I enjoy the marvellous trigonometry of this roof, and the encouraging slogan on the wall.
The slogan is for a brewery, Courage.
This house was built in 1820 for the managers of the Anchor Brewery, then on this site. The Anchor pub is on the river Thames nearby.
The building, and its cast iron railing, is listed Grade II, number 1385752. When I searched for the list entry in the Historic England register, I found, to my surprise, that the bollards in my picture have their own special listing, number 1385753 “
“5 cast iron Canon posts 1 inscribed “CLINK 1812”
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1385753?section=official-list-entry
So I had to go back and have a closer look at them. Why were they listed? The list entry does not say. There are some bollards in London which are former cannon. It’s always a delight to discover them. They can be positively identified because you can see the indentation or hole near the base, which is where the gunpowder used to be poured in. Also they sometimes have protrusions about two-thirds down where they used to pivot on their gun-carriage. Sometimes the base is flattened on one side. Here are some examples of cannon (click the image to enlarge and see location):
I was unable to find on these 21 Park Street bollards any characteristic which confirmed they might have been cannon. The listing says they are “canon posts” – “canon” spelt like that – not “cannon”. The words “CLINK 1812” were still just about visible on the bollard which is on the right in my drawing. Here are some photos of the posts outside 21 Park Street. Click to enlarge and see captions. Do you think they might be real cannon, or perhaps the word “canon” simply describes a design of post.
“Clink” was the name of the area, from about 1127. It was called the “Liberty of Clink”. The designation “Liberty” implied that it was a civic area under the jurisdiction of the local manor, rather than the King, or the City of London. Famously, certain activities, including theatres, which were forbidden in the City of London were permitted here. The Liberty of Clink was abolished in 1889 and amalgamated into the Southwark in the County of London.
Here are some photos of work in progress on the drawing:
Drawing size 10″ x 8″ on Arches papers 300gsm NOT watercolour paper, in a sketchbook made by Wyvern Bindery.
Watercolours by Daniel Smith:
- ultramarine blue
- fired gold ochre
- green gold
- burnt umber
- yellow line is naples yellow
- All blacks and greys are Ultramarine Blue plus Burnt Umber
A notice on 21 Park Street reads:
The tree closest to this building is planted in fond memory of Tom Quinlivan 1934-1996 long time resident of Park Street.
Jane Sketching 