A small exhibition at the Metropoltan Archives, the City of London's repository in Clerkenwell, has pictures, periodicals and diaries about the the freezing of the Thames, which occurred several times between the 17th and 19th centuries. People seem to have enjoyed it, and stalls were set up, as if they were in streets. Among one of the most popular attractions was to have your name printed on printing presses, which, rather perilously given their weight, were dragged on to the ice
Ink froze in pens, but this did not stop John Evelyn writing his diary on January 24 1684. that people were being charged six pence a name, and a printer could make up to £5 a day. This picture is from 1814.
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