The Story Behind The Wonderful Facade Of Cutlers’ Hall

On Warwick Lane in the City of London, minutes from St Paul’s Cathedral, you will find the rich, red brick facade of Cutlers’ Hall. This is one of the City of London’s 40 livery halls, home to the Worshipful Company of Cutlers. 

The Cutlers Company is one of the 111 livery companies in the City. I have written about them before in previous blog posts. The livery companies started off as trading guilds in the medieval period, with merchants in the same trades getting together to set pricing, protect who could enter the trade and support their members. Today they are largely educational, social and charitable institutions with many still having links and roles within their trades. 

Cutlers’ Hall is one of the most decorative livery halls and has a lovely detailed frieze around the outside, that is well worth a closer look.

The Cutlers’ Company 

The Cutlers formed in the 13th century as a guild for craftsmen who made items with a sharp edge, such as knives, swords and surgical instruments in the City of London. They received their Royal Charter in 1416.

In the first few centuries after their formation, when England was fairly constantly at war with the French, they gained their prosperity from making swords and weaponry. Later on they focussed more on domestic items such as cutlery, razors and scissors. 

Although largely a charitable institution today, they still support the trade through apprenticeships and education. They sit at 18th in the Order of Precedence of livery companies, between the Barbers and the Bakers. 

The cutlery trade largely moved up to Sheffield in the mid-18th century and the company started to become more of a charitable and philanthropic institution. 

Cutlers’ Hall

A “A House of the Cutlers’ was recorded in 1285, just off Cheapside. By the early 15th century they had moved to a building on Cloak Lane, near Cannon Street. In 1660 their hall was in dire need of a rebuild, therefore the money was raised and the hall rebuilt on the same site.

The final bills were paid in June 1666. For those of you on top of your dates, you will see how unfortunate the timing of that is. Just 3 months later their brand new hall was incinerated in the Great Fire of London.

Rebuilding started once again and the next hall was finished in 1670. Their bad luck continued however as, in 1882, the site was compulsorily acquired by the Metropolitan and District Railway Company and the hall was knocked down. This is when they moved to their current site and had their new hall built.

Designed by T Tayler Smith, the new hall opened in 1888. 

Their string of bad luck thankfully came to end in World War Two. It amazingly managed to survive the bombs of the Blitz, that flattened much of the area around it. It was more or less just Cutlers’ Hall and St Paul’s Cathedral that survived in this corner of the City. 

A high explosive bomb did destroy the entire building next to it on the 10th May 1941, bringing down the hall’s North wall. The damage however was repaired and the hall brought back into use.

The Elephants

The Cutlers’ coat of arms, seen above the main entrance, displays three sets of crossed swords, a nod to their trade.

At the top is an elephant with a castle on its back. This is a heraldic symbol representing strength, but also a nod to the ivory that would have once used in the handles of their cutlery. Thankfully, of course, the use of ivory today is illegal.

It is thought that the Elephant and Castle area takes its name from a pub that had this symbol on their pub sign, possibly owned by the Cutlers’ Company. 

The door knockers on Cutlers’ Hall are these lovely golden elephant heads. 

The Frieze

The real highlight of the facade is the terracotta frieze by Benjamin Creswick (1853-1946). It depicts the Cutlers’ craft in intricate detail from start to finish. 

Creswick grew up in Sheffield, an apprentice to a knife-grinder, before an injury meant he turned instead to sculpture.

The frieze has 4 panels and displays 33 individual figures. The first panel displays the forging process, heating and beating it into shape. You can see for example a duo of a maker or ‘smith’ and ‘striker’ creating table knives. 

The next panel depicts the grinding stage: buffing and polishing the blades on grindstones. 

The third shows the ‘hafting’ process, to create the handles.

There are some quite affectionate moments displayed here, such as an older man teaching his son the craft and a man advising a young apprentice, hand on shoulder. This is perhaps an illustration of the supportive and educational qualities of the livery companies.

The final frieze displays the finishing: glazing, testing and grouping the goods, ready for sale. 

So, next time you are in the area or visiting St Paul’s Cathedral, it is well worth taking five minutes to pop round the corner to visit this other, amazing, survivor. 

Thank you for reading! More of London’s quirky historical sights below: