Tommy Corno, Common Councilman of Candlewick Ward by George Dance, 1741–1825
The Ward of Candlewick
The Candlewick Ward Club offers support to the Alderman and Common Councillors in carrying out their duties on behalf of the City of London and, in particular, in the Ward itself. For more information on the work of our Common Councillors, the Ward of Candlewick and the City of London Corporation, do visit the Ward website: www.candlewickward.org
The Ward of Candlewick, Smearmongers, or Candlewright-street-ward, as it is found in ancient records, takes its name from the street now called Cannon-street; formerly chiefly inhabited by candle-wrights, or makers of tallow and wax candles; a very profitable business during the medieval times when society consumed great quantities of wax lights.
After the Romans left Britain in the early fifth century, London fell increasingly into decay during the dark ages and the area within the City walls was eventually abandoned. It was Alfred the Great (King of Wessex) in the late 9th century who re-established London (then called 'Lundenburh'), upgrading the remaining Roman walls and surrounding ditch to provide a defensive settlement against the Vikings. Alfred kept most of the old main Roman roads in the City, but created many new smaller roads in between for the new settlement and rebuilt the timber London Bridge. In our ward, Lombard Street exactly follows the old main Roman road, whereas Gracechurch Street cuts right through the site of the old Roman forum and basilica.
The City of London's population grew rapidly (estimates are that its population increased from 15,000 to 80,000 in the 200 years after 1100). By the early middle ages, our part of London was well-established and there was considerable small scale industrial development throughout the area. For example, by the 12th century, candle-making was established in many small premises on and around Cannon Street - the name 'Cannon Street' is a shortened form of the 12th century 'Candelwrichstrete' meaning Candlewright's Street (candlewright being a candle-manufacturer). That's where the name of our Ward comes from: Candlewick.
The Wards of the City of London go back at least 900 years, before the Norman conquest. Whilst some of the spelling of Ward names has changed, the wards themselves have had only minor additions or mergers over the last nine centuries. "Candlewrightstreete Ward" has had boundary changes over that time, but pretty much covered the same essential footprint as our Candlewick Ward today.
The City in the Middle Ages, and in the early modern period, was massively different from what we see today. Apart from St Paul's Cathedral, the Guildhall and many churches, buildings were not massively tall but were very cramped together, with much residential property very often over shops, small factories and warehouses. Even London Walls' old gatehouses and (the old) London Bridge were occupied. Most buildings in the City were made of wood, rather than stone, and that, combined with the commerce and industry based in the City, made fire a constant hazard. The Great Fire of London in 1666 destroyed pretty much everything in Candlewick Ward, but it was one of only several fires which hit the City. There were two previous 'Great Fires of London' in the years 1133 and 1212, now largely forgotten, but devastating at the time. Since Alfred's time there were also major fires in 982, 989, 1087, 1130, 1132, 1220, 1227, 1299 and 1633. Life was far more perilous in those days!
But fire wasn't the only problem Londoners had to face: in 1091 a tornado hit London flattening large areas of the City; earthquakes damaged many buildings, particularly but not exclusively timber buildings, in 1382, 1580 and 1750, with two residents being killed by falling debris in the 1580 quake; the City was periodically hit by significant floods, and there were frequent plagues, most remembered these days being the 14th century black death and the Great Plague of 1665. Yet again and again, the City was rebuilt, trade grew and the population increased.
By the early modern era, after the rebuilding following the 1666 fire, much changed. The aristocracy moved out into the newly established West End. A very wealthy trading class was created, with many fine houses along Lombard Street and Cannon Street. But, cheek-by-jowl with the richest people in the country, you'd find some of the poorest living and working, still, 'above the shop' (or workshop) in the small lanes such as Abchurch Lane, St Swithin's Lane and St Clement's Lane in between those two wealthy thoroughfares.
As an example of the increase in trade and wealth, in Lombard Street, on the wall next to Sainsbury's, there's a small plaque showing that this was the site of Lloyd's Coffee House from 1691 to 1785. It wasn't the first Lloyd's Coffee House, but it was the most important. The Coffee House was the site where people met to discuss shipping, trade, maritime insurance and the general news of the day. The 'candle' part of Candlewick came into play in the Lloyds Coffee House too, where 'candle auctions' were held for shipping related business, with the successful bid being the last one before the candle spluttered out - 'sniping' is not a 21st century invention!! 'Lloyd's News' was published from the Lombard Street Coffee House in 1696-7, succeeded in 1736 by the 'Lloyds List' for shipping and maritime insurance news, which still exists today (in digital form). Lloyd's of London and the shipping lines Hapag Lloyd and P&O Nedlloyd are just a few of the businesses which flowed out from that coffee house on Lombard Street, but not, contrary to myth, Lloyd's Bank, which was named after a Mr Lloyd from Birmingham!
Much of the street pattern in our ward was wantonly destroyed in the 1830s when King William Street was built (named after King William IV). This main thoroughfare provided a direct main route between the Bank junction and London Bridge, and it smashed through many of the small back streets in our Ward. That's why Abchurch Lane and Nicholas Lane are each strangely disjointed to this very day. In those days, 'heritage' wasn't really a thing, so among the buildings swept away was the old (rebuilt after the 1666 fire) "Boar's Head Inn" famously frequented by Falstaff and managed by landlady Mistress Quickly in several Shakespeare plays.
As we walk today around our local streets in Candlewick Ward, it pays to remember how different and how difficult the lives were of our predecessors who walked these same street centuries ago.