The Streets of London
Introduction
Imagine you had to spend a day in 16th- or 17th-century London.
The woodcuts which follow show the various thing you might have seen as you walked about town.
After you have studied this webpage, answer the question sheet by clicking on the 'Time to Work' icon at the top of the page.
Links:
The following websites will help you research further:
Everyday Life:
• BBC Bitesize
- excellent
London:
• History Learning Site
• Brilliant British Library video - essential,but
remember it is just an interpretation
1 London Bridge
This would be the first thing you would have seen as you approached London. You may wish to compare this picture to Rosemary Sutcliff's description of the approach to London in her children's novel, The Armourer's Apprentice (1983).
2 The Severall Places Where You May Hear News
This picture is a woodcut from 1640. It shows various scenes of typical everyday life.
3 Tudor Street-scene
This woodcut showed the things that made the Tudor street an unhealthy place in which to live. You may wish to compare this picture to Rosemary Sutcliff's description of the streets of London in her children's novel, The Armourer's Apprentice (1983).
4 The Fire Engine
In a place where most of the houses were made out of wood and wattle, fire was feared – can you work out how this Elizabethan fire-engine worked?
5 Industry
Despite the fact that many industrial processes were dangerous and unhealthy, there were no health and safety laws, and many industries took place openly and unrestricted. This woodcut shows the process of making copper – left-to-right: panning for it in the strems, sorting the copper ore from the rock, and smelting it in a furnace.
6 Open-Air Sermons
Christianity was never far from people's lives; this woodcut shows as open-air sermon outside St Paul's Cathedral. Preachers gave 'hell-fire' sermons condemning the people's sins – even to the King.
7 The Globe
One the the places you might have visited was The Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare's play were performed.
8 Tudor Beggar
This woodcut shows a 'sturdy beggar' – someone who was begging even though they were fit for work – being whipped through the streets. Sometimes they were chained to a cart. In the background loom the gallows for persistent offenders.
