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Gilt of Cain Information Board
This information board is on a wall in Fen Court between Fenchurch Avenue and Fenchurch Street. It has the following wording:
Gilt of Cain
by
Michael Visocchi and Lemn Sissay
This powerful sculpture was unveiled by the Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo
Tutu on 4th September 2008. The sculpture commemorates the abolition of the
transatlantic slave trade in 1807, which began the process of the emancipation
of slaves throughout the British Empire.
Fen Court is the site of a churchyard formerly of St Gabriel's Fenchurch St and
now in the Parish of St Edmund the King and St Mary Woolnoth, Lombard Street.
The latter has a strong connection with the abolitionist movement of the 18th
and 19th centuries. The Rev John Newton, a slave trader turned preacher and
abolitionist, was rector of St Mary Woolnoth from 1780-1807. Newton worked
closely alongside the famous abolitionist William Wilberforce.
The granite sculpture is composed of a group of columns surrounding a podium.
The podium calls to mind an ecclesiastical pulpit or slave auctioneer's stance,
whilst the columns evoke stems of sugar cane and are positioned to suggest an
anonymous crowd or congregation gathered to listen to a speaker.
The artwork is the result of a collaboration between sculptor Michael Visocchi
and poet Lemn Sissay. Extracts from Lemn Sissay's poem, 'Gilt of Cain', are
engraved into the granite. The poem skilfully weaves the coded language of the
City's stock exchange trading floor with biblical Old Testament references.
HERE IS THE ASK PRICE ON THE CLOSED POSITION
HISTORY IS NO INHERENT ACQUISITION
FOR HERE THE TECHNICAL CORRECTION UPON THE ACT,
A MERGER OF TRUTH AND IN ACTUAL FACT
ON THE SPOT, ON THE MONEY - THE SPREAD.
THE DEALER LIED WHEN THE DEALER SAID
THE BULL WAS CHARGING THE BEAR WAS DEAD,
THE MARKET MUST CALCULATE PER CAPITA, NOT HEAD.
AND GREAT TRADERS ACTING IN CONCERT, ARMS RISE
AS THE ACTUALS FROUGHT ON THE SEA OF FRANCHISE
THROWN OVERBOARD INTO THE EXCHANGE TO DROWN
IN DISTRESSED BROKERS DISCONSOLATE FROWN.
IN ACCOUNTING LIQUIDITY IS A MOUNTING MORBIDITY
BUT RAISING THE ARMS WITH SUCH RIGID RAPIDITY,
OH THE REAPING THE RAPING RAPACIOUS FLUIDITY
THE VIOLENCE THE VICIOUS AND VEXED VOLATILITY.
THE ROARING TRADE FLOOR RISES ABOVE CRASHING WAVES:
THE TRADERS BUY SHIPS, BENEATH THE SLAVES.
SWAY MACHETE BACK, SWAY MACHETE AGAIN
CUT BACK THE SUGAR RUSH, CAIN.
THE WHIPSAW IT'S ALL AND THE WHIP SAW IT ALL
THE RISING MARKET AND THE CARGO FALL
WHO'LL ENTER "JERUSALEM" MAKE THE MARGIN CALL FOR ABEL?
WHO WILL KICK OVER THE STALL AND TURN THE TABLE?
CAIN GATHERS CANE AS GILT-GIFT TO HIS LAND
BUT WHOSE SWORD OF TRUTH SHALL NOT SLEEP IN HAND?
WHO SHALL UNLOCK THE STOCKS AND SHARE?
BREAK THE BOND THE BIND UNBOUND - LAY BARE
THE TRUTH, CASH FLOW RUNS DEEP BUT SPIRIT DEEPER
YOU ASK AM I MY BROTHERS KEEPER?
I ANSWER BY NATURE BY SPIRIT BY RIGHTFUL LAWS
MY NAME, MY BROTHER, WILBERFORCE.
This project was initiated by Black British Heritage and the Parish of St Mary
Woolnoth and was commissioned by the City of London Corporation in partnership
with The British Land Company
Image: © David Hillas
Taken: 14 Sep 2022
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The City: banking on better weather (104)
Looking from Fenchurch Street into Fen Court [North out of Fenchurch Street at No. 124 (P.O. Directory). In Langbourne Ward. First mention : Strype, ed. 1720. Probably named after St. Gabriel Fenchurch, as it extended along the east side of the churchyard. Formerly called Murfyn's Alley in Henry A Harben, 'Felipeslane - Fern's Yard', in A Dictionary of London (London, 1918)]
Image: © Basher Eyre
Taken: 11 Sep 2023
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View of the Willis Building from Fenchurch Street
Looking north-northwest.
Image: © Robert Lamb
Taken: 28 Aug 2016
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Turf Zone "FenCourt"
Off Fenchurch Street, City of London.
Image: © Ian S
Taken: 24 Dec 2022
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20 Fenchurch Street under construction
Also known more familiarly as the "Walkie-Talkie" building. Architect: Rafael Vinoly.
Image: © Jim Osley
Taken: 17 Jul 2013
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Looking up at the Cheese Grater and Willis Building from Fen Court
Looking north-northwest.
Image: © Robert Lamb
Taken: 21 Apr 2018
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Fen Court and "Gilt of Cain" Sculpture
Fen Court links Fenchurch Street with Fenchurch Avenue.
The sculpture in Fen Court, "Gilt of Cain", is a collaboration between sculptor Michael Visocchi and poet Lemn Sissay. If comprises seventeen columns and one podium and commemorates the bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.
The text of the poem can be read here: http://www.webcitation.org/6Dpl62aZt
Image: © Roger Jones
Taken: 16 Jan 2013
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Looking up at 120 Fenchurch Avenue
120 Fenchurch Avenue is a new-build with a roof garden and restaurant. Hogarth Court (the passageway tunnelling through the building and leading to the entrance of the roof garden and restaurant) has an impressive ceiling with an electronic ceiling with flowers on it, as you'll see shortly in the following photos. Looking southeast.
Image: © Robert Lamb
Taken: 3 Nov 2019
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View of the Gilt of Cain sculpture from Fen Court
The Gilt of Cain sculpture is a collaborative effort between sculptor Michael Visocchi and poet Lemn Sissay, erected on 4th September 2008. It is made up of seventeen columns, each with a line of Lemn Sissay's 2007 poem "The Gilt of Cain" on it. and one podium with steps which marks 200 years of the abolition of the slave trade movement. Looking north-northeast.
Image: © Robert Lamb
Taken: 8 Oct 2016
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View of Tower 42, Walkie Talkie and the Gherkin from London Bridge station
Looking north-northeast.
Image: © Robert Lamb
Taken: 26 Sep 2015
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