River Thames Frost Fairs

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tray,
C V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. Ages ago, we
were looking for some ideas for winter or holiday like

(00:22):
winter or winter holiday episodes. We put out a call
on Facebook and what was then called Twitter and stuff
like that. Listener Laurie asked for one about the London
Frost Fairs, which were essentially festivals that were held out
on the ice when the River Thames froze over. So yes,

(00:43):
this is another in our recent line of episodes based
on something that somebody asked us for years ago. But
we have actually covered a lot of the other topics
that were suggested during that call for suggestions, especially the
ones that were more specifically about Christmas. So like NORAD's
annual tracking of Santa Claus and the Yes, Virginia there

(01:04):
is a Santa Claus story, and Charles Dickens's a Christmas
Carol in Washington, Irving's influence on how Christmas is celebrated
in the US, Like all of those were suggested during
that call for suggestions. This one, though, this is really
a winter episode, not a Christmas episode. Most of these
fairs took place in January or February, which were usually

(01:25):
a little bit colder than December, and this is also
a story about climate, although the climate is not the
only reason that the last of these fairs took place
in eighteen fourteen. There are lots of places on Earth
where rivers and lakes and other bodies of water freeze
over in the winter and are made into roads or
are used for other purposes. And in a lot of

(01:47):
those places, those frozen bodies of water aren't a novelty
like what we're talking about today. They're a critical part
of the local infrastructure every winter as people turn them
into roads. That's one of the many ways that global
warming is already impacting people's lives and livelihoods. As winters
get shorter and milder, people living in these areas lose
a vital transportation route. That's really not the case, though,

(02:11):
with the River Thames in southern England, especially the part
of the river around London. There are reports of this
part of the Thames freezing over going all the way
back to the first century, but this wasn't something that
happened often at all, and when it did happen, it
could be deeply destructive. For example, one account from ten
ninety two reads quote the great streams were congealed in

(02:34):
such a manner that they could draw two hundred horsemen
and carriages over them. Whilst at there thawing, Many bridges
both of wood and stone were borne down, and diverse
watermills were broken up and carried away. The part of
the Thames that runs from London to the sea also
experiences tides, and the rising and falling tides could shift

(02:56):
this layer of ice, causing it to damage things that
are around it, or if the ice couldn't move, then
the rising water could break out underneath it and then
just flood whatever was nearby. It also took a long
period of very cold weather for this stretch of the
Thames to freeze, and that wasn't something people were used
to or prepared for. So many historical accounts of a

(03:19):
frozen Thames also include a lot of references to other
cold weather hardships, like people freezing to death or running
out of food and fuel and being put out of
work when industries had to shut down because of the
weather or frozen over waterways. There are also mentions of
fundraising efforts to help the poor or the monarch earmarking
money or supplies for relief. The River Thames became somewhat

(03:43):
more likely to freeze in London starting around the year
thirteen hundred, at the start of the period known as
the Little Ice Age. This term was coined in nineteen
thirty nine to describe a period of relative cooling that
stretched from about thirteen hundred to eighteen fifty or so.
Older descriptions of the Little Ice Age often make it

(04:03):
sound like an almost continual global period of colder than
normal temperatures, but more recent research, including studies of tree
rings and ice cores, suggest that this was a more
complicated phenomenon. Globally, the average temperature was slightly colder than
the thousand year average between the years one thousand and

(04:24):
two thousand, but this was also relative because the Little
Ice Age followed a warmer stretch known as the Medieval
Warming Period, which spanned from about nine hundred to thirteen hundred.
Some parts of the world, including much of northern and
western Europe, were generally colder during the Little Ice Age.
Glaciers expanded in some areas, including the European Alps, New Zealand, Alaska,

(04:47):
and the southern Andes, but other areas were relatively warmer.
Some regions also faced much wetter weather during these centuries,
while others experienced prolonged drought, so it wasn't just so
that temperatures in some regions were getting generally colder. The
overall weather tended to be more extreme, and we don't
know exactly why this happened, but possible causes include volcanic activity,

(05:12):
changes in atmospheric circulation and ocean currents, and low solar output.
There are two known periods of very reduced sunspot activity
during these centuries, which is believed to correspond to lower
output from the sun. The Little Ice Age is not
the only reason that the River Thames periodically froze over

