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At Goldsmiths’ Hall
The Leopard is the symbol of the Goldsmiths’ Company Whenever I walk through the City to St Paul’s, I always marvel at the great blocks of Hay Tor granite which form the plinth of this building on the...
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Bishopsgate Tavern Tokens
The Ship Tavern, Bishopsgate There are some artefacts that, in their detail and evidence of wear, can evoke an entire world. Although no larger than a thumbnail, these modest seventeenth century...
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At Speakers’ Corner
“I’m old enough to know better and young enough not to care” Despite the timbre of the message he has been wearing around his neck each Sunday at Speakers’ Corner for decades, Bob Rogers is not the...
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The Gentle Author’s Wapping Pub Crawl
Four-hundred-year-old stone floor at The Prospect of Whitby Tempted by the irresistible promise of spring sunlight, I set out for Wapping to visit those pubs which remain in these formerly notorious...
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The Launch Of The Gentle Author’s Tour Of Spitalfields & A Letter
Spitalfields Market by John Allin, 1973 . I am delighted to announce that thanks to the magnificent generosity of over 400 people who supported our crowdfund, The Gentle Author’s Tour of Spitalfields...
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Three Antiques Market Treasures
. Over all the years I have frequented the Spitalfields Antiques Market every Thursday, I have succeeded in buying almost nothing, tempering my acquisitive tendencies by writing the stories of more...
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At Stephen Walters & Sons, Silk Weavers
Joseph Walters of Spitalfields by Thomas Gainsborough When Julius Walters of Stephen Walters & Sons says, “I am just a weaver,” it is a masterpiece of understatement, because he is a ninth...
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A Walk Along The Black Path
‘Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote… Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages’ Taking to heart the observation by the celebrated poet & resident of Aldgate, Geoffrey Chaucer, that April is the...
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At The Charterhouse
Brick buildings of 1531 in Preacher’s Court with the Barbican beyond Desirous of an excuse to view the magnificence of the Charterhouse, I made a call upon my friend Brother Hilary Haydon one sunny...
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The East London Waterworks Scandal
Nick Higham author of The Mercenary River – Private Greed, Public Good: A History of London’s Water reveals a salient lesson from history, warning of the dangers of privatised water companies who...
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Adam Dant’s New Studio
. I was delighted to visit my long-time collaborator and Spitalfields Life Contributing Cartographer Adam Dant at his beautiful new studio high up in the roof of Sandys Row, London’s oldest Ashkenazi...
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The Ceremony Of The Widow’s Sixpence
There are a few tickets available for my tours over Easter and bookings are open until the end of May: www.thegentleauthorstours.com While my tours start tomorrow afternoon in Spitalfields at 2pm, over...
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Viscountess Boudica’s Easter
On Easter Monday, we celebrate our dearly beloved Viscountess Boudica of Bethnal Green who once entertained us with her seasonal frolics and capers but is now exiled to Uttoxeter She may be no Spring...
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Darton’s Nursery Songs
I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Nick Darton whose ancestor William Darton Junior (1781 – 1854) was a publisher in the City of London two hundred years ago and published these charming...
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Robson Cezar’s Whitechapel Houses & Corner Shops
Robson Cezar At Christmas, we featured the wooden houses made by Spitalfields artist Robson Cezar out of fruit crates from Whitechapel Market. Since then, Robson has been busy through these last...
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At Eel Pie Island
Even though Twickenham is a suburb of London these days, it still retains the quality of a small riverside town. The kind of place where a crowd forms to watch a crow eating a bag of crisps – as I...
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On May Day
Street Strolling Clowns by John Thomas Smith, 1816 (courtesy Bishopsgate Institute) Sweeps on May Day in the City of London c. 1920 (courtesy Bishopsgate Institute) On May Day, a traditional time of...
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The Highdays & Holidays Of Old London
On Bank Holiday Monday, let us to consider the highdays & holidays of old London Boys lining up at The Oval, c.1930 School is out. Work is out. All of London is on the lam. Everyone is on the...
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James Leman, Silk Designer
The oldest surviving set of silk designs in the world, James Leman’s album contains ninety ravishingly beautiful patterns created in Steward St, Spitalfields between 1705 and 1710 when he was a young...
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Mr Punch’s 360th Birthday
Join the celebration of Mr Punch’s 360th Birthday this Sunday at St Paul’s, Covent Garden, with a procession at 11am, a service with Mr Punch in the pulpit at noon, followed by maypole dancing and...
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