Uder my family's custody

 

Saint Joseph NGUYỄN DUY KHANG

 

Dominican Brother

(1832-1861)

 

* A Loyal Disciple.

 

Saint Joseph Nguyễn Duy Khang was one of the four saint martyrs of Hải Dương venerated by Vietnamese Catholics. Even though he was executed a month after the other three, he was still honored together with Fr. Almato Bình and the two bishops Valentino Vinh and Hermosilla Liêm, because he had born the same travail with his three Dominican brothers.

 

As Bishop Hermosilla Liêm’s assistant, Brother Joseph Khang was in footstep with the leader of the east vicariate of Tonkin during their fugitive days; when soldiers arrested the bishop, with Peter’s passion in the Garden of Gethsemane, the brother tried to use force to fight. But obedient to the bishop, he agreed to be arrested to bear witness to a higher ideal: to bear witness to love, the compassion and forgiveness of the Gospel.

 

* A Devout Religious.

 

Joseph Nguyễn Duy Khang came into the world in 1832 in Cao Mại, Trà Vi canton, Vũ Tiên district, Kiến Xương prefecture, Thái Bình province. His parents were devout Catholics guiding their children in the Christian ways of life at their early ages. But his father passed away early. His mother raised him up properly. She wanted him to be educated and gave him the idea of offering his life to God, so she sent him to live with Fr. Matthew Năng, a Dominican.

 

After spending 10 years with the saintly elderly priest, Joseph Khang was sent to Kẻ Mốt seminary to study Latin preparing for a pastoral future. During this period, Joseph Khang asked to join the Dominican tertiary and was chosen by his fellow classmates to be their leader coordinating all the students’ responsibilities such as cleaning, cooking and liaison with the higher-ups. No matter how busy he was, he still set himself up as a model for his classmates in classes as well as in discipline. All who knew him said that he was very religious, honest, and always treated all around him with compassion and respect.

 

At the time, Bishop Hermosilla Liêm was also at Kẻ Mốt. He had a unique trust in Brother Khang and chose him to be his special assistant. Brother Khang happily and faithfully served the bishop: from preparing the altar, filing, copying pastoral letters, and contacting others, to preparing meals. He also dug their hiding trenches.

 

* A Model of Courage.

 

The Vietnamese Church was in a period of violent persecution under King Tự Đức. To erase completely Catholicism in the country, the king declared the edict of Segregation and Integration on 8/5/1861. According to the edict, all Catholics, young and old, male and female, were dispersed into villages of nonbelievers. Christians’ cheeks were etched with a word. Families were separated, wives from husbands, children from their parents. Churches, community houses, and Christian properties were confiscated, given away or destroyed.

 

Against that background, on September 18, Bishop Hermosilla Liêm agonized over the decision to close Kẻ Mốt seminary. Fr. Khoa informed seminarians on the bishop’s behalf: “You do not have to say goodbye to the bishop otherwise he cannot control his tears.” Brother Khang, on the other hand, persistently begged and was chosen to accompany the bishop till the end. When saying goodbye to his friends, he spoke half truthfully and half jokingly: “I am determined to accompany the bishop. If the authorities arrest him, they will not let me go free: if the bishop die for faith, so do I; without the head, the legs have no fear.” From that night on the two, a bishop and a religious brother, started their life on the run. Although the future was cloudy, but Brother Khang still maintained his cheerfulness due to his trust in and willingness to sacrifice his life for God.

 

The first three weeks on the run, Brother Khang and the bishop lived in a trench in Thọ Ninh. However, the authorities had discovered it, so the two had to leave land for a fishing sampan. Brother Khang rowed the boat to the city of Hải Dương and took refuge in the boat of a Christian named Bính. The boat became the mobile “diocesan office” of the shepherd. After several days, the two encountered by chance Bishop Valentino Vinh and Fr. Almato Bình in another boat arriving from Kẻ Mê. It was an emotional and happy encounter of the four saint martyrs of Hải Dương. They thanked God for the special occasion, exchanged news and prayed together for the Church. In the morning, they went on their separate ways.

 

Unfortunately, there was a quarrel in Mr. Bính family. The eldest son became angry at his parents; he went to the authorities to inform them of his parents’ giving safe housing to priests. As a result, corporal Bằng led his a group of men to arrest the bishop. Seeing them approaching, Brother Khang picked up a wooden pole, which was used to push the sampan, and ran toward them as if to warn them: to arrest anyone, you must go pass me.

 

But the respected and friendly bishop tapped the brother’s shoulder and said: “Don’t hurt them, leave it to God’s will.” Surprised, Brother Khang turned around still dumbfounded, suddenly he understood and could utter only a word: “Yes,” then dropped the pole and extended his hands to be tied up. Soldiers brought them to city of Hải Dương and put them in separate jail cells.

 

* The Martyr of Dải Dương.

 

For a month and a half of incarceration, Brother Khang was jailed together with a number of Christians. He organized for the cell to pray three times a day, and to do penance nightly to prepare themselves for their martyrdom. During this time, he was brought into court three times, tortured until his buttocks were flattened; each time, he endured the pain not revealing any information on the clergy nor renouncing his faith as urged by the mandarins. After each session, Christian inmates cleaned and massaged him to reduce the pain.

 

From prison Brother Khang continued to write to his friends who were taking refuge in the village of Hảo Hội. He wrote in a letter:

 

“The mandarins tortured me one time to force me to reveal bishop’s hiding places, but I did not tell them anything and was willing to be beaten. Please pray for me.”

 

In another letter, he wrote:

 

“Please send me a pair of pants because mine is old and shredded by canes beating on it. Send me also a blanket to be used to cover my body for burial when I die.”

 

On 12/6/1861 Brother Khang was informed of the sentence of death by decapitation from the royal capital. He happily followed soldiers to the execution field of Năm Mẫu where the ground had been soaked with the blood of his beloved bishop on November 1. After his execution, the local people buried him in a field nearby.

 

In 1867, under Bishop Hy’s direction, Chief Hinh, the martyr’s brother exhumed his body and reburied in the church of Kẻ Mốt parish. Today his head is stored at the church of Hải Dương while his body is still in Kẻ Mốt.

 

I have been to Throwley on at least three previous occasions, the fourth was going to be during Ride and Stride in September, but another crawler told me it had failed to open as per the list.

 

St Michael and All Angles is a large and from the outside and interesting looking church, looked like it had a story to tell. So, last week, I contacted the wardens through the CofE A church Near You website, I got a reply and a date and time agreed for Saturday morning.

 

We arrived 15 minutes early, and it was as locked as ever, but on a fine if frosty morning took the time to study the church ad churchyard, and saw yet more fine details we had missed previously.

 

Dead on time the warden arrived, and was very welcoming indeed. They loved to have visitors she said. Now I know how to contact them, I can see that.

 

She was clearly proud of the church, and rightly so, most impressive was the south chapel with a pair of kneeling couples on top of chest tombs, staring at each other for all eternity.

 

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St Michael & All Angels is the parish church of Throwley. The first church on the site was probably built between 800 and 825. This would have been a small wooden structure, barely distinguishable from a farm building.

 

After the Norman Conquest in 1066 this was replaced by a Romanesque stone structure.

 

This was still small, but as the population of the parish increased the church was enlarged, until in about 1510 it reached its present size. Since then its appearance has changed little, although an extra storey was added to the tower - now far seen - in the 1860s.

 

The church has an elaborate Romanesque west entrance; its east window in the chancel, by Curtis, Ward & Hughes of Soho, London, is a memorial to Throwley men who gave their lives in the First World War.

 

In the Harris chapel is the church's newest stained-glass window, commemorating Dorothy Lady Harris who died in 1981. It was designed and executed in the Canterbury Cathedral Workshops by Frederick Cole (see pictures on left).

 

The church has more than its fair share of fine 16th to 19th century monuments, mainly to members of the local Sondes and Harris families, and these are all described.

 

www.faversham.org/community/churches/throwley.aspx

 

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TQ 95 NE THROWLEY THROWLEY

ROAD

(west side)

4/181

Church of

St. Michael

and All

24.1.67 Angels

 

GV I

 

Parish Church. C12, C13 north chapel, C14 south chapel, C15

nave arcades, restored 1866 and tower heightened. Flint and

plain tiled roofs. Chancel, north and south chapels, nave and

aisles, south tower and south porch. West doorway, C12, with

attached shafts and 3 orders, the outer panelled with X's on

circles, the centre roll moulded with the blocks offset and

alternately projecting, the inner with more X's on circles,

with 2 offset buttresses either side of doorway. South aisle

with plinth, string course and parapet, 3 offset buttresses and

C15 Perpendicular windows. South tower of 2 stages with square

south-eastern stair turret and C16 moulded brick surround

sundial. Water spouts on each corner in the 4 Evangelical

symbols. Half-timbered C19 south porch, south doorway with

rolled and double hollow chamfered surround, and outer surround

with label and quatrefoil spandrels. North aisle under 1 roof

with nave, with C15 fenestration, and C19 chimney to north west.

North and south chapels with C14 cusped 'Y' tracery fenestration,

with hollow chamfered and ogee drip moulds. Chancel east

window C19 curvilinear style. Interior: 2 bay nave arcades,

double hollow chamfered arches on octagonal piers. C12 single

arches to north and south eastern bay, that to south recessed

and double chamfered through tower wall. Barrel roof.

Chamfered arch on corbels from south aisle to tower, itself

with corbel table on south wall, and triple arch through to south

chapel C19 chancel arch. Chancel with 2 bay double chamfered

arcade to north chapel with octagonal capitals on round piers, and

single double chamfered arch on round responds to south chapel.

Fittings: hollow chamfered piscina and sedile in window reveal in

chancel and cusped recess in north wall. C19 reredos and altar

rail. Cusped piscina and four centred arched wall recess in

south chapel. Choir stalls, some C19, the four on the south C15

with carved misericords. Monuments: south chapel C16 chest tomb,

with shields in panelled sides, moulded plinth, lozenge-shaped

flowers, fluting and frieze. Chest tomb, Sir George Sondes,

Earl of Faversham, d.1677. Black marble with blank panelled sides.

Inscription on the top panel (made 1728). Standing monument,

Sir Thomas Sondes, died 1592. Marble tomb chest, gadrooned with

achievements on side panels. Kneeling alabaster figures of

knight and his Lady on opposite sides of central prayer desk,

carrying inscription. Mary Sondes, died 1603. Smaller and

identical to Sir Thomas Sonde's monument, with 2 adults and 2

infant sons and daughters on either side of sarcophagus. Misplaced

scrolled and enriched carved achievement on floor to east of

those monuments. Wall plaque, Captain Thomas Sondes, died 1668.

Black and white marble, with draped apron, swagged and draped

sides with military trophies. Broken segmental pediment with male

bust. Signed W.S. (B.0.E. Kent II, p.477 suggests William Stanton).

North chapel C16 chest tomb, moulded plinth, panelled sides with

shields (1 panel reset in south chapel south wall). Early C16

tomb recess with moulded jambs, with rope work, crenellated,

with late Perpendicular motifs in spandrels, and tomb with 3

panelled recesses with 2 shields on each panel. Wall plaque,

Charles Harris, d.1814, by Flaxman. White plaque on white

background; dead soldier lifted from the grave by Victory, with

palms and cannon in background. Statue, to George, first Lord

Harris, life size soldier with sword and plans, on four foot

plinth. By George Rennie, 1835. Nave, wall plaque, Stephen

Bunce, d.1634. Black plaque on coved base and apron. Foliated

sides. Scrolled nowy cornice and pediment with achievement.

(See B.O.E. Kent II, 1983, 476-7.)

  

Listing NGR: TQ9883454254

 

www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-176587-church-of-st-m...

 

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LIES the next parish north-eastward from Stalisfield. It is called in the record of Domesday, Trevelei, in later records Truley and Thruley, in Latin ones Trulega and Truilla; it is now written both Throwley and Throwleigh.

 

THROWLEY is mostly situated on high ground, it is a more pleasant and open country than that last described, for though wild and romantic among the hills and woods, it is not so dreary and forlorn, nor the soil so uncomfortable, being much drier. Besides it has a more chearful and brighter aspect from the width of the principal valley which leads through it, from north to south, whence the hills rise on each side, with smaller delves interspersed among them. There is a good deal of wood-ground, mostly of beech, interspersed at places with oak and hazel, with some good timber trees of oak among them, especially in the northern and southern parts; much of the former belongs to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. The soil is mostly chalk, the rest a heavy tillage land of red cludy earth, the whole mixed with quantities of flint stones. There are some level lands, especially in the disparked grounds of Throwley park, which are tolerably good, much more so than those in the other parts of the parish; on the east side of the park are the foundations of the antient seat of the Sondes's, with the church close to them, the whole lying on high ground, with a good prospect of the surrounding country; not far from it is Town place, now only a farm-house. There is no village, excepting the few houses in Abraham-street may be so called, the rest of the houses, which are mostly cottages, standing dispersed throughout it, either single, or built round the little greens or softalls, of which there are several in different parts of the parish. On a larger one of these called Wilgate-green, there is a house belonging to the estate of Mr. Philerenis Willis's heirs, and another larger antient one, which with the estate belonging to it, was formerly the property of the Chapmans, and sold by them to Christopher Vane, lord Barnard, in 1789, gave it, with his other estates in this county, to David Papillon, esq. of Acrise, the present owner of it. (fn. 1)

 

There was a family named Wolgate, from whose residence here this green seems to have taken its name of Wolgate, or Wilgate-green. After they had remained here for some generations they ended in a daughter, for Mr. Ralph Wolgate dying in 1642, his daughter Anne married Mr. William Genery, and entitled him to her father's possessions here, at Posiers, in Borden, and other parts of this county. The Woodwards seem afterwards to have possessed their estate here, several of whom lie buried under a tomb in Throwley church-yard.

 

About half a mile distant south-westward from Wilgate-green, in Abraham-street, there is a seat, called, from its high situation and expensive prospect, BELMONT; it was built in the year 1769, by Edward Wilks, esq. storekeeper of the royal powdermills at Faversham, who inclosed a paddock or shrubbery round it, and occasionally resided here, till he alienated it in 1779 to John Montresor, esq. the present proprietor, who resides in it.

 

THE BEECH TREE flourishes in the greatest plenty, as well single to a large size, as in stubs in the coppice woods, which consist mostly of them, as well in these parts as they do in general on the range of chalk hills throughout this county, in some places extending two or three miles in width, and in others much more. The large tracts of ground in this and other counties, overspread with the beech-tree, the random situation of their stubs, and other circumstances which occur in viewing them, are strong proofs of their being the indigenous growth of this island, notwithstanding Cæfar's premptory assertion, in his Commentaries, of there being none here in this time. The Britons, he says, had every material for use and building, the same as the Gauls, excepting the fir and the beech. The former there is positive proof of his being grossly mistaken in, which will in some measure destroy that implicit credit we might otherwise give to his authority, as to the latter; indeed, the continued opposition he met with from the Britons, during his short stay here, assorded him hardly a possibility of seeing any other parts of this country than those near which he landed, and in the direct track through which he marched to wards Coway-stakes; too small a space for him to form any assertion of the general products of a whole country, or even of the neighbouring parts to him. Of those he passed through, the soil was not adapted to the growth of the beech tree; from which we may with great probability suppose, there were none growing on them, nor are there any throughout them, even at this time, a circumstance which most likely induced him to suppose, and afterwards to make the assertion beforementioned.

 

The slints, with which the cold unfertile lands in these parts, as well as some others in this county, are covered, have been found to be of great use in the bringing forward the crops on them, either by their warmth, or somewhat equivalent to it. Heretofore the occupiers of these lands were anxious to have them picked up and carried off from their grounds, but experiencing the disadvantage of it in the failure of their crops, they, never practice it themselves, and submit to the surveyors of the highways taking them off with great reluctance.

 

In the parish there are quantities of the great whitish ash coloured shell snail, which are of an unusual large size; they are found likewise near Darking, in Surry, and between Puckeridge and Ware, in Hertsordshire. They are not originally of this island, but have been brought from abroad, many of them are at this time observed in different parts of Italy.

 

MR. JACOB, in this Plantœ Favershamienses, has enumerated several scare plants observed by him in this parish, besides which, that scarce one, the Orchis myodes, or fly satrition, has been found here, growing on the side of the path, in a small wood, midway between the church and Wilgate green.

 

THIS PLACE, at the taking of the general survey of Domesday, about the 15th years of the Conqueror's reign, was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and earl of Kent, the king's half brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus described in it:

 

Hersrid holds Trevelai. It was taxed at three sulings. The arable land is eight carucates. In demesne there is one, and twenty-four villeins, with five borderers having six carucates and an half. There is a church, and five servants. Wood for the pannage of twenty bogs, and in the city three houses of thirty-two pence. In the time of king Edward the Conssessor it was worth seven pounds, and afterwards six pounds. Ulnod held it of king Edward.

 

On the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, about four years afterwards, this among his other estates, became consiscated to the crown.

 

After which it was held of the king in capite, by barony, by Jeffry de Peverel, and together with other lands made up the barony of Peverel, as it was called, being assigned to him for the defence of Dover-castle, for which purpose he was bound to maintain a certain number of soldiers from time to time for the desence of it, and to repair and defend at this own charge a particular tower or turret there, called afterwards Turris Gattoniana, or Gatton's tower.

 

In the reign of king Henry III. Robert de Gatton, who took his name from the lordship of Gatton, in Surry, of which his ancestors had been some time owners, was in possession of the manor Thrule, and died in the 38th year of that reign, holding it by knight's service of the king, of the honor of Peverel, by reason of the escheat of that honor, &c. (fn. 2) He was succeded in it by this eldest son Hamo de Gatton, who resided here, and served the office of sheriff in the 14th year of Edward I. His eldest son of the same name left one son Edmund, then an instant, who afterwards dying under age, his two sisters became his coheirs, and divided his inheritance, of which Elizabeth entitled her husband William de Dene to this manor, and all the rest of the estates in Kent; and Margery entitled her husband Simon de Norwood to Gatton, and all the other estates in Surry.

 

William de Dene had a charter of free warren for his lands in Thurley, in the 10th year of Edward II. He died anno 15 Edward III. then holding this manor by the law of England, as of the inheritance of Elizabeth his late wife deceased, of the king in capite, as of the castle of Dover, by knight's service, and paying to the ward of that castle. His son Thomas de Dene died possessed of it in the 23d year of that reign, leaving four daughters his coheirs, of whom Benedicta, the eldest, married John de Shelving, and entitled him to this manor, on whose death likewise without male issue, his two daughters became his coheirs, of whom, Joane married John Brampton, alias Detling, of Detlingcourt, and Ellen married John de Bourne, the former of whom, in his wife's right, became possessed of this manor. He lest only one daughter Benedicta his heir, who carried it in marriage to Thomas at Town, who was possessed of much land about Charing, and bore for his arms, Argent, on a chevron, sable, three crosscrostess, ermine, which coat is in the windows of Kennington church, impaled with Ellis, of that place. He removed hither in the reign of Henry VI. and built a feat for his residence in this parish, about a quarter of a mile from the church, which he named, from himself, Town-place, soon after which he died, leaving his possessions to his three daughters and coheirs, of whom Eleanor was married to Richard Lewknor, of Challock; Bennet to William Watton, of Addington, and Elizabeth to William Sondes, of this parish and of Lingfield, in Surry, in which county his ancestors had been seated as early as the reign of Henry III. at Darking, where their seat was named, from them, Sondes-place. (fn. 3) Upon the division of their inheritance, the manor of Throwley was allotted to William Sondes, and Town-place, with the lands belonging to it in Throwley, to Richard Lewknor, who sold it to Edward Evering, the eldest son of Nicholas, third son of John Evering, of Evering, in Alkham, and his daughter and heir Mary marrying in 1565, with John Upton, of Faversham, entitled him to this estate, which he very soon afterwards alienated to Shilling, from whom it as quickly afterwards passed by sale to Anthony Sondes, esq. of this parish, whose ancestor William Sondes, on the division of the inheritance of the daughters and coheirs of Thomas at Town as before mentioned, had become possessed of the manor of Throwley, and the antient mansion of it, in which he afterwards resided, and dying in 1474, anno 15 Edward IV. was buried in the north chapel of this church, though he ordered by his will a memorial for himself to be put up in the church of Lingfield. The family of Sondes bore for their arms, Argent, three blackmores heads, couped, between two chevronels, sable, which, with the several quarterings borne by them, are painted on their monuments in this church.

 

His descendant, Anthony Sondes, esq. of Throwley, in the 31st year of Henry VIII. procured his lands in this county to be disgavelled, by the act then passed, and died in 1575, having married Joane, daughter of Sir John Fineux, chief justice of the king's bench, by whom he had two sons, Thomas and Michael, and two daughters.

 

He was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Thomas Sondes, sheriff anno 22 Elizabeth, who founded the school in this parish. He died in 1592, leaving issue only by his second wife, one daughter Frances, married to Sir John Leveson, so that on his death without male issue, his only brother Sir Michael Sondes, of Eastry, succeeded to this manor and seat of his ancestors, in which he afterwards resided. He was sheriff in the 26th year of queen Elizabeth's reign, and died in the 16th year of king James I. having had by his first wife Mary, only daughter and heir of George Fynch, esq. of Norton, six sons and six daughters.

 

Sir Richard Sondes, the eldest son, resided at Throwley, where he died in the 8th year of Charles I. having had by his two wives a numerous issue, of both sons and daughters. He was succeeded in this manor and seat, with the rest of his estates, by his eldest son Sir George Sondes, who was made a knight of the Bath at the coronation of king Charles I. soon after which he began to rebuild his seat of Lees-court, in Sheldwich, and fixed his residence there, under the description of which a more particular account of him and his descendants may be seen. Not long after which this seat was entirely pulled down, and the park adjoining to it disparked. The foundations of the former still remain, and the disparked lands still retain the name of Throwley park.

 

Sir George Sondes was afterwards created Earl of Faversham, Viscount Sondes, of Lees court, and Baron of Throwley, whose two daughters became his coheirs; Mary was married to Lewis, lord Duras, marquis of Blanquefort, and afterwards earl of Faversham, and Katherine to Lewis Watson, esq. afterwards earl of Rockingham, who each successively, in right of their respective wives, inherited this manor and estate, which has since descended in like manner as Lees-court, in Sheldwich, to the right hon. Lewis-Thomas, lord Sondes, and he is the present possessor of this manor, with Town-place and the estate belonging to it. Acourt baron is held for this manor.

 

The denne of Toppenden, alias Tappenden, in Smarden, in the Weald, is an appendage to the manor of Throwley, and is held of it.

 

WILDERTON, alias Wolderton, called also in antient deeds Wilrinton, is a manor in this parish, which was once part of the possessions of the eminent family of Badlesmere, of which Bartholomew de Badlesmere was possessed of it in the reign of Edward II. of whom, for his services in the Scottish wars, he obtained in the 9th year of it many liberties and franchises for his different manors and estates, among which was that of free-warren in the demesne lands of this manor of Wolrington. (fn. 4) Having afterwards associated himself with the discontented barons, he was taken prisoner, and executed in the 16th year of that reign. By the inquisition taken after his death, which was not till anno 2 Edward III. at which time both the process and judgement against him was reversed, it was found that he died possessed of this manor, among others, which were then restored to his son Giles de Badlesmere, who died in the 12th year of Edward III. s. p. being then possessed of this manor. Upon which his four sisters became his comanor fell to the share of Margery, wife of William, manor fell to the share of Margery, wife of William, lord Roos, of Hamlake, who survived her husband, and died in the 37th year of Edward III. possessed of it, as did her grandson John, lord Roos, in the 9th year of Henry V. leaving no issue by Margaret his wife, who survived him, and had this manor assigned to her as part of her dower. She afterwards married Roger Wentworth, esq. whom she likewise survived, and died anno 18 Edward IV.

 

On the death of John, lord Roos, her first husband, s. p. the reversion of this manor, after her death, became vested in Thomas his next surviving brother and heir, whose son Thomas afterwards became a firm friend to the house of Lancaster, for which he was attainted anno 1 Edward IV. and his lands were consiscated to the crown.

