Cheapside

Cheapside, Preston Lancashire

Cheapside is a street name you will often find repeated around Britain.  ‘Cheap’ comes from an old English word ‘ceap’ which means ‘market’.   Our modern English word ‘cheap’ is derived from this - hence the idea that you can purchase bargains or cheap produce at the market.  The word   ‘Side’ refers to the street that ran along the side of the market.  Or, in other words,  Cheapside means Market Street.

Cheapside, City of London

Eastcheap, City of London

London - John Donne

In 2012 a new garden was completed outside St Paul's Cathedral to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.  The new landscaping included the insertion of this bust of the poet John Donne  (1572-1631) who also served as the Dean of St Paul’s in 1621.  He was a gifted writer and preacher and is famed for creating the phrase “for whom the bell tolls” and “no man is an island”. 

The Dean was an important and well paid position which he held until his death ten years later.  He is buried in St Paul’s crypt and his memorial is one of the few to survive the Great Fire. 

At the base of the sculpture the compass directions remind us of four key events in his life.  Heading east Donne looks towards his birthplace in Bread Street; to the south he married Anne More and had twelve children; to the west he was at Lincoln’s Inn and to the north he was dean at St. Paul’s. Beneath the bust are his words:

“Hence is’t, that I am carried towards the West,

This day, when my Soul’s form bends to the East.”

This is an excerpt from the FREE tour St Paul's Precincts found on www.obelisktours.co.uk

Lancashire: Preston Poverty

Many Victorian visitors to Preston were struck by the poverty of the cotton workers.

Religious ministers from Reverends to Mormon missionaries were understandably appalled at the living conditions they encountered.  On their first day in Britain in Liverpool (1837) Heber C. Kimball recorded,

"...wealth and luxury abound, side by side with penury and want. I there met the rich attired in the most costly dresses, and the next minute was saluted with the cries of the poor with scarce covering sufficient to screen them ...

Upon arriving in Preston he witnessed some even more dramatic scenes:

"Such sufferings I never witnessed before. The scenes which I daily beheld were enough to chill the blood in my veins. The streets were crowded with men, women and children who begged from the passengers as they walked along. Numbers of the poor, wretched beings were without shoes or stockings, and scarcely any covering to screen them from the inclemency of the weather; and daily I could discover delicate females walking the streets gathering up the animal refuse, and carrying it to places where they could sell it for a penny or half-penny. And thus they lived through the winter." (Whitney, p. 189)

In a letter to his wife, Orson Hyde observed:

They are extremely poor, most of them not having a change of clothes decent to be baptized in, but they have open hearts and strong faith. We have taught them nothing about the gathering for they have no means to bring them to America, let alone procuring a place…. The brethren will frequently divide the last loaf with us, and will do all in their power for us… They are very kind to us where we are, but their circumstances will not allow them to do much for us without pay. I have frequently seen the tender and delicate females with their old pails or baskets in the streets gathering up fresh horse dung with their naked hands, and then go and sell it and get a penny or two’s worth of bread for themselves and hungary [sic] children… (Barron p. 97)

In January 1840 Wilford Woodruff arrived in Preston and observed:

The streets were crowded with the poor both male and female going to and from the factories with their wooden clog shoes on, which make a great rattling over the pavement. The poor are in as great bondage as the children of Israel in Egypt. (Woodruff, p.405)

So...
the above quotes are the voices of Mormon missionaries. What about the other voices? What were local observations of these same scenes? I'm just going to share one quote with you today for you to compare.

The following comes from the pen of Rev. J. Johns of Liverpool as recorded in Joseph Livesey's paper the Moral Reformer printed in Preston on Jan. 27, 1838:

"Within these few months, I have seen, what, had I not seen it, I could not have imagined.  ...Few could have seen the scenes which have passed under my eyes (especially during the month of the late trying winter) without feeling that the times has indeed arrived, when man should go forth to the relief of his brother.

Mothers, newly become such without a garment on their persons, and with infants nearly as naked, lying upon straws or shavings, under a miserable covering, without fire or food, or the means of precuring them; children taken from their schools, in order to earn by begging...

...mothers of families only able to provide necessities for their children by pawning their little all, or by incurring debts whereever they could be trusted.

...infirm and aged people, who were shivering out the last hours of life in absolute want of everything that could sustain or endear it.

Sobering stuff!!

More quotes and details can be found in the FREE app tour of Preston Flag Market  and, for an in-app purchase, the tour of LDS Preston.  Both tours can be found via www.obelisktours.co.uk

Sources
Barron, Howard H. Orson Hyde: Missionary. Apostle. Colonizer. Horizon Publishers, Bountiful, Utah (1978)
Livesey, Joseph. The Moral Reformer. Preston Jan. 27, 1838 p. 26
Whitney, Orson. Life of Heber C. Kimball. Bookcraft, Salt Lake, Utah (1888)
Woodruff, Wilford, Wilford Woodruff Journals, edited by Scott G. Kenney. Midvale, Utah, Signature Books, 1983.

