More from Eleanor Janega
Apothecaries’ Hall
The oldest extant guildhall London belongs to the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. Originally a part of the Grocers’ Guild they split off to form their own society as ideas about medicine changed.
The George and Tabard Inns
The George is a seventeenth-century coaching inn that stands near the site of the old Tabard Inn, where the Canterbury Tales begins. Travel back and forth between London and Canterbury happened for religious reason as well as pleasure.
The Golden Boy at Cock Lane
The statue of the Golden Boy marks the spot where the Great Fire of London was finally stopped. It sits at the corner of Cock Lane in Smithfield, so-named because of the many brothels lining the street.
More in United Kingdom
WAP, but make it medieval and Welsh: Medieval Welsh poet Gwerful Mechain explains why pussy is the best.
Little is known about the medieval Welsh poet Gwerful Mechain, but she wrote some absolute bangers, including ‘Cywydd y cedor’, or, to non-Welsh speakers, ‘Poem to the vagina’. In the opening, she says that men have written some great praise poetry about women, but they are incomplete, because they don’t include detailed praise of genitalia. She then gives us a further thirty lines dedicated to WAP.
Further Reading:
Katie Gramich, The Works of Gwerful Mechain (Peterborough, ON, 2018)