CHAPTER LVI.
THE METROPOLITAN MEAT-MARKET.
History of the Metropolitan Meat Market—Newgate Market and its Inconvenience—The Meat Market described—The Ceremony of Opening
—A Roaring Trade—The Metropolitan Poultry Market—London Trade in Poultry and Game—French Geese and Irish Geese—Packed in
Ice—Plover's Eggs for the Queen.
Before the establishment of the new meat and
poultry market in Smithfield, London was behind
every city of Europe in respect of public markets.
For seven centuries, dating from 1150, Smithfield
has been used as a market for live stock. Latterly,
the dirt and crowd, and the rushes of horned beasts,
had become intolerable, and after much opposition
from vested interests, an Act of Parliament was
passed in 1852, under the provisions of which a
new and convenient cattle-market was constructed
by the Corporation out to the quiet north, in
Copenhagen Fields, once the resort of Cockney
lovers, Cockney duellists, and Cockney agitators.
"At the opening of the Meat-market by the
Prince Consort, in 1855," says the Times of November 25, 1868, "Smithfield became waste ground.
The arrangements at Copenhagen Fields are about
as good for their purpose as any that could have
been desired; but since the time the market there
was laid out there have been very great changes in
respect of the supply of animal food for the population of the metropolis. Then most of the beasts
and sheep converted into meat for sale in the
shops of London butchers were brought to London
alive and slaughtered by the retailers. With the
development of our railway system, and the additions to the great main lines by extensions which
brought them into the business parts of the metropolis, the dead meat traffic from the provinces
exhibited year by year a heavier tonnage. But
the Cattle Plague, and the consequent restrictions
to the removal from one county to another of live
stock which might communicate or become infected
with the disease, brought about something like a
revolution in our food supply; and at the present
time not less than about 100,000 tons of dead
meat are brought into the London market from all
parts of the country. The centre to which all this
immense quantity of meat has hitherto been consigned is Newgate Market. Here has been conducted an enormous wholesale trade between the
salesmen, to whom the country dealers, nearly 300
in number, consign their meat, and retail butchers
scattered all over London and its suburbs who do
not slaughter for themselves. In addition, Newgate Market has been from time immemorial the
principal retail meat market—a circumstance which
may be attributed to the fact that it has the reputation of being cheaper than all others by 1d. or 2d.
in the pound. Now, in modern London, it would
be difficult to find any site more inconvenient for
such a double trade than that of Newgate Market.
The whole business has had to be done within the
very limited space of which Paternoster Row, Ivy
Lane, Newgate Street and the Old Bailey are the
boundaries. Last Christmas week 800 tons of
meat were brought to London for the Newgate
Market by the Great Eastern, the Great Northern,
and the Midland railways. This, and the consignments by all the other lines, had to be conveyed to
the market from the railway stations in wagons
and vans. These vehicles, and the butchers' carts,
completely block up Giltspur Street, Newgate
Street, and the Old Bailey on several days in the
week, Mondays and Fridays especially."
Through the filthy lanes and alleys no one could
pass without being either butted with the dripping
end of a quarter of beef, or smeared by the greasy
carcase of a newly-slain sheep. In many of the
narrow lanes there was hardly room for two persons
to pass abreast. Nevertheless, till the extension of
the railway system, there was a difficulty in constructing a meat-market worthy of London, from
the size of the great city. A good meat-market
must be open to access from all quarters. Some
years ago, when beef and mutton were far dearer in
outlying shops than in Newgate Market itself, the
inconvenient position, and the difficulty of reaching
it, compelled persons of moderate means to be
taxed elsewhere, rather than face the dirt and
bustle of Newgate. The Corporation, therefore,
at last resolved on providing a new market in
Smithfield, in order to utilise a waste, and develop
the meat trade throughout the kingdom.
MAP OF FARRINGDON WARD WITHOUT, 1750.
THE METROPOLITAN MEAT MARKET.
