There's something rather pleasing (the day after Thanksgiving, too) going to a meeting in a building with the address of 2 East Poultry Avenue... This is a dedicated (i.e. available for rent) suite of rooms (with excellent coffee and lunch) upstairs in Smithfield Market (officially London Central Market): I've just learned that Smithfield used to be called Smoothfield, and was the site of jousts and tournaments before it was a livestock market. And executions: Wat Tyler, leader of the Peasants' Revolt (what should we call that? The Peasants' Uprising?) met his end there. The main market buildings were designed by Horace Jones, and built 1866-68; the Poultry Market (where we were) was the first extension, and built 1873-76: there's a particularly fine curved carriage way that drops down outside. Unfortunately it was very damp and clammy, and not quite the weather for architectural exploration ...The painted wrought iron with sun-spokes here was a grille over a roundel window: prime Victoriana.
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