London City of Symbols

7/28/2019 London City of Symbols

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LondonCity of Symbols

June 8, 2011 Posted by David Hambling underHistory,London,MapNo Comments

The City of London, or Square Mile, is history and mythology made concrete, going rightback to the celebrated London Stone itself. [1] Settlement here dates to pre-Roman times, but

the biggest influence on the City as we know it today was the rebuilding project that took

place after the Great Fire of 1666. This gave London much of its present form and introduced

many of its greatest monuments. Unlike the previous random sprawl, which had grown up

organically over centuries, the rebuilding was carried out according to a deliberate master

plan. Some claim that it was simply an attempt to build on more orderly and rational lines,

but if we peel back the surface the esoteric, Masonic and even magical aspects of the City are

revealed.

Illustration by Etienne Gilfillan/Photos from Getty Images

We now tend to view the 17th century as a period of scientific progress when rationality

broke free from the bonds of superstition. However, that rationality took many forms, and

sacred geometry, numerology and astrology were just as respectable as astronomy and

chemistry. The quest was on for the keys to the Universe. While we might now believe that

science will provide all the answers, in those days the occult held an equal attraction for menof learning, and this is something we can see in their works.

The Freemasons emerged at just the right time for the great rebuilding project (see panel:

The Foundations of Freemasonry, p35). They were the latest group of seekers after ultimate

knowledge, following hard on the footsteps of the Invisible College of the Rosicrucians,

which was either a conspiracy, an impenetrable secret society or a hoax, depending on whom

you believe. The Royal Society, still an important organisation today, dates back to this era

and is regarded by some as an extension of the Invisible College. Founded in 1660 as the

Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, it originally dealt as

much with alchemy and astrology as what we now think of as science. There was a large

overlap between membership of the Royal Society, Freemasons and even more secretiveesoteric groups such as the Cabala Club.
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The great architect of the new London was of course Sir Christopher Wrenastronomer,

geometer, Royal Society founder member, MP and architect. He also appears to have been a

Freemason. On 18 May 1691, the antiquary and biographer John Aubrey noted: This day

is a great convention at St Pauls Church of the fraternity of the adopted masons, where Sir

Christopher Wren is to be adopted a brother

Some discount this as hearsay, since Aubrey was simply repeating what he had been told by

one William Dugdale. However, the theory is supported by an old tradition in the Masonic

Lodge of Antiquity No 2 that Wren was Master of the Lodge, and to many Freemasons his

membership of the Craft is obvious in his works, particularly in his greatest monumentSt

Pauls Cathedral (see below: Isaac Newton and the Temple of Doom).

Working with Wren were two other notables, John Evelyn and the notorious Nicholas

Hawksmoor. The latter was nicknamed the devils architect, and his Masonic credentials

are not in doubt. Hawksmoors membership was recorded in 1691, when he became Wrens

assistant. Other acknowledged Freemasons include John James, the second surveyor

appointed alongside Hawksmoor, and Nathaniel Blackerby, treasurer to the commissionbuilding new churches.

THE NEW JERUSALEMTo the builders of the new London, the city was to be the New Jerusalem. Rome was in the

hands of Catholics, so London must succeed it as the capital of the true faith. This was

reinforced by a popular theory that the English were the descendants of the Lost Tribe of

Israel, who disappeared into the West after the destruction of the kingdom in 722 BC.

Londoner William Blakewho had a tendency to employ Masonic imagerywas merely

echoing this idea when he wrote of Jerusalem being builded here decades later. This belief

was a help to those who believed that Britain should be a global empire, a true successor to

Rome, with a temporal and religious capital to match it.

Several concepts were put forward for the new street plan. All of these did away with the

warren of tiny streets and alleys and imposed some sort of regularity. Some, such as the plans

put forward by cartographer Richard Newcourt, were simple grid patterns. But both Wren

and Evelyn had more complex ideas, and it has been suggested that Evelyns plan bears a

marked resemblance to the Sephiroth or Tree of Life from the mystic Cabala, the best

hieroglyph of the known and unknown universe. Cabalism was a popular topic among

esoteric philosophers of the day, with its mathematical and geometric approach, some of

which wasassimilated into Freemasonry.

Evelyn had previously written about how a careful arrangement of the environment couldinfluence the soule and spirits of man, and prepare them for converse with good Angells. In

Cabalism, the angels are the messengers between the physical and metaphysical world.

