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Smith & Son, St John’s Square in 1946
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‘When you see May day flags on Clerkenwell Green, you can see the history of the past shining through’
FAMOUS historian and novelist Peter Ackroyd celebrated the radical tradition of Clerkenwell in a speech at a packed book event on Wednesday night.
Mr Ackroyd described how he had always been “haunted” by the area’s past.
Clerkenwell Green was a destination for Wat Tyler’s peasant army, the Chartists and Tolpuddle martyrs, Lenin and, more recently, the nearby Communist Morning Star daily newspaper and the Big Issue, the paper for the homeless.
Mr Ackroyd spoke at St John’s Gate for the launch of the two volume definitive history of the area, the Clerkenwell Chronicles, edited by Professor Andrew Saint.
Guests included Islington historian Mary Cosh, Lib Dem executive member and ward representative for Clerkenwell, Cllr George Allan, and chief executive of English Heritage Simon Thurley.
Mr Ackroyd – whose book about 14th-century London, Clerkenwell Tales, was a bestseller in 2003 – said next month’s May Day march will start from the green.
He added: “When you see the flags and banners swirling by, when you see the crowds moving this way and that, you will see the previous history of this place shining through the present.”
Mr Ackroyd said that in 1842, the then Prime Minister Peel banned all meetings on the green. The ban didn’t last for long.
“Meetings in favour of the Paris Commune met there and red flags were tied on the lampposts. Eleanor Marx and the Russian revolutionary Kropotkin, addressed meetings on the green.
“Do the organisers of the May Day demonstrations of the 21st century know this history? Probably not.”
Mr Ackroyd said that in the 17th century, printers of Clerkenwell were denounced for issuing “blasphemous and seditious literature”.
He added: “It was a tradition that did not materially change. In Clerkenwell, besides the green, Vladimir Lenin edited and printed an underground revolutionary journal known as Iskra or The Spark.”
Cllr Allan told how he was inspired to become a councillor 10 years ago as a result of conservation campaigns to save historic Clerkenwell.
“This is where I started 20 years ago trying to stop the area being bulldozed by developers who wanted more city offices,” he said.
“Fortunately much of the area has been preserved.”
But Mr Thurley warned that conservationists must always be vigilant. He added: “Like a lot of London, Clerkenwell will always be under threat.” |
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