate them. What can we do?”

“You and I feel we have the same mission in life… we are living and working for the same goal- to make the world, and in particular, this corner of the world, happier and holier for our joint lives.”

Taken from this excellent blog post of Dr Alfred Salter.

Fenner Brockway said that in his youth Salter was a “Settlement firebrand – militant Republican, militant Socialist, militant Agnostic, militant Teetotaller, militant Pacifist.” Alfred converted Ada to Socialism and she converted Alfred to Christianity. They became Quakers.

Statues of Alfred Salter (sitting down) Ada Salter (behind his walking stick) and their only daughter Joyce (leaning against the River wall) who died aged 8 of Scarlet Fever. Garden near the Angel Pub, Rotherhithe. Photo K Flude

Life-long Labour voter

My Grandma, who was born in Hoxton in 1902, voted for Labour all her life. I’m pretty sure it was out of class loyalty because I always thought her opinions were more traditional than progressive. But she would never dream of voting anything other than Labour. For more on Hoxton and revolution, you may want to see my post on Hoxton and the Gunpowder plot.

Tomorrow isn’t the 29th but if it were you would want to see my post on leap year and the Roman Calendar – February 29th.

On This Day

1931 – Oswald Moseley formed the New Party which became the British Union of Fascists. He was a promising and economically radical MP for the Labour Party but resigned in frustration with their reluctance to adopt his policies. And his egotism, led him to the dark side.

1975 – An underground train ran into the end wall having failed to stop at the Moorgate terminus. 43 people died and 74 were injured. An inquiry concluded, in the absence of any faults in the train, that it was a driver’s error.

First Published in February 2024, republished in 2025 The Salters & On This Day added February 2026

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John Evelyn Died February 27th 1706

Portrait of John Evelyn holding a book
Portrait of John Evelyn by Godfrey Kneller 1687 (Wikipedia)

John Evelyn is, with Pepys and Wren, one of the great figures of 17th Century London.  Unlike Pepys, he was an avowed Royalist who hated Oliver Cromwell and all he stood for.  He went into exile with his King and gives a great description of Paris (see below). 

Like Pepys, John Evelyn was a diarist and a writer. And they, like Wren, were alumni of the Royal Society, one of the great scientific societies. John Evelyn was a founding fellow. It was innovative in that it employed an experimenter. This was Robert Hooke – one of the great early Scientists, who also worked with Wren rebuilding London after the Great Fire. The Royal Society encouraged scientists to experiment, write up their observations, and submit their theories for peer review. This is the foundation of modern Science, and a bedrock of the Enlightenment.

Frontispiece of ‘the History of the Royal-Society of London by Thomas Sprat. John Evelyn was a founder member

Evelyn the Writer.

John Evelyn has a place in my history because, in the 1980’s I worked. with Paul Herbert, on a project to create an interactive history of London. It was financed by Warner Brothers, and in cooperation with the short-lived ‘BBC Interactive TV Unit’. One part of it was a Literary Tour of London. The first half of this Tour is the basis for my book ‘In Their Own Words’ (To buy click here ) And this is where I came across John Evelyn using several of the quotations on this page.

Evelyn was a prolific traveller and a polymath. He wrote on the need to improve London’s architecture and air in Fumifugium (or The Inconveniencie of the Aer and Smoak of London Dissipated). Here is an extract from his Furmifugium.

‘That this Glorious and Antient City, which from Wood might be rendred Brick, and (like another Rome) from Brick made Stone and Marble; which commands the Proud Ocean to the Indies, and reaches to the farthest Antipo­des, should wrap her stately head in Clowds of Smoake and Sulphur, so full of Stink and Dark­nesse, I deplore with just Indignation.

That the Buildings should be compos’d of such a Congestion of mishapen and extravagant Houses; That the Streets should be so narrow and incommodious in the very Center, and busiest places of Intercourse: That there should be so ill and uneasie a form of Paving under foot, so troublesome and malicious a disposure of the Spouts and Gutters overhead, are particulars worthy of Reproof and Reforma­tion; because it is hereby rendred a Labyrinth in its principal passages, and a continual Wet-day after the Storm is over. ‘

And he was an expert on trees. Author of: Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees (1664). He lived at Sayes Court in Depford near Greenwich, which he ill-advisedly rented to Peter the Great of Russia. Letting to Peter was a lot-like inviting a 1960s Rock Band to trash your mansion.