In the event, practical considerations restricted the wholesale remodelling of London to more

modest changes. But while they could not demolish streets at will, the architects of London

arranged places of worship according to their plan. Wren realigned the axis of St Pauls so it

stood 2,000 cubits (914m / 3,000ft) from Temple Bar to the West and the same distance from

St Dunstan-in-the-East in the other direction. Hawksmoors St George-in-the-East is 2,000

cubits from the London Wall, St John Horselydown was placed 2,000 cubits from the

Monument and Hawksmoors St Mary Woolnoth is the same distance from his Christ Church

Spitalfields.
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The measure of 2,000 cubits is used in the biblical Book of Numbers in its rules for city

planning: [M]easure from without the city on the east side 2,000 cubits. It had featured in

modern studies of sacred geometry since 1662. John Wilkins, vicar of St Lawrence Jewry and

the first secretary of the Royal Society had converted it into modern measures, creating the

essential yardstick for a New Jerusalem.

THE DEVILS ARCHITECTChristopher Wren is remembered as the chief architect of modern London, but his assistant

Nicholas Hawksmoor towers above him in occult circles thanks to his 12 churches built in

accordance with the 1711 Act. These made a break from the traditional Gothic style and

introduced a new and alien geometric vocabulary of obelisks, pyramids and cubes. His

supposedly morbid interest in pagan cultures and pre-Christian worship have helped darken

his reputation.

Hawksmoors churches are based on a layout of intersecting axes and rectangles, which he

described as being based on the rules of the Ancients. His work borrows from Egypt,

Greece and Romeall revered by the Freemasonsand often in a grand manner. The naveofSt Georges Bloomsburychurch is a perfect cube, with a tower in the shape of a pyramid.

Seven of the keystones are decorated with flames, the eighth bears the Hebrew name of God

inside a triangular plaque surrounded by a sunburst; the symbolism of this is obscure.

Hawksmoors St Mary Woolnoth is based on the idea of a cube within a cube. This has

represented the squaring of the circle from ancient times, which takes us back to the ideal

proportions of Leonardos Vitruvian Man and, of course, the Freemasons. [2]

But it is the alignment of Hawksmoors churches as much as their architecture that has

provoked speculation, starting with the writer Iain Sinclairs book-length prose-poemLud

Heatin 1975. This describes how Hawksmoors churches form regular triangles and

pentacles, and guard, mark or rest upon the citys sources of occult power. Sinclair even

provides maps to prove the alignments, which are a clear sign of Hawksmoors true Satanic

affiliation.

Sinclair was the first to connect Hawksmoors churches with some of the most shocking

crimes in Londons history the now largely forgotten Ratcliffe Highway murders of 1811

and Jack the Rippers killing spree in 1888. Sinclair suggests that the malign influence of

Christ Church, Spitalfields, is so great that it attracts dark acts of violence to its vicinity.

The theme was taken up in Peter Ackroyds novelHawksmoorin 1985, which switchesbetween the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire and a modern serial killer case.

Ackroyd, a great scholar of London, playfully names his modern detective Hawksmoor,

while the books 17th-century architect is Nicholas Dyer.

The idea of Hawksmoor as a manipulator of dark forces was further refined in Alan Moores

hugely ambitious graphic novelFrom Hell. This involved a unified conspiracy theory linking

Hawksmoor, the Freemasons and the Jack the Ripper killings. The Ripper murders, in this

version, are carried out by Queen Victorias personal physician to conceal an illegitimate

child conceived by her grandson, Prince Albert, Duke of Clarence.

Moore taps into an earlier strand of Ripperology connecting the killings with the Freemasons.The oath of secrecy taken by Freemasons includes a very colourful description of the
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supposed penalties, including mention of a cut throat and the statement that my left breast

had been torn open and my heart and vitals taken from thence and thrown over my left

shoulder and my body had been severed in two in the midst. Freemasons insist that this

oath is symbolic and the penalties have never actually been inflicted on oath-breakers. A

number of commentators, though, have suggested that the way the Rippers victims were

mutilated closely parallels these specific injuries.

Stephen Knight went even further in his bookJack the Ripper: The Final Solution in 1976.

Graffiti found near two of the murders read: The Juwes are not the men who will be blamed

for nothing. Knight claimed that Juwes was not a misspelling of Jews, as usually

supposed, but is actually a Masonic term referring to Jubela, Jubelo and Jubelum. These are

three murderers in Masonic legend who are linked with the gory penalties set out in the oath.

Knights book received something of a mauling (or perhaps a disembowelment) from other

Ripper experts, though it has proved influential, spawning numerous books and films.

Even if the Ripper killings were some sort of enactment of the Masonic penalties, it does

little to solve the case. Were they a warning, or was there some other symbolic purpose? Wasthe Ripper a crazed Freemason? Or is it all, as Sinclair suggested, down to the influence of

Hawksmoors dark architectural patterns?

