Changing the Quill on John Stow's monument

[gill girling]

Does anyone have information about this ceremony?

[SRAYN1]

Click here for an Answerbank feature on changing the quill at John Stow�s monument: http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Article.go?id=2019

[Billericay1]

John Stow ws a tailor and antiquarian who spent years corssing and re-crossing the city in order to complete his monumental 'Survey of London', published in 1598. When Stow died in 1605 he was buried at St. Andrew Undershaft (Leadenhall Street, London). Undershaft refers to the 'Shaft' or Maypole' that used to stand outside. Since his death, a tradition has grown up and survives to this day - Stow's monument shows him sitting with his books and in the act of writing. The monument of marble does not, however, include a stone or marble pen. Instead Stow holds in his hand a real quill pen and every year the Lord Mayor of London replaces the pen with a new quill. It is a ceremony that has taken place for centuries with hardly a break

http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/images/fu ll/75dfee7bb3a91611b5fe26e5a24ca91da6e82ed0.ht ml?ixsid=HFZStPWWpst