A sheep drive...in London? Are you sure? We wouldn't even see any sort of livestock being driven or herded anywhere in Edmonton, at least not if they weren't all loaded up in a livestock trailer. But I've now seen large numbers of people on horseback on the streets here, that chariot ride from about a year ago with ponies that was possibly organised by the Traveller community, and now sheep on London streets--though they were at least in a contained area blocked off to traffic for the day.
I heard about this event through the Transport for London weekend update that's sent out weekly. It's helpful because it lets you know about road closures, subway lines that are suspended, and when events like marathons or high profile sporting events are happening so you can plan your travel on public transportation accordingly. This weekend, we were notified that Southwark Bridge would be closed from 10am-4pm for the sheep drive, sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Woolmen. I didn't even know what it all meant, but the whole thing, from the name of the group to the notion of a sheep drive in London, made me want to go out and see it. So we went!
The point of it is that the sheep drive is supposed to symbolise the right of free men to bring their sheep to market in London. However, it's helpful to know what is meant by free men, and it all has to do with what these Worshipful Companies are.
A Brief History of Liveries
The sheep drive wasn't just that; it was also a festival of all the liveries. It turns out there are currently 108 of them in London--but of course, that doesn't help you know what they are.
My understanding of a livery was that it was the uniforms used by servants in the homes of royals and nobles. It is connected to that, but not only that.
Since the High Middle Ages (about 1000 AD and beyond), various trades began to create a type of union, known as guilds. The system had been brought over from the continent during the Norman conquest of England, and the idea behind them was to incorporate the rights of merchants in towns and cities to establish those that had the right to do business there. Some guilds, as they became more organised, began to meet in halls to work out issues within their profession, and they developed particular types of outfits or uniforms for their professions that became known as liveries. Eventually, some of these organisations began to be known as livery companies, and they became responsible not only for protecting their craft and their wages, but also became trade associations, "A trade association [being] a body representing organizations within the same trade. It aims to protect their collective interests, especially in negotiations with governments and trade unions," according to Collins Dictionary. So these livery companies were kind of like a combination of a union, a professional association, and a government trade body. The websites of both the Worshipful Company of Loriners (they made bridles and bits and other small parts for horse riding) as well as the City of London. I chatted with a member of the Worshipful Company of Bakers, another one of the oldest liveries, and she said that liveries would also help regulate pricing for goods and services and engage in quality assurance, some even providing their version of standardisation of weights and measures. The bakers, for example, wanted to ensure that bread and flour prices remained affordable to the public, since that was a staple in people's homes, so they would work to ensure affordable pricing on those goods.
As for the clothing (the livery apparel), the idea was that you would apprentice for several years in your profession, at which time you would be at the mercy of your mentor not only to teach you the trade but to determine your pay. When it was felt that you had reached the end of your apprenticeship (how that was determined, I can't tell), you would become a "Freeman." You could don the livery of your profession, and by being free, you could set up your own business and charge the wage you wanted to charge, within the confines of what was allowed to be charged by the livery companies. That explained the people with the red cloaks I saw yesterday and some in fancier cloaks. It seems that these individuals would be considered master crafts or trades people and so be honoured with the wearing of these fancy cloaks to identify them with their profession and position within it. The Worshipful Company of Coopers provides some additional historical context for the clothing on their website as well. You can see some of it in the video at the beginning. I realised I didn't get anyone in a photo in their regalia.
Nowadays, the majority of these livery companies exist only as charitable organisations, especially for those trades or crafts that are no longer needed, like the coopers above, whose job was to create troughs, caskets, tubs, and other types of receptacles of a similar nature. The lady with the Bakers that I spoke with told me that one of the things they do is go into schools and talk about food production, especially in large urban areas where kids don't really know the process of that anymore. They'll have kids plant some wheat around their playground and then the kids take care of it until it's ready to be harvested, and then the Bakers will return to add some of their own grain supply to ensure there is enough to make flour. They take the kids through the milling process and then use their flour to bake bread. She said it's hugely popular with the kids, and I don't doubt it!
The majority of the 108 livery companies is called the "Worshipful Company of..." whatever the trade or profession is, the oldest one being the Worshipful Company of Basketweavers. I can't find much information about the origin of why "worshipful" is used; it's an honorific title, but I can't seem to find out more about it at the moment.
I really enjoyed my visit to this event. It's something so unique to the UK but also appeals to my love of artisanship, crafting, and appreciation for farming since I have a lot of family members who are very hard-working farmers. While it was not really part of the liveries, we did enjoy trying a local company's ice cream, mainly for the uniquely British flavours they offered: clotted cream and berries, rhubarb & rosehip, and Dorset marmalade. I had the rhubarb, and my husband had a scoop each of the other two as we just had to try them. They were all creamy and deliciously flavoured!
In the few photos below, these were from our walk after the sheep drive. We ended up walking past Bank tube station, where neither of us had been, and it was quite impressive the massive pillared buildings where all the currency and gold and exchange used to exist. We were heading to Liverpool Street Station, where I had forgotten that there was a sculpture I had learned about and that I wanted to see that represented the hundreds of children liberated from concentration camps and brought to England. The "Kindertransport" brought them to Liverpool Street Station, so I include that in the photos. I also saw one of the blue plaques, showing where Elizabeth Fry used to live. We have an Elizabeth Fry Society back home that helps women and girls who are at risk of becoming criminalised. I never knew the connection to the woman before. It's amazing what you can learn just by walking around!
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