The Mystery of Red Cow Yard

[editor]

There's not a lot to look at here, but what is the red cow that this Clerkenwell street is named after?

http://www.urban75.org/london/red-cow-yard.html

[Snufkin!]

Don't know about much about Red Cows but Grope Cunt Lane was possibly the best street name ever though.

[Onket]

Brown isn't it? Like this-

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I have no idea and can't say I remember seeing it in my London Street Names book either.


Maybe red cows were once sold there?

[Streathamite]

I'm guessing here, but I'd imagine it might have summink to do with the local proximity of smithfields - where the carcasses of a lot of reddish-brown cows end up - or with the fact they use to drive cattle and other farm beasts through clerkenwell

[lenny101]

Originally Posted by Snufkin!

Don't know about much about Red Cows but Grope Cunt Lane was possibly the best street name ever though.

You're joking right?

[Frankie Jack]

Nope..
http://www.answers.com/topic/gropecunt-lane

[dash]

Probably there was a pub/inn there called the Red Cow. There are a few pubs of that name in London. The Jam used to play a residency in the Red Cow in Hammersmith, now long since gone.

[editor]

Originally Posted by dash

Probably there was a pub/inn there called the Red Cow. There are a few pubs of that name in London.

Sure. But what was the pub named after?

PS I played the Red Cow in Hammersmith!

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Originally Posted by editor

Sure. But what was the pub named after?

PS I played the Red Cow in Hammersmith!

Well pubs had pub signs because people were illiterate. They named streets after activities that were carried on in the area, so maybe it's something to do with that IFKWIM










Sorry, busy eating my dinner

[Onket]

Originally Posted by Minnie_the_Minx

Well pubs had pub signs because people were illiterate. They named streets after activities that were carried on in the area, so maybe it's something to do with that IFKWIM

I reckon it's what Red Jezza said earlier. Red meaning a certain brown that I mentioned.

[lenny101]

Is it where a big slaughter house was, red cow meaning blood.

[dash]

Maybe cos red/roan-coloured cows are fairly rare hence noteworthy, perhaps more valuable too.

Red animals seem to end up in heraldry too, eg the Welsh Red Dragon, and the Red Lion, symbol of the Stuarts. James I decreed that the Red Lion be displayed thoughout England, hence its popularity as a pub name.

[Monkeynuts]

Originally Posted by editor

PS I played the Red Cow in Hammersmith!

I don't think you should be admitting that on a public forum

[laptop]

"Red Cow" could also be a Biblical reference, used in the pub name.

See (for example) the ritual prescribed in Numbers 19:

1. And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
   
2. This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:
   
3. And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:
   
4. And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times:
   
5. And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:
   
6. And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
   
7. Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
   
8. And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.
   
9. And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.
   
10. And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.

In the past couple of years there was some nonsense about a pure "red" cow being found in Jerusalem, with millenarian Jewish nutters claiming that if it had no non-"red" hairs at all its sacrifice would bring the Time of the Third Temple, or shit like that. Then they found a grey hair.

On the other hand, I can imagine sarcastic churchgoers asking each other "Shall we go for a bit of purification, then?" "Don't mind if we do."

[dash]

Originally Posted by Monkeynuts

I don't think you should be admitting that on a public forum

Hammersmith had loads of venues back then. AC/DC did their first UK gig in the Red Cow (pub quiz factoid). Other than that I remember it as an Irish pub during the daytime (too young to drink in it mind).

[HeroineSheep]

Originally Posted by Snufkin!

Don't know about much about Red Cows but Grope Cunt Lane was possibly the best street name ever though.

I used to live round the corner from the original one. It's now called Magpie Lane. More palatable for the tourists.

[maximilian ping]

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs...Cow/Smithfield

[Cloo]

Originally Posted by editor

There's not a lot to look at here, but what is the red cow that this Clerkenwell street is named after?

http://www.urban75.org/london/red-cow-yard.html

This is round the corner from my office! Yes, I've noticed the funny name... maybe something to do with proximity to Smithfields?

[Epona]

There are several references to red cows linked with Clerkenwell Workhouse, run by the Quakers in the 18th Century. People drinking "Red cow's milk" gets several mentions in 'Richard Hutton's Complaints Book: The Notebook of the Steward of the Quaker Workhouse at Clerkenwell, 1711-1737'

One presumes they would have had to keep their red cows somewhere!

[Reg in slippers]

not really related, but:

read peter ackroyd's the house of doctor dee, based around there, may or may not have a clue

scratch that:

apparently medieval cattle quite closely resembled the dexter breed:



a certain ruddiness methinks

[lang rabbie]

The map reference to streetmap.co.uk is buggered - it doesn't bring up anywhere near Old Street.

From the distinctive canted tower block in the background, is this on the north side of Old Street between Goswell Road and Central Street.

But the only yard shown on the north side of this strecth of Old Street in Horwood's 1792 plan is Dolphin (Close?) and none of the larger number of alleys further east off Old Street had this name - they're much more memorable like Porridge Pot Alley

It is a long way from the only Red Cow I know in Clerkenwell, which used to be one of the boundaries of St Bartholomew's parish.

The Red Cow Gate, named, like the preceding gate, after the adjoining public-house, was at No. 72 Long Lane. Here the Corporation had placed a good iron gate with the civic arms, which also remained until 1910.

[editor]

Originally Posted by lang rabbie

The map reference to streetmap.co.uk is buggered - it doesn't bring up anywhere near Old Street.

Oops. I've changed that but I'm still not entirely sure where it is on the map (it was on the north side of Old Street, and your description is about right).

Weird that it doesn't seem to appear on any modern maps though, innit?

Maybe it might be time to give Robert Elms a call!

[maomao]

There's a White Bear Yard (where I used to work) round the corner from there. Maybe there's some sort of colour - animal theme going on?

[lang rabbie]

But I've just found that it is in Rocque's map of 1746.

Proceedings of the Old Bailey

References to villains who lived or plotted in pubs called the Red Cow seem to outnumber thefts of actual red cows about 5:1 on that site.