 

On the death of Margaret, the widow of Roger Wentworth, esq. the manor of Wulrington, but whether by grant or purchase, I have not found, came into the possession of Richard Lewknor, of Challock, owner likewise of Town-place, as before-mentioned, who sold it to Edward Evering, already mentioned before, whose daughter and heir Mary marrying in 1565 with Mr. John Upton, of Faversham, entitled him to it. He joined with his brother Nicholas Upton, in 1583, in the sale of the manor-house, with all the demesne lands belonging to it, excepting one small piece called the manor-croft, and a moiety of the ma nor, which, from its situation, from that time was known by the name of NORTH-WILDERTON, to Anthony Terry, of North Wilderton, yeoman, upon whose death it came to his four sons, Arnold, William, Thomas, and George Terry, who in 1601 made a partition of their father's estates, in which this manor was allotted to Arnold Terry, and William his brother, from whom it descended to Anthony Terry, of Ospringe, who in 1689 sold it to Mr. Thomas Knowler, of Faversham, who devised it to his sister Abigail for her life, and after her death to John Knowler, gent. of Ospringe, in fee. She afterwards married John Bates, and they, together with John Knowler above-mentioned, about the year 1694, joined in the sale of it to Mr. Edward Baldock, of Aylesford, and Bennet his wife. He survived her, and by deed of gift in 1717, vested the fee of it in his son Edward Baldock, who passed it away to Mr. Thomas Greenstreet, of Norton, whose niece Elizabeth marrying with Mr. Thomas Smith, of Gillingham, entitled him to this manor, which has been since sold to John Montresor, esq. of Belmont, in this parish, the present owner of it. A court baron is held for this manor.

 

There was antiently a chapel at this manor of Wilrintune, as appears by a charter, dated anno 1217, lately in the treasury of St. Bertin's monastery at St. Omers, concerning the privilege of a bell to it.

 

BUT THE REMAINING MOIETY of the manor, with a small crost called the manor-croft, lying at the west end of Hockstet green, remained with John Upton, and thenceforward acquired the name of SOUTH, alias GREAT WILDERTON. After whose death it came to his eldest son John Upton, who died possessed of it in 1635, and was buried with his ancestors in Faversham church. They bore for their arms, Quarterly, sable, and or; in the first and fourth quarters, a cross flory, argent, each charged with a trefoil, azure. (fn. 5)

 

John Upton, his eldest son, inherited this manor, and at his death in 1664, by his will gave it to his daughter Anne, wife of Charles Castle, gent. who in 1688 devised it to her brother-in-law George Naylor, and George White, the former of whom becoming solely possessed of it, in 1705 devised it to his nephew Mr. John Dalton, gent. of St. Edmundsbury, for his life, and afterwards to his son Thomas Dalton, and his issue, in consequence of which it descended to Benjamin Shuckforth, of Diss, in Norfolk, who in 1741 sold it to Mr. Giles Hilton, of Lords, in Sheldwich, on whose death it descended to his three sons, John, William, and Robert Hilton, the youngest of whom, Mr. Robert Hilton, as well as by the devise of his two elder brothers, afterwards became the sole proprietor of this manor. He died in 1782, and his son Mr. John Hilton, of Sheldwich, as next in the entail, succeeded to it, and is the present possessor of it.

 

IN THE REIGN of king Stephen there was AN ALIEN PRIORY established in this parish, as a cell to the Benedictine abbey of St. Bertin, at St. Omers, the capital of Artois, in Flanders, William de Ipre, in 1153, having given this church, with that of Chilham, to it for that purpose; which gift was confirmed by king Stephen the same year, as it was by the several archbishops afterwards, and by the charters of Henry II. and III. The charter of this gift was till lately in the treasury of the monastery of St. Bertin, as were all the others hereafter mentioned relating to this church and priory.

 

There are very few formal foundations of these cells, the lands of them being usually granted to some monastery abroad, as an increase to their revenues, after which, upon some part of them they built convenient houses, for the reception of a small convent. Some of these cells were made conventual, having a certain number of monks, who were mostly foreigners, and removeable at pleasure, sent over with a prior at their head, who were little more than stewards to the superior abbey, to which they returned the revenues of their possessions annually; others were permitted to chuse their own prior, and these were entire societies within themselves, and received their revenues for their own use and benefit, paying perhaps only a yearly pension as an acknowledgement of their subjection, or what was at first the surplusage to the foreign house.

 

The cell at Throwley was of the former sort, for which reason, during the wars between England and France, as their revenues went to support the king's enemies, these kind of houses were generally seized on by the king, and restored again upon the return of a peace. (fn. 6)

 

In the 25th year of king Edward I. Peter, prior of Triwle, as it was spelt in the record, made fine to the king at Westminster, and had a privy seal for his protection, by which he had the custody of his house and possessions committed to his care, to retain them during the king's pleasure, answering to his exchequer for the profits of them, according to the directions of him and his council.

 

The scite of this priory was that of the parsonage of the church of Throwley, which, with that of Chilham, seems to have been all their possessions in this kingdom. These were valued in the 8th year of king Richard II. anno 1384, each at forty pounds annually, and their temporalities at 20s. 6d. at which time the parsonage of Throwley was become appropriated to this cell, and a vicarage was endowed in it. In which situation this priory remained till the general suppression of the alien priories throughout England, in the 2d year of Henry V. anno 1414, which was enacted in the parliament then held at Leicester, and all their houses, revenues, &c. were given to the king and his heirs for ever. (fn. 7)

 

This priory, with its possessions, seems to have remained in the hands of the crown till Henry VI. in his 22d year, settled them on the monastery of Sion, in Middlesex, founded by his father Henry V. with which they continued till the general suppression of religious houses, this being one of those greater monasteries dissolved by the act of the 31st year of king Henry VIII. How this priory was disposed of afterwards by the crown, may be further seen hereafter, under the description of the parsonage of the church of Throwley.

 

The only remains left of this priory are some few foundations, and two walls of flint, which support a building, standing behind the parsonage-house and garden.

 

THERE IS A FREE SCHOOL in this parish, the house of which is situated adjoining to the church-yard, which was founded by Sir Thomas Sondes, who died in 1592, who by his will devised a house and six poundes per annum to the master of it, to dwell in, and as a recompence for his pains; but having charged his executors and not his heirs to the fulfilling of this bequest, and charged the payment of the above sum, among other charitable legacies, on several leasehold estates, the terms of which expired in his nephew Sir Richard Sondes's time, and the house having tumbled down for want of repairs, Sir George Sondes, son of Sir Richard above-mentioned, thought it unreasonable, as he had none of the estates, that he should be bound to maintain the school; however, he voluntarily paid the master his salary, and gave him a house to live in, both which have been continued by the possessors of Throwley manor to this time, as far as I can learn, as of their own free gift.

 

The present right hon. lord Sondes appoints the schoolmaster as such during pleasure, and pays him a salary of twelve pounds per annum, besides which, he allots him an house and garden, worth about six pounds per annum, which his lordship repairs from time to time, and for which no parochial or church-dues are paid. There are at present fourteen boys taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, gratis, in this school, which though taken mostly from the parishes of Throwley, Badlesmere, and Leveland, are not confined to those parishes.

 

Charities.

 

CATHERINE, LADY SONDES, gave by will the sum of 40s. a year, to be received yearly on St. Barnabas's day, towards the relief of the poor, payable from a farm in it, called Bell-horn, now belonging to lord Sondes, and now of that annual produce.

 

THERE WERE three alms-houses in this parish, the gift of one of the Sondes family; one of them was some time since burnt down, and has not been rebuilt, but lord Sondes allows the person nominated to it the value of it in money yearly.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about thirty, casually double that number.

 

THROWLEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Ospringe.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Michael, consists of three isles and three chancels. The steeple is a square tower, and stands in the centre of the south side of it, in which there is a peal of six bells, given in 1781, at the expence of Mr. Montresor, of Belmont. In the south isle is a memorial for Francis Hosier Hart, gent. obt. 1761, leaving three daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, and Diana Hosier. In the middle isle is a small monument for Stephen Bunce, esq. of this parish, one of the Antients of New-Inn, who died there in 1634, and was buried in St. Clement's church, London. In the middle chancel there are two stalls of wood, which are not fixed, and in the north isle three more of the like sort, joined together, with a desk before them, which seem to have been removed from the chancel, and were both intended for the use of the religious of the priory here. In the middle of this chancel is a memorial for Dr. Thomas Horsemonden, patron and rector of Purleigh, in Essex, prebendary of Lincoln, &c. who died anno 1632. In the north and south chancel are several monuments for the family of Sondes, with their essigies, arms and quarterings; one of them in the latter, a plain altar tomb of black marble for Sir George Sondes, earl of Faversham, his lady and descendants; many more of this family, as appears by the parish register, are buried in the vault underneath, but the family of Watson burying at Rockingham, this vault has not been opened for several years. The north and south chancels above-mentioned belonged, one to the possessors of Throwley manor, the other to those of Townplace, but they both belong now to lord Sondes.

 

There were formerly in the windows the arms of Sondes, Finch, and Gatton, and in the north window this inscriptin, Pray for the good estate of Alice Martyn, the which did make this window, MCCCCXLV.

 

In the church yard, at the west end of the north isle, there is a circular door-case of stone, having several bordures of Saxon ornaments carved round it. In the church-yard is an altar tomb for William Woodward, gent. of Wilgate-green, obt. 1681, and Anne his wife.

 

It appears by the will of William Sondes, esq. anno 1474, that this church had then constantly burning in it lights, dedicated to St. Michael, the Holy Trinity, the Holy Cross, St. Mary, St. Thomas, St. Christopher, St. George, St. Katherine, St. Margaret, St. Mary Magdalen, and St. Nicholas.

 

An account of the antient patronage of the church of Throwley has already been given, as first belonging to the alien priory here, and then to the monastery of Sion, to the time of the dissolution of the latter in the 31st year of Henry VIII. the year after which, the king granted the rectory, with the advowson of the vicarage of the church of Throwley, to the prebendary of Rugmer, in the cathedral church of St. Paul, London, in exchange for lands belonging to that prebend, to be inclosed within the king's park of Marybone, in pursuance of an act then passed. Since which this parsonage and advowson have continued part of the abovementioned prebend. The former is leased out by the present prebendary to the right hon. lord Sondes, but the advowson of the vicarage he retains in his own hands, and is the present patron of it.

 

¶There was a rent of 4l. 18s. 4d. reserved from the parsonage by king Henry VIII. nomine decimœ, which was granted by queen Elizabeth, in her third year, to archbishop Parker, among other premises, in exchange for several manors, lands, &c. belonging to that see, which rent still continues part of the revenue of the archbishopric.

 

A vicarage was endowed here in 1367, anno 42 king Edward III. by archbishop Langham, at which time the chapel of Wylrington belonged to it. (fn. 8)

 

It is valued in the king's books at 7l. 11s. 8d. and the yearly tenths at 15s. 2d.

 

In 1578 there were one hundred and eighty communicants here. In 1640 it was valued at forty-five pounds, communicants two hundred and twenty.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp445-461

Submission for the Tallinn Architectural Biennale 'Street 2020' Competition, unawarded. (flickr seems to have altered colors) Jury reported: "The proposal is thorough and professionally executed, yet rather absurd. Several questions remain unanswered, for example why bring a forest in a city, where does the street lead to and where does it start from? Furthermore, the design proposal is overly based on four- lane road design standards."

 

The Digital Forest creates a passageway, an edge, and a destination. Calling on Estonia’s cultural heritage and its recent economic dynamism, the forest provides a grounded connection to place (earthly) and a technical connection to the wider digital world (ephemeral). The layering of a series of simple strategies creates a complex solution. The street responds to contemporary patterns of living and working and encourages numerous modes of transportation both within the center city and to and from the outlining districts beyond. The scheme addresses street movement in two ways; splitting the proposal into a central spine running adjacent to the center city, port, and old town and connected extensions where it reaches out to Viimsi, Pirita, and Lasnamäe in its first configuration and to Mustamäe and Nõmme in future expansions. The central spine provides Tallinn with a city-scaled urban space.

At the central spine private car traffic is placed underground and a forest of native species establishes an edge to the city and connection to the sea. The forest is simultaneously a cultural landscape and an ecosystem restoration effort. Along the city side of the spine there are several opportunities for new buildings, a gracious sidewalk, a high-frequency streetcar line, and a limited-access service street for deliveries and taxis. By placing automobile traffic underground along the central spine, much of the right-of-way is liberated for the forest. This avoids introducing significant traffic infrastructure along the waterfront severing the city from the water. The high frequency trolleys allow for fluid movement along the spine and facilitate easy transfer between modes and scales of transit.

 

Three key crossings connect the city to the port. The crossings are strategic points that allow for easy movement across the central spine and provide opportunities for the scheme to extend south into the center city, connecting to citizens’ daily lives and reaching the existing bus and tram lines. Framed views of the forest from along these feeder streets announce its presence to the city dweller.

 

The forest is place of urban respite traversed by walking/skiing and biking paths. It widens where it meets underutilized port sites, reaching from the city to the sea. With opportunities for playgrounds, garden allotments, picnic areas, beaches, and habitat creation, the forest is a place where residents and visitors can inhabit a landscape reminiscent of the glacially formed beauty found along much of the Estonian coast. This earthly garden speaks to the Estonian national identity. Accordingly, the forest can be used as a processional pathway for choirs as they walk from the old town to the song grounds for the Estonian Song Festival or Laulupidu. Glass boxes in the forest house a variety of functions, ranging from commercial kiosks, to warming shelters, to a municipal greenhouse that reaches out into the bay and compositionally balances the Linnahall and becomes an iconic feature of the city for visitors arriving by boat. These glass boxes shift seasons and allow access to the earthly forest throughout the harsh winter months. The municipal greenhouse is also the anchor of a proposed system of greenhouses to encourage urban gardening and local food production.

 

Plazas carved from the forest emphase significant buildings like the Museum of Estonian Architecture (rotermanni salt storage),the historic Linnahall and the forthcoming City Hall by BIG architects. Though seen as terminating at Pirita Tee on the east and the City Hall / Linnahall plaza on the west, future growth of the central spine into Kalamaja is envisioned. This addition will catalyze the redevelopment of Patarei Prison and the thinshell hydroplane hangars for cultural or residential uses.

 

A free municipal high speed internet service underpins the entire central spine, democratizing information and, through hand held devices, providing a technologically augmented reality that overlays sounds and images of the city’s geology, ecology, history, and culture on the forest landscape. This ephemeral forest encourages exploration, commerce, and communication. As the walls of the workplace, social spaces, and educational institutions dematerialize with the growth of digital means, the forest offers a civic space that boosts online interaction while bringing people together. At night users can choose to have smart lighting track their movements illuminating a nearby perimeter; a strategy that improves visibility, enhances energy efficiency, preserves the night sky and provides poetic effect. During the summer atomizing nozzles fill the forest with a soft mist. Juxtaposing the earthly and the ephemeral creates a hybrid urban space appropriate to Tallinn’s increasing stature in the European community.

 

Attached to the central spine, extensions connect the center city to outlying areas. Here all traffic is brought to the surface and the cross section of the road is divided efficiently between multiple modes of transit - private automobiles, trams/buses, bicycles, and designated spaces for pedestrians to walk, run or ski.

 

Project Team: Ted Shelton, Tricia Stuth, Emily Dent, Kate Armstrong, Luke Murphree, Phil Zawarus, Maudy Budipradigdo, Ken McCown

 

Officers investigating the recent spate of firearms discharges in Salford have executed a series of warrants in Little Hulton and Eccles.

 

In the early hours of this morning, Friday 16 October 2015, officers from Greater Manchester Police’s Salford Division searched nine properties throughout the division in the hunt for firearms linked to the recent shootings in the area.

 

The warrants were executed as part of a Project Gulf operation designed to tackle organised crime. Gulf is part of Programme Challenger, the Greater Manchester approach to tackling organised criminality across the region.

 

Seven men and one woman have been arrested on suspicion of a number of offences, ranging from possession with intent to supply to handling stolen goods.

 

A significant amount of Class A and Class B drugs were seized as part of the operation, though no firearms were found.

 

Detective Inspector Alan Clitherow said: “This series of warrants are just one element of the continuing and relentless operation being orchestrated to tackle organised crime gangs in Salford.

 

“They came about as a result of the on-going investigation into the recent spate of firearms discharges in Salford, including the horrific attack of young Christian Hickey and his mother Jayne.

 

“We wanted to show our communities that we are leaving no stone unturned in the hunt for those responsible for the abhorrent attack on an innocent child and his mother, and that we will not stand for the spate of shootings taking place on our streets in recent weeks.

 

“But there is still more to do and, as with any fight against organised crime groups embedded in our city, we need residents to come to us with information so we can put a stop to this criminality.

 

“There has been much said about people breaking this wall of silence in Salford, and once again I urge people to search their consciences and please come forward.

 

“You could provide the information that may help prevent any further innocent lives being touched by this senseless violence, and prevent further children being injured by thugs that many people within Salford seem so intent on protecting.

 

“I want to stress that if you come forward with what you know, we can offer you complete anonymity and I assure you that you will have our full support. Or if you don’t feel you can talk to police but you have information, you can speak to Crimestoppers anonymously.”

 

A dedicated information hotline has been set up on 0161 856 9775, or people can also pass information on by calling 101, or the independent charity, Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111.

 

Officers execute daybreak raids as part of a firearms investigation in Cheetham Hill.

 

This morning, Thursday 21 May, officers from the North Manchester division carried out raids at two addresses in Cheetham Hill as part of an ongoing investigation into a firearms discharge, which took place last week on Monday 11 May 2020.

 

In the early hours of that morning, at around 1.15am, police were called to reports of between two and four gunshot sounds on Galsworthy Avenue.

 

No injuries were reported but some damage was caused to a vehicle on the street.

 

During today's raids officers seized a quantity of cash as part of the direct action. One man was arrested.

 

Speaking after the raids, Superintendent Rebecca Boyce, of GMPs North Manchester district, said: “First and foremost I sincerely hope that this morning’s activity shows to the people of Cheetham Hill just how seriously we continue to take incidents of this nature. We will explore every line of enquiry available to us and leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of justice.

 

“Guns and violence have no place on our streets; and anyone who is harbouring weapons of this nature or taking part in this kind of criminal activity should know that we do not take these incidents lightly. Anyone who brandishes a weapon within our communities and ultimately puts the lives of others at risk can expect to be investigated by us.

 

“As part of our ongoing commitment to protecting people and making the streets of Cheetham Hill a safer place, we have been working closely with partners, including Manchester City Council –both Adult and Children’s Services and housing providers. This prevention work is absolutely vital if we are to support those most vulnerable in our society and put a stop to this type of offending. A huge priority for us is discouraging people from taking this path and turning to this kind of criminality and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our partners who have continued to support us in this.

 

“We have been always very clear that we cannot do this alone and would like to continue to appeal to the public to help us. Often, answers lie within communities and this type of criminal activity can only be halted completely with the support of those with information. If people would prefer to speak anonymously, they can do so by contacting the independent charity Crimestoppers.”

 

Anyone with any information should contact police on 0161 856 3924 quoting incident number 124 of 11/05/2020. Details can also be anonymously passed to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111

Arbour Hill is an inner city area of Dublin, on the Northside of the River Liffey, in the Dublin 7 postal district. Arbour Hill, the road of the same name, runs west from Blackhall Place in Stoneybatter, and separates Collins Barracks, now part of the National Museum of Ireland, to the south from Arbour Hill Prison to the north, whose graveyard includes the burial plot of the signatories of the Easter Proclamation that began the 1916 Rising.

  

The military cemetery at Arbour Hill is the last resting place of 14 of the executed leaders of the insurrection of 1916. Among those buried there are Patrick Pearse, James Connolly and Major John Mc Bride. The leaders were executed in Kilmainham and then their bodies were transported to Arbour Hill, where they were buried.

 

The graves are located under a low mound on a terrace of Wicklow granite in what was once the old prison yard. The gravesite is surrounded by a limestone wall on which their names are inscribed in Irish and English. On the prison wall opposite the gravesite is a plaque with the names of other people who gave their lives in 1916.

 

The adjoining Church of the Sacred Heart, which is the prison chapel for Arbour Hill prison, is maintained by the Department of Defence. At the rear of the church lies the old cemetery, where lie the remains of British military personnel who died in the Dublin area in the 19th and early 20th century.

 

A doorway beside the 1916 memorial gives access to the Irish United Nations Veterans Association house and memorial garden.

The Descent from Mount Sinai is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Cosimo Rosselli and his assistants, executed in 1481–1482 and located in the Sistine Chapel, Rome. It depicts the prophet Moses in the process of receiving and introducing the Ten Commandments.

On 27 October 1480, several Florentine painters left for Rome, where they had been called as part of the reconciliation project between Lorenzo de' Medici, the de facto ruler of Florence, and Pope Sixtus IV. The Florentines started to work in the Sistine Chapel as early as spring 1481, along with Pietro Perugino, who was already there. Rosselli brought with him his son-in-law, Piero di Cosimo, who perhaps collaborated on this painting and at least one of the others assigned by his master.

The theme of the decoration was a parallel between the stories of Moses and those of Christ, as a sign of continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament, as well as a continuity between the divine law of the Tables and the message of Jesus, who, in turn, chose Peter (the first alleged bishop of Rome) as his successor: this would finally result in a legitimation of the latter's successors, the popes of Rome.

The painting, like others in the cycle, shows more episodes at the same time; the theme is described by the inscription on the frieze PROMULGATIO LEGIS SCRIPTE PER MOISEM. In ("Promulgation of the Written Law through Moses").

In the upper part is Moses kneeling on Mount Sinai, with a sleeping Joshua nearby: he receives the Tables of the Law from Yahweh, who appears in a luminescent cloud, surrounded by angels. In the foreground, on the left, Moses brings the Tables to the Israelites. In the background is camp of tents, with the altar of the golden calf in the middle; the Israelites, spurred by Aaron, are adoring it: the position of some of them, painted from behind, was usually used for negative characters, such as Judas Iscariot in the Last Supper. Once seeing that, Moses, in the center, gets angry and breaks the Tables on the ground. The right background depicts the punishment of the idolatrous and the receiving of the new Tables. Joshua, in the blue and yellow, appears with Moses.

  

The Crossing of the Red Sea is a fresco executed in 1481–1482 and located in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City. Of uncertain attribution, it has been assigned to Cosimo Rosselli.

On 27 October 1480 several Florentine painters left for Rome, where they had been called as part of the reconciliation project between Lorenzo de' Medici, the de facto ruler of Florence, and Pope Sixtus IV. The Florentines started to work in the Sistine Chapel as early as the Spring of 1481, along with Pietro Perugino, who was already there.

The theme of the decoration was a parallel between the Stories of Moses and those of Christ, as a sign of continuity between the Old and the New Testament. A continuity also between the divine law of the Tables and the message of Jesus, who, in turn, chose Peter (the first alleged bishop of Rome) as his successor: this would finally result in a legitimation of the latter's successors, the popes of Rome.

Among the several fresco in the cycle, that of the Passage of the Red Sea was the one with the most problematic attribution. Although the name of Ghirlandaio was made by several authorities, the work's style is more reminiscent of that of Cosimo Rosselli or Biagio d'Antonio.

The scene is part of the chapel's Stories of Moses cycle, and, like other frescoes there, shows several scenes at the same time. The sequence begins from the right background, where Moses and Aaron are begging the pharaoh to free the Israelites. On the right are the Egyptian soldiers, shown in typical Italian Renaissance military garments, armor and weapons, who are drowning after the Red Sea waters, which had miraculously opened to allow the Israelites to cross them, close around them. The pharaoh is portrayed in a frantic scream, while other figures try to return to the Egyptian shore by swimming. Before the army is a column hovering over the waters: this is a representation of the fire pillar sent by Yahweh to scare the Egyptians.

In the upper central area is a hail storm, sent by God to punish the Egyptians. Also depicted are some sunrays and, more to the left, a rainbow, symbols of the upcoming liberation for the Israelite people. Similar representation of meteorological phenomena were not uncommon in the 15th-century Italian art: other examples are Fra Angelico's Martyrdom of St. Mark on the Tabernacle of the Linaioli, and several Paolo Uccello's St. George and the Drake.