John Evelyn the Exile

Here is a taste of Evelyn’s time as an Exile. It is a short extract from a long entry on the splendid Palaces in and around Paris.

27th February, 1644. Accompanied with some English gentlemen, we took horse to see St. Germains-en-Laye, a stately country house of the King, some five leagues from Paris. By the way, we alighted at St. Cloud, where, on an eminence near the river, the Archbishop of Paris has a garden, for the house is not very considerable, rarely watered and furnished with fountains, statues,[and groves; the walks are very fair; the fountain of Laocoon is in a large square pool, throwing the water near forty feet high, and having about it a multitude of statues and basins, and is a surprising object. But nothing is more esteemed than the cascade falling from the great steps into the lowest and longest walk from the Mount Parnassus, which consists of a grotto, or shell-house, on the summit of the hill, wherein are divers waterworks and contrivances to wet the spectators; this is covered with a fair cupola, the walls painted with the Muses, and statues placed thick about it, whereof some are antique and good. In the upper walks are two perspectives, seeming to enlarge the alleys, and in this garden are many other ingenious contrivances.

John Evelyn’s Diary from https://www.gutenberg.org/

John Evelyn and the Restoration of Charles II

This was Evelyn’s reaction when Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660,

May 29th 1660:

This day came in his Majestie Charles the 2d to London after a sad, and long exile… this was also his birthday, and with a Triumph of above 20,000 horse and foote, brandishing their swords and shouting with unexpressable joy; the wayes strawed with flowers, the bells ringing, the streets hung with Tapisry, fountains running with wine: ‘

‘The mayor, Aldermen, all the companies in their liveries, chaines of gold, banners, Lords and nobles, cloth of Silver, gold and velvet every body clad in, the windows and balconies all set with Ladys, Trumpetes, Musik, and myriads of people … All this without one drop of bloud …it was the Lords doing…

For Evelyn’s opinion of Cromwell have a look at this post of mine: january-28th-31st-charles-i-martyrdom-get-back/

On This Day

1661 – ‘Ash Wednesday. Preached before the King the Bishop of London (Dr. Sheldon) on Matthew xviii. 25, concerning charity and forgiveness.‘

John Evelyn’s Diary Dr Sheldon, the Bishop of London mentioned above, went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury. He was a friend of Wren’s Father, and commissioned Wren to build the Sheldonian Theatre, in Oxford.

1782 – OK! Let’s give up! The House of Commons votes against continuing the war with Revolutionary America.

1900 – The Labour Party is founded. And today, the UK woke up to a by-election in a safe Labour seat won by the Greens (40%) with Reform 2nd (29%) and the Labour Party third (26%) Conservatives fourth (2%). So, clearly a progressive vote determined to beat Reform, Labour won about 50% of the vote last time, so a disaster for them. Not a success for Reform, and bad result for the Conservatives.

1933 – Reichstag burns down. Hitler uses it to suspend Civil Liberties, and attack the German Communist Party which was falsely blamed for the fire.

First Published 2024, republished 2025, Making Lardy Cake moved to Fat Thursday and On This Day added 2026

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The Sun Enters the House of Pisces February 20th

Attributes of Pisceans selfless, mystical compassionate imaginative sensitive

pisces from the zodiac from kalendar of shepherds
Pisces from Kalendar of Shepherds

A man born in Pisces shall be a great goer, a fornicator, a mocker and covetous: he will say one thing and do another. He shall trust is his sapience, he shall have good fortune: He will be a defender of widows and orphans. He shall be fearful on water: he shall soon pass all adversities and live 72 years after nature.

The woman shall be delicious, familiar in jests, pleasant of courage, fervent, a great drinker. She shall have sickness of her eyes and be sorrowful by shame, needlessly. Her husband will leave her and she shall have much trouble with strangers. She shall travel much, have pain in his stomach and live seventy-seven years.

Both man and woman shall live faithfully.

Kalendar of Shepherds, 1604 (from the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly)

What surprises me about the fortune-telling above is that it has to be nearly always wrong as the predictions are way too specific. The art of the fortune-telling is about being vague, with subtle predictions that can be interpreted in different ways.

