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The Worshipful Company of Cutlers |
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How to get there:
St. Paul's (Central Line) Thameslink : Blackfriars City Thames Link
To view a street map of the area click here. ___________________ A
‘House
of the Cutlers’, mentioned in 1285 as being on or near the site of the
present
Mercers’ Hall, is the earliest recorded regular meeting place of the
Cutlers. By the early part of the 15th century the Cutlers were
settled in a building in what is now Cloak Lane (by Cannon St.
Station). The Company still holds the Conveyance of that Hall from the
Trustees to the Company itself, dated 1451. This describes the property
as being ‘next to the tenement formerly belonging to the famous
Richard Whityngton, sometime Mayor’. The hall was quite substantial
and had a garden with a well and a vinery. In
1660, after some 250 years, the Hall was in need of extensive repairs
and modernisation, and it was determined to rebuild it completely. The
cost amounted to £2,733 2s 7d. By June 1666 the final bills had all
been paid; but three months later, in September, it was completely
destroyed in the Great Fire of London. The
Company quickly set about rebuilding and the new Hall was ready for
use in September 1670. This Hall was occupied for over 200 years until
1882 when, after a long legal battle, the Metropolitan and District
Railway Company acquired most of the site by compulsory purchase
under its statutory authority. The
fifth and present Hall was built on land in Warwick Lane, which had
been the site of the Royal College of Physicians from 1674 to 1825 and
subsequently a foundry. The new Hall came into use on March 7th 1888. During
World War II the Hall was fortunate to survive the great fire bomb
raid on December 29th 1940. The following morning only St. Paul’s
Cathedral and Cutlers’ Hail stood virtually unscathed amongst the
devastation. Unfortunately, on May 10th 1941 a high explosive bomb
demolished the adjoining building (now replaced by Craythorne House)
and took away the entire north wall of the Hall.
However, by 1951 all the damage had been repaired and the Hall
came back into full use. On
the outside of the wall facing Warwick Lane will be seen a finely
carved terracotta frieze by the Sheffield sculptor Benjamin Creswick
(1853-1946). The frieze shows cutlers working at their craft. Creswick
was a pupil of John Ruskin and had worked as a grinder in Sheffield.
He exhibited frequently at the Royal Academy, but few examples of his
work survive.
On
entering the Hall, one is greeted by a fine full length portrait of
John Torr Foulds, Master of the Company in 1801. On the table before him
can be seen the Company’s ivory gavel of 1603 and the iron Elephant
Alms Box dating from 1624. The
stained glass window on the left was erected in memory of Captain F.
G. Boot, a great benefactor of the Company. It shows Henry V granting
the original Charter in 1416 and cutlers working at their trade. The doorway on the left leads to the Committee Room, a rather finely proportioned small room. It is panelled in Jacobean oak which came originally from a house in Yarmouth. The chairs are 17th century Dutch. The Courtroom contains portraits of members of the Company who have served as Lord Mayor, and in the adjoining Dining Room hangs a portrait of Margaret Craythorne, the widow of John Craythorne, who was Master in 1560. On
the wall at the foot of the stairway is a fine oak carving of the
Company’s Coat of Arms. It is dated 1569 and is among the few relics
which survived the Great Fire of London in 1666. The
windows lighting the stairway bear the Arms of past masters and members
of the Company. Many of them are fine examples of 17th and 18th century
stained glass and were removed from the old Hall, as was most of the
furniture in the Hall. On
the landing can be seen some fine examples of the modern
sword-cutler’s art, all made by Wilkinson’s Sword Company. The
main feature of the Livery Hall is its Victorian hammer beam roof.
Mounted high on the end wall above the canopy hangs a Barge
Banner used for the Lord Mayor’s procession in 1763 when the Lord
Mayor was Alderman Bridgen, a Cutler; the banner depicts the Arms of the
Company and the City, Britannia, the Wand of Mercury, Roman Fasces and
the Wand of Aesculapius. Around the walls are displayed shields carried
by the members of the Court in the Lord Mayor’s Procession in 1834,
when Alderman Henry Winchester, a Cutler, served as Lord Mayor; and
again in 1984 when Alderman Sir Alan Traill, also a Cutler, occupied the
same office.
Behind
the Master’s chair (which dates from at least the early 18th century)
is a wooden canopy surmounted by the Royal Coat of Arms. This represents
the Stuart Arms and is believed to date from about 1670-88.
It is believed to have been carved by a contemporary of Grinling
Gibbon, who for a time resided in the Company’s premises at La Belle
Sauvage on Ludgate Hill. Adjoining the Livery Hall is the old Smoking Room which houses a selection of the Company’s collection of cutlery ranging from Roman to modern times.
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