The Cutty Sark and the English Tea Trade
It is common knowledge that the Brits love their tea, but it is less common knowledge how this love affair all began. If you are looking for a fun way to explore that history, you should try visiting the good ship Cutty Sark near the waterfront in Greenwich.
The ship itself wasn’t built until 1869, but tea first came to the UK two centuries earlier. Here is a timeline from the Cutty Sark’s exhibits.
In its heyday, The Cutty Sark was one of the most impressive vessels on the sea, and especially well-suited for transporting tea. The copper hull was not only beautiful, but was especially good at keeping sea water out of the cargo hold. It also had an amazing carrying capacity and was one of the fastest ships on the water.
In fact, it engaged in a historic race in 1872 against another transport called The Thermopylae. Both ships left Shanghai at the same time, and the Cutty Sark took an early lead. Unfortunately, she lost her rudder and had to stop for repairs. The Thermopylae ended up making it to England a full week before The Cutty Sark. This was the only time that both ships left from the same port at the same time, but the Cutty Sark later set a record for reaching Sydney in just 73 days.
I loved visiting the exhibits on the inside, especially the first floor where the interior and the displays were made out of tea crates. There is another gallery the next floor up that has interactive features and videos to help you get into the mindset of a sailor on the ship over its long history. I was also lucky enough to have the perfect weather to explore the deck, which has been restored to its former and shiny glory.
The Burlington Arcade
While I was in the Piccadilly area for the market I also did some serious window shopping. There are so many lovely stores and window displays in this posh neighborhood! I didn’t really have anything in mind, but as soon as I spied the Burlington Arcade I had to take a stroll down this lovely little pedestrian thoroughfare. I am not sure if it was all the shiny watches glinting at me from across the street, or the top-hatted man in the portico, but I had a feeling I would find something relevant there for my Steampunk wanderings.
I was surprised when I entered to find a high ceiling complete with beautiful skylights hidden behind the curving façade. The natural light was great for looking at the new and vintage jewelry and watches, but terrible for taking pictures due to the glare on the almost unbroken string of glass display cases that line the lane, which means I don’t have much to illustrate this post. So here is a little history instead. (Adapted from http://www.burlington-arcade.co.uk/the-arcade)
Lord George Cavendish was a prominent politician during the late 1700s and early 1800s, and he had a garbage problem. Ruffians were always throwing trash like oyster shells and other refuse over the wall to the grounds of Burlington House where he lived, so he decided to finance the building of a shopping arcade to fill the alleyway. Officially, his reasoning was to offer “gratification to the public” as well as “work to industrious females” but really he was just tired of all the rubbish. When it opened in 1820 only 4 of the 47 leaseholders were women, but the prevailing convention at the time was to address even male shopkeepers as “madame”, so I guess he sort of kept his word.
There are several shops of note that still have their polished doors open to the public even now. For instance, Hancocks is a fabulous jewelry store, and back in 1856 was commissioned to design the Victoria Cross, the highest award given in the commonwealth military.
If you are in the Piccadilly area, I would definitely suggest a stroll down this historical pedestrian street.
What is #Steampunk ?
This a nice little piece about Steampunk fandom.
Select one hundred Steampunk enthusiasts at random from various corners of the globe, place them in a parlour with sufficient supplies of tea, cake (and of course a little La Fee Verte) and ask them to come up with a definitive answer to the universal quandary: ‘What Is Steampunk?’ and you will likely still find them in a state of cordial dispute when the final trumpet sounds and the apocalyptic horsemen clear their throats and ask politely if anyone would care to open the parlour door and take note that the world had, in fact, come to an end and could they all please be so kind as to step outside and commence panicking?
Of course apocalyptic prophesies have not yet taken account of the evolution of Steampunks.
At this point every Lady and Gentleman in the room will swiftly tip their last shot of absinthe into their cup of…
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Don’t Miss Longitude Punk’d at the Royal Observatory
The Royal Observatory is probably best known for being the home of the Prime Meridian, but I went there to check out an amazing Steampunk exhibit dedicated to “the longitude question.” Thousands of seamen lost their lives because they couldn’t be sure where they were when they were in the open ocean, so the British Parliament implemented a competition in 1714 and offered a reward of 20,000 pounds to anyone who could figure out how to calculate longitude when out to sea. Little did the Longitude Board know that it would be 50 years before anyone could find the answer.
The exhibit, Longitude Punk’d, is set up as a series of submissions to this contest and is intermixed with the Observatory’s collection of real and sometimes bizarre submissions. There are many buildings in the Greenwich Observatory complex, and this exhibition takes advantage of the historic Flamsteed House that sits on the grounds. There is normally already a gallery dedicated to longitude in the house, but for now the Steampunks have taken over that gallery as well as several other rooms as well as the courtyard to show their amazing contraptions and costumes.
The Commodor employed kiwi birds to keep him informed about his position.
Throughout the house you can read “The Rime of the Ancient Commodore,” which is a whimsical epic poem about one of the artists’ alter ego and his unique quest for the answer to the longitude question. His theory? Animals know exactly where they are, so if you can learn to talk to animals, all you have to do is ask for directions 🙂 Make sure to take the time to watch the series of short films embedded between display cases to meet the artists and find out the ideas behind their amazing creations.
The exhibit costs 8.50, but you also get admission to the Cutty Sark and the complementary and more serious examination of longitude at the Maritime Museum called Ships, Clocks and Stars any time within a month of your first visit. It will run between now and January 2015, so don’t miss your chance to get punk’d!
But even if you aren’t in town in time for the exhibit, there is a ton to see at the observatory for fans of the Victorian era, and I am going to post soon about their permanent galleries as well so stay tuned.