In 1860 the Corporation obtained an Act for
erecting market buildings on the site of Smithfield,
and the following year procured another, giving
them power to abolish Newgate Market. The
Markets Improvement Committee then took the
matter in hand, and Mr. Horace Jones, the City
architect, prepared a fitting design. Their parliamentary powers enabled the committee to raise a
sum of £235,000 for the purchase of property,
and £200,000 for the erection of buildings. The
Markets Improvement Committee concluded their
contract with Messrs. Browne and Robinson for a
sum within the estimated amount of £200,000.
The chief element of the design was that the basement storey of the market was to be a "through"
railway-station, with communication not only from
all parts of the country, but also with all the
suburban lines.
The tremendous excavations soon began on a
Roman scale of grandeur. About 3,500,000 loads
of earth, weighing about 172,000 tons, had to be
loosened and removed. Twenty-one main girders,
of Titanic strength, were carried across the entire
width of the excavation, 240 feet, on wrought-iron
stanchions. On these main girders cross girders
were laid, 2 feet 6 inches deep, and 7 feet 6 inches
apart. Between the latter brick arches were turned,
and concrete and asphalte were set in stone, to form
a roof for the railway, and a bedding for the wood
pavement of the building.
In these foundations were five miles of iron
girding, carried on no fewer than 180 wroughtiron stanchions, while substantial retaining walls
rose all around.
The first stone of this well-planned market was
laid on the 5th of June, 1867, by Mr. Lowman
Taylor, the chairman of the committee. In March
the central area was given up to the contractors.
The market is a huge parallelogram, 631 feet long
and 246 feet wide, and covers three and a half acres.
It is not over-beautiful, but then its necessities were
peculiar and imperative. The style would probably be called Italian, but it resembles more the
Renaissance of France, that style which mediævalists shudder at, but which is more elastic in the
architect's hands than the Gothic. The prevailing
feature of the style is a series of arcaded recesses
between Doric pilasters, fluted on the upper two
triads, and elevated on pedestals. The entablature
is returned and ornamented over the pilasters,
with vase-like finials. The external wall is 32 feet
high. Between the Portland stone pilasters are
recesses of red brickwork. The semi-circular heads
of the arches are filled in with rich iron scrolls,
which let in the light and air freely.
The keystones of the arches are richly carved,
especially those over the twelve side entrances.
Under the iron openings are windows, with stone
sills, trusses, architraves, and cornices. At the
angles of the building rise four handsome towers
of Portland stone. The lower storey of each
octagonal tower is a square, with double pilasters
at the corners, and a carved pediment on each
face. Above this height the towers are octagonal.
The square and the octagonal portions are joined
by the huge couchant stone griffins of the City
arms. On each side of the octagon are windows,
with carved friezes. The dome of each tower
is pierced on four sides by dormer windows, and
above is a lantern, surrounded by an ornamental
railing. The finest coup d'æil of the building, architectural critics think, are the two façades of the
fine public roadway which runs across the market,
and divides it into equal parts. The roadway
is 50 feet wide between the double piers, which
carry a richly-moulded elliptical arch and cast-iron
pediment, and over each double pier is an emblematic figure in Portland stone, representing one
of the four principal cities of the United Kingdom.
At the south front London and Edinburgh stand
confessed, and on the north are Dublin and Liverpool. The sides of the outer roadway are shut off
from the market by an elaborate open iron-work
screen, 14 feet high, and at the intersection of
the central avenue, east and west, the market is
closed by ornamented iron gates, with iron spandrils and semi-circular heads, similar to those in the
arcade. Towards the north a gate gives access,
by a double staircase, to the railway department
below. The gates at the east and west entrances
(the chief) are 25 feet high, and 19 feet wide, and
each pair weighs 15 tons. They are formed of
wrought ironwork, elaborately scrolled. The central
avenue, a large inner street, is 27 feet wide, and has
six side avenues. The shops are ranged on either
side of this great thoroughfare. There is one bay
at the east end of the market for game and poultry,
but no fish or vegetables can be sold. The shops
are of cast-iron, with light columns and lattice
girders, and which, by brackets, serve to carry the
rails and meat-hooks. There are about 162 shops
in the market, each about 36 feet by 15 feet, and
behind every shop is an enclosed counting-house,
with private apartments overhead. To secure
light and air the Mansard roof has been used.