London - Icarus

The statue of “Icarus” (1973) by Michael Ayrton (1921-1975) was erected here in memory of Bernard Sunley (1910-1964).

Bernard was a powerful entrepreneur and a generous benefactor.  His legacy was the establishment of the Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation (1960) which continues to provide donations to medical and educational establishments with an emphasis on the young, disadvantaged or elderly.   Over the past 60 years it has donated over £100 million pounds to thousands of charities. 

To view the Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation web page click here.

The Greek myth of Icarus tells how he and his father Daedalus hatched a plan to escape from Crete by creating wings made of feathers and wax.  Despite his father’s warnings, Icarus flew too high causing the wax to melt and plunging him to his death. 

The sculptor has used Icarus as the theme for a variety of his works.  He had been on a trip to Italy, and the Greek legends sparked an interest in Icarus’s story.   He sculpted “Icarus Transformed” (1961) now owned by the Tate Gallery, and “Icarus Rising” (1961), and “Icarus Pierced Relief” (1961) He also painted “Icarus Falls” and “Icarus drowned” (1960).

This is an excerpt from the FREE tour St Paul's Precincts found on www.obelisktours.co.uk

Lancashire - Preston squalor

Industrial Victorian Britain was an amazing place with staggering output making our tiny island one of the main players on the international trading scene.  However, arm in arm with that impressive production came squalor and poverty.

Preston Lancashire was a cotton town which suffered fiercely from poor conditions.  Following are two lists compiled by a Prestonian called Joseph Livesey. He was a dynamo of a man who helped found the teetotal movement, and had a huge impact on improving the working conditions of the working class of Preston.   I want to share his list of "Things I do not like to see" and another one entitled "I don't like the smell from..." I like these lists because they add a sense of smell and everyday life to the Victorian Preston picture.

Remember these were both written in 1838. My remarks are written in italics:

"Things I do not like to see..."

•  A workhouse funeral almost without attendance.
• an orphan girl tempted to walk the streets for the purpose of prostitution.
• a country overseer putting out a poor woman by her shoulders.
• a poor lad going to the factory very much out of health.
• the bailiffs carrying the bed and chairs of a poor widow to the obelisk, to sell for rent.
•  a street of houses nearly all uninhabited. (many families moved in with others so they could share the rent. This was called 'huddling', but left many homes vacant)
• all the public pumps dry in hot weather.
• a window blind drawn up on one side twelve inches higher than the other. (Right....now you're getting picky :0) 
• orange peels thrown on the footpath (!!)

Joseph Livesey, Moral Reformer, Saturday February 10, 1838, p.45

"I dont' like the smell from..."

• a bedroom where the windows have never been open for days and weeks together (this man obviously never had teenage sons)
• Dirty straw which has laid some time in a damp cellar.
• a cart taking away dung from the privies during the day time.
• wiskets filled with fish upon a coach. (Wisket? I think it is a basket?)
• the dead carcasses of dogs and other animals thrown into pools of stagnant water.
• the effluvia from a person who perspires freely but seldom washes. (Try Lynx)
• a drunkards breath in a morning after a fuddle. (Fuddle = a drinking binge... or so I'm told)
• a cart laden with gas tar. (What's that??)
• a corpse kept too long in hot weather. 

Joseph Livesey, Moral Reformer, March 24, 1838, p. 10

You can experience a FREE app tour of the Preston Flag Market on www.obelisktours.co.uk

London - St Lawrence Drinking Fountain

The St Lawrence and Mary Magdalene Drinking Fountain is a very ornate example of the hundreds of drinking fountains which appeared all over the capital to provide clean drinking water and a healthy alternative to popping in the pub.   Originally this watering hole stood in the guildhall yard outside the church of St Lawrence Jewry from 1866-1970. 

One of the reliefs depicts the miracle of Moses providing water for the Israelites,

“Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink…”

Above Moses is the statue of St Lawrence the martyr (c. 225-258) holding a large gridiron in one hand.  The Roman Emperor demanded that Lawrence, one of the deacons of Rome, gather the riches of the church and bring them to him.   Lawrence quickly gave everything away to the poor, and arrived at the Emperor’s door empty handed claiming that the people were the riches of the church.  The Emperor had him put to death on a gridiron over hot coals.  The legend claims he cried out “I’m well done.  Turn me over!”   

The fountain was restored and relocated here in 2010.  

This is an excerpt from the FREE tour St Paul's Precincts found on www.obelisktours.co.uk

Liverpool - Waiting

In our world of fast cars, trucks and planes and trains we tend to forget how the horse was once a vital part of the whole system of commerce.    By the late 1800s there were over 3 million horses working in Britain. 