(05:33):
in London during these centuries. Another is the Old London Bridge,
which was completed in twelve oh nine. This bridge was
built with nineteen arches, and each of those was built
like the feet of them were built on piers that
extended out into the water, so the space under each
of these arches was narrow, and as the river started

(05:54):
to freeze, ice could collect around those piers. It basically
created a dam that slowed or stopped the river. The
river itself was also wider and slower moving than it
is today, and it's easier for that slower moving water
to freeze. The first reports of people setting up tents
or booths on the frozen Thames date back to the

(06:16):
year six ninety five, and there are accounts of various
activities happening on the ice in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
but the term frost fars wasn't used until the seventeenth century.
The River Thames through London is known to have developed
ice thick enough to walk on at least twenty four
times between sixteen hundred and eighteen fourteen, and those of

(06:37):
the centuries that are associated with occasional frost fairs, at
least some of these fares were spearheaded by people who
had been put out of work by the river freezing over,
especially watermen who moved passengers around the Thames by boat,
and lightermen who did the same but with cargo. Watermen
and lightermen were often the ones to declare the surface

(06:59):
of the Thames safe to walk on based on their
own judgment, and they also did things like build little
bridges to help people get from the shore out onto
the ice. Since they weren't being paid to ferry passengers
or cargo, they would basically make up for it by
collecting tolls for using these temporary bridges. At the same time,
these fares were somewhat spontaneous, starting once people thought the

(07:22):
ice could support a crowd, and ending as warmer weather
made the ice start to saw vendors set up shops
and little food stalls. There was lots and lots of
food and drink. A little bit of it is still around.
There's some gingerbread from the eighteen fourteen fare in the
collection of the Museum of London. There were also activities

(07:43):
like ice skating and bowling and archery, as well as
blood sports like bull baiting. In eighteen fourteen, there was
even an elephant brought onto the ice. I can't imagine
that elephant was happy about that. No. There were also
lots of souvenirs, things like US spoons and other household
objects that were engraved with the fact that they had

(08:05):
been bought at the frost fair. One souvenir that showed
up at multiple fairs was printed materials, so people would
set up a printing press on the ice and then
print tickets with people's names and the date, or add
people's printed names to like a personalization area on something
like a souvenir woodcut. These would often say something like

(08:26):
quote printed by sea cream on the ice on the
River Thames. That's a real example. It came from a
ticket that was printed for King Charles the Second and
members of the royal family and court in sixteen eighty four.
Aside from these souvenirs, we have tons of written documentation
related to these fairs. People's correspondents, diaries, newspapers, histories and

(08:50):
chronicles of London written during these centuries. It just goes
on and on. There were at least six major frost
fairs on the Thames between sixteen oh seven and eighteen fourteen,
as well as various smaller events, and there is so
much surviving written material about them. We're going to hit
some highlights from the seventeenth century after we paused for

(09:11):
a sponsor break. As we said before the break, there
were times before the seventeenth century that the River Thames
froze and people had some kind of event out on
the ice in London, but the first one to be
described as a frost fair was in sixteen oh seven.

(09:35):
That year, the Thames upstream of the London Bridge froze
over for six weeks. The ice was thick enough to
walk on by late December, but it was really in
January that the fair got going on the ice. One
of the things to come out of this fair was
a pamphlet titled the Great Frost Cold Doings in London
except it to be at the Lottery with news out

(09:57):
of the country. A familiar talk between a countryman and
a citizen, touching this terrible frost and the Great Lottery
and the effects of them, the description of the Thames
frozen over. So this is written as a dialogue between
a citizen, that being, a city person and a countryman,
and it kicks off with quote a table of the

(10:18):
most special matters of note contained in this short discourse.
Those special matters are quote one a description of the
Thames being frozen over. Two the dangers that hath happened
to some persons passing upon the Thames. Three the harms
that this frost hath done to the city, for the

(10:38):
misery that the country people are driven into by the
means of this frost. Five the frosts in other Kings
times compared with this six a description of the lottery.
The citizen explains to the countryman that quote the Thames
began to put on his frieze coat, which yet he
wears about the week before Christmas. And he makes it

(11:00):
clear that this freezing weather was dangerous and difficult. He
describes people falling through weak patches in the ice, some
of them up to their knees or their armpits, and
all the way under, with some of those last never
being seen again. And he says that a lot of
people are out of work because of the ice, forced
into what they called the dead vacation, the frozen vacation,

(11:22):
the cold vacation. The citizen talks about how much the
poor were being charged for candles and wood, and how
much they were suffering because of it. The countryman says
it is just as bad out where he lives. Quote
the poor plowman's children sit crying and blowing their nails
as lamentsably as the children and servants of your poor artificers.