The broad glass louvres of this system let in the
air and keep out the sun; the result is that the
interior of the building is generally ten degrees
cooler than the temperature in the shade outside.
There are twelve hydrants on the floor-level. It
was planned that when the meat which arrived
by rail reached the depôt underneath the market,
it should be raised to the level of the floorway by
powerful hydraulic lifts. The Metropolitan, the
Midland, the London, Chatham, and Dover, and
the Great Western Railways have direct communication with the depôt. The passenger trains of
the Metropolitan, Great Northern, Midland, and
Chatham and Dover Companies rush through
every two minutes, and the Great Western Company have an extensive receiving-store there. It
was thought that if it were deemed desirable there
would be no difficulty in making a passenger station
right under the market.
For the ceremony of opening, in November,
1868, a raised daïs was erected in the eastern nave,
and the public roadway dividing the market was
fitted up as a magnificent banqueting-room. On
both sides and at either end streamed rich scarlet
draperies, and within the gate there were paintings
and ornaments in white and gold-work. The temporary entrance was at the end of the eastern
avenue. Opposite it was a scarlet sideboard,
glowing with gold plate, and crowned with a trophy
of lances. A table for the Lord Mayor and chief
guests was placed in front of the sideboard, and
twenty-four other tables, on which there were flowers
and fruit, and covers for 1,200 people, ran in a
transverse direction from the Lord Mayor's seat.
Over the entrance was an orchestra for the band of
the Grenadier Guards, led by that enthusiast of
good time, Mr. Dan Godfrey. Jets of gas were
carried along the elliptical roof girders, in simple
lines, and in arches over the screen of open ironwork that shuts off the market from the roadway.
Three thousand yards of gas-piping fed a number
of candelabra and a centre star-light. There were
four carvers, in Guildhall dignity, who, mounted
on high pedestals, carved barons of beef and boars'
heads. The Lord Mayor's footmen shone in gold
lace, and the City trumpeter and toastmaster also
dignified the feast by their attendance. The ceremony of opening the market was simple enough.
The Lord Mayor arrived in state from the Mansion
House, and was received by Mr. H. Lowman Taylor
and the Markets Improvement Committee, at the
east end of the building, and conducted to the
daïs, where his lordship received a number of provincial mayors, members of Parliament, &c. The
speakers at the banquet congratulated each other
on the rapidity with which the market had been
built, and hoped it would bring tolls to the Corporation, cheap meat to the people, and fair profits
to the salesmen. Mr. Lowman Taylor considered
the old market well replaced by the new building,
with its ample thoroughfares, and trusted that the
new rents and tolls would bring the Corporation
exchequer a fair return for the £200,000 which the
new building had cost. It was designed to supply
3,000,000 with food.
"The interior of the market," says a writer at
the time of the opening, "has been of necessity
even more subservient to the purposes of the
building than the exterior. One of the leading
features in the arrangements is that for securing
light without sunshine, and free ventilation without
exposure to rain. During the excessive heat of
last summer the effect was tested by thermometers
placed in various parts of the building, and the
result found to be highly satisfactory. The upper
parts of the roof all over the building are of
wood, and communicate with other portions of the
fabric, which are also of wood. In the event of
fire it would probably spread with terrific rapidity
through the building. The wooden portions of the
roof have also the effect of throwing the avenues
somewhat into shade. The shops are arranged
on each side of the side avenues which cross the
market from north to south, and intersect the
central avenue. The latter is 27 feet wide, and
the six side avenues 18 feet wide each. The
backs of the shops are closed in, but at the sides
are screened by light ironwork to ensure ventilation.
The floor of the market is paved with blocks.
Twelve hydrants, always at high pressure, will supply
ample means of washing out the market avenues
and stalls, and could be used in case of fire."
This great market has proved a decided success.
