The Cornhill Carvings: doors into history
- London On The Ground
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
On Cornhill in the City of London, carvings on a pair of mahogany doors tell the long history of the area.
The doors are at 32 Cornhill, on an office building very close to Bank tube station that was constructed in the 1930s as the head office of Cornhill Insurance.
The carved scenes range from the second century to the eighteenth. They tell of kings and churches, food and markets, a penitent duchess, tailors, coffee houses and taverns.
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The carved frieze on the doors was the work of Walter Gilbert (1871-1946), an Arts and Crafts sculptor who had previously worked on bronze doors in Freemasons Hall, the façade of Selfridges and the gates at Buckingham Palace. His clay models for the reliefs were carved in wood by Bernard Philip Arnold at HH Martyn & Co Ltd in Cheltenham in 1939.
There are eight scenes illustrating episodes from the history of Cornhill and the nearby area, each with a caption carved beneath to describe it.
Starting with the top panel of the left hand door and moving left to right and then down, the scenes are (mostly) in chronological order.
King Lucius and St Peter's Cornhill
The first is based on a legend that a second century king, Lucius, founded St Peter’s Cornhill for the first archbishop of London, Thean, as the principal church of his kingdom.
Eleanor, the penitent Duchess
The second panel shows Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, walking in penance in 1441. She was found guilty of consulting astrologers to predict King Henry VI’s future. Her penance required her to walk to three different churches on market days (for maximum public humiliation), carrying a taper.
This included a walk from Queenhithe to St Michael’s Cornhill. Her punishment also included divorce from her husband and life imprisonment (albeit in royal castles with a pension).
The Bishop of London earns his bread
Next is an illustration of two women holding bread loaves, freshly baked in the Bishop of London's ovens at a time when owning a private oven was illegal. The Bishop made good money charging for the use of his ovens. One of his clerks is keeping the accounts.
Cornhill's market
Panel number four shows two 14th century women shopping in Cornhill market. According to John Stow’s 1598 Survey of London, the market sold corn, other food and old clothes. Stow, one of the most important London historians, was himself born in Cornhill.
Tailors of Birchin Lane
The fifth panel shows two early 17th century Birchin Lane tailors working on an outfit for a gentleman, who appears more interested in his own reflection. Birchin Lane is a small street just off Cornhill.
Pope’s Head Tavern
Pope’s Head Alley is today a featureless passage between Cornhill and Lombard Street. It was once the location for a tavern, portrayed in the mid 18th century in the next panel.
Garraway’s coffee house
The 18th century coffee houses in the network of alleys between Cornhill and Lombard street were important places for commerce and trade. One of them, established in Exchange Alley by Thomas Garraway after the Great Fire, is the subject of the seventh panel.
Garraway’s is said to have been the first place in England to sell tea and was known for holding auctions of various commodities. It closed in 1866.
The Brontës and Thackeray
The eighth and final panel shows writers Charlotte and Anne Brontë with William Makepeace Thackeray at their publishers, Smith Elder & Co, at 65 Cornhill. Charlotte’s Jane Eyre was the first major success for Smith Elder in 1847 (published under the male pseudonym Currer Bell). From 1860 the firm published The Cornhill Magazine, edited by Thackeray (it continued until 1975).
The caption under the panel also (somewhat randomly) says that William Cowper and Thomas Gray, both 18th century poets, and Thomas Guy, who founded Guy’s Hospital, lived in Cornhill.
However, in the case of Cowper, the caption has confused the poet with a politician of the same name, who was the first Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain from 1707 to 1710.
He had a townhouse in Cowper’s Court, an alley off Cornhill later renamed after him, once the location of the Jerusalem Coffee House. The London Metal Exchange emerged from auctions once held in this coffee house. The LME now controls the majority of world trade in non-ferrous metals.
"Thackeray and the Brontes at the publishing house of Smith Elder & Co. Cowper, the poet, Gray the poet, Guy, the bookseller and founder of Guy’s Hospital, lived in Cornhill."
Cornhill is named after the the corn market located here centuries ago and after the hill, which slopes upwards to the east. The Romans founded London, as ‘Londinium’, in the first century on the two hills that flanked the River Walbrook. Cornhill rose from its eastern bank and Ludgate Hill from its western bank.
The river was covered up long ago and now forms part of London’s sewer system. It gave its name to the street under which it flows and to Walbrook Wharf, the only working commercial dock still operating in the City of London.
Cornhill Insurance was founded in 1905 and, after various changes of ownership, it became part of the German insurance group Allianz in 1986. I remember it as the sponsor of Test cricket matches in England from 1978 to 2001. Sadly, Allianz discontinued the name in 2007.
Among numerous historic features of the street are two on which I have written previous blog posts: the Cornhill Pump (which is across the street from the Cornhill Doors) and the Royal Exchange.
As 1930s buildings go, the former insurance company head office is fairly unremarkable and the doors are easily missed, especially when they are open during office hours.
However, a pause to examine them and to reflect on the rich history they portray will reward the passer-by.
You can also see the Cornhill Doors on my YouTube video by clicking on the image below.
Walks available for booking
For a schedule of forthcoming London On The Ground guided walks, please click here.