(11:43):
Hunger pinches their cheeks as deep into the flesh as
it does into yours. Here you cry out, here you
are undone for coal, and we complain we shall die
for want of wood. All your care is to provide
for your wives, children and servants, and this time of sadness,
but we go beyond you in cares. Not only our wives,

(12:04):
our children, and household servants are unto us a cause
of sorrow. But we grew as much to behold the
misery of our poor cattle in this frozen hearted season
as it doth to look upon our own affliction. At
the same time, the citizen makes the fair on the
Thames sound like a lot of fun. Quote thirst you

(12:26):
for beer, ale usquebath, et cetera, or for victuals? There
you may buy it, because you may tell another day
how you dined upon the Thames? Are you cold with
going over? You shall ere? You come to the midst
of the river, spy some ready with pans of coals
to warm your fingers. If you want fruit after you
have dined, there stands costumongers to serve you at your call.

(12:49):
And thus do people leave their houses and the streets,
turning the goodliest river in the whole kingdom into the
broadest street to walk in. If you're thinking, wasn't there
something about the lottery in the name of this pamphlet
and the table of contents. This sounds more like what
we might describe as a raffle of quote, spoons, cups, bowls, basins, viewers,

(13:12):
et cetera, fairly graven and richly gilded. This was similar
to a lottery that had been arranged under Queen Elizabeth,
the first to raise money for public projects. But this one,
according to this account, was set up by strangers. Also
ruskwa bath. This was listed in the drinks you could
get that is usqueba, which is a type of whiskey

(13:35):
which I have like an early type of whiskey, never
heard of, despite my years of enjoying beverages. Edmund House
has a more straightforward description of the sixteen oh seven
fair in his continuation of the abridgement of Stowe's English Chronicle.
Quote from Sunday the tenth of January until the fifteenth

(13:55):
of the same the frost grew so extreme as the
ice became firm and removed not and then all sorts
of men, women and children went boldly upon the ice.
In most parts, some shot at pricks, others bold and
danced with other variable pastimes, by reason of which concourse
of people were many that set up booths and standings

(14:16):
upon the ice as fruit sellers, victuallers that sold beer
and wine, shoemakers, and a barber's tent, et cetera. Uh,
that's just the note. I think shot at pricks means
they did some archery. Another major fair was held during
the Great Frost of sixteen eighty three to sixteen eighty four.
This one was known as the Blanket Fare, possibly because

(14:38):
the booths were made of blankets draped over the oars
that the watermen couldn't use because everything was frozen over.
There's a reference to this in a broadside ballad that
was printed in sixteen eighty four, which includes the lines
quote in Roast Beef and Brandy, much money is spent
in booths made of blankets that pay no ground rent.

(15:00):
This ballad, which is pretty long, makes the frozen Thames
sound very dangerous at night, suggesting that the people who
do not stay home safely warm in their beds might
wind up being pickpocketed or sexually assaulted. There are definitely
a lot of reports of pickpocketing in all of these fairs,
as is often the case with very crowded festival type places.

(15:22):
This fair was also documented by famed diarist John Evelyn.
That year, the river was iced over for about two months,
and Evelin noted that the river was frozen on January sixth,
and three days later he wrote quote, I went across
the Thames on the ice now become so thick as
to bear not only streets of booths in which they
roasted meat and had diverse shops of wares quite across

(15:44):
as in a town, but coaches, carts and horses passed over.
So I went from Westminster Stairs to Lambeth and dined
with the Archbishop, where I met my Lord Bruce, Sir
George Wheeler, Colonel Cook, and several divines. After dinner and
discourse with disgrace till evening prayers, Sir George Wheeler and
I walked over the ice from Lambeth Stairs to the

(16:05):
horse Ferry. On the sixteenth, evel And described the Thames
as filled with people in tents quote selling all sorts
of wares as in the city. Then on the twenty
fourth he wrote, quote the frost continues more and more severe.
The Thames before London was still planted with booths in
formal streets, all sorts of trades and shops furnished and

