oranges and lemons - The Parish of Greenford Magna

ORANGES AND LEMONS“I DO NOT KNOW” SAY THE GREAT BELL OF BOWGay go up and gay go downTo Ring the Bells of London Town"Oranges and Lemons" say the Bells of St. Clements"Bullseyes and Targets" say the Bells of St. Margaret's“Brick bats and tiles” say the Bells of St. Giles"Halfpence and Farthings" say the Bells of St. Martin's"Pancakes and Fritters" say the Bells of St. Peter's“Two Sticks and an Apple” say the Bells of Whitechapel“Maids in white aprons” say the Bells of St. Katharine’s“Pokers and Tongs” say the Bells of St. John’s“ Kettles and Pans” say the Bells of St. Anne’s“Old Father Baldpate” say the Slow Bells of Aldgate“You owe me Ten Shillings” say the Bells of St. Helen’s“When will you pay me?” say the Bells of Old Bailey“When I grow rich” say the Bells of Shoreditch“Pray when will that be?” say the Bells of Stepney“I do not know” say the Great Bell of BowGay go up and gay go downTo Ring the Bells of London TownCompleting our London Bells Nursery Rhyme (the forerunner of the famous Oranges and Lemons Rhyme)Series, in this last (sob) month we look at St. Mary Le Bow. Many people think of the Great Bell of Bow asbeing a church in Bow, when in fact the Bow refers to the name of the church and not its location, as St. MaryLe Bow is in the City, just near Cheapside.St. Mary le Bow – a little historySt. Mary Le Bow was built around 1080 by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc,who had accompanied William the Conqueror from Bec in Normandy. The building of thechurch was part of the policy to dominate London and was probably seen as a symbol ofoppression by the local people. The “Le Bow” part of the name comes from the arches inthe 11 th Century crypt. It was the first church in London to have such an arched crypt.The church bell was well known because it had what was known as the principal curfewbell, which was rung at 9 p.m. each day, from at least the 1300s. The church was, forsome time, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s main church and it served as the place wherethe medieval Court of Arches met. Around the church, and St. Pauls, jousting andprocessions were common and every monarch or consort up to James II, travelled past totheir coronations.The roof of the church came off during a storm in 1091 and landed in Cheapside whichwas the main road at that time, and in 1271 the tower collapsed onto the street. Thetower was replaced in 1512 and the church building enjoyed a period of stability until itwas completely destroyed (except the crypt) by the Great Fire of London.

It was rebuilt, by Wren of course, between 1670 and 1683. Wren based his design on the Basilica ofMaxentius of Rome. The tower, which houses the Bow Bells, is thought to be his most ambitious project afterSt. Paul’s. It is 68 metres high and shows the city symbol of a dragon. The entrances to the tower are basedon the Hotel De Conti in Paris. The peal of ten Bow Bells were installed in the 1750s and were rung for the firsttime on 4 th June, 1762 to celebrate the King George III’s 25 th birthday.Inside the church is a number of interesting features, butfar too many to mention here, so we have picked out afew. This picture (left) is the Rood which hangs abovethe alter and was a gift from the Federal Republic ofGermany in 1964. The picture (right) of St. George andthe Dragon is a bronze piece of work given to the churchby Norway to commemorate work carried out by theNorwegian resistance and as a recording of the BowBells were rung across Europe in 1944 to indicate thecoming liberation. There is a beautiful sculpture of Mary(to which the church is dedicated too of course) with thebaby Jesus. (shown left). Many other features includebeautiful stained glass windows, a stone font as well assome quite modern pieces, such as this Christ figure(shown right)The church has many links with famous people such as:John Donne – in 1631 he left a bequest for the upkeepof Bow Bell. He wrote the poem “For whom the belltolls” – presumably that bell?Dick Wittington - as well as the Orange and Lemon rhyme, the church isassociated with the Dick Wittington rhyme, which tells of Dick as a poor orphan attracted to the so called goldpaved streets of London. Once here he worked in a rich merchant’s house, but was often beaten by the cook.Dispirited, one day he decided to leave but heard the Bells of Bow ringing out“Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London”And he returned back to his job, eventually marrying his master’s daughter, Alice, and becoming Lord Mayor ofLondon 3 times.Enoch Powell and Malcolm Muggeridge – in 1970 they debated “race” whilst plain clothes detectives andtelevision cameras watched on. This was part of a series of debates of the day introduced by JosephMcCulloch, the rector at this time. These ran from 1964-1979 and where popular amongst the city workers.McCulloch’s aim was not to recruit Anglicans, nor provide answers but to stimulate thinking. The church wasoften packed during these debates and in 1974 McCulloch produced a book of 20 of the best. The book wasentitled Under Bow Bells and his slogan was “I do not know says the great bell of bow: certainties divide usand doubts bring us together”.The church, is of course, known as the Cockney’s church as it is said that to be a cockney you must be bornwithin the sounds of Bow Bells. As the bells were destroyed in WWII on 11 th May, 1941 and not replaced until21 st December, 1961, it can be argued that no Cockneys were born during this period. The sound of the BowBells were actually used by the BBC at the start of all their broadcasts to occupied Europe.