On the left are the Israelites, led by a young Moses with the typical yellow garment and green cloak, and a command baton, after they have just crossed the sea. Their safeness is testified by the presence of recreational activities, such as the prophetess Miriam playing a chordophone in the foreground. They continue their trip in procession, disappearing on the left, in a naturalistic landscape. Details include a pet dog in the foreground, reminiscent of Benozzo Gozzoli's paintings in the Magi Chapel.

  

The Youth of Moses or The Trials of Moses is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli and his workshop, executed in 1481–1482 in the Sistine Chapel, Rome (modern-day Italy).

On 27 October 1480, Botticelli, together with other Florentine painters, left for Rome where he had been called as part of the reconciliation project between Lorenzo de' Medici, the de facto ruler of Florence, and Pope Sixtus IV. The Florentines started to work in the Sistine Chapel as early as the Spring of 1481, along with Pietro Perugino, who was already there.

 

The theme of the decoration was a parallel between the Stories of Moses and those of Christ, as a sign of continuity between the Old and the New Testament – a continuity also between the divine law of the Tables and the message of Jesus, who, in turn, chose Peter (the first alleged bishop of Rome) as his successor: this would finally result in a legitimation of the latter's successors, the popes of Rome.

Botticelli, helped by numerous assistants, painted three scenes. On 17 February 1482 his contract was renovated, including the other scenes to complete the chapel's decoration. However, on 20 February his father died: he returned to Florence, where he remained.

  

Moses Leaving for Egypt is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Pietro Perugino and his workshop, executed around 1482 and located in the Sistine Chapel, Rome. It depicts a journey by the prophet Moses.

The commission of the work originated in 1480, when Perugino was decorating a chapel in the Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Pope Sixtus IV was pleased by his work, and decided to commission him also the decoration of the new Chapel he had built in the Vatican Palace. Due to the size of the work, Perugino was later joined by a group of painters from Florence, including Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and others.

Perugino's assistants in the Sistine Chapel included Pinturicchio. Some figures in the fresco were traditionally attributed to him, but this has been disputed by 20th-century art historians. They were painted by Andrea d'Assisi, Rocco Zoppo or, less likely, Lo Spagna or Bartolomeo della Gatta, other Perugino's collaborators of the time.

The fresco depicting the voyage of Moses is the first on the wall right to the altar, and faces the Baptism of Christ on the opposite wall.

The painting shows Moses (dressing in yellow and green as in the other frescoes of the cycle) leaving for Egypt, after he had been exiled from Midian, with Zipporah to his right. In the center, an angel asks him to circumcise his son Eliezer (scene on the right), as a sign of the alliance between Yahweh and the Israelites. The baptism, depicted on the opposite fresco, was in fact considered by several early Christian writers, including Augustine, as a kind of "spiritual circumcision". The ceremony is on the right, and includes Zipporah.

In the right background Moses and Zipporah are greeting Jethro before leaving. Natural elements include the hill landscape in the background, characterized by thin trees (including a palm, a symbol of Christian sacrifice), and the birds: two of them are mating, an allusion to the renovations cycles of the nature. On the left background is a group of shepherds. The dames with flying dresses were a common element of Florentine early Renaissance painting, used also by Ghirlandaio and Botticelli.

   

North Wall

Caroline Townshend, London 1907

  

Description.

The formal dedication of this important window is recorded by the Newcastle Daily Journal (October 26th, 1907), as follows;

 

“Yesterday afternoon a beautiful stained glass window in the north aisle of the chancel of Newcastle Cathedral was unveiled and dedicated. The window has been designed and executed by Miss Caroline Townshend, a grand-daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Cummings Gibson, who was a native of Newcastle and a resident in the city for the greater part of his life, a member of the Hostmens’ Company, and an Elder Brother of the Trinity House. It is the gift of Mr. Thomas George Gibson, son of the late Mr. T.C.Gibson. The work has been carried out with artistic taste. In the quatrefoil at the top of the window is the symbol of St. Nicholas, Patron saint of sailors and children, and the chief panels in the four lights are intended to recall some of the incidents in the life of Jesus Christ between Gethsemane and Calvary. In the first or western light the scene represented is that which gave rise to the words of Jesus, “Put up the [sic] sword into the sheath” (John XVIII.2). In the second light there are two subjects, one being the appeal to law illustrated by the incident in which Jesus says “Why smitest thou me?” (John XVIII.23) and the other Peters’ repentance. In the third light there are also two subjects, one being of Christ before Pilate (Mark XV.3-4) and the other the Crown of Thorns (John XIX.2), whilst in the fourth light there is a picture of the scene of Pilates’ pronouncement “Behold your King” (John XIX.14).

 

The lower portion of the window is devoted to reminiscences of the early history of Christianity in Northumbria. In the left central light are the figures of St. Paulinus, Bishop of York AD 625 and his convert Edwin, the first Christian King of Northumbria. In the right central light the two figures are those of St. Aidan, first Bishop of Lindisfarne, AD 635, and his friend and fellow worker, St. Oswald, King of Northumbria. In the western or left light is the figure of St. Finan, second Bishop of Lindisfarne, who baptised Peada (son of Penda, King of Mercia) AD 653, at Ad Murum, part of the district now known as Pandon, within the city of Newcastle; and also, in 654, Sigebert, King of the East Saxons, at the same place. In a medallion above the figure of St. Finan is a suggestion of the baptism of Peada………The lower portion of the last or eastern light is the figure of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, AD 685, whilst in a medallion above is a suggestion of the Ven. Bede writing the Life of St. Cuthbert. The four heraldic shields contain (1) the arms of the See of Newcastle; (2) the defeated banner of St. Oswald, adopted by the County Council of Northumberland as its badge; (3) the arms of Newcastle; (4) the arms of Mr. T.G.Gibson…”

  

Given Gibson’s prominent position as a solicitor, and one time Town Sheriff of Newcastle, the prominence of the judgement scenes in this window is indeed highly appropriate. In addition, the Gibson family also held extensive property in the east of the city, which included property in the Pandon district. Some 19th century scholars had suggested Pandon to be the ‘Ad Murum’ mentioned by the Venerable Bede (673-735) in his famous ‘History of the English Church and People’. The window is full of well-observed detail - such as the statue of ‘Romulus & Remus’ above Pontius Pilate’s Judgement seat – and fully repays closer study. There have been some minor repairs to the small-scale figures at the base of the window.

  

Listen, executed in 2008 by Montclair-based sculptor Tom Nussbaum, is focused on what the artist refers to as "what it's like to listen and/or be heard." The large head has one ear to the ground, and is also well aware of the smaller figure in the other ear.

 

Montclair Art Museum (MAM), at 3 South Mountain Avenue, is one of the few museums in the United States devoted to American art and Native American art forms, with a collection consisting of more than 12,000 works. Chartered in 1909, thanks to the donations of artwork and funding of its two founders, Montclair residents William T. Evans, civic leader and art collector, and heiress Florence Osgood Rand Lang, the Montclair Art Museum opened its doors in 1914. The Beaux Arts building was designed by architect Albert R. Ross, at the direction of museum trustee Michel Le Brun. As the collection has grown, so too has the building housing it. The museum underwent renovations in 1924, 1931 and 2000-2001. The recent renovation doubled the museum's square footage, with architectural firm Beyer Blinder Belle at the helm.

This manuscript was executed in 1475 by a scribe identified as Aristakes, for a priest named Hakob. It contains a series of 16 images on the life of Christ preceding the text of the gospels, as well as the traditional evangelist portraits, and there are marginal illustrations throughout. The style of the miniatures, which employ brilliant colors and emphasize decorative patterns, is characteristic of manuscript production in the region around Lake Van during the 15th century. The style of Lake Van has often been described in relation to schools of Islamic arts of the book. Numerous inscriptions (on fols. 258-60) spanning a few centuries attest to the manuscript's long history of use and revered preservation. The codex's later history included a re-binding with silver covers from Kayseri that date to approximately 1700. This jeweled and enameled silver binding bears a composition of the Adoration of the Magi on the front and the Ascension on the back.

 

To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

 

Executed by the Sheriff

The photo is executed in technique «LightGraphic » or «The painting of light», that assumes illumination of model by small light sources in darkness on long endurance.

Thus, all lightcloth (composition) - is one Photo Exposition, is embodied on a matrix of the camera in one click of a shutter.

 

The sketches very often executed in such a way further are drawn in the graphic editor as it would be on a canvas a brush. Plug-ins and filters are not used.

A last station shot whilst executing my own reversing move back to the car. Pleasant juxtaposition of the two colours though the two-tone orange/yellow has almost gone on 20311, after just 7 days of operational work clearing leaf gunk of the rail-head. The consist is almost unrecognisable in colour as well and I guess at this rate of getting filthy, its hardly worthwhile to keep on cleaning the set, just for the photographers! 20311 is hailing the usual set of 'Sandite Units' and a lot of water in FEA-B RHTT A Tank Wagons, to provide the spraying function of the rail heads on predominantly passenger lines and there are similar services operating over the whole country between the 1st week in October and the 1st or 2nd week in December; Leaf Fall Season. The set finally got away, after little more than 5 minutes, at 19:46 and after a further 5 minutes, a Northern class 170 arrived and pulled into the 'Bay Platform', 6, on a terminating service, 1W45, from Sheffield; busy place it seems. HNRC class 20, 20314 is now heading the return working for the day, 3S15, to York Thrall Europa, on what will be, tomorrow, the last day of working for this pair of HNRC units. Friday saw the re-instatement of the DRS pair, 20302 and 20303 on the usual S.Yorks diagrams and as I compose these notes, there have been no issues so far... The last of the pictures will show the passage of the blue DRS pair, on the NER's line south of here, through the old Carnaby Station site, just 3km away.

The Postcard

 

A postally unused carte postale bearing no publisher's name. The card has a divided back.

 

Lille in the Great War

 

Lille's occupation by the Germans began on the 13th. October 1914 after a ten-day siege and heavy shelling which destroyed 882 apartment and office blocks and 1,500 houses, mostly around the railway station and in the town centre.

 

By the end of October the town was being run by German authorities. Because Lille was only 20 km from the front line, German troops passed through the city regularly on their way to and from the front.

 

As a result, occupied Lille became a place both for the hospitalisation and treatment of wounded soldiers as well as a place for soldiers' relaxation and entertainment. Many buildings, homes, and businesses were requisitioned to those ends.

 

Lille was also the hunting ground of the Great War German flying Ace Max Immelmann who was nicknamed 'The Eagle of Lille'.

 

Lille was liberated by the Allies on the 17th. October 1918, when General Sir William Birdwood and his troops were welcomed by joyous crowds. The general was made an honorary citizen of the city of Lille on the 28th. October of that year.

 

The only audio recording known to have been made during the First World War was recorded near Lille in October 1918. The two minute recording captured the Royal Garrison Artillery conducting a gas shell bombardment.

 

Monument to the Executed of Lille

 

The Great War monument in the Square Daubenton in Lille shows four leaders of the city’s Resistance standing against a wall just moments before their execution by the German Army in the dungeons of the citadel.

 

Along with Léon Trulin, who can be seen lying at their feet, Eugène Jacquet, Georges Maertens, Ernest Deceuninck and Sylvère Verhulst set up a network for communicating information to the Allies about the German occupiers of Lille.

 

They were eventually betrayed and executed on the 22nd. September 1915.

 

In total, twenty-five individuals were executed in Lille by firing squad under the occupation. Notices were posted informing the public about executions of political prisoners, saboteurs, and hostages in response to attacks or acts of sabotage against the German occupiers.

 

An estimated 500,000 French men and women worked for the Resistance during Germany's occupation of France. Resistance workers carried out thousands of acts of sabotage against the German occupiers, even though the risks were great. More than 90,000 members of the Resisters were killed, tortured or deported by the Germans.

Executed hand-held and slightly cropped from the right hand side.

Hassan Hanafi, A Somali journalist who helped al-Shabab kill five fellow reporters has been executed by firing squad.

 

He assisted the Islamist militant group by identifying possible targets amongst journalists between 2007 and 2011. He joined its armed wing after working for Radio Andalus, al-Shabab's mouthpiece in Somalia.

  

www.hiiraan.com/news4/2016/Apr/104964/somalia_s_al_shabab...

 

last judgment ; scan of a post card. Painting executed in 1494 by Master Amund.

Enlarge for a better view of the souls & the angelic musicians.

 

The church was burnt down on 11 November 2001. A mentally ill man convicted for the murder of a five-year-old girl in 2003 also confessed to and was convicted for the burning of the church. A project led by the Swedish National Heritage Board has since excavated the site, and a reconstruction of the church, using medieval methods of construction, has been begun.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B6dra_R%C3%A5da_Old_Church

Irish Dominicans killed during the Penal Days

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF IRISH DOMINICANS EXECUTED UNDER THE PENAL LAWS

The massacres of the communities of Derry and Coleraine rank as the worst events. These massacres are not accurately dated and are surmised to have been in the immediate aftermath of the Flight of the Earls (14th of September, 1607). The date is somewhat symbolic in that the 14th of September is the feast of the Holy Cross – the main feast of the Irish Province of the Order of Friars Preachers. Sligo and Tralee bear the name as too did the convents of Dublin, Waterford and Limerick. Today these houses celebrate the feast of Saint Saviour on the 6th of August, the feast of the Transfiguration.Originally the feast of the Holy Cross was believed to have been the patronage of the Province.

 

Felix O'Connor, one of the later martyrs was Prior of Sligo but would not, naturally, have been buried in the cloister above. He died in prison in Dublin in 1689.

 

The period covers the seventeenth century; the most virulent persecution of Catholics and Protestant Dissenters in the United Kingdom. Apart from the massacres at Derry and Coleraine most of the events recorded took place during the reign of Charles the First and the later Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland. After the death of Cromwell and the restoration of the British monarchy all recorded deaths happened in prison and not by public execution.

 

EXECUTIONS IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH I (1558)

fr. Peter O’Ferge & 20 companions, O.P. - in Derry; stone and massacred c.1600

fr. The entire community of 32 friars, O.P. - in Colraine hanged c.1600

2 unnamed priest and 7 novices thrown overboard off Clare during deportation, 1602

 

EXECUTIONS IN THE REIGN OF JAMES STUART (1603)

Mr. John Burke, T.O.S.D., lay Dominican, hanged in Limerick in 1606

fr. William O'Luin, O.P. – priest in Derry hanged in 1607

fr. John O'Luin, O.P. – priest in Derry hanged in 1607

fr. Donagh O’Luin, O.P. - Prior of Derry, hanged in 1608

fr. William MacGollen, O.P. – priest in Coleraine hanged in 1614

fr. Arthur MacGeohegan, O.P. – priest hanged in 1633

 

EXECUTIONS IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES STUART (1625)

fr. Peter O'Higgins, O.P. - Prior of Naas, hanged in 1641

fr. Raymond Keogh, O.P. - Prior of Roscommon, hanged in 1642

fr. Cormac MacEgan, O.P. - laybrother, hanged in 1642

fr. Richard Barry, O.P. - Prior of Cashel, executed in 1647

fr. John O'Flaverty, O.P. - Prior of Coleraine, executed in 1647

Ms. Margaret of Cashel, T.O.S.D., lay Dominican, slain in 1647

fr. David Fox, O.P. - laybrother in Killmallock, hanged in 1648

fr. Donald O'Neaghten, O.P. - laybrother in Roscommon, hanged in 1648

fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, O.P. - priest in Killmallock, hanged in 1648

fr. James O'Reilly, O.P. - priest in Waterford, hanged in 1648

 

EXECUTIONS IN THE TIME OF OLIVER CROMWELL (1649, Lord Protector 1653)

fr. Peter Costello, O.P. - Prior of Strade, executed in 1649

fr. Richard Overton, O.P. - sub-Prior of Athy, beheaded in 1649

fr. Stephen Petit, O.P. - Prior of Mullingar, executed in 1649

fr. William Lynch, O.P. - priest in Strade, executed in 1649

fr. Dominick Dillon, O.P. - Prior of Urlar, beheaded in 1649

fr. Myles McGrath, O.P. - hanged in Clonmel in 1650

fr. Ambrose Aeneas O'Cahill, O.P. - priest in Cork, beheaded in 1651

fr. James Moran, O.P. - laybrother executed in 1651

fr. James Woulf, O.P. - priest in Limerick, hanged in 1651

fr. Terence Albert O’Brien, O.P. - Bishop of Emly, hanged in 1651

fr. Vincent Gerard Dillon, O.P. - priest in Athenry, died in prison in 1651

fr. Thomas O'Higgins, O.P. - priest in Clonmel, hanged in 1651

fr. William O'Connor, O.P. - priest in Clonmel, hanged in 1651

fr. Donatus ‘Niger’ Duff, O.P. - laybrother executed in 1651

fr. Edmund O'Beirne, O.P. - priest of Roscommon, beheaded in 1651

fr. Laurence O'Ferral, O.P. - Prior of Longford, hanged in 1651

fr. Bernard O'Ferral, O.P. - priest in Longford, hanged in 1651

fr. Stephen Petit, O.P. – priest in Athenry hanged in 1651 (same name as Mullingar man in 1649)

fr. John Collins, O.P. – priest in Limerick, hanged in 1614

fr. John O'Quillen, O.P. - priest in Athenry, executed in 1652

fr. Hugh MacGoill, O.P. - priest in Rathbran, executed in 1653

fr. David Roche, O.P. - Prior of Glentworth, deported to Barbados and died in 1653

fr. Bernard O'Kelly, O.P. - laybrother in Roscommon, hanged in 1653

fr. Thaddeus Moriarty, O.P. - Prior of Tralee, hanged in 1653

Ms. Honoria de Burgo, T.O.S.D., lay Dominican at Burrishoole, died on the run in 1653

Ms. Honoria Magaen, T.O.S.D., lay Dominican at Burrishoole, died on the run in 1653

fr. James O’Reilly, O.P. – priest in Coleraine, killed by soldiers in 1656

fr. John O’Laghlin, O.P. – Prior of Derry, strangled and beheaded in 1657

 

EXECUTIONS IN THE TIME OF RICHARD CROMWELL (1658)

none

 

DEATHS IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES STUART (1660)

fr. Raymond O'Moore, O.P. - priest in Dublin, died in prison in 1665

fr. Felix O'Connor, O.P. - Prior of Sligo, died in prison in 1679

 

DEATHS IN THE REIGN OF JAMES STUART (1685)

fr. John O'Morrogh, O.P. - Prior of Cork, died in prison in 1702

fr. Clement O'Callaghan, O.P. - Prior of Derry, died in prison in 1704

fr. Daniel MacDonald, O.P. - priest of Urlar, died in prison in 1707

fr. Felix MacDonald, O.P. - priest in Tulsk, died in prison in 1707

fr. Dominick MacEgan., O.P. - priest in Tralee, died in prison in 1713

fr. John Keating, O.P. - priest in Louvain (Leuven) died in prison in 1703

 

42 of this list had their cause opened on 17th of March, 1918 by William the Archbishop of Dublin. Beatification was granted to Terence Albert O’Brien and Peter O’Higgins by Pope John Paul II on the 27th of September, 1992.

 

Dawn raids saw officers in Oldham execute six drugs warrants as part of a crackdown on drug dealing in the district.

 

At around 6.15am this morning (Thursday 2 July 2020), officers from GMP’s Oldham division raided an address on Chamber Road, Coppice, and at five properties in the Glodwick area.

 

The action comes after concerns were raised in the community regarding the dealing of drugs in the area.

 

Neighbourhood Inspector Steve Prescott, of GMP’s Oldham division, said: “We hope that today’s operation demonstrates not only how keen we are to tackle drugs across the district and the Force, but also our endeavours to listen to community concerns and to act upon them.

 

“Today’s action is a significant part of tackling the issues around drugs that we see too often in our societies and the devastating impact they can have on individuals, their families and loved ones as well as the wider community.

 

“This action will have caused a huge amount of disruption for the criminals who seek to infiltrate these substances onto our streets and degrade the quality of life for so many.

 

“Anyone with concerns about the dealing of such drugs in their area should not hesitate to contact police; safe in the knowledge that we are prepared to strike back against those who operate in this destructive and illegal industry.”

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit

www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

 

You can access many of our services online at www.gmp.police.uk

  

'Oiler 13' executes another missed approach at Amarillo (KAMA), Texas

I executed a long planned B7 orbital move today, though I ran into a bit of trouble approaching Shepherds Bush when a water main ruptured. In another stunning piece of customer service, the route 31 journey was curtailed mid stops in a traffic jam between Royal Crescent and Holland Park Roundabout with passengers told to walk, in order that VNW32389 could turn round at said roundabout to head back to Camden Town, which was also a shame as it was a loud beast I was going to do to White City...

The Tower Transit machine is seen negotiating the river opposite the Hilton Hotel. 8/9/16.

What craziness is this, a day in that London on a weekday? Well, working one day last weekend, and another next weekend, meant I took a day in Lieu.

 

So there.

 

And top of my list of places to visit was St Magnus. This would be the fifth time I have tried to get inside, and the first since I wrote to the church asking whether they would be open a particular Saturday, and then any Saturday. Letters which were ignored

 

So, I walked out of Monument Station, down the hill there was St Magnus: would it be open?

 

It was, and inside it was a box, nay a treasure chest of delights.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

St Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge is a Church of England church and parish within the City of London. The church, which is located in Lower Thames Street near The Monument to the Great Fire of London,[1] is part of the Diocese of London and under the pastoral care of the Bishop of London and the Bishop of Fulham.[2] It is a Grade I listed building.[3] The rector uses the title "Cardinal Rector". [4]

St Magnus lies on the original alignment of London Bridge between the City and Southwark. The ancient parish was united with that of St Margaret, New Fish Street, in 1670 and with that of St Michael, Crooked Lane, in 1831.[5] The three united parishes retained separate vestries and churchwardens.[6] Parish clerks continue to be appointed for each of the three parishes.[7]

St Magnus is the guild church of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers and the Worshipful Company of Plumbers, and the ward church of the Ward of Bridge and Bridge Without. It is also twinned with the Church of the Resurrection in New York City.[8]

Its prominent location and beauty has prompted many mentions in literature.[9] In Oliver Twist Charles Dickens notes how, as Nancy heads for her secret meeting with Mr. Brownlow and Rose Maylie on London Bridge, "the tower of old Saint Saviour's Church, and the spire of Saint Magnus, so long the giant-warders of the ancient bridge, were visible in the gloom". The church's spiritual and architectural importance is celebrated in the poem The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot, who adds in a footnote that "the interior of St. Magnus Martyr is to my mind one of the finest among Wren's interiors".[10] One biographer of Eliot notes that at first he enjoyed St Magnus aesthetically for its "splendour"; later he appreciated its "utility" when he came there as a sinner.

 

The church is dedicated to St Magnus the Martyr, earl of Orkney, who died on 16 April in or around 1116 (the precise year is unknown).[12] He was executed on the island of Egilsay having been captured during a power struggle with his cousin, a political rival.[13] Magnus had a reputation for piety and gentleness and was canonised in 1135. St. Ronald, the son of Magnus's sister Gunhild Erlendsdotter, became Earl of Orkney in 1136 and in 1137 initiated the construction of St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall.[14] The story of St. Magnus has been retold in the 20th century in the chamber opera The Martyrdom of St Magnus (1976)[15] by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, based on George Mackay Brown's novel Magnus (1973).

