The Court Room

The greater part of the carving dates from the rebuilding after the Great Fire.  It contains many fine pieces of furniture including a marquetry-cased clock, given by John Cannon in 1704, the year he was Master; the Master’s Chair, first mentioned in the archives in 1800 but possibly bought in 1770-1; the pier glasses near the fireplace which were given in 1719 by Richard Collett, Master in 1718; and two girandoles, probably bought from Parkers in 1792. 

Most of the coats of arms in the cornice are nearly contemporary with the room and are those of prominent members of the Company, many of them Mayors or Lord Mayors, including Sir Thomas Bloodworth, Lord Mayor at the time of the Great Fire of 1666.

The room contains a fine painting of St Martin Dividing his Cloak with the Beggar, after Van Dyck, first mentioned in the archives in 1702-3, and portraits of Charles I, Charles II, Mary II, Prince George of Denmark (the Consort of Queen Anne), Robert Shaw, Master in 1636, and Sir Thomas Rawlinson, Master in 1687 and Lord Mayor in 1705.