The church has a link to Trinity Church in New York in that in 1914 a stone from the St. Mary Le Bow’s cryptwas installed there. Trinity church was granted the same privileges by King William III. During the September11 th terror attacks people took refuge in the church. Debris from the falling towers knocked over a giant 100year old sycamore tree in the nearby St. Paul’s, part of the Trinity parish. The way it fell protected the ancienttombstones and prevented debris reaching the church. Theroots were made into a bronze sculpture by Steve Tobin andinstalled on the 4 th anniversary of the attacks. The sculptorstates that it is a metaphor for connectedness and strength.To the right is a picture of the Trinity Root that Chris took inNew York (no expense has been spared to bring you thisseries). The link with Trinity is still strong. In 1961 the BowBells were restored and rang out at the start of rebuilding ofthe war damaged church. One of the bell ringers was HRHPrince Philip. The restored church was re-consecrated in the presence of the Queen Mother and Dr. JohnHuess, Rector of Trinity Church.As to what the “I do not know” part of the rhyme means we have to confess we can find no references at all tothis, so we have to sing “I do not know”!The church todayThe church is usually closed at weekends but has regular services during theweek. There is also a series of lunch time concerts and for once Jenny andChris turned up in time to hear one (it’s only taken 12 months to be in the rightplace at the right time). We listened to concert by Richard Pinel (AssistantDirector of Music at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle). This included aselection of different versions of God Save the Queen and several pieces byBach. The pieces were played on the lovely organ (shown left, flagged bythese beautiful red stained glass windows)Following various moves, the Court of Arches is now back at St. Mary Le Bowand the Vicar General’s court also meets there. Every diocesan bishop from the southern province of theChurch England gets confirmation of their election here and also take their Oath of Allegiance here before theArchbishop of Canterbury.The church continues with its debates and a series of lectures. They run a homeless project supporting youngpeople from 19 to 25. They house up to 6 young people at a time in flats at Elephant and Castle, enablingthem to learn to live independently and move into places of their own. They work with up to 30 young exprisoners a year to try to prevent reoffending and get them into employment. They are also part of the JustShare Coalition of churches and development agencies, who look for ways to reduce the gap between rich inpoor in the economy. The group is based at the church.What’s around to visitThe church is around equidistance from St. Paul’s and the Bank of England museum which are both worth avisit. As usual plenty of shops, pubs and eateries.Next Month? Well this is the end of our 12 month journey exploring Old London Town’s bells and the Orangeand Lemon Rhyme. We certainly had a lot of fun doing it and we hope you have enjoyed reading about it andour exploits. You probably haven’t heard the last of us yet though. We may crop up with some articles nextyear.