London Folk Tales (25 page)

‘It was hard,’ one woman said. ‘The food – oh! We couldn’t get things from back home, like you can now. It was different then! But I had a friend, she was from Jamaica too. We worked at the hospital. I came as a trained nurse, you know. And we lived in a hostel. Mmmm! Somewhere to sleep, but no kitchen or any place to cook. So, what we did was, we cooked at night in our room, with some of the other girls. We had a little stove. Big trouble if we’d been caught! But that’s what we did. But we couldn’t always wash the cooking pot, because we only had the bathroom. We were afraid someone would see us! But it added to the taste! Yes, it all got sunk into the pot.’

‘That’s like the story of the magic cooking pot,’ I said. ‘It loses its power if it gets washed.’ ‘Isn’t it an Anansi story?’

‘Ananse’s from Ghana!’ someone exclaimed.

‘Jamaica too,’ another added.

So we tell the story between us all. How there is hunger all around, and everybody tightening their belts and chewing their cheeks. But Anansi finds a magic pot that cooks by itself, and fills up with food. All Anansi has to do is say the words. And remember never to wash the pot. Easy – Anansi is lazy. And greedy. He keeps the pot secret. But his wife sees he’s getting fat when they’re getting thinner. She follows him, and she sees and she hears the words too. So next day she uses the pot and everybody eats. But then she washes it. And all the magic is cleaned out.

London is like that pot. Layer upon layer of story going in – one on top of another. Each tastes different. Variety is the spice of life. Each adds to the others. Better and better the more it’s mixed up … let’s hope no one ever tries to clean it out!

*Asterisks are used to refer readers to books in the Bibliography.

‘I saw’ – adding mid-line semi-colons makes sights plausible. Illustration: Hobbs Barber, Borough Market.

Story mixes giant lore, Geoffrey of Monmouth’s
Historia Regum Britannia
, and Lord Mayor’s account of Gog and Magog. London Stone was also said to be the milliarium, and heart of the city, where oaths were sworn, debts paid, and Lordship of the city claimed (e.g. Jack Cade). Illustration: Railings round London Stone, Cannon Street.

From the Mabinogion – 2nd Branch. Bran’s buried head was one of ‘three fortunate concealments’ in the Welsh triads. Illustration: ‘Colin’. Steel sculpture by Luke Morgan (2009). Beneath Old Operating Theatre, Southwark.

Written for this collection by storyteller Xanthe Gresham; ‘spirit’ location details added by H.East from local oral beliefs (Epping Forest/Waltham Forest Arts Project 2003), internet and archaeological paper on Kings Cross area excavation revealing Roman camp. Illustration: door detail Bank of England.

A string of stories, related to London Bridge and rhyme. Sources: oral – ‘Southwark Storyswap’*; Lady Gomme regarding sacrifice/fair lady link; Jon Lewis* regarding Olaf. Hay’s Wharf Company’s St Olaf House replaced church of St Olave (cf mural). Illustration Boss Badge of the Priory of St Mary Overie reproduced by kind permission of The Chapter of Southwark Cathedral

Bird Story – tale type 920 B, retold from Briggs*. Illustration: Emblem St Olave’s Court – 3 birds.

Sources: Leonard Clark’s church pamphlet; Internet; George Worley’s ‘Short History’; translations of William of Nangis and William of Malmesbury (regarding the White Ship), ‘No ship ever brought so much misery to England’. Rahere was close friends with Bishop Richard de Beaumis (probably I). Smithfield was then Smedfield or Smoothfield. Illustration: Priory church of St Bartholomew the Great, archway shield.

Rare specifically London folk tale with rhyme heard from Essex borders schoolgirl, learnt from her grandmother. Bagnigge was an old name for River Fleet.

Sources: medieval legends ‘without foundation in fact’ including: the Golden Legend and ‘Young Beckie’ ballad; also Hugh (Pye) de Kopeck family tales. Local lore claims Becket’s parents were married and buried at St Paul’s. History agrees Gilbert was a mercer. Illustration: Mercer maiden, Mercer Hall, Ironmonger’s Lane.

Sources: Oral – Joan Cottle, Lambeth Palace guide. Written Golden Legend and others, York Minster and Canterbury Cathedral’s stained-glass windows. Westwood and Simpson*. Grim’s personal testimony. Internet (especially Rebecca Howard on pet starling miracle. Caught by kite it invoked St Thomas. Kite dropped dead!) Illustration: Becket birthplace marker, Cheapside.

Source – pub lore. Briggs*.Thomas Percy (1765) added ‘Henry, son of Simon de Montfort’ twist to older ballad, ‘The Beggars Daughter of Bednall Green’. I used earlier name, Bethen Hall, and avoided naming the son, because some did survive the baron’s revolt and were pardoned by Edward.

Much is legend, but Richard Whittington existed, was apprentice to Fitzwarin, and married his daughter, Alice. Thrice Lord Mayor of London, he left bequeaths and laws as described. Coal barge, Lea and Bow details from internet and historian Rosemary Taylor. Sites: Highgate Hill marker, Whittington Hospital. Illustration: Cat. Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths churchyard of St John Zachary.

Oral source. Site: Tower of London. Illustration: Church of St Bartholomew the Great, shield.

