Teachable Moments

  

Emerging from the Tube when it stops at Westminster station, you are confronted with a series of 6 different exit choices, we chose one and headed for the surface to be greeted by this:

 

 

Take a few more steps and you see this:

 

And just a bit further on, there’s this:

 

Not only was it a gorgeous day, but Hubby took amazing pictures of phenomenal sights!

We got to hear Big Ben chime, watch the Eye go round (we’ll ride it on the next trip), and marvel at the Coades Lion.

 

What’s the Coades Lion, you say?

The Coades Lion is a beautiful stoneware piece that stands on Westminster Bridge.  It has an amazing history and a bit of cool science behind it.  The Lion is made of Coades Stone which was formulated during the 1700’s.  It is an especially durable type of ceramic which must be fired for a long time at a very high temperature.  The Coades formula was used by English painter and sculptor William Frederick Waddington in 1837.  Waddington made two lions, painted them red and placed them on a parapet above the Lion Brewery which once stood on the shore of the Thames near the factory where the stone was produced.  The lions survived the blitz only to be ousted when the brewery was torn down in 1950 to build the Royal Festive Hall.  King George VI saved the lion by royal decree and had it moved to a spot on Westminster Bridge for the Festival of Great Britain.  After the festival, it was moved around a bit and came to rest in 1966 at it’s current location.

Now for the science.  Coade stone itself is an artificial ceramic material, invented by Eleanor Coade, made from a mixture which is called “fortified” clay.  Miss Coade’s mixture was sold for decades across Britain and into North America and Russia until Coade’s Arficial Stone Manufactory went out of business in and production ended in the early 1840’s.  A mixture of flint, quartz, glass, raw clay and a ground-up, pre-fired clay called ‘grog, Coade Stone is apparently the most waterproof and durable stone ever made.  The formula was believed lost until the 1970’s when the British Museum Research Laboratory worked out the composition of the stone.  In 1987, the first modern piece of Coade Stone was produced. Woo Hoo!

On our morning at the Tower of London, I was fascinated by many aspects of the history of the buildings, the royals, and how they both changed over time.  Among the most interesting (and disturbing) stories were those involving all the animals that lived at the Tower.  Of course the most famous and enduring are the Ravens.  

According to legend, if the six ravens ever leave the tower, the kingdom will fail.  Charles II was the first to insist that the ravens be protected and maintained in the fortress and there is still a Raven Master in the Yeoman Warders today caring for the SEVEN resident ravens (six and a spare). Even though they have one wing trimmed, they have been know to ‘fly the coop’ – one was recently spotted outside a pub on the East End.  Another, Raven George, was sacked for eating tv antennas.

All sorts of different animals were given to the ruling monarchs over the years.  The first record of animals at the Tower were lions in the early 1200’s.  By the 1600’s, the lions were made to fight other animals for the enjoyment of the visitors.  The first grizzly bear ever seen in England was a gift from the Hudson Bay Company to George III in 1816.  Among my favorites were the ‘white’ bear which was a gift of the King of Norway to Henry III in the 1250’s and was kept chained to the tower wall, but allowed to swim in the Thames to catch fish to eat.  

Henry III must have been an animal lover because just a few years later, the King of France sent a male African Elephant.  They really didn’t know how much room an elephant required so they built a 20 by 40 ft room.  Fail.

Other animals were fed unusual diets, either because no one knew any better or the animals seemed to enjoy it: Ostriches ate nails and Zebras drank ale. Various visitors were mauled and even killed by these animals because they were treated as ‘pets’ rather than as the wild animals that they were. In the 1830’s, all the remaining animals were sent to the nearby London Zoo in Regent’s Park, putting an end to the Royal Menagerie.