(16:26):
full of commodities, even to a printing press, where the
people and ladies took a fancy to have their names
printed and the day of the year set down when
printed on the Thames. This humor took so universally that
it was estimated that the printer gained five pounds a
day for printing a line only at sixpence a name,
besides what he got by ballads, et cetera. Coaches plied

(16:49):
from Westminster to the Temple and from several other stairs
to and fro as in the streets, sleds sliding with skates,
a bull baiting horse and coach races, puppet plays and interludes,
cooks tippling, and other lewed places, so that it seemed
to be a Bacchanalian triumph or carnival on the water.

(17:11):
His description of what was going on on land at
the same time isn't nearly so cheerful, though, quote the
trees not only splitting as if the lightning struck, but
men and cattle perishing in diverse places, and the very
seas so locked up with ice that no vessels could
stir out or come in. The fowls, fish and birds,
and all are exotic plants and greens universally perishing. Many

(17:35):
parks of deer were destroyed, and all sorts of fuel
so dear that there were great contributions to preserve the
poor alive. Nor was this severe weather much less intense
in most parts of Europe, even as far as Spain.
In the most southern tracts London, by reason of the
excessive coldness of the air hindering, the ascent of the
smoke was so filled with the fuliginous steam of the

(17:58):
sea coal that hardly could the one sea across the street,
And this filling the lungs with its gross particles exceedingly
obstructed the breast, so as one could scarcely breathe. Here
was no water to be had from the pipes and engines,
nor could the brewers and diverse other tradesmen work, and
every moment was full of disastrous accidents. Many of the

(18:20):
frost Fairs were commemorated in art and verse, and this
was no exception. Charles the Ion ordered the creation of
a panoramic description of the fair, as well as a
collection of funds for the poor who were struggling because
of the weather that made the fair possible. And here's
a poem commemorating the sixteen eighty four fair Behold the
wonder of this present age. A famous river now becomes

(18:44):
a stage question. Not what I now declare to you.
The Thames is now both fair and market. I and
many thousands daily to resort there. To behold the pastime
and the sport early and late, used by young and old,
and valued. Not the fierceness of the cold, and just
because I found it delightful. Here's the title of one

(19:05):
of the print works that came out after this fair
quote and historical account of the late Great Frost, in
which are discovered in several comical relations the various humors, loves, cheets,
and intrigues of the town, as the same were managed
upon the River Thames during that season. We'll move on

(19:26):
to the eighteenth century and the eventual end of the
frost fairs after a sponsor break. There were three major
frost fairs in the eighteenth century, and the first was
in seventeen sixteen. Here's a description from Dox's newsletter dated

(19:49):
January fourteenth quote, The Thames seems now a solid rock
of ice and booths for the sale of brandy wine,
ale and other exhilarating liquors have been for some time
fixed thereon. But now it is in a manner like
a town. Thousands of people cross it, and with wonder
view the mountainous heaps of water that now lie congealed

(20:10):
into ice. On Thursday, a great cook shop was erected,
and gentlemen went as frequently to dine there as at
any ordinary over against Westminster, Whitehall and Whitebriar's printing presses
are kept upon the ice, where many persons have their
names printed, to transmit the wonders of the season to posterity.

(20:30):
Here's a description of the winter that made a frost
fair possible a little more than twenty years later in
seventeen thirty nine, which is reprinted in the eighteen eighty
seven book Famous Frosts and Frost Fairs in Great Britain,
Chronicled from the earliest to the present time. It reads
quote the watermen and fishermen with a peter boat in mourning,
and the carpenter's bricklayers, etc. With their tools and utensils

(20:54):
in mourning, walk through the streets in large bodies, imploring
relief for their own and families necessities to the honor
of the British character. This was liberally bestowed. Subscriptions were
also made in the different parishes, and great benefactions bestowed
by the opulent, through which the calamities of the season
were much mitigated. The same account reports huge damage to

(21:18):
the shipping trade on the Thames below the bridge, with
vessels being damaged by ice floes and breaking away from
their moorings, crashing into things, with smaller vessels being sunk entirely.
But at the same time quote above the bridge, the
Thames was completely frozen over, and tents and numerous booths
were erected on it for selling liquors, et cetera, to

(21:40):
the multitudes that daily flocked thither for curiosity or diversion.
The scene here displayed was very irregular, and had more
the appearance of a fair on land than of a
frail exhibition, the only basis of which was congealed water.
Fifty years later, in seventeen eighty nine, visitors to the
Frost Fair could buy a souvenir print with this verse.

