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Coal Exchange (London)
The London Coal Exchange was situated on the north side of Thames Street in the City of London, nearly opposite to Old Billingsgate Market, occupying three different structures from 1770 to 1962. The original coal exchange opened in 1770. A second building from 1805 was replaced by a new purpose-built structure constructed from 1847 to 1849, and opened by Prince Albert on 30 October 1849. This third London coal exchange was one of the first substantial buildings constructed from cast iron, built several years before the hall at the Great Exhibition. It was demolished in 1962 to allow widening of what is now Lower Thames Street despite a campaign by the Victorian Society to save the building. Cast iron decorations from the 1849 Coal Exchange building were selected as the model for the dragon boundary mark for the main entrances to the City of London. Background Coal had been imported to London by sea since at least medieval times. A coal exchange was established i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Bunstone Bunning
James Bunstone Bunning (6 October 1802 – 2 November 1863) was an English architect. He held the post of architect to the City of London from 1843 until his death, and is probably best remembered for his design for the Coal Exchange. Life Bunning was born in London on 6 October 1802. He was trained in the office of his father, the surveyor Daniel James Bunning, from the age of thirteen. He was then articled to George Smith. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1819 and 1848., giving his address as Bernard Street between 1819 and 1823, and Guilford Street after 1832. He was a fellow of the Institute of British Architects, and of the Society of Antiquaries. Early career Bunning was district surveyor for Bethnal Green, (where he built the workhouse in 1840-2), and, from around 1825, surveyor to the Foundling Hospital estates. He went on to hold the same post with the Haberdashers' Company, the London and County Bank, the Thames Tunnel, the Victoria Life Office and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragon Boundary Mark
The dragon boundary marks are cast iron statues of dragons (sometimes mistaken for griffins) on metal or stone plinths that mark the boundaries of the City of London. The dragons are painted silver, with details of their wings and tongue picked out in red. The dragon stands on its left rear leg, with the right rear leg lifted forward to support a shield, with the right foreleg raised and the left foreleg holding the top of the shield. The shield bears the City of London's coat of arms painted in red and white: the red cross of Saint George on a white background, with a red sword in the first quarter, an attribute of Saint Paul. Saint George and Saint Paul are respectively the patron saints of England and of London. The dragon's stance is the equivalent of the rampant heraldic attitude of the supporters of the City's arms, which may allude to the legend of Saint George and the Dragon. Design The design is based on two large dragon sculptures, high, which were mounted above ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Ton
The long ton, also known as the imperial ton, displacement ton,Dictionary.com - ''"a unit for measuring the displacement of a vessel, equal to a long ton of 2240 pounds (about 1016 kg) or 35 cu. ft. (1 cu. m) of seawater."'' or British ton, is a measurement unit equal to 2,240 pounds (1,016.0 kg). It is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois system of weights or Imperial system of measurements. It was standardised in the 13th century. It is used in the United States for bulk commodities. It is not to be confused with the short ton, a unit of weight equal to used in the United States, and Canada before metrication, also referred to simply as a "ton". Unit definition A long ton is defined as exactly 2,240 pounds. The long ton arises from the traditional British measurement system: A long ton is 20 long hundredweight (cwt), each of which is 8 stone Thus, a long ton is Unit equivalences A long ton, also called the weight ton (W/T), imperial ton, or displa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bushel
A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an Imperial unit, imperial and United States customary units, US customary unit of volume, based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel was used mostly for agriculture, agricultural products, such as wheat: in modern usage, the volume is nominal, with bushels denoting a mass defined differently for each commodity. The name "bushel" is also used to translate similar units in other measurement systems. Name The word "bushel" as originally used for a container itself, and later a unit of measurement. The name comes from the Old French ' and ', meaning "little box".. It may further derive from Old French ', thus meaning "little butt (unit), butt". History The bushel is an intermediate value between the pound (mass), pound and ton or tun (unit), tun that was introduced to England following the Norman Conquest of England, Norman Conquest. Norman England, Norman Weights and Measures Acts (UK), statutes made the London ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaldron
A chaldron (also chauldron or chalder) was an Imperial unit, English measure of dry volume, mostly used for coal; the word itself is an obsolete spelling of cauldron. It was used from the 13th century onwards, nominally until 1963, when it was abolished by the Weights and Measures Act 1963, but in practice until the end of 1835, when the Weights and Measures Act 1835 specified that thenceforth coal could only be sold by weight. Coal The chaldron was used as the measure for coal from the 13th century, measuring by volume being much more practical than weighing low-value, high-bulk commodities like coal. It was not standardized, and there were many different regional chaldrons, the two most important being the Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle and London chaldrons. The Newcastle chaldron was used to measure all coal shipped from Northumberland and Durham, England, Durham, and the London chaldron became the standard measure for coal in the east and south of England. Many attempts have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thames Embankment
