The House of Sound

House of Sound

16-17 September 2017 | FREE
Saturday 12noon-5pm
Sunday 11am-4pm

Guildhall Yard
London, EC2V 5AE

Travel back in time to experience London as heard by Chaucer, Dickens and Shakespeare in a ground-breaking work that puts back the sounds the City has lost.

As part of Open House weekend, time-travel from medieval to present day London through an immersive sound experience that captures the changing sounds of the City. Composed by Iain Chambers, live performances from 7 musicians played through 22 loudspeakers will tell the story of the Square Mile, revealing the impact of its changing built and social environment.

Performances take place on the hour on Saturday 16 Setepmber from 12noon - 5pm and 11am - 4pm on Sunday 17 September.

Sonic Trail

11-17 September 2017 | FREE

Part of the House of Sound, the Sonic Trail will see ‘Mythophones’ – sculptural speakers – placed around Cheapside for listeners to connect to the locations and their previous incarnations.

One of the Mythophones will be located at St Stephen Walbrook. The river Walbrook played an important role in the Roman settlement of Londinium. Starting in what is now Finsbury, it flowed through the centre of the walled city, bringing a supply of fresh water whilst carrying waste away to the Thames, and dividing Roman London into its eastern and western halves. When St Margaret Lothbury was rebuilt in 1440, the Lord Mayor paid for the lower Walbrook to be covered over. John Stow, the historian of London, wrote in 1598 that the watercourse, having several bridges, was afterwards vaulted over with brick and paved level with the streets and lanes where it passed, and that houses had been built so that the stream was hidden as it is now.

A temple of Mithras dating to the third century AD lay a short distance from St Stephen Walbrook. The remains were found in 1954 during the construction of the Bucklersbury House office block and will be displayed within the new Bloomberg London building.

Prior to the construction of the Mansion House in 1739, the Stocks market lay on the same site, dating to 1282, taking its name from a set of stocks used for punishment. A 1322 decree stipulated that the Stocks market was one of five places where fish and meat were allowed to be sold in London. After Stow's time its character changed, and towards its end was used mostly for selling herbs.

Running time: 4’16"

Running order:

• The Walbrook
• Street vendors’ cries and conversations at the Stocks market
• Tavern conversations
• Merchant dictating a letter

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