BEHIND THE MASK OF REASONThe obsession with mystic geometry was not confined to places of worship. John Byrom was

yet another Freemason, geometer and member of the Cabala Club (and inventor of a system

of shorthand) from the same era as Wren and Hawksmoor. A collection of detailed drawings

was recently found in his papers suggesting a geometric and astrological basis not just for

many of Londons churches but also for its major theatres. [3]

Masonic influence on London didnt end after the Great Fire. In the early 19th century,

Freemasonry enjoyed a period of more open popularity. Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of

Sussex, the sixth son of George III, became the first Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge

of England. Secrecy was relaxed and famous Masons of the day included the Duke of

Wellington and architect Sir John Soane.

Soane was, appropriately enough for a Mason, the son of a bricklayer. His works included the

Bank of England, perhaps the most significant emblem of powerin the new century. Soanes

work on the Bank continued for 45 years and he described it as the pride and the boast of my

life.

A bank must project an image of solidity and stability, and Soanes Bank of England

building, a veritable cathedral of finance, did just that. After a jittery period during the 1790s,

the institution regained its reputation for standing foursquare amidst global upheaval. As

recent history has again proven, the confidence of investors is all-important, and losing it

means a catastrophic fall (softened only by the occasional government bail-out).

Soanes Bank building was demolished in the 1920s, an act described by architectural

historian Nicholas Pevsner as the greatest architectural crime, in the City of London, of the

20th century. Only the outer walls now remain. After the demolition, the Bank suffered its

greatest crisis in the Great Depressiona fitting punishment, perhaps.


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Another of Soanes masterpieces was the Freemasons Hall in Great Queen Street, meeting

place for hundreds of Lodges and home of the Grand Temple. Even the Masons admit that its

current incarnation contains a mass of esoteric symbolism which can only be fully understood

by the initiated. In a spirit of openness, the Hall is now open to the public with frequent

guided tours.

Soane also left a monument to himself, turning his house and studio into a remarkable

museum which reveals his eclectic, experimental, whimsical, and above all, illusionist

preoccupations. Again, behind the mask of rational design lurks the joker.

THE EYE IN THE PYRAMIDWe now appreciate how much impact buildings can have on the people who live in them, and

London still has many grim concrete tower blocks to remind us how an architects paradise

can become a hell for those who live there. While, these days, there is more study of the

psychological effects of our environment, it doesnt all fall to men in white coats. And this is

where, at the more surreal end of the field, psychogeography comes in.

The London Psychogeographical Association is described by Wikipedia as a largely

fictitious organisation. Its work, which has been praised by Iain Sinclair, consists largely of

grandiose proclamations and calls for geo-psychic revolution:

The integration of non-Euclidean psycho-social space into a post-Newtonian mechanics is

faced by the emergence of an anti-Euclidean opposition which will rekindle the fires of revolt

with the matchsticks of metaphor. By drawing upon ancient songlines which reassert

themselves within the modern urban environment, psychogeography as the practical

application of anti-Euclidean psycho-geometry offers the third pole in the triolectic between

the false universalism of modernism and the universal virtuality of post-modernism. [4]

The LPA might be a valid attempt to reshape our consciousness of our environment, or it

could just be an elaborate practical joke. Jokers or not, the LPA shares the approach of those

who wanted to make London a symbolic New Jerusalem. If the Freemasons are secretive,

powerful Illuminati, then the LPA are the anarchic Discordians seeking to reclaim the city for

the masses.

London still sees more than its share of buildings which seem to owe more to the occult than

to strict practicality. Number One Canada Square, better known as Canary Wharf, is topped

with a conspicuous pyramid with a flashing light at its apex. It could hardly be a moregraphic embodiment of the familiar image of a pyramid topped by an eye, a symbol familiar

from the back of the US dollar bill.

The architect of One Canada Square was Cesar Pelli, who is quoted as saying that the tower

was intended to be a simple geometric form. Of the four different roof shapes available from

the World Financial Center, he chose the pyramid because he found it to be common in most

cultures, according to one source.

Pyramids are not exactly common in our culturealthough Hawksmoor certainly added a

few. The height of the Canary Wharf pyramid happens to be 130ft (40m), which some have

suggested makes it an embodiment of the 13 steps of the Masonic pyramid.