(22:04):
The silver Thames was frozen, or no difference TwixT the
stream and shore, the like no man hath seen before
except he lived in days of yore on the ice
at the Thames Printing Office opposite Saint Catherine Stairs in
the severe frost, January seventeen eighty nine. Printed by me,
William Bailey. I love the printed by me part not

(22:26):
just printed by William Bailey. Printed by me, William Bailey.
I wrote this and I'm doing it. That year the
London Chronicle recorded how treacherous a fair could be as
the weather started to warm. On January fifteenth, that printed
this quote. Perhaps the breaking up of the fare upon

(22:47):
the Thames last Tuesday night below Bridge exceeded every idea
that could be formed of it, as it was not
until after the dusk of the evening that the busy
crowd was persuaded of the approach of a thaw. This, however,
with the cracking of some ice about eight o'clock, made
the whole a scene of most perfect confusion, as men, beasts, booths, turnabouts,

(23:08):
puppet shows, et cetera, et cetera, were all in motion
and pouring towards the shore on each side. The confluence
here was so sudden and impetuous that the watermen who
had formed the toll bars over the sides of the
river where they had broken the ice for that purpose.
Not being able to maintain their standard from the crowd
et cetera, pulled up the boards, by which a number

(23:30):
of persons who could not leap or were borne down
by the press, were southd up to the middle. The
breakup of the ice also led to at least one
tragedy that year, as described in the Gentleman's Magazine quote.
The captain of a vessel lying off rotherhithe the better
to secure the ship's cables, made an agreement with a
publican for fastening a cable to his premises. In consequence

(23:54):
of small anchor was carried on shore and deposited in
the cellar, while another cable was fastened found a beam
in another part of the house. In the night, the
ship veered about, and the cables holding fast carried away
the beam and leveled the house with the ground, by
which accident five persons asleep in their beds were killed.

(24:14):
London's last frost Fair was held in eighteen fourteen, and
it was probably the largest of them, even though it
only lasted a few days. The temperature was below freezing
overnight from late December to the early weeks of February,
but it was really only at the end of January
and beginning of February that the ice was thick enough
to really support a crowd. Like the fares that came before,

(24:37):
this one featured a whole lot of food and drink.
We talked about that gingerbread at the top of the episode.
There particularly was an emphasis on gin. According to what
I read, well, Yeah, an entire book resulted from this
frost Fair, which is titled Frostiana, or a History of
the River Thames in a frozen state and the wonderful effect.

(25:00):
It's of frost, snow, ice and cold in England and
in different parts of the world, interspersed with various amusing anecdotes,
to which is added the art of skating. The title
page of this book claims that it was quote printed
and published on the ice on the River Thames, February fifth,
eighteen fourteen by G. Davis. It later clarifies that what

(25:20):
was printed on the ice was the title page and
not the entire book. It did not make logistical sense
that it was the whole book, but because that's on
the title page, some people have taken it that way.
This book describes previous frost fairs, along with the freezing
of the Thames more generally. Plus, there are chapters on

(25:41):
cold weather phenomena like ice and snow. There's also an
assortment of other stuff related to cold and water, sometimes
tenuously related, including an ice cream recipe and instructions on
how to save someone from drowning. And, as that title suggests,
there is information on ice skating, including rules for learners.

(26:03):
This sounds like a great book to me. I want it.
I mean you can read it for free on the internet. Great.
I could send you a pdam if you have doubts
about the feasibility of learning ice skating from a book.
Here is how that part begins. Quote. Those who wish
to be proficient should begin in an early period of life,
and should first endeavor to throw off the fear which
always attends the commencement of an apparently hazardous amusement. They

(26:27):
will soon acquire a facility of moving on the inside.
When they have done this, they must endeavor to acquire
the movement on the outside of the skates, which is
nothing more than throwing themselves upon the outer edge of
the skate and making the balance of their body tend
toward that side. Which will necessarily enable them to form
a semicircle. In this much assistance may be derived from

(26:49):
placing a bag of lead shot in the pocket next
to the foot employed in making the outside stroke, which
will produce an artificial poise of the body. This, afterwards
will become natural by practice. Well, of course, there you go.
Now I know how to ice skate perfectly clear. Just
stop being afraid and put some buckshot in your pocket.