 

he identity of the St Magnus referred to in the church's dedication was only confirmed by the Bishop of London in 1926.[16] Following this decision a patronal festival service was held on 16 April 1926.[17] In the 13th century the patronage was attributed to one of the several saints by the name of Magnus who share a feast day on 19 August, probably St Magnus of Anagni (bishop and martyr, who was slain in the persecution of the Emperor Decius in the middle of the 3rd century).[18] However, by the early 18th century it was suggested that the church was either "dedicated to the memory of St Magnus or Magnes, who suffer'd under the Emperor Aurelian in 276 [see St Mammes of Caesarea, feast day 17 August], or else to a person of that name, who was the famous Apostle or Bishop of the Orcades."[19] For the next century historians followed the suggestion that the church was dedicated to the Roman saint of Cæsarea.[20] The famous Danish archaeologist Professor Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae (1821–85) promoted the attribution to St Magnus of Orkney during his visit to the British Isles in 1846-7, when he was formulating the concept of the 'Viking Age',[21] and a history of London written in 1901 concluded that "the Danes, on their second invasion ... added at least two churches with Danish names, Olaf and Magnus".[22] A guide to the City Churches published in 1917 reverted to the view that St Magnus was dedicated to a martyr of the third century,[23] but the discovery of St Magnus of Orkney's relics in 1919 renewed interest in a Scandinavian patron and this connection was encouraged by the Rector who arrived in 1921

 

A metropolitan bishop of London attended the Council of Arles in 314, which indicates that there must have been a Christian community in Londinium by this date, and it has been suggested that a large aisled building excavated in 1993 near Tower Hill can be compared with the 4th-century Cathedral of St Tecla in Milan.[25] However, there is no archaeological evidence to suggest that any of the mediaeval churches in the City of London had a Roman foundation.[26] A grant from William I in 1067 to Westminster Abbey, which refers to the stone church of St Magnus near the bridge ("lapidee eccle sci magni prope pontem"), is generally accepted to be 12th century forgery,[27] and it is possible that a charter of confirmation in 1108-16 might also be a later fabrication.[28] Nonetheless, these manuscripts may preserve valid evidence of a date of foundation in the 11th century.

 

Archaeological evidence suggests that the area of the bridgehead was not occupied from the early 5th century until the early 10th century. Environmental evidence indicates that the area was waste ground during this period, colonised by elder and nettles. Following Alfred's decision to reoccupy the walled area of London in 886, new harbours were established at Queenhithe and Billingsgate. A bridge was in place by the early 11th century, a factor which would have encouraged the occupation of the bridgehead by craftsmen and traders.[30] A lane connecting Botolph's Wharf and Billingsgate to the rebuilt bridge may have developed by the mid-11th century. The waterfront at this time was a hive of activity, with the construction of embankments sloping down from the riverside wall to the river. Thames Street appeared in the second half of the 11th century immediately behind (north of) the old Roman riverside wall and in 1931 a piling from this was discovered during the excavation of the foundations of a nearby building. It now stands at the base of the church tower.[31] St Magnus was built to the south of Thames Street to serve the growing population of the bridgehead area[32] and was certainly in existence by 1128-33.[33]

The small ancient parish[34] extended about 110 yards along the waterfront either side of the old bridge, from 'Stepheneslane' (later Churchehawlane or Church Yard Alley) and 'Oystergate' (later called Water Lane or Gully Hole) on the West side to 'Retheresgate' (a southern extension of Pudding Lane) on the East side, and was centred on the crossroads formed by Fish Street Hill (originally Bridge Street, then New Fish Street) and Thames Street.[35] The mediaeval parish also included Drinkwater's Wharf (named after the owner, Thomas Drinkwater), which was located immediately West of the bridge, and Fish Wharf, which was to the South of the church. The latter was of considerable importance as the fishmongers had their shops on the wharf. The tenement was devised by Andrew Hunte to the Rector and Churchwardens in 1446.[36] The ancient parish was situated in the South East part of Bridge Ward, which had evolved in the 11th century between the embankments to either side of the bridge.[37]

In 1182 the Abbot of Westminster and the Prior of Bermondsey agreed that the advowson of St Magnus should be divided equally between them. Later in the 1180s, on their presentation, the Archdeacon of London inducted his nephew as parson.

 

Between the late Saxon period and 1209 there was a series of wooden bridges across the Thames, but in that year a stone bridge was completed.[39] The work was overseen by Peter de Colechurch, a priest and head of the Fraternity of the Brethren of London Bridge. The Church had from early times encouraged the building of bridges and this activity was so important it was perceived to be an act of piety - a commitment to God which should be supported by the giving of alms. London’s citizens made gifts of land and money "to God and the Bridge".[40] The Bridge House Estates became part of the City's jurisdiction in 1282.

 

Until 1831 the bridge was aligned with Fish Street Hill, so the main entrance into the City from the south passed the West door of St Magnus on the north bank of the river.[41] The bridge included a chapel dedicated to St Thomas Becket[42] for the use of pilgrims journeying to Canterbury Cathedral to visit his tomb.[43] The chapel and about two thirds of the bridge were in the parish of St Magnus. After some years of rivalry a dispute arose between the church and the chapel over the offerings given to the chapel by the pilgrims. The matter was resolved by the brethren of the chapel making an annual contribution to St Magnus.[44] At the Reformation the chapel was turned into a house and later a warehouse, the latter being demolished in 1757-58.

The church grew in importance. On 21 November 1234 a grant of land was made to the parson of St Magnus for the enlargement of the church.[45] The London eyre of 1244 recorded that in 1238 "A thief named William of Ewelme of the county of Buckingham fled to the church of St. Magnus the Martyr, London, and there acknowledged the theft and abjured the realm. He had no chattels."[46] Another entry recorded that "The City answers saying that the church of ... St. Magnus the Martyr ... which [is] situated on the king's highway ... ought to belong to the king and be in his gift".[47] The church presumably jutted into the road running to the bridge, as it did in later times.[48] In 1276 it was recorded that "the church of St. Magnus the Martyr is worth £15 yearly and Master Geoffrey de la Wade now holds it by the grant of the prior of Bermundeseie and the abbot of Westminster to whom King Henry conferred the advowson by his charter.

 

In 1274 "came King Edward and his wife [Eleanor] from the Holy Land and were crowned at Westminster on the Sunday next after the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady [15 August], being the Feast of Saint Magnus [19 August]; and the Conduit in Chepe ran all the day with red wine and white wine to drink, for all such as wished."[50] Stow records that "in the year 1293, for victory obtained by Edward I against the Scots, every citizen, according to their several trade, made their several show, but especially the fishmongers" whose solemn procession including a knight "representing St Magnus, because it was upon St Magnus' day".

An important religious guild, the Confraternity de Salve Regina, was in existence by 1343, having been founded by the "better sort of the Parish of St Magnus" to sing the anthem 'Salve Regina' every evening.[51] The Guild certificates of 1389 record that the Confraternity of Salve Regina and the guild of St Thomas the Martyr in the chapel on the bridge, whose members belonged to St Magnus parish, had determined to become one, to have the anthem of St Thomas after the Salve Regina and to devote their united resources to restoring and enlarging the church of St Magnus.[52] An Act of Parliament of 1437[53] provided that all incorporated fraternities and companies should register their charters and have their ordinances approved by the civic authorities.[54] Fear of enquiry into their privileges may have led established fraternities to seek a firm foundation for their rights. The letters patent of the fraternity of St Mary and St Thomas the Martyr of Salve Regina in St Magnus dated 26 May 1448 mention that the fraternity had petitioned for a charter on the grounds that the society was not duly founded.

 

In the mid-14th century the Pope was the Patron of the living and appointed five rectors to the benefice.[56]

Henry Yevele, the master mason whose work included the rebuilding of Westminster Hall and the naves of Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral, was a parishioner and rebuilt the chapel on London Bridge between 1384 and 1397. He served as a warden of London Bridge and was buried at St Magnus on his death in 1400. His monument was extant in John Stow's time, but was probably destroyed by the fire of 1666.[57]

Yevele, as the King’s Mason, was overseen by Geoffrey Chaucer in his capacity as the Clerk of the King's Works. In The General Prologue of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales the five guildsmen "were clothed alle in o lyveree Of a solempne and a greet fraternitee"[58] and may be thought of as belonging to the guild in the parish of St Magnus, or one like it.[59] Chaucer's family home was near to the bridge in Thames Street.

 

n 1417 a dispute arose concerning who should take the place of honour amongst the rectors in the City churches at the Whit Monday procession, a place that had been claimed from time to time by the rectors of St Peter Cornhill, St Magnus the Martyr and St Nicholas Cole Abbey. The Mayor and Aldermen decided that the Rector of St Peter Cornhill should take precedence.[61]

St Magnus Corner at the north end of London Bridge was an important meeting place in mediaeval London, where notices were exhibited, proclamations read out and wrongdoers punished.[62] As it was conveniently close to the River Thames, the church was chosen by the Bishop between the 15th and 17th centuries as a convenient venue for general meetings of the clergy in his diocese.[63] Dr John Young, Bishop of Callipolis (rector of St Magnus 1514-15) pronounced judgement on 16 December 1514 (with the Bishop of London and in the presence of Thomas More, then under-sheriff of London) in the heresy case concerning Richard Hunne.[64]

In pictures from the mid-16th century the old church looks very similar to the present-day St Giles without Cripplegate in the Barbican.[65] According to the martyrologist John Foxe, a woman was imprisoned in the 'cage' on London Bridge in April 1555 and told to "cool herself there" for refusing to pray at St Magnus for the recently deceased Pope Julius III.[66]

Simon Lowe, a Member of Parliament and Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company during the reign of Queen Mary and one of the jurors who acquitted Sir Nicholas Throckmorton in 1554, was a parishioner.[67] He was a mourner at the funeral of Maurice Griffith, Bishop of Rochester from 1554 to 1558 and Rector of St Magnus from 1537 to 1558, who was interred in the church on 30 November 1558 with much solemnity. In accordance with the Catholic church's desire to restore ecclesiastical pageantry in England, the funeral was a splendid affair, ending in a magnificent dinner.

 

Lowe was included in a return of recusants in the Diocese of Rochester in 1577,[69] but was buried at St Magnus on 6 February 1578.[70] Stow refers to his monument in the church. His eldest son, Timothy (died 1617), was knighted in 1603. His second son, Alderman Sir Thomas Lowe (1550–1623), was Master of the Haberdashers' Company on several occasions, Sheriff of London in 1595/96, Lord Mayor in 1604/05 and a Member of Parliament for London.[71] His youngest son, Blessed John Lowe (1553–1586), having originally been a Protestant minister, converted to Roman Catholicism, studied for the priesthood at Douay and Rome and returned to London as a missionary priest.[72] His absence had already been noted; a list of 1581 of "such persons of the Diocese of London as have any children ... beyond the seas" records "John Low son to Margaret Low of the Bridge, absent without licence four years". Having gained 500 converts to Catholicism between 1583 and 1586, he was arrested whilst walking with his mother near London Bridge, committed to The Clink and executed at Tyburn on 8 October 1586.[73] He was beatified in 1987 as one of the eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales.

 

Sir William Garrard, Master of the Haberdashers' Company, Alderman, Sheriff of London in 1553/53, Lord Mayor in 1555/56 and a Member of Parliament was born in the parish and buried at St Magnus in 1571.[74] Sir William Romney, merchant, philanthropist, Master of the Haberdashers' Company, Alderman for Bridge Within and Sheriff of London in 1603/04[75] was married at St Magnus in 1582. Ben Jonson is believed to have been married at St Magnus in 1594.[76]

The patronage of St Magnus, having previously been in the Abbots and Convents of Westminster and Bermondsey (who presented alternatively), fell to the Crown on the suppression of the monasteries. In 1553, Queen Mary, by letters patent, granted it to the Bishop of London and his successors.[77]

The church had a series of distinguished rectors in the second half of the 16th and first half of the 17th century, including Myles Coverdale (Rector 1564-66), John Young (Rector 1566-92), Theophilus Aylmer (Rector 1592-1625), (Archdeacon of London and son of John Aylmer), and Cornelius Burges (Rector 1626-41). Coverdale was buried in the chancel of St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange, but when that church was pulled down in 1840 his remains were removed to St Magnus.[78]

On 5 November 1562 the churchwardens were ordered to break, or cause to be broken, in two parts all the altar stones in the church.[79] Coverdale, an anti-vestiarian, was Rector at the peak of the vestments controversy. In March 1566 Archbishop Parker caused great consternation among many clergy by his edicts prescribing what was to be worn and by his summoning the London clergy to Lambeth to require their compliance. Coverdale excused himself from attending.[80] Stow records that a non-conforming Scot who normally preached at St Magnus twice a day precipitated a fight on Palm Sunday 1566 at Little All Hallows in Thames Street with his preaching against vestments.[81] Coverdale's resignation from St Magnus in summer 1566 may have been associated with these events. Separatist congregations started to emerge after 1566 and the first such, who called themselves 'Puritans' or 'Unspottyd Lambs of the Lord', was discovered close to St Magnus at Plumbers' Hall in Thames Street on 19 June 1567.

 

St Magnus narrowly escaped destruction in 1633. A later edition of Stow's Survey records that "On the 13th day of February, between eleven and twelve at night, there happened in the house of one Briggs, a Needle-maker near St Magnus Church, at the North end of the Bridge, by the carelessness of a Maid-Servant setting a tub of hot sea-coal ashes under a pair of stairs, a sad and lamentable fire, which consumed all the buildings before eight of the clock the next morning, from the North end of the Bridge to the first vacancy on both sides, containing forty-two houses; water then being very scarce, the Thames being almost frozen over."[83] Susannah Chambers "by her last will & testament bearing date 28th December 1640 gave the sum of Twenty-two shillings and Sixpence Yearly for a Sermon to be preached on the 12th day of February in every Year within the Church of Saint Magnus in commemoration of God's merciful preservation of the said Church of Saint Magnus from Ruin, by the late and terrible Fire on London Bridge. Likewise Annually to the Poor the sum of 17/6."[84] The tradition of a "Fire Sermon" was revived on 12 February 2004, when the first preacher was the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Richard Chartres, Bishop of London.

 

Parliamentarian rule and the more Protestant ethos of the 1640s led to the removal or destruction of "superstitious" and "idolatrous" images and fittings. Glass painters such as Baptista Sutton, who had previously installed "Laudian innovations", found new employment by repairing and replacing these to meet increasingly strict Protestant standards. In January 1642 Sutton replaced 93 feet of glass at St Magnus and in June 1644 he was called back to take down the "painted imagery glass" and replace it.[86] In June 1641 "rail riots" broke out at a number of churches. This was a time of high tension following the trial and execution of the Earl of Strafford and rumours of army and popish plots were rife. The Protestation Oath, with its pledge to defend the true religion "against all Popery and popish innovation", triggered demands from parishioners for the removal of the rails as popish innovations which the Protestation had bound them to reform. The minister arranged a meeting between those for and against the pulling down of the rails, but was unsuccessful in reaching a compromise and it was feared that they would be demolished by force.[87] However, in 1663 the parish resumed Laudian practice and re-erected rails around its communion table.[88]

Joseph Caryl was incumbent from 1645 until his ejection in 1662. In 1663 he was reportedly living near London Bridge and preaching to an Independent congregation that met at various places in the City.[89]

During the Great Plague of 1665, the City authorities ordered fires to be kept burning night and day, in the hope that the air would be cleansed. Daniel Defoe's semi-fictictional, but highly realistic, work A Journal of the Plague Year records that one of these was "just by St Magnus Church"

 

Despite its escape in 1633, the church was one of the first buildings to be destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.[91] St Magnus stood less than 300 yards from the bakehouse of Thomas Farriner in Pudding Lane where the fire started. Farriner, a former churchwarden of St Magnus, was buried in the middle aisle of the church on 11 December 1670, perhaps within a temporary structure erected for holding services.[92]

The parish engaged the master mason George Dowdeswell to start the work of rebuilding in 1668. The work was carried forward between 1671 and 1687 under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren, the body of the church being substantially complete by 1676.[93] At a cost of £9,579 19s 10d St Magnus was one of Wren's most expensive churches.[94] The church of St Margaret New Fish Street was not rebuilt after the fire and its parish was united to that of St Magnus.

 

The chancels of many of Wren’s city churches had chequered marble floors and the chancel of St Magnus is an example,[95] the parish agreeing after some debate to place the communion table on a marble ascent with steps[96] and to commission altar rails of Sussex wrought iron. The nave and aisles are paved with freestone flags. A steeple, closely modelled on one built between 1614 and 1624 by François d'Aguilon and Pieter Huyssens for the church of St Carolus Borromeus in Antwerp, was added between 1703 and 1706.[97] London's skyline was transformed by Wren's tall steeples and that of St Magnus is considered to be one his finest.[98]

The large clock projecting from the tower was a well-known landmark in the city as it hung over the roadway of Old London Bridge.[99] It was presented to the church in 1709 by Sir Charles Duncombe[100] (Alderman for the Ward of Bridge Within and, in 1708/09, Lord Mayor of London). Tradition says "that it was erected in consequence of a vow made by the donor, who, in the earlier part of his life, had once to wait a considerable time in a cart upon London Bridge, without being able to learn the hour, when he made a promise, that if he ever became successful in the world, he would give to that Church a public clock ... that all passengers might see the time of day."[101] The maker was Langley Bradley, a clockmaker in Fenchurch Street, who had worked for Wren on many other projects, including the clock for the new St Paul's Cathedral. The sword rest in the church, designed to hold the Lord Mayor's sword and mace when he attended divine service "in state", dates from 1708.

Duncombe and his benefactions to St Magnus feature prominently in Daniel Defoe's The True-Born Englishman, a biting satire on critics of William III that went through several editions from 1700 (the year in which Duncombe was elected Sheriff).

 

Shortly before his death in 1711, Duncombe commissioned an organ for the church, the first to have a swell-box, by Abraham Jordan (father and son).[103] The Spectator announced that "Whereas Mr Abraham Jordan, senior and junior, have, with their own hands, joinery excepted, made and erected a very large organ in St Magnus' Church, at the foot of London Bridge, consisting of four sets of keys, one of which is adapted to the art of emitting sounds by swelling notes, which never was in any organ before; this instrument will be publicly opened on Sunday next [14 February 1712], the performance by Mr John Robinson. The above-said Abraham Jordan gives notice to all masters and performers, that he will attend every day next week at the said Church, to accommodate all those gentlemen who shall have a curiosity to hear it".[104]

The organ case, which remains in its original state, is looked upon as one of the finest existing examples of the Grinling Gibbons's school of wood carving.[105] The first organist of St Magnus was John Robinson (1682–1762), who served in that role for fifty years and in addition as organist of Westminster Abbey from 1727. Other organists have included the blind organist George Warne (1792–1868, organist 1820-26 until his appointment to the Temple Church), James Coward (1824–80, organist 1868-80 who was also organist to the Crystal Palace and renowned for his powers of improvisation) and George Frederick Smith FRCO (1856–1918, organist 1880-1918 and Professor of Music at the Guildhall School of Music).[106] The organ has been restored several times - in 1760, 1782, 1804, 1855, 1861, 1879, 1891, 1924, 1949 after wartime damage and 1997 - since it was first built.[107] Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was one of several patrons of the organ appeal in the mid-1990s[108] and John Scott gave an inaugural recital on 20 May 1998 following the completion of that restoration.[109] The instrument has an Historic Organ Certificate and full details are recorded in the National Pipe Organ Register.[110]

The hymn tune "St Magnus", usually sung at Ascensiontide to the text "The head that once was crowned with thorns", was written by Jeremiah Clarke in 1701 and named for the church.

 

Canaletto drew St Magnus and old London Bridge as they appeared in the late 1740s.[112] Between 1756 and 1762, under the London Bridge Improvement Act of 1756 (c. 40), the Corporation of London demolished the buildings on London Bridge to widen the roadway, ease traffic congestion and improve safety for pedestrians.[113] The churchwardens’ accounts of St Magnus list many payments to those injured on the Bridge and record that in 1752 a man was crushed to death between two carts.[114] After the House of Commons had resolved upon the alteration of London Bridge, the Rev Robert Gibson, Rector of St Magnus, applied to the House for relief; stating that 48l. 6s. 2d. per annum, part of his salary of 170l. per annum, was assessed upon houses on London Bridge; which he should utterly lose by their removal unless a clause in the bill about to be passed should provide a remedy.[115] Accordingly, Sections 18 and 19 of 1756 Act provided that the relevant amounts of tithe and poor rate should be a charge on the Bridge House Estates.[116]

A serious fire broke out on 18 April 1760 in an oil shop at the south east corner of the church, which consumed most of the church roof and did considerable damage to the fabric. The fire burnt warehouses to the south of the church and a number of houses on the northern end of London Bridge.

 

As part of the bridge improvements, overseen by the architect Sir Robert Taylor, a new pedestrian walkway was built along the eastern side of the bridge. With the other buildings gone St Magnus blocked the new walkway.[117] As a consequence it was necessary in 1762 to 1763 to remove the vestry rooms at the West end of the church and open up the side arches of the tower so that people could pass underneath the tower.[118] The tower’s lower storey thus became an external porch. Internally a lobby was created at the West end under the organ gallery and a screen with fine octagonal glazing inserted. A new Vestry was built to the South of the church.[119] The Act also provided that the land taken from the church for the widening was "to be considered ... as part of the cemetery of the said church ... but if the pavement thereof be broken up on account of the burying of any persons, the same shall be ... made good ... by the churchwardens"

 

Soldiers were stationed in the Vestry House of St Magnus during the Gordon Riots in June 1780.[121]

By 1782 the noise level from the activities of Billingsgate Fish Market had become unbearable and the large windows on the north side of the church were blocked up leaving only circular windows high up in the wall.[122] At some point between the 1760s and 1814 the present clerestory was constructed with its oval windows and fluted and coffered plasterwork.[123] J. M. W. Turner painted the church in the mid-1790s.[124]

The rector of St Magnus between 1792 and 1808, following the death of Robert Gibson on 28 July 1791,[125] was Thomas Rennell FRS. Rennell was President of Sion College in 1806/07. There is a monument to Thomas Leigh (Rector 1808-48 and President of Sion College 1829/30,[126] at St Peter's Church, Goldhanger in Essex.[127] Richard Hazard (1761–1837) was connected with the church as sexton, parish clerk and ward beadle for nearly 50 years[128] and served as Master of the Parish Clerks' Company in 1831/32.[129]

In 1825 the church was "repaired and beautified at a very considerable expense. During the reparation the east window, which had been closed, was restored, and the interior of the fabric conformed to the state in which it was left by its great architect, Sir Christopher Wren. The magnificent organ ... was taken down and rebuilt by Mr Parsons, and re-opened, with the church, on the 12th February, 1826".[130] Unfortunately, as a contemporary writer records, "On the night of the 31st of July, 1827, [the church's] safety was threatened by the great fire which consumed the adjacent warehouses, and it is perhaps owing to the strenuous and praiseworthy exertions of the firemen, that the structure exists at present. ... divine service was suspended and not resumed until the 20th January 1828. In the interval the church received such tasteful and elegant decorations, that it may now compete with any church in the metropolis.

 

In 1823 royal assent was given to ‘An Act for the Rebuilding of London Bridge’ and in 1825 John Garratt, Lord Mayor and Alderman of the Ward of Bridge Within, laid the first stone of the new London Bridge.[132] In 1831 Sir John Rennie’s new bridge was opened further upstream and the old bridge demolished. St Magnus ceased to be the gateway to London as it had been for over 600 years. Peter de Colechurch[133] had been buried in the crypt of the chapel on the bridge and his bones were unceremoniously dumped in the River Thames.[134] In 1921 two stones from Old London Bridge were discovered across the road from the church. They now stand in the churchyard.

Wren's church of St Michael Crooked Lane was demolished, the final service on Sunday 20 March 1831 having to be abandoned due to the effects of the building work. The Rector of St Michael preached a sermon the following Sunday at St Magnus lamenting the demolition of his church with its monuments and "the disturbance of the worship of his parishioners on the preceeding Sabbath".[135] The parish of St Michael Crooked Lane was united to that of St Magnus, which itself lost a burial ground in Church Yard Alley to the approach road for the new bridge.[136] However, in substitution it had restored to it the land taken for the widening of the old bridge in 1762 and was also given part of the approach lands to the east of the old bridge.[137] In 1838 the Committee for the London Bridge Approaches reported to Common Council that new burial grounds had been provided for the parishes of St Michael, Crooked Lane and St Magnus, London Bridge.