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This is the clearest symbol yet. Screw the Washington Monument, I think Ive found the

biggest Obelisk and Eye of Horus yet. This has got to be down to the Masons, writesone

excited bloggeras he demonstrates how the Canary Wharf complex can be mapped on to

Masonic symbols. Of course, conspiracy theories do not need much of a launch pad, and

others skilled in the art have managed to link Pelli to the Freemasons, the Skull & Bones

Society, the Order of Death and much, much more [5]

Now a new generation of skyscrapers is set to reshape Londons skyline. In the Far East,

nobody would question the importance of the buildings alignment. Even if architects dont

believe in Feng Shui, no investor wants to be part of something that spells bad luck. Perhaps

we shouldnt be so surprised at the Freemasons penchant for sacred geometry.

Finally, perhaps the clue is in the name. The City of London is also known as the Square

Mile, even though it is rectangular. Squares feature heavily in Masonic rituals and recog-

nition signs. Masons are required to square their actions by the square of virtue and are

sworn by God and the Square.

So, as Dan Brown sends his hero racing around Washington, perhaps hes picked the wrong

city. Is this an oversight, a deliberate act of misdirection, or are there other forces at work?

Almost certainly the latter, Id guess. Brown had already used London as a setting in his

massively popular bookThe Da Vinci Code, so he needed a new city this time around, and

preferably one that would appeal to his American fanbase.

I predict that his collection of powerful and mysterious emblems will increase with the

addition of many pieces of paper inscribed with the symbol of the eye in the pyramid

Notes

1 Mentioned by Blake, Shakespeare and Dickens, theLondon Stonemight be part of an

ancient temple, a Roman milestone or the stone from which King Arthur pulled Excalibur.

2Matthew Scanlan: Nicholas Hawksmoor,Freemasonry Today, Issue 41 Summer 2007

3Trevor W McKeown: The Byrom Collection, a few observations,Grand Lodge of British

Columbia and Yukon

4London Psychogeographical Association

5Skull and Bones 322 Logo Meaning Finally Discovered?rinf.com

Recommended ReadingPeter Ackroyd:Hawksmoor, Penguin, 2002.

Peter Ackroyd:London: The Biography, Vintage, 2001.David V Barrett: Secret Societies, Blandford, 1997.

Merlin Coverley: Occult London, Pocket Essential, 2008.

Yashas Beresiner Lewis: The City of London: A Masonic Guide, Lewis Masonic, 2006.

Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell:From Hell, Knockabout Comics, 2008.

Iain Sinclair:Lud Heat and Suicide Bridge, Granta, 2002.

Michael White: Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer, Fourth Estate, 1997.

Recommended Surfing

Official homepage of theUnited Grand Lodge of England

Grail Seekers: A Guide to Masonic Symbolism for the Non-Mason

Cornerstone Society: Discussion of Masonic topics
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FOUNDATIONS OF MASONRY

The modern Freemasons are not so much a secret society as a society with secrets, as Dan

Browns hero Robert Langdon says. With a membership of several million worldwide,

including around half a million in the UK and two million in the US, and many prominent

meeting places, they can hardly be considered as some sort of underground movement. Theydo charitable works and encourage a sort of esoteric/moral personal development. But

secrecy has always been a key part of their way of working.

Tradition says the Masons can be traced back to around 1,000 BC and the builders of the

Temple of Solomona symbolically vital structure which connected God with Man. As with

many such societies, this is an invented pedigree created to impress. The first Grand Lodge

was formed at the Goose and Gridiron alehouse in St Pauls churchyard (a suitably Masonic

location) in 1717. This was formed of the four existing London lodges which dated back no

more than a century. They had already attracted unfavourable attention, with a 1698 pamphlet

warning that the Freedmasons who meet in secret were a devilish sect of men allied with

the Antichrist.

Where did they really come from? One popular view is that the Freemasons grew out of the

medival masons who built the great cathedrals of Europe. These craftsmen moved from

place to place between jobs, and jealously guarded the secrets of their trade. They lived in

masonic lodges, or dormitories, the ancient equivalent of the site hut, which were often lean-

tos against the structure they were building.

There was an important distinction between a freemason or freestone mason and other

builders. The freemason was a skilled craftsman able to shape stone, rather than a simple

workman only capable of basic building work. The freemasons had their own recognition

signals so that a true mason could be identified when he arrived at a new site. A cowan or

labourer attempting to pass himself off as a mason would be soundly punished.

The Regius Manuscript of 1390 hints at the secrecy required of masonic apprentices: He

keeps and guards his masters teachings and those of his fellows Disclose to no man, no

matter where you go, the discussions held in the hall or in the dormitory; keep them well, for

your greatest honour, lest in being free with them you bring reproach upon yourself and great

shame upon your profession.