An official report issued this year (1874) shows that
the total amount of toll paid for all descriptions of
produce brought into the market has risen from
£14,220 3s. 6½d. in 1869 to £16,818 10s. 10½d.
in 1873. The total receipts for both tolls and
rentals were £51,165 18s. 1½d. in 1873 as against
£51,089 1s. 3d. during 1872. There is a large
and increasing demand for accommodation; so
much so, indeed, that whenever there is a vacant
shop, it is besieged by twenty or thirty tradesmen,
eager to become tenants, and a place in the market
is considered quite a prize amongst salesmen. It is
anticipated that there will soon be a farther demand
on the space at Smithfield, in consequence of the
Act prohibiting private slaughter-houses coming into
operation, as many of the Whitechapel butchers
will then desire to come here. This being the
case, it was some time since resolved to erect a new
market immediately west of the Meat Market, to be
devoted to the poultry, game, and cognate trades.
This new structure which the Fathers of the City
propose to bestow upon their children is rapidly
approaching completion. It is, as regards architecture, in harmony with the Meat Market, and
that it will be as successful as regards trade can
hardly be doubted. The traffic in London in
poultry and game possesses many features of interest, and a few facts respecting the business done
at Smithfield in these luxuries of the table may be
worth noting. The following newspaper account
may be rescued, on account of its merits, from
that oblivion which so generally attends most of
the ephemeral productions of the press:—"The
'foreign' branch of the poultry and game business
is the most curious. The greater part of the eatable ornithology of Smithfield, in this department,
is derived from Ireland and France. The Belgian
pig, as an eatable subject, has lately been beating
his Irish brother, and it may be made another
subject for an Irish grievance that the French goose
has of late years become a formidable rival of his
fellow-geese from the Emerald Isle. Formerly
there was a prejudice against French geese; the
trade would not look at them, and the public
would not eat them. But gastronomical prejudices
are short-lived. Whether it is due to the soothing
influence of sage and onions or to the quality of
the noble bird itself, it is certain now that the
French goose is very popular on this side of the
Channel, for the poulterers say that they sell large
numbers of them at good prices. Indeed, so
successful is the French goose, that large numbers
of his race are imported into England in an attenuated condition during the summer, and are sent
into the country to be fattened for the London
market at Michaelmas. But remoter lands than
France supply us with birds for the table. We
get an abundance of prairie hens and canvas-back
ducks from the United States. These are frozen
by machinery on the other side of the Atlantic,
packed in barrels, and brought over in capital
condition. From Norway we receive ptarmigan,
black-cock, and that eatable eagle, the capercailzie.
They are sent over in the winter, frozen naturally,
in cases containing from eighty to a hundred each,
being shipped at Christiansund, landed at Hull,
and brought up to town by rail. Holland is good
enough to send us, sometimes by forty or fifty
baskets of two hundred each in one steamer, her
delicious wild ducks, and those curious little birds
called ruffs and rees, which are about the size of
godwits, and the male of which has most wonderful
plumage, with a pretty crown of grey feathers on
his head, given him to make him look handsome
at courting time. But our most curious importation is the quail from Egypt, which feeds us to this
day, as it fed the Israelites in the desert, and is
brought over alive, in consignments of from thirty
to fifty thousand. These birds are shipped at
Alexandria, and are sent to Marseilles in charge of
a native attendant to minister to their bodily wants.
Thence they are 'railed' across France in cages,
lodged for a time in Smithfield, and then dispersed
to all parts of the kingdom. So carefully are they
transported, that not more than seven per cent. of
them perish by the way. From birds it is a natural
transition to eggs, and there is an enormous market
for plovers' eggs at Smithfield. They come chiefly
from Holland—the home produce being very
small—and they are received during the spring
and summer from March to June. The first
plovers' eggs of the season invariably go to the
Queen's poulterer, for Her Majesty's table, and
fetch from seven to ten shillings apiece.
"Besides all this foreign produce, there is, of
course, an immense home trade, and of the English
poultry, which comes principally from Surrey,
Devonshire, Lincolnshire, and Suffolk, much might
be said. No wonder the poulterers are getting
crowded out of their small corner of Smithfield
Market, and are eager for a market of their own
where they will have some scope for the development of their business. The trade generally is
favourable to removal, and it is likely to act as
a severe drain on Leadenhall, if not to shut it up
altogether, although it is said there is a knot of
very conservative poulterers who vow that they will
never desert the old place, come what may."