I simply sit.
School history discourages this sort of thing. They would have us believe that everyone in the past was just like them- trendy leftists. Every women was a feminist and every intellectual was secretly reading the guardian on the side. All of Shakespeare's plays were feminism in code and so on.
Students are discouraged from visiting source materials these days. Everything is processed with all context removed. This is a crime against young minds but we can undo the damage as adults. To do this we must read original documents and visit the places that were important to the people.
The first photograph is the Royal Exchange, a nearby classically styled building included for contrast. Most of the others are of All Hallows itself.
Due to having half an hour to spare this morning I dropped in to what is rumoured to be the oldest of all City Churches (675AD). All Hallows by the Tower. The tower in question is the Tower of London.
All Hallows was run for a while by a gentleman who was something of a Men's Rights Advocate- 'Tubby' Clayton who's home I also photographed. 'Tubby' created something called 'TocH' which was a charity set up for men who had been scared in the First World War. TocH would simply create a means by which men could come together and share the experience at their own pace. It was marked by a respect towards men and their own unique way of healing that is now absent from our culture.
A copper tower against a leaden sky.
The church does not look like much from the outside and is (like all City churches) a hodge-podge of different ages.
The first thing that strikes the visitor is a stark simplicity in contrast to the usual rich City ornamentation. You may see the various City crests in the windows but this is all.
The church was well used with various alcoves for prayer and listening services but I did not wish to intrude with my camera. The listening service is a hangover from the days of Toc H but I have no need of such things when I have a blog.
Below the church is a crypt containing Roman artifacts found beneath the existing church. Christianity grew by colonizing the spaces and symbols of other religions and the Romans used the same methods. Very often we find a Christian church on a Roman temple that may have been built on a pre Roman site. In these cases some form of religion may have been practiced on the same spot seven thousand years ago. This is an appealing and romantic notion and it is important not to get too carried away with it.
Spaces such as this were built and maintained through a system of corporate sponsorship coming mainly from the Livery Companies. This is why we see such a profusion of crests and medieval symbols. Think of them as the corporate logo plastered over sporting events except that medieval society thought more long term than we do now.
Finally we see evidence that men were once understood and respected in Toc H far more than they are now. Men rib and tease one another and a shell shocked Tommy would be put at ease by a postcard such as this.
If anyone were to do the same thing today they would probably be sued.
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