London, Wednesday August 27th

Keith and Christine would love to hear from you with questions, comments, personal news and any news at all from Australia or wherever you are. We will reply to all emails! Please write to either windlechristine@gmail.com or windle.keith@gmail.com

After an outdoor breakfast we took the train into London and then Stefan led us along the web of metro tracks to our mystery destination. We have been to London twice in the past and were not too concerned about a lot of regular sightseeing, agreeing to Stefan’s suggestion that he show us some places not so often on the tourist trail.Unfortunately the first spot, the Herb Garret and Operating Theatre Museum above St Thomas’s Church, was closed due to electrical works in the street, so we set off on foot to find the Smithfield Market.

On the way we passed a beautiful and poignant sculpture of some children of the Kindertransport - unaccompanied Jewish children who fled the holocaust in 1938 ad 1939 and who were sheltered by British families.

The variety and mix of buildings amazed us, with the ‘Gherkin’ being at particular odds with all the rest. ‘human signs’ seemed to have the most boring jobs ever; simply standing or sitting in the middle of the footpath with directional signs.

Remains of the old London Wall marked the extent of the great fire of London, with the flames being stopped by the wall, and the areas outside it saved. The line of the original Roman wall was not changed for 1600 years, with the Roman city plan and wall defining the inner city and outer reaches and acting as defences during the medieval and Tudor periods. Buildings in this area were very heavily hit by bombs in World War II, and the ancient walls were revealed again. New developments and a different appreciation of heritage allowed sections of the old walls to remain visible.

It was a bit of a surprise that Stefan had chosen a meat market to take us to, but it turned out to be near to his main destination, The Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great. We entered a grand portico, and immediately the area seemed odd. To the left of the path a raised area had ancient gravestones set into the walls of the surrounding buildings and in the ground of a little courtyard. Originally this area had all been part of a much larger priory, but at the time of the reformation it had had its lands removed and its rights revoked. Only the part remaining today was saved to operate as a parish church, where High Anglican services were held. These were very much in the previous Catholic style, with the only change seeming to be that the head of the church was the king and not the pope. Many people died denying this new ‘truth’ and the area in front of the church and the market was one where people were entertained by executions and the innovation of boiling people in oil. The spot where the Scottish patriot, Sir William Wallace, was put to death in 1305, has been marked by ‘Scots and friends at home and abroad’ with a plaque erected in 1956.

Inside the church was such a contrast to the world outside, and so very visitor friendly. There was a charge to enter; reasonable when you consider that this church would, like any ancient building, have enormous maintenance costs. The American verger and gate keeper was a sweet man, passionate about the church and its history, and about all things English. He pointed out the different styles of vaulting, explaining that part of the building was built with rounded Roman arches and other parts with pointed Gothic arches, with the builders hedging their bets on the staying power of the new fangled innovation.

A shrine tomb commemorated the founder and first canon, Prior Rahere, who started the priory in 1123. The current tomb dates to the fifteenth century, and there was some concern over whether the remains really lay here or not. Fairly recent investigations revealed a sandal that would have been worn in the twelfth century. The sandal has since disappeared, thought to have been stolen by a workman. These little snippets are intriguing but it is impossible to ask for more details since the teller has always moved on to something else that I want to hear. The verger told us that people have seen Prior Rahere in the church, and that the alarm has gone off with the area of heat setting it off having been beside the tomb. He added that he has felt the Prior’s presence and that it has always been very benign and ‘nice to have around.’ There were many tombs and stones, with inscriptions in older English and the letter ‘f’ in place of ‘s’ for some. Johnathan Thornell, the Hair Merchant of this parish, had done something worthy of being buried in the church, with his piety and virtues being worthy of imitation.

Outside the church was a curious flint covered building cobbled together from different eras, with a ‘newish’ dark flint façade marking the transition to Parish Church at the time of the Reformation. At that time, part of the back of the church had been changed into residential buildings, with the windows replaced so that the residents did not feel as if they were living in a church. Restored as a chapel now, the outside of that section still looks residential. A tall house consisting of one room stacked upon another with a spiral staircase inside attached to the wall of the church, was once a residence for the clergy and now serves as the verger’s lodgings.

The Smithfield meat market was built here because it was an area on a hill with a slight cooling breeze, helping to keep the meat in better condition for a little bit longer. The present market is an ornate Victorian, building built in 1868, which has been restored to its former technicolour glory in recent years. Originally live sales took place here but after the move of the live market to another venue, this meat market became the place where whole carcasses were carried in on men’s backs and then sold on to the public and smaller shop keepers. The current system, in line with EU requirements, has removed the opportunity for contamination, with meat trucks pulling into bays and being unloaded by robots and moved around on conveyor belts. Different small firms run custom made shops and business areas with the opening hours being nine p.m. to nine a.m. A kindly meat market guard gave us a whole book on the history of the market which explained that Smithfield derived from the words ‘smooth field’. More details were given about poor William Wallace, who was dragged behind a horse from theTower of London and then hung, drawn and quartered here. Truly barbaric. In the nineteenth century a regular wife market was held. Divorce was difficult so men brought their unwanted wives, along with their other goods, to sell at Smithfield.

Our meals thrown out again, we had an early dinner at a twenty-four hour café just up from the meat market, where the cheap prices, quick service and good food were accompanied by gentle and friendly service.

We headed back to Walton-on-Thames, most satisfied with our day and the insights we had gained into London’s history and culture.