Every walk around the City of London, brings with it a new discovery;  a new garden perhaps, or a new church.  Today, I came across the Brewers’ Hall Garden, with its sculpture “The Gardener”.

It is appropriate that this sculpture of a worker is situated in the garden of the old Brewers’ Guild.  Guilds were established in the middle ages to defend the interests of the trade they represented, to regulate the quality of workmanship and oversee the training of new members, and also to provide support and welfare for the workers in that trade. They were established by charter and regulated by the City of London. London had eighty-nine guilds in the eighteenth century, representing such trades as  carpenters,  grocers, fishmongers, goldsmiths, bakers, girdlers, saddlers, and so on.

The Brewers’ Guild is one of the oldest of the City guilds, probably dating back to the end of the twelfth century, and it was one of the first to have its own Hall. Its first hall was destroyed in the Great Fire of London  the second was destroyed in World War Two, and the current hall dates back to 1960.

Brewers’ Hall Gardens, Aldermanbury Square, London EC2V 7HR

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Posted as part of Sue’s Word a Week Challenge: Workers.