T. C. Noble,
Warden of the Yeomanry,
1888-1889.


CONTENTS

CHAPTERPAGE
I.—The Old City, its Citizens and Guilds[1]
II.—Iron, Ironworks, and Ironmongers[6]
III.—The Worshipful Company of Ironmongers[11]
IV., V., VI.—Four Hundred Years of the Ironmongers’ History[19-40]
VII.—The Apprentices, the Hall, and the Irish Estate[41]
VIII.—The Ironmongers’ Charities and Charitable Ironmongers[51]
APPENDIX.
Some Account of the Blacksmiths’ Company and their Exhibition at Ironmongers’ Hall[61-74]

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATEPAGE
I.—[Frontispiece]: Arms of the Ironmongers’ Company
II.—(a) The Old Church of Allhallows Staining, Mark Lane, 1807, now removed (except the tower), and the parish united with St. Olave, Hart Street; Ironmongers’ Hall is in the parish of Allhallows[1]
(b) The Church of St. Luke’s, Old Street, Middlesex, 1807; erected on land part of the Ironmongers’ estate; consecrated on St. Luke’s Day, 1733[1]
III.—(a) One of the ancient silver-gilt salt-cellars[12]
(b) One of two fifteenth-century maple-wood mazer-bowls, with silver-gilt mountings[12]
IV.—A cocoa-nut cup, or hanap, of sixteenth-century date, with silver-gilt bands and mountings, and 8½ inches high[18]
V.—(a) The “Estridge,” or ostrich, carved in wood, about 4 feet high, which was used in the Lord Mayor’s pageant of 1629, and now preserved at the Hall; it has a horseshoe in its beak[26]
(b) A bronze token representing the fourteen almshouses erected under Sir Robert Geffery’s trust, in the Kingsland Road, 1713-1714[26]
VI.—The hearse-cloth, or Ironmongers’ funeral pall, of crimson velvet and cloth-of-gold tissue, the gift of John Gyva, 1515, 6 feet 5 inches long by 22 inches wide; the centre of each side represents “The Blessed Virgin Mary in Glory”—Plate I.[34]
VII.—(a, b, c) Ditto, Plate II.—The Three Saints[42]
VIII.—Ditto, Plate III.—Monstrance at each end[50]
IX.—(a) The Devil gives St. Dunstan a morning call[60]
(b) St. Dunstan compels the “Evil One” to sign a treaty of peace[60]
X.—St. Dunstan gives a practical reminder of the power of the horseshoe[65]
XI.—(a) The “Evil One” on his rounds sees the effect of the treaty[69]
(b) The horseshoe puts to flight the Devil and pursues the “Evil One” and all his evil companions[69]

The Old Church of Allhallows Staining, Mark Lane, London, 1807. ([See page 45.])