Chats on Old Copper and Brass

by Fred. W. Burgess

Architectural Metal-Work.

Many years ago architects not only designed the main fabric and supervised the building of houses, such as those incidentally referred to being erected in the days of Queen Anne, but they were deeply interested in the metal-work which acted as exterior ornamentation, and to a large extent contributed to the beauty of their architectural designs. After the Great Fire of London swept away so much of the ancient residential portion of the old city, and took with it the Gothic and early mediæval churches, there was a great revival in building operations. Sir Christopher Wren and his fellow-workers put up more than sixty new churches within the City, and although to some extent the contour of the old streets was observed, the newer buildings must have presented an astonishing transformation scene, for from the few old relics left of London before the Fire we can form some slight idea of what the City must have looked like then.

The collector of copper and brass takes an interest in metal-work other than that which he can collect, and admires works of art with which the architects of olden times enriched their chief buildings. It is true a considerable portion of the exterior metal-work attached to the freehold, and of the gates and palasades surrounding the more important erections, are of iron. There are enough examples of copper-work, however, to show us the skill of the old craftsmen who worked on years after the Charter granted by James II to the Braziers' Company had become a dead letter. One of the most conspicuous and at the same time decorative examples of copper-work on the loftier buildings is found in the weather-vanes, which were sometimes gilt, at others painted. In the earlier days the emblems selected had some bearing on the ownership of the building or the purposes for which it was to be used. There were well-known rules, too, governing the type of weather-vane. These are recognizable in the older examples. They have been neglected, however, in later years, and the nondescript designs chosen by builders and modelled according to the whim of the designer at the present day show little regard for the principles laid down by those early builders and metal-workers. The etiquette of the weather-vane was simple enough to observe. On towers, castles, and secular buildings a banner was the correct device, whereas on ecclesiastical edifices it was the barn-door fowl. It is said by an old authority that the cock was the emblem of clerical vigilance, not unassociated with the Biblical story of St. Peter; others more sceptical as to the origin tell us that the large tail of the barn-door fowl was well suited to turn truly to the wind. From these simple principles evolved established rules which ordered that the coat-of-arms or crest of the owner of a building should be incorporated in the design of the weather-vane, and on ecclesiastical buildings the symbol of the patron saint was to take the place of the weather-cock. As typical examples to be seen in London streets the weather-vanes on the four turrets of the White Tower of the Tower fly the Royal Arms in the form of miniature Royal Standards. In Tudor days the emblem was usually represented sitting on a slender pedestal, carrying an upright rod on which the flag or decorated plate of metal which acted as the weather-vane was attached. In the accompanying illustrations three types of symbolical weather-vanes are shown. Fig. 13 represents one of the copper vanes on Billingsgate Fish Market, symbolical of the occupation of those who frequent that famous mart. In Fig. 14 is seen the fabled dragon of the City of London, and in Fig. 15 the copper cock vane, one of the four fixed over Smithfield Market.

There are many ecclesiastical emblems visible during a morning stroll through the streets of London. Among those readily seen are the key vane on St. Peter's, Cornhill, and the emblematic gridiron on St. Lawrence's Church. On St. Michael's Church, Queenhithe, there is a copper ship, the hull of which holds just one bushel of grain. This vane is interesting in that the emblem has reference to Queenhithe, once a famous wharf, rather than to the patron saint. The Hithe is interesting in its old associations, in that the tolls of that wharf were given to Queen Eleanor by Henry II as pin money, subsequent queens of England collecting the revenue for their personal use. The grasshopper on the Royal Exchange is the same vane that surmounted the more ancient building which preceded the one now standing. The grasshopper was the crest of Sir Thomas Gresham, by whom the first Exchange was built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. This vane, also of copper, is fully 11 ft. in length, and in miniature was reproduced as the sign of the banking house in Lombard Street kept by Sir Thomas Gresham.