The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-08 00:00:00

TI-1.& SMITHFIELD CLUB CATTLE SFIOW.

During the 50 or 60 years that the Smithfield
Club has been in existence it has often found itself
compelled from the pressure of circumstances to
lead a nomadic sort of life in the great metropolitan
desert, and velaen it had obtained a "local habita-
tion," to resort to many a make-shift Contrivance,
with the view of effecting something like a per-
lemmata settlement. " Wootton's livery stables, the
Dolphin-yard," Smithfield, were the scene of the
first show. Then Swan-yard, Dixon's Repository,
Barbican, and Sadler's-yard, Goswell-street, were
successively the favoured regions. But as the sti-
mulus imparted to competition amongst the breeders
of cattle, the consequently increasing number of
visitors, and the interest excited in the public
mind-, rapidly developed with the lapse of time,
tb.ese places each in its turn became " cribbed,
cabin's', and confined," and had to be abandoned for
a thoreconven lent locality. The club, however, stuck
With a deep-rooted affection as long as it could to
the congenial neighbourhood of Smithfield, as if
the genies loci might receive offence should they
dare to quit its charming precincts, and it was not
without serious misgiving and trembling anxiety,
we may be sure, that in 1839 the bold step was taken
of removing out of the City altogether and pitching
the pens in the far distant West, in juxtaposition
with, if not under the same roof as, Mme. Tussaud's
wax 'stark. Happily, the fears which were enter-
ti irAed turned out to be groundless. The annual ex-
b:sbitions of fat stock from this time forward ac-
quired a'renown that they had never enjoyed before.
Popular favour was lavished upon them to such an
extent that constant additions had to be made to the
area of the showyard, equally for the sake of the
cattle and the public ; and the club's meetings in
London came to be regarded as one of the two great
events of the year in the agricultural community.
The relations between the owner of the bazaar and
the club, as landlord and tenant, were not the ordi-
nary ones ; they were altogether reversed ; the land.
lord paying the tenant a handsome sum—at least
handsome as it was then thought—for the honour of
having him in the occupation of his premises. On
the other hand, the landlord appropriated the
myriad of shillings received for admission. Time
after time, as the lease was renewed, the rumoared
fabulous receipts from this source were used by the
club as a screw to draw a yet larger sum annually
out of the pocket of their tenant as they termed him,
end it is only just to the latter to state that on the
whole he responded liberally, the amount of his con-
tribution at length reaching £7OO a-year. Still the
cry for room., and yet more room, was heard on all
sides. Li 'it and air were not less energetically de-
manded, The owner of the bazaar could not go on
for weer pulling down a wall here and another
theire, adding a half-score feet in this direction and
a half-score in that. It had expanded and expanded
"until it could do so no further without spontaneous
combustion. After a second day it was a veritable
" chamber of horrors." People wondered that they
could pass through its crowded and confused mazes
and escape suffocation or being crushed to death ;
and as to the unfortunate cattle, panting on the
verge of Apoplexy, we shall never know what they
felt. Their sufferings were, however, such that the
occasions were not rare when the butcher's knife
did its merciful work of terminating their career,
and the vacant pen was left to tell the sad story.
The club had now attained the position of a wealthy
corporation, but of course it could not be expected
that they should devote their funds to the construc-
tion of a more suitable building, to be used for but
ten days or a fortnight in the year. In this emer-
gency a few enterprising gentlemen, amongst whom
were the late Mr. Jonas Webb, Mr. Joseph Shuttle-
-worth, Lord Berners, Mr. J. Clayden, Mr. Druce,
Mr. Sidney, and notably Mr. Giblett, the well-
known cattle salesman, stepped in, and started the
project of a joint-stock company for erecting an
agricultural hall capacious enough to contain the
largest number of animals that is ever likely to be
brought upon one spot under the auspices of the
club, and at the same time accommodate the public
in a comfortable manner, whilst it presented such
architectural features as should render it both worthy
the high character and standing of the club and an
ornament to the metropolis. The project took. Ca-
pital was forthcoming. A. plan was judiciously
selected, and a structure reared that fully meets all
these requisites. The Smithfield Club has entered
into possession ; Royalty has already honoured it
with a visit; and 'this morning its doors will be
thrown open for the exhibition of as magnificent a
collection of stock as the world ever witnessed.
