Page 56 - All About History - Issue 59-17

dangers

on the ice

Hazel Forsyth from the Museum
of London warns that walking on
the frozen river came with risks

How did the Thames freezing affect London?
The rarity of the event caused people to enjoy it but the
reality was rather different for the economy. A large amount
of London’s goods were transported via the river, either
through coastal trade or small vessels carrying cargo to and
from ocean-going ships.
The ease of transporting heavy or perishable goods was
very profound and affected everyone. Unless people had
stockpiled in anticipation, they were probably suffering
severe hardship. The City made attempts to stockpile fuel
in various warehousing across London but those supplies
dwindled from time to time. Of course, whenever you have
a shortage of anything, prices go up, so those who were less
able to afford things would have been more impoverished.
Communication would also have been very difficult.
The Old London Bridge contributed
What did the frozen river look like? to the Thames freezing over
The paintings in our collection suggest it looked almost like
an Arctic landscape with vast, sort of jagged piles of ice. “frOsT fairs wErE as mucH LikE an
People have tended to say ‘this is just a load of nonsense,
but it can’t possibly have been like that’. But actually if you iLLEgaL ravE Or a circus as THEy
look at the way pack ice forms, I think it’s very accurate.
How much of the River Thames froze? wErE a cHrisTmas markET”
To be honest, we don’t know as there isn’t detailed enough Known as the Blanket Fair, it lasted from across the icy river in the dead of night. The Bard
information. It’s fair to say it froze between the City of
London and Westminster — beyond that, it’s very difficult to December 1683 to February 1684. A double row of wrote Much Ado About Nothing the same year,
know. The likelihood is that the river was fairly solid in both booths stretched from Temple Stairs to the South so you can imagine the actor playing Don Pedro
directions but there may have been gaps and so much would Bank. Oxen and “Lapland mutton” spit roasts drew declaring, “Good morrow, Bendeick. Why, what’s
have depended on local conditions. If it was fairly windy, crowds and stalls sold spiced buns, hot pudding the matter, / That you have such a February face,
ice could break up and then harden again downstream. The pies and gingerbread, while costermongers / So full of frost, of storms and cloudiness?” to a
fact that the Thames froze didn’t mean it was all solid and wandered around selling fruits and nuts. In the fair-goers who knew just how cold that look must
possible to stand on — only patches were strong enough. makeshift taverns you could get warming luxuries have been. But although the Thames was “nigh
like coffee and hot chocolate, but customers would frozen over” the night they moved to the Globe,
Did many people fall through the ice? be welcomed with the greeting “What lack ye, sir? they went be boat — the ice was too thin to stand
Every time [the river froze], people stepped onto the ice Beer, ale or brandy?” on. There’s sadly no account of Shakespeare or
thinking it was stronger than it really was and suffered as a
consequence. There were lots of broken bones, dunkings Hawkers sold souvenirs from simple trinkets his players capitalising on the frost fairs. However,
and fatalities. and children’s toys to golden jewellery. Some others certainly did.
One of the most famous deaths was recorded in John forward-thinking businessmen also used the fair As one souvenir handbill from 1684 read:
Gay’s poem Trivia. It’s about the fate of a fruit vender who as a publicity stunt. Barbers demonstrated that “Behold the wonder of this present age / A frozen
apparently staggered under the weight of her great basket even on ice their razors would not slip and a river now becomes a stage.” While food and
of hot apples and disappeared below the ice. He said, “Her printer set up their press in the open air. drink were popular attractions, frost fairs were as
head, chopt off, from her lost shoulders flies”. Then there’s The press proved particularly successful, selling much like an illegal rave or a circus as they were
this rather dramatic account of “And pip-pip-pip– along the poems that customers could also have their names a Christmas market. Music blared, entertainers
ice resounds” as her hot pippins bobbed against the ice.
printed on. The diarist John Evelyn noted with recited bawdy verse and puppet shows were held.
Did any fair booths get caught unawares? astonishment “’twas estimated the printer gained A “human salamander” seemingly ate glowing
There was a booth set up by Mister Laurence of Queenhithe, about £5 a day for printing a line onely [sic] at hot coals, sword-swallowers amazed audiences,
near Brooke Wharf, at the 1814 fair. I guess he thought two sixpence a name, besides what he got by ballads.” an astrologer calling himself ‘Icedore Frostiface
men could guard it overnight, leaving them with some gin Meanwhile, the watermen barely managed to of Freeseland’ read fortunes, and figures on stilts
and some other bits and pieces to keep them going. In the scrape by while fending off the Water Bailiff, who wandered among the crowds.
morning there were reportedly nine people inside [the tent], was trying to tax their little booths. A menagerie of exotic animals was also on
then the ice started to break apart and move downstream. display, ranging from a dog that could do tricks, to
They escaped by climbing onto the piers at Blackfriars Bridge ’Tis DOnE wiTH a cage full of monkeys, to “a booth with a phenix
and a couple of adjacent barges. They were very fortunate. grEaT DELigHT [sic] on it.” One such exhibitor in 1684 was James
In 1599, William Shakespeare’s theatre company William Chipperfield, whose family developed the
The Museum of London is hosting a Thames frost fair dismantled their old playhouse in Shoreditch and Chipperfield Circus into an elaborate show that
storytelling event on 30-31 December and the Museum transported the wooden frame over the Thames, endured until the 1950s.
of London Docklands is also hosting a fair-themed art
project on 22-23 December. Both events are free and family reassembling it as the Globe in Southwark. The As well as sledging and skating, there were also
friendly. For more info, visit museumoflondon.org.uk story goes that the actors hauled the timbers games you could pay to play. Along with nine-pin
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