The Thames Embankment was built as part of the London Main Drainage (1859-1875) by the Metropolitan Board of Works, a pioneering Victorian civil engineering project which housed intercept sewers, roads and underground railways and embanked the River Thames. It consisted of the Victoria Embankment and Chelsea Embankment on the north side and the Albert Embankment on the south. Designed by the Chief Engineer Joseph Bazalgette, it modernised London's infrastructure, improving public health, mobility, and the image of the British capital. History There had been a long history of failed proposals to embank the Thames in central London. Embankments along the Thames were first proposed by Christopher Wren in the 1660s, then in 1824 former soldier and aide to George IV of the United Kingdom, George IV, Sir Frederick Trench (British Army officer), Frederick Trench suggested an embankment known as 'Trench's Terrace' from Blackfriars, London, Blackfriars to Charing Cross. Trench brought a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Fire Of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extending past the wall to the west. The death toll is generally thought to have been relatively small, although some historians have challenged this belief. The fire started in a bakery in Pudding Lane shortly after midnight on Sunday 2 September, and spread rapidly. The use of the major firefighting technique of the time, the creation of firebreaks by means of removing structures in the fire's path, was critically delayed due to the indecisiveness of the Lord Mayor of London, Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Bloodworth. By the time large-scale demolitions were ordered on Sunday night, the wind had already fanned the bakery fire into a firestorm which defeated such measures. The fire pushed north on Monday into the heart of the City. Order in the streets ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of England. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London. Its dedication in honour of Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. The high-domed present structure, which was completed in 1710, is a Listed Building, Grade I listed building that was designed in the English Baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren. The cathedral's reconstruction was part of a major rebuilding programme initiated in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London. The earlier Gothic cathedral (Old St Paul's Cathedral), largely destroyed in the Great Fire, was a central focus for medieval and early modern London, including Paul's walk and St Paul's Churchyard, being the site of St Paul's Cross. The cathedral is o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commission For Building Fifty New Churches
The Commission for Building Fifty New Churches (in London and the surroundings) was an organisation set up by Act of Parliament in England in 1711, to implement the New Churches in London and Westminster Act 1710, with the purpose of building fifty new churches for the rapidly growing conurbation of London. It did not achieve its target, but did build a number of churches, which would become known as the Queen Anne Churches. Churches built Most of the churches were designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, with John James, Thomas Archer and James Gibbs also participating. *Christ Church, Spitalfields, Hawksmoor 1714–29 * St Alfege Church, Greenwich, Hawksmoor 1712–18 (rebuilding of an existing church) * St Anne's Limehouse, Hawksmoor 1714–30 *St George's, Bloomsbury, Hawksmoor 1716–31 * St George in the East, Hawksmoor 1714–29 *St George's, Hanover Square, James 1720–25 * St John Horsleydown, Hawksmoor and James 1727–33 *St John's, Smith Square ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doric Order
The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of the columns. Originating in the western Doric region of Greece, it is the earliest and, in its essence, the simplest of the orders, though still with complex details in the entablature above. The Greek Doric column was fluted, and had no base, dropping straight into the stylobate or platform on which the temple or other building stood. The capital was a simple circular form, with some mouldings, under a square cushion that is very wide in early versions, but later more restrained. Above a plain architrave, the complexity comes in the frieze, where the two features originally unique to the Doric, the triglyph and gutta, are skeuomorphic memories of the beams and retaining pegs of the wooden constructions that preceded stone Doric tem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corporation Of The City Of London
The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the local authority of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United Kingdom's financial sector. In 2006, the name was changed from Corporation of London to distinguish the body governing the City of London from the Greater London Authority, the regional government of the larger Greater London administrative area. It is a corporation in the sense of being a municipal corporation rather than a company; it is deemed to be the citizens and other eligible parties acting as one corporate body to manage the City's affairs. The corporation is based at the Guildhall. Both businesses and residents of the City, or "Square Mile", are entitled to vote in corporation elections. In addition to its functions as the local authority (analogous to those undertaken by the 32 boroughs that administer the rest of Greater London) the City ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coal Merchant
A coal merchant is the term used in the UK and other countries for a trader who sells coal and often delivers it to households. Coal merchants were once a major class of local business, but have declined in importance in many parts of the developed world due to the rise of alternative heating methods, including central heating, Gas heater, gas, Fuel oil, oil and electric heating. The men who carried the coal to households were called coal men. The mass of coal homes burned was large; the UK government estimated in 1975 that the average household burning solid fuel used about 4.7 tons per year. History According to John Ulric Nef (economic historian), J. U. Nef, the term "coal merchant" originally meant "the owner, or part owner, of an east-coast collier [ship]; but in the eighteenth century the word was applied to all kinds of London coal traders, including small retailers", while the shipper came to be called a coal dealer, although the terms were "seldom applied consistently" in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
