Rare public exhibition inside a 400-year old monastery

An exhibition has opened that can be looked as either an exhibition worth visiting to learn something, or a chance to go inside a building that has rarely been seen by the general public. Or maybe both?

Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt, Guildhall Library!

If you head over to the City of London's library next to the Guildhall, there you will find a small display detailing some of the history of one of the City's livery guilds - which sports the motto: Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt.

Smithfield meat market’s boisterous Christmas Eve auction

London's 800-year old meat market at Smithfield usually opens at 3am and usually closes by 7am as the city is overtaken by people more suited to city work than butchering -- but on Christmas Eve one butchers holds a very special event more suited to the average punter.

The moment that I was allowed to open Tower Bridge

Yesterday, thanks to an offer from the City of London, I had a chance to do something really quite special - I was allowed to open Tower Bridge to let a cruise ship pass through.

Architecture porn on display at Cannon Street

Over the past couple of weeks, I have received a steady stream of press releases about some new exhibition thing that seemed to be rather indifferent in nature. Indeed, it sounded like it was just some displays stuck in the windows of an office block.

Celebrate the City – a weekend of heritage events

Starting next Thursday will be four days to celebrate the City of London in the form of heritage and art. The four day event has actually been timed to slot-in between the Spitalfields festival and the 50th City of London Festival.

A London history festival that’s worth looking forward to

The City of London has outlined the details for a weekend of heritage based events around the Square Mile that is looking like a rather good mini Open House Weekend.

Inside the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries Livery Hall

Sitting very much overlooked on a very small side street near the building site that is Blackfriars train station lies one of the oldest of the City's Livery Halls, belonging to the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London.

A huge model of the City of London

When showing off a city as a possible place to invest in, you need a nice office space to educate the guests, and it helps to have something pretty to show them.

Views From Two Towers in Two Cities – Both in London

Before they merged into a Metropolis, the City of London was physically distinct from the City of Westminster with fields separating the two rival powers in the land. More by coincidence than design, the two cities both ended up two…

Pearly Kings and Queens on Parade

People passing the City of London’s Guildhall on Sunday will have seen the place packed full of people, along with a fairground organ, various sad looking donkeys, a couple less depressed Shire Horses, lots of people in fancy red robes…

Visiting the Roman Ruins under a 1970s office block

A rather boring office block in the City of London conceals a historic marvel in its basement - a very important Roman Bath House.

Attend the 2011 Cart Marking Ceremony

Just a reminder that tomorrow (Wed 13th July) morning, the annual Cart Marking Ceremony will take place in the City of London, and is worth taking the morning off work if you like vehicles of any sort. I won’t be…

Photos – the City of London’s 800 year old Guildhall

Last week, the City of London Guildhall hosted the too rarely held London Maze – which is not at all maze like, but is a collection of stalls set up by local history associations around London. It’s the sort of…

Photos from the top of One New Change

Famously, the French writer, Guy de Maupassant so loathed the Eiffel Tower that on visits to Paris, he would always eat lunch in its restaurant, as it was the only way he could “avoid seeing its otherwise unavoidable profile”. Frankly,…

Highlights from the City of London Festival

Booking details for the annual City of London Festival have been announced, and while predominantly a music festival, there are some other things worth keeping an eye out for. The Bank of England is open for tours twice (

City of London still paying a Dowry from a 19th century fund

Catalogued in the department marked “you learn something new every day”, I found out that there is a 19th century trust fund that each year makes a payment to three brides who are about to get married. The payment is…

Taking a trip in London’s only Funicular railway

Of all the railways in London, I only recently became aware of a special railway and today took a trip along what is London's only Funicular railway.

Men in ropes on the Millennium Bridge

Something to keep an eye out for: On or about 18 October 2010, for a period of about one week, contractors working on behalf of the City of London will carry out a structural inspection of the Millennium Footbridge by…

The 2010 cart marking ceremony

Another year, and another annual cart marking ceremony carried out by the The Worshipful Company of Carmen. I have written about the history of the tradition before – so I wont recount that again. Today though, I noticed an interesting…

The History of Beeswax in London

As part of the soon to finish City of London Festival, there was a talk the other evening at the Wax Chandlers Hall all about their trade - bees and beeswax.

Open Evening at the Honourable Artillery Company

If you were in the vicinity of Old Street or Moorgate on Tuesday evening, you might have been slightly alarmed by the sight of a very low flying Chinook Helicopter coming into land, shortly followed by the sound of explosions…

A Declaration of War

You may recall that just a few weeks ago I attended the formal reading of the Proclamation for the Dissolution of Parliament as it was read on the steps of the Royal Exchange in the City of London. Such a…

My personal choices from the City of London Festival

Details for the annual City of London Festival have been published and while the majority of the events are art based, there are some which either appeal to me or might be worth flagging as above average in interest. My…