LLAWN02 – The Presence Of Absence – post two

Pewter plate made by Charles Bray, Pewterer, Cranbourne St, Leicester square, London. Prob 19thc, 220 mm in diameter

Charles Bray, Pewterer, is well known. His registered address was 14 Cranbourne Street. Whilst in London, I went down to that part of Leicester Square to see if No.14 is still there. Cranbourn St straddles Charing Cross Road, contains many theatre ticket shops and fast food outlets. Looking at Tallis’s map (1838 – 43), No 14 is now under the Hippodrome building (built 1900) on the North East side.

There are however plenty of older buildings opposite and Cranbourn Alley running through to Bear Street. Today, Leicester Square is a busy centre and would have been in Bray’s time (for example, Bear Alley, the centre of the hat trade in the mid 1800s). The Pewter plate is not large and perhaps would have been part of a set, for everyday use. I wonder if it is well worn. I notice the ‘e’ has dropped from Cranbourn Street (3) in the description given. I wonder when this happened – or was the ‘e’ a mistake? On Tallis’s map Cranbourn is without the ‘e’. (4) Interestingly a newsagent has Cranbourne with an ‘e’ (5). Perhaps I will put the E back in the painting.