Carleton’s Regional Carls Program

Carleton & St. Olaf London Alumni Fall Event

The fall Carleton & St. Olaf London alumni event has been planned for the third

Saturday in November.

PLACE: Southward Cathedral (near the London Bridge tube stop on the northern and Jubilee lines – see http://www.southwark.anglican.org/cathedral/find.htm)

DATE: Saturday, November 17, 2007

TIME: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. (1-1/2 hour private tour followed by time to socialize and discuss future events.)

COST: 6 pounds per person.

Southwark (pronounced Suth’-ack) Cathedral is one of London’s little known gems – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wilki/Southwark_Cathedral.. A church has stood at this location or over a millennium. The earliest surviving reference to the site is in the Doomsday Book of 1086.

The cathedral’s connections to America are legion, as will be made clear during the one-and-a-half hour private guided tour. The timeliest connection is that November 29 will be the 400^th anniversary of the baptism of John Harvard, the founder of Harvard College, in the church. He is commemorated by the Harvard Chapel located off the North Transept.

William Shakespeare worshiped at this church and his brother Edmund Shakespeare is buried in the churchyard. There is a memorial statue to William that was supported by American contributions – see http://www.southwark.anglican/org/cathedral/tour/bill.htm. Near this is a plaque commemorating the contributions of American Sam Wanamaker in the rebuilding the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre which stands not far from the cathedral – see http://www.southwark.anglican.org/cathedral/tour/wanam.htm. Two of Shakespeare’s contemporaries, playwrights John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, also are buried in the churchyard and commemorated by plaques in the choir chancel.

More recently a memorial was unveiled in the churchyard to Mahomet Weyonomon. Mahomet was a chief of the Mohegan Indians of Connecticut who came to London in 1735 to petition King George II for the return of Mohegan land. Before the petition could be presented, however, the chief died of smallpox and was buried in the churchyard of what was then St. Saviour’s Church Southwark. The service accompanying the unveiling of the memorial was attended by Queen Elizabeth II and included traditional burial rites consistent with Mohegan tribal traditions which had been denied to the chief as a consequence of dying so far from home – see http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page5702.asp and http://www.mohegan.nsn.us/pressroom/ViewPressRelease.aspx?articleID=81

There are many more interesting bits of history in this often overlooked London landmark.

Please join fellow Carleton and St. Olaf alumni for an afternoon of discovery and socializing on November 17.

If you plan to attend, please respond with an e-mail to david.rowe@sungard.com.

I look forward to seeing you there.

David M. Rowe ’67

Carleton London Alumni Club Coordinator