The new hall, which is henceforward to be yearly
the temporary abode of the club is situated on
what was once the site of a range of cattle lairs ; its
western facade fronting the Liverpool-road, and its
eastern Islington-green, nearly opposite the newly-
erected fountain and statue of Sir Hugh Myddelt on.
The western front is the principal entrance. It is
Italian in design, with two graceful and lofty
square towers, and the materials used in its con-
struction are Bath bricks faced with red bricks—
and the effect is decidedly elegant and pleasing. On
the interior the main hall is 389 feet in length by
217 in width, whilst the span of the central portion
of the glass roof is 125 feet and its height 76, from
the basement to the middle of the arc. The hall is
surrounded by galleries, erected on iron girders,
supported by iron columns, 36 feet in width, and
approached by five sets of double staircases each
ten feet wide_ In the great hall the cattle and sheep
are disposed ; steam engines and other implements
of two tons weight and upwards are arranged
beneath the galleries; and the lighter class of im-
plements and the stands of seeds, roots, &c. in the
galleries. A ndnor hall, or " annex," 100 feet
square, at the eastern end is set apart exclusively
for pigs ; and the magnitude of the building may
be judged of by the fact that it covers about three
acres of ground ; that upwards of a thousand tons
of iron have been used in its various parts; that the
roofing contains nine miles of iron sash bar, an acre
of glass, two acres of slating ; and that the gal-
leries alone are considerably over one acre in ex-
tent. To ventilation and drainage all necessary
attention has been paid, the towers being con-
structed with a view to secure perfection in regard
to the former point; and as respects the latter, the
iron pillars which support the central portions of
the fabric form draining tubes from roof to base,
and the drainage appliances beneath. A reservoir
capable of containing 5,000 gallons of water has
also been erected, with which hydrants are con-
nected in various parts of the building, so that in
case of fire, or other requirement, they can be im-
mediately made available.
There is one defect however, and the sooner it is
remedied the better. We allude to the dark mono-
tonous colour which has been adopted for the
pillars, girders, and ironwork of the galleries and
root, and which, seen by gaslight, produces an im-
Pv"Rinti most illusory, but the very reverse of
agreeable. Unfortunately', too, the effect does not
wear off after remaining in the hall for some time ;
thus the noble proportions of the building and the
whole exhibition labour under a disadvantage from
which they would be
exempt were lighter and more
pleasing colours predominant. This is a drawback,
and a serious one ; at the same time it is easy of
correction before another
oshrz
comes round. The
avenues for the public, a
are so spacious and convenient
ae to
with a fine gravel,
leave nothing
arrangements
to be desired on that head ; the
d of
the beasts in their stalls and the sheep and p
their respective pens, convey anpigsid e in
unwonted a
of
comfort; and persons with limited time and op-
portunities at their disposal will be glad to learn
the show, notwithstanding its dimensions,
that
e" with ease in two-thirds of the
same process in the wretched, ill-
occupied
may
be don time
of a/vexes in Baker street. They
occupied by the
ventilated series.
of knowing that
have the add t
breathing
Iona( satisfaction
• a sweet atmosphere—that is,
they are pleasantly
sweet for London—in a well-aired end
warmed
largest that the club
The show this year
have ever yet held ; hut mgo
with last year
is
the
ality it does not reach
Compared
beyond a fair average.
how is that the
the entries of every kind are
419 as against 349.
One of the characteristics of t s
better sorts of animals are more
of an
usual, and and consequently there are fewer
numerous than
rior description. Another feature is that, in the
,sttle classes, the prizes are appropriated for the