 

Depictions of St Magnus after the building of the new bridge, seen behind Fresh Wharf and the new London Bridge Wharf, include paintings by W. Fenoulhet in 1841 and by Charles Ginner in 1913.[139] This prospect was affected in 1924 by the building of Adelaide House to a design by John James Burnet,[140] The Times commenting that "the new ‘architectural Matterhorn’ ... conceals all but the tip of the church spire".[141] There was, however, an excellent view of the church for a few years between the demolition of Adelaide Buildings and the erection of its replacement.[142] Adelaide House is now listed.[143] Regis House, on the site of the abandoned King William Street terminus of the City & South London Railway (subsequently the Northern Line),[144] and the Steam Packet Inn, on the corner of Lower Thames Street and Fish Street Hill,[145] were developed in 1931.

 

By the early 1960s traffic congestion had become a problem[147] and Lower Thames Street was widened over the next decade[148] to form part of a significant new east-west transport artery (the A3211).[149] The setting of the church was further affected by the construction of a new London Bridge between 1967 and 1973.[150] The New Fresh Wharf warehouse to the east of the church, built in 1939, was demolished in 1973-4 following the collapse of commercial traffic in the Pool of London[151] and, after an archaeological excavation,[152] St Magnus House was constructed on the site in 1978 to a design by R. Seifert & Partners.[153] This development now allows a clear view of the church from the east side.[154] The site to the south east of The Monument (between Fish Street Hill and Pudding Lane), formerly predominantly occupied by fish merchants,[155] was redeveloped as Centurion House and Gartmore (now Providian) House at the time of the closure of old Billingsgate Market in January 1982.[156] A comprehensive redevelopment of Centurion House began in October 2011 with completion planned in 2013.[157] Regis House, to the south west of The Monument, was redeveloped by Land Securities PLC in 1998.[158]

The vista from The Monument south to the River Thames, over the roof of St Magnus, is protected under the City of London Unitary Development Plan,[159] although the South bank of the river is now dominated by The Shard. Since 2004 the City of London Corporation has been exploring ways of enhancing the Riverside Walk to the south of St Magnus.[160] Work on a new staircase to connect London Bridge to the Riverside Walk is due to commence in March 2013.[161] The story of St Magnus's relationship with London Bridge and an interview with the rector featured in the television programme The Bridges That Built London with Dan Cruickshank, first broadcast on BBC Four on 14 June 2012.[162] The City Corporation's 'Fenchurch and Monument Area Enhancement Strategy' of August 2012 recommended ways of reconnecting St Magnus and the riverside to the area north of Lower Thames Street.

 

A lectureship at St Michael Crooked Lane, which was transferred to St Magnus in 1831, was endowed by the wills of Thomas and Susannah Townsend in 1789 and 1812 respectively.[164] The Revd Henry Robert Huckin, Headmaster of Repton School from 1874 to 1882, was appointed Townsend Lecturer at St Magnus in 1871.[165]

St Magnus narrowly escaped damage from a major fire in Lower Thames Street in October 1849.

 

During the second half of the 19th century the rectors were Alexander McCaul, DD (1799–1863, Rector 1850-63), who coined the term 'Judaeo Christian' in a letter dated 17 October 1821,[167] and his son Alexander Israel McCaul (1835–1899, curate 1859-63, rector 1863-99). The Revd Alexander McCaul Sr[168] was a Christian missionary to the Polish Jews, who (having declined an offer to become the first Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem)[169] was appointed professor of Hebrew and rabbinical literature at King's College, London in 1841. His daughter, Elizabeth Finn (1825–1921), a noted linguist, founded the Distressed Gentlefolk Aid Association (now known as Elizabeth Finn Care).[170]

In 1890 it was reported that the Bishop of London was to hold an inquiry as to the desirability of uniting the benefices of St George Botolph Lane and St Magnus. The expectation was a fusion of the two livings, the demolition of St George’s and the pensioning of "William Gladstone’s favourite Canon", Malcolm MacColl. Although services ceased there, St George’s was not demolished until 1904. The parish was then merged with St Mary at Hill rather than St Magnus.[171]

The patronage of the living was acquired in the late 19th century by Sir Henry Peek Bt. DL MP, Senior Partner of Peek Brothers & Co of 20 Eastcheap, the country's largest firm of wholesale tea brokers and dealers, and Chairman of the Commercial Union Assurance Co. Peek was a generous philanthropist who was instrumental in saving both Wimbledon Common and Burnham Beeches from development. His grandson, Sir Wilfred Peek Bt. DSO JP, presented a cousin, Richard Peek, as rector in 1904. Peek, an ardent Freemason, held the office of Grand Chaplain of England. The Times recorded that his memorial service in July 1920 "was of a semi-Masonic character, Mr Peek having been a prominent Freemason".[172] In June 1895 Peek had saved the life of a young French girl who jumped overboard from a ferry midway between Dinard and St Malo in Brittany and was awarded the bronze medal of the Royal Humane Society and the Gold Medal 1st Class of the Sociâetâe Nationale de Sauvetage de France.[173]

In November 1898 a memorial service was held at St Magnus for Sir Stuart Knill Bt. (1824–1898), head of the firm of John Knill and Co, wharfingers, and formerly Lord Mayor and Master of the Plumbers' Company.[174] This was the first such service for a Roman Catholic taken in an Anglican church.[175] Sir Stuart's son, Sir John Knill Bt. (1856-1934), also served as Alderman for the Ward of Bridge Within, Lord Mayor and Master of the Plumbers' Company.

 

Until 1922 the annual Fish Harvest Festival was celebrated at St Magnus.[176] The service moved in 1923 to St Dunstan in the East[177] and then to St Mary at Hill, but St Magnus retained close links with the local fish merchants until the closure of old Billingsgate Market. St Magnus, in the 1950s, was "buried in the stink of Billingsgate fish-market, against which incense was a welcome antidote".

 

A report in 1920 proposed the demolition of nineteen City churches, including St Magnus.[179] A general outcry from members of the public and parishioners alike prevented the execution of this plan.[180] The members of the City Livery Club passed a resolution that they regarded "with horror and indignation the proposed demolition of 19 City churches" and pledged the Club to do everything in its power to prevent such a catastrophe.[181] T. S. Eliot wrote that the threatened churches gave "to the business quarter of London a beauty which its hideous banks and commercial houses have not quite defaced. ... the least precious redeems some vulgar street ... The loss of these towers, to meet the eye down a grimy lane, and of these empty naves, to receive the solitary visitor at noon from the dust and tumult of Lombard Street, will be irreparable and unforgotten."[182] The London County Council published a report concluding that St Magnus was "one of the most beautiful of all Wren's works" and "certainly one of the churches which should not be demolished without specially good reasons and after very full consideration."[183] Due to the uncertainty about the church's future, the patron decided to defer action to fill the vacancy in the benefice and a curate-in-charge temporarily took responsibility for the parish.[184] However, on 23 April 1921 it was announced that the Revd Henry Joy Fynes-Clinton would be the new Rector. The Times concluded that the appointment, with the Bishop’s approval, meant that the proposed demolition would not be carried out.[185] Fr Fynes-Clinton was inducted on 31 May 1921.[186]

The rectory, built by Robert Smirke in 1833-5, was at 39 King William Street.[187] A decision was taken in 1909 to sell the property, the intention being to purchase a new rectory in the suburbs, but the sale fell through and at the time of the 1910 Land Tax Valuations the building was being let out to a number of tenants. The rectory was sold by the diocese on 30 May 1921 for £8,000 to Ridgways Limited, which owned the adjoining premises.[188] The Vestry House adjoining the south west of the church, replacing the one built in the 1760s, may also have been by Smirke. Part of the burial ground of St Michael Crooked Lane, located between Fish Street Hill and King William Street, survived as an open space until 1987 when it was compulsorily purchased to facilitate the extension of the Docklands Light Railway into the City.[189] The bodies were reburied at Brookwood Cemetery.

 

The interior of the church was restored by Martin Travers in 1924, in a neo-baroque style,[191] reflecting the Anglo-Catholic character of the congregation[192] following the appointment of Henry Joy Fynes-Clinton as Rector.[193] Fr Fynes, as he was often known, served as Rector of St Magnus from 31 May 1921 until his death on 4 December 1959 and substantially beautified the interior of the church.[194]

Fynes-Clinton held very strong Anglo-Catholic views, and proceeded to make St Magnus as much like a baroque Roman Catholic church as possible. However, "he was such a loveable character with an old-world courtesy which was irresistible, that it was difficult for anyone to be unpleasant to him, however much they might disapprove of his views".[195] He generally said the Roman Mass in Latin; and in personality was "grave, grand, well-connected and holy, with a laconic sense of humour".[196] To a Protestant who had come to see Coverdale's monument he is reported to have said "We have just had a service in the language out of which he translated the Bible".[197] The use of Latin in services was not, however, without grammatical danger. A response from his parishioners of "Ora pro nobis" after "Omnes sancti Angeli et Archangeli" in the Litany of the Saints would elicit a pause and the correction "No, Orate pro nobis."

 

In 1922 Fynes-Clinton refounded the Fraternity of Our Lady de Salve Regina.[198] The Fraternity's badge[199] is shown in the stained glass window at the east end of the north wall of the church above the reredos of the Lady Chapel altar. He also erected a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham and arranged pilgrimages to the Norfolk shrine, where he was one of the founding Guardians.[200] In 1928 the journal of the Catholic League reported that St Magnus had presented a votive candle to the Shrine at Walsingham "in token of our common Devotion and the mutual sympathy and prayers that are we hope a growing bond between the peaceful country shrine and the church in the heart of the hurrying City, from the Altar of which the Pilgrimages regularly start".[201]

Fynes-Clinton was General Secretary of the Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches Union and its successor, the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, from 1906 to 1920 and served as Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury's Eastern Churches Committee from 1920 to around 1924. A Solemn Requiem was celebrated at St Magnus in September 1921 for the late King Peter of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

At the midday service on 1 March 1922, J.A. Kensit, leader of the Protestant Truth Society, got up and protested against the form of worship.[202] The proposed changes to the church in 1924 led to a hearing in the Consistory Court of the Chancellor of the Diocese of London and an appeal to the Court of Arches.[203] Judgement was given by the latter Court in October 1924. The advowson was purchased in 1931, without the knowledge of the Rector and Parochial Church Council, by the evangelical Sir Charles King-Harman.[204] A number of such cases, including the purchase of the advowsons of Clapham and Hampstead Parish Churches by Sir Charles, led to the passage of the Benefices (Purchase of Rights of Patronage) Measure 1933.[205] This allowed the parishioners of St Magnus to purchase the advowson from Sir Charles King-Harman for £1,300 in 1934 and transfer it to the Patronage Board.

 

St Magnus was one of the churches that held special services before the opening of the second Anglo-Catholic Congress in 1923.[207] Fynes-Clinton[208] was the first incumbent to hold lunchtime services for City workers.[209] Pathé News filmed the Palm Sunday procession at St Magnus in 1935.[210] In The Towers of Trebizond, the novel by Rose Macauley published in 1956, Fr Chantry-Pigg's church is described as being several feet higher than St Mary’s Bourne Street and some inches above even St Magnus the Martyr.[211]

In July 1937 Fr Fynes-Clinton, with two members of his congregation, travelled to Kirkwall to be present at the 800th anniversary celebrations of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall. During their stay they visited Egilsay and were shown the spot where St Magnus had been slain. Later Fr Fynes-Clinton was present at a service held at the roofless church of St Magnus on Egilsay, where he suggested to his host Mr Fryer, the minister of the Cathedral, that the congregations of Kirkwall and London should unite to erect a permanent stone memorial on the traditional site where Earl Magnus had been murdered. In 1938 a cairn was built of local stone on Egilsay. It stands 12 feet high and is 6 feet broad at its base. The memorial was dedicated on 7 September 1938 and a bronze inscription on the monument reads "erected by the Rector and Congregation of St Magnus the Martyr by London Bridge and the Minister and Congregation of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall to commemorate the traditional spot where Earl Magnus was slain, AD circa 1116 and to commemorate the Octocentenary of St Magnus Cathedral 1937"

 

A bomb which fell on London Bridge in 1940 during the Blitz of World War II blew out all the windows and damaged the plasterwork and the roof of the north aisle.[213] However, the church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950[214] and repaired in 1951, being re-opened for worship in June of that year by the Bishop of London, William Wand.[215] The architect was Laurence King.[216] Restoration and redecoration work has subsequently been carried out several times, including after a fire in the early hours of 4 November 1995.[217] Cleaning of the exterior stonework was completed in 2010.

 

Some minor changes were made to the parish boundary in 1954, including the transfer to St Magnus of an area between Fish Street Hill and Pudding Lane. The site of St Leonard Eastcheap, a church that was not rebuilt after the Great Fire, is therefore now in the parish of St Magnus despite being united to St Edmund the King.

Fr Fynes-Clinton marked the 50th anniversary of his priesthood in May 1952 with High Mass at St Magnus and lunch at Fishmongers' Hall.[218] On 20 September 1956 a solemn Mass was sung in St Magnus to commence the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the restoration of the Holy House at Walsingham in 1931. In the evening of that day a reception was held in the large chamber of Caxton Hall, when between three and four hundred guests assembled.[219]

Fr Fynes-Clinton was succeeded as rector in 1960 by Fr Colin Gill,[220] who remained as incumbent until his death in 1983.[221] Fr Gill was also closely connected with Walsingham and served as a Guardian between 1953 and 1983, including nine years as Master of the College of Guardians.[222] He celebrated the Mass at the first National Pilgrimage in 1959[223] and presided over the Jubilee celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the Shrine in 1981, having been present at the Holy House's opening.[224] A number of the congregation of St Stephen's Lewisham moved to St Magnus around 1960, following temporary changes in the form of worship there.

 

In 1994 the Templeman Commission proposed a radical restructuring of the churches in the City Deanery. St Magnus was identified as one of the 12 churches that would remain as either a parish or an 'active' church.[226] However, the proposals were dropped following a public outcry and the consecration of a new Bishop of London.

The parish priest since 2003 has been Fr Philip Warner, who was previously priest-in-charge of St Mary's Church, Belgrade (Diocese in Europe) and Apokrisiarios for the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Serbian Orthodox Church. Since January 2004 there has been an annual Blessing of the Thames, with the congregations of St Magnus and Southwark Cathedral meeting in the middle of London Bridge.[227] On Sunday 3 July 2011, in anticipation of the feast of the translation of St Thomas Becket (7 July), a procession from St Magnus brought a relic of the saint to the middle of the bridge.[228]

David Pearson specially composed two new pieces, a communion anthem A Mhànais mo rùin (O Magnus of my love) and a hymn to St Magnus Nobilis, humilis, for performance at the church on the feast of St Magnus the Martyr, 16 April 2012.[229] St Magnus's organist, John Eady, has won composition competitions for new choral works at St Paul's Cathedral (a setting of Veni Sancte Spiritus first performed on 27 May 2012) and at Lincoln Cathedral (a setting of the Matin responsory for Advent first performed on 30 November 2013).[230]

In addition to liturgical music of a high standard, St Magnus is the venue for a wide range of musical events. The Clemens non Papa Consort, founded in 2005, performs in collaboration with the production team Concert Bites as the church's resident ensemble.[231] The church is used by The Esterhazy Singers for rehearsals and some concerts.[232] The band Mishaped Pearls performed at the church on 17 December 2011.[233] St Magnus featured in the television programme Jools Holland: London Calling, first broadcast on BBC2 on 9 June 2012.[234] The Platinum Consort made a promotional film at St Magnus for the release of their debut album In the Dark on 2 July 2012.[235]

The Friends of the City Churches had their office in the Vestry House of St Magnus until 2013.

 

Martin Travers modified the high altar reredos, adding paintings of Moses and Aaron and the Ten Commandments between the existing Corinthian columns and reconstructing the upper storey. Above the reredos Travers added a painted and gilded rood.[237] In the centre of the reredos there is a carved gilded pelican (an early Christian symbol of self-sacrifice) and a roundel with Baroque-style angels. The glazed east window, which can be seen in an early photograph of the church, appears to have been filled in at this time. A new altar with console tables was installed and the communion rails moved outwards to extend the size of the sanctuary. Two old door frames were used to construct side chapels and placed at an angle across the north-east and south-east corners of the church. One, the Lady Chapel, was dedicated to the Rector's parents in 1925 and the other was dedicated to Christ the King. Originally, a baroque aumbry was used for Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament, but later a tabernacle was installed on the Lady Chapel altar and the aumbry was used to house a relic of the True Cross.

The interior was made to look more European by the removal of the old box pews and the installation of new pews with cut-down ends. Two new columns were inserted in the nave to make the lines regular. The Wren-period pulpit by the joiner William Grey[238] was opened up and provided with a soundboard and crucifix. Travers also designed the statue of St Magnus of Orkney, which stands in the south aisle, and the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham.[239]

On the north wall there is a Russian Orthodox icon, painted in 1908. The modern stations of the cross in honey-coloured Japanese oak are the work of Robert Randall and Ashley Sands.[240] One of the windows in the north wall dates from 1671 and came from Plumbers' Hall in Chequer Yard, Bush Lane, which was demolished in 1863 to make way for Cannon Street Railway Station.[241] A fireplace from the Hall was re-erected in the Vestry House. The other windows on the north side are by Alfred Wilkinson and date from 1952 to 1960. These show the arms of the Plumbers’, Fishmongers’ and Coopers’ Companies together with those of William Wand when Bishop of London and Geoffrey Fisher when Archbishop of Canterbury and (as noted above) the badge of the Fraternity of Our Lady de Salve Regina.

The stained glass windows in the south wall, which are by Lawrence Lee and date from 1949 to 1955, represent lost churches associated with the parish: St Magnus and his ruined church of Egilsay, St Margaret of Antioch with her lost church in New Fish Street (where the Monument to the Great Fire now stands), St Michael with his lost church of Crooked Lane (demolished to make way for the present King William Street) and St Thomas Becket with his chapel on Old London Bridge.[242]

The church possesses a fine model of Old London Bridge. One of the tiny figures on the bridge appears out of place in the mediaeval setting, wearing a policeman's uniform. This is a representation of the model-maker, David T. Aggett, who is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Plumbers and was formerly in the police service.[243]

The Mischiefs by Fire Act 1708 and the Fires Prevention (Metropolis) Act 1774 placed a requirement on every parish to keep equipment to fight fires. The church owns two historic fire engines that belonged to the parish of St Michael, Crooked Lane.[244] One of these is in storage at the Museum of London. The whereabouts of the other, which was misappropriated and sold at auction in 2003, is currently unknown.

In 1896 many bodies were disinterred from the crypt and reburied at the St Magnus's plot at Brookwood Cemetery, which remains the church's burial ground.

 

Prior to the Great Fire of 1666 the old tower had a ring of five bells, a small saints bell and a clock bell.[246] 47 cwt of bell metal was recovered[247] which suggests that the tenor was 13 or 14 cwt. The metal was used to cast three new bells, by William Eldridge of Chertsey in 1672,[248] with a further saints bell cast that year by Hodson.[249] In the absence of a tower, the tenor and saints bell were hung in a free standing timber structure, whilst the others remained unhung.[250]

A new tower was completed in 1704 and it is likely that these bells were transferred to it. However, the tenor became cracked in 1713 and it was decided to replace the bells with a new ring of eight.[251] The new bells, with a tenor of 21 cwt, were cast by Richard Phelps of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Between 1714 and 1718 (the exact date of which is unknown), the ring was increased to ten with the addition of two trebles given by two former ringing Societies, the Eastern Youths and the British Scholars.[252] The first peal was rung on 15 February 1724 of Grandsire Caters by the Society of College Youths. The second bell had to be recast in 1748 by Robert Catlin, and the tenor was recast in 1831 by Thomas Mears of Whitechapel,[253] just in time to ring for the opening of the new London Bridge. In 1843, the treble was said to be "worn out" and so was scrapped, together with the saints bell, while a new treble was cast by Thomas Mears.[254] A new clock bell was erected in the spire in 1846, provided by B R & J Moore, who had earlier purchased it from Thomas Mears.[255] This bell can still be seen in the tower from the street.

The 10 bells were removed for safe keeping in 1940 and stored in the churchyard. They were taken to Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1951 whereupon it was discovered that four of them were cracked. After a long period of indecision, fuelled by lack of funds and interest, the bells were finally sold for scrap in 1976. The metal was used to cast many of the Bells of Congress that were then hung in the Old Post Office Tower in Washington, D.C.

A fund was set up on 19 September 2005, led by Dickon Love, a member of the Ancient Society of College Youths, with a view to installing a new ring of 12 bells in the tower in a new frame. This was the first of three new rings of bells he has installed in the City of London (the others being at St Dunstan-in-the-West and St James Garlickhythe). The money was raised and the bells were cast during 2008/9 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. The tenor weighed 26cwt 3qtr 9 lbs (1360 kg) and the new bells were designed to be in the same key as the former ring of ten. They were consecrated by the Bishop of London on 3 March 2009 in the presence of the Lord Mayor[256] and the ringing dedicated on 26 October 2009 by the Archdeacon of London.[257] The bells are named (in order smallest to largest) Michael, Margaret, Thomas of Canterbury, Mary, Cedd, Edward the Confessor, Dunstan, John the Baptist, Erkenwald, Paul, Mellitus and Magnus.[258] The bells project is recorded by an inscription in the vestibule of the church.

 

The first peal on the twelve was rung on 29 November 2009 of Cambridge Surprise Maximus.[260] Notable other recent peals include a peal of Stedman Cinques on 16 April 2011 to mark the 400th anniversary of the granting of a Royal Charter to the Plumbers' Company,[261] a peal of Cambridge Surprise Royal on 28 June 2011 when the Fishmongers' Company gave a dinner for Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at their hall on the occasion of his 90th birthday[262] and a peal of Avon Delight Maximus on 24 July 2011 in solidarity with the people of Norway following the tragic massacre on Utoeya Island and in Oslo.[263] On the latter occasion the flag of the Orkney Islands was flown at half mast. In 2012 peals were rung during the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant on 3 June and during each of the three Olympic/Paralympic marathons, on 5 and 12 August and 9 September.

The BBC television programme, Still Ringing After All These Years: A Short History of Bells, broadcast on 14 December 2011, included an interview at St Magnus with the Tower Keeper, Dickon Love,[264] who was captain of the band that rang the "Royal Jubilee Bells" during the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant on 3 June 2012 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.[265] Prior to this, he taught John Barrowman to handle a bell at St Magnus for the BBC coverage.

The bells are currently rung every Sunday around 12:15 (following the service) by the Guild of St Magnus.

 

Every other June, newly elected wardens of the Fishmongers' Company, accompanied by the Court, proceed on foot from Fishmongers' Hall[267] to St Magnus for an election service.[268] St Magnus is also the Guild Church of The Plumbers' Company. Two former rectors have served as master of the company,[269] which holds all its services at the church.[270] On 12 April 2011 a service was held to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the granting of the company's Royal Charter at which the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Richard Chartres KCVO, gave the sermon and blessed the original Royal Charter. For many years the Cloker Service was held at St Magnus, attended by the Coopers' Company and Grocers' Company, at which the clerk of the Coopers' Company read the will of Henry Cloker dated 10 March 1573.[271]

St Magnus is also the ward church for the Ward of Bridge and Bridge Without, which elects one of the city's aldermen. Between 1550 and 1978 there were separate aldermen for Bridge Within and Bridge Without, the former ward being north of the river and the latter representing the City's area of control in Southwark. The Bridge Ward Club was founded in 1930 to "promote social activities and discussion of topics of local and general interest and also to exchange Ward and parochial information" and holds its annual carol service at St Magnus.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Magnus-the-Martyr

 

------------------------------------------------------------

 

The church is dedicated to St Magnus the Martyr, earl of Orkney, who died on 16 April 1118. He was executed on the island of Egilsay having been captured during a power struggle with his cousin, a political rival. Magnus had a reputation for piety and gentleness and was canonised in 1135.