Here is Old Moore’s Prediction for Pisceans this week:

‘Innovation and originality flow freely as your unique perspective solves problems that stump others. Social consciousness drives you toward meaningful causes or community involvement. While your independent streak is strong, collaboration with like-minded individuals amplifies your impact. An unexpected insight arrives through friendship.‘

oldmooresalmanac-com-pisces-horoscope

Now, the Old Moore’s 2023 Almanac had a page on Liz Truss of all people, written before she became Prime Minister. It is clear they thought she had a real chance of being PM. They say she has ‘an almost steely determination and plenty of apparent ambition. …. She has every astrological requirement necessary to keep her nose clean and at this moment in time is certainly among the main contenders.‘. So yes, they are right about her being among the main contenders, but absolutely no hint of the epic disaster that her PMship was.

London Stone as a Palladium

OLD ENGRAVING OF London stone
Old Engraving of London Stone, Cannon Street

On February 18th, I revised a post about Ravens, King Bran’s Head and other Palladiums that protected Britain (or London) from invasion. If you missed it, look here. A possible palladium I missed out is London Stone. To remind you, a palladium is something that stops your country or City being harmed or invaded.

London Stone is an eponymous stone found in Cannon Street, in the heart of the City of London, It is first mentioned in the 12th Century, and no one knows why it was famous. In 1862, an ‘ancient proverb’ surfaced:

“So long as the Stone of Brutus is safe, so long shall London flourish”

It was made anonymously in the journal Notes and Queries. In Welsh, it was “Tra maen Prydain, Tra lled Llyndain’. This verse, if genuine, would link the Stone to Brutus of Troy, the legendary founder of London. To be precise: by genuine, I don’t mean it would prove the stone was linked to King Brutus, or that Brutus was a real person. I mean, if genuine, it would prove that in the medieval period the stone was linked to Brutus.

Richard Williams Morgan

However, the writer has been identified as Richard Williams Morgan, who was a passionate Welsh Nationalist and prolific author. He was, also, not very scrupulous with his analysis of sources. As no earlier source can be found, it is thought Morgan made it up.

He lived in London in the 1850s and was very struck by the London Stone. Archaeologists prefer the idea that London Stone is, likely, a milestone from which the Romans measured distance. For Shakespeare, it was the stone on which rebel Jack Cade claimed lordship of London. For the romantic, it was a coronation stone; a stone of power; the sword in the stone, stone; or an ancient megalith. The truth is, we have no idea. But it has been called the London Stone since the 12th Century.  Why was it so named, and what was it ‘for’ or symbolic of?

picture of london stone from the inside
Pic by Graham Hussey pic shows the LONDON STONE which is in Canon Street, London .pic taken inside the Tech Sports shop

Morgan came to the conclusion it was the stone plinth on which the original Trojan palladium had stood. This was a wooden statue of Pallas Athene, that protected Troy from invasion.  It was stolen by Odysseus and Diomedes shortly before the successful Trojan Horse plot. It was then taken to Italy.

Morgan’s idea was that King Brutus brought it from Rome when he sailed into Exile in Britain. Brutus, was a descendant of Aeneas. Aeneas was the only Trojan leader to escape from the destruction of Troy. He found his way to Rome, after leaving Dido in Carthage. He was the ancestor of Romulus who founded Rome, and the ancestor of King Brutus.

According to legend, Brutus gathered all the Trojan slaves and exiles in the Mediterranean. He then sailed to found a new Troy in our green and pleasant lands. His new capital he called Troia Nova (New Troy), which became Trinovantum, then Lud’s Dun, and finally London. Or so the Myths say.

Morgan’s theory held that the Stone was used as the altar stone of the Temple of Diana. Folklorist contend that the temple was originally on the site of St Pauls Cathedral. Morgan (in the 19th Century) was the first person to link London Stone with Brutus, or so people thought and still think (see Wikipedia). That was until 2018.

Picture of the plinth in which London stone is rehoused recently
London Stone as recently rehoused.(Photo K Flude)

John Clark

John Clark, Emeritus Curator at the Museum of London, found a reference to a narrative poem of the 14th Century. This links London Stone to Brutus and to the future prosperity of London. Just as Morgan did. So, it makes it possible, at least, that Morgan did not just make the connection but drew on a medieval ‘tradition.’

Brutus set up London Stone
And these words he said anon:
‘If each king that comes after me
Makes this city wide and roomy  
As I have in my day,
Still hereafter men may say 
That Troy was never so fair a city  
As this city shall be.’