Expanded from brief reference in Briggs*. The condemned man’s right to ‘address the crowd’ still exists as Speakers Corner, Hyde Park. St Uncumber’s statue was lost with Old St Paul’s in the Great Fire of London, but Westminster Abbey’s bearded lady figure may be her. Inscribed stone commemorates public declarations at St Paul’s until 1640s. Illustration: The Cross of St Paul’s

Sources: O’Donnell* and Guildhall Library notes. Sites: Lincolns Inn; the Temple (church of Knights Templar). ‘Inns of Court students are sons of persons of quality, those of inferior rank not being able to bear the expenses.’ Fortescue.

I interwove the (earlier) Swaffham folk tale and the church of St Mary Lambeth legend (detailed in Briggs*) to make sense of the storyline and character of the hero. Such a meeting of minds
might
have happened … The original 1608 pedlar window was replaced after Second World War bombing. Illustration: The George Inn.

‘The Cruel Knight’ ballad/legend became attached to Dame Rebecca Berry because of fish and apparent ring on her monument, St Dunstan and All Saints church (actually her second husband, Elton’s coat of arms). ‘The Devil’s Tavern’ built 1543 was notorious for smugglers. Rebuilt as ‘The Prospect of Whitby’ it is one of London’s oldest pubs. Illustrations: Billingsgate fish market, weathervane and railings.

Source: Alison Barnes* and oral (Epping Forest Project, 2003)

Tyburn was the boundary stream; executions took place from 1196–1783; Tyburn (Triple) Tree was built 1571 allowing many to ‘Go West’ to ‘dance the Tyburn Jig’ simultaneously. Illustration: Tyburn Marker, Marble Arch, Edgware Road.

Source: Westwood and Simpson*. Charles II’s statue was removed, but returned to Soho Square in 1938. Illustration: Priory church of St Bartholomew the Great, archway shield Weave Well.

O’Donnell* and other sources; oral claims of sightings – Internet. Becky’s ghost most recently reported ‘looking for her sovereign’ in Liverpool Street station, which stands on the site of St Mary of Bethlehem Priory, the original Bethlem Hospital. Part of Bedlam’s specially built premises in St Georges Fields were used for the Imperial War Museum.

Many sources; 1814 was the last frost fair, because London Bridge was rebuilt 1831 with wider arches, facilitating tidal flow. ‘Sweeps are Lucky’ saying ascribed to George II. Illustration: Dragon, emblem for City of London.

Sources: Westwood and Simpson* and O’Donnell* who says the story was on woman’s gravestone, parish church of St Giles-without-Cripplegate. This is now part of the Barbican; I’ve not found the gravestone (yet). Cobblers mend, shoemakers make shoes; ‘64 stitches to the inch’ marked shoemakers’ superior craftsmanship in battle against mechanisation. Illustration: Blacksmith Emblem, All Hallows by the Tower (by permission of the vicar).

Oyster-girl song – broadside ballad; I learnt this version from traveller Duncan Williamson. Story – London joke extended using Mayhew interview with young thieves. Thanks also to Old Operating Theatre (of Old St Thomas Hospital) and the Internet for details of Victorian operations and mesmerists, and Andrew Duncan’s
Favourite London Walks
on Saffron Hill. Illustration: Smithfield market railing.

Westwood and Simpson. My version has some details from Mayhew, but is mostly told fom oral source (Liz Thompson recorded for Southwark Storyswap – look out for her forthcoming book. Her Tosher relative grew up in the Snow fields and Borough riverside area). Illustration: Gutter creature, Talbot Lane.

Retold from Briggs*, Selfridges details etc. added. Illustration: Beehive, Gresham Street.

Retold from Roud*. Cemetery associated with ghosts – Cowdell (FLS) heard from someone who saw a knight in full armour nearby. Illustration: In Loving Memory, Kensal Green cemetery.

Retold as remembered from Gertie (Southwark Storyswap). Illustration: Southwark Tavern, Borough Market.

Retold from oral source – Debbie Guneratne. Site Borough Market and Bromley. Illustration: Priory church of St Bartholomew the Great, archway shield.

Source Westwood and Simpson*. Site Blackwall Tunnel.

Oral sources. Illustration: Old and New, Dragon and Plane, St Mary-le-Bow.

Barnes, A.,
Essex Eccentrics
(Boydell Press, 1975)

Briggs, K.M.,
A Dictionary of British Folk Tales Volumes I & II
(Routledge, Kegan Paul, 1971; 1970)

East, H. & Corkery, K.
In Search of the Spirit of Southwark
Southwark Storyswap (Southwark Festival, 2000)

Lewis, J.E.,
London the Autobiography
(Constable, 2010)

Mayhew, H.,
London Labour and the London Poor
(1861)

O’Donnell, E.,
Ghosts of London
(Philip Allan & Co. Ltd, 1932)

Roud, S.,
London Lore
(Arrow Books, 2008)

Rutherfurd, E.,
London
(Arrow Books, 1998)

Stow, J.,
A Survey of London 1598
(The History Press, 2009)

Vale, G.,
London Fairy Tales
(Pitman, 1949)

Westwood, J. & Simpson, J.,
The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England’s Legends, from Spring-heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys
(Penguin Books, 2005)

First published in 2012

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