More Clockwork Treasures from the Royal Observatory
One of the biggest leaps forward in human history was when we started to use the movements of the stars, sun and moon to tell time. And as far as we know, we are the only animals that do. You may find yourself noticing a slight bend in space and time as you approach the Observatory, or perhaps it was just the long trek up the steep hill that made the minutes seem like hours!
Eventually, humans invented machines to keep track of the units in which we divided the world and some would argue that these machines now rule our lives. But no matter how you feel about clocks and schedules, you can’t deny the ingenuity and skill that has gone into inventing, improving and crafting timepieces. And if you are a steampunk fan, you probably can’t get enough of the shiny gears and complex mechanisms that had their heyday in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Royal Observatory (also called the Greenwich Observatory) is the home of the Prime Meridian line, and the site for calculating Greenwich Mean Time since the 19th Century. This means that even more than anywhere else it has been imperative that they keep accurate time, and they celebrate this history in their exhibits. After I was done at the Longitude Punk’d galleries, I took a stroll through the rest of the Observatory and I found amazing machines for seeing the stars and terrific time-keepers. I had accidentally used up a lot of my battery during the first half of the day at Longitude Punk’d and the Cutty Sark, but even with a full battery I don’t know if I would have been able to fit all of the beautiful pocket watches, nautical devices and astrolabes onto my memory card anyway!
Here’s a sampling of what there is to see in the history galleries.
In addition to the Observatory, you can also visit the Astronomy Center for free. There are lots of exhibits there for amateur astronomers, as well as London’s only planetarium.
Have you ever visited the Royal Observatory or Astronomy Center? Did you have a favorite part?
Fortnum and Mason
One of the defining parts of the Industrial Revolution was the rise of ready-made fashions and pre-packaged foodstuffs, and on the forefront of the trend was the posh department store, Fortnum and Mason. When the first steam-powered factories were just starting the churn out their wares F&M was already in business, and it continues to be a mainstay of the stores on Piccadilly today.
Beautiful crystal chandeliers provide light all over the store
They made a splash at the Great Exhibition in 1851 where they won first prize for their imported delectable desserts and dried fruits. In addition, when Henry Heinz (best known nowadays for ketchup) wanted to market his canned baked beans in the UK, he took his wares there. Within a few years, baked beans had become an important part of the British diet.
In literature, F&M are best known for their picnic hampers and several Victorian authors including Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins made mention of their characters enjoying a luxurious feast. I am also reading The Difference Engine right now, and the day after snapping shots of the whimsical window displays below I read a passage where the protagonist passed by this prestigious store on his way to buy a wedding gift for his sister. Today, you can still visit and stroll through the heaps of lovely packages tied with bright ribbons and peruse the fanciful fudge of the dessert counter.
As with many luxury goods stores, the prices are steeper for things such as tea and cookies than at a normal grocer, but the ambience alone is worth a stop in at the store, or at least a meander by the window displays!
Steampunk at the Piccadilly Market
I admit, I was expecting something quite different when I walked through the ornate iron gates to St James Square. The Piccadilly Market is a more or less permanent, open-air marketplace that operates 6 days a week. There are merry striped tents and merchants selling their wares as one would expect, but I thought it was going to be bigger, especially because of the long list of traders on the market’s website. I was especially excited because there is a section of that website devoted to the Steampunk offerings there.
Different days have different themes, so I picked the day listed as the best for antiques. I don’t know if this means there are no antiques other days, but I was surprised to see that there really wasn’t much there in the way of vintage stuff. But, what was there was pretty awesome.
Annette Jones is a vintage trader and jewelry designer who is only at the market on Tuesdays. Usually she doesn’t allow photography, but she gave me permission to snap a couple shots of her lovely pieces on display. The average bauble was out of my price range (this pounds to dollar conversion is killing me!) but if you are looking for just the right cameo or vintage ring this is a great place to check out. I especially loved the addition of the lovely antique mirrors patrons could use when trying on the pretties
. You can check out her website for more information, http://www.annettejones.co.uk.
The best booth for Steampunk stuff was definitely one by Ahura Collectibles, which was more or less across the aisle from Annette Jones. The only sign on the booth is for kaleidoscopes, but the other half of the display featured gorgeous refurbished early telephones, leather-bound and wood-sheathed spyglasses and a wide array of vintage compasses. I picked up one of the beautiful compasses with a foldable sundial complete with wooden box for safe-keeping for 18 pounds. I had to think long and hard about which one I wanted because they are all unique, but I was especially drawn to this one because it had the word “London” on it so I thought it would make an especially good souvenir. I would have loved a spyglass as well to add to my Steampunk explorer ensemble I have started to compile, but I limited myself to a nautical keychain made of brass.
This booth is at the Piccadilly market Tuesday through Saturday, and at Covent Garden Sundays and Mondays. Find out more at the website, ahuracollectibles.co.uk
I thought I was going to be able to do a large photo spread about this trip to the marketplace, but because it was so small I didn’t really get as much as I’d hoped.
Can anyone tell me any other places like flea markets or vintage shops in London to visit in the next two weeks?
Oh the Horror!
I never thought of myself as technodependent, but now that I am trying to blog about Steam Tour I am starting to get it. The internet where I am staying has fallen and it can’t get up, so I am relegated to the tiny keyboard on my phone for the mo. The pain! The suffering! The sore thumbs!
I am trying to get as much reading, writing and photo editing done as possible today and maybe the interwebs will find a way to pull a Lazarus for me. Otherwise, to the cafe I go tomorrow to post about my first full day in London yesterday.
Thanks for your patience!
For Whom the Gear Turns 