However, although Freemasonry is built on a foundation of architectural imagery, their

language and symbolism is derived from 17th-century philosophers and not medival guilds.Philosophy in this era already employed an advanced architectural metaphorbut it derived

not from dealings with workmen but from an adaptation of the work of Vitruvius.

Vitruvius was a first-century Roman scholar whose workDe Architecuri Libri Decem (Ten

books on architecture) argued that proportion was all-important. Architecture imitates nature,

and the greatest work of nature is Man. Therefore, a building should follow ideal human

proportions, as shown in the famous Vitruvian Man drawn by Leonardo da Vinci.

Vitruvian Man is the link between the divine, human beings, and architecture. A belief in a

Supreme Being or Great Architect of the Universe is required of all Freemasons. Speculative

masonrythe philosophical branch followed by Freemasons, as opposed to operativemasonry practised by stonecuttersinvolves a progression through various degrees of


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personal development. These involve a dense web of symbolism, all using an architectural

metaphor.

The Freemasons are concerned with inner building, personal and moral development, but

their philosophy is expressed in the symbolism and geometry of construction which makes

them uniquely suitable for being represented in stone. No wonder, then, that the beliefs of theFreemasons have often found expression in buildings and even entire cities.

ST PAULS CATHEDRAL ISAAC NEWTON AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOMIf London was to be the New Jerusalem, then its cathedral would be the new Temple of

Solomon, the seat of the spiritual power of the City and hence the Empire. The Temple plays

a key role in Masonic mythology, and its geometry was a major obsession in the 17th and

18th centuries.

When William Stukely wrote the first biography of Isaac Newton in the 1720s, he was

promoting a hero of science and omitted all mention of Newtons esoteric and mystical

researches. It was not until 1936 that Newtons astonishing collection of non-scientific

papers was released. Newton may have been the first true scientist, but he was also, as John

Maynard Keynes put it, the last of the magicians.

Newton was a Royal Society member, a close friend of Wrens and probably a Freemason.

He devoted years to studying the geometry of the Temple from its detailed description in the

Book of Kings. Newton believed that the Temple was divinely inspired, a plan of the

Universe, past, present and future, including the end of the world. According to Newtons

calculations, the New Millennium would start with the Christs return in the year AD 2060.

[1]

The Temple of Solomon was also a great interest of Wrens, and Robert Hooke noted having

a long discussion with him about it in 1675. [2] Hooke was another Freemason, Royal

Society member and scientist with an interest in the esoteric.

Wren had been working on plans for a new St Pauls even before the Fire. It took three

attempts for him to produce a new design acceptable to the commissioners. The final version

was known as the Warrant Design and the first stone was laid with Masonic ritesin 1675.[3]

Symbolism is common enough in cathedrals, and the visitor to St Pauls can easily spot the

usual doves and lambs, as well as more unusual pelicans and peacocks. [4] But St Pauls also

follows Wrens notions of sacred geometry and encodes the Cabalistic Sephiroth or Tree of

Life, the 10 domes corresponding to the 10 spheres, [5] as well as representing the 10 spheres

of the classical heavens. Wren, an astronomer, brought the whole Universe into his cathedral.

The new St Pauls was also to be a continuation of the old. The Freemasons revered the

ancient builders, and St Pauls was built on the foundations of older churches and, even

further in the past, a Roman temple. Before the Romans, the site had been a pagan site and itis possible a stone circle had once stood there.


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Wren claimed that when he instructed a workman to place a piece of stone rubble to mark the

centre of the new St Pauls, he found it was a fragment of tombstone with the Latin

inscription Resurgam I will rise again. The word was inscribed on the pediment of the

south door and marked with a phnix. In addition, rubble from the old St Pauls was

deliberately used in the foundations of many of the 51 churches built after the Great Fire.

The most iconic images of St Pauls show it surrounded by smoke and flames during the

Blitz. The bombing was intense, with 28 bombs landing in the Cathedral grounds during just

one night in 1940but St Pauls itself did not succumb, largely thanks to the fire crews who

defused bombs and put out fires. Does it seem strange that so many would risk their lives for

what was, at the end of the day, an uninhabited old building?

Perhaps its because Winston Churchill, who ordered St Pauls saved at all costs, was a

Freemason

Notes

1 Newton plays a significant role in The Lost Symbol, having previously appeared in The Da

Vinci Code.2Steve Padget: Christopher Wren, Christian Cabala and the Tree of Life

3 Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert: The London Encyclopedia, Macmillan 1983, p780

4St Pauls Cathedral Signs and Symbols:Spotters Sheet

5David Bowman: Floorplan of St Pauls Cathedral London interpreted as kabbalistic Tree

of Life,Floorplan as Tree of Life
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