is taking place very soon! This year’s ceremony will be
On Monday 19 June 2023, at 10:40 am
To be exact…
A Tradition Dating Back To Medieval Times
The City of London is a wonderful mix of new and old, the latest high tech financial wizardry cheek by jowl with some of the oldest, and strangest, traditions in the country. One of these traditions, dating from 14th Century, will take place this week and it is one of the oddest.
It will start with a ceremony at All Hallows by the Tower, the City’s oldest church that dates back to the 7th century.
Then a single rose from the garden at Seething Lane would be selected, cut and pinned to a velvet cushion. A very formal procession would ceremonially carry this rose to the Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor, where it would be handed over as payment of a fine, levied as punishment over an ancient planning dispute.
This fine has been paid annually (with a bit of a break) since 1381.
You may think that a single rose per year is a modest punishment and to understand why we need to go back to the politics of power and wealth in 14th Century London.
Sir Robert Knollys
notice
Sir Robert Knollys was a powerful and respected man in the City. He had recently been instrumental in assisting the king, Richard II, in putting down the Peasant’s Revolt led by Wat Tyler.
He was also very wealthy, and was often busy making himself even wealthier by accompanying John of Gaunt on his successful and financially lucrative raids on France.
Oh, and if like me you wonder:
‘’Why on Earth Does This Man Have The Head of a Ram?!’’
After further inquiry it appears that it is not actually his head but ABOVE his head, and part of his coat of arm, as mentioned by Thomas Hawley in his “visitation of the churches of London” in 1530:
Hawley described the marble and alabaster tomb in which Sir Robert Knollys and his wife were buried, in Whitefriars Church in London:
“Whereas lies buried Sir Robert Knolles with right honour in the body of the church, where he bears upon his surcoat his arms: this is to say, gules on a chevron silver three roses on the field. And upon his helm on a wreath gules and silver, a ram’s head cup, on the last. And beside him lies his wife, both lying pictured in alabaster on a tomb of marble right honourable. The said Knolles was the vigorous man of war in France.”
Lady Constance Knollys
Robert Knollys had a house on Seething Lane and whilst he was away in France, his wife, Constance, became increasingly annoyed at the chaff dust blowing from the threshing ground opposite (Seething is an old word for threshing).
So she purchased the ground, and had it turned into a rose garden. So far so good.
However, the trouble started because the garden was over a muddy road from her house, and she did not like to walk across it.
So she had a footbridge built across it, from her house to her new garden.
But she did so without getting the permission of the City’s authorities…
Oh, They’re Gonna be Fined…
The mayor at the time, Sir William Walworth, needed to show that bridges could not be built without permission, but he was reluctant to punish such a prominent and powerful citizen.
Hence, Sir Robert was found guilty of the offence, but the fine was set at a “peppercorn’ of one red rose per year, to be paid each year on the Feast of St John the Baptist.
By paying this the Knollys were granted the right “to make an ‘hautpas’ of the height of 14 feet”.
The bridge has long disappeared but the garden remains as Seething Lane Garden today, managed by the City.
The fine is still being paid.
The Ceremony Nowadays
The ceremony lapsed, but was revived by the immensly active vicar of All Hallows, Tubby Clayton, in the 1920s, and has continued to this day.
It is now run by the Company of Waterman and Lightermen (because the Port of London used to own the garden) and the procession is led by their master.
A single red rose is snipped from the garden outside the East wall of the church of All Hallows by the Tower (not from Seething Lane garden anymore), placed on an altar cushion from the Church, and carried in procession to Mansion House, where it is presented to the Lord Mayor of London.
Anyone can watch the rose cutting and procession, but you will not be able to enter Mansion House, though.
You can find more information about the ceremony here.
Mark
