Thank you so much for this fascinating history. Back in the 1980s, I worked in Finsbury Square and spent many lunch hours exploring the surrounding area, including Bunhill Fields, the Royal Artillery (especially on ceremonial days) and Wesley’s Chapel. Also Whitecross Street Market. I had never heard about this explosion or it’s the part it played in more recent history.
I had always been told Bunhill was a derivation of Bone Hill because of the burial ground (much like bonfire / bone fire). I guess thats not true if the area was more widely called that, and the burial ground called Tindals!
I think the bone-hill derivation is correct. As I recall, it wasn't from the religious dissenters' burial ground that we today call Bunhill Fields, but an earlier interment, when lots of old bones from St Paul's were reburied in the area. The name is also recalled in Bonhill Street, which passes close to the Foundry site.
yes, that was confirmed to me when I had a guided tour at Bunhill fields on their open day last summer. I was Shocked!! to learn that the churchyard at St Paul's was full so they dug up the old bones and dumped them in the country (imo they were used as fertiliser).
I'm reminded that the London Proof House as the headquarters of the Gunsmiths guild is perhaps the only guild HQ sited outside the City for simple reasons of safety. I believe they had had one or two disasters similar to the Foundery.
Thank you. Yes... that's a place that's long been on my "I must invite myself round" list. I haven't looked into their history in any detail... but now you've intrigued me.
I think there's one other livery company outside the City. The Master Mariners were until recently on the floating livery hall HQS Wellington, which is *just* outside the City boundary. They've now decamped to Greenwich, but are looking to move onto another floating livery hall soon, I think.
Thanks, Matt. I always find your articles interesting and informative. I was, BTW, at Bunhill fields this summer, just after attending the march asking the Church to rewild its properties. At Bunhill fields they have already rewilded a lot of the graveyard, by letting wildflowers grow between the gravestones. This has 2 benefits, the well-known one of being in nature is beneficial and the second , of saving money on lawnmowers. To my eyes, the swathes of wildflowers looked very attractive. When I was a girl we had goats in the graveyard of our church, the hexagonal one designed by Telford, and they kept the grass down.
Thank you! That's great to hear. I'm also a big fan of letting nature take its course. A year ago, our local council withheld its mowers into early summer, with large areas of park and verge turning into wildflower paradise. Of course, an army of locals took to Facebook to moan about the scruffy verges and the 'miserly' council, but I think it looks much better (and healthier) to have the flowers and insects and birds than to trim everything back.
Nice work, Matt. The accompanying maps are clear as is the Google street view. I worked as a Parcelforce driver around here in the 90s and discovered the grave of William Blake, for myself i hasten to add, although there is now a rather fine inscription, beautifully cut in slate I think and reading:
Thanks John. Yes, Blake now has two graves. The first is the traditional headstone, and a newer one, unveiled about five years ago, marks the actual, rediscovered site of his grave. I think it's also very Blakean to have two graves.
Once you explained to me about the origins of Arsenal, the name started making sense. Most of the chief British football teams have their geographic location in their name, but I never heard of a British town named Arsenal....
I'd never thought of it that way... now I'm trying to think of other teams that don't namecheck their area (although there are a few with the wrong area, such as Millwall, Grimsby Town, and Wimbledon when they first moved to MK).
Technically, there is an area of Woolwich called Royal Arsenal, so it is in a place name (and the local station is Woolwich Arsenal)... though now a long way from Arsenal FC's home turf.
Bonus fact: My wife used to live a few hundred metres from Highbury (as was). I remember watching Arsenal's home games on her TV, and you could hear goals being scored on the television ahead of the sound outside the window, because the speed of transmission was faster than the speed of sound.
Matt, this is fascinating! I look forward to each of your posts and always learn something new. Thank you for sharing your research and witty style with us. I have a question about the unusual crossroads between grammar and theology that leapt from your post this time. It may have been a typo, or it may have been deliberate -- but I want to ask: was your referring to God in the lowercase intentionally provocative? In the West historically, as you know, monotheism is the tradition -- and certainly Wesley believed in one God before all others. The lowercase "god" seems like an ahistorical choice -- was it therefore a theological one and intentionally part of our culture's movement away from Judeo-Christian culture? Thank you again for sharing your erudition!
Water in the mold happened in Ebbw Vale in the 1960’s almost killing my cousin and friends dad. Several people died. One was saved by being pushed off a high platform breaking both his legs, his mate who pushed him did not survive.
Just, wow! A masterly piece of historical exposition, delivered with page turning flourishes!👏🏼👊🏻🙌🏼👍🏼
Thank you!
Thank you so much for this fascinating history. Back in the 1980s, I worked in Finsbury Square and spent many lunch hours exploring the surrounding area, including Bunhill Fields, the Royal Artillery (especially on ceremonial days) and Wesley’s Chapel. Also Whitecross Street Market. I had never heard about this explosion or it’s the part it played in more recent history.