From Burnley & Wiggins 2003b, lines 457–64(John Clark’s modern English version)

For the full story, see John Clark’s article.

London Stone & the Neolithic

Recent archaeological discoveries reveal that London was the site of Late Neolithic feasting on a possibly large scale (discussed here:). This increases the possibility that the London stone is a ‘ritual’ stone from prehistory. But, of course, there is still no evidence that London Stone is prehistoric, and even less that Brutus actually existed. 

On This Day

1472 – Orkney and Shetland are given to Scotland by Norway in lieu of  dowry for Margaret of Denmark.

1933 – Adolf Hitler meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party’s election campaign. Democracy is doomed.

Written in 2023 and revised in February 2024 and 2025 Pisces and London Stone joined into one page 2026

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Shrove Tuesday – Pancake Day – Mardi Gras – End of the Carnival

Les_Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry February (Detail) The people inside are warming their legs and their hands in front of a roaring fire.
Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry February (Detail) The people inside are warming their legs and their hands in front of a roaring fire.

Shrove Tuesday & Carnival

This year, February 17th is Shrove Tuesday, the end of the Carnival. Etymology-on line says the origins of the term Carnival are:

1540s, “time of merrymaking before Lent,” from French carnaval, from Italian carnevale “Shrove Tuesday,” from older Italian forms such as Milanese *carnelevale, Old Pisan carnelevare “to remove meat,” literally “raising flesh,” from Latin caro “flesh” (originally “a piece of flesh,” from PIE root *sker- (1) “to cut”) + levare “lighten, raise, remove” (from PIE root *legwh- “not heavy, having little weight”).

Folk etymology has it from Medieval Latin carne vale ” ‘flesh, farewell!’ ” Attested from 1590s in the figurative sense of “feasting or revelry in general.” The meaning “a circus or amusement fair” is attested by 1926 in American English.Related entries & more 

www.etymonline.com

Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday

Pancake Day is another name for Shrove Tuesday. It is the day we eat up all our surplus food. Then on Ash Wednesday we must begin our lenten fast and turn our mind to repentance. Pancake Day, in the UK, is celebrated with a simple pancake with lemon and sugar. Here is a recipe from the BBC. On the other hand, Shrove Tuesday can be a day of excess before the 40 days of restraint. Shrovetide was normally three days from the Sunday before Lent to Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. (Here is my post on Ash Wednesday).

Mardi Gras

In France, it’s called Mardi Gras which means Fatty Tuesday, in Italy Martedi Grasso. In New Orleans it stretches from Twelfth Night to Shrove Tuesday. But as we saw, in my post on Fat or Lardy Thursday‘ the Carnival period was more normally a week. In most other places it is one to three days. In Anglo-Saxon times there was ‘Cheese Week’, ‘Butter Week’, ‘Cheesefare Sunday’ and ‘Collop Monday’, preceding Ash Wednesday.

Shrove Tuesday the Day to be Shriven

Shrove Tuesday is the day we should be ‘shriven’ which means to make confession. The Church has been leading up to Easter since Advent – before Christmas. (See more on Advent Sunday here). Easter is the date of the conception and, also, the date of the execution and apotheosis of Jesus Christ. So the pious should confess their sins, then undertake their lenten fast before entering the Holy Week purged and sin-free.

In the Anglo-Saxon Church, there was a custom called ‘locking the Alleluia.’ The Church stopped using the word Alleluia from 70 days before Easter. Alleluia represented the return from exile in Babylon. So, with the approach of the death of Christ it was not felt appropriate to be celebratory.

The sombre nature of this block of time was highlighted by Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955 – c. 1010).

Now a pure and holy time draws near, in which we should atone for our neglect. Every Christian, therefore, should come to his confession and confess his hidden sins, and make amends according to the guidance of his teachers; and let everyone encourage each other to do good by good example.

Ælfric, Catholic Homilies Text Ed. Peter Clemoes quoted in ‘Winters in the World’ Eleanor Parker

Time for Football!

Shrove Tuesday was the traditional time for football games, in the days before football had any rules to speak of. It was a wild game. Teams tried to get a bladder from one end of town to the other, or one side of a field to the other. In Chester, the Shrove Tuesday football game was held on the Roodee island. It was so rowdy that the Mayor created the Chester Races specifically to provide a more sedate alterative to the violence of the ‘beautiful game.’

