Comments on: John Taylor, The Water Poet

By: Anthony Burton

Anthony Burton — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 16:50:00 +0000

I wrote a book back in 1986 – Britain Revisited (OUP) – in which I followed the journeys of several writers and in Chapter 1 I followed John Taylor, who travelled the length of the Thames and wrote a poetic description in 1632. I also descried the journey in a BBC Radio 4 series of the same name. I’m just about to start reading him again for a new project – provisionally called Maritime London – but I didn’t know about the pubs – when the world returns to normal I shall certainly call in and drink his health.

By: Amanda Root

Amanda Root — Wed, 12 Sep 2018 09:11:02 +0000

Lovely, had long wondered at the pub’s name, and now I know!

On watery topics there is a plan afoot to mechanically dredge kelp (a seaweed) from the Scottish West Coast. I feel sure John Taylor would have opposed this move, please sign to oppose

Please, if you haven’t already signed this petition, do so now, and share widely:

https://chn.ge/2wPLzpk

Thanks.

By: Debra Matheney

Debra Matheney — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 18:05:29 +0000

Thanks for the great story. I wondered where the name of the pub came from and now I know!

By: Gillian Tindall (responding)

Gillian Tindall (responding) — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 08:21:06 +0000

I am pleased to hear that someone remembers the pub premises as a furriers, since I have picked this up myself from a 1970s photo and was a bit surprised.

As for the tale about the place having been a menagerie, this is a garbled
reference to the dreadful fire that engulfed a nearby but different premises in Blossom street in June 1884, in which lions, monkeys and a bear were burnt to death.

The `hospital’ theory similarly relates to another nearby premises, nearer to Norton Folgate itself, which was at one time the head-quarters of a charity offering help to mothers and children.

By: Dick Hobbs

Dick Hobbs — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 15:33:29 +0000

Terrific article. I remember the site that is now the Water Poet as a thriving furriers workshop.

By: Jonathon Greeen

Jonathon Greeen — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 13:39:39 +0000

I am a huge fan of John Taylor (after spending many years foolishly assuming that ‘Water Poet’ must equal ‘Romantics’ and thus not for me. If I might offer a footnote to Gillian Tindall’s piece (and how can I have never visited the pub?), I wrote about Taylor as a ‘Hero of Slang’ (he is a very prolific user of the counter-lanaguage) a few years ago: `https://bit.ly/2Q8rjaL

By: Paul Loften

Paul Loften — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 11:33:04 +0000

Although he was a royalist I wonder if the reference to Flanders Mares ( Anne of Cleves ) be a subtle jibe in the direction of working people being robbed of their rightful share or was he just referring to the horses . If it was it was very clever

By: Lou

Lou — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 11:01:17 +0000

The disparaging comment about the value of Taylor’s verse seems a little sweeping. Make up your own mind by reading his complete works at http://ota.ox.ac.uk/tcp/headers/A13/A13415.html

By: John Barrett

John Barrett — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 07:37:32 +0000

Thanks Gillian for this brilliant expose I am a fan. Am always happy when a poet passes through these pages. Poet John Barrett Poetry Soc & Bus Pass Poets Shirehampton Bristol

By: Adrienne Rowe

Adrienne Rowe — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 07:22:02 +0000

We had an excellent family dinner at The Water Poet earlier this week. We asked our waiter about the history of the pub. He said he had been told that it had once been a menagerie and that the staff quarters downstairs had been a ‘hospital’. It would be interesting to know if the writer, Ms Tindall, had heard these stories and discounted them. We were imagining scenes from Jamrach’s Menagerie!!