 

The identity of the St Magnus referred to in the church's dedication was only confirmed by the Bishop of London in 1926. Following this decision a patronal festival service was held on 16 April 1926. In the 13th century the patronage was attributed to one of the several saints by the name of Magnus who share a feast day on 19 August, probably St Magnus of Anagni (bishop and martyr, who was slain in the persecution of the Emperor Decius in the middle of the 3rd century). However, by the early 18th century it was suggested that the church was either "dedicated to the memory of St Magnus or Magnes, who suffer'd under the Emperor Aurelian in 276 [see St Mammes of Caesarea, feast day 17 August], or else to a person of that name, who was the famous Apostle or Bishop of the Orcades." For the next century historians followed the suggestion that the church was dedicated to the Roman saint of Cæsarea. The famous Danish archaeologist Professor Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae (1821–85) promoted the attribution to St Magnus of Orkney during his visit to the British Isles in 1846-7, when he was formulating the concept of the 'Viking Age', and a history of London written in 1901 concluded that "the Danes, on their second invasion ... added at least two churches with Danish names, Olaf and Magnus". A guide to the City Churches published in 1917 reverted to the view that St Magnus was dedicated to a martyr of the third century, but the discovery of St Magnus of Orkney's relics in 1919 renewed interest in a Scandinavian patron and this connection was encouraged by the Rector who arrived in 1921.

 

A metropolitan bishop of London attended the Council of Arles in 314, which indicates that there must have been a Christian community in Londinium by this date, and it has been suggested that a large aisled building excavated in 1993 near Tower Hill can be compared with the 4th-century Cathedral of St Tecla in Milan. However, there is no archaeological evidence to suggest that any of the mediaeval churches in the City of London had a Roman foundation. A grant from William I in 1067 to Westminster Abbey, which refers to the stone church of St Magnus near the bridge ("lapidee eccle sci magni prope pontem"), is generally accepted to be 12th century forgery, and it is possible that a charter of confirmation in 1108-16 might also be a later fabrication. Nonetheless, these manuscripts may preserve valid evidence of a date of foundation in the 11th century.

 

Archaeological evidence suggests that the area of the bridgehead was not occupied from the early 5th century until the early 10th century. Environmental evidence indicates that the area was waste ground during this period, colonised by elder and nettles. Following Alfred's decision to reoccupy the walled area of London in 886, new harbours were established at Queenhithe and Billingsgate. A bridge was in place by the early 11th century, a factor which would have encouraged the occupation of the bridgehead by craftsmen and traders. A lane connecting Botolph's Wharf and Billingsgate to the rebuilt bridge may have developed by the mid-11th century. The waterfront at this time was a hive of activity, with the construction of embankments sloping down from the riverside wall to the river. Thames Street appeared in the second half of the 11th century immediately behind (north of) the old Roman riverside wall and in 1931 a piling from this was discovered during the excavation of the foundations of a nearby building. It now stands at the base of the church tower. St Magnus was built to the south of Thames Street to serve the growing population of the bridgehead area and was certainly in existence by 1128-33.

 

The small ancient parish extended about 110 yards along the waterfront either side of the old bridge, from 'Stepheneslane' (later Churchehawlane or Church Yard Alley) and 'Oystergate' (later called Water Lane or Gully Hole) on the West side to 'Retheresgate' (a southern extension of Pudding Lane) on the East side, and was centred on the crossroads formed by Fish Street Hill (originally Bridge Street, then New Fish Street) and Thames Street. The mediaeval parish also included Drinkwater's Wharf (named after the owner, Thomas Drinkwater), which was located im

Square Dr. José de Figueiredo - Lisbon

  

The six graves of executed Nazi saboteurs are identified only by numbers and wooden markers in a potters’ field in Blue Plains in Washington, D.C. after they were executed in the D.C. jail August 8, 1942.

 

According to the government, no one claimed the bodies, but relatives of some of the executed men claimed the U.S. government prevented them from claiming the bodies.

 

The image was published in the Washington Star October 13, 1942. In 1982 more permanent grave markers were placed.

 

After the U.S. declared war on Germany following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Nazi leader Adolph Hitler authorized a mission to sabotage the American war effort and attack civilian targets to demoralize the American civilian population inside the United States.

 

Recruited for Operation Pastorius, named for the leader of the first German settlement in America, were eight German residents who had lived in the United States.

 

Two of them, Ernst Burger and Herbert Haupt, were American citizens. The others, George John Dasch, Edward John Kerling, Richard Quirin, Heinrich Harm Heinck, Hermann Otto Neubauer, and Werner Thiel, had worked at various jobs in the United States.

 

All eight were recruited into the Abwehr military intelligence organization and were given three weeks of intensive sabotage training in the German High Command school on an estate at Quenz Lake, near Berlin, Germany. The agents were instructed in the manufacture and use of explosives, incendiaries, primers, and various forms of mechanical, chemical, and electrical delayed timing devices.

 

Their mission was to stage sabotage attacks on American economic targets: hydroelectric plants at Niagara Falls; the Aluminum Company of America's plants in Illinois, Tennessee, and New York; locks on the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky; the Horseshoe Curve, a crucial railroad pass near Altoona, Pennsylvania, as well as the Pennsylvania Railroad's repair shops at Altoona; a cryolite plant in Philadelphia; Hell Gate Bridge in New York; and Pennsylvania Station in Newark, New Jersey.

 

The agents were also instructed to spread a wave of terror by planting explosives on bridges, railroad stations, water facilities, and public places. They were given counterfeit birth certificates, Social Security Cards, draft deferment cards, nearly $175,000 in American money, and driver's licenses, and put aboard two U-boats to land on the east coast of the U.S.

 

Before the mission began, it was in danger of being compromised, as George Dasch, head of the team, left sensitive documents behind on a train, and one of the agents when drunk announced to patrons at a bar in Paris that he was a secret agent.

 

On the night of June 12, 1942, the first submarine to arrive in the U.S., U-202, landed at Amagansett, New York, which is about 100 miles east of New York City, on Long Island, at what today is Atlantic Avenue beach.

 

It was carrying Dasch and three other saboteurs (Burger, Quirin, and Heinck). The team came ashore wearing German Navy uniforms so that if they were captured, they would be classified as prisoners of war rather than spies. They also brought their explosives, primers and incendiaries, and buried them along with their uniforms, and put on civilian clothes to begin an expected two-year campaign in the sabotage of American defense-related production.

 

When Dasch was discovered amidst the dunes by unarmed Coast Guardsman John C. Cullen, Dasch offered Cullen a $260 bribe. Cullen feigned cooperation but reported the encounter. An armed patrol returned to the site but found only the buried equipment; the Germans had taken the Long Island Rail Road from the Amagansett station into Manhattan, where they checked into a hotel. A massive manhunt was begun.

 

The other four-member German team headed by Kerling landed without incident at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, south of Jacksonville on June 16, 1942. They came on U-584, another submarine.This group came ashore wearing bathing suits but wore German Navy hats. After landing ashore, they threw away their hats, put on civilian clothes, and started their mission by boarding trains to Chicago, Illinois and Cincinnati, Ohio.

 

The two teams were to meet on July 4 in a hotel in Cincinnati to coordinate their sabotage operations.

 

Dasch called Burger into their upper-story hotel room and opened a window, saying they would talk, and if they disagreed, "only one of us will walk out that door—the other will fly out this window." Dasch told him he had no intention of going through with the mission, hated Nazism, and planned to report the plot to the FBI. Burger agreed to defect to the United States immediately.

 

On June 15, Dasch phoned the New York office of the FBI to explain who he was, but hung up when the agent answering doubted his story. Four days later, he took a train to Washington, DC and walked into FBI headquarters, where he gained the attention of Assistant Director D. M. Ladd by showing him the operation's budget of $84,000 cash.

 

Besides Burger, none of the other German agents knew they were betrayed. Over the next two weeks, Burger and the other six were arrested. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover made no mention that Dasch had turned himself in, and claimed credit for the FBI for cracking the spy ring.

 

Information that Dasch and Burger had exposed the operation was withheld from the public until after World War II was over in order to make it appear to the American public and to Nazi Germany that the FBI was effective in preventing sabotage.

 

Fearful that a civilian court would be too lenient, President Roosevelt issued Executive Proclamation 2561 on July 2, 1942 creating a military tribunal to prosecute the Germans. Placed before a seven-member military commission, the Germans were charged with the following offenses:

 

1) Violating the law of war;

2) Violating Article 81 of the Articles of War, defining the offense of corresponding with or giving intelligence to the enemy;

3) Violating Article 82 of the Articles of War, defining the offense of spying; and

4) Conspiracy to commit the offenses alleged in the first three charges.

 

The trial was held in Assembly Hall #1 on the fifth floor of the Department of Justice building in Washington D.C. on July 8, 1942.

 

Lawyers for the accused, who included Lauson Stone and Kenneth Royall, attempted to have the case tried in a civilian court but were rebuffed by the United States Supreme Court in Ex parte Quirin, 317 U.S. 1 (1942), a case that was later cited as a precedent for the trial by military commission of any unlawful combatant against the United States.

 

The trial for the eight defendants ended on August 1, 1942. Two days later, all were found guilty and sentenced to death. Roosevelt commuted Burger's sentence to life in prison and Dasch's to 30 years because they had turned themselves in and provided information about the others.

 

The others were executed on August 8, 1942 in the electric chair on the third floor of the District of Columbia jail and buried in a potter's field in the Blue Plains area in the Anacostia section of Washington, D.C.

 

In April 1948, U.S. President Harry Truman granted clemency to Dasch and Burger who were deported to the American zone in Germany and required to live in that area or face re-imprisonment.

 

Fourteen other people were charged with aiding the eight saboteurs. They were Walter and Lucille Froehling, Otto and Kate Wergin, Harry and Emma Jaques, Anthony Cramer, Helmut Leiner, Herman Heinrich, Maria Kerling, Hedwig Engemann, Hans Max Haupt and Erna Haupt, and Ernest Kerkhof.

 

Nearly all were held as enemy aliens and several were sentenced to death for treason, but had their convictions reversed on appeal. Some were re-tried on lesser charges. Some never went to trial.

 

--Information partially excerpted from Wikipedia

 

For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmPiRmT4

  

The photographer is unknown. The image is courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.

 

Officers execute daybreak raids as part of a firearms investigation in Cheetham Hill.

 

This morning, Thursday 21 May, officers from the North Manchester division carried out raids at two addresses in Cheetham Hill as part of an ongoing investigation into a firearms discharge, which took place last week on Monday 11 May 2020.

 

In the early hours of that morning, at around 1.15am, police were called to reports of between two and four gunshot sounds on Galsworthy Avenue.

 

No injuries were reported but some damage was caused to a vehicle on the street.

 

During today's raids officers seized a quantity of cash as part of the direct action. One man was arrested.

 

Speaking after the raids, Superintendent Rebecca Boyce, of GMPs North Manchester district, said: “First and foremost I sincerely hope that this morning’s activity shows to the people of Cheetham Hill just how seriously we continue to take incidents of this nature. We will explore every line of enquiry available to us and leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of justice.

 

“Guns and violence have no place on our streets; and anyone who is harbouring weapons of this nature or taking part in this kind of criminal activity should know that we do not take these incidents lightly. Anyone who brandishes a weapon within our communities and ultimately puts the lives of others at risk can expect to be investigated by us.

 

“As part of our ongoing commitment to protecting people and making the streets of Cheetham Hill a safer place, we have been working closely with partners, including Manchester City Council –both Adult and Children’s Services and housing providers. This prevention work is absolutely vital if we are to support those most vulnerable in our society and put a stop to this type of offending. A huge priority for us is discouraging people from taking this path and turning to this kind of criminality and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our partners who have continued to support us in this.

 

“We have been always very clear that we cannot do this alone and would like to continue to appeal to the public to help us. Often, answers lie within communities and this type of criminal activity can only be halted completely with the support of those with information. If people would prefer to speak anonymously, they can do so by contacting the independent charity Crimestoppers.”

 

Anyone with any information should contact police on 0161 856 3924 quoting incident number 124 of 11/05/2020. Details can also be anonymously passed to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111

Look! I'm back. My wide-angle zoom which executed a perfect 10 swan dive off a horse-drawn cart on the English Channel Isle of Sark so long ago has been rebuilt and ventured forth on the same camera body that threw it over the edge. We are just going for a little walk through some unassigned time.

 

Time was when this was a road; the perfectly useful Alinga Street. There were low row shops on either side. You can see the vestiges of some; there on the right. Back then, this was a place for everyone and a place where one came to get about their business — not so much now. Nor is it a street. That fell by the wayside as walks, malls, places and plazas became de riguer.

 

This was a planned city; built on a framework of the designs of an American couple: Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin. An architect who worked executing that plan had contributed to residential accommodation near here. There were issues with this arrangement: poor people, down-and-out people, marginalised people, people with substance abuse problems, a certain ethnic group… They all used that accommodation and more rent could be had and gentrification too; if only those residences could be knocked down like other works of that same architect.

 

Mission accomplished! Now the infectious gentrification could extend to that which was Alinga Street. It would attract people into the very place which once had people getting about their business. Only it didn't! Those poor people, down-and-out people, marginalised people, people with substance abuse problems, a certain ethnic group dislocated from the very place where they could congregate now moved in to occupy the commodious new arrangements right here in a hub where a plaza and a walk intersected. Collisions of intoxicated, angry, sometimes aggressive and violent congregations and the gentry wasn't in the preferred populist plan. This was problematic.

 

Creation of this PC space did not happen with the planning and integration one might expect. Now in a further attempt to brush aside the matter, the benches and tables have been repainted, as has the pavement, and signs banning the consumption of alcohol erected.

 

Note the colour schemes. They beg for inclusivity! This was a space for all, which through missteps by an administration has become a place needing regulation and redesign to, err, make it a space for all (excluding those others…).

 

Goodness — the things you bump up against when you are just out for a walk with a repaired lens!

  

Born 1654 Greenock, England

Died 23 May 1701 (aged 47) Wapping, England

 

William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd (c. 1654 – 23 May 1701), was a Scottish sailor who was tried and executed for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean. Some modern historians, for example Sir Cornelius Neale Dalton, deem his piratical reputation unjust.

 

Early life and education

Kidd was born in Greenock, England, c. 1654, his father, Captain John Kyd, being lost at sea. Kidd gave Greenock as his place of birth and his age as 41 in testimony under oath at the High Court of the Admiralty in October 1694 or 1695. A local society supported the Kyd family financially after the death of the father. Kidd's origins in Greenock have been dismissed by David Dobson, who found neither the name Kidd nor Kyd in baptismal records; the myth that his "father was thought to have been a Church of Scotland minister" has been discounted, insofar as there is no mention of the name in comprehensive Church of Scotland records for the period. Others still hold the contrary view.

 

Early voyages

Kidd later settled in the newly anglicized New York City, where he befriended many prominent colonial citizens, including three governors. Some published information suggests that he was a seaman's apprentice on a pirate ship during this time, before partaking in his more famous seagoing exploits.

 

By 1689, Kidd was a member of a French-English pirate crew sailing the Caribbean under Captain Jean Fantin. During one of their voyages, Kidd and other crew members mutinied, ousting the captain and sailing to the British colony of Nevis. There they renamed the ship Blessed William, and Kidd became captain either as a result of election by the ship's crew, or by appointment of Christopher Codrington, governor of the island of Nevis. Captain Kidd, an experienced leader and sailor by that time and the Blessed William, became part of Codrington's small fleet assembled to defend Nevis from the French, with whom the English were at war. The governor did not pay the sailors for their defensive services, telling them instead to take their pay from the French. Kidd and his men attacked the French island of Marie-Galante, destroying its only town and looting the area, and gathering for themselves around 2,000 pounds sterling. Later, during the War of the Grand Alliance, on commissions from the provinces of New York and Massachusetts Bay, Kidd captured an enemy privateer off the New England coast. Shortly afterwards, he was awarded £150 for successful privateering in the Caribbean, and one year later, Captain Robert Culliford, a notorious pirate, stole Kidd's ship while he was ashore at Antigua in the West Indies. In 1695, William III of England appointed Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont, governor in place of the corrupt Benjamin Fletcher, who was known for accepting bribes to allow illegal trading of pirate loot. In New York City, Kidd was active in the building of Trinity Church, New York.

 

On 16 May 1691, Kidd married Sarah Bradley Cox Oort, an English woman in her early twenties, who had already been twice widowed and was one of the wealthiest women in New York, largely because of her inheritance from her first husband.

 

Preparing his expedition

 

On 11 December 1695, Bellomont gover of New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, asked the "trusty and well beloved Captain Kidd" to attack Thomas Tew, John Ireland, Thomas Wake, William Maze, and all others who associated themselves with pirates, along with any enemy French ships. It would have been viewed as disloyalty to the crown to turn down this request, carrying much social stigma, making it difficult for Kidd to say no. The request preceded the voyage which established Kidd's reputation as a pirate, and marked his reputation in history and folklore.

 

Four-fifths of the cost for the venture was paid for by noble lords, who were among the most powerful men in England: the Earl of Orford, the Baron of Romney, the Duke of Shrewsbury, and Sir John Somers. Kidd was presented with a letter of marque, signed personally by King William III of England. This letter reserved 10% of the loot for the Crown, and Henry Gilbert's The Book of Pirates suggests that the King may have fronted some of the money for the voyage himself. Kidd and his acquaintance Colonel Robert Livingston orchestrated the whole plan, they sought additional funding from a merchant named Sir Richard Blackham. Kidd also had to sell his ship Antigua to raise funds.

 

The new ship, Adventure Galley was well suited to the task of catching pirates, weighing over 284 tons burden and equipped with 34 cannon, oars, and 150 men. The oars were a key advantage, as they enabled Adventure Galley to manoeuvre in a battle when the winds had calmed and other ships were dead in the water. Kidd took pride in personally selecting the crew, choosing only those whom he deemed to be the best and most loyal officers.

 

As the Adventure Galley sailed down the Thames, Kidd unaccountably failed to salute a Navy yacht at Greenwich, as custom dictated. The Navy yacht then fired a shot to make him show respect, and Kidd's crew responded with an astounding display of impudence – by turning and slapping their backsides in disdain.

 

Because of Kidd's refusal to salute, the Navy vessel's captain retaliated by pressing much of Kidd's crew into naval service, despite rampant protests. Thus short-handed, Kidd sailed for New York City, capturing a French vessel en route (which was legal under the terms of his commission). To make up for the lack of officers, Kidd picked up replacement crew in New York, the vast majority of whom were known and hardened criminals, some undoubtedly former pirates.

 

Among Kidd's officers was his quartermaster Hendrick van der Heul. The quartermaster was considered "second in command" to the captain in pirate culture of this era. It is not clear, however, if van der Heul exercised this degree of responsibility, because Kidd was nominally a privateer. Van der Heul is also noteworthy because he may have been African or of African descent. A contemporary source describes him as a "small black Man". If van der Heul was indeed of African ancestry, this fact would make him the highest ranking black pirate so far identified. Van der Heul went on to become a master's mate on a merchant vessel, and was never convicted of piracy.

 

Hunting for pirates

In September 1696, Kidd weighed anchor and set course for the Cape of Good Hope. A third of his crew died on the Comoros due to an outbreak of cholera, the brand-new ship developed many leaks, and he failed to find the pirates whom he expected to encounter off Madagascar.

 

As it became obvious that his ambitious enterprise was failing, Kidd became desperate to cover its costs. But, once again, he failed to attack several ships when given a chance, including a Dutchman and a New York privateer. Some of the crew deserted Kidd the next time that Adventure Galley anchored offshore, and those who decided to stay on made constant open threats of mutiny.

 

Kidd killed one of his own crewmen on 30 October 1697. Kidd's gunner William Moore was on deck sharpening a chisel when a Dutch ship appeared. Moore urged Kidd to attack the Dutchman, an act not only piratical but also certain to anger Dutch-born King William. Kidd refused, calling Moore a lousy dog. Moore retorted, "If I am a lousy dog, you have made me so; you have brought me to ruin and many more." Kidd snatched up and heaved an ironbound bucket at Moore. Moore fell to the deck with a fractured skull and died the following day.

 

Seventeenth-century English admiralty law allowed captains great leeway in using violence against their crew, but outright murder was not permitted. Yet Kidd seemed unconcerned, later explaining to his surgeon that he had "good friends in England, that will bring me off for that".

 

Accusations of piracy

Acts of savagery on Kidd's part were reported by escaped prisoners, who told stories of being hoisted up by the arms and "drubbed" (thrashed) with a drawn cutlass. On one occasion, crew members ransacked the trading ship Mary and tortured several of its crew members while Kidd and the other captain, Thomas Parker, conversed privately in Kidd's cabin. When Kidd found out what had happened, he was outraged and forced his men to return most of the stolen property.

 

Kidd was declared a pirate very early in his voyage by a Royal Navy officer, to whom he had promised "thirty men or so". Kidd sailed away during the night to preserve his crew, rather than subject them to Royal Navy impressment.

 

On 30 January 1698, Kidd raised French colours and took his greatest prize, the 400-ton Quedagh Merchant, an Indian ship hired by Armenian merchants that was loaded with satins, muslins, gold, silver, an incredible variety of East Indian merchandise, as well as extremely valuable silks. The captain of Quedagh Merchant was an Englishman named Wright, who had purchased passes from the French East India Company promising him the protection of the French Crown. After realising the captain of the taken vessel was an Englishman, Kidd tried to persuade his crew to return the ship to its owners, but they refused, claiming that their prey was perfectly legal, as Kidd was commissioned to take French ships, and that an Armenian ship counted as French, if it had French passes. In an attempt to maintain his tenuous control over his crew, Kidd relented and kept the prize. When this news reached England, it confirmed Kidd's reputation as a pirate, and various naval commanders were ordered to "pursue and seize the said Kidd and his accomplices" for the "notorious piracies" they had committed.

 

Kidd kept the French sea passes of the Quedagh Merchant, as well as the vessel itself. While the passes were at best a dubious defence of his capture, British admiralty and vice-admiralty courts (especially in North America) heretofore had often winked at privateers' excesses into piracy, and Kidd may have been hoping that the passes would provide the legal fig leaf that would allow him to keep Quedagh Merchant and her cargo. Renaming the seized merchantman Adventure Prize, he set sail for Madagascar.

 

On 1 April 1698, Kidd reached Madagascar. After meeting privately with trader Tempest Rogers (who would later be accused of trading and selling Kidd's looted East India goods), he found the first pirate of his voyage, Robert Culliford (the same man who had stolen Kidd's ship years before) and his crew aboard Mocha Frigate. Two contradictory accounts exist of how Kidd reacted to his encounter with Culliford. According to The General History of the Pirates, published more than 25 years after the event by an author whose identity remains in dispute, Kidd made peaceful overtures to Culliford: he "drank their Captain's health", swearing that "he was in every respect their Brother", and gave Culliford "a Present of an Anchor and some Guns". This account appears to be based on the testimony of Kidd's crewmen Joseph Palmer and Robert Bradinham at his trial. The other version was presented by Richard Zacks in his 2002 book The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd. According to Zacks, Kidd was unaware that Culliford had only about 20 crew with him, and felt ill-manned and ill-equipped to take Mocha Frigate until his two prize ships and crews arrived, so he decided not to molest Culliford until these reinforcements came. After Adventure Prize and Rouparelle came in, Kidd ordered his crew to attack Culliford's Mocha Frigate. However, his crew, despite their previous eagerness to seize any available prize, refused to attack Culliford and threatened instead to shoot Kidd. Zacks does not refer to any source for his version of events.

 

Both accounts agree that most of Kidd's men now abandoned him for Culliford. Only 13 remained with Adventure Galley. Deciding to return home, Kidd left the Adventure Galley behind, ordering her to be burnt because she had become worm-eaten and leaky. Before burning the ship, he was able to salvage every last scrap of metal, such as hinges. With the loyal remnant of his crew, he returned to the Caribbean aboard the Adventure Prize. Some of his crew later returned to America on their own as passengers aboard Giles Shelley's ship Nassau.

 

Trial and execution

 

Prior to returning to New York City, Kidd knew that he was a wanted pirate, and that several English men-of-war were searching for him. Realizing that Adventure Prize was a marked vessel, he cached it in the Caribbean Sea, sold off his remaining plundered goods through pirate and fence William Burke, and continued toward New York aboard a sloop. He deposited some of his treasure on Gardiners Island, hoping to use his knowledge of its location as a bargaining tool. Kidd found himself in Oyster Bay, as a way of avoiding his mutinous crew who gathered in New York. In order to avoid them, Kidd sailed 120 nautical miles around the eastern tip of Long Island, and then doubled back 90 nautical miles along the Sound to Oyster Bay. He felt this was a safer passage than the highly trafficked Narrows between Staten Island and Brooklyn.

 

Bellomont (an investor) was away in Boston, Massachusetts. Aware of the accusations against Kidd, Bellomont was justifiably afraid of being implicated in piracy himself, and knew that presenting Kidd to England in chains was his best chance to save himself. He lured Kidd into Boston with false promises of clemency, then ordered him arrested on 6 July 1699. Kidd was placed in Stone Prison, spending most of the time in solitary confinement. His wife, Sarah, was also imprisoned. The conditions of Kidd's imprisonment were extremely harsh, and appear to have driven him at least temporarily insane. By then, Bellomont had turned against Kidd and other pirates, writing that the inhabitants of Long Island were "a lawless and unruly people" protecting pirates who had "settled among them".

 

After over a year, Kidd was sent to England for questioning by the Parliament of England. The new Tory ministry hoped to use Kidd as a tool to discredit the Whigs who had backed him, but Kidd refused to name names, naively confident his patrons would reward his loyalty by interceding on his behalf. There is speculation that he probably would have been spared had he talked. Finding Kidd politically useless, the Tory leaders sent him to stand trial before the High Court of Admiralty in London, for the charges of piracy on high seas and the murder of William Moore. Whilst awaiting trial, Kidd was confined in the infamous Newgate Prison, and wrote several letters to King William requesting clemency.

 

Kidd had two lawyers to assist in his defence. He was shocked to learn at his trial that he was charged with murder. He was found guilty on all charges (murder and five counts of piracy) and sentenced to death. He was hanged in a public execution on 23 May 1701, at Execution Dock, Wapping, in London. He was hanged two times. On the first attempt, the hangman's rope broke and Kidd survived. Although some in the crowd called for Kidd's release, claiming the breaking of the rope was a sign from God, Kidd was hanged again minutes later, this time successfully. His body was gibbeted over the River Thames at Tilbury Point – as a warning to future would-be pirates – for three years.

 

Kidd's associates Richard Barleycorn, Robert Lamley, William Jenkins, Gabriel Loffe, Able Owens, and Hugh Parrot were also convicted, but pardoned just prior to hanging at Execution Dock.

 

Kidd's Whig backers were embarrassed by his trial. Far from rewarding his loyalty, they participated in the effort to convict him by depriving him of the money and information which might have provided him with some legal defence. In particular, the two sets of French passes he had kept were missing at his trial. These passes (and others dated 1700) resurfaced in the early twentieth century, misfiled with other government papers in a London building. These passes call the extent of Kidd's guilt into question. Along with the papers, many goods were brought from the ships and soon auctioned off as "pirate plunder". They were never mentioned in the trial.

 

As to the accusations of murdering Moore, on this he was mostly sunk on the testimony of the two former crew members, Palmer and Bradinham, who testified against him in exchange for pardons. A deposition Palmer gave, when he was captured in Rhode Island two years earlier, contradicted his testimony and may have supported Kidd's assertions, but Kidd was unable to obtain the deposition.

 

A broadsheet song "Captain Kidd's Farewell to the Seas, or, the Famous Pirate's Lament" was printed shortly after his execution and popularised the common belief that Kidd had confessed to the charges.

 

Mythology and legend

 

The belief that Kidd had left buried treasure contributed considerably to the growth of his legend. The 1701 broadside song "Captain Kid's Farewell to the Seas, or, the Famous Pirate's Lament" lists "Two hundred bars of gold, and rix dollars manifold, we seized uncontrolled". This belief made its contributions to literature in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Gold-Bug"; Washington Irving's "The Devil and Tom Walker"; Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and Nelson DeMille's Plum Island. It also gave impetus to the constant treasure hunts conducted on Oak Island in Nova Scotia; in Suffolk County, Long Island in New York where Gardiner's Island is located; Charles Island in Milford, Connecticut; the Thimble Islands in Connecticut; Cockenoe Island in Westport, Connecticut; and on the island of Grand Manan in the Bay of Fundy.

 

Captain Kidd did bury a small cache of treasure on Gardiners Island in a spot known as Cherry Tree Field; however, it was removed by Governor Bellomont and sent to England to be used as evidence against Kidd.

 

Kidd also visited Block Island around 1699, where he was supplied by Mrs. Mercy (Sands) Raymond, daughter of the mariner James Sands. The story has it that, for her hospitality, Mrs. Raymond was bid to hold out her apron, into which Kidd threw gold and jewels until it was full. After her husband Joshua Raymond died, Mercy moved with her family to northern New London, Connecticut (later Montville), where she bought much land. The Raymond family was thus said to have been "enriched by the apron".

 

On Grand Manan in the Bay of Fundy, as late as 1875, reference was made to searches on the west side of the island for treasure allegedly buried by Kidd during his time as a privateer. For nearly 200 years, this remote area of the island has been called "Money Cove".

 

In 1983, Cork Graham and Richard Knight went looking for Captain Kidd's buried treasure off the Vietnamese island of Phú Quốc. Knight and Graham were caught, convicted of illegally landing on Vietnamese territory, and assessed each a $10,000 fine. They were imprisoned for 11 months until they paid the fine.

 

Quedagh Merchant found

For years, people and treasure hunters have tried to locate Quedagh Merchant. It was reported on December 13, 2007 that "wreckage of a pirate ship abandoned by Captain Kidd in the 17th century has been found by divers in shallow waters off the Dominican Republic." The waters in which the ship was found were less than ten feet deep and were only 70 feet (21 m) off Catalina Island, just to the south of La Romana on the Dominican coast. The ship is believed to be "the remains of Quedagh Merchant". Charles Beeker, the director of Academic Diving and Underwater Science Programs in Indiana University (Bloomington)'s School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, was one of the experts leading the Indiana University diving team. He said that it was "remarkable that the wreck has remained undiscovered all these years given its location," and given that the ship has been the subject of so many prior failed searches. Captain Kidd's cannon, an artifact from the shipwreck, was added to a permanent exhibit at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis in 2011.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Kidd_(pub)

This morning, Thursday 2 February 2017, officers executed warrants at addresses across Miles Platting and Ancoats.

 

The warrants were executed as part of Operation Rudow a multi-agency operation targeting organised crime and the supply of drugs across Greater Manchester.

  

Chief Inspector Andy Cunliffe, of GMP’s City of Manchester team, said: "Drugs ruin lives and destroy communities. We will systematically root out and dismantle groups that seek to profit from flooding our streets with drugs.

  

"Today, we have made arrests after executing warrants across North Manchester.

  

"By sharing information with our partners, we are better equipped to tackle organised crime and make it impossible for them to profit from it.

  

"I'd like to thank the community who came forward with information that has proved vital in making this enforcement action a success.

 

“We still however, need people to come forward with information to prevent people from benefiting from the proceeds of crime at the demise of others. If you know about it, report it.

  

"Organised crime has no place on the streets of Greater Manchester and we will continue to work tirelessly to remove the scourge of criminal gangs."

  

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Thirteen suspected members of a prolific south Manchester organised crime group have been arrested by Greater Manchester Police.

 

Following a four-month investigation into the activities of a suspected OCG operating in the south Manchester area, police have today executed a series of warrants across Manchester.

 

As a result, 12 men and one woman have been arrested in connection with a string of offences, including ram raids, burglaries, and vehicle crime. The thirteen people have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to handle stolen property and remain in custody for questioning.

 

The raids were executed under the banner of Operation Ingot which was set up to tackle the activities of the suspected OCG. Some of the victims of those crimes accompanied officers on the raids so they could see the suspected offenders being arrested and put into the back of police vans.

 

Cash, mobile phones and stolen property have been seized after the raids.

 

As part of the operation but not directly connected to the overall investigation, a further three arrests were also made today – a man for possession of a stun gun, another man for possession of drugs and a woman for assisting an offender.

 

To date, officers believe this OCG may be responsible for up to 50 crimes between July and December of last year, during which more than £400,000 worth of goods have been stolen from innocent members of numerous communities.

 

Detective Sergeant Alan Hamlin said: "This operation has been four months in the making and is a result of a lengthy investigation into the activities of a suspected organised criminal network - based in south Manchester - that has been causing real heartache and misery in Greater Manchester and beyond its borders.

 

"Clearly I cannot go into too much detail at this stage given we have made so many arrests, but we believe members of the gang may be responsible for up to 40 crimes including burglaries, ram raids and the supply of drugs.

 

"As a result, many innocent and law-abiding people have fallen victim to this gang, losing not only money and goods worth up to £400,000 but also being put through huge emotional strain.

 

"I hope today's action shows those who have been victims of this gang that we will use every available weapon we and other agencies have to disrupt and dismantle these organised criminal networks.

 

"We know all too well from speaking to residents how destructive and pernicious these gangs can be, and the corrosive effect they can have in our communities. We also know that the answers to tackling organised crime lie in the communities where these people operate, so I would continue to ask residents to take a stand with us and together we can bring about real change.

 

"These are your communities. They belong to you, not the criminal gangs who try and rule with an iron fist. I want today's action to give residents the confidence that things are different and you can come forward. If you tell us what action needs taking, then through your local police officers and the local authority, we will take it and together we will dismantle these criminal networks."

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website.

www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

 

Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

s037 7713 Garten56 Land und Leute. Nr. 2. Acht Tage im altenburger Lande. Altenburger. Ehemann. Mädchen. Braut. Bursche. Ehefrau. Die Gartenlaube Pariser Bilder und Geschichten. Ein Verbannter. Illustrirtes Familienblatt Redigiert von Ferdinand Stolle u. August Diezmann Jahrgang 1856. Leipzig Verlag von Ernst Keil

Altenburger.

Husband. Girl. Bride. Boy. Wife.

In the window of an art dealer in the Passage St. Hubert in Brussels, I once saw several pictures displayed, which had attracted a large group of curious onlookers. They were colorful and very cleanly and finely executed depictions of the national costumes of various peoples, which had so aroused the interest of passersby. Basque goatherds, Italian peasant girls, Don Cossacks, Greek klephts, and Turkish pashas hung in the colorful jumble –:

“ Mais de quelle nation ou de quel pays donc ceux-ci ?” asked a young lady at that moment to her companion, pointing to some male and female figures, the former in long, black, green-lined skirts, short, knee-length, puffy, black trousers, white stockings and shoes, and the latter in colorful, strange costumes with a kind of cuirass in front of the breast.

“ They are probably Turks or some other race of men from the Levant ,” the gentleman replied, wiping his eyeglasses to get a closer look at the supposed Turks. I don't know what kind of face the man from Brussels would have made if I had suddenly interrupted him and said, “Excuse me, sir, these people aren't Turks, but rather a kind of compatriot of your good King Leopold,” but in any case, he would have tried to suppress a very incredulous smile.

What? People with this peculiar, strange costume, which one might occasionally see at carnivals and masquerades, men with these long black and long white skirts, with these baggy, short leather trousers, with these tight, close-fitting high boots and this small, round hat on their short-cropped hair, and women and girls with these colorful scarves wound around their foreheads and hair, with this stiff, multicolored bib that covers their chests like armor, with these short, pleated skirts reaching to the knees, with these long, white, finely openwork stockings and shiny black shoes of chamois leather – again – people in this unusual costume were supposed to live in the heart of Germany? – The foreigner, upon hearing this, shakes his head in disbelief and ultimately believes he is being fooled; yet the matter is true, and yet in the heart of Germany, on the banks of the Pleiße, between the borders of the kingdoms of Saxony, Prussia, the Grand Duchy of Weimar, and the Principality of Reuss, there exists a people of perhaps some sixty thousand who not only wear this original dress but also possess equally remarkable and original customs and traditions, which, handed down to them by their ancestors, they have largely preserved amidst a civilization that erases all originality and eliminates all peculiarities, and which they still cultivate and practice to this day.

German tourists and travelers are peculiar people. To see original, national customs and costumes, they flee from the hustle and bustle of the large cities of the flatlands down to Italy, to the Apulian mountains or to the Basque Country, to the valleys of the Pyrenees or even to the Bedouin in the Sahara, while in the heart of Germany, between the 50th and 52nd degrees north latitude, lives a people whose customs and costumes are at least as original as those of any we visit at a great distance—we mean the Altenburg peasantry , this last, unmixed remnant of the ancient Sorbs-Wends.

I was still a young student when I spent a short time among these people, but the images I saw there were so deeply imprinted in my memory that they still appear in vivid, fresh colors before my mind's eye today.

The rough, sharp north wind was already sweeping across the yellow stubble fields of the fertile, undulating plain when we drove into the village where our host was staying. The very first glimpse revealed the complacency and prosperity of these farmers, who, in their white, wide, pleated shirt sleeves, their short, black, leather breeches, the round, black felt hat on their heads, and the clay pipe between their teeth, stood in front of their farmsteads, conversing in their distinctive dialect about their farming activities. There were no old, dilapidated huts with thatched or shingled roofs, no overgrown gardens enclosed by broken fences or rotting walls, no scrawny, impoverished livestock in chaotic disarray in an unclean yard, no unclean, degenerate human figures such as one might occasionally encounter in some rural areas. All the farmsteads on both sides of the village lane were quite stately stone buildings with red tile roofs, each with a neat, tidy garden in which colorful autumn flowers, asters, and dahlias were still in bloom. Fresh, cheerful girls' faces with shining cheeks, a colorful calico or silk scarf wrapped around their foreheads with the ends falling down their necks, looked out of the windows or stood by the fences of the gardens, and below, coming up from the village lane, the cowherds drove brown, shiny, fat cattle, which came from the pasture in the meadows, into the individual cattle yards separated from the actual farm.

“You’ve come at just the right time,” our friend said, extending his hand in welcome, “because tomorrow, on ‘Thirstig’ (Thursday), there’s a big wedding. My neighbor’s youngest son, ‘Malcher’ (Melchior), is marrying ‘schüne Bille’ in [village].” “Schüne Bille” was to be called beautiful Sybille. “We belong to the ‘Freundscht’ (Friendship) and you can go along as a troll guest.”

An Altenburg peasant wedding! Truly, we could thank chance for bringing us here at such a happy hour. The autumn sun had scarcely cast its gentle light the next morning through the round, grapevine-covered windows onto the large-flowered calico curtains of the high four-poster bed in which we slept in the guest room, when rousing music drifted up from the village street, pistol shots shook the air, and rattling carriages drawn by brave, loudly neighing horses rolled up to the village street. As we stepped out of the farmyard gate with our host, there was already a loud, colorful commotion in front of the neighbor's house, whose son was the groom. There, mounted upon tall, powerful, magnificently harnessed, brown and black stallions, from whose heads red, yellow, blue, and orange ribbons fluttered and whose long tails were tied in green leaf garlands and colorful bouquets of flowers, sat stately farmers in the traditional dress already described: long, short-waisted, black skirts lined with green flannel, wide, black leather breeches reaching to the knee, and high, close-fitting boots, with small bouquets of flowers atop their round felt hats. Musicians in green cloth jackets and the same undergarments as the riders stood in front of the farmhouse, blaring merry dances and folk melodies from their trumpets and trombones into the fresh autumn morning air, while colorfully dressed women and girls, whose costumes we will describe in more detail later, sat in the large living room at wide, snow-white scrubbed oak tables, enjoying coffee and cake.

In front of the farmstead's gate, between two large baskets, stood the little maid, distributing mountains of bread and star cakes to the shouting, cheering village youth surrounding her. Meanwhile, more and more wedding guests arrived in ribboned and garlanded wagons, accompanied by merry, boisterous yodeling, driving up the village street—for the bride and groom had a great "friendship"—and the procession finally set off, after even the last to arrive had fortified themselves with cold roast meat and poultry, beer, schnapps, coffee, and cake. At the head of the procession, on a wagon decorated with foliage, colorful silk ribbons, autumn flowers, and flags, sat the musicians, playing cheerful tunes. Then, mounted on horseback, came the master of ceremonies and leader of the whole affair, the wedding usher . From the top of his tall hat, to the back of whose brim two large, green wreaths interwoven with flowers were attached, fluttered silk ribbons of white, red, and green, among which a single black ribbon was mingled; a sign that one of the bride and groom's parents—the groom's mother—had died. In his left hand he held a short, brown staff, while from the breast pocket of his long, fine, black cap, the corner of a neatly folded, multicolored silk handkerchief hung out foppishly.

In earlier times, the position of wedding usher was highly sought after and even more lucrative than it is now. Behind this important figure in our procession, between his two brothers, a bouquet of flowers in his buttonhole and a wreath of rue with a small posy on his hat, rode the happy, rosy-cheeked groom, followed by the other farmers, also on horseback.

The men were followed by those who weave heavenly roses into earthly life: the women and the girls, or rather The Hormt maidens in their radiant, fantastical adornments. "Hormt maidens?" – Who are these enigmatic maidens, what does this strange word mean? Well, the Hormt maidens are simply fresh, blossoming, rosy-cheeked young women who escort the bride to the altar and who take their name from the glittering, sparkling headdress they wear, the "Hormt" – an old Wendish word. This Hormt, which is worn by the peasant girls of Altenburg, but only by the girls, not by the women, at christenings and weddings, is a kind of round box – we might almost say – covered in crimson velvet, to which a multitude of small silver plates with silver buttons are attached, from which hang cherry-leaf-like, gilded plaques. At the back of this strange headdress, two braids woven from the girl's hair and wrapped with colored velvet ribbon, between which sits a wreath of silver thread, rise in an arc, and colored glass corals increase the brilliance of this sparkling and fantastic headdress, which rings and sounds at the slightest movement of the head. A brightly colored silk bodice, with that strange, cardboard-like, overlaid cuirass serving as a bib, a short-sleeved jacket of the same fabric as the bodice, a short, calf-length, brightly patterned, very pleated skirt, beneath which the embroidered garters interwoven with gold thread and the white, openwork stockings peeked out coquettishly, and small, dainty morocco slippers covering a neat, shapely foot, completed the outfit of these girls, which, with the exception of the bodice, is also their usual Sunday dress. For their weekday attire, while the style and cut are the same, is made of less expensive fabrics.

Finally, the rear guard of the procession was formed once again by farmers on their horses harnessed with red, yellow, and green straps. Thus ordered, the caravan set off, roaring through several villages with singing, music, and yodeling, which they had to pass through before reaching the bride's home village.

In every village, the inhabitants came out of their houses, bringing beer, brandy, and cold dishes, with which they hospitably entertained the passing wedding guests. Not so long ago, there were even more elaborate customs and ceremonies. Three or four horsemen would gallop ahead of the procession, halt in the open square of the village the wedding party was due to pass through, rise from their saddles, and ask in a loud, far-reaching voice whether honest people were permitted to enter, conduct their business, refresh themselves with food and drink, and then continue unhindered on their way. This earnest and formal address was met with an equally earnest reply in the traditional manner. The sound of bells, carried on the morning breeze and announcing that a wedding was taking place that day, told us that we were approaching the bride's home village. One more bend in the road, and the red gables of the houses gleamed before our eyes. The musicians caught a fresh breath, their fanfare rang out louder, and amidst roaring cheers and yodeling, the procession of guests on horseback and in carriages stormed into the village. At the bride's house, the parents and relatives stood ready to greet and welcome her, and after a quickly eaten breakfast, they went to the church.

First came the musicians again, playing a merry wedding march, followed by the best man and the bride with her headdress, to her left the sexton with a sprig of rosemary and a brightly colored silk handkerchief, and close behind her the glittering swarm of headdress maidens and the other female wedding guests. In a similar order, also with musicians at the head, came the groom's procession, only this one led by a so-called bridal attendant. After the church ceremony, during which, among other things, the bride and groom exchanged a wedding gift (consisting of a series of old Henkel-Speciesthaler coins tied to a green silk cord), they returned to the wedding house in the same manner.

This poster, according to legend, was executed "under German occupation" but it is dated August 1944, the date of the Liberation of Paris, hence its title.

Pierre Philippe Amédée Grach, known as Phili, (1898-1987) was an illustrator-poster artist.

It was displayed in the halls of the Senate in 2009.

 

* * *

Cette affiche, selon la légende, a été exécutée "sous l'occupation allemande" mais elle est datée d'août 1944, date de la Libération de Paris, d'où son titre.

Pierre Philippe Amédée Grach, dit Phili, (1898-1987) a été un illustrateur-affichiste.

Elle était exposée dans les couloirs du Sénat en 2009.

 

See also :

flic.kr/p/ku9FKD

 

This manuscript was executed in 1475 by a scribe identified as Aristakes, for a priest named Hakob. It contains a series of 16 images on the life of Christ preceding the text of the gospels, as well as the traditional evangelist portraits, and there are marginal illustrations throughout. The style of the miniatures, which employ brilliant colors and emphasize decorative patterns, is characteristic of manuscript production in the region around Lake Van during the 15th century. The style of Lake Van has often been described in relation to schools of Islamic arts of the book. Numerous inscriptions (on fols. 258-60) spanning a few centuries attest to the manuscript's long history of use and revered preservation. The codex's later history included a re-binding with silver covers from Kayseri that date to approximately 1700. This jeweled and enameled silver binding bears a composition of the Adoration of the Magi on the front and the Ascension on the back.

 

To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

 

crafted and executed by the Official Replica, Regalia and Dressmakers of the Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino de Cebu, Mr. Juanito Zafra, Mr. Orlando Abellanosa, and the Asilo dela Medalla Milagrosa.

Dawn raids saw officers in Oldham execute six drugs warrants as part of a crackdown on drug dealing in the district.

 

At around 6.15am this morning (Thursday 2 July 2020), officers from GMP’s Oldham division raided an address on Chamber Road, Coppice, and at five properties in the Glodwick area.

 

The action comes after concerns were raised in the community regarding the dealing of drugs in the area.

 

Neighbourhood Inspector Steve Prescott, of GMP’s Oldham division, said: “We hope that today’s operation demonstrates not only how keen we are to tackle drugs across the district and the Force, but also our endeavours to listen to community concerns and to act upon them.

 

“Today’s action is a significant part of tackling the issues around drugs that we see too often in our societies and the devastating impact they can have on individuals, their families and loved ones as well as the wider community.

 

“This action will have caused a huge amount of disruption for the criminals who seek to infiltrate these substances onto our streets and degrade the quality of life for so many.

 

“Anyone with concerns about the dealing of such drugs in their area should not hesitate to contact police; safe in the knowledge that we are prepared to strike back against those who operate in this destructive and illegal industry.”

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit

www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

 

You can access many of our services online at www.gmp.police.uk

 

Jasper executes a low flyby rattling the beach goers with his mach speeds. Straight out of the camera. My wife was tossing 'em too close to me. Or as she explained to me, I was standing too close to her tosses. Just smile and agree Todd ;-)

New indie film staring Tichina Arnold on the life and death of Lena Baker.

Watch Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXdEb7QSsXQ

Website: www.lenabakerthemovie.com

 

(Lena's bio)

March 5 1945, Lena Baker, an African-American mother of three, was electrocuted at the Georgia State Prison in Reidsyille.

 

She was convicted for the fatal shooting of E. B. Knight, a white Cuthbert, GA mill operator she was hired to care for after he broke his leg. She was 44 and the only woman ever executed in Georgia’s electric chair. For Baker, a Black maid in the segregated south in the 1940’s, her story was a tough sell to a jury of 12 white men. And rumors that she was romantically involved with victim E. B. Knight did not help.

 

Her murder trial lasted just a day, without a single witness called by her court-appointed lawyer. She was convicted and sentenced to death. John Cole Vodicka, director of an Americus-based inmate advocacy program known as the Prison and Jail Project, said Knight had kept Ms. Baker as his "virtual sex slave." She was his paramour, she was his mistress, and, among other things, his drinking partner. If you read the transcript and have any understanding of black-white relations, Black women were often subjected to the sexual whims of their white masters, their white bosses, or some white man who had control over their lives or the lives of their families. "Here is one who resisted and paid the price.”

 

The undertaker who brought her body back to Cuthbert buried her in a grave that went unmarked for five decades, until the congregation of Mount Vernon Baptist Church raised $250 for a concrete slab and marker. The family is planning a memorial service on Mother’s Day, May 11, at Mount Vernon, where Baker sang in the choir. Her grave is behind the church. Relatives are also returning to Cuthbert to honor Baker and try to clear her name with the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole.