Here is a youtube video of Shrovetide Football at Royal Asbourne in Derbyshire. You will notice it seems chaotic but if you look at the participants directed the action you can see how involved they are in it.

Royal Asbourne Shrove Tueday Football

In London, Henry Fitzstephen wrote about Shrove Tuesday Games in London in the late 12th Century:

‘Every year also at Shrove Tuesday, that we may begin with children’s sport, seeing we all have been children, the school boys do bring cocks of the game to their master, and all the forenoon they delight themselves in cockfighting. After dinner all the youths go into the fields to play at the ball. The scholars of every school have their ball, or baston in their hands. The ancient and wealthy men of the City come forth on horseback to see the sport of the young men and to take part of the pleasure in beholding their agility.’

Fitzstephen was the first biographer of Thomas Becket.

Pancake Race

The City of London has an annual pancake race at the Guildhall Yard. It is an inter-livery company competition. The Livery Companies also known as medieval Guilds, have to run across the Guildhall while holding a frying pan and pancake. There is a zone marked out where they have to toss the pancake. Here is a youtube video of the 2023 race.

Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday Pancake Race

First published on February 21st, 2023 republished on February 13th 2024, and March 4th 2025, February 17th 2026

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The Great Freeze February 12th 1895

The Greeat Freeze. ‘Skating on the Serpentine’ by Lucien Davis
Antique wood-engraved print. Illustrated London News double page from 2 March 1895 (print owned by K Flude)

The Great Freeze

London, February 12, (1895). There is no abatement of the abnormally cold weather which has prevailed in northern Europe for the last week. The Upper Thames is frozen over, and huge blocks of ice breaking away from the mass are floating down the river, causing much damage to the smaller shipping craft. Water traffic is consequently at a complete standstill.

Many cases of death from cold and exposure are reported, the privation and distress in the East End of the city being particularly severe. The cold is so intense that birds are found frozen to death on the branches of the trees, and thousands are perishing. The severe weather has also directly caused considerable mortality, a number of deaths from exposure having been reported among postmen, omnibus drivers, cabmen, and labourers.

Contemporary Newspaper quotation on February 12th 1895 quoted by Isle of Dogs Life blog

Winter of 1895 Limehouse to left, Tower of London to right. Images from Isle of Dogs blog.

The year 1895 was the culmination of a decade of particularly cold winters (and for some the end of the so-called Little Ice Age). On the 11th February, the coldest day in British History was recorded at Braemar at −27.2 °C. February 1895 was the second coldest on record, with the lowest minimum temperatures on record. Shipping in the biggest port in the world was stopped. Therefore, many workers were laid off, and had to resort to what were then called ‘soup kitchens’ and now ‘food banks’. Winter death rates were said to be doubled, with people dying in the street and in unheated homes.

Record minima were set for these dates in February 1895:

  • 7th: −21.7 °C or −7.1 °F
  • 8th: −25.0 °C or −13.0 °F
  • 9th: −23.9 °C or −11.0 °F
  • 10th: −25.6 °C or −14.1 °F
  • 11th: −27.2 °C or −17.0 °F
  • 12th: −20.6 °C or −5.1 °F
  • 13th: −21.9 °C or −7.4 °F
  • 14th: −21.7 °C or −7.1 °F
  • 16th: −23.9 °C or −11.0 °F
  • 17th: −23.9 °C or −11.0 °F
  • 18th: −23.9 °C or −11.0 °F
  • 19th: −22.2 °C or −8.0 °F

Source Wikipedia.

On the flip side people resorted to ponds around London particularly the Serpentine which had 6 inches of ice and 50,000 skaters, with speed skating competitions.

For more details and contemporary newspaper accounts of the Great Freeze, read the Isle of Dogs blog. See also my post on the Cold Winter January 28th 1776. The next coldest winter was January 23rd 1940, when the Thames froze over for the first time since 1880. Lovely photo here of skaters on the Serpentine.

On This Day

1554 – Lady Jane Grey was executed after a trial at the Guildhall. Her husband was executed on the same day. Her adoption as heir to the throne was ordered by her cousin Edward VI. His minister, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, (and Jane’s Father-in-Law) arranged for the Privy Council to accept Jane as the next monarch. They were trying to prevent Henry VIII’s Catholic daughter, Mary taking the throne. Jane was Queen for 9 Days. The Privy Council swapped sides as support for Jane collapsed. Jane was the Great-granddaughter of Henry VII and cousins to Mary, Elizabeth and Edward VI.

