Skinners' Hall
| Skinners' Hall | |
|
Middlesex | |
|---|---|
_by_W_Jupp.jpg) Skinners' Hall | |
| Type: | Livery hall |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ32558086 |
| Location: | 51°30’40"N, 0°5’28"W |
| City: | London |
| History | |
| Address: | 8 Dowgate Hill |
| Built 1770-1790 | |
| By: | William Jupp |
| Livery hall | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | The Worshipful Company of Skinners |
| Website: | www.skinnershall.com |
Skinners' Hall is the livery hall of the Worshipful Company of Skinners, one of the livery companies of the City of London. It stands at 8 Dowgate Hill in the City, opposite Cannon Street Station, between Dowgate Hill and College Hill, and beside two more livery halls: Stationers' Hall and Dyers' Hall.
The Hall is a fine example of a 17th century livery hall, and a significant testament to the development of commercial activity and trade regulation in the city of London. It was built in the late 17th century on the site of a previous livery hall which had been destroyed in 1666 in the Great Fire of London. The new hall opened in 1670.[1] It underwent alterations in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The main frontage onto Dowgate Hill, formerly the Clerk's House, was rebuilt in about 1778 to the design of William Jupp.[2]
Skinners' Hal is a Grade I listed building[2] and a scheduled ancient monument.[3]
The company
The Skinners' Company was originally an association of those engaged in the trade of skins and furs. It was granted Royal Charter in 1327.[4]
Under an order issued by the Lord Mayor of London on 10 April 1484 (known as the Billesdon Award), the Company ranks in sixth or seventh place (making it one of the "Great Twelve City Livery Companies") in the order of precedence of City Livery Companies, alternating annually with the Merchant Taylors' Company; these livery companies have borrowed Chaucer's phrase "At sixes and sevens" to describe their rivalry over precedence – specifically which company was entitled to be 6th in order of seniority – being a source of trouble between the Skinners and the Merchant Taylors for some time in the 15th, and perhaps even 14th centuries. Both companies received their first royal charters in 1327, but the dispute erupted into lethal violence in 1484 during the Lord Mayor’s river procession, an occasion which the two guilds treated as their own private boat race. After the administration of justice to some of the offenders the then-Lord Mayor, Haberdasher Sir Robert Billesdon, mediated between the two companies at the request of their Masters, and he resolved that each company should have precedence over the other in alternate years and that each company’s Master and Wardens should be invited to dine at the other’s Hall every year.[5]
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The Skinners are normally sixth in the order of precedence in even numbered years, and at seven in odd numbered years, but as the Lord Mayor for 2005/6 was a member of the Merchant Taylors' company they kept precedence. Merchant Taylors' kept precedence in 2006/7, their regular turn.
Outside links
References
- ↑ Skinners' Hall - About us
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 National Heritage List 1064686: Skinners' Hall
- ↑ National Heritage List 1002031: Monument: Skinners' Hall
- ↑ "Skinners' Hall". https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1002031. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
- ↑ The Merchant Taylors' dispute - Skinners' Hall
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