Bakers' Hall

Bakers' Hall
Middlesex
Bakers' Hall
Type:	Livery hall
Location
Grid reference:	TQ33248069
Location:	51°30’34"N, 0°4’53"W
City:	London
History
Address:	Harp Lane, Billingsgate
For:	The Worshipful Company of Bakers
	Livery hall
	Modern redbrick
Information
Owned by:	The Worshipful Company of Bakers
Website:	www.bakershall.co.uk

Bakers' Hall is the livery hall of the Worshipful Company of Bakers, one of the livery companies of the City of London. It stands on Harp Lane, in the Tower Ward of the City, near Billingsgate.

The hall of today is a modern, red-brick building, on what has become a back-lane off Lower Thames Street.

History

The hall and its predecessors have stood on its current site since 1506. The earlier halls contained a courtroom where, in the days of the Assize of Bread, trade-related misdemeanours could be tried. At the ‘Court of Halimote’ held at Bakers’ Hall, the Master of the Company acted as Magistrate with a jury composed of Wardens and Assistants from the Court of the Company. The scales used for weighing loaves, to determine allegations of short measures, remain displayed in a glass case at the top of the main staircase in the hall.

The first Bakers’ Hall was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, as were so many, and was replaced by a new hall. This second hall was destroyed in the Thames Street Fire of 1715. The third Bakers’ Hall was destroyed by German bombs in 1940, during the Blitz. The current hall was built on the same site after the War.

In the main dining hall, known as ‘the Livery Hall’, are a series of three stained glass windows known as the Piper Windows, designed by painter, glazier and war artist John Piper. These windows were commissioned to commemorate the three halls which previously occupied the site.

The Company

The Bakers' Guild is known to have existed in the twelfth century, and it received authority from the Corporation of London to enforce regulations for baking, known as the Assize of Bread and Ale, which sought to ensure good quality and fair measures: violations included selling short-weight bread and the addition of sand instead of flour. In the 14th century, the Guild divided into the Brown-Bakers' Guild and the White-Bakers' Guild, the latter incorporated by a Royal Charter of 1509, and the latter in 1621. The White and Brown Bakers reunited into one Company in 1645, and acquired a new Charter in 1686, under which it still operates.

The Bakers' Company ranks nineteenth in the order of precedence of Livery Companies.

Outside links

• Bakers Hall
• The Bakers' Company