1993 – The South African Government agrees with the African National Congress to form an elected interim government comprised of both black and white members.

Published February 12th 2024, and republished 2025, 2026

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John Constable in Bond Street February 4th 1799

John Constable. National Gallery of Art seascape with two sailboats. public domain

‘I am this morning, admitted a student at the Royal Academy; the figure which I drew for admittance was the torso. I‘m now comfortably settled in Cecil Street, Strand number 23. I shall begin painting as soon as I have the loan of a sweet little picture by Jacob Ruysdael to copy. Since I have been in town, I have seen some remarkably fine ones by him. …

Smith’s friend, Clanch has left off painting, at least for the present. His whole time and thoughts are occupied in exhibiting an old, rusty, fusty head with a spike in it, which he declares to be the real embalmed head of Oliver Cromwell. Where he got it, I know not.; ’tis to be seen in Bond Street at half a crown admittance.’

John Constable. Letter to John Dunthorne, 1799.
From ‘A London Year. 365 Days of City Life in Diaries, Journals and Letters’ compiled by Travis Elborough and Nick Rennison.

John Constable in London

Constable would have had a short walk to the Royal Academy (in Piccadilly) from the Strand. As a painter, he subsequently spent his summers painting in Suffolk and his winters in London. When his wife became ill with Tuberculosis, they moved to Brighton. But he continued to return to London. Constable lived in a cottage in Hampstead, and is buried in the family tomb at the bottom of the graveyard of St John-at-Hampstead Church in Hampstead.

Royal Academy Photo KFlude

I don’t know what the Torso referred to was, but there was (and still is) a fine collection of plaster casts. The students used these for models.

A fine figure of the older man? Photo by K Flude of Zeus in the basement of the Royal Academy
Print on display at the Royal Academy of students drawing the sculptures in the Collection. Photographed by K Flude.

Cromwell’s Head

As to the head, it is a fascinating tale, which I partly tell on my Martyrdom of Charles I post. here: But here is more details, relevant to the Constable quote. At the Restoration of Charles II Cromwell’s body was dug up. Then the head was stuck on a pole on top of Westminster Hall. It blew off probably in 1684. The head was on display at a museum, but then no one knows where it was until, in 1799 the Hughes brothers, bought ‘it’ for £230. It was exhibited in Bond Street. Entrance fee was 2 Shillings and 6p. Constable’s acquaintance Clanch who I think is actually John Cranch was the publicist for the event.

The display was not a success because the provenance was not clear. All Cranch could say was Cromwell’s head was the “the only instance of a head cut off and spiked that had before been embalmed; which is precisely the case with respect to the head in question”. But then Henry Ireton’s was also treated thus, and maybe others. A head is now in Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, which Cromwell attended.

The Wikipedia page on Cromwell’s Head, here., has a very full description of its travels.

Weather Outlook

Feb fill the dyke
Either black or white
But if with white, ’tis the better to like

If February gives much snow
A fine summer, it doth foreshow.

If in February there fall no rain.
‘Tis neither good for hay nor grain.

From The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore by Charles Kightly

On This Day

211 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies at Eboracum (modern York, England). Leaving two sons, Caracalla and Geta, to dispute the succession. For several years York was the HQ for the Roman Emperor.

1555 – John Rogers, Vicar of the Holy Sepulchre Church in London and translator of the Bible, burned at the stake in Smithfield. The first of over 200 English Protestant martyrs condemned in the reign of Mary I. For more about Smithfield burnings see my post here.

1789 – George Washington unanimously elected as the first President of the United States. A great leader, who freed his slaves after his and his wife’s deaths, but who also evaded the rules against selling slaves. To consider the wrongs and rights of the issue look here.

1838 – ‘I walked with my daughter Charlotte across the Serpentine, much to my child’s delight, although I own I did not like to hear the ice cracking under the weight of thousands’.

John Cam Hobhouse, Diary, 1838. From ‘A London Year. 365 Days of City Life in Diaries, Journals and Letters’ compiled by Travis Elborough and Nick Rennison. See my post on the Great Freeze of 1895 with a picture of skating on the Serpentine.

1992 – Hugo Chávez ousts Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez in coup.

First Published February 4th 2026