It’s amazing how much of a feature time is on our London walks. I mention this because tomorrow, Sunday 29th March 2009, we move in to British Summertime and the clocks go forward.
Since our regular walks departures, such as our Jack the Ripper tour or our haunted London walks, start at a specific time, time keeping is an extremely important feature for our London walks guides and it is our policy that our guides are always in place at the latest fifteen minutes before the start time of the walking tour they are leading.
But time is also often a featured part of our many and varied London walks.
As we walk around the streets of London on our tours we encounter numerous church clocks, which are not only very intricate and lovely to look at, but some of which also have a tale, or two, behind them.
Take, for example, the Church Clock on the Church of St Magnus the Martyr. This lovely church is situated a few steps away from London Bridge. But up until the early 19th century it did in fact provide the pedestrian access onto Old London Bridge. Those who were going to cross the bridge would have had to walk through the church’s tower. So in the past the citizens of London would walk through this church tower day in day out for several centuries.
To the right of the church tower is a grand clock on which is emblazoned the year 1709.
The clock was gifted by a former Lord Mayor of London who as a young man had had an interview for the position of an apprentice with a tradesman on London Bridge. Unfortunately, because he couldn’t find a time piece in the area, he was late for his interview and as a consequence he didn’t get the apprenticeship. He did, however, dedicate himself to finding another apprenticeship and, years later, when he had become successful, he paid for the clock to be placed on the church so that other young hopefuls wouldn’t find themselves in a similar predicament.
One of our City of London walks, the Secret City, takes in Guildhall, London’s medieval palace built between 1411 and 1440. Part of the Guildhall complex is the clock museum, one of the city’s free museums where visitors can view some exquisite clocks plus enjoy an enlightening exhibition on the history of clock and watchmaking.
A favourite story on our walks of London is of how, in 1752, Britain adopted the Gregorian Calendar and, as a result, had to lose 11 days. The consequence was that Wednesday 2nd September 1752 was followed by Thursday 14th September 1752 (which must have been heartbreaking for any child born on say 8th September 1752!)
The consequence was that some people came to believe that they were being deprived of 11 days of life, whilst others were convinced they were going to lose 11 days pay. This conundrum is a feature of 18th century artist William Hogarth’s The Election Campaign which shows a rioting mob with a banner that reads “Give us Back Our Eleven Days.”
Incidentally, if you want to see the original of Hogarth’s Election Campaign it can be viewed inside the Sir John Soane Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The closest underground to this is Holborn. To reach the museum turn left out of the station’s Kingsway exit, walk along Kingsway itself, and at the traffic lights, go left in to Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The Museum is situated opposite the main gardens on the left. It opens Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm.