(27:10):
Frastiana includes a day by day description of this fair,
including various things that were for sale and how much
they cost, such as quote. Among the more curious of
these was the ceremony of roasting a small sheep, which
was toasted, or rather burnt, over a coal fire placed
in a large iron pan. For a view of this
extraordinary spectacle, sixpence was demanded and willingly paid. The delicate meat,

(27:36):
when done, was sold at a shilling a slice and
termed lapland mutton of boots. There were a great number
which were ornamented with streamers, flags and signs, and in
which there was a plentiful store of those favorite luxuries
gin beer and gingerbread. By February fourth, the author sounds
kind of annoyed by the whole thing. Quote. Every day

(27:58):
brought a fresh accession of peddlers to sell their wares,
and the greatest rubbish of all sorts was raked up
and sold at double and treble the original cost. Books
and toys labeled bought on the Thames were seen in profusion.
The watermen profited exceedingly, for each person paid a toll
of twopence or threepence before he was admitted to frost Fair.

(28:20):
Some dusour also was expected on your return. These men
are said to have taken six pounds each in the
course of a day. Frostiana also describes the thawing conditions
at the end of this fair is kind of frightening quote.
Towards the evening, the concourse became thinned, rain fell in
some quantity, measter ice gave some loud cracks and floated

(28:43):
with the printing presses boosts, et cetera. And to the
no small dismay of publicans, typographers, et cetera, and short
this icy palace of moments, This fairy frost work was
soon to be dissolved and doomed to vanish, like the
baseless fabric of a vision, but leaving some wrecks behind.
There is also this description from February sixth, after the

(29:06):
fare had ended, and the fate of a booth that
was still lingering on the ice. Quote. The booth just
mentioned was hurried along with the quickness of lightning, towards
Blackfriar's Bridge. There were nine men in it, and in
their alarm they neglected the fire and candles, which, communicating
with the coverings, set it in a flame. The men
succeeded in getting into a lighter which had broken from

(29:27):
its moorings, but it was dashed to pieces against one
of the piers of Blackfriar's Bridge, on which seven of
them got and were taken off safely. The other two
got into a barge while passing puddle dock. So those
folks seem to have been okay. But according to famous
Frosts and frost Fairs, there was also a tragedy. At
the end of this one quote, two genteel looking young

(29:50):
men fell victims to their temerity and venturing on the
ice above Westminster Bridge, notwithstanding the warnings of the watermen.
A large mass on which they stood and which had
been loosened by the flood tide, gave way and they
floated down the stream. As they passed under Westminster Bridge,
they cried out most piteously for help. They had not

(30:10):
gone far before they sat down, but going too near
the edge, they overbalanced the mass and were precipitated into
the stream, sinking, not to appear again. A couple of
humorous bits of print material marked the end of this fair.
One was a souvenir ticket that read, notice, whereas you J. Frost,
have by force and violence taken possession of the River Thames,

(30:33):
I hereby give you warning to quit immediately A thaw
printed by S. Warner on the Ice, February fifth, eighteen fourteen.
Then there was also this one quote, Dear dissolving Dame,
father Frost and sister Snow have honeyed my borders, formed
an idol of ice upon my bosom, and the lads
of London come to make merry now as you love mischief,

(30:56):
treat the multitude with a few cracks by a side,
and visit and obtain the prayers of the poor upon
both banks. Given at my own press, the fifth, February
eighteen fourteen, Thomas Thames. I don't know why the phrase
honeyed by borders sounds to me, I'm like, all right,

(31:18):
then that eighteen fourteen frost Fair was the last one.
One reason was at the Little Ice Age ended around
eighteen fifty and the planet has continued to get warmer
since then. Very broadly speaking, London is an average of
about two degrees celsius warmer today than it was during
the age of the frost Fairs. But another factor is

(31:39):
that the old London Bridge was demolished in eighteen thirty
one and its replacement had only five arches with far
more room between them, and that made it easier for
boats to navigate under the bridge, but it also made
it much harder for ice to create a dam there.
The Thames River was also dredged in the nineteenth century
and Stoneham bankments were built between eighteen sixty four and

