Barbican Living
Barber Surgeons Hall
The Barber Surgeons are one of the old livery companies of the City. I think they started out as just barbers. Surgeons are a relatively modern invention, and one which in years past was considered to have more in common with barbers than doctors. In Georgian times the barbers and the surgeons realised they had a great deal in common. They both had the same motto: "How would you like it cut?" With the surgeons, the answer might be: "Just below the knee".
Barber Surgeons Hall, built on the present site in 1441, was lost in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The hall was rebuilt and lost again, this time to the Luftwaffe in 1940 along with the rest of the old Barbican. The present hall was built in 1969.
There is something very appealing about the Barber Surgeons and their hall - not the hall itself, which doesn't look to me like a particularly inspired building, but the gardens. You may never have ventured behind St Giles church, but if you haven't, you really should pay a visit. You go down the steps behind the church towards Wallside, where you will see an extension of the lake which you may not have guessed was there. You cross that, round the remains of a mediaeval city guard tower, and you will find yourself in a half garden, half abandoned ruin, and if you then walk up hill slightly towards London Wall, you will find Barber Surgeons’ hall and garden on your left. The main gardens have attractive flower beds and trees. More interesting, however, is the Herb Garden which they have created to reincarnate one which was constructed by their predecessors in Tudor times. I think it is such a charmingly eccentric thing to do, that you have to approve of the Barber Surgeons.
