Local Latin: Why?
What is your reaction when you see a monument, plaque or statue and the words are inscribed or written in Latin? Do you marvel at the proud antiquity or do you curse and say why on earth didn't they write it in English so that we all can understand it?
The William Willett memorial in Petts Wood is a case in point. When it was erected in 1927 the sundial was accompanied by words in Latin. They translate as 'I will only tell the summer hours.' Fortunately and as you will see in the photo below, the reverse (north) side of the stone is worded in English!
The monument is 9 ft 9 inches high and was made by the Westminster firm of Farmer & Brindley using grey granite from Westmoreland. The ceremony was attended by nearly one thousand people. The Marquess Camden, Lord Lieutenant of Kent, presided. Also present was William Willett's widow. The Observer newspaper reported 'a charming little ceremony in a clearing in a Kentish wood amidst oak, fir and silver birch.'
Information by courtesy of A History of Petts Wood authored by Peter Waymark for the Petts Wood & District Residents Association, 1983. The two photos of the memorial come from Cray 150 author Michael Gould.
What is your reaction when you see a monument, plaque or statue and the words are inscribed or written in Latin? Do you marvel at the proud antiquity or do you curse and say why on earth didn't they write it in English so that we all can understand it?
The William Willett memorial in Petts Wood is a case in point. When it was erected in 1927 the sundial was accompanied by words in Latin. They translate as 'I will only tell the summer hours.' Fortunately and as you will see in the photo below, the reverse (north) side of the stone is worded in English!
The monument is 9 ft 9 inches high and was made by the Westminster firm of Farmer & Brindley using grey granite from Westmoreland. The ceremony was attended by nearly one thousand people. The Marquess Camden, Lord Lieutenant of Kent, presided. Also present was William Willett's widow. The Observer newspaper reported 'a charming little ceremony in a clearing in a Kentish wood amidst oak, fir and silver birch.'
Information by courtesy of A History of Petts Wood authored by Peter Waymark for the Petts Wood & District Residents Association, 1983. The two photos of the memorial come from Cray 150 author Michael Gould.
How highly should we eulogise William Willett and his notion of daylight saving? Yes he has unquestionably had a marked and permanent effect upon all our lives, and he must therefore be counted as an eminent ex-resident of Bromley. But is daylight saving really such a bright idea? (Sorry). Not everyone seems to think so, nowadays. Born in Surrey in 1856, Willett lived his later life in Chislehurst. It was in 1916, ironically a year after his death, that Willett’s idea of changing the clocks twice a year became law in our country.
Might we argue that Willett’s greatest gift to locals of Chislehurst, Orpington, Petts Wood and the Crays is the existence of the wood itself? It was an indirect gift from him, in the sense that a group of influential rich locals moved in 1926 to secure the land and protect it from building speculators that coveted places like Petts Wood for housing, to accommodate London’s fast-growing population. Ironically, the Willett family had made its fortune as builders of quality homes in posh parts of London such as Mayfair and Sloane Square. In 1890 the family had purchased and had moved into Camden Place the former home of Napoleon III.
Information from Sign Here! published by Cray 150 in 2018 - with a new updated second edition to follow in the autumn of 2024.
Might we argue that Willett’s greatest gift to locals of Chislehurst, Orpington, Petts Wood and the Crays is the existence of the wood itself? It was an indirect gift from him, in the sense that a group of influential rich locals moved in 1926 to secure the land and protect it from building speculators that coveted places like Petts Wood for housing, to accommodate London’s fast-growing population. Ironically, the Willett family had made its fortune as builders of quality homes in posh parts of London such as Mayfair and Sloane Square. In 1890 the family had purchased and had moved into Camden Place the former home of Napoleon III.
Information from Sign Here! published by Cray 150 in 2018 - with a new updated second edition to follow in the autumn of 2024.
The Church of the Most Holy Trinity, Dockhead, Jamaica Road, Bermondsey, London SE1.
At what point in recent history has common sense prevailed, such that we don't have to see words in Latin any more when there is a new monument, plaque or statue? Surely it had already become a pompous and silly thing to do even as late as 1957 when the above foundation stone was laid at the rebuilt RC Church, Dockhead? To understand the inscription, kindly translated for us by Michael Gould*, it is necessary to tell the sad story that the earlier building of 1834 was hit by a V2 missile in the early weeks of 1945 resulting in instant death of three members of the clergy.
* ‘D.O.M. = ‘To God the best and greatest’… ‘On that festive day Holy Trinity Sunday the 16th before the Kalends of July in the year 1957 the most excellent and revered Lord Cyril, Bishop of Southwark, laid and blessed this foundation stone so to the honour of a triune God a new church should stand where the former had been destroyed in the madness of war.’
Our photograph of the stone illustrates the very pretty polychromatic ('many coloured') brickwork design chosen for the rebuilt church by its architect H.S. Goodhart-Rendel. Polychrome was favoured in particular by the Victorian architect William Butterfield, for example at Keble College Oxford. It has been likened visually to 'a Fair Isle sweater'.
At what point in recent history has common sense prevailed, such that we don't have to see words in Latin any more when there is a new monument, plaque or statue? Surely it had already become a pompous and silly thing to do even as late as 1957 when the above foundation stone was laid at the rebuilt RC Church, Dockhead? To understand the inscription, kindly translated for us by Michael Gould*, it is necessary to tell the sad story that the earlier building of 1834 was hit by a V2 missile in the early weeks of 1945 resulting in instant death of three members of the clergy.
* ‘D.O.M. = ‘To God the best and greatest’… ‘On that festive day Holy Trinity Sunday the 16th before the Kalends of July in the year 1957 the most excellent and revered Lord Cyril, Bishop of Southwark, laid and blessed this foundation stone so to the honour of a triune God a new church should stand where the former had been destroyed in the madness of war.’
Our photograph of the stone illustrates the very pretty polychromatic ('many coloured') brickwork design chosen for the rebuilt church by its architect H.S. Goodhart-Rendel. Polychrome was favoured in particular by the Victorian architect William Butterfield, for example at Keble College Oxford. It has been likened visually to 'a Fair Isle sweater'.