The Dinners Of Old London
Dinner at the Mercers’ Hall, c.1910
Is that your stomach rumbling or is it the sound of distant thunder I hear? To assuage your hunger, let us pass the time until we eat by studying these old glass slides once used for magic lantern shows by the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society at the Bishopsgate Insititute. Observe the architecture of gastronomy as expressed in the number and variety of ancient halls – the dining halls, the banquet halls and the luncheon rooms – where grand people once met for lengthy meals. Let us consider the dinners of old London.
The choicest meat from Smithfield, the finest fish from Billingsgate, and the freshest vegetables from Covent Garden and Spitalfields, they all found their way onto these long tables – such as the one in Middle Temple Hall which is twenty-seven feet long and made of single oak tree donated by Elizabeth I. The trunk was floated down the river from Windsor Great Park and the table was constructed in the hall almost half millennium ago. It has never been moved and through all the intervening centuries – through the Plague and the Fire and the Blitz – it has groaned beneath the weight of the dinners of old London.
Dinners and politics have always been inextricable in London but, whether these meals were a premise to do business, make connections and forge allegiances, or whether these frequent civic gatherings were, in fact, merely the excuse for an endless catalogue of slap-up feasts and beanos, remains open to question. John Keohane, former Chief Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London told me that his troupe acquired their colloquial name of “beefeaters” because – as royal bodyguards – Henry VII granted them the privilege of dining at his table and eating the red meat which was denied to commonfolk. In the medieval world, your place at dinner corresponded literally to your place in society, whether at top table or among the lower orders.
Contemplating all these empty halls where the table has not been laid yet and where rays of sunlight illuminate the particles of dust floating in the silence, I think we may have to wait a while longer before dinner is served in old London.
Christ’s Hospital Hall, c.1910
Buckingham Palace, State Dining Room, c.1910
Grocers’ Hall, c.1910
Ironmongers’ Hall, Court Luncheon Room, c.1910
Mercers’ Livery Hall, 1932
Merchant Taylors’ Hall, c.1910
Painters’ Hall, c.1910
Salters’ Livery Hall, c.1910
Skinners’ Hall, c.1910
Skinners’ Hall, c.1910
Stationers’ Hall, Stock Room, c.1910
Drapers’ Hall, c.1920
The Admiralty Board Room, c.1910
King’s Robing Room, Palace of Westminster, c.1910
Buckingham Palace, Throne Room, c.1910
Houses of Parliament, Robing Room, c.1910
Lincoln’s Inn, Great Hall, c.1910
Lincoln’s Inn Old Hall, c.1928
Drapers’ Hall, c.1920
Middle Temple Hall, c.1910
Mansion House Dining Room, c.1910
Ironmongers’ Hall, Banqueting Room, c.1910
Apothecaries’ Hall, Banquet in the Great Hall, c.1920
Boys preparing to cook, c.1910
Boar’s Head Dinner at Cutler’s Hall, c.1910
Lord Mayor’s Banquet at the Guildhall, 1933
Baddeley Cake & Wine, Drury Lane, c.1930
Glass slides courtesy Bishopsgate Institute
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Gawd, man, your prose is evocative! And well-met by the images you select.
I particularly liked “they (victuals) all found their way onto these long tables – such as the one in Middle Temple Hall which is twenty-seven feet long and made of single oak tree donated by Elizabeth I. The trunk was floated down the river from Windsor Great Park and the table was constructed in the hall almost half millennium ago. It has never been moved and through all the intervening centuries – through the Plague and the Fire and the Blitz – it has groaned beneath the weight of the dinners of old London.”
Ah, the magnificence of your island nation’s history! And the role played by commerce- the vitality of London set against Westminster! The place accorded to the trades!
Skinners? Salters? Grocers? Dining in grandeur? Well, certainly, and why not? These fellows of yore knew their collective value, and celebrated accordingly. Think of Pepys the taylor’s son and his very near connection to the first Earl of Sandwich, think of the wonderment of the Merchant Taylor’s Hall, and you get to the kernel of the matter- the skinners, salters, grocers, ironmongers, et al., they made England England
Keep it coming, O Gentle Author! We await!
Over a (long) 45yr career as a Chef, i worked
in quite a few of the halls & they mostly catered
the same as a century ago.
Many of the remaining halls still have plenty of money
& have secure ‘vaults’ full of priceless solid gold bits
& all sorts of ancient artefacts that never get seen !
(what a waste !).
Greetings from Boston,
GA, I enjoyed reviewing those great dining halls of yore. They remind us how powerful those guilds/organizations were representing so many aspect of commerce – Drapers, Ironmongers, Mercers, Skinners, Painters, Apothecaries – not to forget the law courts like Lincoln’s Inn.
We might wonder how many of these palatial spaces have survived?
I love the photos that are “peopled”, and yet the silent dining halls are the ones that have lasting power. Once the linen cloths have been removed, and the empty chairs are lined up in a row — all that remains are the echos of raucous laughter, exultant toasts, whispered poor-taste jokes shared behind hands, workaday confidences, blustery brags, and high-volume speeches.
Oh, those lucky apothecaries!? — They broke the budget, and hired a pianist to liven up the evening. Smart fellows. After a toast or two, I can imagine the tunes requested by the multitudes, and the sing-alongs.
Thanks for the treat, GA. Stay safe all.
I was privileged to attend a dinner at Drapers’ Hall in October. It was possibly the most extraordinary experience this American will ever have!
This is absolutely marvelous…. I can only hope that somewhere in the world there are still that many sets of evening clothes..
Thank you, gentle author. I have so appreciated your blog, sharing your part of the world during these pandemic times. Perhaps in 2022 I will feel it’s safe enough to travel again to the UK and the continent. Happy Christmas and good health to you!