BOOKMAN BEATTIE GOES WALKABOUT IN LONDON

Today the sun is shining, there is no wind, and with a temperature of 14C, it has been a perfect day for walking.

Today I walked to the Museum of London where one could spend several days but in order to avoid cultural fatigue syndrome I confined myself to Medieval London 1066-1485.

I learned here that in those days there were more than 25 monasteries, nunneries and friaries in and around the city with the spire of St.Paul’s Cathedral dominating the skyline.It was not a big place, in 1300 you could walk across it in 20 minutes. Then in 1348 came The Plague and the population was decimated reducing to a mere 50,000.

On from there to the Guildhall which is where the Man Booker Prize event is being held on Tuesday next, and of course my reason for being in London. I’ll be writing more about the Guildhall after the event so suffice to say here that it is an enormously impressive building, the headquarters of the City of London Corporation, the local authority for the City of London.
The Court of Common Council, the city’s decision making body meets here in the Great Hall, in fact they were about to meet when I was there so my visit was rather cut short. This is also the place where they hold the installation of the Lord Mayor, state banquets, various civic and state ceremonies and of course, the Man Booker Prize Gala Dinner.

The building dates back to the 15th century but was extensively damaged in the Great Fire in 1666 and again in 1940 during the Blitz.
The Guildhall has a wonderful library that I also visited. Divided into three sections – Manuscripts, Prints & Maps, and Printed Books I headed for this last mentioned section and with the assistance of a most helpful librarian did a little research on the Guildhall.

Leaving the Guildhall I stooged around the Smithfield Market area where I stumbled on to the Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great, which proved to be London’s oldest remaining church having been established in 1123 during the reign of Henry 1, the third son of William the Conqueror. Interestingly for such an old church they had two very modern pieces of art – a painting of the Madonna & Child by the distinguished contemporary Spanish artist Alfredo Roldan, and Exquisite Pain, a sculpture by Damien Hirst which I noted is on loan from the artist.

Interesting pubs noticed while walking today:

Fullers Ale & Pie House

The Butcher's Hook & Cleaver

The Bishop's Finger

Betsy Trotwood