(32:02):
eighteen seventy four, so it is a deeper and faster
moving river than it was prior to the nineteenth century. Yeah,
I think even if it got a lot lot colder,
it would be a lot harder for the Thames to
freeze there. Yeah, that makes sense. If it did freeze there,
it would be a like Day after Tomorrow apocalypse horror

(32:22):
movie situation. I mean, we're facing a different situation with
the warming of the planet, But like that would be
just a drastic, drastic shift in climate based on the
trajectory that we're on currently. Yeah, I'm sort of waiting
for someone to be like, We'll do a man made
blocking of the Thames and cause it to freeze over

(32:43):
and that leading to some sort of magical film level disaster.
This does seem like something somebody would do. Yeah, do
you have listener mail for us? I do. It is
from Mara, and Mara wrote Holly and Tracy. I just
finished her episode on Christine Quintasket, and I made sure
I sat down and listened to it during a time

(33:05):
when I could really pay attention. I've lived my entire
life here in Washington, and I have to admit I
had never heard about Christine. I was so happy to
hear the story of an Indigenous woman so close to
my home. I live very close to Medical Lake and
often walk and drive near the hospital where she died,
and have hiked and backpacked the foothills and plains of
the Okanagan. The eastern side of the state is wildly

(33:28):
different from the drizzly and damp Seattle region and has
a completely different beauty to it. I'm so glad Christine
fought so hard to maintain the history and beauty of
it and document the culture of the people who have
called it home for millennia. I was particularly impressed with
the attention you both paid to pronunciation of names and
regions and towns in Washington. Most people managed to butcher

(33:49):
the pronunciation of Callville, not to mention Oglala and Okanagan.
I'm also attaching a recent news article about how tribes
in Washington are working to restore the presence of the
on native lands. Attached is my pet tax. As stated
in the subject, it will be excessive. I did not
read the subject, but it does say mourning dove and
excessive pet tax. I have way too many animals, four cats,

(34:12):
a dog, and three horses. Here are Lilith and Evy,
my spoiled orange house cats, Betty Lou and Grumps, the
mischievous sister farm kiddies, and my horse Mickey and her
adorable companion Nutella, the thirty year old wonder mini horse, Indy,
the world's most cuddly catalog and Nail, my hearthorse and
adventure companion Mara. So these are great pictures. Of so

(34:36):
many animals. Oh goodness, orange kitties in a basket. I mean,
I think that seems like the right number of animals
if you can take care of them. Yeah, I mean yes.
If I had, you know, a farm, I would for
sure have more animals than we have currently. I wanted

(34:57):
to read this now for a couple reason on what
great animal pictures. Yes. Two, I will definitely admit that
I said Calville as Colville in my head before going
to look it up as a just in case, because
it is spelled like you would think, just based on

(35:18):
patterns of you know how words are often pronounced in English,
that it's Colville, but it is Calville. And I actually
found as I was working on the pronunciations for that
episode a couple of different contradictory pronunciations for Okanagan. There
was also okanag gain, which I think is a more
like Salish language pronunciation and one that almost like didn't

(35:43):
really have the final syllable on it at all. So
I think there are some variations on that regionally. And
I was very interested with this article about introducing some
buffalo as a food sovereignty effort. We did not talk
about it in this episode. These bison I think came

(36:05):
from Yellowstone. A lot of the efforts to reintroduce bison
in the United States, the bison have come from Canada,
which is where the bison from the US were sent
to in the episodes on Morning Doves. So thank you

(36:26):
so much for sending this article and these horse pictures
and cat pictures and dog pictures. Yes, I love them,
puppies and kiddies and horses. Yeah, if you'd like to
send us a note about this or any other podcast,
we're at History podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and you

(36:47):
can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio app or
wherever else you like to get your podcasts. And I
also usually say you can send us a note if
you like, at History Podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com. But
now I think I might have said that already I
interrupted my normal flow of this show outro, and now
I don't remember what I've said and what I haven't.
So for the three or four people still listening this

(37:10):
late in the episode, you know now that sometimes it
goes off the rails, So yeah, thanks for listening. Stuff
you missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,

(37:32):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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