This monument pays tribute to the working horse and points out that at their peak more than 20,000 horses worked on the streets of Liverpool.

 The monument gives a taster of the loads these beasts of burden once carried:

Bags of seed, tea, groundnuts, cotton, rubber, dried fruit, rum, canned goods, rice, butter, tobacco, timber, billets, linen, saltfish, red oxide, yellow ochre, bales of dry/wet hides, carbon black, steel coils, steel girders (7 tons), casks of beer, milk powder, holloware, bodies, bundles of hessian, bags of Demerara sugar, and more…

For over 250 years there was an army of occupations depending upon the horses for their livelihood such as blacksmiths, farriers, ostlers, carters and wagon builders. 

 Imagine the sound, sight and smell of thousands of horses moving around these docks and streets - the clattering of metal hooves and wheels on stone, the neighing, hollering and cajoling, the whiffs of sweat, damp and pooh.  The average horse would produce around 25 pounds of manure a day.

This delightful bronze statue was a result of the Retired Carters Association who were concerned the history of the working horse would be forgotten.    The statue, by Judy Boyt, is called Waiting showing the obedience of these powerful creatures.    It was unveiled May 2010.  

This monument is included in the FREE tour of Liverpool Pier Head available from www.obelisktours.co.uk

London - Firefighter's Memorial

This bronze statue was built to honour the firefighters who gave their lives in defence of the nation during World War Two (1939-1945).  It depicts a sub-officer and two branch-men firefighters with their hoses aimed at St. Paul’s Cathedral which they successfully helped to protect even after two direct hits during the Blitz (1840 and 1841).   London was blitzed with bombs for 57 consecutive nights, and the area around St Pauls was a scene of total devastation.  Thousands of London homes were bombed and 28,556 Londoners were killed. This plaque is in honour of the 1027 firemen and 24 firewomen who died fighting fires during the war.   The plaque quotes Winston Churchill who called them “The heroes with grimy faces.” 

Sculpted by the British sculptor and painter John W. Mills, it was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother on 4 May 1991.   The blitz began on 7 September, so every year a remembrance service is held here at the statue. 

Originally the plaque was to honour those war heroes, but seven years after it was erected it was decided to extend the memorial to include all firefighters killed while fulfilling their duty regardless of whether it was during war or peace.   The plinth was elevated by a metre and 1,192 names were added and unveiled on 16 September 2003 by the Princess Royal, Princess Anne. 

The lettering used is the same font as used on the wartime ration books.

This is an excerpt from the tour St Paul's Precincts found on  www.obelisktours.co.uk

Liverpool - Mersey Tunnel

Today we are going to look at a ventilation shaft. 

 Hold on....do not click out yet.  It might sound rather mundane, but this little treasure is one of Liverpool's oft-ignored Art Deco treasures.   

Background to the Tunnel

At the time of its construction in 1925 the Mersey Tunnel  was the largest underwater tunnel in the world.   Four lanes of traffic run under the River bringing Birkenhead and North Wales within easy reach of Liverpool.     The official opening ceremony took place nine years later in 1934 when Queen Mary and King George V arrived to ‘cut the ribbon’ and open the tunnel for use.   A second tunnel under the River Mersey was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1971.

Our Art Deco Treasure

All the tunnels needed ventilation and this building, by Herbert James Rowse (1887-1963),  is the finest of those shafts.  Thousands drive by this every day without giving it a second glance, but I highly recommend you park the car and take some time walking around all four sides.  

 

 The large rectangular building is one of three ventilation shafts to the tunnels on this side of the river.  If you stand by the River you can look across the river and see three similar shafts on the Birkenhead skyline.  This building is not only extracting all the car fumes out of the tunnel, but also pumping clean air in.  It also doubles up as offices and a control centre.

But it is the little things that bring this building to life.   

 There are some rather abrupt slashes of green around the building which at first jarred me, then, gradually, as I warmed to the building's design I accepted what had initially seem like an intrusion.  The contrast between the light earthy Portland stone and this flash of colour strangely began to complement each other.

 

On the main road side is a sobering reminder of the lives that were lost creating the tunnel.

  If you walk around this building you will discover some nice sculpture work by Edmund Charles Thompson (1898-1961) and George T. Capstick including:

‘Speed’ with his helmet and goggles representing the thousands of cars motoring deep beneath our feet.

‘Night and Day’ representing the ever open tunnel running 24/7 with the sun in the lap of the first, and a star in the second.  

  Sculpted panels representing Engineering, Construction, Architecture and Decoration

This is one of the many fascinating buildings and stories to be found around Liverpool's Pier Head.  To find more Liverpool treasures download our FREE tour of Liverpool's Pier Head on www.obelisktours.co.uk