The Notorious English Namesake of Smithfield
Part of the Smith-Appleby House Lecture Series
At 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 5, 2018, Ralph Iannitelli, a member of the Smithfield Historical Society, will speak on “The Notorious English Namesake of Smithfield” at the Greenville Library.
The program will deal with the colorful development of an area just west of London, England’s, old city walls – Smoothfield or Smithfield – which became renowned as a horse fair, a site of medieval tournaments, a meat and cloth market, and later, during the Reformation and Counter Reformation, as a grounds for burning heretics.
London’s Smithfield was worthy of a Hogarth print or a scene from “The Beggar’s Opera” and in fact was featured in both.
The Greenville Public Library is located at 573Putnam Pike in Smithfield.
