London Central Markets (Smithfield)

Smithfield is located northwest of St. Paul’s Cathedral, between Aldersgate Street, Holborn Viaduct and Farringdon Street.

Smithfield is central London’s last surviving meat market. The name ‘Smithfield’ appears to come from ‘Smoothfield’ (from Saxon ‘Smeeth Flede) where animals could be grazed, although its history is far from pastoral.

Built on the site of the notorious St Bartholomew’s fair, where witches were traditionally burned at the stake, this is where Scottish Independence leader William Wallace was executed in 1305 as well as the place where the leader of the Peasant’s Revolt, Wat Tyler met his end in 1381.

Over 200 Protestants were burned alive here during the six years of Queen Mary’s reign in the 1550s.

The history of the live cattle market, where Londoners purchased meat that arrived on the hoof, began earlier than other London markets. The area called Smithfield eventually contained four markets: the live cattle market, a hay market a horse market and a cloth market.

Smithfield was used for a regular Friday horse market as early as 1200. William Fitzstephen, in his account of London, written before the twelfth century describes it as a plain field, where every Friday a number of valuable horses were exposed for sale.

In 1638 a live cattle market was started. However, it used as a market started with Roman occupation. London had been a trading centre moving its produce, salt and fish throughout the Roman Empire.

By the late Saxon and into the Middle Ages, London markets grew to feed an every expanding population. The live cattle market existed within a constellation.

In 1849 almost one million animals were sold at Smithfield each year. In 1852 an Act of Parliament relocated the market to the countryside, and the cut meat was transported into London by railroad.
London Central Markets (Smithfield)

History of Fish and chips

Chips were probably invented in France or Belgium in the 17th century as an alternative to fish, which became scarce during harsh winters when the river froze over.

Fish and chips came together in Britain in the 19th century. They grew out of existing petty traders in fried fish and cooked potatoes, which were carried on separately in the streets and alleys of London and some of the industrial towns.

Before that, by late 1830s, fried fish was commonly being sold with bread as a quick and nutritious snack. There were hypothesis that the inspiration for the dish came from Jewish community in London who commonly coated their fish with matzo meal and then fried it before eating it cold.

Fish n chips

The first recorded fish and chip shops appear in London and the north during the 1860s, the legend being that fish fryers would throw pieces of potato into the oil to cool it when overheated and would sell or even give away the resulting ‘chips’ to their customers.

It was said that John Lee’s created a concept of fish and chips in 1863 in Mossley, Manchester.

Joseph Malin is credited with opening the first combined fish and chips shop in London in the 1860. He set up shop in the East End of London and saw the birth of  a business that took off as commercial fishing became more efficient. Malin’s has survived and its recipe for fish and chips is reportedly used by Arthur Treacher’s Fish and Chips chain the United States.

By the 1930s, a chain of Harry Ramsden’s Huts was catering to the take-out trade in battered fish; in 1952, the company broke a record, selling 10,000 servings of fish and chips in one day.

Historically, fish and chips were wrapped in white paper and an outer layer of newspapers. Newspapers are no longer used owing to the health concerns of ink running off in hands and food.
History of Fish and chips