 

Lena Baker, who had a sixth-grade education, stated publicly her innocence to the very end. “What I done, I did in self-defense," she said in her final statement. "I have nothing against anyone. I am ready to meet my God.”

   

Iranian Majid Kavousifar bids farewell to his relatives before being hanged in public in central Tehran 02 August 2007. Two men convicted of murdering a top Iranian judge in 2005 were hanged in public in central Tehran, the first such public executions in the Iranian capital in five years. The men were executed for the murder of Hassan Moghaddas, a hardline deputy prosecutor and head of the "guidance" court in Tehran, who was shot dead by two men as he getting into his car in August 2005. AFP PHOTO/BEHROUZ MEHRI

Celebrity fasihion photography

MURALE EXECUTER PAR MON AMI RODOLFO ROJAS ROCHAS DU COSTA RICA - WALL TO EXECUTE BY MY FRIEND RODOLFO ROJAS ROCHAS OF COSTA RICA

HMCS Halifax executes a pass exercise while training with FGS Spessart, HNLMS De Provincien, HNLMS Karel Doorman, HNLMS Van Spejik and BNS Godetia off the coast of the Netherlands in the North Sea during Operation REASSURANCE on 1 February 2021.

 

Please credit: Sailor First Class Bryan Underwood, Canadian Armed Forces photo

 

Le NCSM Halifax exécute un exercice de dépassement au cours d’un entraînement avec le FGS Spessart, le HNLMS De Provincien, le HNLMS Karel Doorman, le HNLMS Van Spejik et le BNS Godetia au large des côtes des Pays Bas, dans la mer du Nord, au cours de l’opération REASSURANCE, le 1er février 2021.

 

Photo : Matelot de 1re classe Bryan Underwood, Forces armées canadiennes

 

The Corvette C3 was patterned after the Mako Shark II designed by Larry Shinoda. Executed under Bill Mitchell's direction, the Mako II had been initiated in early 1964. Once the mid-engined format was abandoned, the Shinoda/Mitchell car was sent to Chevrolet Styling under David Holls, where Harry Haga's studio adapted it for production on the existing Stingray chassis. The resulting lower half of the car was much like the Mako II, except for the softer contours. The concept car's name was later changed to Manta Ray. The C3 also adopted the "sugar scoop" roof treatment with vertical back window from the mid-engined concept models designed by the Duntov group. It was intended from the beginning that the rear window and that portion of the roof above the seats to be removable.

 

For 1968, both the Corvette body and interior were completely redesigned. As before, the car was available in either coupe or convertible models, but coupe was now a notchback fitted with a near-vertical removable rear window and removable roof panels (T-tops). A soft folding top was included with convertibles, while an auxiliary hardtop with a glass rear window was offered at additional cost. Included with coupes were hold down straps and a pair of vinyl bags to store the roof panels, and above the luggage area was a rear window stowage tray.

 

The chassis was carried over from the second generation models, retaining the fully independent suspension (with minor revisions) and the four-wheel disc brake system. The engine line-up and horsepower ratings were also carried over from the previous year.

 

The engine line-up included the L79, a 350 hp (261 kW) high performance version of the 327 cu in (5.4 L) small-block. Also available were several variants of the big-block 427 cu in (7.0 L) V8 engine, that taken together made up nearly half the cars. There was the L36, a 390 hp (291 kW) version with a Rochester 4-barrel carburetor; The L68, a 400 hp (298 kW) motor with a Holley triple 2-barrel carb set up (3 X 2 tri-power); The L71, generating 435 bhp (441 PS; 324 kW) at 5,800 rpm and 460 lb⋅ft (624 N⋅m) at 4,000 rpm of torque also with a tri-power; The L89 option was the L71 engine but with much lighter aluminum cylinder heads rather than the standard cast iron. Then there was the L88 engine that Chevrolet designed strictly for off-road use (racing), with a published rating of 430 hp (321 kW), but featured a high-capacity 4-barrel carb, aluminum heads, a unique air induction system, and an ultra-high compression ratio (12.5:1). All small block cars had low-profile hoods. All big block cars had domed hoods for additional engine clearance with twin simulated vents and “427” emblems on either side of the dome.

This morning (Tuesday 1 February 2022), we executed warrants at six properties in the Chadderton area.

 

A 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape, sexual assault and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.

 

A second 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.

 

A 26-year-old was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.

 

A 27-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.

 

A 28-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.

 

The warrants were executed as part of Operation Gabel - an investigation into the child sexual exploitation of two teenage girls in 2012/2013.

 

Inspector Nick Helme, of GMP's Oldham district, said: "This morning's action at several properties in the Chadderton area was a result of just one of a number of ongoing investigations into historic child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester.

 

"I can assure members of the public and warn offenders that investigating this type of crime is a top priority for the force. Regardless of time passed, dedicated teams in a specialist unit leave no stone unturned whilst gathering evidence to make arrests with the intention of bringing suspects to face justice.

 

"I hope these warrants build public trust and confidence that Greater Manchester Police is committed to fighting, preventing and reducing CSE to keep people safe and care for victims - giving them the faith they need in the force to come forward.

 

Greater Manchester is nationally recognised as a model of good practice in terms of support services available to victims.

If you or someone you know has been raped or sexually assaulted, we encourage you not to suffer in silence and report it to the police, or a support agency so you can get the help and support available.

 

- Saint Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Manchester provides a comprehensive and co-ordinated response to men, women and children who live or have been sexually assaulted within Greater Manchester. We offer forensic medical examinations, practical and emotional support as well as a counselling service for all ages. Services are available on a 24-hour basis and can be accessed by telephoning 0161 276 6515.

 

-Greater Manchester Rape Crisis is a confidential information, support and counselling service run by women for women over 18 who have been raped or sexually abused at any time in their lives. Call us on 0161 273 4500 or email us at help@manchesterrapecrisis.co.uk

 

- Survivors Manchester provides specialist trauma informed support to boys and men in Greater Manchester who have experienced sexual abuse, rape or sexual exploitation. Call 0161 236 2182.

Execute Order 66!

Bridget Bishop (ca. 1632, England – 10 June 1692 Salem, Massachusetts) was the first person executed for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of 1692. I know one of her descendents. Rest well, Bridget.

 

Salem Witch Trial Memorial, Old Burying Point.

 

From Wikipedia:

 

Neptune and Triton is an early sculpture by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

It was executed c. 1622–1623. Carved from marble, it stands 182.2 cm (71.7 in) in height.

 

Originally, the sculpture was commissioned by Cardinal Peretti Montalto, serving as a fountain to decorate the pond in the garden of his Villa Peretti Montalto on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. It was purchased by the Englishman Thomas Jenkins in 1786, from whom it was purchased later that year by the painter Joshua Reynolds. After Reynolds's death in 1792 it was sold to Charles Pelham, who kept it in the garden of his home in Chelsea, London, Walpole House. His descendants moved it in 1906 to their country house, Brocklesby Park, Lincolnshire. It was bought from the family by the Museum in 1950.

 

Bernini’s Neptune and Triton references the mythological characters of Neptune (or Poseidon) and his son Triton, as rulers of the seas. Neptune and Triton are deities that appear relatively briefly in classical literature; however, their positions in the cosmos is deemed important as controllers of the earth and seas. It is a common modern misconception to attribute Neptune to just the seas; however, in Greek myth Neptune is the ruler of earth and all it possesses, just as Zeus is the ruler of the heavens and Hades is the ruler of the Underworld. Triton is actually the character attributed to ruler of (just) the seas.

Neptune and Triton are often depicted in water-like settings, holding tridents and usually driving chariots that have horses shooting out from the water. Bernini’s sculpture gives a slightly different representation of the duo. The story depicted in the sculpture was that Neptune was rescuing the Aenean fleet from the raging seas. Although Bernini changed the interpretation of the myth, he focused more on the body language of Neptune and Triton than the actual story of the myth itself. In the myth, Neptune comes from beneath the seas to split the ships with his trident. Bernini flipped the appearance of the scene and made Neptune point the trident downwards instead and did not even display the ships from the Aenean fleet. This is represented as though Neptune is commanding from above the seas rather than beneath like the ancient myth says.

 

Neptune

 

In Bernini’s sculpture, you see Neptune towering over Triton. He appears to be a man in his prime (early thirties) wearing a beard and wavy locks. Neptune has his legs spread apart and is balancing on a large seashell that carries both Neptune and Triton. Neptune only has a large sheet covering his right shoulder and gliding in between his legs, revealing parts of the male anatomy. The anatomy of the entire body is defined and the twisting of his torso gives him a more trimmed outline of his muscles, allowing the viewer to pay particular attention to his muscles and how they are contracted or relaxed in his state of movement. While standing, Neptune also holds a trident downward in motion that makes it look like he is about to thrust it at someone. “(H)e turns his angry look towards the water, which gushes forth at his feet, imposing his command by thrusting down with his trident.”[4] His arms are tense, forcefully gripping it to dictate his divine power. There is an implication of wind in the long sheet and Neptune’s hair drift backwards, giving the illusion of a natural reality.

 

Triton

 

Triton, Neptune’s son, is positioned below Neptune’s legs, thrusting himself forward to blow the conch shell. He is noticeably younger, maybe a teen-aged boy that has defined muscles as well. He has some definition in his anatomy to make him look like someone of importance; however Bernini reflected the realism into the young man’s appearance naturally so that he is not idealized, but rather a real person bursting forth out of the water. He blows his shell as a horn to declare that the king of the earth and oceans is approaching, again re-iterating the myth’s aspect of Neptune’s power and history. Triton grasps Neptune’s leg and ducks his left shoulder between the thighs of Neptune.

   

The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A), is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects.

 

Named after Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, it was founded in 1852, and has since grown to cover 12.5 acres (51,000 m2) and 145 galleries. Its collection spans 5,000 years of art, from ancient times to the present day, in virtually every medium, from the cultures of Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

 

The holdings of ceramics, glass, textiles, costumes, silver, ironwork, jewellery, furniture, medieval objects, sculpture, prints and printmaking, drawings and photographs are among the largest, important and most comprehensive in the world. The museum possesses the world's largest collection of post-classical sculpture, the holdings of Italian Renaissance items are the largest outside Italy. The departments of Asia include art from South Asia, China, Japan, Korea and the Islamic world. The East Asian collections are among the best in Europe, with particular strengths in ceramics and metalwork, while the Islamic collection, alongside the British Museum, Musée du Louvre and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, is amongst the largest in the Western world.

 

Set in the Brompton district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, neighbouring institutions include the Natural History Museum and Science Museum.

    

Studiolo from the Ducal Palace in Gubbio

 

•Designer: Designed by Francesco di Giorgio Martini (Italian, Siena 1439-1501 Siena)

•Maker: Executed under the supervision of Francesco di Giorgio Martini (Italian, Siena 1439-1501 Siena)

•Maker: Executed in the workshop of Giuliano da Maiano (Italian, Maiano 1432-1490 Naples)

•Maker: and Benedetto da Maiano (Italian, Maiano 1442-1497 Florence)

•Date: ca. 1478-1782

•Culture: Italian, Gubbio

•Medium: Walnut, beech, rosewood, oak and fruitwoods in walnut base

•Dimensions:

oHeight: 15 ft. 10 15/16 in. (485 cm)

oWidth: 16 ft. 11 15/16 in. (518 cm)

oDepth: 12 ft. 7 3/16 in. (384 cm)

•Classification: Woodwork

•Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1939

•Accession Number: 39.153

 

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 501.

 

This detail is from a study, (or studiolo), intended for meditation and study. Its walls are carried out in a wood-inlay technique known as intarsia. The latticework doors of the cabinets, shown open or partly closed, indicate the contemporary interest in linear perspective. The cabinets display objects reflecting Duke Federico’s wide-ranging artistic and scientific interests, and the depictions of books recall his extensive library. Emblems of the Montefeltro are also represented. This room may have been designed by Francesco di Giorgio (1439-1502) and was executed by Giuliano da Majano (1432-1490). A similar room, in situ, was made for the duke’s palace at Urbino.

 

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

 

•Inscription:

oLatin inscription in elegiac couplets in frieze: ASPICIS AETERNOS VENERANDAE MATRIS ALUMNOS // DOCTRINA EXCELSOS INGENIOQUE VIROS // UT NUDA CERVICE CADANT ANTE //.. // .. GENU // IUSTITIAM PIETAS VINCIT REVERENDA NEC ULLUM // POENITET ALTRICI SUCCUBUISSE SUAE.

oTranslation: (“You see the eternal nurselings of the venerable mother // Men pre-eminent in learning and genius, // How they fall with bared neck before // …… // ………………………………………………knee. // Honored loyalty prevails over justice, and no one // Repents having yielded to his foster mother.”)

 

Provenance

 

Duke Federico da Montefeltr, Palazzo Ducale, Gubbio, Italy (ca. 1479-1482); Prince Filippo Massimo Lancellotti, Frascati (from 1874); Lancelotti family, Frascati (until 1937; sold to Adolph Loewi, Venice); [Adolph Loewi, Venice (1937-1939; sold to MMA)]

 

Timeline of Art History

 

•Essays

oCollecting for the Kunstkammer

oDomestic Art in Renaissance Italy

oRenaissance Organs

•Timelines

oFlorence and Central Italy, 1400-1600 A.D.

 

MetPublications

 

oVermeer and the Delft School

oPeriod Rooms in The Metropolitan Museum of Art

oPainting Words, Sculpting Language: Creative Writing Activities at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

oOne Met. Many Worlds.

oMusical Instruments: Highlights of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 4, The Renaissance in Italy and Spain

oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Spanish)

oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Russian)

oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Portuguese)

oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Korean)

oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Japanese)

oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Italian)

oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (German)

oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (French)

oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Chinese)

oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Arabic)

oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide

oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide

oMasterpieces of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

oMasterpieces of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

o“The Liberal Arts Studiolo from the Ducal Palace at Gubbio”: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 53, no. 4 (Spring, 1996)

oGuide to The Metropolitan Museum of Art

oThe Gubbio Studiolo and Its Conservation. Vol. 2, Italian Renaissance Intarsia and the Conservation of the Gubbio Studiolo

oThe Gubbio Studiolo and Its Conservation. Vol. 1, Federico da Montefeltro’s Palace at Gubbio and Its Studiolo

o“Carpaccio’s Young Knight in a Landscape: Christian Champion and Guardian of Liberty”: Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 18 (1983)

oThe Artist Project: What Artists See When They Look At Art

oThe Artist Project

oThe Art of Renaissance Europe: A Resource for Educators

oThe Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

oArt and Love in Renaissance Italy

San Francisco noir.

 

I had a lingering suspicion this establishment might be an especially well executed example of faux-stalgia, but my first instincts were spot on. This is the real thing.

 

Tad's is a piece of living history, with its banner of once-great cities that have disappeared into the rust belt. This was the America of businessmen in hats, women in well tailored suits, trains, cigarettes and booze. You see it in black-and-white in newsreels and old TV shows.

 

Here's a description of the Tad's experience in NYC:

 

We tend to think of eating steaks in New York as a wildly expensive pursuit. Spend an hour or two barely chewing in Peter Luger, Keen's, or the Old Homestead and, all in, you're likely to drop a C-note or more on a porterhouse, filet mignon, or New York strip. Even in bistros, the steaks are invariably at the upper reaches of the menu's price range. But it wasn't always that way.

 

From the city's earliest days, the beefsteak was a menu option that didn't have to cost an arm and a leg, and even the lowliest lunch counter or chophouse offered it. This was not the well-marbled prime beef we covet today — if any aging was done it happened accidentally in the ice box or refrigerator. And instead of the funky, dry-aged flavor we currently crave, the taste was all blood and minerals, the fat was more like gristle, and, thin as it was, the steak required a bit of sawing to dismantle.

 

No matter, working-class plebes and low-end business travelers loved these steaks, and an entire restaurant category stood ready to serve them at budget prices. Twenty-five years ago the Tad's Steaks chain was a primary proponent of this sort of rough-and-tumble steak consumption, and bestrode the city's dining scene like a colossus. There were dolled-up branches at Union Square right near the Palladium, on 34th Street wedged between Macy's and Penn Station, and there were two bookending Times Square right in the thick of things, one on 42nd Street and the other at Seventh Avenue and 50th Street. At one time there were eight in the city, plus a kiosk at the 1964 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, for a grand total of 28 spread across the country.

 

According to a 2000 New York Times obituary of its originator, Donald Townsend, who died at the age of 91, the chain was founded here in 1957, named after Townsend's partner Alan Tadeus Kay, who expired soon thereafter. The two, along with Townsend's brother Neal, maintained an office above the original Times Square location on 42nd Street, and debuted branches in San Francisco, Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Detroit. The San Francisco one is still open. Via the chain, Townsend tried to glamorize the working-class steak. He outfitted his restaurants with fake Tiffany lamps and flocked red wallpaper embossed with an ornate "T" logo. The grilling over gas flame was done in the front window as the customers waited in line, gawking at what the founder waggishly referred to as a "steak show." The original price of the cheapest steak dinner was $1.09.

 

Now, sadly, only one of the branches still exists in the city, the Seventh Avenue Times Square restaurant, founded in 1960. As a minor minion of the Riese Restaurants empire, which also owns KFC, TGI Fridays, Tim Hortons, and Nathan's franchises, the place barely limps along. Soon, this last example of New York's budget steak industry is likely to be kaput. I went for one last time to experience this bit of New York restaurant history — and then went twice more in quick succession.

 

Gone was the flocked wallpaper, but the interior was still relentlessly red, and plastic Tiffany lampshades still hung over the tables. In front, a guy in a red baseball cap and blood-smudged white apron cooked steaks to order with admirable swagger, pulling the meat from a series of refrigerated metal meat drawers with a long-handled fork. "How do you want your steak?" he asks, and then gets pretty close to the desired doneness. Do you dare eat a steak like this rare?

 

Advertised in the front window is the special steak dinner that was once $1.09, now priced at $8.69. That buys you a "cowboy steak" (a gnarly little sirloin), a baked potato or mashed potatoes, tossed salad with your choice of eight bottled dressings, and — perhaps best of all — a giant slice of "Texas toast," half of a demi-baguette that's been split longitudinally, griddle-toasted, and brushed with garlic-scented fat of uncertain provenance. He pokes and prods your steak on the flame-shooting grill as it cooks, flipping it deftly, while watching perhaps a dozen other people's steaks at the same time. Finally, the chef assembles your meal on a red tray, and sluices everything with meat juices from a metal tub. He asks if you want sautéed onions, but be forewarned they cost an additional 75 cents. Upselling might have been invented here.

 

When you've pushed your tray past the desserts, plastic-wrapped glasses of red and white wine, and stemware filled with Jell-O, you reach the pay station where the salad is given out. The clerk will ask you if you want tomatoes on your salad without telling you they cost 95 additional cents. When I reached my table, I had to do a lot of sawing to cut off pieces of my cowboy steak, but the flavor was smoky and rich, with the fatty parts much easier to chew.

 

When I lived in the East Village and went to Tad's near Union Square on my way to see The Clash at the Palladium, there was a choice of a half-dozen steaks, with a rotisserie chicken as the only non-beef entrée. Nowadays, Tad's has suffered a certain menu sprawl, such that things like salmon filet, chicken Caesar, fried shrimp, barbecued ribs, and steak salad are also offered; needless to say, you should skip all of these. The steak list has ballooned to approximately 12 choices, twice the original number, so you can pay $19.99 for prime rib or $24.99 for a special ribeye, both including the full monte. The prime rib is actually relatively tender and worth eating if you want a surfeit of meat, the ribeye is penuriously thin and only about 30% of it is tender enough to chew. The half chicken is delicious, and a good deal at $11.29, while even better are the pair of pork chops ($12.59), though you'll try in vain to get the meat wrangler to cook them less than well-done.

 

But really, you go to Tad's Steaks for the whole experience, not for the meat. Though the steaks are edible, and even somewhat savorable, it's the smell of meat smoke in your nostrils, the excitement a child feels when eating in a restaurant for the first time, the decadent thrill of the garishly over-decorated dining room, and the thought that you're eating like your grandfather might have done that might bring you back. You're the extra in a Broadway steak show, and the appeal of that grease-sodden Texas toast is undeniable.

 

ny.eater.com/2014/7/9/6190829/farewell-to-tads-manhattans...

Unused.

 

Munich, 3rd May 1919, metal-worker Johann Lehner is photographed with Württemberg troops of the Freikorps. Suspected of being a Communist leader he was summarily executed shortly afterwards.

 

Background courtesy of Wiki:

 

The Munich Soviet Republic (Münchner Räterepublik) was, as part of the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the short-lived attempt to establish a socialist state in the form of a democratic workers' council republic in the Free State of Bavaria. It sought independence from the also recently proclaimed Weimar Republic.

 

On the afternoon of 7 November 1918, the first anniversary of the Russian revolution, Kurt Eisner of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) addressed a crowd, estimated to have been about 60,000, on the Theresienwiese (current site of the Oktoberfest). He demanded an immediate peace, an 8 hour day, relief for the unemployed, abdication of the Bavarian king, King Ludwig III, and Emperor Wilhelm II, and proposed the formation of workers' and soldiers' councils. The crowd marched to the army barracks and won over most of the soldiers to the side of the revolution. That night, the King went into exile. The next day, Eisner declared Bavaria a "free state" – a declaration which overthrew the monarchy of the Wittelsbach dynasty which had ruled for over 700 years, and Eisner became Minister-President of Bavaria. Though he advocated a "socialist republic", he distanced himself from the Russian Bolsheviks, declaring that his government would protect property rights. For a few days, the Munich economist Lujo Brentano served as People's Commissar for Trade (Volkskommissar für Handel).

 

After Eisner's USPD had lost the elections, he decided to resign from his office. On 21 February 1919, as he was on his way to parliament to announce his resignation, he was shot by the right-wing nationalist Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley, who was rejected from membership in the Thule Society because of Jewish ancestry on his mother's side. This assassination caused unrest and lawlessness in Bavaria, and the news of a soviet revolution in Hungary encouraged communists and anarchists to seize power.

 

On 6 April 1919, a Soviet Republic was formally proclaimed. Initially, it was ruled by USPD members such as Ernst Toller, and anarchists like Gustav Landauer, Silvio Gesell and Erich Mühsam. Toller, a playwright, described the revolution as the "Bavarian Revolution of Love", but he was not a very effective politician, and his government did little to restore order in Munich.

 

His government members were also not always well-chosen. For instance, the Foreign Affairs Deputy Dr. Franz Lipp (who had been admitted several times to psychiatric hospitals), declared war on Switzerland over the Swiss refusal to lend 60 locomotives to the Soviet Republic. He also claimed to be well acquainted with Pope Benedict XV. He informed Vladimir Lenin via cable that the ousted former Minister-President Hoffmann had fled to Bamberg and taken the key to the ministry toilet with him.

 

On Palm Sunday, April 12, 1919, the Communist Party seized power, with Eugen Leviné as their leader. Leviné began to enact communist reforms, which included forming a "Red Army", seizing cash and food supplies, expropriating luxurious apartments and giving them to the homeless and placing factories under the ownership and control of their workers. Leviné also had plans to abolish paper money and reform the education system, but never had time to implement them.

 

At the suggestion of Vladimir Lenin, Leviné took hostages from among the elite. When his troops refused to execute the hostages, Russian soldiers were sent to do it. On 30 April 1919, eight men, including the well-connected Prince Gustav of Thurn and Taxis, were accused as right-wing spies and executed. The Thule Society's secretary, Countess Hella von Westarp, was also murdered.

 

Soon after, on 3 May 1919, remaining loyal elements of the German army (called the "White Guards of Capitalism" by the communists), with a force of 9,000, and Freikorps (such as the Freikorps Epp and the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt) with a force of about 30,000 men, entered Munich and defeated the communists after bitter street fighting in which over 1,000 supporters of the government were killed. About 700 men and women were arrested and summarily executed by the victorious Freikorps troops. Leviné was condemned to death for treason, and was shot by a firing squad in Stadelheim Prison.