Thanks Grace. It is a fascinating area for so many reasons. The Royal Artillery place was the site of the very first human flight in England, for example, when Vincenzo Lunardi took off in a hot air balloon in the 1784. And, of course, there's the Christmas cracker history: https://londonist.com/london/christmas-in-london/how-finsbury-square-gave-the-world-christmas-crackers
Fascinating, as always. Thank you!
I had always been told Bunhill was a derivation of Bone Hill because of the burial ground (much like bonfire / bone fire). I guess thats not true if the area was more widely called that, and the burial ground called Tindals!
I think the bone-hill derivation is correct. As I recall, it wasn't from the religious dissenters' burial ground that we today call Bunhill Fields, but an earlier interment, when lots of old bones from St Paul's were reburied in the area. The name is also recalled in Bonhill Street, which passes close to the Foundry site.
yes, that was confirmed to me when I had a guided tour at Bunhill fields on their open day last summer. I was Shocked!! to learn that the churchyard at St Paul's was full so they dug up the old bones and dumped them in the country (imo they were used as fertiliser).
Thanks Matt, I was half right! 🙂
Excellent article! I fully agree with your conclusion: a really interesting story that deserves more than a small plaque in a scruffy street.
I'm reminded that the London Proof House as the headquarters of the Gunsmiths guild is perhaps the only guild HQ sited outside the City for simple reasons of safety. I believe they had had one or two disasters similar to the Foundery.
Thank you. Yes... that's a place that's long been on my "I must invite myself round" list. I haven't looked into their history in any detail... but now you've intrigued me.
I think there's one other livery company outside the City. The Master Mariners were until recently on the floating livery hall HQS Wellington, which is *just* outside the City boundary. They've now decamped to Greenwich, but are looking to move onto another floating livery hall soon, I think.
Great article, thank you. I don’t think I’ve been to that spot so one for an upcoming weekend.
Thanks, Matt. I always find your articles interesting and informative. I was, BTW, at Bunhill fields this summer, just after attending the march asking the Church to rewild its properties. At Bunhill fields they have already rewilded a lot of the graveyard, by letting wildflowers grow between the gravestones. This has 2 benefits, the well-known one of being in nature is beneficial and the second , of saving money on lawnmowers. To my eyes, the swathes of wildflowers looked very attractive. When I was a girl we had goats in the graveyard of our church, the hexagonal one designed by Telford, and they kept the grass down.
Thank you! That's great to hear. I'm also a big fan of letting nature take its course. A year ago, our local council withheld its mowers into early summer, with large areas of park and verge turning into wildflower paradise. Of course, an army of locals took to Facebook to moan about the scruffy verges and the 'miserly' council, but I think it looks much better (and healthier) to have the flowers and insects and birds than to trim everything back.
Nice work, Matt. The accompanying maps are clear as is the Google street view. I worked as a Parcelforce driver around here in the 90s and discovered the grave of William Blake, for myself i hasten to add, although there is now a rather fine inscription, beautifully cut in slate I think and reading:
'I give you the end of a golden thread/
Only roll it into a ball/
It will lead you in to Heaven's Gate/
Set in Jerusalem's wall'
How Blakean!
Thanks John. Yes, Blake now has two graves. The first is the traditional headstone, and a newer one, unveiled about five years ago, marks the actual, rediscovered site of his grave. I think it's also very Blakean to have two graves.
Once you explained to me about the origins of Arsenal, the name started making sense. Most of the chief British football teams have their geographic location in their name, but I never heard of a British town named Arsenal....
I'd never thought of it that way... now I'm trying to think of other teams that don't namecheck their area (although there are a few with the wrong area, such as Millwall, Grimsby Town, and Wimbledon when they first moved to MK).
Technically, there is an area of Woolwich called Royal Arsenal, so it is in a place name (and the local station is Woolwich Arsenal)... though now a long way from Arsenal FC's home turf.
Bonus fact: My wife used to live a few hundred metres from Highbury (as was). I remember watching Arsenal's home games on her TV, and you could hear goals being scored on the television ahead of the sound outside the window, because the speed of transmission was faster than the speed of sound.
Matt, this is fascinating! I look forward to each of your posts and always learn something new. Thank you for sharing your research and witty style with us. I have a question about the unusual crossroads between grammar and theology that leapt from your post this time. It may have been a typo, or it may have been deliberate -- but I want to ask: was your referring to God in the lowercase intentionally provocative? In the West historically, as you know, monotheism is the tradition -- and certainly Wesley believed in one God before all others. The lowercase "god" seems like an ahistorical choice -- was it therefore a theological one and intentionally part of our culture's movement away from Judeo-Christian culture? Thank you again for sharing your erudition!
Thank you so much, Kate. It’s lovely to hear such feedback. As for god/God, that’s a typo, and I’d normally use a capital letter.
Water in the mold happened in Ebbw Vale in the 1960’s almost killing my cousin and friends dad. Several people died. One was saved by being pushed off a high platform breaking both his legs, his mate who pushed him did not survive.
Wow, amazing to think that this was still happening into the 1960s by when the dangers should have been well known.